After Alice had gone, Rachel washed, undressed and climbed into her bunk. The blankets were rough but warm, and the padded bunk was more comfortable than most others that she had experienced. Her body ached and her back felt stiff. She was very tired. It wasn't long before she found herself falling into a deep and restless sleep.
She was standing on the Grand Plaza. It was night-time and a cool breeze caressed her skin. The towers were silent, their lights so dim that she could hardly see them at all. She couldn't see any droids on patrol. She wondered where everyone had gone.
Rachel rubbed her tired eyes. Was she seeing things? It looked like there was somebody standing on the Grand Plaza. She hadn't seen them before. They were standing to the South, watching her. As the moonlight fell across the ground, she realised that it was a man. He walked slowly towards her, his black robe fluttering in the wind. The robe had a hood that covered his face, leaving only his white jaw visible in the pale moonlight. He held a long black walking staff in one hand, and he moved with an elderly gait. Rachel watched him with concern. There was something disturbing about him. He moved in a strange way. His legs were slow, but he had already covered half the distance between them. He seemed to travel faster than his legs could carry him.
As he drew closer, she saw that it was not a staff that he was holding but a long black spear. Gold symbols ran along its length, and the symbols glowed in a series of waves that travelled from its base to its tip. It was beautiful and disturbing in equal measures. Rachel took a long slow breath.
The figure moved closer, with the slow, deliberate steps of an old man. He kept his head down, face lost in the shadows of his hood. Rachel watched him with a detached interest as he covered the distance between them. She felt uneasy, but when she tried to step back, her feet wouldn't move.
She looked down and saw that the white stone of the Grand Plaza had somehow grown over her feet. Only her ankles remained exposed. She didn't understand what was happening to her. Each time she tried to pull her feet free, they sank deeper into the ground. She glanced around, looking for anyone that could help her, but there was nobody there.
The man was closer now. He had narrowed the distance between them while she had been struggling with her feet. Rachel reached down for her impact pistol but the holster was empty. She couldn't take her eyes off the man in front of her. He lifted his spear from the ground, and in a single fluid motion, swirled it across the back of his neck and thrust it forwards with his outstretched arm. Rachel screamed as the spear's razor tip scraped between her ribs. It tore through her flesh and slid out through a gaping hole in her back. The spear felt hot inside her, its golden symbols burning her open wound. The man's mouth opened, exposing black teeth that were arranged in a savage grin.
Rachel's legs buckled beneath her, tipping her backwards onto the ground. Her feet were still trapped in the stone beneath her. She landed hard, clutching the spear with both hands. She couldn't breath. Had it pierced her lung? Rachel coughed, and blood splashed across the ground beside her. Pain exploded inside her. She could feel her life slipping away.
'Goodbye, Rachel,' the man whispered. She watched his back as he swirled around with a cackling laugh and started walking away from her.
Darkness closed in around her. Rachel tilted her head to one side and watched him disappear into a rolling mist.