Funeral at the Cascade Springs

From a grid_lined RP thread:

The Bostrum Iso stood silent, gazing up at the natural wonder of the energy spring. Raw and unfiltered, the glowing life’s blood of the Grid trickled down the tiers of silicon, pooling in flat landings, only to spill over the edge again and again, collecting at the base in a shimmering pool. The light reflected off the rocks, painting his black, circuitless clothing in ripples of turquoise and more muted rainbow spectrums.

It had taken Kato a great deal of effort to find this place. Centicycles of data-mining, illicit splicing of communications terminals, using every skill he had learned from Britt about the way the information channels processed data.

He could’ve simply asked; sought council and direction from one of the Grid’s older occupants. The User, Gibbs, would have been happy to help, he was sure. But they would have directed him to more public springs, pools that were more convenient, already tapped for their resources. Such places were unsuitable for his needs, and certainly not private enough.

In black-gloved hands, he held a disk. The inner rim of cerulean blue shone weakly, too long disconnected from its owner to maintain its internal power supply. Kato had tried to supplement and extend its range with his own docking port, but it was a futile effort that only allowed him a little extra time to search for this place.

Steeling his shoulders, the Iso walked forward, boots crunching softly through fledgling data-growth that had yet to fully establish itself. He treaded carefully; this place deserved such reverence.

A few of the wild Bits swirled nearby, curious, yet cautious of this intruder to their world. Paying them no mind, Kato knelt by the edge of the pool, and held the disk out before him.

Summoned by a push of will, the disk’s holographic interface activated. In a crystalline wireframe of pure binary ones and zeros, Britt’s face smiled up at him. It was nothing but a basic representation, but the archivist’s image still possessed the secretive smile and the warm, accepting gaze Kato remembered. It was all the Iso could do not to choke up, though his eyes glittered with unshed tears.

~From the realm of the visible, into the realm of the invisible, be freed of this life and welcomed into the next,~ he recited in binary, modifying an old Basic’s prayer he had learned during his friendship with the archivist. With exaggerated care, he laid the disk on the surface of the pool, and sat back, resting his energy-coated fists on his legs as he watched it float towards the centre of the spring.

It took a matter of nanocycles for the raw energy to overload the disk’s internal systems. It derezzed in a flurry of sparkling data, swirling up like smoke from the surface of the spring, the lingering pixels glittering, reflecting light as they gradually absorbed into the system.

The black-clad Iso remained seated, motionless and silent, watching the wisps of data until long after they had faded.

Then he turned his eyes upward, wetness glistening on his cheeks.

“Goodbye, my friend.”

***

Doing several random artbits today. This one, I'm not sure whether to cry or marvel at the landscape. Oh Kato. ;;