“Let the grief we feel for the lost be eased by our nanites, but even more so by our memories of the lives they lived. And today, I make a promise to you that these fine men and women will not be obliterated, nor dishonored. Who they were, until the moment they crossed into the blind spot, will most certainly be preserved as memory constructs within the Thunderhead’s backbrain – and I will personally count them among my own gleaned. If and when we leave this place, I will honor them by granting immunity to their loved ones, as we scythes are charged to do.”
Scythe Faraday let his words linger for a moment, and while most of the others couldn’t bear to look, Faraday turned to gaze into the flames. He stood tearless and resolute as the bodies were consumed, a solemn witness, returning the dignity that unsanctioned death had stolen from these people.
Loriana could not bring herself to look into the fire. Instead she focused on Faraday. Many Nimbus agents approached him to thank him. It brought a few tears to her eyes, to see how they revered and respected him. It gave her hope that the scythedom could, in time, recover from the sinking of Endura. Loriana knew little of the battle between the old guard and new order. Like many, she just knew that there was trouble within their ranks, and that, as a Nimbus agent, it was none of her business. She was impressed, however, by Faraday’s eulogy, and by the way he unflinchingly looked into the flames. Although she knew that the sorrow he felt as he gazed into the fire was about more than just the dead before them.
“Were you close?” Loriana asked when the others around them had left. “To Scythe Curie, I mean.”
Scythe Faraday took a deep breath, but then coughed from the smoke, as the breeze momentarily shifted direction. “We were very old friends,” Faraday told her. “And Scythe Anastasia had been my apprentice. The world will be a much dimmer place without them.”
While Scythe Curie was legendary, Scythe Anastasia had only recently become a figure of note in the world. How she allowed people to choose the time and nature of their gleaning. How she had forced an inquest. No doubt much would be made of her in the coming years. Sometimes death leads to public oblivion. Other times it can make you larger than life.
“I’d better go,” Loriana said, “before Munira gets jealous.”
Faraday offered a faint grin at that. “She is very protective of me,” he admitted. “And I of her.”
Loriana left to find Director Hilliard. While none of the other Nimbus agents had the fortitude to watch the dead burn, Director Hilliard hadn’t even attended the ceremony. It was unlike her.
Loriana found her sitting on the beach, far from the others, looking at the sea. There was no light but the flames of the distant pyre, and the wind kept shifting, making it impossible to ignore the smell of smoke. The moon was shining elsewhere in the world, leaving the horizon obscured by darkness. Loriana sat beside her and said nothing at first – because what was there to say that could make this any better? What the director needed right now was company, and no one else was willing to provide it.
“This is my fault,” Hilliard finally said.
“You couldn’t have known this would happen,” Loriana told her.
“I should have anticipated the danger,” she said. “And I should have turned us around the second the boat’s computers lost contact with the Thunderhead.”
“You made a judgment call,” Loriana said. “If I were you, I probably would have done the same.”
Still the director was not mollified. “Then you’re just as foolish as I am.”
And although Loriana often felt foolish – and the butt of other agents’ jokes – she wasn’t feeling that way anymore. In the midst of their current helplessness, she felt empowered. How very strange.
The night was warm, and the sea gentle and inviting. That did nothing to ease Audra Hilliard’s anguish. She had been responsible for many deaths in her time. It was hard to avoid when you’re the head of the Authority Interface. Accidents happened. Unsavories lost their temper during probational meetings, that sort of thing. But in each and every case, the deadish were revived.
This, however, was different. Audra Hilliard was not a scythe; she was not trained and groomed for the responsibility of ending life. Now she had a newfound respect for those strange robed specters – for to bear such a burden on a daily basis took an extraordinary individual. Either someone with no conscience at all, or someone with a conscience so deep and sturdy that its center could still hold in the face of light extinguished.
Audra had sent Loriana away, telling her she needed some time alone. Now she could hear the voices on the island behind her – everyone arguing and lamenting and trying to come to terms with their situation. She could smell the stench of the pyre, and she could see yet another body undulating in the waves, about to wash ashore. Of the 977 people she had convinced to make this journey, only 143 had survived. Yes, as Loriana had said, Audra had not known the extent of the danger. But she could not heft the blame on any shoulders but her own.
Her nanites fought a noble battle to lift her spirits, but they failed, for in this forlorn place, technology held little sway. Had they been anywhere else in the world, the Thunderhead, even in its silence, would have been a safety net, sending intervention to save her from this spiral.
But, as she had already noted, the night was warm, and the sea inviting…
So Audra Hilliard decided it was time to accept that invitation.
Director Hilliard’s body was never found. But everyone knew what had happened – because more than one person saw her walk into the ocean.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” Loriana demanded of a man who had witnessed it.
He just shrugged. “I thought she was going for a swim.”
Loriana was horrified by his stupidity. How could he be so naive? How could he not see the strain the poor woman was under? But then, taking one’s own life was something that simply never happened. Yes, people splatted and engaged in reckless behavior that left them deadish on a regular basis – but it was always with the clear understanding that it would be temporary. Only scythes self-gleaned. If this island had been within the Thunderhead’s sphere of influence, an ambudrone would have been dispatched the moment she drowned – for everywhere else in the world there were revival centers, even in the most remote places. She would have been spirited off for revival in a matter of minutes.
Was this what life was like in the mortal age? Feeling the finality of one’s own flesh at every turn? What a terrible way to exist.
Within minutes of confirming that Director Hilliard was indeed gone, Agent Sykora began to push for control. The following morning, Munira came to give Loriana a briefing on what luggage and other useful debris had washed up on shore – and Sykora was furious.
“What are you talking to her for?” he asked Munira. “I’m the next in command now that the director is gone. You should be talking to me.”
And although all of Loriana’s history had trained her to yield to authority, she fought against that nature in herself. “You were fired along with the rest of us, Bob,” she said, thrilling at the insubordination implied in using his first name. “Which means there is no ‘next in command’ anymore.”
He threw her a glare that was intended to intimidate, but he also grew red in the face, which undercut his hard gaze. It made him appear petulant rather than imposing. “We’ll see about that,” he said, and stormed away.