Testimony

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



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It hurt Augur to look at her.

Holo-Lili, his holographic pride and joy. She sat in her plastic tube, smiling and bouncing as she rattled off the problems with the computer, advised him on how to repair them.

Augur bent down and removed the panel, then began to twiddle a couple of wires. He had perfected Holo-Lili almost a year before, after a hundred mistakes. He remembered when he had accidently shut off her auditory program. As he had frantically tried to repair her, she had shouted and waved at him, not able to hear his replies.

A tiny tear came to Augur's eye. He blinked it away, irritated at this.

Holo-Lili piped up, leaning forward, "I would suggest focusing on the data retrieval system rather than the modem connections, Augur. If you'll pardon me saying so, those are secondary and should be postponed."

Augur looked down at the panel in surprise. "Yes... yes, of course." He put the panel back, and dimly heard her talking about the virus that the mystery lady had planted in his computer. But he wasn't paying attention.

Holo-Lili might not have been real, he thought miserably, but she seemed real to him. Her moods and comments, originally just a part of her programming, seemed as real to him now as Lili's had been.

"The destructive code which erased my operating system was the Trojan file-version PK-2300-X. The infected patches have been purged. Now I have to reinstall all the programs using master disks," Holo-Lili continued.

"There's no data on this woman -- how's that possible?" Augur said, shaking himself back to the present.

"She knew we were coming, Augur, she obviously likes her privacy," was the simple response.

"She can't keep a low profile forever."

He didn't hear her response, except for the words, "I'll start scrolling again." He felt a hollow weight in his chest, like he was about to toss a baby out a window. "That won't be necessary," he said, the words seeming like those of a stranger. Deep inside him, a voice screamed, Don't do this! She didn't do anything wrong!

He would do this. For Lili. It was his way of saying goodbye to that fantastic, fiery woman.

His... testimony, that there could never, ever be another person like her. His way of saying it, showing it.

"But I just installed this great new masking programme and... is something wrong?" Holo-Lili asked, innocent and uncomprehending.

"No, no, I'm fine," Augur lied hastily, hoping that this wouldn't be too hard on her...

"Then why don't I believe you?" How many times had she said that? Said that, and eventually understood what was happening?

"I think we need to have a little talk," Augur replied, feeling the hollow weight beginning to grow, stinging his soul like poisoned darts.

"Okay, what about?" Holo-Lili asked with a smile.

"'m going to have to... retire your program," Augur replied quietly. He had decided to do this long before, but it seemed so hard now...

Her smile turned nervous, bordering on scared. Augur felt his hands begin to shake at the expression, so familiar... "But... I'm still fully functional. If this is about updating my operating system-"

"No, your operating system is fine." Small comfort...

"Then what did I do?" she asked, eyes looking at him pleadingly, like twin lasers.

"You didn't do anything. It's just that... now that Lili's dead..." He wanted to say more, to explain to his faithful hologram why this was going to happen. Wanted to tell her how much it hurt, with the strange feeling that she would understand... but he couldn't. The words stuck in his throat.

Holo-Lili stared at him, horrified, flipping off her sunglasses and staring at him pleadingly. "So, that means if she doesn't exist, then I don't exist. And if I don't exist, then..." Her voice trailed off, the enormity of this hitting her hard.

The look of shock on her face struck straight at Augur. Had Lili looked like that, he wondered, when she had been thrown just as suddenly into death?

"I'm sorry," he said, meaning every word of it. Don't do it, Augur! Don't shut her down!

He ignored the voice and walked over to the computer console, typing in commands. "This is going to be painless, I promise you," he choked.

It felt horrible. She was watching him, looking as if she were going to cry. Holograms couldn't cry, but he thought he saw a tear in her eye. It felt like... like he was killing Lili, all over again. Making her die in terror and misery, feeling alone.

For a moment, he considered turning back. He glanced at her. She held out a hand, pleading with him. Her voice was so soft he could barely hear it. "Augur... please..." she said, her voice thin and quiet.

Augur couldn't bear it any longer. She looked so real, sounded so real... she was too real. Too real to continue in a universe deprived of the real Lili. As much as it hurt, as different as she had seemed before, now she was too real.

"Rest in peace," he said quietly, and for a brief moment he wasn't certain whether he spoke to the hologram, or a nebulous spirit of Lili that might be watching over him.

He pushed the button, and she seemed to dissolve like sugar in the rain, her anguished eyes seeming to vanish last. For a moment, Augur whispered inside his own mind, Goodbye Lili. I'm so sorry....

He bent his head and wept.