A Tragic Flaw

[General Goose]

((Ashlynn continued from Assignment to Catastrophe))

‘Excited’ was perhaps the wrong word for what Ashlynn felt right now.

But, in the absence of a thesaurus, it was what she would go with. She felt excited. The position that she was starting from was too bleak, too full of despair and existential panic, to really justify describing what she currently felt as ‘excitement’. It was more akin to relief, to a sense of hope that was perhaps distant but at least logically justifiable, than anything else, but the drastic change in mood had been intense enough to leave it feeling like excitement.

Ashlynn knew she had been far from the least lucky on the island, but she knew that where she had been a day prior was - for both her and Bryan - the worst points in their lives. But now they had meaning. Not the shitty kind of meaning, the Darwinian and primal instinct to survive that seemed to be enough for Alexander, the sort of destructive cruelty of the Carters, but a real meaning. A meaning that, no matter its scale or its likelihood of success, was one that was worth living for. Hopefully it would prove to be worth dying for, if it did come to that.

It was important to do this. Not just for herself and Bryan, but for others. But, within the confines of her mind, Ashlynn couldn’t deny a - non-decisive, utterly secondary - factor in her decision. She wanted to prove herself. She could have done so much by this point - the youth leader in a political movement, a trailblazing young activist, a prolific participant in charity and volunteering, an intern for a prestigious Senator - and had gotten so caught up in trying to do everything that, ultimately, she had done nothing. But this gave Ashlynn focus. A sense of urgency. This was - like education for a society or the environment for the species - a truly foundational, fundamental issue. Screw this up, and nothing else would matter in her life.

She had so many ideas, ideas that she was quick to share with Bryan, ideas that filled the gaps in the space and, she supposed, contributed something productive. Ashlynn could tell that she had not accidentally discovered a lethal vulnerability in the terrorists’ plans - otherwise her and Bryan would have swiftly been left without a head - but there were not the ones organising escape schemes. No. They were to, if anything, buy time.

Ashlynn’s main inclination was to create a kind of safe zone, led, jointly, by Ashlynn and Bryan. There were logistical problems with that - it would likely be the key target for any danger zone designation, thus requiring a degree of portability that would certainly test the logistical aptitude of the two leaders. There would need to be an infrastructure in place, to make it attractive, to make it durable, to give it some sustainability. There’d need to be some sort of economic infrastructure, to attend to needs such as food and medicine. Some kind of criminal justice system. Some kind of way of stopping a mass collar detonation if, weeks down the line, the group had successfully managed to stop the steady trickle of deaths.

Or spreading info. That was another idea. Making sure people knew the basic safety and survival tips. Stuff like the iodine stuff that Erika had told Ashlynn. Some basic first aid stuff - if they could find someone who knew that. Not Ashlynn’s area of expertise - and she didn’t think it was Bryan’s - but hey, someone with that knowledge would come along eventually.

Then there was the idea of creating a sort of...will service. Helping other students get their thoughts together, go through what their possessions are, tell the outside world the kind of legacy that they’d want to leave. There was a defeatist element to it, sure, but as a supplementary element, Ashlynn could see only upsides. She had talked at length to the cameras about the measures she would like to see in her name - action on rainforest preservation, urban renewal, green technology, human rights promotion, lower level Democratic politics - and she imagined it would make a fine example for her peers. Ashlynn was sure that there would be a litany of scholarships and foundations established in the memory of those who died. It was a worthwhile backup policy.

And Bryan, for his part, seemed very receptive to her ideas. Not that he was an idea drought himself. They made a good brainstorming team together, at least Ashlynn thought so. What he liked the most about Ashlynn’s ideas - and she supposed it was a strength that they should then build on and develop - was that it was going to have an appeal to those who were doubters. Perhaps not the Alexanders, but the Stepneys. Demonstrate, through action, what the upsides of cooperation could be.

Ashlynn didn’t enjoy being the one to go around shushing Bryan - but there was a risk that came with ad hoc attempts to reach out to potential hostiles that were far away, risks that partially revolved around other third parties in the area just so happening to hear and seizing the chance to exploit vulnerability. Eventually they would need to advertise more methodically. Ashlynn understood that. This plan required scale. Get their plans out there in a more structured way.

Ashlynn didn’t want to take unnecessary risks before then, though, instead preferring to build their group by way of conversation, and when that step did arise, well, Ashlynn and Bryan would have to hope that they could keep an eye on all the newcomers and that those willing to defend the project outnumbered those with less benign motives.

But time was running out. And so Ashlynn decided that, well, maybe Bryan had been right all along. Maybe they needed to be more proactive in their advertising.

((Ashlynn continued in The Flawed Architect.))