[ WP ] `` No , you 're not allowed to steal time . I do n't care if the seconds fit in the palm of your hand ! ''

Clovus Brün tugged his beard as his eyes slowly drifted up the sleek silver pillar until it disappeared into the mist which obscured the top of the vast chamber. 
 
 “ This entire cursed journey has gone from strange, to weird, to insane, ” A young man ’ s voice, edged with the metallic distortion caused by helmet speakers, seemed to be gobbled up by the chamber, “ And now I think it ’ s gone to something that we don ’ t have a word for. What would you call something beyond insane, Commander? ” 
 
 Clovus tilted his head back and squinted, hoping to see a little further into the mist as he said, “ Asinine seems fitting, Lütz. ” 
 
 “ Asinine is ill-fitting, Commander Brün, ” Doctor Weser ’ s voice was accompanied with the simulated tapping sound as his fingers danced across his tablet ’ s screen, “ I would go so far as to say it is ludicrous. And I ’ d quantify the whole tale as unbelievable. ” The man ’ s tenor voice was also eaten by the hungry expanse of the chamber. 
 
 “ I don ’ t like the feel of this place, Commander. I ’ ve got the tickling that we shouldn ’ t be here. ” Clovus stopped searching the mist and turned to his Lieutenant, Aldan, as the grizzled veteran kept his eyes ahead. Searching for threats. Searching for a way out. 
 
 “ Understandable, my friend, but the only way is ahead. For better or worse. ” Clovus hefted his rifle to his shoulder and looked from one trooper to the next. Every one of the twelve surviving members of his expeditionary force, reflective visor panes glistening from the dull grey light which might have been emanating from the pillars or the mist, was panning their heads to look ahead or above their crescent formation. Behind Aldan was the heavy obsidian door which had thundered close as soon as the last of their party had come through. Though that unexpected had saved them from death at the hands of the black-armored foes which had been pursuing them for weeks, Clovus shared his Lieutenant ’ s trepidation. They could see several meters ahead, but what lay beyond the strange mist was completely unknown. 
 
 ‘ *And what you don ’ t know can kill you without giving you a fighting chance. * ’ Clovus felt a twinge of anguish as fast as lightning striking, the image of dozens of his now dead men flashing through his mind. So many he had personally trained and molded to fit perfectly into this multinational protectionary force to further the scientific ends of humanity. 
 
 So many which now read **KIA** on the *Salzgitter* roster. The ship itself now marked as destroyed in its own mission log. 
 
 “ My suit ’ s scanners can ’ t penetrate the mist, Commander, ” Doctor Weser slid his tablet into a hip slot on his armor as he walked past Clovus, “ And, as you said, the only way is forward. ” 
 
 The Doctor ’ s armored boots clicked mutely as he strode forward. He had only moved a few meters before the mist seemed to reach out and caress him, shimmering around his silhouette. 
 
 “ Foei, the Doctor ’ s got a point, ” Clovus rolled his neck and started after Weser, “ Let ’ s get a move on! ” 
 
 “ Weapons ready and eyes sharp, lads! I ’ ll take the rear! ” Aldan ’ s grizzled bark snapped the soldiers out of their daze and back to the safe confines of deadly awareness. 
 
 Weser remained a few meters ahead of the dozen troopers, not unlike the multitude of scientific landings he had partaken in since the outset of the *Salzgitter* mission, and his slight armored figure seemed a grey ghost leading them deeper into the forest of sleek silver pillars. A few he would run his gloved hands along, prompting Clovus to mimic the action. Every one he touched emitted a low thrum, almost like that of generators. They walked at a steady pace for an hour, by Clovus ’ helmet timer, in silence. Each step the troopers took emitted a click as their heavy boots struck the inky obsidian floor, only to meet an abrupt end as the chamber pressed in from all sides. 
 
 Despite the overwhelming size of this chamber, seeming to stretch forever in every direction despite the impossibility of such a thing, every step Clovus took was accompanied by a small drop of claustrophobic angst. He felt small compared to the endlessness around him, and oppressed by the chamber ’ s hunger to swallow up every sound the men made. 
 
 And Clovus could almost sense the ghosts of everyone lost on the *Salzgitter* roster hiding in the mist. Watching him. Judging him. 
 
 Weser stopped and faced a pillar, both hands pressed against its surface as he leaned close to the silver surface. Clovus ’ shoulder-mounted radio for short band communication came alive with a strange whisper. It was rushed and not quite panicked, but lined with a sort of manic energy. He couldn ’ t make out any word until the voice, now clearly Weser ’ s, let out one harsh bark as the Doctor dropped to his knees in front of the pillar. 
 
 “ Impossible! ” 
 
 ‘ *What in the blazes? * ’ Clovus trotted to the Doctor ’ s side and bent close so he wouldn ’ t have to speak loud, knowing as he did so it was for fear of something in the mist hearing him, “ What is it, Weser? What ’ s impossible? ” 
 
 “ This is ancient Greek, Commander, ” The Doctor traced along finely engraved letters which resembled the modern Greek Clovus had forced his troopers to learn. 
 
 “ Great. And? ” 
 
 “ Ancient Greek, Commander. The earliest form that has only ever been found on Terra. ” The Doctor ’ s sharp brows struggled to meet while he furrowed them in frustration. 
 
 Clovus mulled over the statement as the Doctor continued to whisper at a furious pace, his finger tracing along the fine lettering. The other eleven troopers formed a crescent around the pair as Weser ’ s whisper continued to hiss out of each of their helmet ’ s speakers, not bothering to translate as he whirred through the paragraphs scrawled into the shining silver pillar. No sentence stood out from the other, though Clovus tried to keep up and pick out words he recognized from his own lessons. They could all speak Greek, but to hear a completely dead dialect rattled off at such high speed made the Commander dizzy as he was the only one near enough to truly hear every word the Doctor spoke. It was as this whispered tirade climaxed, the message invigorating the Doctor so greatly that his whisper became a hiss, that Clovus noticed the faint whirr emitted by the pillar had grown to an sort of low rumble. 
 
 Lütz moved toward the pillar nearest him, moving slowly and irregularly. He depolarized his visor, the reflective tint replaced by crystalline glass, as he knelt beside the silver structure and his gun dropped to the black ground with a dull clatter. 
 
 “ Lütz! What are you doing? ” Aldan ’ s bark seemed to dissipate without reaching the young trooper, the Lieutenant slinging his rifle over one shoulder and bounding to stop whatever might be happening. 
 
 “ The Chamber of Aion. Commander, we, ” Weser turned away from the scrawled words and saw Lütz over the Commander ’ s shoulder, “ Sons of whores! Stop that man! ” 
 
 Clovus turned just as the young trooper pressed both fists into the surface of the silver pillar before him just as Aldan grabbed his shoulder. 
 
 A square of light shone bright as a star around where the trooper ’ s fist had pressed. 
 
 Aldan hurled Lütz away and leapt to cover him with his own body. 
 
 A bang reverberated out of the pillar. Unlike every sound made by the men since entering the chamber, this sound echoed into the mist and seemed to come back at them from all sides until it gradually faded. 
 
 Doctor Weser stood and walked with slow caution toward the now vibrating pillar as a slender drawer-like mechanism extended straight out from the bright square, closely followed by Clovus and the remaining nine troopers. As the Doctor leaned over the drawer Clovus ’ proffered hand was batted away by a highly agitated and possibly murderous Aldan, who rose while growling, “ I ’ ll kill this son of a whore, swear to the All Father. Get up, you daft rag! ” The Lieutenant delivered a none too gentle kick to the ribs of the young trooper on the ground who rolled with the hit, looking up at the veteran pair of officers with daze on his eyes. 
 
 “ Commander, ” Weser ’ s voice was unaltered by speakers, and Clovus turned to see the man had removed his streamlined scout helmet. 
 
 “ What is it, Doctor? ” 
 
 “ Time. ” 
 
 Between two fingers the man held a sphere which throbbed with a dull glow, and into it he leered. 
 
 Aldan and Clovus approached the Doctor, each looked into the drawer from which he had drawn the sphere. It seemed impossibly deep for appearing a simple metal drawer, and inside were marble sized black spheres. Both glanced at the one held by the Weser and his sphere which glowed before one another, then back into the drawer of dead black spheres. 
 
 “ Doctor? ” Clovus nudged the man ’ s leg, “ What do you mean that ’ s time? ” 
 
 “ Hold one, Commander. ” 
 
 Clovus raised an ignored eyebrow at the man before he picked up on the spheres between his gloved finger and thumb. He raised it up as the Doctor held his and looked into the dull black, unsure of what to expect. Aldan did the same. 
 
 Inside the sphere a dull speck of light appeared, flickered as though in search of a presence it could feel. Clovus gasped as the light seemed to focus on him from within the sphere and sprinted forth to meet his eye. He felt a sort of tugging from the sphere as it became like a window into his life. But a distorted view of it, where things weren ’ t quite as they were, or how he thought they would be. 
 
 “ Stars above, Commander, ” Aldan growled beside him, “ What is this? ” 
 
 “ We are in the Chamber of Aion, ” Weser ’ s voice was awed, “ All time that has been or could be is housed here. We ’ ve been wandering through the pillars of eternity. ” 
 
 “ What are these things, Doctor? ” Clovus was hard pressed to tear his attention away from the strange images which flew through the sphere like half recalled memories. 
 
 From the mist came a rumble, deep and otherworldly. It shook into the Commander ’ s bones as the sound clarified into what he could only think of as an outraged bellow. 

