“So why do you do it then?” Lance asked, staring down at his empty glass like a child would at a dead pup. That was number four, and his balance was steadily streaming out the window. He usually had more to say once he'd fogged up his brain. Sinking into the spinning sensation in his head, he rested his head on the counter, twisting it to look her in the face as he waited for an answer.
Artemis poured more Vodka from the bottle into her own glass and handed the bottle to Lance. “Why do I do what? Protect the box? Well that’s easy. It’s a game.”
“A what?”
“It’s a game. I want to see who’ll be the one to finally get me to throw in the towel.”
Lance raised a brow, pouring himself a glass of the Vodka. “That may be much easier than you think.”
Artemis shook her head. “No it isn’t. I know it’ll be easy. I just want to see who'll do it. I’ll protect the bloody thing, but I sure as hell won’t give my life for it. I’ll protect it until I’m given good reason not to. I envision myself somewhere in an epic battle against some nameless Seeker who gives me this rehearsed, five-minute long speech about why the box needs to be opened and human rights and blah, blah, blah. And then I’ll shrug and say, ‘Sure,’ and walk away. I hardly agree with keeping these mortals in their ignorance, but I was around for almost sixty years before the box was sealed up. It wasn’t awful, but this Golden Age is a much needed reprieve. Who am I to take that away? I mean let’s face it, the instant the box goes boom, the mortals are ********.” She downed the glass in one gulp and set it off to the side. She rested her elbows on the bar and propped her head on top of her hands. “Nah. I’ll do thing the benefits myself. Right now, the benefit I get is having something to do. When something else comes along, I’ll drop this like a network drops a sitcom and go do that. The only other way I’d give up is if protecting the thing would result in my death, or the death of a couple others, who’ll remain nameless to the likes of you.”
“Damn,” Lance said, once again staring down at an empty glass. “Thought I had you.”
“I’ll bet you did.”
 Brigadier · Tue Apr 28, 2009 @ 08:07pm · 0 Comments |
