//------------------------------// // 3 Back from the Dead // Story: The Queen is Dead // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Jade - 14th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening I was in the darkest room I had ever been in. Even in the middle of a mountain, a dark room has some light, just enough to see the barest edges of objects. There was absolutely no light here, but I could sense thousands of people around me. They were changelings mostly, a few griffons too. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there. It was like touch, but not quite. A vague sense of others nearby devoid of sight, sound, or smell. One by one people vanished from the nothingness. Very soon there was just myself and one other changeling left. I was certain I knew who it was, but as I tried to connect my mind to theirs there was only silence. Desperate for contact with anyone, I tried again. I failed. I tried again. Failed again. Then, finally, two words. I screamed. Too late. They were gone. There was truly nothing left in the void. A faint metallic click hit my ears like the sound of a cave in, a blinding flash of sparks sprang to life before my eyes, conjuring a dim candle-like flame that cast shadows on the nothingness. A half second later and the flame disappeared with a second click, replaced by a dull orange glow, just barely bright enough to reveal the vague outline of an earth pony mare. There was no color, no sharpness of shape, only the vague suggestion of features, and a pale white mouth lit by the orange glow. The mouth moved, accompanied by a calm, plain, creepy-casual voice. “What are you doing here, kid?” I tried to reply, but my mind wouldn’t send my words. I tried to speak out loud, but there was no sound. “You got lucky, you can go back.” The voice mentioned, pausing for a moment as the glow moved to the side for a small puff of smoke. “You don’t have to follow me. Your family, your friends, they will wait for you. You could join them, your odds are fifty-fifty. I give everyone in your condition the choice.” I felt that I could finally speak. “W-what do you mean?” I asked, fear ringing in my voice. A second puff of smoke escaped the lips. “You’re mostly dead, kid. Don’t panic, there’s a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. So, if you like, I’ll show you the way back. Take a moment and think about life. What do you have that is worth living for?” I felt my entire mind seize up with a blind panic. “I don’t want to die!” I screamed, wishing I could run until my legs broke. The mouth smiled, “There you go kid, that’s the spirit you need to pull through. Just turn around. Go right back the way you came.” Suddenly I had legs. They could move. They instantly started to move as fast as they could! I spun around in a half circle and ran blindly. The nothingness slowly started to become black, then the black a pale gray. The feeling of something shaking under me hit me like someone shaking me awake with a hoof, and a moment later my chest exploded in dull, throbbing, agony. I kept running. The grayness started to become light, shapes fuzzily formed in the corners of my vision. Smells started to finally creep into the shrinking void, and then sounds. Someone was speaking! The voice called faintly but cheerfully from behind me, “Good luck, kid. I hope I don’t see you anytime soon.” A sharp splitting pain shot through my head. “Ow!” I whimpered. My head was all foggy. Where was I? What had I been doing? Who was talking? A more important question suddenly occurred to me. “Where’s Jasper?” I asked the blurry red and green shape in front of me. “Hey! Speech! You’re alive!” The voice exclaimed happily. “I’ve been talking for hours hoping you would pull through.” The person’s tone turned grim. “If Jasper was the person who was with you… I am afraid that by the time I found you two there was nothing I could do. I’m a decent surgeon, but-” I could feel my own crippling wave of depression ripple outwards as I shut my eyes tightly. It stopped whoever was pulling me on the little wooden cart dead in their tracks. The jolt nearly knocked me off whatever I was laying on. “Do you smell something?” The voice asked. My eyes slowly fluttered open, clearing my vision. He was a diamond dog, but short, just a little taller than a pony, and built in a more sleek fashion but still quite athletic looking. He had rusty red and white fur, with most of the white I could see in a shaggy sort of puff around his neck. I had seen a normal dog like him once, dad called it a border collie. He had a kind face, perky ears which reminded me a lot of a pony’s but had a little fold near the tips, and despite looking to be fifty at the oldest, not that old for a dog, he had the oldest looking mismatched eyes I had ever seen. His left eye was a sky blue, and the right an earthy brown. He had on more clothing that I had been told dogs wore. A green tunic, sort of a bright olive color, cut plainly and buttoned up the front. A pair of khaki loose fitting but not baggy pants. Leather boots dyed a light brown with laces up the front. A gray canvas belt with a few pouches on it, and a thick dark green woolen cloak just long enough so you could see his tail tip wagging at about knee height under the him. Weren't dogs supposed to be barbarian savages? I nodded my head no. “S-sorry… that’s me. Emotovore. Most people can’t sense… Why did she have to die?” I sobbed. The dog sighed a sad, understanding sigh and stepped over to the side of the cart, leaning on one of it’s walls. “I’m sorry. If she had been alive, I would have tried to treat her too. If it’s any condolence, she most certainly died instantly. I doubt there was even time for her to feel pain.” The image of the griffon raising his crossbow sprang into my mind, an instant later the bolt ripped into Jasper like I was seeing it happen again. I felt a spark of rage build up in my chest, then a sharp shooting pain. “OW!” I shouted, looking down reflexively. A heart shaped iron plate was belted to my barrel. Behind it was a burning, searing, hellish pain which slowly faded back into the dull ache I had woken up with. The hay was this for? I gently tapped it with a hoof, producing a slight tinging sound. “Ah, that.” the dog explained. “Don’t pick at that. Far as I can tell it’s what’s keeping your entrails from becoming your extrales. I know it’s crude, but I was in a hurry. You were in rough shape, and bleeding out fast.” “Y-you saved me?” I asked in shock, and immediately resolved to not pick at it. He nodded. “Yes. My name is David, may I have your name?” I remembered he said that he was a doctor or something before, but it only really just now hit me. This diamond dog saved my life. Why? “Jade… Why did you help me?” I asked, desperate to know, “I… don’t you eat-” David shook his head, “Back where I come from, we don’t eat bugs. Besides, I don’t eat my food raw and based on what cauterizing your kind’s flesh smells like, you probably taste like the rotten asshole of a road killed skunk that’s been over boiled in cheap beer.” “What!?” I asked, eyes widening in disgusted shock at his colorful answer. “Oh. I had to burn some of the hole shut. It smelled… very bad. Sure I eat meat, but there is no way in hell I would eat anything that smells like your species meat when cooked. So don’t worry. You’re safe from me.” He said offering a sincere smile. “Besides, I have plenty of jerky in the cart.” I froze as the memory of burning flesh raced through my mind. David was right. It did smell terrible. Of course it did, it was my friends, family, my neighbors… “Oh… They’re all... “ I sniffed, reflexively curling up into a tight ball, ears falling as the reality of the situation hit me. I saw David nod. Sympathetically. Knowingly. How in tartarus could he possibly understand!? “My family… my entire home… all dead…” I moaned. “I know. I’ve been there. My own home, the homes of countless others. You never forget the first time, but you learn to live with it in time.” David said gently. How dare he try to trivialize my pain! It’s not like I broke a toy, everyone I knew and loved was dead! “What do you know?” I demanded angrily. “Have you ever seen your sister die?” When a changeling’s emotions are unstable, our minds tend to latch onto those of people around us for support. I felt myself link to Dave just as my words hit his consciousness. Normally I would only know the surface thoughts of someone very close to me, but the memories which rushed to David’s mind were so overwhelmingly laced with emotion, and I was so distraught that they rushed through the link like a flood. A fog covered beach stretched out as far as I could see. I was seeing the world as Dave remembered it. He was in a small rectangular boat, the beach ahead was covered in odd jumbles of metal and wooden fortifications. A huge wall was barely visible at the edge of the fog a way’s up the beach. Directly in front of the boat was a big, square, boxy tower set into the wall with a single slit carved out. The boat was filled with people of some sort. I couldn’t see them well, the memory was old and fuzzy, but many things still burned vividly in them. The air around the boat was filled with thousands of thunderclaps. Sections of the beach exploded as if a mage threw a spell at them, but without any visual cue, only a horrible screaming sound. All around people screamed, in pain, and various orders. Suddenly everyone ran forwards out of the boat onto the beach. The memories became so jumbled I couldn’t keep track of anything. It was a blur of bipedal shapes running, mist, dirt, and water. The only clear sound was someone screaming “The sea wall, get to the sea wall!” Then, suddenly I could make sense of things. I wished I could not. Someone's entire chest filled my view, their body a ripped apart mess, blood pooled under David’s hands as I watched from his perspective as he struggled to get a bundle of cloth over the missing skin and muscle of the writhing and screaming person. “You’re not going to die!” David said in a shaky voice, “You’re not going to die! You’re fine.” His hands felt wet, and warm. Suddenly a deep relieved joy welled up within his mind. “I did it!” He shouted, turning to someone next to him. “I stopped the bleeding! Get this gauze wrapped around-” there was a loud ripping sound and a spray of blood. The person stopped moving. “Fuck! Damnit! I-” David’s hands snatched a weapon from the sand, he jumped up, raised the weapon, and two sets of hands instantly grabbed him and pulled him down. “Get down you idiot! We have others to try and save!” someone screamed. The memories nearly burned a hole in my mind from the sheer levels of hatred and panic rolled up into them. I looked up, right into David’s eyes, and saw only bitter sadness as he said, “No. Never a sister, but far too many brothers.” “I-I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have-” I started to apologize. He cut me off with a raised hand. “You sound young, you just had the worst day of your life. I understand. I went through something similar around your age… You’re what, nineteen? Not more than twenty.” “Seventeen.” I answered. David shook his head slowly. “Same age as me then. I understand, I really do. I also know the best way to solve the emotional death spiral you’re in right now. Find a goal, focus on it, forget the present. From what I can tell, most species here have similar physiology. If you don’t make yourself move on, you’ll spend years shellshocked.” “L-like what?” I asked nervously. He was right. It would be even worse for me as a changeling. My own depression could kill me if it lasted long enough. It would be like drinking a little poison every day. “Anything.” David replied as he turned around, picked up the cart’s handles and started to walk. “If it helps you feel some resolution for the past, even better. For now… why not talk? I’ve been roaming on my own for about five years now. Even if you don’t want to stick with me, It would be nice to have someone to talk to till I get to Applewood… But as a medic, I’d advise you stay near me till you’re healed. I noticed your species can regenerate, but it seemed very… well, it seemed like not much help.” I was too embarrassed about having read some of his memories to say anything. It’s rude to peer into someone's private thoughts without permission. I must have been too quiet for too long, because David started talking again. “Alright, I’ll pick a topic then.” He paused to lever the cart over a rock half buried in the ground. “Oop! Hold that big green canvas box tightly while we go over this bit of ground will you? Thanks. Right, topic… May I ask what you are? I haven’t seen one of your people before.” I blinked in confusion. How had he not heard of us? Queen Chrysalis's had made us infamous through- oh thank the sun! He wouldn’t have any notions about us! “I’m a changeling. We’re not too common anymore… there’s been um… One of the hives is sort of… Join us or die.” I said trailing off slowly. “They attacked us this morning…” I saw David’s ears droop as he flinched. “Ooo. Sorry. You’re a pretty interesting looking bunch. Are you related to unicorns at all?” That was a bit of a better direction to go in! “No. We evolved as predators, and ponies are our best food source so we adapted to look like them. Er- We don’t actually eat them, we feed on emotional energy. But we need to be close, so you know we had to have ways to pass as a pony even if we can’t shapechange for some reason.” David turned his head to look back at me, “Wait, you’re a shape shifting psychic vampire?” I shook my head. “Yes.” He blinked in confusion, “Er… Yes or no?” Oh right! Other species used the reverse gestures. “Yes, we’re shape changing… Well vampire is a good way to put it I guess… But like the bats, not actual vampires.” I confirmed. “Yet, you are predators?” David asked, raising an eyebrow. I started to shake my head, and then nodded. “Yes.” “Dose feeding harm your prey?” He asked curiously. “No, not always. I mean it can but that’s sort of a martial art, and it’s not permanent.” I answered. “So you eat emotions, without harming people, and are shape shifters.” David shook his head slowly, “Have you at least tried say, living alongside other-” “Oh! Yes! Sorry!” I interrupted, realizing what he was trying to understand. “We started as predators, but we haven’t been for like, a thousand years. At least, not my hive… We had friends, allies. But not everyling in every hive liked farming.” “Farming?” David asked, starting to pull the cart again. “Yeah.” My mind flashed back to scout school. If today hadn’t happened, farming love would have been my job. “You find somepony and while shapechanged, you help them. That way they don’t know you’re a changeling and so they think you are just helping to be nice and not for a meal. It makes them get a genuinely good mood. That way they are more likely to help somepony else, starting a chain of positive emotions. You keep everypony happy by helping a few individuals every day and there’s plenty of food for everyling to eat.” David nodded. “I can think of a few cities which would really benefit from you guys. Why does anyone object to that? Seems like a pretty safe and efficient way to eat to me.” That was a hard question to answer. “W-well I’m only freshly pupated-” “Ew…” David muttered under his breath. “Sorry. Just… Head images. I hope I didn’t offend.” I nodded my head no. “No. I’ve seen others do it. It’s pretty gross. Not as gross as live birth though.” David nodded twice. “Yeah, I have to agree with you. I’ve delivered a few kids in my day. Somehow the poor woman’s… parts stretch out so much, like a gaping wound, and then there’s the afterbirth…” He shuddered and took a deep breath, “I can’t imagine how many women out there appreciate morphine thanks to that. Let’s get off this topic, please.” “Uh, anyways…” I cleared my throat, “I’ve only been an adult for like, a few days. Politics aren't something they talk to you about when you’re a nymph, but from what I’ve overheard… Well, tradition. Somelings think that the old ways are just better. Like Queen Chrysalis and her Swarm.” I paused for a few long moments to collect myself. “They are the ones who attacked us today.” David turned to look back at me again, “What? But, the griffons-” “I think they were working together.” I said bitterly. “Ah.” David turned back to watch where he was going. “So this Chrysalis, Is she like, the leader of your nation or an ant queen?” “Queens generally lead the hive. But some just sort of live on their own.” I explained. “See, I’m an adult now, but if I’m not around other lings for a long time and I can get enough to eat I’ll become a Queen and then I can start my own hive. Not all of us get to be one, but it’s considered to be like um…” I trailed off and bit my lip in thought. Spoken languages sucked so hard… I hated needing a specific word to convey a concept to someone! Just sending them the concept is so much more efficient and they never misunderstand you! “A super-adult I guess. I don’t know the word for it in Equish.” I said finally. “Ah, so a bit of both. Cool!” David said with a nod. I took a deep breath to calm down, and did my best to remember everything I knew Chrysalis. After all they were in the area, and David hadn’t heard of them… “So, Queen Chrysalis is probably the worst changeling alive. She thinks we were all better off as a united swarm with one hive, instead of the many little ones we have now… I think she’s related to the Hive Queens who used to rule us all, but I don’t know for sure. “She has been flying around from hive to hive, to make changeling’s follow her… and… kills anyling who refuses to.” I paused to try and push the images of her swarm in the sky from my mind. “The whole Sapphire Hive just joined her on principal hundreds of years ago, and she’s been using them to raze any town she comes across, and do all of her raiding. “They say she once found Equestria itself and actually attacked it, and even defeated the Sun in battle, but lost the war… I know that Equestria is well, a Myth, but something had to have beaten her because she vanished for a long time and then came back worse than ever…” David was quiet for a few moments before sighing sadly and saying, “It’s rare that someone gets worse than leading a warband, forcing their ideology on others, and enacting a scorched-earth campaign… I’m sorry.” I looked down at the long grass rolling under the cart as it went by. “Yeah… I heard dad telling mom that Chrysalis was only offering the strongest changeling’s to join her swarm now… and that she learned how our species was controlled in the ancient days so she can actually control the whole swarm like her own body if she wants… That sounds like something to do if you wanted to have a rematch with an Alicorn.” “Alicorn?” David asked in confusion. I blinked, looking up instantly. “How do you not know about Alicorns?” “I’m not from here. Whole different land.” He answered. “Really?” Hearing about another land would definitely take my mind off of… things. I liked hearing stories. “Like, another continent? I’ve heard there are ships that can cross the sea!” He nodded. “Yeah basically. I… I probably shouldn’t tell you too much but I can say a few things. Indulge me though, what’s an Alicorn?” The story of Alicorns was one of my favorite ones. Dad told it to me almost every night when I was little. It made me feel a bit better to get to tell it to someone. “Legends say that when the world was new the Gods created too many things to control by themselves. So they decided to give some of their creations the responsibility and power to do a certain task for them. They looked to the mortal races they had made and found ponykind worthy of this blessing, and gave them each a little tiny bit of godly power. “That’s what their cutiemarks are, that little bit of divine power which gives them a unique talent. Like, you know how they all seem to know exactly what to do in life and be happy? That’s why! A divine spark makes them really good at that one thing. The symbol is a clue about what it is.” David nodded eagerly, “I was wondering what those were, and how that one colt was working iron like modeling clay… without heating it. Or using magic.” I gave him a smile, even though he couldn’t see it. I wish I had gotten to see that pony, as a scout I could not only mimic the shape of a pony I had observed long enough, but also mimic their talent. To a degree at least, I would only be as powerful at it as my love reserve allowed me to be. It would have been really fun to try molding iron like that though. “Yeah!” I exclaimed eagerly before continuing, “We learned in school that there are some really weird ones too. Some are less powerful or less obvious than others though. The divine spark they got is stronger in some ponies than others. Now, some ponies special talent is so strong, and related to something so basic or important that the legends say they could do things like make the sun set, or the stars shine. “If these ponies are pure of heart, and pass a test to prove they are the greatest at what they do, they become an Alicorn. They gain the abilities of all three pony races, their special talent gets even more powerful, and according to the legend, they are immortal, and will only die if someone is able to kill them. Like, disease, age, accidents, that doesn't matter. They will keep living until killed intentionally by something else. That whole time they are alive, they are like um… mini-gods? What's the word for-” “Demigods.” David answered. “I get it. As a reward for being the best they are made to govern the laws of nature around whatever they do best. Right?” Ah so that was the word. I’d have to remember it. “Yep! Or at least… so the stories say. I don’t know if anyone’s ever seen one.” I sighed sadly. “The Legends say that they all live in a place called Equestria. Which is a part of the world that’s special, and just… better.” David nodded. I was starting to get used to that meaning approval. ”That’s a pretty cool Mythology. You’ll have to tell me more of it sometime. I’ve always liked a good story. Now, I want you to understand that in my opinion a deal is a deal. You can ask me anything you want to know, and I’ll tell you. But, there are a few things that I don’t want people to know, I might put myself in danger if word got out of a few things, and there are other things I know which shouldn’t get out there… But I’ll talk about nearly anything you want to know. Alright?” That was really odd for someone to say. My mind flashed back to the glimpse of his memories. Suddenly his words made more sense, wherever he was from, they had some terrifying spells at their disposal. “That’s fair. There’s stuff I would rather not talk about too.” I said. Clearing my throat I decided that David deserved to know what I had seen in his mind. “So… something you should know. My species is mildly telepathic, and um, it’s not normally possible but I’m not… okay right now, and earlier you remembered some things with super intense emotions so I um… I saw the memories.” David froze mid step. “You what?” he asked in a dangerous tone of voice. “I-I’m sorry! Like, really really sorry! Your mind is your personal sanctuary! I… I didn’t mean to intrude. I’m hurt, I needed a connection… It was just instinct!” I apologize in as sincere a tone. “I really, really mean it when i say I can’t do it again! I can only consciously do it with close friends.” David nodded slowly, set the cart down, and turned around to face me. His eyes were deadly serious, as serious as dad’s when he had talked to me about magic and how to use it responsibly. “Okay. Good. I’m not mad that you can read minds. I am aware that magic exists, I assumed that at some point, I would find someone who could do it. What I want to know is, exactly what did you see in my head?” I gulped, my barrel burned as muscles in it pulled funny from the gulp. “Ow… Everything was really blurry. I didn’t see much. A battle, bipeds, dogs like you I guess. It was on a beach, people… were… it was… I saw you trying to save someone burned so bad all their fur was gone. He didn’t make it. That’s all.” “You don’t have anymore detail than that?” David asked in that same serious tone. I shook my head. “No. There was to much pain and rage… Negative emotions are toxic to us. It made it hard to focus on anything in the memories.” David sighed in relief and nodded, to himself I guess. His smile came back slowly. “Good. Good.” Then he blinked in surprise. “Wait, back up, negative emotion is poison to you? You guys can only eat like, joy, love, and pride? How the hell are you not symbiotes?” I shrugged. “Why do things fall?” “Because all objects with mass attract each other with a force directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between them! Negative emotions are poison. How did you ancestors even hunt for...“ David threw up his hands and stomped off a few paces. I watched him sputter and pace back and forth ranting for a few minutes, before coming back. I had no idea what he was even talking about. His reaction was pretty funny to watch though. “Okay. I’m fine now. Just… the… absurdity… Ask a question. I’m going to pull my wagon.” David groaned, picking up the handles and starting to walk again. “Um… Could you tell me what that battle was about?” I asked. Somehow talking about a different battle than the one from this morning felt like a good way to not focus on my own problems. “I… I’ve never heard of doctors being sent out onto a battlefield.” David nodded slowly. “Sure. I’ll give you the short version. A long time ago, five whole generations ago, back in nineteen-thirty-nine, a truly evil person decided that his particular ‘subspecies’ was the perfect life form, and that only they should be allowed to control anything. He was very charismatic, and managed to become the leader of his nation which he whipped up into a warmachine so powerful and evil that he became the thing anyone of my species will compare something else to to check how evil it is. “This person was so evil, that he got thousands of people to round up millions of people of groups he thought were inferior to his own and had them killed assembly line style. Think of the most efficient way you can to kill a hundred people. This was worse. The whole time that was going on, he also took over every other country with a border next to his, until he almost controlled a whole continent. “Eventually, my nation was asked to help fight against him. So we did… after one of that evil person’s own allies attacked us. I lost my dad in that attack. I was young and stupid, so I went right to the army recruiter the day we got the letter… I had moral objections to killing, but I still felt I needed to serve, so I joined the army as a medic. I got fast tracked through medical school, basic training, and pushed into service just in time for that battle you saw. “It was a beach called Omaha, and it was part of a brazen, insane, suicidal landing to launch a whole invasion of everywhere the Nazis had taken over-” “Is that what the evil guy’s species was called?” I asked curiously. David paused for a moment. “You know… I like how you put that. It sure as hell feels like they weren't my kind… But it’s important to remember they were. We can be purely evil, or astonishingly good… It’s important to remember that. But yeah, they were called Nazis. They never saw that landing coming ether. “We steamrolled over them… It cost a lot of young men their lives, it cost many more people their homes, their property… The sheer amount of infrastructure, history, and time lost to those six years that it probably set our species back a few decades of progress to repair the dammages. But we won. “Pushed them right back to their homeland, then their capital city. Their leader wimped out and killed himself in a bunker as we stormed the place… The whole war made me the ma-er, dog, I am today. No one appreciates life the same way as people who became adults surrounded by death, evil, and terror. I… I’d rather not focus on that part of my life much more today.” I nodded, I completely understood. “I won’t ever be able to forget today… will I?” “No,” David replied, “I haven’t in seventy-nine years. But, you’ll learn to live with it, and you’ll grow from it.” “Whoa, hold it!” I raised a hoof, instantly wincing at the pain in my chest from doing so. “There is no way under the sun that you are that old! You don’t look a day over fifty!” I objected. “I know! It’s completely awesome! Rejuvenation potion! All of the joint pain just vanish- wait…” David’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Your tone… How old do you think dogs live to be?” “Um… Eight hundred is the oldest our hive knew-” “Eight hundred?!” David exclaimed, eyes widening, ears and tail standing up in an alarmed joy. “Sweet! Things are about a fifteen hundred equivalent now! I’ll get to see the whole industrial rev-” I gave David the most suspicious look I have ever given anyone. He coughed into his hand awkwardly. “Er, I mean, yeah that sounds about right…” “You weren't always a diamond dog were you?” I asked. “I plead the fifth.” David replied. I tilted my head in confusion. “I have the right to not incriminate myself with my own testimony.” David explained. “So, then, you weren't.” I said firmly. “I neither confirm nor deny your accusations. Another question, please.” David asked. Maybe he ran away from his homeland to escape someone… Because as someling trained to infiltrate places, he was making all the novice mistakes and not keeping his story straight. But at least he was being honest. Sort of. I decided to trust David for the moment. “Okay…” I said slowly. There was an important question that I wanted to ask him anyways. “H-how do you keep going? After all of that I mean?” “You find something worth living for.” David answered, “Then you do it. Mine came in nineteen-sixty-nine. We did something so big that it made me realize what our species purpose was… But the words to express it best had existed in fiction before then. We made a part of our fiction real, that’s how much we wanted it.” “What was it?” I asked curiously. “Eh… you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But I’ll tell you what keeps me going. What my mission in life is. Especially since now that I’m here I get to actually live it and not just read about it in the papers and screens.” David informed. He paused for a moment. I think he was going for dramatic effect, but it just didn’t work, becoming a frustrating silence until he spoke again. “The whole purpose of living is to learn, to discover, to explore. To seek out new life, new things, and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before, and in so doing bring people together in the new frontier to work out ways to make the world a better place. Whether that is a literal frontier beyond civilization, or a new field of science, or even just the home of a new people you have never met before. “In short Jade, the point of life is to make a meaning out of it to suit yourself, and in so doing try to better the lives of everyone you can. In short short, keep learning new things, do what good you can for the world.” I was taken aback. His words made a lot of sense. I wished I had something to say to it, but I couldn’t put any words together to say anything appropriate. “H… how old are you?” I finally managed to ask. “Apparently I’m barely an adult… But I’ve lived long enough to know that the world is constantly changing, so there’s always more to see, and always more to do. But more importantly, that good people need to work to make the world better than it is now. Otherwise… well…” He shook his head slowly, “I’m sorry I’ve been making you talk a lot. You should try to get some sleep. Hole through your chest and what not.” That was even more wise sounding than his views on life. I curled up more comfortably atop the cart and gave him a nod. “That’s a good idea… Night.” “Night. Sleep well. Don’t die on me now, I don’t have a shovel back there to dig a grave with,” David joked. I couldn't help but giggle for a bit. What can I say? Sometimes morbid humor is funny.