Kade's mom is jumpy and impatient, "Don't be crazy! Bringing her back with us is a suicidal decision - her pregnancy isn't even confirmed. We only have her word, and you cannot take that seriously," she says, incredulously.
My mother remains resolute, "My husband can examine and confirm her pregnancy. When we have that answer, we can decide what to do." She looks at us all, "It's important we retain our humanity, it is wrong to abandon a pregnant young woman," she says, with an undoubted integrity.
Kade's mom responds with a low level anger, "We are not abandoning her, we are leaving her where she belongs." She throws her arms up at the hanged followers, "In this horror that is her home," she exclaims.
The Surgeon's voice intrudes again, "It's so nice to have 3 concerned mother's altogether in The Forever Garden." she says, in a voice that is strangely soft and sweet.
I can't help myself - hot, steamy words erupt from me, "You're not a mother, you're a monster!" And my verbose volcano is set to spew more, until Kade quells it with a hug and, "Leave it, Tan. Don't let her get to you," he says, holding me until my angry breaths abate.
Her newfound voice is unnerving. It's almost like she's mocking my mother as she speaks, "Your caring for my disowned and pregnant clone is terribly sweet," she emotes.
Lucindy smiles and looks at my mother, "Thank you so much for accepting me into your family," she says, her eyes fixed on Kade.
The Surgeon continues, "I should add: leaving her here will result in her being eaten by the tree imps, which will waken soon." Kade's mother interrupts, "Rubbish! The imps have plenty to feed on thanks to your handiwork," she says, throwing her hand towards the followers, now swinging grotesquely in a gentle, early evening breeze."
The Surgeon chuckles, "What hypocrites you all are. May I remind you that you were on your way to slaughter them? I merely did your dirty work for you. You should be grateful," she says.
The hologram begins to flicker, she will need to power down soon. We really do need to get back.
My mother steps in, her voice almost a whisper "Please, we mustn't listen to her. The light will soon fade and we should be back before darkness. And I reiterate, we bring Lucindy with us," she says, quietly but firmly.
"Speak up, traitor. I can't hear you," responds The Surgeon.
We ignore her and ready ourselves for our return.
But Kade is distracted. His mother's refusal to reveal The Final Revelation is having a negative affect on him; he's beginning to view her with scepticism, rather than love and trust. And I feel somewhat the same, we don't need secrets on our own side, we need truth.
He walks toward the glass walkway where The Twins first presented themselves to us. He jolts away from a follower's corpse, to avoid a slug of sludge that seeps from the open mouth and slops onto an earthy patch with a splatting sloppy sound; it is immediately smothered with a swarm of flies, eager to lay their eggs.
Looking reflective - he holds his hand out to me and I join him.
Together we look from corpse to corpse. I note their facial orifices: eyes, nose and gaping mouths are only beginning to welcome the flies; which indicates they are recently dead.
Kade squeezes my hand, "Tan, we have to escape this place soon. We're getting so used to these sights that it's becoming our normal." He looks at me, "Our faces no longer show revulsion, just acceptance," his words are soaked in sadness and I can feel him sinking into a low that I'm all too familiar with.
