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[sequestrated]

wilson.simon@cdc.org
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<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>FROM:</B> lastname.firstname@cdc.org <B>TO:</B> wilson.simon@cdc.org [[200 max character message here]]</span>	<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>CALLING:</B> WILSON, SIMON</span> [[3 minute max message here]]	<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>(1) VOICEMAIL:</B> WILSON, SIMON [[3 minute max message here]]

Comments

[sequestrated]

I am. I hope you are.

[needlebearer]

Good.

I am. I hope we're not in here long. I don't like it in here much.

[sequestrated]

We'll see. [Because he's currently tracking, in the far, far distance from his rover cockpit, one very large-looking, very fast, very black thing in the sky.]

I didn't expect to see you using this. Shows what I know, eh?

[needlebearer]

I taught myself. It's taking some getting used to, but it's more convenient than ravens. I don't understand half of the things the comms device can do, though.

[sequestrated]

You'll learn. You're doing well. I had something similar at home, and I didn't understand half the things it could do, either.

[Ravens? Not the bird, presumably. But what if what was moving in was a big cloud of those?]

[needlebearer]

It must have been easy for you to settle in here, then.

[sequestrated]

Some things were similar. Others not so much. Being with so many other people was hard.

[Still is, truth be told.]

[needlebearer]

There's not really anything you can do about that.

[sequestrated]

More than true.

Why did you mention ravens?

[Because the cloud is getting closer, and the sky is darkening. There are more clouds, now, converging from all sides.]

[needlebearer]

We use them to send messages to people far away.

[sequestrated]

[... yep, like the one they're getting right now.]

Like pigeons? Or do they talk?

[needlebearer]

Of course they don't talk. They're just birds.

Pigeons don't carry messages. They're too stupid to be anything but food. I snapped their necks and traded them for bread or a bowl of brown.

[sequestrated]

That's not fair. Pigeons can be trained. They always go home again.

[needlebearer]

Good for the pigeons.

[If this wasn't text, she'd sound very bitter and sarcastic there.]

[sequestrated]

If they're not dead, of course. That would clip their wings somewhat.

[Some things carry across even text. It was a vivid image, but he's not exactly in a position to judge her for surviving.]

[needlebearer]

All men must die. I suppose that extends to pigeons too.

[sequestrated]

And women as well?

[That boy who worried about sexist language is still here, somewhere.]

[needlebearer]

Yes, women too.

[She appreciates the inclusiveness there.]

[sequestrated]

[Still, it has the air of a proverb, like something he might have picked out to say.]

They say things like that at home. "You only live once".

You know some people here say they died already? That's what they came here from.

[He's thinking of Kagari, mainly, who's so loud and vibrant and makes a point of mentioning it.]

[needlebearer]

I've seen someone brought back from the dead.

[sequestrated]

You have?

[Different worlds, after all. Simon is interested, but he doesn't patronise her with Are you sure?—yet.]

[needlebearer]

Yes. He said he died six times.

[sequestrated]

Is that sort of thing common where you come from?

[He suspects a street trick—but then again, he remembers Gliese's steel collar with sickening vividity.]

[needlebearer]

No. I wish it was.

[sequestrated]

I suppose it would work out well for the pigeons.

[Trying to lighten the mood. Outside, the wind is picking up.]