Era of Madness

The mistakes you can't fix 14

"You... what?"

What did she mean, two months to live at most? Nowadays, with medical Fefnir technology, even the worst long-term diseases and illness could be cured, as long as one had the funds, except for a few rare ones that most often touched scientifics and their children due to the proximity to Fefnir technology's raw materials. It was only an impression, but Carmilia didn't give the impression to be a scientist's child, though John couldn't know.

"What do you mean... two months?" he asked. "What... wha-"

"I'm a mutant" she promptly replied, shrugging.

"A... mutant?"

"Yes: believe it, but I'm even part of one of the most rare categories! You know, after being diagnosed, my parents and I did a lot of research. Did you know that the percent of mutants that survive is actually a lot higher than it should be? According to studies and estimations, the nature of mutation is akin to some sort of cellular degeneration. Normally, instead of getting strange but useful abilities like most mutants do, they should die, or face extreme complications because of the genetic degeneration, the estimation is sixty percent"

Without paying attention to John's facial expression at the moment, she continued:

"Strangely, though, the overall percent of mutants facing this kind of complication isn't even a percent of it, barely 0.5 percent, let alone those who can face death because of this. A lot of people, including a lot of scientists, have wondered why mutants have so much luck with their mutations. Surely, it's not because the world suddenly decided it would be kind to them right? But due to how rare mutants are, conducting a pertinant research isn't really doable... though there is one theory that's more valued than the others: that unconciously, the mutations adapts according to human mind.

That's a theory reinforced by the fact that Fefnir technology has trouble working correctly when mutant abilities are concerned: most Fefnir technology is made using... 'human material', and apparently, even if nobody exactly knows how it works, it has something to do with the electromagnetic signals in the brain. This way, it'd explain why Fefnir technology has trouble with mutation if both are affected by the mind..."

Carmilis stopped in her ranting with a stiffled laugh:

"Sorry, sorry, I disgress" she said. "But you guess it, I'm part of these one-out-of-two-hundreds mutants that actually have to deal with consequences. Haha, at least that makes me pretty unique, right?"

Driving the floating car with her left hand, she opened her right one and, in the palm a magnificent bubble made of brillant liquid appeared:

"That's it, that's where my mutation stops" she said. "Pretty cool, but that won't make me supergirl... well, except that my own blood became my kryptonite"

She coughed a bit and quickly cancelled the bubble:

"The way this pretty bubbles can appear is via a special change in my blood" she said. "The thing is that this change make it the same for my body as constantly receiving a small dose of radiation every day. One so small that it's impossible to perceive at first observation, and won't do anything if it's just for a week or even a month. But I've been exposed to this for sixteen years and, by the time this downside was discovered when I was eleven, it was already too late to be treated. So now, I just try to enjoy my time left and all the chances my parents gave me so they won't feel too sad for me, and I won't feel like I just have let myself die"

John had no word to qualify what he was feeling right now.

"How... how can you even talk about like it's nothing? How can you just go on your vacations like this, knowing you'll never ever get back home?" he asked.

Until this moment, the world had always proved to be unfair to him in the most critical moments, its cruelty revealing itself when it mattered the most. But for Carmilis... from the very beginning, the world had refused her the chance that everyone else. She would never ever grow into an adult, never have a chance to become independant and develop her own life.

The world refused him to keep his happiness, but it refused her the very possiblity of living happy.

"It's not that terrible" she replied, though her expression darkened slightly. "At first, it's true, I was devastated. I was always crying, I couldn't even sleep, I was breaking things all around me, it was really hellish. And whenever I saw the faces of my parents, it was only worse, I could feel their pain from seeing me like this. Maybe other parents would have just decided that I was already a lost cause, but they sent every second, every bit of energy to care about me.

That's when I finally realized it: life wasn't over, and it's still not! I have arents who love me, I live a life of a high-class, and until my death, I'll be able to live free of any responsability in one of the most beautiful places of the galaxy! Everybody ends up dying anyway, be it after decades, a century, or even two, my turn is just coming a lot faster than most people. But on the other side, thanks to everyone who loves and supports me, my life is so much better than what most of people get to experience!

I could have been born in the lower sector or, even worse, in sector Z, and be used as human material to make more Fefnir technology. I could even have been born in the middle sectors, and remained blocked in a work I don't like forever, forced to keep going by the prospect of a promotion that wouldn't even give me a chance to move to the higher sectors. Can you imagine that? In comparison, I don't find my life to be so bad. It'll only be bad if I let the gazes of pity from people around me convince me that my life is pathetic, and I miss the opportunity. The clock is tickling, so I better run to a cool landscape before it catch back to me, right?"

She stopped the floating car in front of an hotel and sent a quick text with her digital watch. Two minutes later, a regular-looking couple came out of the hotel, and did signs in the general direction of their car.

"I guess it's your parents?" John asked.

"Yep, the ones and only" Carmilis replied. "By the way, since I get you'll be using the car more, and as a way to make up for yelling at me, I guess you have no problem paying for the car's rent, right?"

"I got bamboozled... fair enough"

"Hehe, thank you"

She exited the car but, before getting away, she left him with a last couple sentences:

"You're here too, right? Even if it's for your job, it doesn't change that you still have time to get in a car with a random person, so you still have moments of freedom too, right? If you have the chance to visit one of the ten best tourism locations in the world, it means you can still get some awesome moments as long as you try too" she said. "So cheer, maybe you can't spend all your times playing around and making good memories like me, but you have decades left to live, I'm 110 percent sure you'll get at least as much occasions as me"

She started walking toward her parents:

"I'm sure you're a good guy John, I hope my little monologue helped you get better" she said. "I wish you good luck"

She quickly joined her parents, which immediately showed happy faces seing her. As John crawled to the frontseats of the floating car, he examinated them more attentively: were they really that happy? Or were they just faking happiness to help her feel better?

But no, they really seemed to be happy together, despite the scyth of the reaper hovering above their family. While John looked at them, he couldn't help but see Carmilis as a hero for her family. Despite everything, she had chosen to live, not only to make herself happy, but also to make sure that when she'd go away, her parents would remain with only good memories with her, and they'd still be able to advance in life.

He remembered the child from Cifer's planet. Maybe he was right, maybe a real hero was one that could put a smile on someone else's face.

'Maybe I should at least try to put a smile on mine...'

He flew the car for a long while, until finally arriving to the next destination on his touristic list, the last of the day and probably just the last, considering he would depart for the mission in days. New Fontainbleau, a near-perfect copy of the famous forest near Paris, an emblematic city of Earth, the original planet habitated by humans. Along with a few other tourists, John entered the forest.