eternities:sal [One Last Fire]

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=======Sal Baines=======

===== Return to the Ark =====

As the white light of the Portal envelops you, you take a moment to close your eyes. When the brightness fades, you take a few, deep breathes and open your eyes. 

You might as well have stepped back into the Hub World. 

The Ark is not exactly how you left it before coming to the Library, for it seems your changes to your Personal Library have also occurred here. The bloodstains are cleaned. The bullet holes are filled in. The thirteen bodies are gone. 

But the mural you made is still here. The thirteen faces still look upwards, watching the animals joyfully. The animals too are here, barking and chirping excitedly when you approach to run your hand through their furs or feathers. The dodo is particularly ecstatic, waddling towards you in glee and snuggling up to your side as you give her a few tender pats. 

There’s a lot of work to be done. You know you can’t stay here for much longer. The world needs the Ark, but the Ark won’t need you forever. One day soon, it will be time to leave your animals in the care of a true conservationist while you figure out how to be the person you want. 

But for now at least, the elephants need more bedding, the water filters need changing, the food synthesiser needs maintenance, you’ll need to go through the computer systems to see how much data can be salvaged… and that caved-in tunnel isn’t going to excavate itself. 

In short, at least for the time being, the Ark needs you. 

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===== The Better Tale of Sal Baines =====

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//In a shocking and unexpected twist in the story of the infamous Blue Armband Militia, an anti-environmentalist terrorist organisation attributed with multiple acts of property damage and homicide, Secret Services stormed multiple of the group’s safehouses this week after receiving a sizeable anonymous tip off, our sources report.//

//Security forces seized millions of dollars’ worth of criminal assets, as well as uncovering what is believed to have been a child kidnapping and indoctrination racket the group used to bolster their numbers. Most of the children have been taken into protective custody, although a small number continue to evade the authorities. The Chief of Police is due to make a statement this evening with more information…//

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//After much debate, the formerly-secret, internationally-developed laboratory known colloquially as ‘The Ark’ will be receiving its first non-scientist visitors in the form of the pupils of St Mary’s Primary School later this month. Despite the pushback from multiple sources owing to the increased security risk to the multibillion-dollar lab, as well as disruptions to the research being done inside, in the end the decision was made to allow a limited number of students to visit for educational purposes. This move has been hailed by many environmentalist groups as a great success, with claims that the chance for children to learn about the importance of conservation first-hand is “priceless”.// 

//The Ark was previously thought to have been destroyed by saboteurs hailing from the Blue Armband Militia when the entrance to the underground facility was deliberately caved in from the inside. However, after over a month of excavation, officials were astonished to find the Ark and its animal inhabitants preserved beyond the rubble. Of the fourteen scientists part of the original project, the remains of thirteen have been found among the refuse of the Ark. The fourteenth is believed to have been working under a false name, and is still wanted by police. If any reader has information on a Sal Xanders, they are encouraged to come forward…//

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You close the newspaper and toss it to the side. It lands neatly in the nearest bin. Recycling, of course. Then you finish your coffee and stand to leave. One of the café’s staff approaches to clear away your table, and as they do, they give you a funny look. “Do I know you from somewhere?” they ask.

You smile. “Just one of those faces.” 

Leaving the café behind, you effortlessly slip off your scarf, don a pair of sunglasses, and invert your coat, changing your appearance with the ease of a chameleon. Then you slip into the crowd and meld effortlessly into the masses. You’ve been able to track down a former agent of the Blue Armband Militia, someone who was trained alongside you, and with any luck you’ll be able to convince them to not run away long enough to talk to them. They’d been doing a pretty good job of hiding from the authorities, but the authorities don’t have the skills Sal Baines does. 

Sal Baines is not a conservationist. She’s also not a saboteur. But perhaps she’s somewhere in between the two. And maybe, if in only a few cases, that’s what the world needs. 

You don’t know if this will ever be enough. If even giving your whole life to trying to make a difference will ever be worth the thirteen you took. 

But you owe it to them to try.
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