Paradigm Shift

Maria

Delithita would not speak. Though her voice was restored, she was as silent as the Mercurian plain. Since her attack on the other Ghosts, she had not spoken, could not bear to face any of them, or anyone else, for that matter.

Tycho, who had enjoyed her company and was more of a friend to her than the other Ghosts dared be, was worried. He found her one day sitting in the cockpit of her Shepard, so still and silent he at first thought she was dead. When he went to her and called her name, she shook her head vigorously and shut him out completely.

"Come on, Del," he'd said. "Get down and tend your garden, at least. Xeno's planting tomatoes everywhere."

Del did not respond. Only a single tear flowed down her cheek at the mention of her garden, and she gazed straight ahead with agony in her eyes.

Tycho sat there for as long as he could, trying to coax her out of the Shepard, but failed. He sat at the foot of the vehicle, determined to maintain a vigil until Del either left the vehicle or fell asleep so he could sedate her and drag her to the infirmary.

Neither happened. After thirty hours of waiting and tinkering with his Basilisk, he sat down in the cockpit to reset some circuits, tipped over, and fell asleep.

When he awakened, the Shepard-- and Del-- was gone.

-----

Icey found the note as he searched the vehicle bay for her. It was wedged between the joints of her Executioner, hanging over the red D painted there.

The note had one line: "Do not search for me." Icey ripped the note to shreds and hurled it to the floor, staring at the fluttering pieces as they stubbornly refused to be hurled and drifted downward like snowflakes.

Snowflakes. What an odd idea, he thought. The last time he had seen snow was on Io, where the snow was yellow sulfur dioxide. He shook his head. Snow in the colony was about as likely as snow outside in the Sun.

He looked up at the ceiling. There was water in the air; all that was needed was a certain chilling and crystallization. He could probably rig such a thing in the environmental controls. That would annoy Del, seeing her garden frosted out.

Del, he thought, and glanced at the door. She had gained some kind of abilities similar to Maria, and nearly killed all the Ghosts before she realized what she was doing. The guilt was tearing her apart.

"Well then, Del, I'm sure since you are concerned about our well-being, and you have these powers," he said aloud, "Perhaps you'll show yourself before the Cybrids get me!"

With that, he climbed into his Gorgon, fired it up, and went to search.

-----

Del stood motionless out on the plain, three hundred kilometers from the colony, near the center of Ibsen Crater. Ibsen had been the site of the Antipode Medical Response Station, the Eighth Imperial Garrison, and the first attack on the Antipode by the Cybrids. It was kind of ironic: it was where she and the other Ghosts lived, and now it was where she went to get away from the Ghosts.

She passed by what was left of Maria's house, and the two Cybrid structures to the north, that the Ghosts had leveled several years previously. The main base that had existed several kilometers to the southwest was gone, and now nothing remained in Ibsen but a few ruins and the old Ghosts hideout inside a cliff wall.

That was her destination, and she drove her vehicle into the opening, transmitting the recognition sequence. The doors slid open, admitting her, and closed behind her, as smoothly as they had when Maria first installed them.

She turned the vehicle, then, and fired a few quick shots at the door's rim. Molten rock ran liquid down the seams for a few minutes, slowly cooling and forming a seal.

She was now sealed in, and would remain so.

She dropped out of the Shepard and made her way to her old quarters, opened the door, and threw herself on the bed.

A moment later, she looked up, switched on the light, and stared at the table where she had done her hydroponics experiments.

She was stunned.

The tanks were full of water that should have evaporated years previously. Plants bloomed with luxurious growth, spilling out of the tanks until the entire table was covered with green. Flowers of various colors hung from the plant stems, and an occasional fruit or vegetable grew from the diverse collection.

She stood, approached the plants, and reached out her hand to touch a single red rose, a twin of the one in her quarters back at the colony.

She had never planted a rose in that tank.

Tears filled her eyes as she looked over the collection of vibrant plants.

She looked up at the mirror behind the plants, as she saw movement there.

"Maria!"

"I figured you would want me to take care of them," the spectral form said. She looked weak, and tired, and her image was faint and fluttering. Their battle must have taken a lot out of her. Del had almost killed her.

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut to try to stop the flow of tears. It didn't work, and she found herself sobbing into her plants.

Maria approached her, at least she projected some sense of closer proximity, comforting her. "You stopped yourself, and that is what matters," Maria said quietly. "You are capable of so much. Don't shut everyone out like this. Don't shut me out. I may be able to help you."

"I can't be around anyone! I almost killed--"

"Hush. And look."

Del forced herself to open her eyes, and as she did so, a tear fell from her cheek and into the tank of nutrient fluid.

As she watched, the plant nearest where it fell, a tiny soybean sprout, began to change.

It expanded, shooting up a thin stem half a meter long, with two leaves opening like a bird spreading its wings. More leaves grew, sprouting from the junctions of the stems, and soon it flowered.

Del stared at it.

Maria smiled. "You can choose what to do with your abilities. I think I know which you'll decide." With that, she vanished.

Del studied the soybean plant that had exploded into life, and traced her finger under her wet eyes.

-----

Icey was pissed. The Cybrid force he ran into, a trio of Executioners, had damaged his vehicle's leg servos and crippled it. Fortunately, he was only several kilometers from the colony and was able to get back after he destroyed them, but he had to break off his search for Delithita.

The Gorgon staggered into the Herc bay, and he fastened his suit and walked to the main entrance. As he placed his hand on the opening plate and entered, he looked up suddenly. Something was odd.

There was nothing there, of course, and he shook his head. He continued down the corridor, passing through the other airlock to the interior of the colony.

He blinked.

It was snowing.

Xeno's voice sounded in his helmet, addressing the colony at large. "Don't worry, people, we are currently examining the situation and working to correct it. Atmospheric control is working fine, but the temperature is lowered twenty degrees, nothing more... Xenogears out..."

"Icey to Xenogears? What the hell?"

"I think you can figure out what's happening," she retorted. "It's snowing in all corridors and sections in the colony. Rooms are not affected."

"Impossible," Icey said flatly. Fantasma had nearly a hundred separate environmental controls, and the odds of all of them suddenly going weird was a fat zero.

"Tell me something I don't know, Icey, or get off the line and let me think."

"How long has this been going on?"

"It started right when you left."

"Copy. Icey out."

Perhaps he could go play hockey on the pool in the garden level.

The garden level. Del's garden! he thought, and took off at a dead run to the nearest lift.

-----

Altas, his internal heating mechanisms working overtime, stood in front of the main gardens on the east side of Level Four, running a sensor over the ground, when Icey found him. Strangely, there was not a single snowflake anywhere on the plants themselves, though there was a foot of snow in a rough circle around the gardens.

"The ground and air temperatures right here are normal. Unfortunately, considering the state of the rest of the colony, this particular vortex of high-temperature high pressure is not exactly normal..."

"Okay..." Icey stepped into the clear area, immediately feeling the temperature difference. "See if you can't get some of this snow cleared."

"I'm a pilotform, not a snowplow," the Cybrid said acidly.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go check the pool."

"Frozen solid," Altas said.

"Excellent."

-----

"The snowstorm seems to be over," Xenogears said quietly in the briefing room later that day. "There is no indication, however, of where the snow came from. And the temperature, while no longer below freezing, is not exactly standard."

Razorback grunted. "How do we get the stuff out of the colony? Shovel it out the door?"

"Maybe we can rig some of the smaller utility trucks with snowsuckers, melt it down, and return it to the tanks where it belongs," Tycho suggested.

"How much water would you say is frozen out?" Jehrico said suddenly.

Xenogears looked blank. "I couldn't even hazard a guess. Half our supply at least."

"Then why are our tanks at normal levels?"

Xenogears stared at him. "Impossible."

"Checked it just before I came here."

"You will also notice that items such as this table," and Icey rapped the stone surface with his knuckles, "Are not wet."

The Ghosts looked at the table in confusion. "Interesting," Xenogears said softly.

"Alright, this is absurd," Razor snapped. "Maria, show yourself! Now!" he bellowed into the thin air.

A moment later, her voice sounded, though there was no visible manifestation of her presence. "Yes, what is it?" she said, sounding exhausted.

"Think you could clean up your mess?"

"Hmm? I've been asleep for eight hours." She didn't bother to elaborate on what state she might consider sleep, but there it was.

"The colony is full of snow."

A laugh sounded. The focal point seemed to be behind Xeno's chair. She turned around and put her hand into the area where the sound was coming from, and withdrew it with a yelp. "I received a shock," Xeno said, waving the other Ghosts back as they leapt up.

"Maria," Razorback said angrily. "Who the hell else could make it snow in the colony?"

A chuckle. "Del, if she wanted to, at least. And probably Icey has progressed to that stage by now."

"What?!" Icey said.

"Be careful what you wish for," Maria said, and her voice faded away on the last word.

"Icey?" Xenogears turned to him with an expectant look.

He stared at her. "A piece of paper fell just before I left the colony. I saw it and thought it was falling like snowflakes. And I thought snow in the colony would be a funny idea."

"So you thought of it and it happened?"

Icey shrugged helplessly. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"No doubt," Xenogears said. "And what about the pool that suddenly froze solid right when you got back?"

"I thought, sarcastically, that it would be interesting if we could play hockey on it!" he snapped. "I hardly thought--"

"I understand completely," Xenogears said sympathetically. "Let's get you down to the medical lab..."

-----

Del studied her handiwork, sat on the bed and rested against the wall, and smiled.

The entire room, save a narrow space by the bed and a footpath to the door, was covered in greenery. Vine roses clung to small cracks in the stone walls. The floor was covered with thick grass over a blanket of moss. A variety of plants, including at least one of everything she could scrounge out of her old garden behind the Herc bay, grew among the grasses, and in the tanks. The tanks themselves were covered with green lilies, which in turn supported other, smaller plants as they floated along.

She provided a new nutrient package, and let it dissolve in the tanks, then took some of the tank water and splashed it on the floor. The plants, growing with supernatural speed and vigor, drilled their roots into the bedrock itself, crumbling it into soil that the mosses soon crumbled even farther. She had not, strangely, needed to supply any other nutrients, despite the complete lack of biomass in the rock. The plants had grown ten times as quickly as if she had used state-of-the-art fertilizer. She resolved herself to get a sample of the water and take it to a scanner soon.

The plants seemed to grow where she willed them, and followed her intentions perfectly. The roses and ivy, for example, had sought out the nicks she chipped in the wall and grew in sequence to each subsequent nick. The grasses, though she did nothing to train them or trim them, never grew in the path to the door. She didn't want them to; they would have been crushed. And because she didn't want them to, apparently, they didn't.

She was planning on expanding the garden to fill the rest of the abandoned hideaway.

She looked at a particular plant that was growing quickly enough for the eye to see toward her. She waited for a few minutes, somewhat anxious, as the plant passed over her head and fastened itself into the wall behind the bed. She looked over at the ivy and thicker, woody vines that seemed to be following the first vine. They twined themselves around the first, except for one of the woody ones, that was following a path parallel to the first, half a meter away.

Delithita smiled as she recognized the thought that caused this chain of events, and watched the plants fulfill that desire.

The vines crisscrossed between the two anchors (which were soon composed of dozens of spiraling vines), forming a solid net. Del stood on the bed and pressed down on it. It was firm, and apparently quite strong. So she hopped up into the nest of vines, and stretched out. The vines bent just enough for her to sink into the hammock. She pushed on the wall a bit, setting the hammock rocking slowly, and fell asleep, content.

-----

Xenogears glared at the computer, frustrated. "Icey, this is insane. I am as certain you are that you were the cause of this nonsense, but the sensors cannot detect anything out of the ordinary with you at all. Absolutely nothing."

"Am I free to go then?"

"Be a good little lab rat and stay awhile. Now, as I was saying, the sensors can detect nothing, but that may be because you are not currently doing anything out of the ordinary. So I would appreciate it if you would attempt to cause rain in this room."

"You are joking, right?" Icey muttered, but he knew better. So he rolled his eyes to the ceiling, and imagined it raining. He imagined torrents of water pouring from the sky like one of the cloudbursts periodically suffered near his home on Mars.

He imagined the blackness of a terrestrial thunderstorm, with whipping winds driving sheets of water into a person, flashing the sky with lightning.

He imagined these things, then opened his eyes to see a room that was quite dry.

He muttered something under his breath, got up, and stalked out, despite Xeno's protests.

He went to Level Three, knocked on the door to Ko'ah's quarters. The door opened. "Hey Ice," Ko'ah said, inviting him in with a gesture. Icey shook his head.

"Hey buddy, I need a drink and someone to shoot some ideas at. Deep End?"

Ko'ah shrugged. "Sure."

The taller man accompanied him back to the lift, and they took it downward to the deepest level of the colony. "So what's up?" Ko'ah asked as they entered the roughshod facility.

Icey nodded once at the bartender, and waited for him to bring their usual drinks over. Icey took a long draft of his, then set it down and sighed. "Something weird is happening," Icey said at last.

"You don't say."

"They think I caused that snowstorm..."

"Did you?"

"Actually, I think I did. But I couldn't order a rainstorm on command, when Xeno asked me to."

"Well... since most people cannot just go ordering up weather-- indoors-- anyway, what's the problem?"

"My abilities, if I do indeed have them, are unconscious. Like Del's. And you know what happened with Del."

Ko'ah grimaced. "Where is she, anyway?"

"I don't know. She left a note saying not to look for her, and I've decided to just wait until she comes back..." He frowned, puzzled. "I just had the strangest feeling..."

"Oh?"

"Del..."

"What about her?"

"I know where she is," Icey said suddenly. "Our old facility over at Ibsen."

"Well go get her before the Cybrids do!" Ko'ah leapt to his feet. Icey regarded him with an odd expression.

"No. She is safe. And content right where she is."

"How do you know this?"

"I just do."

"How enlightening."

"Drink up," Icey said, tossing back the rest of his own drink. "I feel better already."

Ko'ah studied him for a moment, then shook his head and drank up.

-----

Del awakened suddenly, feeling the comforting embrace of the vines around her. She sneezed as a leaf tickled her nose, sniffed, and looked around. The chamber was much the same, perhaps a bit more overgrown, but not much. The exception was the group of vines she rested on; each seemed to be much thicker and longer than they had. Whether she was doing something to nourish them or they were thickening to support her better, she didn't know.

She jumped out of the hammock, not sure what had awakened her. She stood on the bed, looking around.

A scarp deck sat on the branch of a small tree that had apparently popped up overnight. By the wide, three-lobed leaves, it was a maple, which had been merely a seeding the previous day. She stared at it, amazed.

She went to it and picked up the deck. She quickly saw that three-quarters of the deck was missing: only the Rose, the Ghost, and the Life suit were still present.

Maria appeared suddenly, sitting on the hammock, idly swinging her legs back and forth. "I see you have made your choice," she said, gesturing to the deck and the plant-filled chamber.

Del nodded. "Thanks," she said softly.

"Don't thank me," Maria said, waving one nearly solid hand. "Thank yourself. It's your garden."

"I wish I had more space..."

"You'll have it," Maria said. "If it will allow you more room to create such beauty, I will be sure you get it." Maria closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply of the rich greenery.

"You're looking much better," Del noted.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Of course. You have filled this place with life, and not just the plants. Just being here has healed me, and given me the strength I need."

"Strength for what?"

Maria just grinned. "You'll see soon enough."

She jumped down and turned to the door. "Wait--" Del said.

"I am not going anywhere," Maria said, and sat down on the shelf where the tanks sat, somehow finding a free space. If there hadn't been one, she probably could have just sat there with the plants growing through her.

"How're the other Ghosts?"

"Just fine. Having a bit of fun with the AC though."

"Can you let them know I'm okay?"

"They already know."

Del accepted this without comment. "Good..."

"Do you mind if I rest here?" Maria asked her when she reclaimed her spot in the hammock.

"Of course not. If you find some room..."

Maria smiled, and disappeared into a shower of black-and-gold sparkles. The stream elongated and traveled along the trunk and branches of the maple tree, then faded into the wood. "Thank you," Maria's voice said softly from the tree. "Must rest now. Big day tomorrow."

Del didn't comment, only fell quickly asleep.

-----

Icey was awakened from a strange dream by an earthquake of at least six MMR. He heard the crash of his weapons belt falling from its hook on the wall and turned to it.

"Ah, damn," he muttered, then sat there for a few minutes waiting to see if anything bad had happened he would need to go deal with. No message came from Ops, so he lay back down and tried to sleep.

Barely five minutes later there was another shock, this one rumbling through his bones like a very loud bass, driving pain into his head and making him groan. Fortunately, the shock was brief.

Maria appeared a moment later as a shining, ghostly form glowing in the darkness. "Icey, I need your help."

He grunted. "Yeah?"

"Take my hand."

He hesitated briefly, then reached out and reached for her. His hand encountered solid flesh, at least a simulation thereof, and he clasped her hand.

She closed her eyes, and an electric shock passed between them, flashing sparks from their joined hands. For the briefest instant, he felt Delithita's presence nearby. "Thank you," Maria said as she released his hand. "I can see from your mind that you would approve too, so your strength has added to mine to make the task that much easier."

She turned toward the wall, pressed both hands against it, and slowly, slowly vanished into the stone, leaving a circle of sparkling light behind that quickly dispersed over the entire wall and faded into the rock.

Icey shook his head and went back to the bed.

-----

"Altas?" Maria's voice sounded in the cockpit of the Predator the Cybrid was refitting.

"Yes...?" He had long since giving up trying to explain Maria's current state, and just accepted it as a baffling and illogical part of the world he lived in. As such, he wasn't wasting time debating the veracity of his senses. Things got done much more quickly that way.

"How are you at astronomy?"

"I possess the standard solar system, galactic, and extragalactic models devised by Prometheus, why?"

"Are you ever curious about the universe beyond the solar system?"

"At times, yes. Why?"

Maria approached him and touched his forehead briefly. A spark of light flashed at the contact. He flinched back. "Just curious," she said. He could feel certain files being accessed, rearranged. Star tables being recompiled, perhaps? And something deeper: some of his core consciousness being read, though not touched.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, and would have pulled his weapon had he seen any benefit to doing so.

"You are human," Maria said softly. "Whether or not you realize it, you have what would be termed a soul, just like the rest of us."

Altas digested this without comment. "And...?"

"Nothing, nothing. I was updating your database a bit. You'll find the necessary data when you need it."

"That wasn't my database you were messing with."

"I had to ask you a question."

Altas sighed. "I suppose it is too much to ask what that might be? Or what the answer was?"

"You'll find out soon. And the answer was yes. Thank you."

She vanished into a wall, leaving Altas to do a very detailed self-diagnostic.

-----

Razorback and Xenogears awakened when the noise sounded, rolled over toward each other, grumbling. "Damned quakes," Razor muttered sleepily. Xeno expressed general agreement, gave him a kiss, and quickly and efficiently fell back asleep.

The second quake awakened them both again, and Razor sat up, growling a suggestion to the planet about keeping its comments to itself. Xeno smiled.

"Xeno? Razor? I need to speak to you," Maria's voice rang through the door.

"Like you need permission," Razor muttered as he and Xeno reached for their clothes and put them on. "Enter."

Maria popped into existence before them, the door not having opened, and Razor sighed. "I would not so invade your privacy," Maria said, inclining her head.

"As well you don't," Xeno murmured, glancing at Razorback, who reddened slightly. Maria smiled faintly.

"I am glad to know you are happy," she told them. "Take my hands."

Xeno didn't hesitate, but Razor stared at Maria suspiciously. His eyes widened briefly as a powerful discharge of energy flashed between Maria and Xeno's hands. Maria glanced at Xeno in apparent surprise, then looked back at Razorback.

"It's okay," Xeno said, and took Razor's hands in hers.

"I assure you--" Maria began, but Razor held up a hand to forestall the assurance.

"I know," he said softly, gazing at Xeno as he took Maria's hand in his free one.

The discharge knocked Maria backward into the wall, and she melted halfway into it before she stopped herself. She stared at Xeno and Razor in amazement as a flickering band of energy spiraled around the two of them. "Wow!" Razor breathed, and, the energy still dancing between them, they kissed.

Maria smiled. No problems there, she thought, and vanished into the wall.

"Tycho get up," Maria shouted into his ear. He had slept through the quake and Maria's shout didn't wake him either. So she touched his forehead and he jerked awake as a shock tore through him. "Yeow!" he said as his eyes popped open and he sat bolt upright.

"Slugabed, as always," Maria said. "Welcome back to the Antipode."

"But you're-- you're--" he protested weakly.

"Not at all. Sort of reorganized, but very much alive."

"Uh..."

Maria shook her head, grinned. "Later. Time is of the essence. Take my hand."

He stared at the shimmering appendage as if he didn't understand what it was, then slowly reached out and took it. "Good God!" he said, as Maria closed her eyes and the shock traveled between them both. "What the hell--"

"I had to check something," she said. "And borrow some energy. Stay awake."

"With a jolt like that I couldn't sleep for a week!"

Maria laughed softly, and vanished into the ceiling, leaving Tycho rubbing his eyes and staring into the darkness.

-----

Jehrico was in the bar nursing what the bartender dared call whiskey, staring sullenly at the clock. The new colony residents, the TDF folks, were filling the place, and he could scarcely concentrate with the noise.

He didn't mind them being there, really, but he wasn't fond of the racket the lively bunch made.

He was about to finish the drink and leave when a sudden silence fell. He turned around to see what was the matter, and dropped his glass.

A transparent woman was walking in his general direction, looking straight at him. He glanced at the spilled liquid, thinking it had to have been a lot stronger than the bartender said. He'd only had one, and--

The woman smiled. "Jehrico," she said softly, and by the tone of her voice he was certain she knew his true name. "Welcome to the Ghosts. I am sorry I did not get the chance to see you in personally, but you are an excellent addition to the ranks. You did well on your way here.

"Uh... you're Maria?" he guessed.

Her grin broadened. "Quite so. Things are about to get interesting here. You might want to head to Ops. Tell Ko'ah to turn off all computer systems at once."

Jehrico stood. "Uh... okay..."

She took his hand, and he stiffened as a jolt of electricity struck him. She let go quickly, and he saw small discharges, like static, shooting off his hand. "I do believe you are a true Ghost," she said softly. "Please go, quickly."

He obeyed, not exactly sure how to argue with a phantom or ghostie or beastie or whatever.

Maria turned and faced Commander Mee, who was down in the bar playing with a black cat who had made his way in somehow. She stiffened as she saw Maria approaching, stood.

"Relax," Maria said.

"What are you?" Mee demanded. The cat ran down the table and jumped into Maria's arms, yowling as he fell through said arms. She turned and looked at the cat, shook her head.

"You should see how I get along with dogs," Maria said dryly. "To answer your question, I am in command here, and I have a question of you. Your Empire has abandoned you. I offer you the chance to build a new life. Will you accept?"

Several of the TDF started to protest, but Mee cut them off with a chop of her hand. "What sort?" she asked.

"A world of your own, if you want it, or a place here, if you want it."

Mee gazed at her. "You are not speaking of Mercury, are you?" she said softly.

Maria studied her for a long time. "I think that given different circumstances, you would have made a fine Ghost. No, I do not refer to Mercury."

"What then?"

"By the time I finish explaining, it will be too late. If I may?" She extended a hand to Mee.

The other woman hesitated, then took it. Her eyes widened as blue sparks shot out of her wrists, then subsided. "I have my answer. Thank you." Maria closed her eyes, looked upward, and vanished through the floor.

The TDF officers could think of nothing to say.

-----

"Ops1 and the pubs are down," Ko'ah said. "Can't do anything about the others."

Jehrico shrugged. "Don't ask me. I'm just the messenger..."

Another quake started, setting the darkened chamber rumbling. This time it did not fade, though, rather the rumbles increased in pitch and modulated themselves.

The planet rang with delighted laughter, and a voice, Maria's, said exultantly: "LET THERE BE MORE LIGHT!"

shift

Altas ran into Ops, shoved Ko'ah aside, and brought the Ops server back online. "My server just exploded," he said, as he ran through the opening sequences and logins. "Something has happened."

"You don't say."

"Set up the cameras on the ridge and feed them to my console."

"Yeah..." Ko'ah did so.

Altas stared at the image. "Beautiful..." He turned to the others, shaking his head. "You will not believe this."

"Try me."

"According to some astronomical data Maria added to my databases, this star field," and he changed the view image on Ko'ah's console, "Is that of the outskirts of the Eta Carinae Nebula."

Ko'ah stared openmouthed at the console, which depicted a field of black splashed with red and white gases, blue, white, and gold stars, and chunks of interstellar dust like coal in front of the nebulae.

"Running a spectral analysis of the sun," he added. A moment later, he nodded. "Confirmed. This star is not the sun. It is a class G-zero-V main sequence star with a lot more metallic content than the sun. It is also approximately fifty percent more luminous. Mercury is orbiting another star."

Ops was dead silent...

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