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[skitter]

Comments

[tarakan]

You have come to terms and then some based on flippancy.

[skitter]

I'm sorry for being inconsiderate about your death. Scion knows my own first one is still a bit raw. Literally, yesterday.

[tarakan]

[ There's a long pause before Hilbert grumbles, ]

Did not even know it was coming. It was foolish, stupid death enacted by foolish, stupid man.

[skitter]

Would you rather have known it was coming?

[tarakan]

Wouldn't everybody want that?

[skitter]

No, it sucks. I'll take lightning over the slow burn any day.

[tarakan]

Slow burn is painful, yes. More painful than quick, instant lightning. But sometimes what is painful is better for you. Like cutting out cancer or cauterizing wounds.

[skitter]

I burned to death in a trap I walked into. It was not swift. I'll take lightning.

[tarakan]

My last thoughts were along lines of 'something must be wrong, why can't she hear me?'. No time to think. No time to realize what was happening. No time to make peace. Just worry for something that did not matter.

[skitter]

Do you think you could have made peace?

[tarakan]

I do not know. But I would have liked opportunity to find out.

[skitter]

Maybe wanting that chance is why you're here.

[tarakan]

It is never that simple.

[skitter]

Nothing simple about that at all.

[tarakan]

We will have to beg to differ in that aspect.

Anyway. Question is not 'why am I here.' I am here because Admiral asked and I said yes. Question is 'why was I chosen in first place.'

[skitter]

Yes, which is what I meant.

Look, none of us know how the Admiral chooses. Honestly, I suspect it's not something he does consciously, or he wouldn't have brought people in days before the Authority caught us.

But it is a chance to make peace with your death.

[tarakan]

[ There's a frown and a long pause. Hilbert's obviously thinking things over for a moment before, ]

We will see. By the time I make peace with first death, I suspect another would be on the way.

[skitter]

Maybe. But I know there are people aboard who've never died here. Caution or luck or both.

[tarakan]

Fingers crossed that I am one of them.

[skitter]

Don't climb trees. If you see a gun, run. If someone's chasing you with a knife, run a lot faster. Don't sleep- well, that one's hard.

[tarakan]

How did someone die by climbing tree?

[skitter]

The greenhouse roof exploded and fell on us.

[tarakan]

[ There is a lot of quiet, annoyed Russian muttering that translates roughly to 'oh my God this boat is so stupid.' ]

This ship is ridiculous.

[skitter]

I don't speak Russian. [She responds, in cheerful Mandarin.]

It's getting better.

[tarakan]

Getting better is low bar.