The Silk Moth Dream (Season 1 Complete)

EPISODE 5: A BRAVE NEW WORLD

Abin is silent the whole way home. Whatever it is — time travel, teleportation, Fiona has no idea — it's clear that Abin hadn't done it on purpose. Fiona still can't wrap her head around the time travel thing, but has to admit that it is the most succinct logic that explains all of his behaviors. Occam's Razor, and all that.

Fiona sees everything again as if for the first time. All of the drones zipping through the smog with announcements, the flashing neon billboards with endless ads for frivolous things, the street hawkers with their megaphones and endless noise. How far the world has come since Fiona was born in 2012, the year that people said the world was going to end.

If only that was how the world ended. No, the end of the world looks like this – slow decline and inevitability.

To his credit, Abin doesn't run around flailing his arms and freaking out like most other people might. He simply says nothing as Fiona scans her biometrics to get into the apartment complex, as she inputs the digital code for the mechanical elevator to take them directly to the door, as the holographic door lets them through the wards with a soft bzzt. He doesn't say anything as he appraises her small 200-square feet apartment with no decorations but a large monitor, where she conducts all of her outside work. In the corner, a twin size mattress sits atop a bare bed frame.

"I'm sorry about all of this," Fiona says, realizing for the first time that she'd taken him from a perfectly comfortable living situation to a very dingy couch without any real consultation. "I have a... difficult past with Left Behind. That's the LB base that we were just on. They're technically not on good terms with the government so they have to stay in hiding."

Abin settles gingerly on the couch, touching it hesitantly as though he's not sure it's real. "It is quite alright."

"Shailene and I grew up with each other," Fiona blurts, as though this is some sort of confession. She tries not to think about it too much, tucking herself into her blankets and staring up at the ceiling. "So it gets complicated sometimes. Because she stayed and I didn't. But you saw how it was. How they are. You understand, right?"

Abin is quiet for a second. In a low voice, he says, "I do not."

"They're a radical direct-action environmental protection group. They started out with little things, like blowing up fully automated manufacturing factories to disrupt the supply chain. But over the years, they've gotten worse. And I just worry. Because these are the people I love. The only fa... friends I have." Fiona blinks away the unexpected tears, never having had to explain it this way before.

"I do not understand," Abin repeats, a little louder.

"I know," Fiona says. "I know. Depending who you ask, they're bad people. They're good people. They're terrorists. They're the last heroes, fighting the good fight. Thinking about it all gives me such a headache. I can only imagine what it might feel like for you–"

"Fiona," Abin says. "I do not understand any of it. Your world. My world. How it became like this. How I am here. Why I am here." Unbeknownst to her, he's also blinking away tears. "Why it feels so hard to breathe outside. Why it is so hot. Why there are so many lights, so many noises, so many magical devices that do whatever you want. How I can go back. If I want to go back."

Fiona's words die on her lips and she looks over at the dark bundle on her couch. She doesn't understand the events or the specific meanings behind his words but she understands his pain, the way his voice tremors slightly and the way he stares up at the darkness. "I'm sorry," she echoes herself and they both lay there like that for the next few hours, gazing up at nothing.

***

Abin stares down the contraption as though some stroke of genius that hasn't arrived in the past ten minutes will suddenly hit him now.