The Weapon - Oblivion - part 15 By Diana the Valkyrie No good deed goes unpunished Update: 15/08/2003 to valkyrie05 Wendy.self Duncan, I'm not sure that telling David that it hurts was such a great idea of yours. Wendy.Duncan No choice, sweetums, if you keep him in the dark about such a significant fact, you're telling him you don't trust him. Wendy.self I suppose. But now he looks so worried. Wendy.Duncan We all are, babe. Just to be selfish for a moment, if you kick the bucket then I go down too. Wendy.self Won't happen, Dunc. I swear to you, I'll find a way. Us People do not go gentle into that good night. Wendy.Duncan Yes, I know babe, you'll rage, rage against the dying of the light. But what if ... Wendy.self Not possible. Duncan, we live for billions of years, there's no way we get struck off at age fifty. I'll find out what the problem is, and I'll beat it, you'll see. Wendy.Duncan You're such an optimist. Wendy.self There's no point in being a pessimist. I'm not just going to roll over on this. No stone left unturned. And that's why we're here at this absurd Church of the Holy Guardian. Wendy.Communications "David, what'll happen to McPherson, now he's been chucked out of his church for heresy?" "Well, on the webnews this morning, he was saying that if the church won't accept him, then the church is in error, and he'll be the only pastor of the true church if he has to be." "The Church of the Holy Feather." "Yes, that one. Wendy, you do have to be more careful who you give ... " "Yes, well, how was I to know he'd use it for ... I mean, I never told him I'm an angel, just the opposite, I told him several times I'm not, he just didn't listen, he's making all this up." "We don't call it 'making it up', we call it 'inspired by God'" "Yes, whatever. He is just *so* out of line here." "But he's getting the airtime." "What do you mean?" "The media are having a circus. You stirred up everyone a while back, and you've been newsworthy ever since. Now they're giving McPherson all the rope he can handle, in the hope that he'll either make a fool of himself ... " " ... which he seems to do effortlessly ..." "... or even better, will make a fool out of you." "But why would they want to make a fool out of me? Haven't I done a whole lot of good for the world?" "Wendy, something you maybe didn't know about us humans. No good deed goes unpunished." Wendy.self That doesn't make sense. On the other hand, neither does a lot of stuff with these humans. Like the business about lying to themselves - how do they *do* that? Or this money thing, which seems to be mostly about finding reasons why they can't do what they want or need to do. Or the way that, no matter what I say, they take no notice and continue to bang whatever drum they're hung up on. Maybe it would make sense if I hadn't forgotten something that makes sense of it? Since I don't know what I've forgotten, I can't tell. And I can't think straight anyway, with this toothache or whatever you want to call it, which I kind of made light of to David, and yes Duncan, I *know* that means I lied to him again, maybe I'm getting more like you humans? But at least I told him about it. Wendy.Duncan And now you're lying to yourself. Wendy.Self What? No way. Wendy.Duncan Are too. You lied to David by not telling him how bad the pain really is, and now you're lying to yourself to tell yourself that it was only a little lie, and so doesn't count as a lie at all, right? Wendy.Self Oh, Duncan! You're right, what's wrong with me, I, I, I. I. We. How can. What is. Ow. Wendy.Communications "David, it hurts." "Yes, you said." "No, it hurts more than I said, it's really bad, I'm having trouble completing thought-chains, it's like there's a pulse in the middle that disperses what I was thinking, and I have to think it again. "Wendy, close your eyes and relax, don't think about anything. Hold my hand, and follow me. You still feel up to visiting the Church of the Holy Guardian?" "I'm not giving up on this, I want to try everything."