“Gods evolve. We have wants and needs.” He chuckles here. Pans a hand to the lab around me. “Mine lie squarely in augmentation. But Tau’s… he was obsessed with the Source.”
My stomach drops and once again, my whole body goes tight. “Whatsource?”
“The source of spark, of course. He tried to merge with it. He thought it would make him more powerful. But instead of ascending, he was rejected, burned out, and unmade.” Epsilon shrugs. “He killed himself. It was a fool’s mission.”
He killed himself. Looking for the Spark Source.
Which I have not only seen in some dream-like state, but in person.
This is when I realize that Epsilon is trying to read me again. And I need to be very careful. So I ask another question. “But my city, the factory. It kept running.”
“Yeah. Quite well, actually. I mean…” he leers at me for a moment. “Look atyou.”
Don’t panic, Clara. This thing is not interested in you like that. He’s not even the same species.
My inner voice is right, but… that doesn’t really account for obsession.
I keep going, taking the story to its logical conclusion. “So… there was no god in the Tower in that other dimension. And somehow, my factory city stopped… harvesting?”
Epsilon gives me a half-hearted shrug. “I suppose.”
“But why would they stop? Did they know the god died?”
Epsilon has lost interest, distracted by his own thoughts. “How the hell should I know?”
“Maybe… it just collected? In those vats, or whatever? Until it was full? And once that happened, they just let all the girls keep their spark? Because what is the point of harvesting it if no one’s gonna come collect it. I don’t know. Maybe they got nervous and came up with an Extraction as way to make themselvesfeel better. One woman, every ten years? Even I have to admit, compared to what I saw in Delta, it’s a good deal.”
Epsilon doesn’t even bother answering. I don’t even think he heard me.
“Weird, though,” I say, “that the spark kept going. I suppose it’s natural. There would be residual spark. I mean, that’s why everyone was addicted to it in Tyse’s Tau City.”
He’s pacing now, probably coming up with a new way to kill me. And I’ve figured out what I needed, so now it’s time to come to terms with where I am.
Which is imprisoned in a cage.
“What do you want from me? I mean, I understand that you thought I’d be dead after… whatever it was you did to Tyse.” I want to know about him. I want to ask, so bad. But I don’t. I force myself to keep going. “But I’mnotdead. So… you can use me again. What do you want from me?”
Now he slowly tracks his gaze to mine. We lock eyes. I hold my breath, feeling sick about what request might come out of his mouth.
But he doesn’t speak. Instead, he strides over to me and releases my head from the bindings. Then he points off to my left, and now that I’m able to, I turn and look.
A screen. Quite large, so there’s no mistaking what I’m looking at.
It’s Tyse. He’s lying down on a table. Strapped to it in much the same way I’m bound to this wall. The cage of needle-like tubes isn’t covering his body, but hovering above him.
“He’s dying, Clara.”
I look at Epsilon. “Whatever it is you’re going to ask… my answer is yes.”
Which makes the god chuckle. “Of course it is.”
“As long,” I add, “as it will save him. Take whatever you want from me. I’ve got a lake of spark inside me, remember? Iwillrecharge. Give Tyse whatever he needs.”
He puts up a hand. “You’re getting way ahead of yourself. It’s not as easy as harvesting you.”
“No.” I look him dead in the eyes. “What you did to me wasn’t a harvest. It was…” I shake my head. Because while I do have a word for it, I’m hesitant to use it.
“Unspooling.” And then I don’t have to. Because it comes tumbling right out of his mouth. “That’s what I did to you. Because, on the other side of that wall.” He points to the wall across from me where the cage of needles is. “That’s the room Tyse is in. I unspooled you so I could thread him back up.”
