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Authors: Tim Lebbon
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facility of humanity. He's committed the very crime that put everything in this New Ark into the Memory in the first place, except that he's committed it against humans. He doubts them, looks down upon them, and that has made him underestimate them."
"And I'm human?" Abby doubts that, because there is something else deep down that drives her. Like a blazing fire behind a locked door, it surges for release at frequent intervals.
"As human as anything aboard this ship, Blake included. "
"And you, Voice?"
Voice is quiet for a long time, and Abby begins to think he has fallen asleep. But then she feels movement at her back, a subtle vibration transmitted through the metal of the door, and when he speaks it sounds as though he is crying. "Abby, it's time for you to leave. Escape. You're looking for a life, and you'll never find it in here. Here, there's only death waiting for the right time to visit."
"Voice?" Abby is shocked, but it is more at the way he seems to be reading her mind than anything else. Escape, she has been thinking for weeks. Escape is the only way. Perhaps seeking Voice's approval is the impetus she really needs.
"Go," he says, and that is the last she hears.
Abby stands. She has been planning this for some time, never really believing that it would happen; it was a fancy, a daydream, a glimpse of a future that would never be. Now that she is actually going through with it, she finds herself calmer and more composed than she has any right to be. She is leaving home for the first time, with only the good wishes of someone or something locked away from the world to see her on her way.
The stern will be the best place for her to jump from. Even if she is seen, it will take hours for the New Ark to halt and come back to look for her. And it seems fitting that, at the moment of her plunging into the sea, she and Blake will be parting company at the greatest speed possible.
"Goodbye," she whispers at the metal door. But it will be years before she knows whether or not Voice even hears.
----
On this, her final walk through the other world that is the New Ark , she takes in everything and commits it to memory. One day, she is thinking, it may all be useful She never intends to return to Blake's realm, yet she knows that a part of her will never be able to leave.
She heads through the maze of rooms and cells at the bow of the great ship. It is dark in here, occasional lights flickering and blinking as the troubled generator soldiers on. A drone passes her, and she pauses to watch it go. She has never discovered the source of these things, and Voice claims not to know. Of one fact she is certain: they are not born out of the vats. Blake has created these creatures, not dragged them out of the Memory, and to Abby's mind that makes them more of a travesty. Gray, short, sallow, strong of muscle but weak of mind, the drones run the ship and do all the work that is necessary in keeping Blake's creatures alive and well. She has never seen them when they are not working. She has never seen a drone resting. She has never even seen a dead drone, though there are plenty of places where corpses can be disposed of inside the New Ark .
"Hey!" she says. The drone stops and turns, pointing its doglike face her way and averting its eyes. They never meet her eyes. Blake has made them less than the other things aboard the huge ship, and they seem to know their place. "What do you do to rest?" she asks.
"Huh," the drone says.
She has never been able to make any sense in the noise, and even now she is still unsure whether there is any intelligence behind it at all.
"What do you eat?"
"Huh."
"What do you like to do?"
"Huh."
"Touch your toes." The creature bends and fingers its toes. "Stand up." It stands. "Why are you here?"
"Huh."
Abby feels tears blurring her vision, and she wipes at them angrily. She knows nothing other than what she has been born with, yet this thing pains her, offends her. It is nothing so shallow as
"And I'm human?" Abby doubts that, because there is something else deep down that drives her. Like a blazing fire behind a locked door, it surges for release at frequent intervals.
"As human as anything aboard this ship, Blake included. "
"And you, Voice?"
Voice is quiet for a long time, and Abby begins to think he has fallen asleep. But then she feels movement at her back, a subtle vibration transmitted through the metal of the door, and when he speaks it sounds as though he is crying. "Abby, it's time for you to leave. Escape. You're looking for a life, and you'll never find it in here. Here, there's only death waiting for the right time to visit."
"Voice?" Abby is shocked, but it is more at the way he seems to be reading her mind than anything else. Escape, she has been thinking for weeks. Escape is the only way. Perhaps seeking Voice's approval is the impetus she really needs.
"Go," he says, and that is the last she hears.
Abby stands. She has been planning this for some time, never really believing that it would happen; it was a fancy, a daydream, a glimpse of a future that would never be. Now that she is actually going through with it, she finds herself calmer and more composed than she has any right to be. She is leaving home for the first time, with only the good wishes of someone or something locked away from the world to see her on her way.
The stern will be the best place for her to jump from. Even if she is seen, it will take hours for the New Ark to halt and come back to look for her. And it seems fitting that, at the moment of her plunging into the sea, she and Blake will be parting company at the greatest speed possible.
"Goodbye," she whispers at the metal door. But it will be years before she knows whether or not Voice even hears.
----
On this, her final walk through the other world that is the New Ark , she takes in everything and commits it to memory. One day, she is thinking, it may all be useful She never intends to return to Blake's realm, yet she knows that a part of her will never be able to leave.
She heads through the maze of rooms and cells at the bow of the great ship. It is dark in here, occasional lights flickering and blinking as the troubled generator soldiers on. A drone passes her, and she pauses to watch it go. She has never discovered the source of these things, and Voice claims not to know. Of one fact she is certain: they are not born out of the vats. Blake has created these creatures, not dragged them out of the Memory, and to Abby's mind that makes them more of a travesty. Gray, short, sallow, strong of muscle but weak of mind, the drones run the ship and do all the work that is necessary in keeping Blake's creatures alive and well. She has never seen them when they are not working. She has never seen a drone resting. She has never even seen a dead drone, though there are plenty of places where corpses can be disposed of inside the New Ark .
"Hey!" she says. The drone stops and turns, pointing its doglike face her way and averting its eyes. They never meet her eyes. Blake has made them less than the other things aboard the huge ship, and they seem to know their place. "What do you do to rest?" she asks.
"Huh," the drone says.
She has never been able to make any sense in the noise, and even now she is still unsure whether there is any intelligence behind it at all.
"What do you eat?"
"Huh."
"What do you like to do?"
"Huh."
"Touch your toes." The creature bends and fingers its toes. "Stand up." It stands. "Why are you here?"
"Huh."
Abby feels tears blurring her vision, and she wipes at them angrily. She knows nothing other than what she has been born with, yet this thing pains her, offends her. It is nothing so shallow as
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