A loud thunderous boom echoed through the hovel, snapping Lydia out of her trance. The text faded from her eyes as she started to focus once again on her surroundings. Theresa was busy turning on one of the wristbands, powering it up for operation. She turned to Lydia, handing one of the wristbands to her.

"They've found us. It won't be long until they breakthrough."

Lydia took the wristband, the readout now glowed a ghostly greenish hue. She put it on her left wrist; her nanites immediately began to initiate contact with it.

"I've programmed the proper coordinates into it, so I wouldn't tamper with it if I were you," Theresa stated, as another boom echoed throughout the cavern. Lydia turned and looked at the staircase where the sounds have been coming from.

"You need to activate transport sequence immediately, or you might not make it out of here in time," Theresa continued.

Lydia turned & looked at the woman who had been a mother to her.

"What about you? If you stay, they will kill you."

Theresa shook her head.

"There is no way I could get the other wristband ready before they breakthrough," as another boom reverberated through the room to illustrate her point.

Tears formed in Lydia's eyes, as she realized that she was about to lose the most important person in the world to her. She picked up her rifle, the one for the mission, and turned towards the staircase.

"They won't take you without a fight."

Theresa grabbed Lydia and turned her around and looked her straight in the eye.

"There is more at stake here than you & me. The fate of the entire human race is in your hands."

Another boom echoed once again from the staircase.

"You have a destiny…a great destiny. Just be true to yourself."

Lydia stared into Theresa's eyes, the determination & will to do what is right and necessary evident in them. But also, the sadness & the yearning for a lost world to be restored. Lydia drew strength from those eyes, and became determined not to let down the owner of those eyes.

"Now, you have to go."

A loud crash came from upstairs, as the wall had finally given way, leaving their lair open to the intruders. She only had moments to make her escape.

"Goodbye…mother," Lydia spoke, tears forming in her eyes.

The wristband on her left wrist, the one recently stolen, started to glow as a brilliant green energy field enveloped Lydia. She saw Theresa turn away; unable to look at the woman she had raised as her daughter, disappear from her life forever. And the next thing Lydia knew she was falling through a green void, her world & mother lost to her.