Evening was approaching in the city of Blacken Prime. As the day wound down, the city lights came on, and a lively commercial district came to life. Alliance citizens from absolutely everywhere came to Morgan District for food, entertainment, and lodging; many of them were locals, and many others were tourists, here to visit one of the city's many famous museums or monuments, to catch a glimpse of the massive starport, or to admire the planet's vast untapped countryside on the Blacken side of the planet, kept untapped by an ecological agreement with the UEF.

Ostensibly, the interplanar bridge was to be used only by the UEF Military Service. In practice, though, civilians could, and did, leak through - not particularly difficult when all citizens were also registered military troops at some level - to the good fortune of Blacken's tourist economy, which thrived on the presence of such extraplanar visitors. In consideration of this concern, the UEF Military Service was advised to turn a blind eye to this practice for purely diplomatic reasons, although the usual anti-piracy formalities like verification of Alliance citizenship were still conducted at both ends of the bridge.

Blacken's economy wasn't all driven by these barely legal visitors, though; locals often also had a fair penny to spend. Colonel Matthias Bloodmoon, a high-ranking officer in the UEF Special Operations Service, was one of these locals. Though of extraplanar origin, Matt had settled down in Blacken, having no family back home to return to, and he enjoyed every moment. In no other place in known space could a UEF officer be seen walking with an Aeon doctor, a towering alien warrior, and another alien with too many mandibles to count, all at the same time.

Cleric James Bridgetown was the Aeon doctor, and an accomplished one at that, having secured the position of Chief Medical Officer aboard the UES Unification, easily one of the largest starships in Alliance space, within a day of its deployment, and having received the UEF rank of Brigadier General at the same time with no other UEF military record. Of course, the rank was symbolic, and James refused to wear its insignia, but the work kept him busy all the same. It was fitting work, too - when you had two million on board one ship, the occasional incurable disease was bound to crop up, and incurable diseases were James's specialty. He had a way of performing his "*POOF* - You're Healed" ritual on cases uncrackable to UEF medical science, with surprising effectiveness - in his career aboard the Unification, he had not lost a single patient that had come under his direct supervision.

The two of them, both dressed in surprisingly civilian clothes, were sitting now in an indoor courtyard of square tables, surrounded by shops and their customers; to the untrained eye, they looked like they were enjoying some food and light conversation. Well, to be fair, they were enjoying some food, but the conversation was anything but light; in fact, the matters covered, though done casually, were actually rather weighty.

"So you say you're after the dead?" James asked Matt, regarding him curiously.

Matt nodded. "It's important to me."

"Lost love, eh?"

"Yep. I actually don't know why it's come up now, of all times. One would have thought I would have forgotten by now..."

"I see." James regarded his food thoughtfully for a second. "There is a way, of course, just as there's a way for everything else. But it'll be difficult - after all, no matter of cosmology is ever easy."

"Cosmology?" Matt asked curiously.

James smiled. "It's the term we use when talking about the local arrangement of planes of existence."

"Like other universes, you mean?"

"Well, not entirely, but that's one analogy for looking at it."

"Okay. So what am I looking for?" Matt seemed suddenly more attentive.

Even as James spoke, a ghostly holographic diagram projected itself into the space above the table. "The plane we're in is one of many Prime Material Planes. On one side of this constellation of Material Planes are the Inner Planes, which are only of interest to scholars and crazy people. On the other side of the constellation - insofar as the constellation even HAS sides, as it adopts a very non-Euclidean geometry, you see - reside the Outer Planes, which are what you're looking for. The Outer Planes are where souls go after their owners die, you see."

"So I just trek to the Outer Planes and find my person, is that the deal?" Matt asked.

James shook his head, smiling. "It's not that simple. You have the problem of finding your person in the first place - there are seventeen Outer Planes, and even if you know your person's personality to the finest detail, you're still searching at least three of them. Also, you have the problem of getting into the Outer Planes - a difficult task at the best of times for a living person. Additionally, each Outer Plane has its own unique hazards, which you MUST be mindful of if you want to come back in one piece."

"Sounds fun," said Matt.

"Excellent. When do you want to start?"

Matt shrugged. "This is peacetime, right? As soon as possible."

James nodded. "Right. We'll go to the Blacken Archive after dinner. Nobody ever told you this, but there's a portal to an extraplanar space hidden somewhere in there..."

The conversation turned to other matters of a less mystical nature, but it was clear that Matt's interest had been sparked. For the first time, he was on the verge of an answer...