18 May 2012
[A little prologue to the final part of Weathered Worlds]
“Come on, my daughter, we have to keep in the rain. You mustn’t shelter yourself.”
The mother motioned to her little girl who was frantically attempting to hide underneath a hanging rock face. Her expression was cross and she reluctantly obeyed, stomping her feet just in case her annoyance had been overlooked. She crossed her arms and out of the corner of her eye checked to see if her mother was looking, which she wasn’t.
“Do we HAVE to, mother? It stings me.”
The mother ignored her daughter’s question and grabbed her hand, holding her close. They continued walking slowly, wisps of smoke hissing on their bare skin with every droplet, until the daughter yet again decided to run off. The mother was clearly quite exhausted as she unenthusiastically jogged to catch up with the girl. She was standing not too far away, pointing into the distance.
“What’s that man doing, mother?”
They walked closer and her mother peered through the damp and dusty air. There was a man lying, face up in the middle of a deserted plane of land, his head apparently resting on his crossed arms. As the couple drew nearer a particularly violent flash of blue across the sky illuminated the man for just a moment, enough to recognise him. She let slip a sad smile.
“Is he okay?”
“He’s okay, my daughter. As okay as you and I.”
The curiosity crinkled her face as she continued to question her mother.
“But why is he just lying there?” She looked up at her mother and noticed the recognition on her face.
“Who is he?”
“Oh he’s just an engineer, my child.” The mother’s gaze was fixed on the lying man now, as though enchanted. “An engineer who was given an impossible problem. Who in the end had to make a choice between two incomprehensible evils. A choice that he made, for us.”
“How can a decision from two evils make something good?”
The mother sighed and pulled her daughter away, continuing their walk in the opposite direction.
“It can’t, my dear. It can’t.”
Weathered Worlds: Prologue to 10/10 • Opuss № I