[IN PROGRESS]
Martha and James are soulmates trapped together in a never-ending reincarnation loop. Not a bad way to spend eternity, but they wanted more. They wanted a child. Serafina is born and Martha and James are elated to love and raise her a...
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July 24, 2235 |-262|
Rosa slid her left index finger across the God's Eye position pad and her right over the depth to zoom into Dr Tanaka's face as he spoke. "She's been a beacon for you to circle through the dark expanse, Mr Quinn. We feared that..." He paused to grimace as he lay dying on Martha's couch. His image, ten meters high, was being projected from within the Arena – his greatest, and perhaps mankind's last, innovation. Blood began dripping from his ears, yet he continued. "That she was nearing a level of moral compromise from which she would not return. And then all would be lost once more and our extinction would be nigh."
Seated across from Dr Tanaka, James put his hand on Martha's shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?" Rosa repositioned the image with her fingers to follow the conversation but could only focus on her mentor, Dr Tanaka, as he trembled from time sickness. In the gallery outside the Arena, there were more observers than usual, most there to honor their fallen colleague, bearing witness to his sacrifice.
The bioware beneath Dr Tanaka's wrist flashed red and he began to convulse. His matter was collapsing, causing his organs to fail. "It's... almost... here," he stammered painfully. "You must listen... to me... You must... You must have a... ch-ch-child... You must have a child..." Rosa looked away as the recording continued to play. "Forgive... me... Amar..."
A sob escaped Rosa's mouth before she could cover it. He never forgave himself for letting her go! Not even in the end... She heard gasps and cries from the gallery as Dr Tanaka died in the recording.
Rosa returned to her duties, steeling herself enough to adjust the image, framing Martha and James. They argued. Martha began to cry. Rosa barely paid attention. They'd been given so much – sunshine, fresh air, a living, thriving planet, and more than enough time to acquire the knowledge and skill that was needed. All they had to do was want the world to survive. But then James wanted to escape – so we sent Dr Musa to her death. And then Martha felt bad about herself – so we sent Dr Tanaka to his.
And yet Dr Tanaka had always held such reverence for them. The burden is too great, he'd say. One for which they never asked, but rather, we forced upon them.
This was true. But Rosa never asked to be born within a ticking time bomb. She would have gladly switched places with either of them.
Martha and James moved from the living room to the bathroom and Rosa followed them. They stopped in front of the sink and then James spoke into the mirror. "Hello, people of the Northwest Quadrosphere. Low level God's Eye technicians... Rosa perhaps..."
Rosa's jaw dropped and gasps from the gallery echoed her shock. From 200 years before and 260 lifetimes after, the primary focus of her past and present, the singular hope for her future, more myth than man, James Quinn had addressed her by name and her grip on reality flickered.
