[NetBehaviour] We All Fall Down

[Zak Qlikman]

Zhi emerges out of the shadow, moving slow, deliberate. S/He is dressed in
mending cloth, their face hidden behind a mask of shards of glass and wire.

“You’re one of them,” Ky says, their voice muffled but level.

Zhi cocks their head, thinking. “One of what?”

“One of the ones who watched,” s/he says, creeping a little nearer.
“Watched while everything fell apart.”

The accusation bites deep.

Ky wobbles, their hands clenching and unclenching. “Why have you come?”

Zhi looks at it, its markings glinting softly in dim light. “I have come to
understand,” s/he says. “To learn what is left, and must continue.”

Ky spits out a laugh, its sound acid. “Nothing’s left to carry. Ghosts and
ash, that’s all.”

“Not true,” Zhi says, their eyes moving to the flower at its feet. “The
life remains, even in crevices.”

The two stand motionless for a long, quiet interval.
[image: sWeAllFallDown2025-01-04 16.40.12.jpg]

Finally, Ky comes to life and talks. "If you're here to learn, then you
have to see what we saw."

S/He offers a hand, and Zhi takes it. Hand in hand, they move deeper into
the ruins.

And there, buried under heaps of ash and debris, stands a machine, behemoth
and sleeping, its face etched with the same inscrutable symbols etched into
their epidermis.

The visitors watch it closely. "We made it to save us," Ky says.

Ky touches the face of the machine, resting a hand against its metal
faceplate.

"I see now," Zhi breathes. "The machine did not kill you, then."

Ky shudders in their voice. "So then, then, what?"

Zhi turns, radiating a new light in their form. "The fear of falling," s/he
says, "when you could no longer stand together."

-

http://thevisitors.jeron.org/
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