Incidents from around the world: An entire area within a twenty mile radius was struck by several thousand bolts of lighting a two minute period. Earthquakes rocked places that had never had tremors before. The ground shakes were so intense that the Richter scale could not even guess at the power. Volcanoes didn't erupt, they exploded usually taking everything within a thirty mile radius with them. In the north and south poles the cold intensified and crawled toward the equator like a slow pondering invincible army, covering everything in ice and snow. Hail rained down like boulders, the smallest merely a foot in diameter the largest being several yards wide. As the cold advanced, the oceans froze, sometimes the ice reached down for miles before volcanic vents heated the water and even there the temperature was cooling. At the equator the heat was unbearable for living creatures. The intense heat created firestorms that routinely swept what remained of the solid land. Solid rock was burnt black, then turned molten by the heat of the noon day sun. Rivers of molten lava flowed in every direction crisscrossing the land. Some rivers were many miles across and still moving swiftly. There are no more mountains, only a few stubby hills that are quickly in the process of dissolving. The oceans here are a fury of steam as lava hits the water and evaporates it. Giant clouds of steam rise up and blast across the globe, scorching any living creatures it comes in contact with and fighting to put out the blazing firestorms, eventually cooling into the killer thunderstorms. All of this extreme heating and cooling, melting and freezing on such a large scale was taking its toll on the planet. A sure sign were the constant earthquakes that seemed to want to rip the planet into little pieces. In short, the planet was dying and there was nothing any force in the universe could do to save it.

  The planet was completely unlivable by any standards. But someone should have told that to the natives. Deep within the frozen oceans was a city, completely enclosed, but thriving. The giant bubble in which they lived was seating in a larger hole in the ice. Giant beams reached out from the habitat to anchor in the ice. Whenever the ice shifted the beams would bend and flex, absorbing the energy before it affected the habitat. When the ice shifted significantly the beams would be withdrawn and giant metal plates dropped in the ice. Then a magnetic drive would activate keeping the bubble away from the ice by pushing away from the plates. Should it become necessary, several giant maser guns would come out from the smooth surface of the bubble and melt some of the ice to form a new sphere and then reposition the metal plates. When the ice stopped shifting the beams would come out again and re-anchor back in the ice. A terribly complicated and Herculean maneuver, but the inhabitants didn't know or care as long as it worked. But these natives weren't alone. In the equatorial zone flowing on one of the great lava rivers floated another habitant. This one wasn't a bubble shape instead it looked much like an ancient sailing galleon. It was attached to a giant floating obsidian rock raft that floated on the lava river. Above the galleon were sails made of aluminum alloy that would catch the steam winds and propel the galleon along the river giving it some control over its direction. Whenever a firestorm threatened, the sails were immediately withdrawn and placed in a sealed rock-covered confinement until the heat wave passed. Again, the effort to stay alive and mobile required a Herculean amount of effort and once again the immensity of the effort was lost on most of the inhabitants as long as everything was fine and worked as it should. Even in the area where heat and cold came together and the worst of the devastation was found, there was life. Someone could say that life there was impossible, whoever that was they neglected to tell the inhabitants of this zone. High above the ground, just on the inside of one of the largest hurricanes to ever exist in the planets history was another habitant. Riding winds at nearly seven hundred miles and hour was a giant bird. This bird was not alive however but it did harbor life. The bright silver metallic sheen of the bird which reflected lightning almost as easily as it reflected the bright lights. The bird perpetually at an angle, that made it look as if it was flying, near to skimming the inside wall of the hurricane. Whenever the winds of a hurricane got below two hundred, the giant bird would seem to fly up the wall of the hurricane to the very top where it rotate until it was horizontal looking much like a bird on a wall. When it located another suitable hurricane or if the current was dying much to fast. The bird would soar off the lip of the hurricane weaving though the honor guard of tornadoes and glide on until it reached other suitable target, of which there was no lack. Unlike the other habitants, the inhabitants of this habitat took quite a bit of interest in the process of moving from one home sight to another. When the bird reached the lip of the hurricane, the inhabitants all crowded the windows to see the flight of the bird. The initial weaving through the tornadoes was always a crowd pleaser as it was the best entertainment any thrill seeker could ask for. And when they neared their new home, it was always a tense moment as the bird skimmed the outside of the hurricane winds and then folded its wings and flipped inward, diving through the wall of winds which tore at its structure. The metallic creak of metal twisted to extremes was usually the only sound on the habitat as the inhabitants were holding their collective breaths. When the bird finally emerged into the eye of the storm and extended its wings everyone breathed a sigh of relief and watched as the giant bird soared into a spot on the winds where it would make its new home until the winds died down again. All of these people were as oblivious to each other as they were to the fourth colony of people orbiting their planet. To be fair they could not even suspect that any others existed because of a distinct lack of communication. The fourth colony was hidden deep inside what was once the planets moon, but is now more of an over-sized asteroid. The once gigantic moon had dominated the skies, before the disasters started. But the electrical and magnetic discharges as well as the gravity disruptions caused by the planet have practically shredded the moon to pieces. In fact there are pieces of the moon in higher orbits that are nearly half as large as what is left of the original moon. A planet that once had one moon now has five much smaller moons and a large amount of debris floating around it. Once the inhabitants had colonized the moon and had an extensive warren of tunnels that made up their moon base. When the moon was broken up so was the base. On two of the five large pieces there is life. These are the descendants of the people who had their space suits on when the moon broke apart and exposed their moon base to the vacuum. Utilizing giant collector robots which travel in orbit collecting much of the space debris from the moon and manufactured satellites that orbit uselessly, the survivors built bases on the two new moons. The holes to the surface have been sealed shut and oxygen formerly in tanks was released. Plants were genetically altered to grow quickly in the moon soil which had been carefully treated. Solar generators also cover the moons, so many in fact that if the inhabitants of the planet below, could look up into the sky it would seem as if two smaller suns flew in the skies along with their much bigger brother. With all this free energy, they used it to create materials. Using incredibly obscene amounts of energy to create a few drops of water out of energy, thus the inhabitants survived. But unlike the other colonies, the inhabitants of the moon bases knew exactly how everything functioned and were required to know at least two specialties in order to be a productive member of their society. Four colonies, the last of their race. Each believing that they are the only ones left anywhere, if any needed proof that there wasn't anyone else left, simply look out a window. Each faithfully keeping up with millennia-old traditions, even long after they ceased to have any true meaning. Thus as a particularly violent September gave way to what was promising to be an absolutely brutal October all four colonies kept the same calendar dates. So thus for millennia people looked out of their habitats.....They looked out of their buried globe and saw a world of ice, no there could be no other survivors. They looked out of their ship and saw a lava river and firestorms, no there could be no other survivors. They looked down from the lip of a hurricane and through the eyes of a bird saw blasted lands which were scoured clean of life, no there could be no other survivors. They walked out a portal on the moon and looked up at a planet in chaos, and thought...yes children, that is Hell.....no living soul could ever survive there.

"Steam storm on Obsidi side!", came the message though the intercom. Up went the sails as the mast rotated to catch the incoming storm. The far seer continued to monitor the lava ahead to avoid any collisions. You would think that with the super heated lava melting everything in sight, there would be nothing to watch for.

But there was in fact something, as the far seer said, "Obsidiberg...granite side."

Curses could be heard throughout the cabin as the captain realized that the storm would push them straight into it. Obsidibergs.....mammoth sized chunks of floating obsidian which refused to melt. The main danger in these is that what you see was only a small part of which was floating above where you could see it. The mast was re-angled to catch the storm at an edge. Hopefully, the storm would put them ahead of the berg. If not...well it's better not to think about it.

"SS in a few seconds", buzzed the intercom. As the jetstream of superheated water blasted over the ship at nearly a hundred miles per hour, the sails partially inflated and the giant lava ship, Volcano Rider, began to increase speed while it slowly changed direction. Closer and closer they watched as the visible portion of the Obsidiberg loomed larger and larger.

"By the fires, this is a big one!", someone muttered.

"Steady, come on old girl, faster...faster..", whispered the captain. Slowly the Obsidiberg fell behind them, but when it seemed that they had passed the berg, senses honed by decades as a sailor picked up the distinct feel of an impact with the ship. The bridge was absolutely silent for several heartbeats.

When the report came in, it played to a captive audience, "It seems we have another chuck of rock to add to our collection capt'n."

The bridge crew breathed a collective sigh of relief, before returning to their duties. The captain knew they were lucky. Being captain for nearly seventeen years he had seen many dangers and not the least of which was collision with an Obsidiberg.

He left the bridge and walked back to check on his 'passengers'. He smiled ruefully thinking, "My 'passengers' had lived on the ship for untold years. Most of them didn't even know it was a ship, those that do know are either crewing it or just don't care." He pauses to look out a window. "How can anyone not realize that we are a ship on a river of lava. A river that runs forever, covering the whole world. By the hellfires, I'll never know how we managed to get into this kind of mess." Staring up at the twin moons in the sky he says, "Sweet star sisters, what did we do to deserve a fate like this." Sighing he continues on to check on his passengers. But he was wrong about one thing, not all the passengers who knew it was a ship didn't care.

"We hit something", he said tensely removing his hand from the wall.

"I didn't feel nothing", says his companion.

Confidently he says, "I felt it though, just a bare tugging. I could feel it in my bones."

"I think you're just making it up", the other snorts, "When are you going to stop all this nonsense about us being on a ship. A ship made of solid rock! Wake up and smell the sulfur, everyone knows rocks don't float. Oh, I give up on you mate. Hey look! There goes Tsanda, I heard she likes you. If you talk to her now you just might get lucky." He grins and gives his friend a playful shove in the Tsanda's direction.

Having no part of it, he shakes his head, "Please. I know you made that up, she is a good three years older than me and girls her age only like older men. Besides, look at me. What kind of girl would go for me?"

With mock seriousness his friend looks him up and down, "Hmm.. Short dark brown hair, black eyes... No wait a minute", he leans forward squinting, "Oh my mistake dark brown eyes, really dark brown." Poking him, "A bit scrawny in the meat department. All in all, I think a very ugly package." He a stifles a laugh as he spies a familiar face coming up behind his friend. "But! All is not lost! I know the perfect girl for you and here she comes."

With a sense of curious dread he turns around to see a girl five years his junior, short blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and a big grin showing off her perfect teeth. "Hi, Vlyse!"

Groaning, Vlyse turns away from her and says, "That wasn't funny Trell!"

"But, I really though you'd like her!", Trell says innocently.

Not understanding what's going on, but not about to let that put her off the young girl asks, "So what are you guys doing?"

In mock seriousness Trell says, "Well, Vly here thinks that were on a big ship and we just collided with something". The effect is spoiled only by the slight smirk on his face.

"Well, if Vlyse says it's true then it must be!", the girl says confidently.

"That's only because you like him!", Trell counters. "Do not!" "Do too!" "Do not!" "Do too!"

While the pair are arguing, Vlyse takes the opportunity to slip away unnoticed. He heads down several corridors until he reaches his destination. Looking all around to make sure no one is around. He reaches down and pulls open the cover to an air duct and crawls inside replacing the cover after him. Moving swiftly through the maze of shafts, along a route he had memorized long ago, Vlyse swiftly moves to one of the outer layers of the ship. When he reaches an area where only the sailors go (and none of the 'passengers' even know exist) he waits cautiously until the coast is clear then comes out of the air duct again replacing the vent behind him. He moves over to his favorite viewing spot. Surrounding one of the few viewing holes in the hull, is a giant tangle of plants and vines. The vines have grown so fiercely that no one would know there was a viewing hole behind all that green.

As a matter of fact, Vlyse himself only found it by accident, when he was hiding from the sailors. Vlyse moves quickly under the vines making sure they cover him completely. He then turns around and stares out on the surface of the planet he calls home. "Nothing but fire and molten lava", he mused, "just like what the volcanoes shot out in the old picture books. I wonder if we are in a volcano? No, it would have to be huge. Besides, we'd still be able to see the rim I think." He sighs, "I wish...I wish...!"

An Interesting Proposal

"Scavenger Six to Gaea II, Scavenger Six to Gaea II, this is Commander Nuela. I've just finished routine power orbit sweep though Earth space latitudes 44 to 46 North. Reporting only slight traces of minor debris collected. I think its safe to say that that area has been picked pretty clean, Juell. Looks like we will have to find another place to scavenge. SS6 out."

"This is Gaea II to Scavenger Six. Too bad, Nuela, it seems we've managed to clean out all the upper latitudes on the Northern Hemisphere, that's where the most junk was. The only other places left for us to get metal would be Phobos, and the Asteroids. So if you really still wanna be a scavenger you can sign up on the two year scavenging trip to Mars. I hear it's a six month trip in semi-powered flight to get up there, though. But if you don't want to wait there is one other option and there are two ways to get there..."

"Oh really Juell, have you been holding out on me! What is the other option and how do I get there, anything has got to be better than the Phobos trip. The last trip I heard was a near disaster."

"Well, if you really want to know."

"Yes, I really want to know! Now spit it out what am I signing up for?"

"Well there are two ways to get there the easy way, no signing necessary and the hard way. Signing a no-fault insurance paper before putting your name on the ticket."

"Juell! I am not a woman with infinite patience. What's the easy way?"

"Kill yourself."

"Oh very funny, I thought you were serious about a job."

"Oh, I was serious, I guess you want the hard way well in that case your signing up for an experimental flight. They will be picking a planet with known resources and familiar atmospheric patterns, at least familiar to our equipment. If successful it is supposed to wield more salvageable minerals than our combined space efforts and the Mars project in only a small portion of the time."

"What the... We don't have any equipment that can handle Venus or Mercury there is no other place in the system we can get to faster than Mars, unless someone has invented a fancy new drive and we don't know about it."

"You are wrong Nuela. There is one place and you've just signed up for it, remember my comment about the easy way. Before this trip is done, you'll wish you had taken it. You've just signed up for a one-way ticket to Hell."

Silence.

"Holy...Juell you don't really mean... that's impossible... No one is that stupid!"

"Yes there is someone that stupid and he does seem to he thinks it is possible."

"But...Earth! This idiot had better do some pretty fancy talking before I put my signature on any paper. How long is the trip scheduled?"

"It is listed to last approximately a year, but it could be an eternity!", he laughs wickedly.

Oh shut up, I coming in prepare for docking. SS6 out."

"We read you Scavenger Six, you are all clear. Good luck Nuela. Gaea II out."

***************

Quietly he entered the room, as he stepped inside the door hissed shut. The rooms sole occupant, a tall man in a white lab jacket with dark brown unkempt hair, glanced up from the computer screen he had been squinting at for hours, and upon seeing who entered a smile lights up his weary features. "Oh, hello Degada. I'd thought you'd be enjoying a sleep cycle about now."

"I should be. But I'm up trying to make sense of this data from your private files Yenka."

Degada holds out his hand and in it is a disk. Yenka reaches up and takes the disk, a frown replacing the smile. "How did you get into my private files and what did you see?"

"I didn't get into your files. Who did doesn't matter. I want you to tell me what this means."

Yenka puts the disk in the drive and loads up the only file on the disk. His eyes narrow dangerously as he reads the screen. Finally he turns away from the computer, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair he arcs the tips of his fingers together forming an arch with his hands just below his chin. His face takes on a neutral expression. "Well you're smart, at least that's what your reports say and that's why you're on this project. You tell me what you think the data means."

"Don't play games with me Yenka, there is no way that can be real data. Some of the information it points to is patently impossible. If you don't believe me just walk out an airlock and look straight up. No, I know the data is false. But what I really want to know is what you are planning to do with it and why you put such tight security on in it in the first place. That's what drew us to it."

"Drew us?"

"Don't try to slide out. What is it for? And what has it to do with this to do with the project."

Yenka stares at Degada a moment longer before turning around to his desk. Opening a drawer, he puts his hand well into the drawer as if reaching for something in far recesses. He presses a hidden button and the behind Degada silently bolts shut. Turning back to Degada, he waves over to a chair. "Sit down, we have to talk." After Degada sits down Yenka clears his throat and begins. "The data you and your mysterious friend found was encoded for a reason. Even though everything in the project is open for public view, this must not be. I am not 'up to something' as you put it. At least not yet. That data was recovered from one of the last orbiting satellites to be found near the equator. Its orbit carried it in a spiral-type pattern that took it around the world from ice-cap to ice-cap. Its original purpose was probably a survey of some sort, but that does not matter. What does matter is what it found in that survey."

"Hold it right there! Those satellites are useless. Good for nothing but recycling now. A survey satellite would only show us what we already know."

"Would it? The satellite was equipped with scanning device that could obtain clear images on the surface down to the scale of 500 yards. Even now we can't get that kind of clarity. The changes in the planets surface are remarkable compared to our data on its original form. But more importantly the data from the optical and geo-scanners indicate that it has spotted on numerous occasions two abnormally high concentrations of metal..."

"So what is wrong with that?"

"One of the sources in imbedded in a ice flow and it is moving against the flow of ice. The other is located several miles above ground and moves constantly."

As the import of these findings crystallizes in his mind, Degada's mouth slowly opens in surprise. Realizing his jaw has dropped, his mouth closes with a click. Across from him Yenka nods with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "You mean there maybe artifacts down there! Working artifacts! That's great if they are useful they will be a boon! And if not we can scrap them for metal."

"That's not all the findings point to."

"You mean there's more? "

"Wait, think about it. Man is the most adaptable creature created on that planet. If conditions change, all animal life either dies out or changes in some fundamental way to survive in the new environment. Judging from the change in the environment the mutations should be very interesting."

Degada protests, "But what about mankinds past history with dealing with the strange. If, as you say, our brothers and sisters are mutated then we will appear very strange to them and them to us. In which case, given our past there is an excellent chance that any face to face meeting will result in violence. Even over a vidline, both sides will see how different the others are and there may well be instant hatred and a wish to purge the so-called un-pure."

Yenka looks thoughtful, "I hadn't really thought of that, well then we had just better take precautions against such situations."

"We?"

"After all this you don't think I am going to let you free? Oh no, you are in this up to your eyeballs just like me and from this moment forth you are under direct orders not to reveal this portion of the project to anyone until the proper time. Not even your cybernaut friend!"