Eschaton

A cloaked figure with an eyepatch over his left eye arrives at the underground complex of Hawking R&D. Entering the building a retinal scan of his good eye and blood test confirm his identity from a scan and prick on his finger at the automated entryway. Resuming his journey into the complex the figure takes a left into the 'Temporal Mechanics and Substances' wing. He is greeted several times by fellow employees who recognize him as Iconis Nevarg, head of the wing, as well as the only Etherian they have likely ever seen.

As he continues to walk he encounters double doors on his left with the title, 'Temporal Substances.'
Opening the door he is greeted by two other scientists whom quickly compose themselves and give him the updates he requests nearly every day upon arrival.

"Greetings doctor Dr. Nevarg, the experiments are proceeding on schedule and have shown beyond expected capability in relaying a temporal data to the candidates."

The two scientists direct the Doctor to the cages in the back where three primates are kept to test the chemicals.

"Notice here subjects A, B, and C, all of whom are kept in isolation confines which allow them to see or hear nothing beyond their cage. Subjects A and B will receieve a mild shock when we hand them this pomagranite, subject C has been injected with Chronoton-Strain Epsilon, our fifth attempt at reconciling the subjects DNA to the appropriate time insertion. The idea being that the chemical takes a memory back in time several moments so as to attain foreknowledge of the events to come. The intensity of the chemical injection is in sync to the amount of data we want to send and the amount of time we are sending an object back to."

One of the scientists hands subject A a large ripe pomagranite which the subject accepts, triggering a small electrical shock which causes it to shake and drop the fruit. Subject B is met with similar results. Subject C however begins to reach for the pomagranite before stopping short of it. As if considering the fruit the ape remains seated, not acting upon his impulses to touch the fruit.

"Excellent work my friends. Has this test been replicated?" asked Dr. Nevarg.

"This is our 4th set of successful trials doctor."

"What in regards to intensity and range?"

"We have yet to test it sir but we believe we will be able to send simple memories back as far as several hundred years, if not beyond...provided we find a subject that has been alive that long. One thing to note is that the procedure becomes more potent and more successful with each subsequent use, but the body itself can only process one artificial memory every 27 years or so. This means that though many can be injected at once, no more then one memory can surface every 27 years."

"What about message complexity? What kind of progress are you making?"

"So far we are limited by the memory capability of primates, but we feel with more evolved subjects, such as humans or... Etherians, we will be able to send far more complex instructions. Again with repeated attempts the complexity of the signal can be extended."

"You two are to be commended for your efforts in this program. I will see to it that this report goes straight to corporate headquarters."

Later that evening Dr. Nevarg returns home. His apartment is small for someone of his station but quaint and orderly. A hologram of the Gaiasphere sits center to the room upon a large table. He stops for a moment and considers the hologram before kissing his hand and placing it upon the image. The image flickers and distorts at his touch until he retracts, the image then restoring to it's pristine holographic state.

"Soon all will be resolved my love, and I will hold you again and feel your breath upon me. For too long have the events of the past haunted the present and I will endure them no longer. "

Removing a vial from his pocket he opens the door to his personal laboratory in his appartment.

"With this I can finally make what is wrong, right once more."

With those words he places the vial on his desk and removes a petri dish from the shelf. Speaking to himself he places the dish upon the table.

"I'll simply clone the Chronoton-Strain and return it before it's even missed. It's simple. Nothing could be more simple. I do this for you my love."

With that he went through the meticulous process of replicating the chemical strain. It took the better part of the night. Finally he completed the task and placed the original strain back into the vial and into his pocket. Lacing a syringe tube with a small amount of the compound Dr. Nevarg places the tube under an electrobe connected to his computer. Hastily he plugs in the year, date, hour, minute, second and message to be conveyed before pressing the enter key. The message to be sent is "Siren will come for you at the ritual, be ready." As the button is pressed so too is an electrostatic charge infused to the tube. He then slides the tube into the syringe.

"Here goes nothing my love."

Several moments go by with no reaction until a wracking pain stabs into his brain. Charging his cells with the new memories of every action and reaction of nearly 3000 years worth of changes all from his one simple message.

Failure. Dr. Nevarg feels the new memories deep inside him and still Gaia has been destroyed. In a fit of rage he slams a beaker into the ground shattering it. The message was not enough and the next one will not take effect until 27 years after the initial one. He sits in his chair, composes himself, and begins to think of his next message before he is overwhelmed by a burning under the eye patch over his missing left eye The empty socket burning and once again fused with the metal he lost long ago. Axis had returned.