As the away team considers their options within the sewers of the citadel, Katsu finds herself still standing beneath the oozing black form of the demonic figure. Her brain attempts to push through the fog of her earlier compulsion, and whilst the haze is still thick, the dark, dripping body sparks the memory of an old mission report. A single word hovers in the back of her throat. Armus.

“What are you?” She asks.

“I have been called many things; you may call me Azrael. If you so wish.” The creature bows, its horns scraping on the stone roof, causing a flutter of sparks along with a high-pitched screech. “You did not intend to be here?”

“I intend to get out,” Katsu replies coolly. “Are you the master of this realm?”

The creature hums as it scratches a skeletal chin with a long claw.

“I would not say master, not of this realm at least. Perhaps a different one.”

“So you are a guest, like me?”

“An unwilling one, much like you.”

“So we have something in common. What is your goal?”

“I have no goal. I am simply here.”

Katsu looks over the tall cryptid, attempting to peer through the permanent rictus smile across the creature’s face. It seems truthful, at least in the sense that it has not lied, but she reminds herself that an omission is still not truth.

“How long will you stay here?” Katsu asks, changing tact.

“I’ve been here all the time. And none of the time.”

“So time is irrelevant.”

The creature smiles even wider, the tips of grin almost reaching it’s tall horns.

“An astute little human. How can time have any meaning when there is no time?”

Katsu considers the question, given all they have seen here in this land perhaps time is as meaningless as everything else.

“What do you seek?” The creature asks with a soft maternal voice.

“Answers, why we are here, a way out.”

“I can give you one of those things.”

Another drip of the oily liquid hisses against the water.

“Are you alone?” Azrael enquires, its eyes turning downward with sadness.

“Maybe.”

“It is a sad thing to be alone. To exit, you must take a leap, to go up, you must go down. It would be easier if you were not alone.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere beyond those doors.” Azrael points to a pair of sturdy wooden doors at the end of the room. “Alas, I cannot fit through those doors.”

“Are you a prisoner?”

“Are you not?”

Its horns scrape against the roof demonstrably and Katsu realises that the creature may be a prisoner of it’s own form rather than by any malignant intention.

“I do have a gift, though.” The creature retreats towards a wide desk, covered in strange objects. In the paltry sunlight of the roof grate, Katsu glimpses patches of dried skin, bone pressing through grotesquely, and she is knocked by a sudden sense of pity for the creature. It scoops up a small leather-bound diary from the table and reaches out with a clawed hand towards Katsu.

“Another like you came through here before and left this behind.”

Katsu quickly flicks through the journal and begins to recognise a familiar narrative.

First Officers Log, we have arrived at Zercan 2…

She turns the page.

First Officer’s Log, Pioneer is on approach to the SS Curie…

She continues to turn the pages, and she begins to realise the journal contains the personal logs of the ship’s first officer, Kal Rane.

“Thank you, now I know where to start,” Katsu offers a respectful bow. “If you’ll excuse me.”

The pair look at each other for a moment as Katsu considers her next step. Eyeing the pair of doors at the end of the chamber, she makes he way towards them and, opening them, reveals a small staircase leading down. Beyond, she can hear indistinct voices and the sounds of spoons scraping against bowls. She turns back for a last glance at the creature and sees only that ever-present smile as she closes the door.

Orlan and Daes are still hovering at the mouth of the chamber containing the thalaron generator, considering their options, considering they are likely outmatched by the two Reman scientists. Orlan attempts to survey the generator from a distance but can’t see much apart from the dome-shaped device and the power cable that disappears deeper into the water.

Orlan takes a fallen piece of stone from the walls and lobs it towards the generator, which emits a loud ringing sound that echoes down the chamber, catching the attention of the two Remans. They begin moving towards Orlan’s hiding place, exchanging silent instructions.

Daes moves up to the opening as the pair prepares to catch the targets off guard.

As the two Remans round the corner, they take their opportunity and leap onto the pair. A back and forth of melee strikes follows, and Orlan struggles to grapple his foe into the water whilst Daes goes for the second target. Both Reman’s stand their ground, holding their own against the surprise assault.

From a corner further down the corridor, Lee rushes across to help Orlan, who seems to be struggling to hold his ground, dashing across the small wooden bridge and striking the tall man with a fist to the side. Orlan takes the opportunity to give an extra push, and the Reman falls back, stumbling into the water and falling to the floor.

Daes continues to struggle with the female Reman, wrestling back and forth as Lee and Orlan make their strike. The Reman attempts to take advantage of the distraction, but Daes converts her effort into a counter and swings the woman around, slamming her against the wall and knocking her to the floor.

Everyone stops as they wait to see if their suspicion about the water is true, having heard the sizzle of Shaw’s boot earlier. To their surprise, the man stands from the water, angry but fine.

Seeing themselves outnumbered, the pair of Reman’s opt to retreat and race down the corridor deeper into the sewers. Their splashing footsteps echo off the stony walls as the three officers choose not to pursue. Instead, the trio head up into the generator chamber to examine the device further. As they examine the bulbous device, Orlan can now see the thick white power cable tracing its way back through the sewers in the direction they came from.

Katsu enters the dining room with confidence to find three officers, dressed in dark blue jumpsuits, eating at a long wooden table. On their shoulders, a mission patch reads a familiar word, ‘Pioneer’, and Katsu has a moment of déjá vu as she remembers their recent mission to Vanadel colony, where they discovered the time-locked NX-era Pioneer before it was lost to a temporal explosion.

The nearby Tellerite pats the bench next to him, stunning Katsu out of her recollection.

“Another friend for dinner, it seems, you are always welcome!” He pushes a pewter bowl filled with some stew towards her. “Well, eat up!”

Katsu eyes the bowl suspiciously as she sits down, the prepared vegetables and potato dumplings bobbing in the broth seductively. Without hesitation, she scoops up several spoonfuls into her hungry mouth. A warm feeling washes over her at the taste of the satisfying stew.

“Been on the road a while, then have you?” The Tellarite jokes as she takes another hurried few spoonfuls.

“It feels like it’s been forever.”

“Well, it will do, when time is meaningless.” He grins. “What brings you here?”

“I’m looking for a way out,” Katsu manages between mouthfuls.

“Oh, we’ve been at it for a while now.” He looks to his compatriots and shrugs. “Something about a leap, I dunno…”

Suddenly, a groaning cry interrupts the conversation from a nearby store room and the Vulcan across the table twitches.

“I think it’s your turn Ta’nel,” The Tellerite instructs.

The Vulcan rises, a strange emotion creeping beneath the stoic lines of their face as they walk slowly to the pantry door. Disgust perhaps? Or regret?

“What is that?” Katsu asks as the Vulcan disappears into the room, the groaning continues to rise in volume.

“Oh, nothing. One of our colleagues got injured. We’re tending to him.” The Tellerite man nods towards Katsu’s half-empty bowl. “Eat up.”

“Have you seen any sign of an exit?” Katsu asks, lifting a spoon of the stew to her lips.

“Not really…” He pauses momentarily. ” To be honest, we stopped looking a while back. We’ve got food, we’re safe. It seems like a good enough place to stay for a while. Someone will find us soon enough.”

They discuss some more, Katsu becoming increasingly irritated by the Tellerite’s intractability. He is adamant that they should stay here and wait for assistance, despite Katsu’s repeated protestations that they are giving up. Eventually, it becomes clear that the argument is falling on deaf ears, and when the grumbling from the pantry begins again, tensions come to a head when Katsu offers her medical training. The tellerite dismisses her with unexpected aggression and exiles her back to the sewers, stating that she isn’t welcome at their table any longer.

Katsu departs reluctantly and as she rises she catches a flash of something unsettling. The large bowl of stew sat in the centre of the table, turning green and sickly whilst the smell of bloody, turning meat filled the air. She closes the door, preferring not to consider the implications further.

As Daes and Orlan continue to track the power cable through the waterways, Lee takes the opportunity to explore the last corner of the sewers. As she cautiously takes a few steps around a corner, the passageway opens up into a larger room, and she spots a large hulking shadow hidden amongst the shadows of the dim light. Between them, another grate in the floor allows the water to swirl away into the depths.

The being heaves with heavy breaths, and Lee recognises the familiar lizard-like form of a Gorn, cowering in the corner.

She edges forward, further into the room, whilst keeping the exit in view behind her.

“Hello? Are you friendly?” Lee calls out, casting her mind back to the more friendly Gorn they encountered on the road. The creature rises and crosses towards her with a giant slab of meat in its hand.

“You feed?” it groans.

“No, but that looks very tasty,” she nods towards the slab of meat in its hand, which drips into the water with thick bloody drops of liquid.

“It is…” A wide snarl spreads across its face. “…tasty.”

“Do I look tasty?”

“I do not know, perhaps. I have not tasted you.” The creature looks to her quizzically.

“Maybe another time.”

“Maybe…” The Gorn turns and returns to its corner, and in the light, Lee catches the glinting of various rings and shackles embedded in its skin. She takes a wide look around the room but doesn’t see any evidence of chains.

“Are you free?” She asks.

“You are very strange with all the questions. I am here, here is home, this is my safe.”

“Here is not my home,” Lee clarifies quickly.

The creature laughs lightly.

“No, this is Sarnack’s home, you do not live here.”

“Hello, Sarnack, I’m Marsha.”

“Is Marsha far from home?”

“I do not know.”

“Is Marsha from there?” He points a clawed finger to the roof.

“I’m not from anywhere around here.”

He frowns, causing the bony crest on the top of his long head to point upright, catching the light with their needle-fine tips.

“Then you should go home Marsha.”

“I am trying,” she sighs “Do you know how to get home?”

“If you are not from up, then you do not need to go down. Down is where you go to go up.”

“Where do I go down?”

He eyes the grate.

“Wherever you wish. Down is Up.”

He lifts the slab of meat, and Lee sees the humanoid foot on the end of it.

Lee’s nerves twitch, and she thanks the Gorn for his time and starts backing out of the room. As the giant reptile waves the disembodied leg to her as she disappears around the corner, she catches his sibilant words at the edge of her hearing.

“Goodbye, Marsha, of the no-taste.”

The group reconvenes near the entrance to the sewers, where Daes had discovered the cable disappears into the large grate that Shaw had found earlier. She tentatively lowers herself into the rushing water, whilst holding on to the metallic sides as an anchor, but sees only darkness accompanied by the clear sound of the water disappearing into some vast drain. The sound is almost deafening now that she is in the current, and through the murky water, she catches a glimpse of the large cable that fades away into the darkness.

“Down to go up,” she whispers and lets the current take her.

Orlan, Katsu and Lee follow suit and gingerly lower themselves into the water, feeling the power of the water drag them deeper into the unknown.

Shaw stands at the edge hesitantly, his feet momentarily unwilling to follow his head. He lets out a Klingon expletive and then takes the leap.

As they bob in the pitch darkness, the pressure of the water eases, and a sense of peace descends on the group in the dark. As the seconds tick by, the wetness of the water dissipates as they feel solid ground beneath their feet. As they begin to take a few steps forward, the sound of their boots against stone fills their ears as the rushing sound of water disappears. The air turns cooler, goosebumps racing across their skin.

The stone floor turns to steps and a curving wall.

Ahead of them, a pale moonlight peeks into the darkness.

Finally, they emerge from a curving staircase into a round stone room with wooden floors and stained glass windows of strange geometric shapes and designs. Another staircase works its way up to the next floor ahead. Across from them, six stone pillars line the far edge of the room, clad in flowing dark blue mantles and at its centre, a pair of identically dressed Vulcans.

“You wish to go up?”