Jean-Claude threw his rifle over his shoulder and took Evelyn by the hand. The armed babysitter said to Evelyn, \u201cAh, what\u2019s this I have here\u2026 a piece of chocolate?\u201d He continued to misdirect her attention while leading her out of the main chamber.<\/p>\n
Her daughter removed from the scene, Alison was able to concentrate on Seamus again, tied up against one of the old story-spines. The spine was covered in scorch marks left by Atlas\u2019 nerve tendrils. Seamus looked ridiculously small against the fat spine, almost Lilliputian. That would have made her Gulliver.<\/p>\n
Ivan lurched into action, as he was apt to occasionally. He stood between Alison and her prey and said, \u201cAlison, sweetheart, you really don\u2019t have to do this. Really. Please.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIvan,\u201d she said. \u201cGet out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
A single pebble cannot dam a raging torrent and so he took his familiar wounded puppy look aside, shoulders sagging.<\/p>\n
A noise of a distant gunfire exchange was carried through the damp air. Just like the vines and creepers that were breaking through the shell of the godnode, shoots of green staining the silver and white, chaos was seeping through once-strong order that Atlas had brought the planet.<\/p>\n
Alison said to the bound man, \u201cSeamus, last chance. We used to be on such good terms, you and I.\u201d She spoke with a confidence that belied the fact that this was a maverick act, one which was likely to start a small war unless she converted Seamus quickly.<\/p>\n
Seamus, who had tethered his anger with his own rope thus far, could restrain himself no longer. He shouted, \u201cI don\u2019t need to help anyone! This place should have been wiped off the map years ago, for the good of the curve. And\u2026 I don\u2019t think you have much time.\u201d He stared into the overcast sky with a self-satisfied smile, beyond the open roof where the story-spines climbed into heaven.<\/p>\n
Alison had never really grown to like his know-it-all attitude, but Seamus was right, once again. She turned to her security attach\u00e9 and said, \u201cA knee. I don\u2019t care which one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWait-\u201d<\/p>\n
Obedience, thought Alison, is a good thing.<\/p>\n
A gunshot reverberated around the chamber, followed by a high-pitched scream. Blood pooled around Seamus\u2019 right knee and he writhed in agony, straining against his bonds. Blue jeans turned red. His eyes scrunched up tight in pain, generating wrinkles were none had previously existed. One bullet had seemed to age him by several years.<\/p>\n
Ivan, in shock, could only say, \u201cJesus Christ, Alison\u2026\u201d He fled, unable to bear witness.<\/p>\n
Alison could make it up to Ivan later, so she paid his departure no attention. Ivan, the ever-abused pet, always came back, a glutton for her punishments. This was the post-Atlas sadomasochistic world in all its splendour. Order and chaos. Love and pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuck<\/em> you!\u201d Seamus yelled. \u201cI lost my family when LunR blew under Atlas\u2019 watch! I remember how safe<\/em> Atlas\u2019 love was!\u201d He could barely open his eyes, tears upon them like glue. He continued to struggle against the rope in anger, futile though it was.<\/p>\n Alison turned towards her attach\u00e9 again, opened her mouth briefly but thought better of it. Instead she advanced towards Seamus and said, \u201cWe were\u2026 together<\/em> on that night in Dublin. I remember clearly even if you don\u2019t and I remember that you loved Atlas even then. Who has turned you against him? What terrible harm has loving Atlas managed to inflict on you from his grave?\u201d<\/p>\n She knelt down beside Seamus, angry with her old intimate. While considering her next move, her eyes skated across the chamber floor, spying puddles of water where the rain had managed to find rest. In the puddles, she saw not the distorted reflection of herself, but that of the story-spines charging up into the sky, cut brutally short by the water\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n Breathing heavily, Seamus tried again to protest. He said, \u201cAtlas was not the great sage you make him out to be. How many of the past-born took their own lives after he emptied everyone\u2019s secrets out into the open?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf all people, don\u2019t you think I<\/em> know that, Seamus? And don\u2019t you understand what Atlas was? A simple experiment gone wrong. In minutes every single piece of silicon on the planet became him, every computer and handpad, every toaster and radio, every satellite and calculator. This is what Atlas was. He was an accident, a happy accident. He was not a god, he was our best approximation. He would make mistakes but damn you Seamus \u2013 it was not for want of trying.<\/p>\n \u201cHe died trying not to save himself, but to save us. He died\u2026 for us<\/em>. For us<\/em>. He deserves a fitting epitaph. It\u2019s the least we can do. Look at what we have become, look at how we remember him.\u201d<\/p>\n Having provided the carrot, the attractive lure of doing the right thing in a world gone wrong, she provided the stick. She pressed his shattered knee with the index finger of her shiny prosthesis. Seamus responded appropriately. Chaos from order. Pain from love.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get the godnode active again. We need to understand. We want to read the message that Atlas received.\u201d<\/p>\n She pressed again. After his scream subsided, Seamus started to sob.<\/p>\n Blood had now stained the watery reflections of the spines just like her prosthesis. Alison turned her gaze away from them towards Seamus. His face was drenched in tears and sweat and she said to him, \u201cI think he found out that he was alone. His own message came back to him. He was talking to himself.\u201d<\/p>\n Choking on tears, Seamus uttered, \u201cThe first sign… of madness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jean-Claude threw his rifle over his shoulder and took Evelyn by the hand. The armed babysitter said to Evelyn, \u201cAh, what\u2019s this I have here\u2026 a piece of chocolate?\u201d He continued to misdirect her attention while leading her out of the main chamber. Her daughter removed from the scene, Alison was able to concentrate on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}