“I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Hmm. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like… tears in rain. Time to die.”
-Roy Batty, Blade Runner.
***
“What is this place?” Jett asked.
“This is the Canterlot Underground,” Starry Skies smiled.
Just behind the gate was something spectacular. It was almost like another city beneath the bright shiny capital above. They stepped into a large open chamber. The walls were clearly still rock and yet the inside was odd combination of rustic and somewhat modern architecture. Various trees grew in random spots all over the small town with lanterns hanging off of many of them to help add light. On one end of the chamber was a small freshwater lake that connected to an underground river that split the town in half as it exited the cave.
Jett stared it all in awe. It was like a group of dwarves had dug their way down here and constructed a small town. The place itself was alive with activity. Various dances were going on, shows, parties, even a few boxing matches here and there.
“This is amazing!” Jett smiled.
“Figured you’d like it.”
“How was this even built?” he asked as they started to take a series of steps down into the town.
“Well story was that a prospector had recently struck it rich mining for precious stones and happened upon this open cavity among the all the tunnels that make up the caves in this mountain. He had some money so he supposedly got to building an underground area where any miner who needed to could stop by and rest his head. Of course once the mining slowed and stopped this place was pretty much forgotten by all but a few. Then someone got the genius idea to turn it into this: the Canterlot Underground.”
“Wow…”
“Yup, no rules here except no killing, no stealing, no causing any fights outside of the boxing ring, and leave your social status at the door.”
Jett raised an eyebrow.
“No one here is any better or worse than anyone else. There are no celebrities, there are no peasants, everyone is on level ground. That’s why you find a lot of famous people here. We sometimes just want to get away from it all.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Jett said, “If I was hounded almost every day by the paparazzi I’d want a vacation from it every once in a while.”
The two stood a few steps from the town, Jett still taking in the view.
“Well?” Starry Skies asked, “What are you waiting for? Let’s get going!”
She grabbed his hand and the two ran off into the underground.
***
4:50 PM.
Dane and Gin burst into the empty warehouse. Gin collapsed to the ground catching her breath while Dane closed the doors and made sure they weren’t being followed.
Finally Gin found use of her words, “Okay, what the fuck was that? How the hell did they figure out what we were so fast?!”
“I have no fucking clue. Clearly some bat crazy shit is going on here and I really don’t want to wait around here to find out what it is,” Dane responded checking on his bag, “We need to get back to the shuttle, get back to the ship, and get the fuck off this rock and don’t look back.”
“Agreed.”
“This whole experience has been one giant MASS OF CLUSTERFUCKERY LARGER THAN ANY I HAVE EVER SEEN. How the living fuck did human like whatever the fucks evolve independently of humans on Earth here?! Why the fuck do they have wings, crystals embedded in their heads, and why can the ones that have neither flip a truck over without a second thought?! And more importantly, how the fuck did we get here?”
“I don’t know. I just want to orient ourselves so we can get home and regroup with the fleet.”
Dane sighed, “We’re light years away from home, parsecs even. Even if we could find a way home it would take thousands of years.”
“This is all too much of a mess to sort out right now. If that’s what we have to do to get back to the human race then we’ll do it.”
“Assuming there’s a human race left…”
“What?”
“Think about it. We’re thousands of years away from the rest of human civilization. If we head back now by the time we get back, whatever society that’s still around will obviously look nothing like what we left nor will they have the technology level of what we left behind. So unless you have an FTL shoved up your ass we’re not going anywhere.”
“Well, can’t you make one or something?”
“Do you know what that would entail? I would either need to warp space and find a way to keep the ship from melting in the heat, wormholes and methods to fold space, or some kind of quantum slipstream tunneling. Jett was the smart one so if anyone could build one it would be him.”
“Well what if we accelerated relativistically?”
“We’re still facing the original problem. We’re here; human civilization or the part of it we want to get back to is either is light years away in Sol or their running like hell for Alpha Centauri.”
“Alpha Centauri?”
“IPA has the only planet worth a damn in the Solar System, plus they’ve been sitting back for like 50 years building a super war machine. If Halsey’s fleet even survived it would certainly be slaughter for the outer planets and the belt.”
“And that’s assuming they didn’t go the way of the tiger.”
“Best case for them is they pulled a Battlestar Galactica and bounced. Best case for us… I’m still working on that.”
Gin sighed, “You may as well just say it.”
“What?”
“We’re fucked so many different ways it could be considered rape.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“We’re stuck on planet with humanoids resembling something from a fundamentalist’s wet dream, this is the only planet that can sustain life within what? How many fucking light years? On top of that, they also speak ENGLISH! You mind explaining that shit to me?! Either way I don’t see any scenario where we either don’t end up dying ourselves or going into cryo for a few thousand years before heading for Earth.”
“We don’t have to make that decision yet. Let’s just focus on getting into space.”
“Fine.”
Dane pulled his bag off and removed a pad, “Our shuttle is 5 kilometers from here. You think you can pull that kind of run?”
“Bitch I could probably pull your head off right now.”
“Okay, no need to ask.”
***
Two figures sat at an outdoor coffee shop. One was a black haired man in his late 20’s to early 30’s wearing a black suit and sipping a cup of tea. Another was an orange haired woman again in her late 20’s to early 30’s drinking a cup of black coffee. She wore a blue women’s business suit.
“Are you sure about this?” the man asked.
“Yes I’m sure.”
“Alright. Just saying you might want to move over a few.”
“Why?”
“The window?”
“Oh, I see what you mean,” the women said and proceeded to move her chair over.
“So… who are you betting on this time?”
“Hmm, the white one.”
“Alright then. We have a few minutes left.”
“Well technically it’s already happened.”
“Yes but then what purpose would anyone have to get out of bed in the morning?”
“Fair point. Plus we don’t even perceive events as they actually occur.”
“But then again no one does.”
An alarm went off. Far above the city in an empty warehouse a group of windows exploded outward raining small pieces of glass down on the city below.
“Oh dear,” the woman said, “I certainly hope none of that lands in my coffee.”
“Did any land in there last time?”
“No.”
“Well then.”
“You know if you continue to mock me I’m afraid I’ll have to interfere.”
“Aw now what fun is there in that? We both know the result of these events will be the same no matter what we do.”
“Yes but it’s the how that I can change.”
“But then you-”
“-Confound the data?”
“That WAS what I was going to say.”
“Only I finished it.”
The man removed a pocket watch from his pants, “It appears we do have a few more minutes left.”
“Well then, I guess we better prepare.”
“Prepare for what?”
“Hmm, you bring up a fair point.”
“Well then I guess we better stay put.”
“Considering the author hasn’t written that far yet.”
***
“Well that was quite the experience,” Jett said.
“I figured you’d like it. The only way anyone gets in is knowing a person who’s already in. Once you’re in you become one of those people so you can go back at any time.”
“Well that’s good to know,” Jett smiled.
“So what do you wanna do now?” Starry Skies asked.
“Well it’s about 5:00 so you wanna go grab some dinner?”
She smiled, “Sure.”
They walked along the cobblestone streets. The city was still alive with activity of all sorts. People were still open for business while others were just opening their doors. A certain Neon Blue haired girl with particularly purple shades marched down the street towards the entertainment district of the city.
“So… other than the fact you don’t really remember anything, what do you know? You did seem to be having quite a good time down there.”
“I don’t know really. I mean, it’s like riding a bike with everything. One never really forgets HOW but one does forget that they CAN.”
“Ah, so does it annoy you that you can’t really remember anything?”
“Not really considering I don’t really have much of a clue of what I’m missing. Though Spitfire apparently knows but has been a little mum on the subject.”
“I see.”
“So… do you have any ideas on where you want to eat?”
“There are a few high class restaurants around here but one of the best in my opinion is on the other side of town,” she smiled, “Hope you don’t mind the walk.”
“Hardly.”
***
Dane ran down the cobblestone streets with Gin close behind. Various people turned to look at them but none really paid them too much attention. The pair intentionally had mapped a path through the city avoiding the guard patrols as much as possible.
So far they had been lucky enough to not to run into anyone but that didn’t look like it was going to last very long.
No words were exchanged between the two of them as they ran. Gin’s excellent stamina and Dane being an android made running easy. They bolted through the city towards their ship.
They were nearing the homestretch. Dane was leading. They bolted around a street corner.
Dane was a few meters ahead of Gin so he had a bit of an advantage in what he saw. What he saw made his skin turn the same color as his hair.
A black haired boy was walking down the street with a girl with pale purple hair at his arm. They in a friendly conversation. The black haired boy noticeably was missing his left arm and in its place was a gun metal metallic appendage.
Dane gripped the corner of building he had rounded and did a complete 180 and ran headlong back towards Gin. He gripped her arm and pulled her along and into an alley way, giving her only enough time to let out a scream.
He pulled her into and alley way and set her down.
“Okay, what the fuck man?!” she yelled, “You almost rebroke my arm asshole!”
“Jett,” Dane gasped.
“What about him?”
“Call me crazy but I JUST saw the bastard walking along the sidewalk around that corner.”
Gin stared at him with a rather unamused expression.
“You’re fucking crazy.”
“I am telling you I SAW HIM walking down the street just around that corner.”
“And I suppose you saw Spitfire with him too?!”
“No, but I did see some other purple haired angel at his arm.”
Gin frowned, “You are possibly the craziest fucking person I have ever met in my entire goddamned life.”
“Alright,” Dane said, “You don’t believe me? Well then come look at this.”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the alley way and towards the corner. The pair peeked around the edge of the building.
The boy and girl hadn’t gotten very far and were only a little bit farther down the road. Again the boy’s distinctive gun metal arm was visible. The girl said something inaudible and the boy laughed. He briefly turned his head to face her giving the pair a glimpse of his face.
Gin paled, “What the fuck?”
“See?”
“You know, I figured you were just malfunctioning but now I’m starting to consider I hit my head a little harder than I thought.”
“What should we do?”
“You’re asking me?! You’re the fucking kid with a supercomputer for a brain!”
“Yeah well it’s not every fuckin day when you see a dead man so forgive me if I have little experience in this matter considering the last time it supposedly happened was in the Middle East in front of a group of illiterates!”
Gin frowned, “Or he never died to begin with.”
“What?”
“Use your fucking head! We obviously got sucked across space to this place and you said you saw some weird blue light just before it all went black for us. Now just think for a moment. Is it possible that Jett got sucked in with us?”
Dane blinked, “Possible but that would also seem to suggest that Spitfire ended up with him. Now those two were inseparable so why the hell would he be here with some weird purple girl?”
“I have no idea. Let’s just…”
“Let’s just what?”
“I don’t know! I mean… you wanna just grab him and run?”
“Wouldn’t that be kidnapping?”
“Really?” Gin asked, “You’re just now worried that we’d be breaking the law?”
“Good point. But that still raises the question of where the hell Spitfire is.”
“IF she’s here we’ll have to come back for her.”
“Yes but that raises the question of why we have our Jett but no Spitfire.”
“They could have landed in separate spots.”
“Yeah, that’s a bullshit idea,” Dane scoffed, “Considering where we landed? Unlikely.”
“Well, uh, maybe he just hit his head too hard again?”
…
“You know you may be on to something. Last time he hit his head, or in that case when something hit it, he lost 3 days of memory. It’s not inconceivable considering he still has a small piece of an airplane embedded in his net making him as stable as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.”
“Well if we’re going to grab him we better go soon, he’s getting away.”
“Oh there is that. You keep watch and I’ll just go… grab him.”
“Me?” Gin asked, “Why do I have to keep watch?”
“Oh I’m sorry, do you want to go kidnap the mentally unstable military A.I.? Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
Dane stood up and got jogging. Meanwhile up on a balcony attached coincidently to the building the pair had been hiding behind, a man in a black suit and a woman in a blue sat enjoying two beverages. The man was enjoying a highly expensive 100 year old bottle of wine while his counterpart guzzled a 12 year old scotch.
“We’ll it’s about time,” the man said, “I was beginning to worry he was never going to move.”
“Oh please. If that kind of thing makes you worry you obviously haven’t been paying attention through the other two hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and seven words of this story.”
“Yes I have!”
“Prove it. What is Gin’s real name?”
“Grace. Grace Ezri Islington. Descendent of Charles Darwin and Christopher Hitchens.”
“Really? I didn’t know the ancestry went back that far.”
“Well it’s not written anywhere in those two hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and seven words and didn’t exist as a concept until a few seconds ago.”
“I see,” the woman looked up, “Making stuff up as we go along aren’t we?!”
“Oh please, it’s not like you’ll ever get an answer.”
“Says you.”
“You do know that there is a delete button for things like this?”
“Actually it’s called the backspace key now.”
“Oh would you look at that!” the man pointed, “I do believe they are going to talk.”
***
“And well that’s the story of my first date,” Starry Skies finished.
“Ouch. I can’t say I’ve ever had the experience before. Or if I did I certainly don’t remember it.”
“Well what about what we just did? Wouldn’t that classify?”
“Hmm, good point. But what I was-”
“Hey!” a voice called, “Hey you!”
Jett turned around. A kid around his age was running down the street towards him. He had white slicked back hair and oddly enough bore a similar resemblance to himself.
The boy stopped and started panting, “Jett. Jesus man it’s great to see you!”
Jett blinked, “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”
The boy blinked, “Well I can cross off option number one.”
“What?”
“Jett Halsey! It has been a long time hasn’t it? Fall of Earth ring a bell? Well you don’t need to worry about that. Now if you’ll just come with me…”
He grabbed him by the arm and started to drag him away leaving a very confused Starry Skies behind.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Jett started, “Hey, hold on a second here. Would you wait for a second?”
“Sorry, no time, we have a ship to catch and if possible we need your ass to build us and FTL out of here.”
“Would you WAIT?!” Jett shouted shaking himself free.
Dane stopped, “I’m sorry sir but you are not in your right state of mind at the moment so if you would come with me everything will be explained.”
“I think I’m fine right here thank you very much.”
“Well you lost your memory so I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me,” Dane said and resumed dragging the android down the street.
“I know I’ve lost my memory now if you will excuse me would you LET ME GO?!” Jett said again shaking himself free and pushing the white haired kid away, “Now stay away from me.”
He turned and started walking.
Dane looked back towards the corner, “Yeah Gin looks like we’ll have to do things the hard way.”
This time Dane stood up and ran towards Jett and grabbed him from behind and started to pull him. The android didn’t take too kindly to it and started to fight back.
“Where’s that damn off switch?” Dane asked.
“What are you doing?!”
“Sorry buddy but this is for your own good!” Dane said with a grunt.
“Get off of me!” Jett said and elbowed his counterpart in the stomach. Dane’s grip loosened which was enough for Jett to slip out of his grip and punch him in the face.
Dane was sent sprawling across the sidewalk.
Meanwhile Gin started to look a bit nervous, “Uh Dane, we’ve got company.”
“Oh this is going to turn out great.”
***
“Well it appears the game is afoot, hmm?” the woman said.
“It does appear that way,” the man said.
“We should be getting back to the coffee shop soon.”
“Yes quite. Our reservation is in a few.”
“Yes.”
***
Dane was thrown back into the road. While it was getting dark out there were still some people out and about. He almost was hit by an odd 20’s looking truck carrying some kind of foodstuff. The truck itself swerved out of the way and hit a street sign with a bang. Meanwhile Starry Skies stayed back with a scared look on her face.
“Please Jett don’t make me do this,” he sighed. Even with his memory compromised, his brother was still pretty good at fighting. And that would make taking him difficult.
Dane’s mind rapidly searched for a solution. While Jett was easily the better fighter, Dane did have experience so he could use that to his advantage. All he needed to do was subdue the angry android.
Yeah…
Easy as pie.
He stood up and ran towards Jett. Jett struck forward with a knife jab aimed at Dane’s neck. Dane ducked just in time to watch a gunmetal hand and arm fly over his face. As he fell back he shifted his center of gravity and did a backwards handspring, kicking Jett in the chin and knocking him to the ground. Dane himself ran towards the crashed truck.
Jett shock his head and growled. He could still feel the shoe print on his chin. He stood up with just quickly enough to see a street sign swing towards his head, sending him flying farther down the road.
Jett impacted the cobblestone street and tumbled for a few feet before crumpling in a heap.
Dane wiped his forehead and risked a glance at Gin. A pair of guards was fighting her hand to hand, or as best as they could manage with their rifles. Gin herself managed to yank the gun out of the hands of one before smacking his partner in the face with it and knocking him back.
That was all Dane got to see before a heavy stone brick smacked him in the head and exploded against his skull. He fell to the ground dazed just as another brick sailed over his head and bounced down the street.
“Ow,” Dane moaned just as he felt himself being picked up by the collar by one angry looking robot.
Jett’s eyes flashed red just as he socked his brother in the face. Dane blinked before raising his hands to deflect the next blow while kicking Jett in the legs. The distraction was enough for Jett to drop him. Dane took advantage of the opportunity and knocked his feet out from under him before grabbing by his shirt and head and heaving him as hard as he could farther down the street.
Meanwhile, a man and woman were enjoying some tea and pastries as a corner shop.
The man, not even bothering to look up from his drink said, “And three, two, one.”
A black haired boy sailed past them and through the front glass of the coffee shop, not stopping until he hit the counter.
“Told you,” the man said.
“Hmm, I expected the white one,” the woman said.
A growl got their attention. The boy, now with some considerable tatters in his shirt, stepped out of the broken window.
“He looks mad,” the women commented as the boy ran off, taking the tops of one of the metal outdoor tables with him.
“You would be too if you had just been thrown through a coffee shop window.”
“A fair point.”
A loud clanging sound echoed down the street followed by the sound of more glass breaking.
***
Spitfire watched as the smoke ring slowly disintegrated and vanished into the air. She sighed and brought the cigar to her mouth again and inhaled deeply before blowing another ring.
She was sitting on the edge of the cliff with her legs hanging off. Her hair was a little disheveled and her face left nothing about her mood to speculation.
She tapped the cigar and watched as a little bit of ash fell into the wind below.
“Hey, uh, Captain?” a voice called.
Spitfire whipped her head around, “What?!”
Soarin’ cringed, “Uh, well, I uh, just wanted to tell you that there’s been a fight in downtown Canterlot.”
Spitfire inhaled more of the cigar, “And why should I CARE?”
“Well, uh, it’s Jett and some other white haired kid are really beating the shit out of each other. That and some brown haired girl is kicked the guard’s ass.”
Spitfire turned, “What?”
“Yeah, some white haired kid around Jett’s age is going toe to toe with him.”
Spitfire jumped up, “Where?”
“Downtown, on Mulberry Street.”
“Come on,” she said stretching her wings.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“I think someone else fell down the rabbit hole.”
***
Dane grunted as he impacted a white and gold sports car, smashing the forward trunk and windshield. Its occupant screamed and was not at all too pleased.
“Ah shit,” he said and looked next to him. The occupant had long blond hair all done up and had a compass rose patch on his shoulder.
“You just wrecked my royal car!” He screeched.
“Uh, sorry?” Dane said as he attempted to dislodge himself from the broken windshield.
He looked up, “Oh shit!”
He jumped up and rolled to the right just as a circular metal coffee table cleaved the car in half right where Dane had previously been.
Jett landed on the roof of the sports car just and looked up just in time to see Dane diving on him with his fists raised. He quickly reached down and pulled the remains of a door off the car and held it up just in time to deflect the blow.
“My car!” the prince screamed.
Jett summersaulted back to the other side of the vehicle and frisbeed the door at his attacker. Dane ducked just as a piece of spinning metal death flew over his head and embedded itself in a wall on the other side of the street.
Jett grabbed the car and pushed it out of the way, tearing it completely in half. The engine fell out of the remains of the car.
Jett ran off after his opponent just as the engine of the car burst into flames.
Prince Blueblood climbed out of the remains of his car.
“My car…” he cried.
Meanwhile Jett and Dane continued their clash. Dane pulled a street lamp out of the street and javelined Jett in the chest with it, sending him farther down the street and tumbling into a donut shop. Dane himself ran towards the shop only to be knocked back and sent flying back down the street by a burst of blue energy.
Jett walked out of the shop as the energy weapon disappeared back into his arm. He flexed his fingers and grabbed the street lamp Dane had thrown at him and dragged it across the ground as he ran towards Dane.
Dane himself was just standing up with a scorch mark on his chest when he was golf clubbed in his head by a street lamp, the remains of which shattered against his head. Dane sailed into the air and ironically enough ended up flying into the second story window of a certain hospital.
Dane pulled himself up and shook the broken plaster and drywall off of his body. He looked around his surroundings. Two men with their chests wrapped up and dented guard armor next to their beds stared back at him.
To his let a nurse screamed and dropped the tray of medication she was carrying.
“Sorry about that miss,” he said and jumped out of the hole he had just created in the wall.
***
Spitfire and Soarin’ glided over the city. It was rather easy to find where the fight had taken place, mainly due to the cloud of smoke rising into the sky from a car that had seen better days. Not including the fact it had been cut in half with its two pieces sent opposite direction. The rest of the city street hadn’t faired too well either. Broken windows, a crashed truck, a destroyed sports car, downed power lines, etc.
“Goddesses,” Soarin’ said, “What kind of people are you friends with?”
“Two military grade robots now help me find them,” she replied.
The sound of a loud Bang got their attention. Spitfire looked down just as Dane was thrown through the front window of a department store. Jett himself walked forward.
Meanwhile farther down the street, a brown haired girl was fighting a group of royal guardsmen.
Spitfire couldn’t hear the conversation going on down below but she did see a large bladed weapon emerge from the black haired android’s arm as he stepped into the store. Dane rushed forward. Jett lunged with his weapon just as Dane ducked and slid past him. He bolted towards the other side of the street.
Spitfire and Soarin’ landed. Jett growled. Dane, standing on the other side of the street said, “Come on, come to papa.”
Jett snarled at him and bolted forward. Just as he was about to strike Dane, the white haired android ducked and grabbed Jett and threw him to the ground hard. Just as he started to get up, Dane came up from behind him and grabbed him by the neck and got him in chokehold before grabbing a nearby downed electrical cable and stabbing Jett in the back with it before quickly letting go.
Jett stopped moving just as the wire contacted his body. Sparks and electrical arcs flew off his body as the electricity coursed through him.
Spitfire put a hand to her mouth as Jett slowly attempted to pull the wire out of his back. Then, just as he got close to it, he went limp and fell to the ground. Dane quickly ran up and pulled the wire out of his back and threw it to the ground.
A loud smacking sound came from behind them just as Gin punched the last guard in the head and knocked him out.
Dane, his clothes tattered with a large burn mark on his chest wiped his forehead as he looked down at Jett. The android had a black scorch mark on his lower back. Small arcs of electricity flew off his body.
Dane looked up. His gaze met Spitfire’s and his eyes widened just as Spitfire quickly retracted her wings.
“S-Spitfire?”
“Hey, Snowball,” she smiled sadly, “How you been?”
“How have I been?! You mind explaining what the fuck is going on here and why you have WINGS?!”
Gin ran up, “What’s going on here?”
Dane pointed, “She has wings. Spitfire has wings. Oh and we found Spitfire by the way!”
Gin turned, blinked, shook her head and then said, “You know what, I’m not going to think about that right now. What the fuck did you do to Jett?!”
“Uh, hey guys it has been a bit of a long time so-”
“And you!” Dane pointed, “You mind explaining yourself missy?!”
“Hey! Respect your superiors’ asshole!” Soarin’ yelled.
“Shut up you over muscled fuck,” Dane said, “I won’t hesitate to drop your ass.”
“Hey fuck you buddy! All I asked is you show my Captain some respect!”
“Asshole last week I was in the middle of the apocalypse so if you think I’m afraid of a shrimp dick like you you’ve got another thing coming.”
“Uh, I don’t think this is the right time for this,” Gin said.
“Hey fuck you asshole! You just wrecked an entire city street!”
“Do I look like I give a fuck?! Believe me, we’re not gonna be staying around too long,” he said and pointed to Spitfire, “And you’ve got a lot of EXPLAINING to do!”
“You don’t order her around like that!”
“Hey guys, uh, I think we should continue this another time, because…”
“Oh you don’t know the half of it asshole!”
“WOULD YOU ALL SHUT UP FOR A SECOND?!” Spitfire yelled.
Everyone stopped talking and turned.
“For fuck’s sake guys! Yes I do have to explain some things to you guys, Soarin’, shut the fuck up for a moment, and right now we need to get Jett back to the base since you just stabbed him in the back with an electrical cable!”
Dane marched up to her, “Okay, what the fuck is your deal? How are you even alive?! And why do you have wings since I’ve clearly been left out of the loop on something for the past few months!”
“If you would just shut up and grab your brother maybe I could explain.”
***
“Every period of human development has had its own particular type of human conflict---its own variety of problem that, apparently, could be settled only by force. And each time, frustratingly enough, force never really settled the problem. Instead, it persisted through a series of conflicts, then vanished of itself---what's the expression---ah, yes, 'not with a bang, but a whimper,' as the economic and social environment changed. And then, new problems, and a new series of wars.”
― Isaac Asimov, I, Robot