Jack of Harts

Dylan Davies’ parents, siblings, and other related family members moved to Earth after Contact in search of a new life. They settled in Rainy Lake on the Northern Minnesotan-Canadian border and began to do what most new colonist do. They became fruitful and multiplied. They expanded into nearby lakes and rivers, and soon became a major trading partner with their surface dwelling neighbors. Dylan was born several decades later and grew up in the years before The War with both the children of his own Rainy Lake City and the neighboring International Falls. He spent much of his youth in a rotating series of lifeguard positions, fishing drunk vacationers out of the water with an impressive regularity. And like many who grew up in that area of the world, he never wanted to leave. It was paradise. Then the Shang changed everything for all of us.

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Peter volunteered to mete out vengeance on the Shang for killing his sister. It was a surprise to everyone when the cybernetic families chose to send a daughter designed to perfectly mimic that sister. Peter was overjoyed at first. And he was hesitant. He worried that accepting the cyber would be a betrayal of his sister’s memory. But he also did not wish to live without her. It was not precisely a rough start to their partnership. He liked that she picked his sister, even as he worried about it. And she understood why he was hesitant. They started slowly, and tested each other in the days and weeks that followed. They became as thick as thieves, of course, and that was good for both of them. Peter became something like the man I remembered before Yosemite, but with more maturity. He had weathered and survived great loss, and treasured his relationships more than before. In some ways he became more serious. More punctual in time and space. He was more hopeful as well. He wanted to see the good in people. I can think of worse ways to live than that.

High res version available for free on Patreon