Interlude: Fear is a Strange Organism

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The view changes to show what is clearly a virtual environment; no real place could be this bizarre. There is no solid ground, just strange mist that fades the world into nothing. Light flicks through it at random in little balls, and strange shapes form and vanish. In the centre, floating, is a humanoid figure, seemingly a seamless blend of metal and flesh and less definable things. It speaks, in a quiet, feminine voice, with a noticeable Gallente accent.

Joy.

Sarcasm drips from her voice as she gestures at a passing cube, reshaping it into the form of a Tengu, then discarding it.

I have to be the hero. Me. Me, for crying out loud. I am not a hero. Not by any standard. Heroes are fundamentally dumb. It's part of their definition. You have to be stupid to go charging into hostile territory to save two people who, in the fullness of time, will simply be able to softclone out.

And yet... somehow I'm doing it. Sending out messages, organising a team... and trying to work out where the hell Morwen and Repentence are.

Another shape molds itself into a bleeding corpse before vanishing.

They're probably going to die before we can locate them. Not dead yet, apparently, but I doubt that'll last.

I'm not even sure that I care about them. I stay with them because they interest me, but do I genuinely care? Do I really care about anything?

A shape molds into a diminuitive, child-like figure, which sits cross-legged and somehow disapproving.

The question that's been following me since I tried to die.

And you can be quiet.

She pokes the sitting figure, and it explodes into mist.

I suppose I have to care about something, otherwise I might as well just not do anything... and that's just plain dull. Can't even die properly. Who'd have thought that immortality was the cure for apathy?

She laughs quietly, then goes quiet.

I really need to work things out... even if I have to get Ashley to take charge. For now, I'll have to... at least pretend to myself that I care.

I'm a good actor.

You know the thing that really annoys me about this?

The world begins to fade, and her last words are spoken in darkness.

Morwen's first words are going to be 'I told you so'.

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