[Dusk]

We decided to search Hadesheim to see exactly what was here. We were greeted with the sight of tall buildings, separated with wide, tree-lined boulevards. Many of the buildings hosted large advertising displays for the likes of Omegatron, Castorian and Genesis Star. We visited specialist armour, weapon and clothing shops. We even dropped into Junk Yard Bar, just to see if we could get more to drink than at Zychion. Liam even tried repeating is "Bum and Rack" joke to the android barman. At the centre of the city, there was a large expanse of greenery, just how I'd image Central Park in New York to be.

Having spent hours searching through Hadesheim, it was in every way a capital city. In every way except one.

Michelle was first to crack by asking, "Where the hell are all the people?"

We spent the best part of three hours exploring the city yet I doubt we saw any more than half-a-dozen people during this time. There were plenty of androids ready to splutter seemingly random greetings, but hardly anyone else. It was as if there had been a mass evacuation, or as if a neutron bomb had not only wiped out all life here, but then cleaned up the remains as well.

A city can have as many landmarks, parks, amenities and buildings as it wants, but without people inhabiting that city it will never have a pulse, a heartbeat, a soul. I'm not sure how the others felt about the place, but to me a visit to the capital should have been exciting. However, this left me feeling completely under whelmed. Perhaps there was an argument for Port Atlantis or Twin Peaks to be the capital instead. Both were much smaller than Hadesheim, but both had that soul that was missing here.

Having searched Hadesheim, we headed north towards our intended goal. The sound of bird song rang out was we ran through the forest, just as it had on our approach to the capital from the south. Snablesnots and Combibos were in the area but didn't trouble us.

Just as we approached an embankment I received a message from Callum on my data pad. He was asking about our progress. I told him we were on the final leg of the journey and he responded by telling us to wait for him.

A few minutes later there was a noise, a blinding flash of light and there stood Callum.

"That's some entrance", I giggled as Callum looked around to get his bearings.

"My god", he remarked. Commenting on our armour, he asked, "Did you guys buy all that gear with sweat, fruit and dung?", while winking to Liam to signify that he knew that we hadn't really.

After all the pleasantries had been exchanged, Callum pointed out the dangers that lay ahead.

"You'll get to an ocean inlet, which it's best to run along. But when you swim across the Ithaca Channel to Ithaca Island you'll be swamped with Atroxes", he informed us. "If you get killed here, and you will, you'll revive to the west on the main continent."

We continued on our way, and as the forest cleared we started to see large numbers of Cornundacaudas. Instructed by Callum, we headed for the ocean inlet rather than stay and fight the large numbers of beasts whose attention we'd attracted. However, when we got to the inlet there was a problem.

"Damnit!", cursed Callum. "It's shallower than I thought". Our mentor's plan to drown the mobs had backfired. Now we had to fight them. There was at least twenty mobs bearing down on us. We all fired on them, but all took bad injuries. Fortunately, Callum owned a powerful FAP and so ran around healing us when we needed it. Eventually, we cleared all of the beasts, looting quite a few skins and oils in the process. I did think it was more by luck than judgement that none of us had died in the exchange though.

We ran along the shore of the inlet without getting the attention of any more animals before reaching the channel. The island on the opposite side of the channel was clearly visible. We dived into the sea and started swimming across. As we approached the opposite side we could see the Atroxes on the hills.

"Don't get to shore", called Callum. "Swim to the west, parallel to the shore."

We followed his instructions, not wanting to revive off the beaten track. We swam for what felt like an age before Callum felt it was safe enough to swim ashore. We then climbed hills before reaching a plateau. Running across this plateau, we were able to avoid the Cornundacaudas, some smaller mobs and the occasional Atrox in the distance. Fifteen minutes from the ocean, I could see the blue dot on my radar that indicated the Ithaca teleporter. At that point, I noticed a tall, thin, silver coloured object running towards us. Then there was laser fire.

"Trinity", yelled Callum. "You've got the best armour for this. Tank it!"

I pulled out my A3 Justifier and started firing. Callum only needed to FAP once or twice before the robot collapsed in a cloud of sparks and blue smoke. I went over to loot the machine, and pulled out some undamaged cables. I also pulled out a Robot Auto Adjuster, however on inspection, this was found to have been burned out by the robot's destruction.

Buoyed by killing my first robot, we continued on our way reaching an entrance to Fort Ithaca. I wondered now whether or not my brother would be here...

to be continued...