... the sound of distant chimes carries through the void ...
and darkness gives way to light ...
He was 'bio-born'… something his father went to extremes to hide so as to not jeopardize his rank among the military factions. These days, no replicant was a perfect copy, with visible mutations as the norm, but having DNA too corrupted to clone was a sign of weakness and exposed one to power-stripping.
'Bio-born' or not, he was to keep up the pretense of being a replicant and inherit the position he was groomed for. More than any one of them, he grew up armored against laxness and comfort, but he questioned his upbringing and wondered about the other side of himself ~ the side his father refused to talk about and seemed to hate and even fear in him.
She awoke, gasping for air. It was just a nightmare, like all the others, far removed from her placid life on this beach where nothing much happened. Yet her panic was real, as though a part of her had lived through violence she could not explain, the trauma embedded in her body, blood & bones.
It was not something she could share with the islanders who had found her as an infant on their shores. She grew up trying desperately to be at peace as they were, but they all knew she was different ~ with strange eyes, skin that burned in the sun, a fear of the water and a flaring temper none of them understood. Disturbed by her outbursts, they simply left her alone.
Seeking to escape his father's world and its customs, he left in search of his own life. Having learned to hide himself well among others, he became whatever was called for in the moment and got far with the approach, securing a high-ranking position of slave-trader on a water planet, living a life he felt content with.
But when he saw her, staring at him with those strange eyes ~ eyes that would have been his had his father's surgery not obscured them ~ he felt his past shatter before him as a lie. In a desperate and humiliating moment, he felt himself utterly dependant on another for his sense of self, as if, on his own, his very identity was void and incomplete... and that to know himself, he needed her.
When she saw the large boat on the horizon, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. And when she saw the masked man in the water, standing darkly against the sunset, something in her triggered awake and she ran. But like an animal, she was caught, pinned down with a knee against her back, hands tied, and herded on to the boat.
As night came, her head pounded with the waves, and the old nightmare flooded back. The man came to her then, smiling and open-armed as he helped her up and signalled for her to follow him below deck. But she knew there was no escape. The group of islanders parted as she backed away from him, moved to the edge of the boat and jumped into the water.
A Swarm Returns
By Sea And Air
Pale Ghosts In Masks
To Land Laid Bare
With Bonds Intact
And Journey Bound
From Cold Dark Waters
She'll Be Found
Old Voices Call
From Deepest Swell
Encircle Them
Their Echoes Tell
Of Winding Paths
And Sharpened Threats
Both Caught Astray
In Twisted Nets
She wished he had left her in the water. Having locked them both in a cabin below deck, he shouted at her while she frantically sought a way out of the tiny room, feeling sick as the boat groaned, writhing against the sea. Her throat burned and a cold panic swept through her as the man suddenly became quiet and tender, pressing closer... with no other means of escape available to her, she retreated to the only place he couldn't reach.
When he noticed her glassy eyes and stiff body, he put a knife to her throat, demanding her return through clenched teeth ~ and something in his voice and violent pleading broke through her then, to an ancient memory that flooded the room and splintered her mind.
As spastic and hysterical laughter echoed through the cabin, he dropped the knife and retreated to the edge of the bed, covering his face against the agony of the moment. Only when the laughter stopped did he look back to see her dig the knife into herself.
Before the laughter, he remembered her dead eyes... her leaving him… as if she couldn’t stand to be in her own body with him touching her. But he couldn't let her go, even now, with the knife in her belly, the air thick with the metallic scent of blood pouring out, staining everything. She was the key, he thought, and through her, he would know himself.
So he placed her into his regeneration pod where her body would heal. His kind was good at that, at least ~ prolonging life ~ but the stasis pod was not made for her. Although her body came out of the process intact, her mind was blank, neither knowing him, nor herself. And he suddenly felt relief, like he had been given a second chance.
Fearing the amnesia was temporary, he decided to keep his distance, should the sight of him trigger a memory of this night, causing him to lose her forever. He would hide her in his home on the mainland while seeking a position of greater influence, so as to keep her safe ~ to keep her his.
Dragged Forth From Death
He'll Not Lose Sight
Alone On Board
With Her That Night
With Mind At Sea
And Fractured Bed
She'll Cleave To Enter
Wounded Red