| Generated by Pollo AI text-to-video AI software |
As angry as Audrey is at Silveon for forcing her through the Nexus, she lets
go of it pretty quickly when she meets her daughter. Silvia Husk is 28 years
old now, and she feels so grateful for this incredible opportunity. Her
alternate self has done a great job of raising a productive and well-rounded
individual. One thing that Extremus!Audrey—as they have decided to call her
to distinguish her from Green!Audrey—was worried about, was how Silvia would
handle this situation. Audrey herself would be a little freaked out in her
shoes. It would be weird for her to suddenly have two mothers, but Silvia
hasn’t been struggling at all. It sounds like she had quite the happy
childhood, and has grown up into a beautiful, confident young woman.
Extremus!Audrey is sad that she missed it all. But at least they have this
time now.
Today, Silvia wants to show Extremus!Audrey something. Green!Audrey isn’t
coming. It’s unclear if that’s because she’s already seen it, or if it’s
something that will only be between the two of them. “This is only between
us,” Silvia says, answering the question right away. She unlocks a safe
under her bed and pulls out a teleporter band. “This is off the grid. It’s
scary to use, because it relies on line-of-sight, and where we’re going, we
can’t see it from here. We’re gonna have to jump to the sky a few times
before landing where we wanna be, but I promise, it will be worth it.”
Audrey smiles at her precious daughter. “I trust you.” She’s never been in
the sky before. She’s hardly spent any time outside her whole life. She
sleeps under the stars nearly every night, even if that means teleporting to
the other side of Verdemus for the right weather conditions. The immersion
holograms really don’t do it justice. Nothing beats true nature. And that
must be where they’re going now, because if it’s off the grid, it’s not
going to be a clone factory, or a space elevator station. Plus, she said to
wear her swimsuit underneath her clothes. She lets Audrey bound their wrists
with a tether so if they die, they die together, and then they jump away.
They immediately start to fall. Audrey doesn’t know where to look, but
that’s not her job. She smiles over at her girl, who is enjoying herself a
little too much. Before they get anywhere close to Splat City, though, she
looks over and jumps them back up to a higher altitude, but at a different
longitude. They do that a couple more times before reaching their real
target, and man is it a close call. They’re standing at the very edge of an
island cliff. If Audrey were to take one step back, she would pull them
over. And they could really get hurt before Silvia managed to jump them to
safety again. She steps forward a few meters, then undoes the tether
herself. “This is beautiful.”
“It’s an island. Pretty small, comparatively speaking. It’s basically just a
tall-ass rock in the middle of the ocean. The satellites have mapped it, of
course, but it’s entirely untouched. As far as I know, I’m the only person
who has ever been here. I actually love to freefall. It’s one of my favorite
things to do. That’s how I ended up finding this place, just from flying all
over the world.
“That’s really cool, Silvy,” Audrey says sincerely. “I’m so thankful for our
time together. I wish I had been able to raise you.”
Silvia begins to tear up. “There’s something else I never told my mother.
And I wouldn’t tell you, but I think you have the right to know.”
“You can tell me anything,” Audrey promises. “And you can tell her too.”
Silvia fights through the tears. “I’m more like my father than I would like
to admit. I’m not a tyrant, or anything, but I inherited something from
him.”
“You’re psychic.”
“Only in one very weird sort of way,” Silvia goes on. “I can’t...read
people’s thoughts like grandma, or feel their emotions like dad. It’s more
like I see the timeline of their thoughts. I can see where their
consciousness began, and...” She trails off.
“You can see where it is.”
“Yes. I know when people are going to die.”
Audrey nods somberly. “I was gonna potentially live forever. There’s this
thing we have on the Extremus—”
“The Question, I know it. Mother has trusted me with a lot of secret
information. She said she never considered not telling me the truth. It must
have been hard for you, having to stay with my father for so long. Mother
thought he might get worse over time.”
“He did, but I still hold out hope. I think maybe this was the best thing
for him, and the ship. I think maybe my presence was just getting in the
way, or really, that it was no longer helping. My chapter there is over, and
from the way you’re sobbing, I’m guessing that this isn’t the start of a new
chapter, but more of an epilogue.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry you won’t get to see the Extremus planet.”
Audrey looks back out at the grandeur. “I did. This is what the mission was
for. It doesn’t matter how far from the Core Worlds we traveled. That was
never what we were truly looking for. I have no regrets, not even your
father. He gave me you, if only for a year.”
“If it helps, I’m not sure if this truly spells the end. There’s something
weird about the consciousness stream. It does end, but then... Then there’s
something else. Like, a locked door that I can’t see past. Maybe there’s an
afterlife. A true one, beyond the buffer.”
“Maybe,” Audrey agrees.
“Well.” Silvia wipes the tears from her face. “The good news is, you’re not
in any danger. You literally can’t die today. If you want, I can tell you
exactly when—”
“No, I’m fine with a little bit of mystery. I don’t need to know everything,
but it’s nice to know we at least have the day.”
“Yeah. So. How about it?”
“How about what?” Audrey asks.
Silvia shakes her eyes towards the edge of the cliff. “Let’s go. I’ve done
it many times myself. I assure you, it’s perfectly safe, as long as you
clear about a meter from the edge.”
“Oh, is that it?” What a ridiculous suggestion.
“I told you, you can’t die.”
“And what about you? Can you see the end of your own stream?”
“No, but I don’t want to live my life cowering in the corner.”
Audrey considers the proposition. She definitely believes Silvia when she
says that she won’t die, but that won’t make it any easier. It won’t make it
any less scary. But she doesn’t want to be fearful either. She frowns,
trying to make it seem like she’s gonna say no, but then she turns it upside
down and pulls her shirt off. “Well, come on! If we’re gonna do it, let’s
not waste time!”
Mother and daughter hold each other by the waist, and stand on the very edge
again, but this time overlooking the water, smiling at each other. Without
counting down or speaking, they turn towards the unknown, and jump off.
Audrey dies about a year later, just in time to make it to the big afterlife
simulation in the sky before it apparently collapses.
