IN THE BEGINNING... - Tecno-Libro

As each of the nine found a place on the ledge overlooking the land below, they gently held hands. Not only to steady themselves physically, but mentally as well. What they saw was a vast wasteland, devoid of vegetation, in the midst of a perpetual, but stationary, tornado-and cold, so very cold. As far as one could look, there was darkness, but a visible darkness, an illuminated darkness. The smog of all smog, the haze of all haze. And the wind. Blowing in a swirling, pulsing, random pattern. Then, suddenly, a lightning storm-but very much unlike normal lightning. The billion-volt-plus electromagnetic pulses, with surges reaching peaks well-above 50,000 amps, were arcing across miles of sky, rarely striking the ground, and left eerie, luminous trails in the sky-oddly similar to those irridescent trails left by meteors. What was this place in which they now found themselves? They knew going in it would be a one-way trip with no hope of return. The hand-picked team of academics and scientists from around t