Radiance

In the soundstage, Rinny. [His eyes sparkle. He presses his daughter’s small chin with his thumb.] Rehearsal is just practicing, my precious little hobgoblin. Mummy must practice being both Egyptian and a goddess, which is very hard to do at the same time! Why, it’s like rubbing the top of your head and patting your belly at once. A soundstage is nothing to be afraid of, moppet. Just imagine Rehearsal has a capital R. Rehearsal is like a planet Mummy and I go to, like Earth or Mars. It’s a dark cool planet with a lot of lights and people and toys and trains and candy, and when you go there you get to be somebody else and talk funny and dance a bit and say and do everything three times, because that’s the law. Planets always have their own funny laws, don’t they?

SEVERIN

Yes. I hate it.

PERCIVAL

Well, on Rehearsal, it’s the law that you can only cry if Papa tells you to, or sing a song if Papa tells you to, and you can only fall down and hurt yourself if Papa tells you to do it very tragically, like Eurydice when the serpent bit her. Remember Eurydice?

SEVERIN

She let me wear her hat.

MARY

And Eurydice got right up and had a coffee when Papa said, “Cut!” didn’t she? [SEVERIN nods reluctantly.] She was perfectly all right! My, my, we are just all over serpents today, aren’t we? Come on, kitten! You and me are Egypt-bound!

The Graeae

Transcript from 1946 debriefing interview with Erasmo St. John, property of Oxblood Films, all rights reserved.

Security clearance required.

CYTHERA BRASS: Session four, day three. This will be our last session, I think. How do you feel about that, Mr St. John?

ERASMO: Dandy.

CYTHERA: I’ve enjoyed talking to you.

ERASMO: Then you are out of your mind. There is nothing enjoyable in this. It’s just eating ashes.

CYTHERA: Who checked on Mariana, after you lost contact with Arlo?

ERASMO: Severin and I. Rinny took care of everyone who would let her.

CYTHERA: And what was Miss Alfric’s condition?

ERASMO: She was gone. Dissolved into long, stringy fern blades and spores and mud and withered leafy things. She hadn’t run off. The pin in her knee from when she tried to ride Sancho Panza one last time was lying in the muck. No blood. Just…muck.

CYTHERA: Do you have any thoughts on the infection vector? Severin and Mariana both touched Anchises, but neither the child nor Unck had that kind of catastrophic reaction. In fact, Severin had much more contact than Alfric.

ERASMO: How should I know? Talk to Retta.

CYTHERA: Dr Nantakarn. [sounds of papers shuffling, file folders moving against each other.] It is the opinion of this doctor that, once transmitted, the infection entered a state of dormancy in the Adonis subject. Neither Alfric nor Unck seemed to be contagious—it is possible that they would have become so given enough time. I can offer no firm reasoning as to why Unck showed no ill effects without the ability to take post-contact blood samples. Perhaps she had an immunity. Perhaps symptoms develop at different rates depending on any number of metabolic, environmental, or genetic factors. Perhaps it just liked her better.

ERASMO: I don’t know. Mari was fine until we cut it out of her. Well, not fine, but other than the fronds, she had no pain, no fever. But I think…sometimes I think it killed her because she hit Anchises. It defended itself. Reacted in fear. Severin just held him while he slept. It didn’t have to be afraid of her. I don’t know. I didn’t have any time to think about the science of it.

CYTHERA: You had decided to break camp.