Not long after Captain Logomere returned from his exploration of the Hermes Cluster, a malaise settled over Viridia Prime. It started in Byforalla, clinging to the streets and the reflective surfaces of buildings like an invisible mist. The city fell into disrepair: public transportation ceased; the government practically shut down; men and women stopped working. Some wandered aimlessly among the streets like wraiths. The Mind Plague, as they called it, soon spread to other great cultural centers.

Those scientists who remained unaffected developed the drug Fangalexia to combat the affliction. With the drug’s help, they went into Logomere’s ship and found a glowing orb in the bowels of the vessel. Their study revealed that it emitted a deep low-frequency radiation. Even on the drug, their proximity to the sphere’s rays enervated them. They called it “The Ambivalence Drive”. Though they ejected the device into space, it had already done its damage. Those without the drug remained undermined, so they synthesized ever more and distributed it amongst the people.

For some weeks, until they realized Fangalexia’s side effects, the Viridians tried as best they could to rebuild what had become stale.

—Lance Malloran