The Editor, Part IV
Grounded
Go back to » Part III «
Go forward to » Part V «
If you want to read more of my writings, please read my published books: The Seekers: Soul-Ties, Kirin, and Perrin Peters. And if you don’t want to buy my books but still want to support me, I’m on Patreon. And if you prefer one-time payments, you can Buy Me A Pizza.
Content warnings:
Scrambled eggs with cheese and tomatoes
“Oh, Lilia, you’re lifesaver!” Lilia’s torment ended the second she opened the front door. “Seriously, I can’t ever repay you!”
Liz’s embrace was so strong that Lilia struggled to say, “My pleasure. Now, let me inhale, please.”
Liz, seemingly deaf, clung to Lilia for a few more seconds. When she finally let go, allowing her savior to breathe, her eyes shone so brightly and happily that it didn’t seem possible.
Fuck, all of the stress and hesitation were worth it just for this look alone! How could she ever think about forbidding herself from using this gift? How could she ever consider being just a fact checker when she could do so much more good for the people? Ashamed, Lilia broke eye contact.
“It was just as I imagined,” oblivious Liz continued, still standing in the doorway, letting fresh air into Lilia’s apartment. “I came in, the doctor looked, and POOF, the cancer was gone! He’s not convinced just yet. I’m to travel to the hospital and get checked there again, but knowing what I know—”
Lilia immediately pressed her finger against her lips, and Liz froze, terrified. “Oh, shit.” She hurried up inside, locking the door. “Sorry, oh… sorry. I’ve never really thought what else your ‘power’ would mean for me.”
Staring at the floor with an expression of an adorable guilty puppy, Liz mused out loud. “Should we develop a code language, so nobody would learn what we are doing?”
Code language? And this was the person who usually beat her in chess?
“Yeah, sure, we’ll find the least popular language on the planet and learn it.” Lilia laughed. “Come on in, Liz. Want a drink?”
“Erm… I would prefer something to munch on, actually, but a drink would do.”
Finally, the Liz she knew!
“Okay, go to the kitchen, and I’ll make us some eggs.”
“No. I’m your sidekick, so the kitchen duty is mine.” Somehow, Liz was already there, opening up drawers and clanking plates. “Speaking of breaking the eggs, what’s next on the agenda? I’m all for the ends justifying the means, but only when the ends make sense.”
Lilia sighed, heavily plopping onto her usual kitchen chair, watching Liz work her magic at the stove. “Nothing, I guess.”
Without pausing her wild egg-scrambling, Liz asked, “Care to elaborate?”
Why didn’t she see it coming? It was obvious, and yet… Was she so jazzed about doing such a great thing? Did she think that since she was trying to do good, other people would also see it somehow and leave her alone?
“I got the first emails just a few hours ago. The Onlinepedia editors are rioting about me being allowed to make so many nonsensical changes. I promised them to stop, but who knows if it’ll be enough.”
“Huh…” Liz chucked, unloading a steamy goodness of scrambled eggs, tomatoes, cheese, and something else into two deep plates. “Just use my account until they cool off. Though I wonder if your power can even work through it.”
“Seriously?” Lilia paused, looking into her plate, breathing in the savory, salty aroma. “Weird. To me, an account is something very personal and private. Are you sure you want to lend it to me?”
“Yes,” Liz answered with her mouth full. “I can’t ‘elate at all to this ‘personal’ ‘ing. An account is just a ‘eb page, ‘othing more.”
“Don’t speak while eating. I’m not looking forward to saving you if you choke.”
They ate in silence, staring in the kitchen window, each thinking over their next step, unconcerned about accidentally going in opposite directions. First, Lilia needed to do fewer experiments; otherwise, Liz’s account would also be under attack. Second, Liz was cool. And third…
“That was delicious!” Lilia exclaimed, wiping her plate clean with a piece of bread. “As to the next goal—if there is one thing that must change, that’s education.”
Liz nodded to herself, still chewing.
“If people learn critical thinking from an early age, they will have fewer objections to funding science. And with better funding, maybe soon I won’t have to save anyone from cancer. With better funding, there’ll be more data and statistics in all fields, which will improve efficiency and safety in all of them.”
Liz continued this thought, “And with more critical thinking and more knowledge in everyone’s heads, people will know and understand the real consequences of their actions and inactions. They will demand reforms instead of protesting against them. Maybe that will be it? A set of changes, after which you can put your superhero cape into storage and stop worrying about messing up or destroying the world?”
Lilia nodded, glad to hear that Liz appeared to think alike. “And with training in critical thinking, people will be better at rejecting emotions in their decision-making, which will bring down the number of miracle cures, grand conspiracies, cults, and just nonsense. People will become their own helpers and saviors.”
Silence filled the room as Lilia ended her speech, and Liz had nothing more to add.
Was she right? Would it even work? At the very least, many people wanted to do all the things they have named for ages. She just, hopefully, had the power to actually do it.
“So, what are the steps?” Liz finally finished her food. “What articles would you have to change or write, and what should be the exact changes?”
“I have a few ideas,” Lilia started, quickly glancing towards her study. “We can brainstorm them, make a plan of action, and if everything seems right, then…”
Liz thought for a few seconds, then nodded. “Sounds reasonable. Let’s start right now.”
~*~
The puzzle of the blue flowers left Emil with no mental space for rest. He ordered this species from various other shops, sometimes from different countries, alongside random other species as controls. As the flowers arrived, he touched each one, confirming that every blue flower had a mark of a Blessed on it.
“Remarkable,” he pondered out loud, knowing that Emilia wouldn’t mind, and hoping that she would have some ideas. “Either this Blessed has power over flowers and chose to affect this exact species, or they have power over this species only, which would be even more bizarre.”
“Or they could affect anything, but chose flowers for some reason,” Emilia remarked, pressing her nose against the fragrant petals. Now, when flowers took every horizontal surface of the apartment, there was no more need to pretend that she didn’t care about them.
Still, it didn’t bring them closer to discovering the identity of the new Blessed. To force his brain to work, Emil browsed his news feed half-mindlessly.
“Oil prices plummet 0.1%.”
“Chicken hat festival starts.”
“Onlinepedia is not a place for fanciful performances, editors say.”
“The thistle fair keeps its doors open due to high demand.”
Hm… What was that about fanciful performances? The article about war was deleted for a few days? What was the reason? No, a “performance” didn’t actually make sense…
Half of Emil’s brain cursed him for procrastinating, while the second half was intrigued. He opened the profile of the editor who had done it. LiliaChechilia. Works as a fact checker. Here, a list of changes.
As Emil read the list, his eyebrows went higher and higher. And as he noticed the blue flower, he jumped to his feet, knocking over the chair.
“What, what happened?” Emilia, with her pistol at the ready, ran to her brother.
“It’s okay, Sis.” Emil exhaled, glancing at her with a triumphant expression on his face. “I found our Blessed!”
Emilia leaned closer to the laptop screen to read what the fuss was about.
“She’s awoken just days ago.” Emil explained his current understanding, “The changes earlier than that are what a fact checker would make, but then her behavior suddenly shifted. She started making experiments, rather methodical ones, I might add.”
“And then she got frustrated, started doing nonsense, and one of such outbursts with the flower worked.” Emilia finished after him, analyzing the list.
Her gray eyes met his green. Emil was glad to see a semblance of excitement in his sister. Emilia worried about keeping them safe in the country she didn’t know well. Well, she’d manage somehow. And if they run into Harvester, she’d finally set herself free.
The End of Part IV
Anton Anderson, 2025
Go back to » Part III «
Go forward to » Part V «