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Ronan is distraught and overwhelmed. He has two kids to take care of now,
and he’s all alone. Vith is old enough to help, but not old enough to be a
true partner. He’s not breaking character. He’s supposed to be a child, so
that’s how he’s acting. Ronan commends him for the commitment, and
appreciates it. That’s what he would do in his situation. That
is what he’s doing, in his own way. Mayumi was supposed to be here.
She wasn’t supposed to die. She certainly wasn’t supposed to die after less
than a year. But that’s how real life works, so she has stayed away in order
for the simulation to feel more real. That’s what they agreed to do, and
she’s not a liar.
They actually talked about it at length. They made a pact before all of this
that if one of them died, the other would continue on in the simulation. It
was only a hypothetical at that point, but he wants to honor her by
following through with it. It’s probably why she never came back. It would
not make sense for him to leave, and have her be upset that he broke her
trust. They have been together for centuries. A few decades will be hard,
but in the real world, there’s no escape. If someone you love dies, you
either end your own life, or try to move on. Suicide is not an honorable
death, and would harm her memory. It wasn’t worth it. They would see each
other again.
Hopefully she was having fun in their second choice dome. Dome for Pioneers
doesn’t have the same cultural adventure that they were looking forward to,
and it didn’t sound like it would be quite as immersive, but they thought
about visiting. They considered going there first to dip their toes in the
water, so to speak. In the end, they decided to jump into the deep end head
first, and this is what it has cost them. Ronan is struggling to feed his
boys. His only saving grace is that a few months ago, they found two baby
goats, and had the good sense to keep them both alive, even though it meant
taking food out of their own mouths. Now, though, the mama goat has kids,
and the daddy has become worth more dead. They needed her milk, and his horn
and meat.
He slaughtered the father earlier, and cut off its horn. Then he stole some
milk away from the kids, and filled the horn so he could use it to feed his
human baby. Once little Talus was happy for the next hour, he went to work
on preparing the goat meat. He was going to cook some of it, then smoke the
rest so they could save it for later. This was always part of the plan. They
had hoped to wait until they could have at least one more litter to keep the
bloodline going, but that is tomorrow’s problem. He slices into the animal,
and hits something hard. It doesn’t feel like bone. It clinks like metal. He
pulls the flesh apart, and is horrified at what he finds.
“What is that?” Vith asks.
“That, son, is a robo-goat. I was not aware.” Ronan looks up and breathes.
“I suppose some of the laws here do resemble what they have in the Core.
They don’t kill to eat anymore. This is all part of the simulation.” He
looks outside. “Those kid goats are never gonna grow. They never
have grown since they were born. They are simply being systematically
replaced every once in a while. Which means...” He trails off.
“What does it mean, father?” Vith presses.
“The milk has to be resupplied at some point. It certainly doesn’t get it
from the vegetation we feed it. We can keep all the food for ourselves,
instead of giving it to the goats. All of the milk can go to Talus.” Is that
cheating?
It apparently is cheating. It doesn’t work. They run out of milk.
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