"It is known (I hope I mustn't need to tell you) that the very real phenomenon of "photo-deformation", or "the Corruption" as it is called, that has befallen our combatants is of a purely psychic condition. The body changes in accordance with the mind, based solely upon internalities than an aggregate of interior and alien influences. Yet at the same time, though it is undetectable to every spectra of electromagnetic energy, it seems as though it spreads from one to another with unconscious effort, heterogeneous in origin and effect. What, you may ask, has spurned this strange and anomalous ill into existence that we constantly put off our confrontations so that we may not waste our reserves and our soldiers as if they were mere game-devices? Just as this illness is indefinite in nature and futile in justification, it is clear that it is borne of our own illness: war. To stop the spread of the illness, so must we stop ourselves from germinating it with our familiars of wrath and despair. We must change ourselves; not for the betterment of ourselves, but for the survival of the universe."

-A letter by the War Commissar to the General of the Crystal Rose Army.

Prologue

(Three figures are in a dark cubic room. One is green; one is orange; one is blue. All three are present for dissimilar reasons. All three are present for one purpose.)

ENGINEER: So it is decided. Though they have rusted, the cogs have begun to turn again. Is this one certain that they are still active?

ARMYMAN: It seems to be the case. There is little in disagreement with her.

ENGINEER: I'd rather this one say it herself, I must know.

THAUMATURGE: It would be appreciable if "this one" would not be so unkind as to refer to me as if I were not present.

ENGINEER: Fine. Are you certain then?

THAUMATURGE: It is exactly as I described to the Inquisition. I was seized and confined in blindness, either as a fugitive or as a memento, until I had escaped with the assistance of a young human who mended me together through some strange magic. It is why I am here with you both. Are you still sceptical of the veracity of my story?

ARMYMAN: What I want to know is how is it that you have become so ensnared into deference for this deceiver? It is an accomplice to our enemy's actions and you feel grateful to it?

THAUMATURGE: I do not see how one connects to the other. The path of a star is not identical to that of its planets; neither is that of the sky to that of the ground; or that of a leader to that of its followers. I would imagine you would already be aware of that fact; but perhaps not.

ARMYMAN: And what is the implication of that! You should learn to respect your superiors!

THAUMATURGE: Oh, I have tried many times...and it has always failed me. Are you an exception?

ARMYMAN: Don't you dare talk to me like that!

ENGINEER: Stop! We cannot afford to destabilise each other; it will put fault in the foundations of our mission. We have been entrusted to go to this derelict warzone; a planet whose inhabitants have dissipated throughout its surface, yet remain unaware of what lies beneath the strata of its past. We must go to ensure the careful operation of our mission and the reacquisition of the subversives. If they have entrenched themselves into the human world, then it should not be any bother to us if we are thorough. The object is to seek out the problem, observe it, provoke it and find the most efficacious solution. If successive problem arises, we start again. Such is a clear and solid method. It shall rightly guide us in its simplicity toward a sturdier victory.

ARMYMAN: (scoff.) You act as if this force against us is a mere architectural problem. How foolish! These enemies are sly and will use your uniformity against us. What is needed is a plan that changes with their position. They will encircle us and other such manoeuvres; and our success will be dependent on good leadership and respect for command. Our own society is built on this respect. We follow our laws to keep each other safe. So we must follow a general to win a war. This is a war we are in; the same one we thought we won five millennia ago. That is how it shall be done.

THAUMATURGE: We cannot find a conclusion in the anti-coloured theatre of war. War is a delirium without personality, made frozen and confused by an unending antithesis. To defeat an opponent, you must see the opponent as it is, not by how it seems. It is as you say: it has been five thousand years since they were last seen. Then it follows that things are not the same as they once were in those fractal times. What have we to say that these, as you say, subversives share the same goals as each other or as their own past or future? There are always shifts in the stream and new tributaries are formed. We must absolutely change with them, but then shall will our mission? We can't expect our initial paths to be the right course of action until it is too late. Always is the same dilemma. Do we change our clothes...or stay frozen like we have so far now?

ENGINEER: So you seek to find cracks and fissures. I see you in that respect, but I am unsure as to your fluidity. Rivers can be blocked after all.

THAUMATURGE: Rivers run underground as well.

ENGINEER: And are there solid answers in these rivers, rather than in you?

ARMYMAN: Cease your talk, Green Gables; you're not going to get more than what she has already spoken. She is a rock in the guise of a feather.

ENGINEER: Than it seems we will sleep on this tension until a more convenient time. We have been summoned.

ARMYMAN: Our time has begun.

THAUMATURGE: Let us move forward.

(They move separately but in the same direction. They will go to Earth together. War begins again.)