[The collective words drift over him gently, kindly. So very strangely kindly, after all that has transpired. The newly-shattered edges in his core still twist very painfully even in slight movements like breathing and speaking, yet the sentiments offered by the people surrounding him soothe something just a bit all the same. ...Voyager decides he does not like the concept of war much at all. The concept of death, the concept of bringing it to others. What a great burden it already feels like, even failing to properly kill anyone...the thought of how terribly sad it would be, if any single one of these voices could never speak again. If there were no chance he could talk to any of them, and learn more about them, again. In this moment, he thinks he finally almost understands the meaning behind those sounds he'd collected back home at that time--in the Coliseum, after Nzambi--the wave of human grief in the voices of the milling crowd searching for loved ones...
Still, everything aches. The world around him wavers in clarity. The camera must be the first thing shut off, to conserve power for the long journey ahead. Then, other instruments too, one at a time. Voyager closes his eyes.]
...They're all really beautiful messages, you know... [Mumbled softly, half a sigh.] Just, as beautiful, as the ones on my record. Some of them are so sad...but some of them are so hopeful, too...can't forget them, okay? Can't let them get stuck here...
[The Golden Record's gleaming round case is still affixed to the left hip of his astronaut suit--and with it, conceptually, the other newer record from the Serena Eterna sits too--but Voyager cannot indicate it in any way. ...Ah well. The hand between Fio's is entirely limp in her grasp, its biting chill permeating even through the glove.
He remembers the other words said by Darcy, before they left.]
You're all...going to the bridge? To free everyone. Right? [Isn't that what the big cat said?] Now I can't move, you can get past. ...You should get going. Help them first. I'll stay here. [Spoken at odds with the glimmering gold dust still slowly accumulating, perhaps, but there's little hesitation in it.]
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Still, everything aches. The world around him wavers in clarity. The camera must be the first thing shut off, to conserve power for the long journey ahead. Then, other instruments too, one at a time. Voyager closes his eyes.]
...They're all really beautiful messages, you know... [Mumbled softly, half a sigh.] Just, as beautiful, as the ones on my record. Some of them are so sad...but some of them are so hopeful, too...can't forget them, okay? Can't let them get stuck here...
[The Golden Record's gleaming round case is still affixed to the left hip of his astronaut suit--and with it, conceptually, the other newer record from the Serena Eterna sits too--but Voyager cannot indicate it in any way. ...Ah well. The hand between Fio's is entirely limp in her grasp, its biting chill permeating even through the glove.
He remembers the other words said by Darcy, before they left.]
You're all...going to the bridge? To free everyone. Right? [Isn't that what the big cat said?] Now I can't move, you can get past. ...You should get going. Help them first. I'll stay here. [Spoken at odds with the glimmering gold dust still slowly accumulating, perhaps, but there's little hesitation in it.]