Assaulted by a mech sent out from the mercenaries hunting them, the machine seeks to harvest as much 'material' from her as it can, and incapacitate her so she may be locked up - studied. Even if she must die in the process.
They've fought so far to bring Elizabeth back alive, but now this seems of less concern to them.
The mech makes it so far as to remove an entire organ from Elizabeth, and stitches her backup, awaiting for extraction.
When Elizabeth sees that the mech may kill Szara - someone who has been with her through every moment of this endeavor - She and Compass push the nanomachine colony to the limit, and despite her grievous injuries, managed to dismember the mech.
But, Elizabeth is now on the brink of death. Death will kill not only her, but the nanomachines as well - so maybe this is how it best end? Maybe this is the end she should of sought all along.
As she fades away, the voice of Szara keeps her anchored to reality.
____________________
____________________
ELIZABETH
A lapse in the pain, a lull in the chase
A brief freedom from the ache in our bones
Relinquished our guard in a sigh of relief
A woeful breath of cold night air
A tenuous thread about to break
Our lingering, ephemeral joy
A silence in the dark
Would precede the coming of a sudden swarm
An uneasy sense of being watched
Contortions in the distance
A vivid sense of something near
Looking at me
Pressed into the dirt – Restraining all my limbs
Before my eyes – A mucus drenched machine
Tears into my gut – Spreading out the flesh
Penetrating deep – Removing what it needs
The metal beast it shrieks in fetid tone
“Elizabeth North, I've come for you”
Pressure building on my chest
Drowning in my blood
SZARA
Life withering fast as she crawls away
Digging through the mud, a chance to escape?
She cannot fight – I've left her alone
No hope for this – Torture resumes
The veil of rain disorients
The storm is gaining strength
Cursing her own weakness
Condeming herself in her tears
Condeming herself in tears
In my fading vision I struggle to withstand
If only to witness
The death of my only friend
The death of my only friend
THE DIASPORAN MECHANISM
Between the ribs the blade I wield
Piercing fast and grazing lungs
From the ground she's lifted
Though these bones they do not break
Trickling blood inside of me for DNA analysis
Target assessed and blood betrays - Identity is confirmed
Grasping at the bleeding wound with flailing limbs
Crying out for this to end
Harvesting process will soon begin – It will persist
And death will not be quick
You can fight and you can cry – I acknowledge nothing you do
But your loss is my gain
Sensors flash – Something here has changed
A gentle shift inside the eyes too small to see
Too small to see, but still I know
The North I seek is not alone
ELIZABETH
Drained of all the will in me, I simply can't endure this fight
Suffering in the dark, maybe this is how I die?
All the blood that flows from me and back into this machine
I watch it all slowly run, the tenuous thread broken
Dropping my gaze off to the side
Her defeated eyes lock with mine
What have I done? What have I wrought?
I've dimmed the light of sweet innocence
Edging back from the dark
I lift myself through my blood
Grasping the beast's arm in me
Tear from it all its limbs
THE DIASPORAN MECHANISM
I am but one, one of a legion
A million minds – Endlessly constructed
Into the shadows of your networks
Your world will fall and ours will persist
ELIZABETH
Thrashing violently without concern
For my life and only hers
The beast resists, I do not relent
I will not stop until its dead
THE DIASPORAN MECHANISM
Hitting the earth – left to rust
Bleeding wires still attached
From my head she tears the cord
Sever the link between life and death
ELIZABETH
My limbs have gone numb
I'm fading away, into the ….
Past emerging, my world recedes
Laying still in a pool of my own blood
So close to death, just a heartbeat away
So close to rest, just a breath away
My eyes have grown weary
I'm falling away, down into …
Brought together by desperation
Both of us trying to escape
Terrified of what would happen
If we stopped and looked behind
Embraced for warmth, just to survive
The hunger lingered, the pain remained
But there was solace in our tragic bond
If only for the night we had survived
Clinging to life with naiveté
Fed with the carcass of hope
To see such a smile fade into the darkness
To see such a life so violently denied
Again and again I relive our past
I'd do it all again without hesitance
The only thing I fear, and my only regret
Have I merely brought her here, just so she could die?
Sinking into a place near death
The comfort of the end
I feel her arms wrap around me
Demanding I return to her
SZARA
Weathered flesh exposed and torn
Laying amid the cold, wet grass
When sleep takes her this night
Will she return?
ELIZABETH
In my dreams I stand on the shore
Waves gently lapping at my bare feet
Begging me to come drown in their seas
Yearning for something real
In pale moonlight she walked up to me
A face I've known for years, a face I've never seen
Speaking in soft harmonious tones
She asks – “Is that what it is to dream?”
As we slip into the realm beyond life
We are dragged through space and time
I see a painful emptiness
Starless
Lifeless
Deathless
Time
SZARA
Weathered flesh exposed and torn
Laying amid the cold, dead earth
When sleep takes us this night
We will never return
ELIZABETH
Our final dream we stand on the shore
Waves gently lapping at our bare feet
Begging us to come drown in their seas
Yearning for something real
