CS 12: Blooms Left Behind

Europa is visible on the trailing edge of the angry red mico-star that once was Jupiter. It'll burn out in a few hundred years, leaving a cinder surrounded by a tangled labyrinth of debris. I wonder how the dolphins are faring, now that their reservations on Europa have been compromised by the mycellioids. Our course shifts and I get a view of the colossal fungal colonies extended outwards from Europa, Ganymede and Calisto. But not Io. The lesser bodies orbiting Jupiter cut groove-like swaths through the proliferating void-fungi, but Io remains aloof and untouched. No one is sure why. I watch the fine mist of sulfur particles cast off from Io sleet across the fern-like fronds of orbital flora the size of small continents. Then the Podder Captain gives us a ten second warning and we fall into the Gray, the Opalescent mists of the Interstitial Regions, the flickering Azure, on into the Deep Purple, and deeper into the Mauve Zone, into the Red, the Black. We drop down past the boundaries of all the known zones and layers of reality until our intrinsic resonance draws us back in a graceful arc. Back. Beyond, really. We're outside the Empire now. I re-run my internal weapon protocol subroutines. We'll most likely be boarded by Shamblers if we're not struck by Razorships. Ah. The follow-up signal. We're well outside the reach, the sphere of influence of the Core System now. We're approaching what once was called Barnard's Star. Hopefully there's enough of the Imperial Terrabase still intact to run interference and let me transfer aboard my new command without too much trouble. Dare I hope.