give it all you got, go

[alicornucopia]

At a booth in Milliways sits a woman in her thirties, stirring a cup of tea, watching the stars explode. There is a fat boring-looking lawbook under her elbow, and a barcode across the back of her right hand.

Mark (with kappa)

Ruth (with Maggie)

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"Small mercies."

[unmarred]

"Yeah."

[alicornucopia]

"I suppose if most of your galaxy is civilized about clones you don't have dedicated charities about the subject."

[unmarred]

"No. Nor are we overflowing with dedicated charities about people being variously exploited on Jackson's Whole. Seems to be a regrettably common attitude that anybody who lives there deserves what they get."

[alicornucopia]

"Because didn't they think to read the fine print when checking the box for which planet they'd like to be born on?" says Ashley disgustedly.

[unmarred]

"Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'll be the first to admit Jacksonian culture has precious little to recommend it, but that's hardly the fault of the grubbers and clones and sex slaves and brainwashed bodyguards and bio-experiments."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh, it gets worse than just clones slated for brain transplant, does it?"

[unmarred]

"And how."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh joy, I had been running out of faith in the bottomlessness of human capacity for evil."

[unmarred]

"Sorry to report, it remains as bottomless as ever. But in my world at least, the human capacity for good seems more or less capable of keeping up."

[alicornucopia]

"I know some good people and some mediocre people. Person for person I'd bet on the good ones. Throw capital into the mix and it's a free for all."

[unmarred]

"I have known some staggeringly evil people, and some people who didn't distinguish themselves much either way, and some decent people. And then there's my brother - my original, if you like - who is a shining beacon of goodness inspiring everyone in his path. He hardly even knows he's doing it, it's amazing."

[alicornucopia]

"Good for him," she says, looking out at the stars.

[unmarred]

"Yes."

[alicornucopia]

Ashley doesn't volunteer a comment on her own original. "All that and he has the wherewithal to make your very expensive apology present. Maybe he'll get somewhere."

[unmarred]

"You don't know the half of it."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh?"

[unmarred]

"A few choice highlights from my brother's career so far: When he was seventeen he blundered into the middle of a war, stole part of the winning side's army with a combination of charisma and outrageous lies, and won the war with it. Last year he liberated an entire POW camp, ten thousand prisoners, from conditions that managed to strictly follow the letter of every galactic regulation on the subject while still amounting to psychological torture. Had to go undercover as a prisoner to do it, too."

[alicornucopia]

She smiles slightly. "Impressive. Rather dramatic."

[unmarred]

"Those are both accurate descriptions of my brother."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm glad your origins on the evil planet of evil have a happy denouement."

[unmarred]

"Thanks."

[alicornucopia]

"You're welcome."