7.a.ii.
“We can’t just
leave him,” Business Woman shouted.
“He’s gone,
sister. There’s nothing we can do for
him,” said Commander Credit.
“Lift up this
ladder and let’s go down there.”
“Can’t. It’s sealed off. Frozen.
Probably by an electro magnet or something,” the Commander said.
“So we abandon
him?”
Commander
Credit said nothing.
“What about
Fair Wage,” asked Supply. “Do we go on
without him, too? Without trying to
help?”
There was a long
moment in which none of them spoke. Then
Commander Credit said, “They’re both dead.
We press on.”
“We don’t know that,” said Supply.
“Fair Wage could be–”
“Torn in
half,” said Commander Credit. “From the
inside out.”
“But he could–”
“No,” said
Corporate Man. “He’s dead.
Fair Wage is gone.”
“And Franklin ?”
asked Business Woman.
“I don’t think
there’s anything we can do for him now,” said Corporate
Man.
He climbed the
metal rung ladder up through the elevator’s ceiling and disappeared into the
dark.
