Montoya is sitting at the Elders chambers communication console. He is playing the last message from Adrian O Jovem over and over again. he hears the recording about ten times, and begins to compose a message.
A few minutes later, the message is finished. As Juan's right hand moves towards the send button, it stops and hovers in the air, like an icicle hanging from nothing. Juan closes his eyes, and his hand retreats back to his person.
The same hand rises and clutches one side of his head, and after some time, Juan rises from the chair. He stands for a moment, choosing his destination, and with no particular haste, makes his way up the almost endless stairs of the Elder compound. After a seeming eternity, Juan sees the red sun of Omicron Gamma through a light at the end of the stairwell.
At his destination, a grand balcony awaits, large and possessing a spectacular vista of the environment in which the Corsairs live. One of the few places of life on Crete, the pale yellows of rock mixing seamlessly with the radiant greens of vegetation. The red sky fading into dark blue and the red glow accentuating every detail visible to him. What a sight to behold.
Juan stepped up on to the thick walls of the balcony. Built over four hundred years ago to defend the main settlement on Crete and its residents from misguided brigands of the past. Looking down, Juan saw an endless drop into black pit of oblivion. Shifting his gaze back again to the spectacular view of Crete, he smiled, and begun to tip forwards.
Almost as if nature had decreed that he was not to die, a gale pushed him back and unbalanced his person. Juan fell backwards on to the hard brick flooring of the large balcony. He slammed headfirst on to the brick, and was out like a light, blood oozing from his head.
