Beware the Neon Skeleton beyond the 7th Gate

Those words rang through her ears now. She stood before the 7th gate. An unassuming set of pneumatic doors made of brushed stainless steel. She closed her eyes and tried to relax her diaphragm to exhale, conscious that she had been holding her breath for some time. Before she could do that her mind flashed back to the 5th gate. Where her friend had willingly given himself to the nano-swarm. Not out of sacrifice, but to join it willingly. The nano-swarm was said to be one of the most exhilarating experience one could have. A million hits of Dragon-Jebba without the fatal overdose.

Beware the Neon Skeleton beyond the 7th Gate.

The girls head fell forward and a small smile spread across her lips. It was Zekk that had said those words. Now he was slowly being disassembled by the swarm. Cell by cell. Sure, it's an ecstatic trip, but it's one way. He wasn't dead, of course. He was now part of the hive, where he would live for all eternity, one with the nano-swarm. His family can even contact him on the holosphere! She exhaled slowly.

"But why Zakk. What did you see in the swarm that I didn't?" She whispered to herself, head still bowed, eyes still closed.

The hiss of pneumatics operating before her was startling, but she didn't flinch. She could see the glow of bright lights through her clenched eyelids. She knew what it was.

"Come in my child," a distorted, wavering voice said to her. "And see it for yourself.