Tom Relk had not moved from his place on The Pillar’s C.I.C. He simply sat there in silence, staring at the alien vessel still hanging outside.

Inside him, a conflict raged on. His humanity was intact, but buried beneath his graphite skin. He looked down at his chest, still not comprehending how he could breath in the vacuum.

What am I? he mused in his head.

You are in the Fold. came a tangible response. Not one of his own thoughts. That thing was talking to him.

Relk was not sure what to do. He walked to the rip in the wall and studied the alien vessel. It felt familiar.

It approached The Pillar in the way a train approaches a car stalled on the tracks. Coming to rest about one hundred meters away, a large hatch opened in the hull, washing The Pillar with a bright, aqua light.

Relk did the only thing his divided instincts found natural.

He walked out of the gap, pushed off of the hull, and floated into the monster’s gaping door.

Come home, Tom. the voice echoed in his mind.