Destiny, Episode XV: The Summoning Pits

Previous Episode: Episode XIV, Chamber of Night
Next Episode: Episode XVI, The Stranger's Call

The Tower, the Last City, Earth
Day 035

             “-the Stranger sent coordinates and a date, then closed the comms channel.” Koga explained, leaning forward from his seat in the fireteam’s room. Basilisk leaned back into the couch, looking about as surly as an Exo could.

            “And those coordinates lead to Venus?” The Titan asked.

            “Specifically, the Ishtar Sink.” Kita helpfully answered. “Former home of the Ishtar Collective and their academy.” Basilisk shook his head.

            “Something about this rubs me the wrong way.” He muttered. The Exo looked up at his Ghost floating nearby. “I was Risen in that area, wasn’t I, Boudica?”

            “You were.” She replied before staring with her single eye at the Warlock across from her. “That whole area is in the hands of the House of Winter now. It would be incredibly dangerous to travel there.”

            “This is true.” Koga admitted. “But whoever contacted me contacted me specifically.” He paused for a moment before continuing. The sudden suspense drew his friends slightly closer, and even Basilisk leaned in just a touch from where he reclined. “When we arrived on Luna, as we were opening the Temple of Crota, I saw a woman.”

            “A woman?” Lisset repeated, surprised. “You never said anything about a woman.”

            “I did not, you are right.” The Warlock sighed. “I did not know what to make of what I saw. She was gone in a flash, though I do not know how or where. An Exo woman with blue internal lights wearing no helmet, staring down right at me.”

            There was a pregnant pause as the others processed the information. Lisset was the first to break the silence. “And you think this Exo is your ‘stranger’?” Koga shrugged, grimacing.

            “I do not know. But there is only one way to find out.” He hesitated for a moment. “It is very likely that going there is incredibly dangerous, I-“ Lisset interrupted by raising her hand.

            “We’re going with you, Koga.” The Hunter said, her eyes locking with his. “You don’t need to ask.” The Warlock looked over at Basilisk, who nodded in agreement. Koga’s lips tightened, uncertain if he was willing to accept their help, but before he could say anything, Kita chirped.

            “I hate to interrupt,” the Ghost started, “but I just received a message from the Vanguard. Ikora has need of us.” In a flash of blue light, the Warlock’s armor transmatted onto him. “It’s a Strike order.” As soon as the Ghost said it, the Hunter and Titan’s armor also materialized on their forms.

            “We’ll talk about this later.” Basilisk said, heading for the door. “Let’s not keep the Vanguard waiting.”

<><><><><><><> 

   Ikora and Zavala were waiting for the Guardians, standing over a dim holographic map of the Hellmouth’s inner workings. Lisset could feel a pit forming in her stomach – it was a safe bet that they would be going against the Hive, and that would be a nightmare and a half. Zavala noticed them first, and he stared up at them with that piercing gaze of his. “Paladins, to me.” His voice boomed in his permanent commanding tone.

            Basilisk came to a halt before the two mentors, and snapped a smart salute in the direction of Zavala. “We came as soon as we got the message, Commander.” The Exo nodded politely at Ikora. “It is good to see you, ma’am.”

            “It is good to see you too, Paladins.” The elder Warlock said. There was little subdued cheer in her voice like she usually had. She was worried, Koga quietly realized. “There is a situation developing in the Hellmouth that requires Guardian intervention.” She looked up at the veteran Titan. “Zavala?”

            As the Commander stared at all three Guardians as a section of the map began to automatically flash red, an area labeled only as “the Summmoning Pit.” “Fireteam, your assault on the Hive ritual yesterday has left the Hive confused and in disarray. Guardian forces are beginning to reclaim small sections of Luna, and the Hive are on the defensive for the first time in centuries.” Zavala started, his hands folded tight against his back. “We believe that is the reason why the Hive have accelerated a different ritual, one that we were not aware of until just now.”

            “I, and my fellow Warlocks, detected a strong energy emission coming from the Hellmouth consistent with major Hive rituals.” Ikora slid in, her voice even. “Hidden agents are confirming that the Hive have begun work on a summoning ritual, enhancing and empowering a massive Ogre known only as ‘Phogoth’ with Darkness. We can only assume that the Hive intend to use Phogoth to push us off the Moon and restart their offensive on Earth.” The elder Warlock looked at her Titan counterpart, then back to the Paladins. “Your task is simple. Break into the Hellmouth as rapidly as you can, find Phogoth, and destroy it before the ritual is complete.”

            “You can count on us.” Lisset replied confidently. “What do you know about Phogoth?”

            “Guardians have encountered enhanced Ogres only a few times in the City’s history.” Zavala answered. “In all cases, they reported them to be fierce opponents that seemed to ignore small arms fire and flew into berserker rages easily.”

            “We’ve dealt with Ogres before, we can deal with them again.” Basilisk spoke. “We’ll return when the mission is done.”

            “Then may the Traveler shine on you, Titan Basilisk.” Ikora interrupted, waving her hand towards the stairs behind the Paladins. “Show the Hive that their time on Luna has come to an end.”

<><><><><><><> 

            The Guardians landed where they had only a day before, not far from the auxiliary entrance to the Hellmouth. Spare shell casings and indiscernible footprints in the lunar dust covered the ground all the way from the ragged flag marking the landing zone to the stone tile at the foot of the Hive fortress. It was where Fireteam Nomad had made their assault, one that – as far as Basilisk knew – had ended with all three of them returning safe and sound to the Tower. It was a relief, a happy outcome to a quiet worry that had formed in the back of the Titan’s mind. It was bad enough he had seen all three helmeted figures in his dream the night after the mission – he didn’t want to have them torn to pieces in the real world as well.

            “What is our plan?” Koga asked, the Warlock pacing over to his comrades. Lisset folded her arms around her scout rifle as she came up with an answer.

            “We’re close enough to the entrance here to where this should be our best way in.” She said, thinking aloud. “If we head past the chamber where the Sword was, we should be able to navigate to the Pit. It seems it’s connected to the Circle of Bones.”

            “What isn’t?” Basilisk mused dryly. He patted the side of his pulse rifle, the sensation of gloved metal against metal a surprisingly easy way to snap the Titan into a fighting mood, before bringing it against his shoulder. “Alright, Paladins, let’s get this done.”

            Together, all three of them carefully walked towards the entrance of the Hellmouth, wary of ambushes. None came. In fact, the entire area seemed dead, completely and totally void of life, if one could consider the Hive to be such. “Something isn’t right.” Dal muttered, concerned. “Keep an eye out.”

            They made contact in the hallway where they had encountered the House of Exiles’ assault on the Hellmouth first, a small pack of Thrall feasting on what resembled Dregs put through a blender. The sight turned Lisset’s stomach, and her disgust quickly turned into anger. Her scout rifle bucked against her shoulder, and the first Thrall she saw burned away as the round punched through its thin chitin like a hot knife through butter. Its friends quickly realized there were intruders present, and got to their feet to charge at the three Guardians. They died quickly, however, gunned down without a second thought.

            “We must have done more damage than we thought.” Basilisk muttered over comms.

            “Hive breed fast, from what I understand.” Koga replied, suspicious. “I think they are hiding their true strength from us, leading us into an ambush.” As much as the others wished it wasn’t so, they knew that the Warlock was probably right. Lisset gripped her scout rifle tighter, her eyes practically glued to her motion tracker as she looked for something, anything, to trip the sensor, but nothing did. Quiet seconds passed as the Guardians made their way down to the chamber where Crota’s Sword had been stored. The great doors leading deeper into the Hive fortress were shut, and a series of runes ran up the center of the door, humming softly with arcane power.

            “A triptych of Hive runes. They’re said to be uncrackable.” Dal noted, flashing into reality before floating over them. “It’ll be just a minute.” Under his bulky helm, Basilisk rolled his eyes – he remembered the last time he had waited on a Ghost to open a door. The Titan shot an ugly glance over in Koga’s direction, the Warlock remaining blissfully unaware.

            “Spread out.” Basilisk ordered, his voice low. “Be ready for contact.” As if on cue, a low roar echoed through the Hellmouth, and suddenly all three Guardians’ motion trackers filled with red. Doors across the chamber slid open as Acolytes, Thralls, and Knights poured out, rushing towards the trespassers like an unholy wave. It wasn’t difficult to notice how ornate the chitin armor was on each Knight, and adorning what little the Acolytes could wear due to their station – the Hive were throwing Hallowed at them, hoping to drown the fireteam in a flood of elite warriors of the Darkness.

            “At least we have their respect now!” Koga yelled, firing his hand cannon into the horde. His first slug ricocheted against a Knight’s bony armor, and the thing raised a shield of black fire in front of it. Further shots were useless, absorbed by whatever defensive measure the Hive had concocted. When the dark aegis vanished, Koga noticed with some alarm that the scratch of the bounced slug had healed. “The Knights are doing something new!”

            “New?” Lisset repeated, concerned. “Now’s a bad time for ‘new.’”

            “They’re putting up shields when threatened.” The Warlock did his best to inform the others. He had really only good guesses as to what they were doing, but he had a hunch that he wasn’t far from the truth. “They absorb incoming fire and give time for the Knight to heal itself.” Lisset grimaced under her helmet, and fired a snap-shot at a Knight’s helmet. The round penetrated through, but it didn’t hit anything vital, as the warrior remained standing. Roaring in pain, it raised another burning shield. When the shield fell a few seconds later, the hole in the chitin that Lisset had created was gone.

            “This is bad.” The Hunter said, slipping back as a Thrall clawed at her.

            “I’m aware!” Basilisk growled, lobbing a grenade into the middle of the oncoming horde. The explosion blew away the Thrall unfortunate enough to be too close, and scorched the armor of anything else in the blast radius, but few of the Hallowed fell. Blinded and dazed, those closest rubbed at their three eyes, trying to re-orientate themselves. “Hit them now!” The Titan shouted, arc coursing through his body like a live wire as he charged forward. He brought the Fist down, and the Light he channeled flooded out towards the stunned Hallowed. They were disintegrated in a flash, burning away from reality as their molecules were torn apart in an instant.

Koga hurried to Basilisk’s side and quickly wrapped an arm around the Titan, wrenching him back up to his feet and behind cover. “Thanks, Koga.” The Exo huffed, regaining his stamina. The Warlock smiled under his robes and nodded politely at his fireteam lead. “Dal, status?”

“I’m getting there.” The Ghost replied, frustrated. “This thing is fighting me somehow. Patterns are rearranging, but I think there’s a connection-“

“Too much detail, Dal.” Lisset interrupted. “Just keep at it, we can’t stay here forever.” The Ghost paused to turn and look down at his keep.

“You don’t say?” Dal replied in a dry monotone. “No respect for what I have to do.” The Ghost mumbled only just audibly as he turned back to his work. Basilisk chuckled as he took his position alongside the others.

“Seems like you need to give him a raise, ‘Set.” Basilisk joked, raising his rifle. The Hunter rolled her eyes under her helmet, both at the Titan’s joke and his new nickname. It was inevitable, really – she had shortened his name, why wouldn’t he do the same in return?

Another howl from deeper in the Hellmouth snapped the Paladins back to the task at hand, and the doors opened once again to spawn another horde of oncoming Hive, this time supported by Wizards. As arc bolts splashed against the base of the doorway, the Guardians took what cover they could. The Hive had, handily, set up some form of defensive barricade, likely in anticipation of either a Guardian or Fallen assault, just wide enough for a single person. Koga took one, Lisset the other, leaving Basilisk to find shelter behind a large pillar stretching from the floor to an upper balcony, now filled with Hive. It made shooting down at him difficult, but the reverse was also true – it would be up to the two Guardians in the back to deal with the hostiles on high ground.

Koga lobbed a grenade at the balcony on the right. There was a flash against the ceiling, the actual explosion obscured by the lip of the structure, and then painful screeches from above.  Shredder fire still came from cowering Acolytes, but not nearly as much as there had been a few seconds prior. It wasn’t as good as seeing a corpse, but as far as confirming a kill went, it would have to do.

The Wizards in the center of the room were the greatest threat, cackling and chanting as they continued to lob blasts of arc towards the Paladins. They must have known that their shots were splaying uselessly against their own walls and barricades, but they continued regardless – their object was not to kill the Guardians outright. Pinned down by the endless barrage, the Wizards hoped to open the door for Thrall and Knights to surge forward, close, and destroy. It wasn’t something Lisset was going to let happen.

“Cover me.” She said, before closing her eyes. As she slipped into the trance, she could feel her Light flow through her, channeled into the knife she kept against her breastplate. Her comrades leaned out from cover, and began to fire back wildly in the direction of the oncoming Hive. They had little hope of hitting anything accurately, but they certainly could make something regret stepping out of cover – perfect targets for a Bladedancer.

Lisset sprinted forward, Arc Light sparking across every inch of her armor, as she rushed headlong towards the offending Wizards. They had to go first, and go they did. Her knife cut through their ritual shields with little trouble, hacking through and delivering the lethal energy straight to the floating Hive forms. When the last Wizard fell, Lisset turned towards the few Knights that posed an immediate threat, and they too were cut down without much fanfare. As the last one flashed out of existence, its molecules broken apart in a single spark of lightning and a final, lethal, slash with the knife, the trance ended.

“Get back here!” Basilisk shouted, lobbing a grenade to try to keep the Hive pinned. She nodded wearily and made her way back to her friends, her gait unsteady as her Light slowly flowed back into her. As she let her scout rifle materialize in her hands, the Titan looked over his shoulder at her. “Good work.” He said, simply.

“I am to please.” Lisset replied with a tired grin. She looked back at her Ghost. “Please tell me you’re nearly done there, Dal.”

“I’m nearly done here.” The Ghost repeated sarcastically. “I am almost done, I think I’ve cracked it.”

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Kita cut in, “but I’m detecting a build-up of energy in this chamber.”

“Hive reinforcements.” Koga realized, readying his hand cannon. There was an ear-splitting screech almost as soon as he said it, and a tear opened in the fabric of the world right next to the great chain stretching from the ceiling to the floor at the back of the room, where the Sword had once floated. From it clambered out a hulking Ogre, its roar shaking the ground before it slammed the ground. Purple energy lanced out from its forehead, seeking something to vent its eternal rage upon. A stream of it landed against the door a little too close for Dal’s comfort, and the Ghost floated higher.

“Will someone deal with that thing?” He shouted, exasperated. “I can’t open anything if I’m dead!” Koga grit his teeth – he had been readying himself for when it would be his turn to channel his Light during this engagement, and it seemed like that time had finally come. He felt power flow from his body to his hand, and a orb of void energy formed against his palm. Jumping up, he immediately caught the Ogre’s attention, and shot after shot of dark power splashed against his shield. It would only take a second or two for the monster to cut through the Warlock’s armor of Light and kill him, but the abomination would not be given such time. The Warlock thrust his hand forward, and the Nova Bomb arced towards the Ogre, whistling impossibly as it headed towards its target. There was a blinding flash as the bomb of pure Void Light exploded point-blank against the warbeast’s face, and when the room dimmed enough for one to see, there was no Ogre left.

The remaining Hive were wise enough to know when they were beaten, and slowly they left the room, abandoning their assault. They were consolidating for the next, of course, but a victory was still a victory for Basilisk. He hurried over to where Koga had landed, and put a gauntleted hand on his shoulder as the Warlock recovered.

“I got it!” Dal yelled, flashing out of existence and back into his keep’s armor. “The door’s open.” Sure enough, the runes that locked the gateway shut burned away as they had at the Temple of Crota, and the great door opened slowly, revealing the way forward. Phogoth awaited them somewhere ahead.

<><><><><><><> 

            The path forward to the Circle of Bones was different from the last time the Guardians had come through. All traces of the Fallen incursion into the Hellmouth were gone now, removed by the Hive either for study or scorn. If Basilisk had to guess, it’d be the latter, but one could never say for sure. There were more Hive in the way, of course, but compared to the knock-down, drag-out fight that had just occurred, it felt like fighting against a soft summer’s breeze.

            The Hive defending the Circle itself weren’t much better. They seemed wary of the Guardians, unwilling to attack them – although perhaps they had been ordered to bide their time and wait for the chance to strike when the Guardians were at their worst. It was more than a little unnerving to have dozens of green eyes watching you, sizing you up, wondering how to best tear you apart. The Titan’s grip on his pulse rifle tightened.

            Two Hallowed Knights stood at the entrance to what the Vanguard believed to be the Summoning Pits, although the doorway seemed far less grandiose than the Paladins had come to expect of the Hive. The possibility of bad intel was a very real one, and they would have to think fast to accomplish their objective if it turned out they had fought their way down to the galaxy’s best defended doughnut shop.

            The Knights tried to keep them out, of course, but there was little they could do to stop a full fireteam of Guardians, and they died quickly to Lisset and Basilisk’s shotgun and Koga’s fusion rifle. Through the door they went, and immediately the light began to dim, then change. Unnatural colors began to appear, deep blues and dull oranges. “This is unusual.” Koga noted.

            “We must be getting close.” Lisset replied. A large roar, louder and closer than ever before, emanated from ahead, proof to the Hunter’s guess.

            “Stay sharp.” Basilisk muttered over comms, taking the lead. The small cavernous hallway twisted and turned until it led them to a final door, again small and unceremonious like the one that had preceded it. It opened slowly to reveal a room far larger than any they had ever seen before, and something massive standing in its center.

            The chamber was less of a “pit” and more of an arena, a massive open space broken up only by the high walls of rock and Hive stone on its flanks and tall platforms near each side, firing or observation positions rather than support columns. In the distance, well past where the Summoning Pit ended, there was a bright light shining from what looked like a hole against the inner walls of the Moon, but it shone with an unnatural white light. It struck Lisset as being less of an exit to the surface, and more of being a portal to something else entirely. She shuddered slightly as she looked at it – it felt like it was looking back at her.

            In the center of the room was a truly massive Ogre, two stories tall or higher, with a molted and gruesome face and a hulking form. In the center of its chest was a strange thing that pulsed at an aggressive tempo, and wrapped around both of its arms were chains. “Good thing it’s chained up.” Kita joked nervously. Phogoth roared, pulling at the chains holding it back, as soon as the Guardians stepped into the room - it sensed their Light, and it was driving the massive Ogre into a frenzy.

            The Hive attending to the monstrosity were as aware as it was that bearers of Light had entered the chamber, and immediately they scrambled to respond. Strangely, none of them had made a move to unshackle Phogoth from its bindings.

            “Clear them out, quickly!” Basilisk shouted, firing his pulse rifle down at the warriors of Darkness. Boomer shots began to explode around the Guardians as they opened fire. Lisset looked up to see Knights standing on those tall pillars, freshly deployed reinforcements attempting to strike from above.

            “Knights, up high!” She shouted, her scout rifle kicking against her shoulder. Her target fell quickly, but the one behind it was wise enough to back off and wait for help. Phogoth continued to roar as the battle raged around him.

            Koga pushed forward, down and towards the base of the left wall, his hand cannon bucking against his palm as he put down Acolyte after Acolyte. A Knight rushed forward, sword in hand, but the Warlock ducked underneath the initial swing, swapped to his fusion rifle, and unloaded the barely stable energy contained within the weapon point-blank into the Knight’s chitin armor. The thing disintegrated instantly, leaving behind not even a trace of dust. Koga switched back to his hand cannon and continued shooting, pausing only to reload and throw the occasional grenade into the horde.

            Where Koga pushed left, Lisset pushed right, heading down to face an incoming wave of Thrall on her own. Her scout rifle was gone in favor of her shotgun, and the heavy weapon punched against her every time she pulled the trigger. The pain was worth it, though – the Thrall fell to dust as buckshot pierced through their fragile armor without hesitation. A Wizard, infuriated, rushed out towards the Hunter, but Lisset bounced back as it produced a black stinging cloud where she had been standing and rolled out of the way of a wave of arc bolts before readying her light machine gun. The heavy weapon shook her to the bone, and the Wizard died shrieking in the face of the high caliber onslaught.

            With his comrades gone, Basilisk stood in the middle, letting his pulse rifle do the talking. Phogoth was his only target, and he unloaded everything he could into its skull, but nothing seemed to work. He could see, even from where he stood a few meters away, bullets glancing off its unusually tough skin or burrowing partially into it. All it seemed to do was piss the monster off more, who shook and shouted and pulled at its chains harder and harder until there was an impossible, horrific snap. The abomination raised its arms above its head, triumphant, and the Titan could see half of the chain came with it. Phogoth was free, and the first thing it did was stare straight at Basilisk and start shooting.

<><><><><><><> 

            As bolts of purple fire smacked into the Exo’s shield, Basilisk rolled desperately out of the way, diving behind what little cover there was. There were no convenient barricades here, not up at the entrance where the Titan stood. All there was between him and the completely enraged Hive abomination was a round crate or pillar that had placed there for some incomprehensible purpose. “I’m pinned down here!” Basilisk shouted over comms, trying his best to sound like he wasn’t panicking. It wasn’t entirely working.

            “Bas!” Lisset yelled, rushing back up the right side to try to assist her comrade. As soon as Phogoth saw her, it immediately began to stomp towards her, the entire chamber shaking with every massive footfall. With its attention diverted, Basilisk got his feet and quickly scrambled towards better cover. Lisset, meanwhile, quickly realized the folly of her decision, and stopped short, ducking behind the high wall to avoid exposing herself to the Ogre’s eyebeams.

Shots sparked against the monster’s back, and Phogoth turned to face its challenger. Koga leaned back behind cover as a torrent of eyebeams was lanced in his direction, reloading his revolver. The shots had done little, but they had at least bought Lisset some time to recover and plan out her next move. Phogoth stomped closer, the eyebeams still splashing against the wall.

“Anyone got any ideas?” Basilisk shouted over the din of the abomination. He was really starting to get tired of being drowned out in a vacuum.

“It has to have a weakness!” Koga yelled. “If you can distract it for a second, I can try to find it!” The Exo glared at him under his heavy helm.

“Anyone have any better ideas than making me a big target?” Basilisk asked sarcastically. “Anyone? No?” He sighed. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” Clenching his jaw tight, the Titan rounded the corner of his cover and lobbed a grenade at the face of the abomination.

The flashbang did little to Phogoth other than scorch the flesh near where it had gone off and further drive the warbeast into a battle frenzy, and soon a volley of void fire was aimed right at the exposed Guardian’s head. Basilisk cussed loudly and as profane as a soldier could as he sprinted away, darting around from rock to rock to keep the Ogre guessing.

Koga peeked out himself, the monster too distracted to notice the robed warrior examining it as best as he could. From a distance, Phogoth did indeed look like any other Ogre the Warlock had seen before, and he could spy from here how little damage they had done to it. However, the strange growth on Phogoth’s chest, pulsing and shuddering rhythmically as the warbeast moved and fought. In and out it contracted and expanded, in and out, in and out...

A sudden idea struck the Warlock like a lightning strike, and he raised his hand cannon, aiming carefully straight for the pulsing mass. Squeezing the trigger, the gun kicked against him like a mule, and the round flew straight and true straight into Phogoth. The abomination howled in pain as the bullet passed straight through, unfettered by chitin or thick skin. When it recovered, it turned its ire towards the direction of the bullet, but Koga had already taken cover. “The thing on Phogoth’s chest – it is a heart! Shoot it there!”

“Aim for the heart, got it!” Basilisk confirmed, readying his rocket launcher in a second. The Titan rounded his cover and leveled the weapon straight at Phogoth’s chest before pulling the trigger. The rocket sped out of the breech, heading straight for its target, but Phogoth quickly responded. It moved its hands forward like a screen, covering the heart carefully, and the rocket exploded against its arms uselessly.

“Rockets are too slow, we’ll have to use guns!” Lisset said, readying her machine gun. Basilisk growled another curse and swapped to his pulse rifle. Koga, meanwhile, hefted his own machine gun. It was time for Phogoth to die.

The abomination uncovered its chest, marching forward relentlessly towards the Guardians in the hopes of finally crushing its tormentors once and for all. As soon as it got close, the three members of Fireteam Paladins rounded the corner and opened fire, their weapons flashing and sparking silently in the lunar vacuum. Phogoth’s rage had blinded it, and as round after round pushed through the soft flesh of its heart, all it could do was scream and shout in endless pain before finally collapsing, its entire body burning and disintegrating, leaving not even a trace of dust behind to mark its passing.

Panting in exertion and relief, the Guardians paced to where Phogoth had fallen, the arena now cleansed of its existence. “Are we clear?” Basilisk asked, releasing a spent magazine to the floor before slowly sliding another in.

“Tracker is clear.” Lisset answered. “I think we’re done here.” Slowly, the Titan nodded, before looking at Koga. “I think I’ve experienced the Moon enough for two lifetimes.”

“Then Venus awaits.” Koga muttered grimly. “Kita, call our ship.”

“Already on it.” The Ghost replied. “Let’s hope our friend was exaggerating about how bad it was out there.”

“I don’t think we’re that lucky, Kita.” Lisset noted sourly, staring out at that white hole in the universe off in the distance. She could almost swear that she could see eyes peering back at her through it.