" Things look so different when the life has gone out of them."
5's voice, though soft as it was, still caused 9 to jump. The mechanic's quiet statement echoed strangely throughout the vast room, off the pale blue walls, across the still water. The silence that had spread across them all like a blanket was lifted, broken further as 5 took a shuddering breath. " It's like those drawings that 3 and 4 have in their library, " he said, his voice shaking. " The world was so beautiful back then, when things were alive."
9 clenched his fists, staring down into his lap to avoid meeting 5's gaze. He knelt on the ground beside a small makeshift raft, on which lay a rag doll, quiet and still. Hands trembling, 9 spread a blanket across the dead one's form, trying, for a moment, to believe that there was some mistake. That 2 was merely sleeping, that at any moment he would laugh and sit up and ask " Why the long face?" Then he'd throw an arm around 5 and tell him to chin up, or cuddle the Twins close to him and tweak their hoods down over their faces. Or give 7's feathers a playful tug and ask her who she thought she was, looking so pretty. 9 knew---he'd heard the stories. 2 had meant the world to them all, so full of life that it seemed to radiate from him, brightening their desolate world. 2 had seen the world differently-----everything was a possibility-----in his eyes, there was nothing that could not be done. The humans had been that way, but their faith never took them very far. 2 had more sense in the lens on his hat than they'd had in their whole bodies, 9 was sure. Rather than cower in fear as 1 did, or follow along thoughtlessly as the others once had, 2 had instead followed his heart. Instead of fearing the world around him, he welcomed it, and the challenge of uncovering the secrets that it held. He loved to learn, to create, and to share his newfound knowledge with the younger rag dolls who, in his eyes, were like grandchildren. He'd taught them so much……..
" 3? 4?" 7's voice trembled as she called out to the Twins, sounding, to 9's great shock, on the verge of tears. The twin rag dolls crept up close beside him, crouching next to 2, their optics flashing frantically towards the eyes of their dead companion. 9 swallowed hard, as realized what they were trying to do. They were talking to 2, calling him, filled with an innocent hope that he might answer them back. They could not understand. They were too young, too naïve, their minds full to bursting with tales of the past and its people long gone. Tales of magic----that's what those books of theirs told, and they believed every word of it. " Anything is possible." The humans once thought that, and 2 had no doubt planted those words into the hearts of the Twins straightaway from Day 1. And they did not forget.
" Guys." 9 spoke gently, his voice barely rising above a whisper. " 2 can't answer you….he……he isn't here, anymore."
More rapid flashing, this time directed at 9 himself. The latter smiled sadly, drawing the young rag dolls close.
" Do you remember all the drawings, and the stories in your books about the way things used to be? How pretty and colorful everything was? Well, 2, he……went to a place like that, far away from here. A place where they need brilliant inventors like him." 2 paused, trying for a moment to make sense of what he had just said. The words had come to fast for thought ,or consideration of the fact that he was giving the Twins a false sense of hope. To think that 2 might still be living somewhere far away in a world of wonders was a tough sell, considering the state of the one they were in, but he knew that 3 and 4 needed to hear those words, truthful or not.
" 2.…..? Alive? Don't be stupid, 9." 5's voice was hoarse, barely audible. He shuffled over to stand beside 6, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders as a gesture of comfort, and fell silent once more. 9 watched him for a long moment, then let his arms fall to his sides, eyes still fixed on 5's sullen face. Slowly his gaze shifted, landing briefly on each rag doll. A smile flickered across his face.
" Yeah, 5.…..he is still living. Look at yourselves. He was important to all of you, and he taught you all so much---you've all told me so before. He wanted you to share and remember everything that he had and loved. You all remember him, don't you? I wish I did….I would give anything to have known him longer. You guys were lucky. You have all the memories of the time you spent with 2, so…it's….almost as if you have a part of him that lives inside of you." 9 reached out a hand, gently laying it across 2's heart. He still wasn't sure what exactly he was saying, but somewhere deep inside, it felt like the truth. " Don't you see?" he asked simply. " The Fabrication Machine didn't take 2's soul away. It just moved it from his own body into all of yours. In the fight between them, honestly…….2 won. We mustn't ever forget that, and above all else, don't ever forget 2. Your memories are what will keep 2 alive. We alone are the source of his triumph."