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[velocette]

Well, what do you know, they updated the Pearly Gates. I always thought, you know, if we got to an afterlife it wouldn't be brimstone. Probably wouldn't be a crocodile and a set of scales either.

[The Motorcycle Boy has to pause to light a cigarette]

I didn't figure the Gatekeeper would be so much more fair than the Man in the Book. You can never get a square deal in life, maybe it’s about time we got one in death.

[There’s another pause, this one more lengthy. His eyes don’t focus on the camera anymore, but on something just above it.]

How many souls are we ferrying?

Comments

[velocette]

I guess we're all being taken to the same place. It's all the same boat, same kind of judgment. [So, everyone.]

[strangehistorian]

No, not really! Not in the long-term, anyway. There are one hundred and thirteen sapient beings aboard. One hundred and fourteen if you consider the Admiral to be on-board.

[velocette]

[He's not laughing. But he almost is.] And one hundred and fourteen only if you consider him sapient. There's debate about it.

You keep better tabs on things than anyone else so far.

[strangehistorian]

Well, I'm of the opinion that he is, anyway. I have a very good memory!

[velocette]

Yeah?

What's the first thing you remember?

[strangehistorian]

I was in my egg. I think my clutch was being relocated at another chamber, there was a lot of sloshing.

[velocette]

[Wellp. Sudden intense curiosity.]

Was it dark? Did you know you were alone in there?

[strangehistorian]

Very dark. It didn't bother me at the time, having no basis for comparison. I wasn't quite alone, I could sense the clutchmates of mine that had also become aware in their own eggs nearby.

[velocette]

[He looks almost spellbound]

Did you feel connected to them? Did you...did you care about them?

[strangehistorian]

Not particularly. I had no idea what was going on.

[velocette]

What was hatching like?

They say you can't help a butterfly out of its cocoon, or a duck out of its egg, or it dies. I always think, look at how hard it is for a human to be born. Must be worse to beat your way out of an egg.

[strangehistorian]

Exhausting. I can't speak to being born as a human, though it seems... violent.

[velocette]

Yeah. Being human is pretty violent, no matter how you're born. I guess we're lucky we don't have to remember the beginning.

You've never forgotten anything?

[strangehistorian]

If I have forgotten, it was an alternate timeline and there is nothing in regular existence to remember in the first place.

[velocette]

[He laughs softly]

Yeah they say if you forget something you won't know you've forgotten it but...I have all these holes, see. There were things there in my life I don't remember anymore.

Ever had a doctor here look at your brain?

[strangehistorian]

Not... in detail. Do you know why there are holes? Perhaps they are necessary.

[velocette]

Yeah...I guess they could be. Mind protecting me, maybe. I don't remember why I stopped seeing colors. I figured I was too young to remember what happened, but I remember other things around then.

But how can you really know, if your own mind won't tell you?

[strangehistorian]

Well, you could ask someone who was there!

[velocette]

That's a lot of flawed perceptions to rely on. People make things up to fill in the gaps. Happens all the time at home, they see a woman rob a bank, but in the chaos they tell the cops it was a black man. Then they start to believe that it was.

[strangehistorian]

Hm?

I don't understand.

[velocette]

If you ask people who were there, the stories you'll get are probably just going to be fairy tales.

[strangehistorian]

Why would a person remember something important incorrectly?

[velocette]

We're wired for it. We tend to cling to things we want to be true, stuff we expect to see, and ignore everything else.

[strangehistorian]

[Chromie clicks her tongue disapprovingly.]

And no way to simply travel back and re-witness it. How frustrating.

[velocette]

Time travel sounds dangerous. [He doesn't sound put off by it, just mildly curious, a little amused at the idea.] You could end up falling for your own ancestor.