The place where the world stopped was not so strange, but the vertigo was overwhelming. The girl could not decide whether or not it would be wise to jump. A gust of wind flicked her hair, draping it across her face and obscuring the view. It felt symbolic. Everything was obscured, covered, in some way. From the moment the alien ships uncloaked, revealed their decades long infiltration of every aspect of life, every strata of civilisation from the lowest caste of worker to the leader of twelve nations on the plate, with every other one having the invaders all the way up to the highest levels of government.
They were everywhere. They were the person you voted for; watched play for your favorite team; taught you plate construction and maintenance. They were your medician, babysitter, chickaminn delivery driver. They shared my nest, my deliveries, my spouses. One of them was a spouse.
Here at the edge of the world, where infinity morphed into eternity, it was almost possible to forget about the invasion, but not for long enough. It would be easy to step over the edge.
‘Theseria!’
‘Leave me alone, Abalack.’
‘Going over the edge wont solve anything. Whatever’s happening you’re needed. Your family needs you. And we-’
‘I’m not going over the edge Aba. I just need time to think.’ She turned. ‘How were we so easily deceived? We have been abused.’ She shook her head, skull-fronds whipping the side of her face before recoiling to protect their delicate edges. ‘Has Fulgram left the nest?’
‘They don’t want to go. They’re arguing that you’re being unreasonable.’
‘And who agrees with them? Do you think I’m being unreasonable for wanting a spouse who lied about who and what they are to leave? It’s not like they fibbed about being from a rough part of the plate or graduating from an academy they never attended. They lied about what they are, their actual being. And they did it as part of a plan. Maybe, if they were a single person who just wanted to hide away from all of their kind, I could understand. But this is an invasion and even now they aren’t telling us what their real purpose is, or where they’re really from. If we can’t get them off the plate, we can at least get one of them out of the nest. Thank goodness they aren’t responsible for spawning off-spring. I don’t know how broods where that’s happened are dealing with it.’
‘Maybe they’re more focused on the people they love than anything else.’
Theseria whipped round, rage draining colour from her face. ‘These things have insinuated their way into every aspect of our life and you talk of love like it’s an all-conquering force.’
‘These things are people too. They have needs and they live and love-’
‘And lie. You cannot tell me you have no worries about Fulgram’s lying their way into the nest. Where is the love in that? Where is the trust? It’s not all fuzzy emotuion, love is built on knowing each other and we don’t know Fulgram.’ She turned and waved an arm towards the edge, and the expanse of space which lay beyond. ‘It’d be better if they just left and went back to where they came from.’
text by stuartcturnbull, art by KELLEPICS via Pixabay
Part One entry for Dreem-WOTW S2-R3. Part Two will be by 
