​

​     Thorsday morning (ONE):

     Trevor Harper found himself at the end of a long hallway.

​     Oh no, not the hallway again, he thought. I'd hoped we'd gotten past this shit. Oh well, get it over with.

​     The hall had crap piled floor-to-ceiling against each wall. Dark hallway. Doors lined each side, some opened, others closed. The only illumination came from some of the doors that were open. Trevor took a single step forward. A viper slid down from overhead, from near the ceiling, to bite at his face. As quick as thought, he snatched the snake by the back of its skull. He slid his laser-razor out from where he kept it strapped to his waist. He bisected the viper with one swipe.

     His foot bumped against something on the floor.

     A turtle of some kind, Trevor thought, because it was round like a turtle shell or a helmet, but...no. It wasn't a turtle at all. It was nothing like a turtle. It opened like a top hat tilting on a head in greeting, and from it emerged a guts-colored tendril as strong as rope with a grasping fist at its end. Damn!

​     Trevor leaped up and did a complete forward somersault in the air, and as he did he whipped out his laser-razor a second time. He sliced the rope thing in half. He hit the floor shoulder first, then rolled back to his feet, ready, expectant.

     His next attacker came from an open door.

     It was a monster, glittering pink. It was all arms and legs and claws and fangs.

     What it didn't have was ears. It couldn't hear.

     Okay, Trevor thought. There's my advantage right there.

     "Bye," he said.

     He disappeared. He became invisible.

     The monster turned his way and roared. It didn't have ears, but it did have a nose. It could smell Trevor. Sniff. He started Trevor's way. Sniff. Sniff. Trevor had his laser-razor at the ready. As soon as the monster got to within...

     The monster faded.

     The hallway faded.

     Trevor found himself back floating in his training tank.

     He threw on his vision goggles.

     Why had the training session ended so abruptly?

     The answer flooded into this mind. That's how the Azure communicated, through telepathic visualization. An image appeared in Trevor's mind of him back on Earth.​

​     I'm going back? Trevor asked with his thoughts.

​     The image in Trevor's mind brightened. That meant the Azure agreed with what he just thought.

​     Trevor teared up. He couldn't help it. Dear Lord, he thought. After more than a year of being in this so-very-alien environment, I am, at long last, returning home.

​                                                       CONTINUE