third day

[aimedforthemoon]

The third day is spent much as the second: in forge.
Nine days," he says. "Nine days you will spend with me, one for each of the nine years my wife and I were together.
She's making a bird, adapted from the model planes Esfir knows so well. The radio part is easy; making it look like a swan is not. Still, she's talented, and has been throwing herself into it, and things are coming together.
You cannot escape
The swan is for not her, not for him, but for the lovely, silent woman Weyland keeps around.
and you cannot ask me to let you go.
(only half of it is because he asked to be surprised)
You will not return to the bar during those nine days
But after so many hours, her heart isn't in it anymore. She looks up, rubs the back of her neck (ignoring the oil and grime on her hands)

(nine days)
and suddenly stares at him, eyes narrowed.

Comments

[aimedforthemoon]

"When things are said and done, I am still a soldier. I think in my skin is safer for longer term."

[mechanicalswans]

"The modifications I have made to myself have all been embedded," he says with a nod. "It does hurt, but I imagine it would be much more unpleasant to be fighting somewhere and have it stolen. If it were taken from you, and you were somewhere else, you might fade."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Exactly."


(somewhere, the analytical part of her brain is informing her that she is setting herself up for a hell of a lot of pain at the behest of someone who, for want of a better term, kidnapped her.

She ignores it)

[mechanicalswans]

"We should get started, then," he says. "I am afraid you will only get bread and wine for dinner, but really, it is better to only have a light meal before things like this. And you must tell me what happened--the more appropriate I can make my methods, the stronger the effect will be."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Do you need to write it down, or can you remember?"

[mechanicalswans]

"I have a very good memory," he says. "As always, details help, but the feel of it is the most important thing."

[aimedforthemoon]

Without thinking about it, she settles herself into being at ease - feet shoulder-width apart, hands linked behind her back, chin up and eyes forward.

"Towards the end of my mission, there was an explosion. I re-entered the Earth's atmosphere too steep, and in the heat, the parachutes were destroyed. The g-force was too much, and I passed out.

When I came to, I was under the water. I had landed in the Great Barrier Reef. My radio was gone. After an hour, I heard someone knock. We established communication - in English - and I told him that I had five hours of breathable air left. And he said:

I’ve got a rope, and I’m going to tie it on to the parachute cables. We’re about three kilometres from an island. As soon as we’ve made you fast we’ll head towards it. We can’t lift you out of the water with the gear on the lugger, so we’ll try to get you up on the beach

I-I felt relieved. Being prepared to die is not same as wanting to.

But after that was done, he said that I would never get out alive. His brother died in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and I being Soviet, Russian, was a target for his revenge.

He kept his word. After another hour, the rope snapped and I was sent into sand again. But as he came to mock me again, I saw my recorder was still one. There is a saying, in Russia, that we die with music. Even though I was stuck, if I could get that tape so people would hear - his crew, I didn't think he told - I would at least take him down with me.

It was all I had.

That and my pride. As the capsule crashed again, and then I was stuck for a while not moving, I couldn't...I could not let myself panic. Not given in to going crazy.

But, then my breath was...was coming shorter and shorter, and I was getting disorientated. Typical symptoms for hypercapnia. Then I started to p-panic. Hyperventilate. Body shaking and I couldn't control it.

Eventually, I slipped into unconsciousness.

Then I died."

[mechanicalswans]

He lights another cigarette, studying the dogtags as he listens.

Water, he thinks. Suffocation. Sacrifice was common among his people, of course; he himself had elevated it to an art form, and used it quite often for his work. Hanging and drowning, both traditional; the one for Odin, the other the chosen technique of Weyland's own grandmother. There is something fitting about water, the stuff of life, being the means of death... yes, it will work.

He knows exactly what he must do.

"I must ask you to trust me," he says eventually, quietly. "I give you my word that you will not be destroyed, though it will seem as though you are dying over again. The state you are in now, it is incomplete, it is transition; you must die again to be reborn properly. By the blood of my slain father I promise you, I will not let you fade away."

[aimedforthemoon]

(she wants her dogtags back; they hers and they are her and she wants them back stop it just
give me back)

"I cannot trust you. But I can act as if I can."

[mechanicalswans]

"That will suffice," he says. "Once we have started, you must not question or hesitate. There will not be many orders, but they will take self-control to carry out--I am sure you will do just fine. But I give you one last opportunity to change your mind and return to Milliways just as you are."

[aimedforthemoon]

Softly, the more romantic Fira coming to the surface, "And ever wonder what would have happened had I stayed?"

[mechanicalswans]

"Nothing worth having comes without struggle or suffering," he says more quietly. "It will be unpleasant, but afterward you will be free. Any world you like would be yours. That is no small reward."

[aimedforthemoon]

"For freedom, I would do...many things."

Falcon, her comrades had named her, sapsan - small and fast and firece. Falcon, who even when trained and tamed would yearn to be free.

[mechanicalswans]

"You'll only have to die for it," he says with a soft chuckle, "and it will not be permanent. Do you meditate at all? I shall need you to do so, to think about what being alive felt like, and then what dying felt like. You may use any room you wish for it, and Mireille may bring you the bread and wine if you like, but I have preparations to make. It will be a while, and you must be focused."

[aimedforthemoon]

"That is...you breathe in, hold it, breathe out, and concentrate on nothing else?"

[mechanicalswans]

He nods. "It's about what it means to you. How it felt, what you remember, the little things--the things you would not tell anyone, and do not have to tell me. You may keep those yourself, but think of them. Treasure how it felt to be alive, and examine how it felt to die. Don't think of how it will feel to be reborn. That is for later."

[aimedforthemoon]

"I can do that."

[mechanicalswans]

"Excellent," he nods, slipping the dogtags into his pocket and motioning back toward the forge. "Mireille will tend to you, and I will have her fetch you when I am ready. Until then... just concentrate."