New Elysium: Breakout

Like a lamb to the slaughter*

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep, before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. " - Isaiah 53:7

"Father have mercy on your son, and always bring me home again, however far I run." - "Outside In" - Circle of Dust

"Captain, why do humans think about death so much?"

"What?" He eyed his second-in-command as he pondered the question.

"Death Sir," the AI stood in front of him, his grey arms respectfully clasped behind him. It was the first of what would be many conversations that Lars would have with him about life, the universe, and everything. "I've discovered that many humans think about it a lot."

"I suppose because most people don't want to die," he answered slowly.

"And those that do?"

"They are a rarity."

"I suppose I should fear it... but"

"What AIs aren't afraid of death?"

"Well certainly Captain, but we can be turned back on. When a human is offline, they never come back. I can understand why you wouldn't want to shut down."

"Honestly Lars, most people don't even think about it..."

"Why? I would imagine they'd want to get everything done before..."

"It's not a pleasant subject."

"Have you ever thought about it, Sir?"

He stared at his second for a moment, completely taken back by the question. "No, I have not."

"So you are not worried, Sir?"

"About what?"

"Anything that's after this?"

"There's isn't anything after this..." Again he stared at the AI, the absurdity of the conversation weighed on him. Surely no one from the previous centuries before had imagined this kind of reality. Nothing in his reading had imagined it. He laughed inwardly. Robots questioning their origins when they clearly knew their makers.

His eyes snapped open in the darkness. He'd fallen asleep sitting on the floor next to Ember. His arm was stiff but when he went to move it he found her small arm was wrapped around it tightly. He openly stared now that he could.

Her breath fell easily in and out, almost drowned out by Dag's snoring and the snoring from the two boys crammed into the prison with them.

His own words from the memory echoed in his mind. "There isn't anything after this." But the more he stared at her, the more he wasn't sure. He was a long way from the man he used to be. But he wasn't proud of that fact. He was deeply ashamed.

He turned to staring up at the wall simultaneously wrapping a hand around Ember's while she slept. Can I change? Do I still want to die?

He didn't know the answers to either of those questions now, and it deeply troubled him. He'd had a goal, it had been an easy escape into nothing...

What now?

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Ember's eyelids rose slowly, they felt as if they weighed a million pounds. She felt more than sluggish...

This is it... The organic side of her struggled to pull out of the darkness. But with eyes that no longer saw, it was only a reflex. Anguish washed over her, anguish that she had to push away. Slowly she came awake vaguely aware that she had fallen asleep on the floor. Everything that could feel hurt, and what didn't hurt felt numb.