“Jason, how long until the relic is cleaned up and ready? I want to see it as soon as possible,” I ask. All of the tactical teams just returned to Affinity; the relic transport got here just a few minutes ago.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take the lab to process the relic, it’s not exactly a regular artifact. I’m sure if you go there and ask whoever’s handling the sterilization and cleaning, they’ll be able to give you an estimate,” Jason says. The rest of the crew on the command deck are looking at me, wondering if I need them for anything else.

“Back to your regular posts everyone, the hard work’s done for today,” I say. “Okay Jason, I’m going to go down to the lab, let me know if anything worth knowing happens.”

I turn around and walk off the command deck, back into the transport. Moments later I am walking towards the lab, the lab with my relic. The lab is a long corridor, a dozen individual working labs on both sides, most of them housed in glass rooms, so that work being done is observable from outside. My relic is not in one of these labs, my relic went straight to the private sealed labs at the end of the corridor. All the lab doors slide open as I walk by, I have access to all the research being done on Affinity, private or public. When I arrive at the end of the hall I turn right and enter lab thirteen. Staff are scurrying all over the place inside and when I enter the lab the hurrying only intensifies. The chief of research walks over, she looks excited.

“Hello Miss, we are very interested in your find here, it’s not often that one of these fabled relics are able to be studied. We have run some preliminary tests, so far, we are not finding anything useful, but nevertheless, we will learn what we can. Due to the special nature of this artifact, I have reassigned our best to work on this project full time. What can I do for you?” She’s beaming, positively ecstatic, far more excited than I feel like is appropriate for the situation, even given the circumstances.

“What’s got you in such a good mood, I know we’ve got something special here, but you look about to burst with excitement?” I ask, and as I do, she blushes deeply.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh, yes Miss, I’ve seen something in the relic. I saw myself at the altar, I’m marrying the man of my dreams… I’m sorry, I know it’s personal, but I’ve never experienced anything like it, I saw it happening as if it was right in front of my eyes. My apologies if I am being too forward,” she says. I can’t blame her, my first interaction with a relic changed the very course of my life, so I understand the feeling.

“Don’t worry about it honey. Is it ready for me to go in and see it?” I ask. She nods her head.

“Yes, of course, go ahead, would you like me to clear the lab?” she asks.

“Yes actually, do that,” I say. and just like that, everyone starts to exit the lab, leaving behind instruments and equipment wherever they lie.

“I’ll leave you to it,” she says, and with that she leaves with the rest of the scientists.

Lab thirteen is laid out with a main floor and an observation room. I enter the main floor where the relic sits, now suspended in a gravity field, removed from its pedestal. It is a perfect sphere, about forty centimeters in diameter. When I look towards the orb, it’s almost as if it evades my gaze. The orb doesn’t move, but it takes a conscious effort to look directly at it. After a few moments of trying to stare at the orb, it takes me. I see a vision, not in the orb, but I can see a scene in my mind’s eye, as if I am remembering an event. I see huge sweeping fields, trees and tall grasses, a beautiful blue sky with sparse clouds. In the sky are three ships, my ships. I can see Affinity’s call sign etched into the sides of the crafts, attack ships. Now I can see the ground; a beautiful mansion, surrounded by my Alpha, Beta, and Gamma teams, full assault outfit. The lead vessel starts laying down live fire and explosive ammunition into the mansion, and Gamma team starts to advance towards the building.

Then, the ships begin to fall, they fall as if they were rocks with no aptitude for flight. They plummet towards the earth below them. When I look back to the ground, Alpha and Beta teams lay sprawled across the field, charred and burned, Gamma team nowhere to be seen. The tall grasses of the fields start to burn, the once beautiful blue sky now a dark red, tainted with the black smoke from the fields ablaze.

The vision dissipates, my last glimpses are of the red sky and burning fields. I don’t understand; is this vision a reality or a message? Should I take this at face value or is there a deeper meaning, is this a metaphor?

I don’t understand.