>>
|
5bf1bd.jpg
Castle Dancer
5bf1bd
[FRAGMENT ACCELERATION RATIO - 2 YEARS]
[PLAYING NEXT MEMORY SEQUENCE]
>How long did it last?
Still going.
>Is she really sterile?
Don't think genetics are going to do us any favours, especially since she doesn't have much Asliann in her for my sake.
>This is going to end in tragedy, isn't it?
Sometimes, you just have to take the blessings you can get in your life.
You know... after a few years in this place, the view never really gets old. Stretches of ocean that continue on forever. Clean air, devoid of smog from the factories back at home. Some people fish in their downtime, whereas others like to feel the sand against their feet.
Us, though? We like to eat outside, on top of a little cliff. It looks over the sandy bay, and up here, we can feel the breeze together.
We hadn't been here in a while, a week or so. New training regimen being planned. Schedules didn't happen to line up as well as we wanted it to.
I run along the fields, boots off. Mnemosyne for one reason or another, prefers to go without her boots outside of combat situations, so I figured that trying to feel things her way was appropriate... when we're outside, anyway.
I can feel her fingers entwined in mine as I drag her along.
She calls after me, her grip tight and resolute.
"Armin, we haven't resolved our previous debate! Which name do you think is better, Prometheus Clone or Trace Clone?"
Another day, another debate. Last month it was about which of the rations were the best.
"Trace Clone? Is that what the others are calling it now? Why's that, anyway? The late Doctor Prometheus was one of the people who invented the tech to make clones like you possible in the first place. Doc Troveheart's work was built on top of his after all, before he even set this whole facility up."
Seene brushes at her angular ears. They remind me a bit of rank chevrons, and it makes me want to tug on it, put it on my lapel.
"Well, we are formed from traces, are we not? The genetic traces of our predecessors, and their memories... though, there was that unusual new girl."
She shakes her head. Even as she talks, we continue to walk up the grassy outcrop. "Her circumstances are different. The other doctors have made it clear that we're not to bother her. She's not like the rest of us. But she was the reason why the question is being posed. She's an... evolution of the process. Not quite the work that Prometheus began, now is it? And Doctor Troveheart is much too modest than to name it after himself."
I consider this thoughtfully. Even though I'm just a soldier - I've talked with the man plenty of times. Is it really humility behind the name... or some kind of guilt? It isn't my problem to question orders, though. Especially when it's brought me the love of my life.
"Yeah, I see what you mean", I reply. "But, it's still good to acknowledge who came before you, right? Plenty of heroes who had built you up to begin with. I don't find myself leaning too far either way!"
She jabs me in the shoulder, her curled lips exposing those sharp teeth.
"I hope you're not implying that my accomplishments aren't my own, ya bastard."
I raise both my hands, laughing. "Whoa, whoa, hey, you're a tough bitch, wouldn't expect any less of you. All of us gotta have ancestors, comin' from somewhere, right? Ah, you know what I'm talking about."
This time, we're both laughing, as step over a stray petal.
|