(no subject)

[acts_of_gord]

The briefing's over and done with, and the newcomers from Seattle (Gordon will never think of it as City 08) are settling into their new living quarters. What they're going to do with them over the long term he doesn't know, but the long term's going to depend on their continued survival regardless, so it'll just have to take care of itself.

Right now, he's had time to get back into the swing of things here. Milliways is nice, but it's not important, not the way the world proper is. Useful though the Bar might be, this is where he belongs. And for all the Bar's books and people and other sources of answers, some things are best sought out in the universe from which they originate.

Months ago (or days, depending which side of the door you've been on), the Vortigaunts did something very strange at the bottom of a mineshaft somewhere deep in forest country. Gordon's hoping he can find a Vortigaunt now, and maybe an explanation along with it.

Comments

[smelltheashes]

One of them, at least, is fairly easy to find. The Vortigaunt whom Dr. Magnusson has dubbed 'Uriah' is at his post in the bowels of the complex, monitoring the two missile silos for any further problems.

[acts_of_gord]

It takes Gordon a moment to get over the image of a Vortigaunt in human clothing. He clears his throat, partly to cover the awkwardness, partly to get the alien's attention as he comes nearer.

[smelltheashes]

Uriah turns and bows to Gordon. "Greetings to the Freeman."

[acts_of_gord]

"Hi, Uriah," Gordon says, and stalls, because leaping straight into hey, question about your racial abilities seems more than a little awkward even for him. "Everything going smoothly down here?"

[smelltheashes]

"The readings contain no aberrations worth speaking of," Uriah replies placidly. "All is well."

[acts_of_gord]

"Oh good," says Gordon. "I mean... good. I'm not interrupting much, then...."

[smelltheashes]

"Whatever the Freeman desires shall be provided, irrespective," says Uriah, spreading his two-fingered hands wide.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon nods. "Thank you," he says. "I had a question, actually. About something that happened a while ago, with some of the other Vortigaunts. I don't know if you know anything about what happened to Alyx on the way here..."

[smelltheashes]

"Mmm." The Vortigaunt dips its head, briefly. "We remember. As does the Freeman."

[acts_of_gord]

"Remembering's not the same as understanding," Gordon murmurs. "I don't know your Vortessence at all. What did your people do? They said something about weaving Alyx's life with mine-"

That could mean any one of a dozen things; he shrugs helplessly.

[smelltheashes]

"It is as you say. The life of the Alyx Vance is one with that of the Freeman's."

Something in Uriah's tone implies the question What aspect of this is the Freeman having trouble with, exactly?

[acts_of_gord]

"That's not something that happens much with humans," Gordon says. "Just what's involved?"

[smelltheashes]

Uriah lets out a faint rumble. It seems to be pondering how best to phrase the explanation.

"The Alyx Vance was gravely injured," it begins. "Her corporeal being could not sustain her. She was stretched thin, between the worlds, not here and yet not there.

"When we reached into the Vortessence to retrieve her, she was stretched too thin to return. The pattern of her being would have been obliterated. Another was needed, to reinforce the weave. You are that other."

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon nods slowly; he's trying to picture this, and he only has about a quarter of the concepts he'd really need to get it right. Eventually he says, "So... a little bit like-"

He's not particularly given to metaphysical musings, or giving the musings of others much credence, so the words come slowly.

"It's some kind of ongoing sharing of... lifeforce, I guess?" he hazards. "Or, I don't know, souls?"

[smelltheashes]

"Far more than that," says Uriah. "The Freeman is the Alyx Vance, and the Alyx Vance is the Freeman. Their bodies are separate, but they can never be parted."

[acts_of_gord]

"..."

You'd think, given that he's living in a future populated by more aliens than humans, surviving through the use of a suit of lightweight power armor, and talking to a being from another dimension, that stuff like this would seem just a little bit less weird.

"So... that... is that why I dreamed about things in her memory?" he finally says.

[smelltheashes]

"Your minds deceive themselves," the Vortigaunt notes. "Even now they persist in the illusion of differentiation. But the barriers they erect are not impermeable."

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon nods slowly. "She remembered things that had happened to me, too," he says. "Now that I think about it... so it's a sharing back and forth."

[smelltheashes]

Uriah dips his head again, in what might be a nod.

"You share more than you know, Freeman."

[acts_of_gord]

A thought occurs to him, and he winces.

"What happens to her if I get killed?"

[smelltheashes]

"What becomes of any creature deprived of half its breath, or half its nourishment? It may yet live, but it will never thrive as it once did."

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon nods slowly; he can understand that. And it's not as if either one of them was planning to do anything but take full precautions anyway...

"Thank you, Uriah," he says aloud. "That's good to know."

[smelltheashes]

"The Freeman is most welcome."