“I thought you wanted me to be less angry.”
Iris only laughed.
Yan ran his thumb over the nape of Iris’s neck. Gently, as he would brush the feathers on a bird’s wing. “You’re tired, I know you’re tired. You can just go to sleep, OK? I’ll stay with you the whole time. I don’t mind figuring it out with the ship afterwards. I think we have some unresolved business anyway, and I’m not feeling especially diplomatic at the moment.”
Iris sobbed into Yan’s shoulder and shook his head.
“It’s OK, we’ll just stay here then. I’m not in a hurry. I’m not going anywhere. We have all the time you want.”
“I’m sorry,” Iris whispered.The next time the ship pings you, I need you to accept it.
Yan pulled him closer. “You saved two people. You tried to save more, but you saved two. You did so well.”
“But you came back so what good is that?”When it tries to use you to jump to the universal feed, I need you to enter it instead and find the other brains. Corrupt your own code. I know you can. Let it gobble it up and destroy itself. There’s still a chance. Can you do that? Can you kill it—can you kill it before it kills you?
“You saved two people. I’m just an idiot who came back.” Yan’s cheek was pressed against Iris’s. The engineer was shaking faintly, but his hands remained steady, his voice level. He had no intention of telegraphing just how frightened he was. Iris wrapped his left arm around him and grabbed a handful of Yan’s shirt.
Of course.
I’m asking you to kill something, then to die yourself. Don’t say of course,Iris thought. He didn’t know what he could continue with. How could he continue at all?
No, you’re asking me to fight.
With that, VIFAI was gone, waiting in hiding for the next time the ship pinged it. Iris would have to force the ship’s hand. He would have to accelerate the timeline. Conscious, he would inevitably push back against the ship. It would never commit to an attack knowing he was still capable of deflecting it. He needed to be actively dying—not dead, because that would kill VIFAI—but importantly close to it.
“Yan,” Iris said, “I don’t want to keep you any more than I have to. Pull the tourniquet.”
The engineer’s face shot up to look at him. Masterfully, Yan concealed his fear and gave Iris a reassuring smile. He was doing a wonderful job of pretending he hadn’t just been crying. “If you’re sure, I can do that for you.”
Yan’s hands moved along Iris’s right shoulder where the tourniquet had been set. Everything below Iris’s neck had already gone numb. The ship didn’t fear losing him, but it feared losing VIFAI, and if Iris died, so did his companion. He could force its hand. He could play dirty. Iris found an operational surveillance camera by the ceiling. It blinked red, and Iris winked back. TheNicaeahad to know what was coming; it had been watching so diligently all along. He glanced towards the groundwhere the puddle of his blood had begun to grow again. His trousers were drenched in it. They were beyond salvaging.What a waste of perfectly good silk.
“What’s your home like?” Iris asked, his body responding with a shudder as more blood seeped from him. “Would you tell me?”
Before he replied, Yan did what he did best. With utmost control, he relaxed his face into a thoughtful and calm expression. “Well, it’s a mess most days. I don’t live with anyone, so it’s just me, and I don’t need much.” He paused to watch Iris’s eyelids flutter. Softly, he rested Iris’s head back on his shoulder and took hold of his left hand, their fingers interlaced. “There are books everywhere, and blueprints, and I never have food in my kitchen. It’s quite pathetic, actually.”
Iris chuckled lightly. Yan’s voice came to him through a rising ocean of waves.
“But I have these giant floor-to-ceiling windows in every room. Well, in both rooms. I can’t afford more than two rooms. Big city, you know, prices are ridiculous. Anyway, giant windows, yeah, that’s why I got that place. It’s nice at night. You can see the whole skyline.”
It’s pinging again. Goodbye, Iris!
And VIFAI was gone.
The ocean was rising, and Iris was so cold.Farewell, my friend,he thought, two seconds too late, and the thought echoed in the cavernous vacuum left behind.We had a good life, didn’t we?He was tumbling, losing any sense of self as his mind opened up around him, far larger than he remembered it being. A bottomless pit. All alone.
“Show me, someday,” Iris whispered, or thought he whispered.
It sounded lovely. It soundedperfect. An empty room with giant windows or a room cluttered with Yan’s books and blueprints. He’d gladly have either, both, anything at all if it was with Yan. A kitchen with no food wasn’t a problem. Iris could make food. He could cook on a sunny day when the room flooded with yellow and orange light. He could cook when it rained, and the raindrops beaded against the glass. Yes, it would be a lovely place to be with someone. “Please, show me your home. Show me the windows. Show me everything.”
When Iris tried to breathe next, no breath came. Despite the growing cold in his limbs and the darkness creeping around him, there was no fear. His fingers twitched around Yan’s hand in a final attempt to communicate something he would never be able to say aloud, but something that desperately needed saying.
Anyone else would have missed it. Anyone else would have been too preoccupied with their impending demise to notice. But Yan, Yan never did need words to understand. Yan didn’t need an explanation for how much personal space Iris required. Yan didn’t need reminding that Iris grew distant and flustered when he didn’t meditate. Yan didn’t need to be told when to pull Iris close and when to let go. No words, nothing short of a hint. Yan just understood and squeezed Iris’s hand back.
When death came for Iris, he didn’t fight it.
>>18
GenSHIP OS [Version 10.0. 371???.??]
