Template:Featured Articles/10-2016
Within a heavy glass cylinder, he (reaching out with her mind, reaching into its mind, down past mutate programming, down past agony, to identity, a remembering of essential things) hung in a mass of wiring, mutate suit containing a body that seemed little more than a sack of flesh and energy now. Pure energy, drawn from the furnace they had made of him. Energy made of agony, agony so strong that sometimes it had allowed him to pierce his mutate conditioning and send his helpless, hopeless cry of pain out into the world, waiting for someone to hear him. ~I heard you,~ she said to him, ~I came.~ There wasn't enough of him left to make words, but he heard her and a small wave of gratitude came out through the pain. And something that Emma could only translate as no longer alone. ~Not alone,~ she confirmed. ~I'm here with you. I'll stay with you.~ With a quick reach outwards, Emma created her telepathic switchboard, drew in the minds of everyone around her. She had listened to the conversation going on behind her. Confirmation from North that simply to shut the power plant down would likely lead to a nuclear explosion. That they could overload the plant, feed energy into it until it shut down, but this was likely to lead to the destruction of the bulkhead and the sinking of the Emperor within hours. Jubilee's report that a heavy storm was forecast - possibly enough to swamp the lifeboats if they chose to abandon ship. Amanda's concerns about the safety of the innocent crew and passengers (while interspersed with acerbic comments on the not-at-all-innocent crew and passengers and what they deserved), followed by Mudd's protests. Felicia's suggestion that perhaps they could simply sail the ship to a new harbour and then make a decision. ~We are sending them into the lifeboats.~ Emma's telepathy rode over all of her colleague's thoughts and, before they could begin to protest, she opened a small conduit between their minds and his, allowing them to touch the agony that was all of his life, had been his life for what, years now? ~I won't let him live for this for any longer than I have to.~ She closed the conduit, separated them from his mind, though not herself. ~I need to help him die. It's why he called me.~ Gratitude, so strong it nearly made Emma stagger, a wash of hope beneath the pain came from the mutate. Behind her, Emma heard everyone begin to take command, North starting to program the plant, the others beginning to divide up the work that would be needed to evacuate the ship. Bowing her head, Emma trusted them and set herself to the task of reaching into the pain and trying to take it away. |
