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Gaia is a gifted child

Gaia is i a human body Isn’t that cute?

"It all happens because ofat her oer, her own uniqueness "A script written long ago and very far away Not that they ever iot a diet of hard radiation and a trace of human and other DNA That wasn’t their idea; they were just trying to spread life around the galaxy"

"You’re talking about the meteorite that hit the power plant," Diana said This far Astrid had guessed It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the disaster that had given Perdido Beach its nickname, Fallout Alley, was connected to what had happened later "Wait Human DNA?"

"One human was in the power plant when the ether, fed by the uranium in the plant And I was born My real birth," she added quickly, with a disgusted look at Diana "My true birth Not the crude freak show of this body’s birth, but the beautiful accident that h-pitched voice sounded excited But that voice held no true sense of joy or wonder It was high because her vocal cords were still short: a biological fact, not a reflection of the mind behind the voice

Or else she really was just a coo real, aside froh opinion of herself and a lust for power And she wondered where Gaia had picked up the phrase "freak show" Whose mind had she ransacked to come up with that?

What exactly did she know?

Not everything, Diana thought, answering her own question She hadn’t known about Taylor Maybe that’s why she’s keeping aps in what she knows

"That crude freak show of a birth nearly killed me," Diana said a little bitterly It still made her ache inside, and the trauhter, Diana thought That she looks like me, that she has Caine’s chin and hter was, orand talking with a monster

"We are near the place where I spent mymy childhood," Gaia said "I can feel it"

"Thethere, are we? If Sary, stupidDiana I’ll go there and call the coyotes, if any have survived A single coyote would feed us for a while"

"I don’t think there are ry! I have to eat!" Gaia bellowed like a spoiled child "This body must be fed! All you do is tell aiaphage!" Her fists were clenched, and her face hite with fury

Rage So that’s one eo after her She cringed, awaiting the stab of pain But it didn’t co past Diana

"What is that?"

Diana turned and saw so so improbable it was hard to believe They were in the hills, far from town, almost at the northernmost part of the FAYZ But there, just outside the barrier, were two young men, both in their twenties, both outfitted inbelts

The men seemed surprised and excited to see them Diana was suddenly aware of just how odd she and Gaia irl still partly covered in third-degree burns