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"Gild says so?"
"Right from the top, sir. Instructions from Mr. Wallace himself."
"From him, huh? What's your name?"
"Um." The man locks his hands behind his back. "Wes, sir."
"Well, Wes, it's nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Wallace."
You offer out your hand and watch a familiar terror flash through Wes. He shakes your hand limply, after a moment, and tries to recover. "Well, I, uh— can I— do you have ID?"
"Reasonable question." You slide your hand into your breast pocket and retrieve your Gild pin, showing Wes. Many people have one, though, so in absolute fairness you make a fist and open it and show him a live beetle. "Is that sufficient?"
"Oh fuck," Wes mumbles. "You're—"
"Yes, I am."
"I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't—"
"That's no problem, Wes. There's so many people coming through— I don't see all of them, so I know they don't see me. Thank you for doing your job. Can I get through?"
Wes scrambles aside. "Sorry, sir! Of course!"
"Thank you. I won't come back this way, by the way, so don't be worried if you don't see me come down. Keep up the good work, okay?"
"Y— yes, of course! Have a nice day!"
You leave Wes behind and stroll through the line— could duck or crawl through the fencing, but you're in no particular rush. It is a nice day, and you have a long walk ahead of you. And here it is already: the tail of the snake, the ramp built onto it, and the stairs. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of stairs, all of them headed straight up.
You are no longer young, but your legs are young, and you begin the climb without hesitating. It takes you over an hour to reach the top, counting the minutes you spent resting on a bench carved into the marble. You do fly a few stretches, but it isn't much faster, and your beetles are easily winded in the water. On the whole you walk and think.
You think in passing about what you have done and what you have left undone. You think in passing about who you are leaving behind. But by and large you think about the scenery, or lack thereof: murky blueness swallows your panoramic view of the Corcass after 20 minutes or so, but it's broken up in passing by silver-flashing fish, and it brightens steadily. Midnight, phthalo, cobalt, azure, turquoise, an eyepopping unreal limpid cyan— and then you are at the top.
(2/6)
