I was going to post this last, and put Adam's here, but I decided to switch. Adam/Zack will be last, which is a nice frame, with Max's at the start.
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A little Sister's World - Logan
Honestly, when you create a weapon that is able to think for itself, you have to expect it to do just that. Think. I'm not sure that's what they expected all their precious genetically engineered projects to do, though. Think.
Ironic that. Yet people who play god tend to forget that they aren't actually a divine being. They forget that not only are they mortal, and prone to making mistakes, but that by claiming divinity they are abasing themselves. May God forgive them, because sure as hell, no one else will. Not those who hate transgenics, not those who don't care, not those who believe in freedom of mind and body, and certainly not those they created. I doubt many of them will forgive themselves.
Strangely though, for all their plotting, they've managed to create not only something that thinks, breathes, and fights, but something real and beautiful, too. Life is wonderful, and they've duplicated it well. Not perfectly, as the transgenics are just as flawed as their creators, but beautiful nonetheless. Like the bad parent, they've turned out something that exceeds its origins.
Max.
Perhaps the most beautiful woman to walk the face of the planet. She's not the sweetest, nor is she the most generous, or giving person, but I sometimes wonder if she isn't among one of the most loving. People devote themselves to her and her cause, whatever it may be. I should know – I did.
She's always been loved, from the time she was able to remember. Sandeman, maybe, even if just for what she will one day do. Lydecker, in his own twisted way. Zack, with every breath he's ever taken. Alec even, in whatever passes for their abrasive relationship. Original Cindy, like a sister, and a true friend. Me, with anything I can offer. I would give Max the world if I thought it could help.
Love, they say, is something that is both inherent and learned. We could not love if we were not predisposed to do so, and the frightening attempts of those who were never taught, shows how much we gain from those who loved us. So Max's ability to love others, to care, is hardly inexplicable – even if it is amazing when you consider what it has survived. She never lost it, though she did try her hardest to suppress it for a long time.
Zack, therefore is the strange one. And Alec. And the others. Zack mostly. For one small dark eyed girl, he defied Manticore. He went against everything he'd ever been taught, everything he had ever known. He sent those directly under his command, his protection into a situation that was unknown and possibly highly dangerous. He must have been braver than anyone can credit him for.
I suppose Sandeman could have interfered along the way. A nudge here, a whispered comment there and he could have sparked something in Zack, something to keep his special project safe: protect at all costs. If so, then that one action changed the way the world operates drastically. He set in motion actions that no one could possibly predict. Whether or not it will be for the better is still unknown.
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt said that. Most of the universe has sat around and done nothing since the beginning of time. Even now that they've realised what has really happened, or think they have realised, they still do nothing. Nothing. Zack did something. Sandeman did something. Max is doing something. I've attempted to do things. Even Alec in his annoying way does something every time Max asks him.
Who started it? Truly? Someone, somewhere must have done something. Cause and effect. Why did Sandeman decide to save humans? Why did he choose Max to do that for him? How does Zack, Alec and everyone else fit into this picture?
Creating an entire army of genetically soldiers to hide one prophesised hero seems a little like overkill. If Max hadn't walked up to the breeding cult and whacked them in the face with her existence they never would have noticed until too late. Still, I suppose it is feasible that the transgenics are partially meant to be her bodyguards, her protection against those snake-loving bastards. However, giving them such a purpose reduces their right to existence: no one should exist as a means to an end, not even if that means is saving the world. What's the point of the big picture, if you forget about the individuals who make that picture up?
One last little niggling voice resides in me, if Max is meant to be the saviour of the world, where does that leave me? She carries so much on her shoulders now that in many ways it would be better for her if she had not met me. Then at least she'd still be looking out for herself and not everyone else. It worries me that she has such a burden, even with all those around her who are willing to take as much as they can.
She's all alone. I can't touch her. It seems to simple some times, just to reach out and touch her, give her something to touch back, yet I can't. I'd love to be able to hold her at night, to sleep curled up with her, give her something to cling to if she needed it. I know what it's like to feel like you're drowning and there's no one who can pull you up. I don't ever want Max to feel like that. Yet, I can't give her my hand to help keep her head above water. It makes me feel helpless and I don't want to think about what it does to her.
Max deserves all the earth has to give her and then some. I wish I had taken the chance to give her that when I did. All I have left to give her is my life and she can have that and everything that goes with it.
If I could give her more, I would. Perhaps, though, somewhere along the way the universe will give her back what it has taken. Maybe not now, and may be not for a long, long time, but eventually.
Max, you're tolling up a big one. Make it count.
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Sticks and stones are hard on bones
Aimed with angry art
Words can sting like anything
But silence breaks the heart.
Please review. Your honest opinions are always valued.
