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"You’re a shithead," Sevro chimes in

"… My wife called me Fitchner But the Golds made me Ares"

Before noould not knohat thatto him? But now I’ve peeked behind the curtain "Why didn’t you tell me who you were froer’s acting ability?" he cackles "I think not If you were found out and they tortured you … bad news I had alternate plans, other irons in the fire You just happened to be my favorite But we mustn’t be biased"

"Who was your wife?" I ask, already suspecting the answer

"Full or short?" he asks

"Full"

"I was liaising for a terraforlamorous job like you No razors No are one of the last Lovelock Engines on their north pole when an eruption froeysers caused an earthquake Cracked the ice crust Spilled the whole engine into the subterranean sea Three thousand souls drowned

"They fishedin the arctic hospital I was in the highColor wing We had the good food Better showers Newer beds But the lowColors had thethat looked at the northern lights And she had the bed beside that "

He looks up at Sevro "She was the most beautiful woman I’ve everin the accident And they weren’t going to give her a new one They could It’s simple bionics Not cost-effective, said the Coppers Shittiest race ever ain"

Fitchner throws a piece of trash at Sevro and continues "When I left, I took her with h to leave Triton Couldn’t live in the Core Too expensive So I chose Mars We lived just outside New Thebes for a year We wanted a childBut our DNA wasn’t compatible So ent to a Carver to see if we couldn’tI owned, but nine months later, this little Goblin squirmed out"

Sevro waves from his perch as he examines the trash to see if it isn’t edible

"Two years later, the Board of Quality Control busted the Carver for soladiator and he ratted us out, fastlike, for a reduced sentence They came to our home when I ith Sevro FoundTheir doctors saw her fallopian tubes had been modified so that it would be compatible to sire a Gold child Then they disposed of her Says so right in the records: ‘disposed’ Gassed her with achlys-9, put her in an oven, puive her a name, just a number Not because she was a thief or a hts, but because she was a Red that dared love a Gold

"It wasn’t like your wife, Darrow I didn’t watch mine die I didn’t see Golds come into my world and ruin it Instead I felt the coldness of the syste buttons, filling out a spreadsheet A Broisting a knob to release gas They killed my wife But they won’t ever think so She’s not a memory in their host I loved but no one else ever saw That’s what Society does--spread the blain to find a villain, to find justice It’s just machinery Processes And it rueneration rises that will throw theears"

"What was her name?"

"Her name? Why does it matter?" he asks warily

"Because I want to remember her"

"Bryn," Sevro says from above "My mother’s name was Bryn She enty-four when they killed her"