The bottom edge of the painted textile sheath briefly caught fire as 0109011 walked past the low, stone basin of flame.
"Lady, watch out! Yer on fire!"
0109011 glanced down the length of the holowax body 000701 had fashioned for the mission. It was an odd model, quad-limbed and riddled with damp, secret chambers. It was hairless and shell-less, requiring covering for social/cultural reasons that 0109011 did not feel inclined to investigate.
An ape-ling appeared as if from nowhere, squatting down before 0109011 and swiping at the flames with a clutch of white cloth.
"Careful miss," said the ape-ling. "Don't stand so close to the fireplace, okay?"
"Yes," said 0109011, following the ape-ling back towards the long, wooden slab and taking a seat in the pose 2001441 had named demure.
"Do you know the stars?" said 0109011.
The ape-ling rubbed the white cloth across the wooden slab in a thoughtful manner. "The stars?" it said. "I guess. I mean, I see 'em every night. I don't know the names of 'em. Except the North Star. My father taught me how to find that one, in case I ever get lost. Why? What about the stars?"
"They're moving," said 0109011. "Did you know that? Away from each other. Very fast. Spreading out across an infinite field of blackness. Every moment they get farther apart."
"That's a lonely thought," said the ape-ling.
"Faster and faster," said 0109011. "The darkness between growing greater and greater with each moment."
The ape-ling pointed up. "No more stars in the night sky?"
0109011 reached down the slab and retrieved a hollow cylinder, half full with a black, warm liquid. "Touch it."
The ape-ling did as it was told. "Still a bit warm. Did you want a cup?"
0109011 poured the contents out across the slab.
"Hey!" said the ape-ling.
"Touch it again."
The ape-ling shook it's head, but dipped a finger into the spreading black. "Cooler, sure." It used the cloth to clear away the liquid.
"This is happening all around," said 0109011. "As the stars fly apart the universe will freeze...and eventually die."
"Huh," said the ape-ling. "When's that happening?"
"Many years from now," said 0109011. "A far horizon, but a horizon all the same. All will end. There is nothing that can stop this. Everything we have made will end. That is the crushing reality of life - that it's end is unavoidable."
"Sure, sure," said the ape-ling. "That's a hard lesson, for sure. I had a dog named Ace when I was a kid. Hound. Best friend I ever had. Lived a long, good life. Died all the same. I didn't accept it then, but that's the thing about death, I suppose. Doesn't matter one bit if you accept it. Just happens. So you deal with it. I'm alive now. Some day I won't be. So it goes."
"I don't understand," said 0109011. "How does the weight of understanding not crush you? In the face of death - in the shadow of certain oblivion - what is the value of existence?"
The ape-ling laughed. "You're real serious, aren't you? You ever see those people that build castles in the sand down on the beach? They spend all day on those things, then the tide comes in and it's like it was never there. But the castles were there. They made 'em. They saw 'em. They appreciated 'em. And that's enough. Nothin's forever. Some things hardly last a moment at all. But the moment's enough. The stars are up there right now. And it's plenty hot out. Isn't that enough? At least for today?"
0109011 stood up. "Thank you. Where I come from they speak of your ignorance as a curse. And they mocked me for coming here. But I was right. You are the most blessed creatures in all the stars. Thank you. Thank you."
The bartender watched the woman go, shaking his head and laughing just a bit.
"She was right about you bein' ignorant," said Raul, taking the woman's place at the bar. "Don't know about the rest of that."
Timothy poured a foamy mug of beer and slid it across the bartop to Raul's waiting hands. "Don't know either," he said. "And that's just how I like it."
The men laughed and the fire roared and someone started singing. It was a good day and a good place to be alive, if only for a moment.
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