I apologize, it's been a while. Hope this makes up for it! Enjoy. Who am I, Dr. Shim thought. What am I? Where am I? Dr. Shim looked down on herself from outside of her body. The male body was floating in a vacuum. Darkness surrounded him, embracing him in a cold blanket. Dr. Shim looked down at her hands. She could see her body; feel it as she ran her hands over her forearms. I think therefore I am… right? But if I am there, how am I also here? Dim red lights flickered in and out of the void. They were there only a moment or two before disappearing again. That can’t be me, I’ve always been a woman. A tinge of worry crept into her heart. Esi, Duane, and Sundaresh are my colleagues. They have worked with me for years, Duane even complained about wanting to transfer to Mars. These memories are mine. “Are they?” a whispering voice echoed across the void. Looking around frantically, Dr. Shim tried to find the source of the echo. There was nothing, only faint red lights. Looking back there were more Dr. Shim’s frozen in the darkness. All the bodies were male. There were slight differences among them however. Some had facial hair, others were older, and as the number of Dr. Shim’s increased more and more differences arose. Some were shorter others were taller. A few had light blonde hair most had dark black hair. “One million of you…” the whispering voice echoed again. She looked curled herself into a ball, shivering. Where are you, she thought. She shut her eyes tight and put her hands over her ears. “Dr. Shim… glitch… copy…” The red lights pierced through her eyelids. An intricate web of red lines began linking the lights bringing them together in a beautiful network display against the pitch black backdrop. Billions of red lights began to glow and among them, white lights came to be. They became hubs for the webs of red lights. They connected everything and shown in a much more dazzling way than the faded red lights. “Wake up,” Dr. Shim heard. Her heart began to pound and she wanted to scream. Shivers shot up her spine as she opened her mouth and nothing came out. She mouthed help but only silence responded. “Come on, wake up.” She heard again. Dr. Shim’s heart ran faster and she yelled help even louder. The strain on her vocal chords was there but nothing heard her. The lights began to close in as billions more emerged into the darkness. “Wake up!” She felt a sharp pain across her cheek and everything stopped. Dr. Shim opened her eyes slowly. A soft light warmed her body and a cushioned green bedding cradled her body. She put a hand to her cheek, it stung. The outer lobby of the archive came into focus as well as the four guardians standing over her. Everything was so nostalgic yet, Dr. Shim looked around perplexed, unable to determine where they were. A beautiful scene of greenery grew over the Hall of Whispers. The trees had broken their planters and the roots fanned out digging deep into the floor. Vines twisted and climbed the rails of stairs. Brilliant beams of light shown down through the broken skylights. Ancient computer terminals stood lifeless and petrified, artifacts of the once glorious golden age. Long blades of grass busheled in the shade and more dragonflies buzzed around near the skylight. “Where am I,” Dr. Shim weakly asked. “The Archive,” Alexander responded. Dr. Shim recognized the voice that told her to wake up. It was calming and smooth. “That’s… not right…” Dr. Shim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Slapping her was uncalled for,” Oliver said glaring at Raven. “Alexander had control.” “She was on the verge of seizing, bull s*** he had control.” Dr. Shim also recognized the voice that ended up slapping her. The only word she could think of was oxymoronic. Raven’s voice demanded authority but desired affection; hard yet soft. It took a good ten minutes before Dr. Shim was able to sit upon her own again. She looked around, everything was so different. A once bustling Hall was completely deserted, turned into the equivalent of a greenhouse. “Oliver right,” Dr. Shim said quietly. “Where are we… really?” “Dr. Shim,” Oliver said hesitantly looking at Alexander. “We are in the Hall of Whispers just outside the Archive.” “That’s not right. It can’t be.” “This might be difficult to take in, but from what I can infer, you have been taken from another time. My records indicate that a one Dr. Shim as well as the researchers Esi Chioma, Maya Sundaresh, and Duane McNiadh were killed during the collapse of the golden age. All I know is there was a lab accident. All records of what they were researching were lost. If you are who you say you are, you're supposed to be dead.” Dr. Shim slumped over, her face buried in her hands. Everything she had known, was gone. She closed her eyes as warm tears rolled down between her hands. A whisper in the back of her mind grew louder. You… Glitch… it said. She put her hands over her ears trying to banish the thoughts from her mind. Just like they were there in a flash, they were gone without a trace. The voice was silent and she was once again alone in her own mind. “What are you doing here?” she managed to ask. “Investigating a missing fire team and strange readings originating from the Archive,” Ophelia said kneeling by Dr. Shim. “We discovered some strange behaviors from the Vex around here and our nonlocal coms are getting a lot of interference.” Ophelia paused a moment while Dr. Shim took in everything. “What kind of behaviors?” “They are frozen in stasis. Their bodies are in constant flux; they change from precursors to descendants to the current forms.” Dr. Shim raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What were you and your team working on?” “Code name: Atheon. A vex that seemed to control all other Vex on the surface of the planet.” The guardians looked to each other. Dr. Shim continued. “We captured it, sealing it in a lab below the Archive. While studying Atheon we discovered a lot of curious things. Their mind cores are biological, each of which, is linked to a network with the others. Atheon’s mind core seemed to be the hub of the network here on Venus.” “What happened?” “The last thing I remember was that Atheon created a separate, elaborate, simulation of… everything… of us. Connecting with its mind core, we saw everything the simulations saw. Everything we thought they thought. It came to a point where we couldn’t distinguish ourselves from the simulation. Atheon escaped and I don’t remember anything after that.” “Ma’am,” Holly said over the coms. “I’m getting multiple signatures on the radar. They are closing in from all directions.” “We need to get into my lab!” shouted Dr. Shim. “It’s the safest place in the Archive.” “I’ll take point; you follow close behind me.” Ophelia stood extending her hand, helping Dr. Shim to her feet. “We are moving out!” Growls echoed from the surrounding vents and heavy footsteps followed the guardians. Oliver had hacked the controls to the Archive. The heavy steel doors slid open screeching the entire time. Moss and vines that layered the outside were ripped in two. A burst of dusty air fell out of the room. As the group carefully filed in, Dr. Shim fell to her knees covering her mouth. Four skeletons were laying on the floor, untouched for centuries. The bones were covered in a layer of dust and sand. More tears rolled down her cheeks as memories of her colleagues, her friends, began to flood her mind. A familiar presence was re-awakened. It snickered, planting the seeds of doubt in those memories. Everything seemed so cold and empty, until she felt a steady hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” Alexander said. “We should go though.” Familiar growls of Fallen grew louder. Holly and Raven turned around to see a large group making their way through the Hall of Whispers. Dr. Shim nodded and stood. Oliver closed the door to the Archive and they made their way down the winding staircase. The clawing at the door behind them echoed through the empty halls and chasms of the Archive. The Archive was massive, exactly how Dr. Shim had left it. A huge pool of saturated coolant flooded the machinery below. Forty-foot tall tanks, dormant and frozen, bathed in the coolant. Catwalks once filled with scientists and maintenance workers sat abandoned. Large computer towers were planted in the ground; their thick cords were roots to a powerless mainframe. The ceiling to the circular room was so high it was bathed in darkness. A musty smell wavered through the Archive. Everything about the desolate place broke Dr. Shim’s heart. “Can you make the main computer work again Oliver?” “I can try, but it will take time. Point me to the main terminal.” Dr. Shim led the group to the Archive’s main computer hub. The single terminal sat unpowered like the rest of the Archive. Oliver floated above the terminal looking it over. “Give him time to work,” Ophelia said. “For now stay low the Fallen have found a way in.”