All Good Things Not of This Earth...

[Tearen Wover]

The abyssal zone. A cold, largely lifeless flat plane of sand, pounded into a flat, undersea desert by the sheer, mind numbing weight pressing down on every particle that was unlucky enough to drift through the pitch black wastes. If one were to have some sort of illumination, however, they might see a strange, black, tetrahedron moving briskly across the sea floor, kicking up an immense cloud of pale sand in its wake. Its tip bare dragged through the mucky silt, leaving behind a thin, turbulent trail as it somehow scooted along. Contained within was Nealaphh, the god-mind. It had woven the black stone around itself to serve as a cocoon not against the incredible crushing pressure of these depths, but of the frigid temperatures that would otherwise swiftly kill it. The entire apparatus, really just a solid bauble of stone, was propelled exclusively by Nealaphh's mental power.

Within its perfectly polished faces, Nealaphh was held almost in stasis by its own design. It had pondered for a long time on whether or not it should attempt to return to Costa Del Sol after a third run-in with Imperial forces, but had eventually settled on the fact that it should seek out a base of operations much farther from the Empire's reach. To that end, Nealaphh had done some research about potential destinations within the Vasty Deeps that would not only be a safe haven, but also a potential wealth of knowledge regarding clandestine access to Coruscant. The god-mind had nearly been traveling a day, when its heretofore dimmed eyes spotted a slight luminance through the crystal clear water in the difference. The god-mind was excited, in spite of itself. From what it had gleaned from the Dataverse, Rapture was an almost idealistic human society, governed by those who had the will to improve themselves and cast aside useless social mores. As the tetrahedron crested over the top of a rocky underwater hill, the full city came into view; towering underwater structures laden with ornate neon tubes and signage pierced upwards through the water of the deeps. Transparent glass pipes criss-crossed between the myriad structures, like the strands of an immense spiderweb. Architectural artwork graced every precipice and corner, the brassy edges glinting in the warm glow of a million electronic lights. Nealaphh's tetrahedron gently lifted itself off of the sea floor, up into the reaches of the buildings. Its hard, aesthetic surfaces contrasted sharply against the decadence of the city, and Nealaphh could sense eyes upon it as it passed by the reinforced windows.

The god-mind spent a long time trying to find a way into the city, eager to explore what it had to offer Nealaphh in the way of information and artistic fulfillment, but transportation within Rapture appeared to be a largely integrated system that did not allow for foreign objects such as its own transport to integrate into its systems. The god-mind was going to have to figure out another way in. Fortune would have it, however, that one of Rapture's integrated transports...some sort of self-contained orb, was descending along a track from high above. Nealaphh willed the tetrahedron up higher, pursuing the bathysphere directly behind it, like a ghostly shadow, along its leisurely course. With a tentative grasp, Nealaphh reached a hand out through the hull of its tetrahedron, and latched on to the back of the bathysphere with a cold, stone hand. With this grip established, Nealaphh slowly began to absorb the black transport that had had heretofore carried it back into its body. The rainbow illumination glared brilliantly through the water, but Nealaphh was certain that whatever occupants were currently aboard the bathysphere would likely be too distracted by the vista presented to them to notice a slight aberration in lighting. After the period of about a minute, the shadow had fully reintegrated the tetrahedron into itself, and clung to the back of the bathysphere with its bare body.

...

After some further period of travel, the bathysphere docked itself in some sort of reception area. Thankfully, the water inside the building was warm enough that Nealaphh didn't immediately have to leap out of the salty brine. It considered simply making its way off in its own direction, but there seemed to be quite a bit of mental activity going on above the surface. The god-mind concentrated and began to share the visual thoughts of a random onlooker. Nealaphh watched, through this citizen of Rapture's eyes, as a waterlogged and injured young boy flopped from inside the bathysphere on to the carpeted ground. Intriguing, but not altogether important. What was important that, after a woman in a green dress gently guided the blue-haired man away, the crowd began to disperse. After a few minutes passed, the god-mind peeked its head above the water, its green eyes glaring out from behind the bronze sphere. There was still some light foot traffic, but it was sporadic enough that, after a short period of waiting, Nealaphh seized an opportunity to emerge on to the try land. After telekinetically pulling all of the water off of its body, Nealaphh quickly formed its beloved black cloak and skulked off into the shadows of Rapture.

Watching.

Following.

Waiting.