Epilogue

[cartesio]

Welcome to Cartesio!

You open your eyes and see the ceiling of the lodge. There is no real sensation of having slept, but you're still feeling rested. Sitting up, you can see that the building around you is in ruins. Dust and dirt dominate your environment. Around you, there are familiar people - some of them you've been with up until now, some of them you have been brutally forced to part with weeks ago. They all look alright, a little confusion aside.

From a corner of the room, you can hear the soft whirring of a machine. Upon examination, you can see that it's 3D-printing more gelatinous bodies like you've seen earlier today. Every body that is dispensed from the machine is a safe haven for another mind from the simulation, another mind to join your ranks as real people.

After you've adjusted to the new situation and left the lodge, you find yourself greeted with perfect sunshine. There's a town welcoming you, friendly and peaceful. Though it is more modern than what you are used to, there is no mistaking it.

Cartesio, Nevada, welcomes you.

You're new people, in a new world. Every chance it has to offer is open for you.

Comments

[quickpersuader]

What about you?

[marmoron]

Not sure.

[A beat.]

Now that we're out of the simulation, I should be able to call Black here, but....

[Somewhere out there in deep space, the other version of him and all the paladins are fighting a war and they need all of the Voltron lions with them. He doesn't have a place in that world the way he thought he did.]

It's complicated now.

[quickpersuader]

...There's another Keith that probably needs it.

[marmoron]

[A nod, but then he's quiet for a long moment.]

Guess I still don't know how to feel about being a clone.

[quickpersuader]

It's... a pretty big thing to find out.

[Even Kino has to admit that. Somewhere, out there, there's another Kino who's continuing on her travels without any knowledge whatsoever that she's even been cloned.]

But... you're already pretty different.

[marmoron]

[On some level, it's actually kinda reassuring that even Kino's agreeing that this is kind of a Big Deal and not something she's handling purely stoically.]

How do you figure that?

[quickpersuader]

You already know a lot of people the other Keith doesn't.

[Just for starters.]