Utopia War

Chapter 18 - Best Friends Forever (ii)

<I want you to know we're honored you've chosen to live here,> signaled Ran <As much as we may be devastated by the circumstances that led to it.>

"Thank you," replied Min-ji "However I would prefer to be alone, that includes in my own mind."

<As you've made abundantly clear. However, Sparkle Amaryllis is about to arrive. Perhaps today would be an opportunity to speak with her and make your intentions clear. At the moment her life revolves around her daily excursion to pester you. This will likely continue into the foreseeable future without outside intervention. In order to cement your hermitage once and for all you should face her.>

"I don't prefer to do that. It will only hurt her feelings," said Min-ji.

<Do you suppose Sparkle will eventually give up on her own if you ignore her long enough?>

Stupid socratic hive-mind. It already knew her answer to that.

"I can't do it Ran. I don't think I can do it," Min-ji nearly pleaded.

<You're going to have to either go through with it or have the same awkward conversation through your door for the rest of your effectively unlimited lifespans.>

"You probably right," said Min-ji.

<This is often the case,> signaled Ran.

"Can you tell her I'll see her?"

<I began making small talk with her eleven seconds ago in anticipation of this request.>

* * *

"Min-ji!" exclaimed Sparkle, and hugged her ferociously before Min-ji could object.

"Sparkle, we need to talk," said Min-ji, extricating herself.

"We sure do!" said Sparkle, grinning "We haven't talked in a long time. Daisy and Spot had puppies!"

"We need to talk about what happened at the Battle of Proxima, and at Hercules Ring before that," said Min-ji.

"Oh," said Sparkle, the cheer sucked right out of her "Why do you want to talk about that?"

"Because you keep coming to see me and you need to understand. What you did on Hercules... bringing in those suicide missiles... that was beyond the pale Sparkle. It was a step too far."

"I'm sorry, Min-ji, but if I made a mistake back on Hercules it was not going far enough. Proxima is dead. Trillions of our brothers and sisters on Proxima are dead. We'll never see them again. An entire ringworld was destroyed for the first time in human history. The population of the Human Consensus? It's been diminished by a seventh. The Battle of Proxima has taught us that we can't afford to be squeamish any longer. It's us or them. That's why I'm joining this new team. We're going to take the fight to the aliens. You should come too."

"Are you even hearing yourself?"

"What would you have us do?" asked Sparkle "Wait to die? With the exception of you and Caesar every one of my friends died that day. Permanent mind-state loss. If we don't do something about the UFO that will happen to our entire civilization."

"So we give up on everything we believe in? We roll over and embrace violence and descend back into barbarism?"

"If that's what it takes to protect the people I love, then yes," said Sparkle, matter-of-factly.

"I can't be around you anymore, Sparkle," said Min-ji "I can't be around this. I don't know who you are anymore. That's why I agreed to speak with you. That's what I needed to tell you. I can't even look at you right now and I don't know how long I'm going to feel this way. Perhaps forever. It would be best if you moved on with your life."

Sparkle's face melted into the look of a hurt puppy dog, for in a way that's what she was. Tears came unbidden to her eyes, and she didn't bother to deactivate the reaction.

"You're my best friend, Min-ji," she said, quietly and suddenly seeming quite vulnerable.

"I'm afraid the feeling is no longer mutual," said Min-ji.

She caught her own tears before the physiological reaction could take place and blocked them, remaining stony faced.

"But..."

"I'm sorry, Sparkle," said Min-ji, and she willed the door to her cabin to close.

Sparkle was left on the front steps, pale as a ghost, crying messily.