As expected, Mia and Ibis were the only two passengers on the space elevator as it began its descent towards the nation-state of Star. The two had paused in their conversation as they had moved through the masses of refugees waiting for a ride out to Mars. While it had been more than a decade since she had been a refugee herself, she recognized the look on many of their faces. Many of them seemed more confused than anything, staring around themselves or down at their hands as though they were uncertain how they had gotten here. Others stood in front of the observation windows, gazing down at a homeworld that might not still be there by the time they reached the Red Planet. Mia had to repress a shudder as she and Ibis wove their way through the refugees; the sense of fear and dread was so thick it was nearly a miasma, to the point that Mia didn't even realize she was holding her breath until they had passed through into the central chamber.

The two seated themselves, and the elevator began to descend towards Earth. As it did, Mia spoke up. "You said something about the Gods earlier. What did you mean by that, exactly?"

"Technically, you were the one who mentioned it," Ibis replied. "But that is as good a transition as any, I suppose. As I stated before, Earth has been host to alien visitations at several points in the planet's history. We have reason to believe that they had a hand in the creation of many of the wonders of the ancient world, including the Great Pyramids. But what was built on the surface pales next to what they buried deep within the ground.

"Scattered across the planet are dozens of crystalline nodes, forming a massive network that crisscrosses the entire Earth. For the most part, these nodes have remained dormant, though a steady flow of energy continues to connect the grid together. These flows of energy roughly correspond with what have been called 'ley lines', or 'Dragon currents' in the Chinese art of Feng Shui. Until recently, it was unknown why these lines had been constructed."

Mia nodded thoughtfully, looking out the window as the space elevator slid smoothly downwards into the Earth's atmosphere. "I've read about this before, in some of my New Age studies. Some thought the ley lines were fields of magnetic currents moving through the Earth's magnetic field, others believed they were designed to help the dead find their way to the afterlife. I believe the Incas and Mayans made use of them as well."

"As it turns out," Ibis replied, "the former explanation is closer. The crystal nodes are tied to the Earth's electromagnetic field, and generate a tremendous amount of energy, but for what purpose we had no way of knowing. Only when we were able to map a majority of the nodes and their corresponding ley lines did we discover the similarity between the crystal nodes, and the neural net that an Artificial Intelligence uses."

Mia frowned. "So what you're telling me is that it's some kind of giant computer? Buried deep underground, powered by magnetic fields?"

"That is our current theory," Ibis nodded. "For a long time, the crystal network was a curiosity, and not much more than that. But around the same time that Ragnarok appeared, there was a sudden breakthrough in the study of the 'Dragon seeds', as they came to be called. It seems to be some sort of defense against alien invasion. Presumably, whoever our ancient benefactors were, they knew that there were other species out there who would seek to destroy or enslave us, and so they provided us with a means of defending ourselves against them. By turning the planet itself into a giant, conscious mind, Earth would become something similar to Ragnarok ... self-aware, able to manipulate its own magnetic field, and hopefully, on the side of humanity."

"'Hopefully?'" Mia raised an eyebrow. "I suppose I don't really need to ask why Gaia would be less than pleased with us, considering how thoroughly we've wrecked the place in the last couple of centuries. So even if we do manage to awaken these Dragon seeds, there's a possibility that we might find ourselves facing two sentient worlds instead of just one."

"We cannot predict what the seeds will do once activated," Ibis conceded. "It seems highly unlikely that Earth would side with Ragnarok, considering it seems bent on destroying the planet itself along with anything living on its surface. Once Ragnarok is defeated or driven off, however ..." He shrugged. "At the very least, this will give humanity a fighting chance. I can only hope that future generations will acknowledge that we did what we had to in order to survive."

"One thing's for certain," Mia sighed to herself, as they slid down towards the planet below. "The world we once knew is going to be gone. But ... perhaps that's not such a bad thing."