Spark was working. A new job, but an important job. Maybe. He was taking notes about the opinions of Synthetics on a few topics. Mainly Dyrian, the milititist faction, and the upcoming execution today. So, what did Spark have.

Council Member Hvaldi - He really likes to yell about you, Dyrian.

Yep, That was certainly true.

Spark stood at the rally ground only half paying attention. Hvaldi had been going on for the last hour, riling up a crowd of angry Synths.

Not really Spark’s scene, he took to this about as much as his mother. Especially since Hvaldi was ranting about scheming humans, a subject Spark couldn’t help but disagree on.

He checked through the rest of the notes he had diligently gathered.

Synths opinions - They really hate you and your faction, Dyrian. What did you expect? Dipshit.

Spark would add and subtract things from the report when necessary, somehow he didn’t see its current form going over very well.

Some might call into question Spark’s work ethic. He was being paid to do this ‘research’. With medicine! The stuff was valuable and Dyrian gave quite a generous amount for just information. And this was his report? This single line that said ‘Yep, they really don’t like you’.

Spark should feel bad, he really should! Dyrian is a kind man, Spark could see it in his eyes. He saw Dyrian’s guilt at his mom getting hurt, his desire to help, the quiet desperation at the core of his person. Spark liked the man, he really did.

But he couldn’t help but feel annoyed. He played the assignment back in his head.

“Spark, I need you to find out Synth motives on the execution. Is it supported by the people or a move from the top.”

“Why would you need to-"

“I just do. Here’s Nuori’s medicine for the week in advance. I expect your report after the execution. Detailed.”

Dyrian had rarely been so curt with Spark before but that hadn’t been what annoyed him. It was the fact Dyrian seemed to think this was a tough assignment. Case in point.

“Hey, Linaya?” Spark addressed one of the few people his age, a female Synthetic and a friend. She looked moderately human but not as close a copy as Spark. She was also chanting with the crowd of around a thousand.

She turned to him and smiled. “Yes Spark?”

Linaya - Friendly! I like her. Does she like me? I’m really bad at Synth expressions okay? Don’t judge me!

“Sometimes Dyrian comes by to meet with the Emperor at my moms.” *Patently untrue, he and most of the council avoided the place like a plague. “Anything I should say to them?”

“Well…” She smirked at him. “I assume you already have me being recorded?”

“Now I do.” He smirked back.

“Okay, I thought you’d never ask!” She did a twirl and smiled brightly at Spark. slightly manic. “We’ll gladly fight! All Synthetics are agreed upon, you want to send us to battle? We’ll burn you’re fucking place down.”

“Got it!” Spark cheered, then added something to his notes for Dyrian.

Linaya - Not entirely sure she likes you, but she still thinks you should keep warm.

No, Spark was not being lazy. He had asked that question to hundreds of people, Linaya’s answer was tame in comparison to some of the others he received. Hvaldi had been trying to rilie the people up. It hadn’t been very difficult.

“And to this ‘Emperor’, we didn’t vote for you! if you think you have any power over us you’ll find yourself sorely mistaken!” She enthusiastically declared what was technically treason.

Steve had ended up taking a large portion of the blame, after all, while he might have been manipulated into the situation, there was still the leaked audio from his first declaration.

Add on to that the market incident where he stole high quality rope from a Synthetic vendor and you have a recipe for unrest. Synthetic rights to own property and not be property was an issue that ended thousands of years ago, but some fears died hard.

Of course, Steve didn’t know anything about that, but Spark didn’t do anything to disabuse people of the notion. It could break his cover, right? Definitely a bad decision, it might jeopardize this extremely important espionage.

Also he hated the guy. Not because he was constantly making eyes at his mom and she hadn’t even noticed yet. Or the fact he had lost Spark’s birthday gift for his mom from years ago. No, it was that he was a danger to society. Spark could tell the man lied often, he was shifty, unstable! Probably.

Spark found himself angry at Steve quite often, there were a multitude of reasons, all perfectly logical of course. He could prove it!

*Emotional analysis: I really hate the fact he’s hitting on my mom. Also that rope had nostalgia!

Okay, so, mainly the mom and rope thing, but isn’t that understandable? Shouldn’t Spark be at least mildly peeved that this delinquent, who has already caused so many problems, is trying to insert himself into Spark’s life?

Sure, it was almost entirely an emotional response but emotions are good! Emotions are the mark of inner humanity! Do Synthetics have to be logical all the time?

No! That would make them all the same!

So, Spark’s perfectly reasonable hate of Steve was, a positive thing. Obviously.

Sadly enough Hvaldi didn’t echo those thoughts on the stage else Spark might have actually gotten into the rally. He’d be fine with yelling about Steve. Sadly though, Dyrian was the target, a man that Spark actually liked. Tough to encapture the spirit of something like this when that was the case.

It was odd Hvaldi never went after Steve. A human stealing from a Synth? That’s usually prime rant estate for him!

That was the state of politics at the moment though. None of the council went after Steve, in fact most tried to use his name in some way. Even if his past words didn’t line up to their message. All assured the public they could convince him to follow their path.

Well… not all. Rallies were the order of the day for most. But some of the council were absent from these games. A few absentees were a bit more surprising than others.

A predictable one? Hinkle. No one had seen him in years, centuries if you go by actually acknowledged sightings. Every couple of years someone will claim to have seen the man, deep in the labyrinthian maze of the station. He almost seemed to be a myth, a legend. The last ‘sighting’ was done by a drunk woman who got lost, apparently a hairy figure came out of the walls and showed her the way back.

Spark had seen his mother on the stuff enough times to know alcohol did strange things to the Human brain. Still Spark had questioned Dyrian when he had the opportunity, the man was rather vague on the topic, just giving a canned response ‘Official reports are Hinkle is still alive’.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

‘Official reports’ Spark learned enough history from his mom, Hinkle is almost certainly deceased. Foul play? Definite.

Ky hadn’t been seen since his ‘meeting’ with Nuori. Most people were happy with that, but Spark? There was something Spark didn’t see in Ky’s eyes that day which terrified him. Maybe he just missed it but… it disturbed him anyway.

Falia had locked herself away. Working on a project apparently.

Alliandra was just being rather aloof of the whole proceedings.

So was Yestro but… Spark looked at the stage. No one really thought Hvaldi was anything more than a mouthpiece for the ancient machine.

So, only half were doing rallies... but that was still a lot!

Dyrian and Wyndra played two sides of a coin. Wyndra the harsh warhawk, Dyrian the man speaking of harsh necessities. Both fighting for the same cause.

Tovadin spoke to the greater portion of the population, the concerned. He spoke of the failings of Alliandra, how she let this situation grow out of control. Untenable. Most thought he was aiming for her position. Many were okay with that knowledge.

Terrick? He argued a third path, a path of compromise. None of these reactionary actions! Safe, careful and most of all? Sane. More transparency to the decision making processes and a removal of lifetime service for councilors. He gathered great crowds of ten’s of loyal supporters. Possibly even dozens!

Not much had changed on his front.

Linaya jostled his shoulder, shaking Spark from his thoughts.

“Hey,” she smiled that bright smile, giving him emotions he’d need to analyze later *Which is a skill I am not very good at… may need to practice. “I know you're engrossed in this and all but we need to head off if we're going to get a good spot.”

The words darkened Spark’s mood. Lyrcen. Dyrian had told him that the man had done nothing. That he needed a fall person and Lyrcen volunteered. A noble action, as Dyrian put it. But Spark, couldn’t help but feel it was a mark against Dyrian that he’d let such a loyal man die.

Everyone dies though, as his mom sometimes said. At least he got to choose how.

“Yeah, sure Linaya but…” How was spark to say it? “Can we… not have a good spot?” She looked at him inquisitively, unsure of his request. “I just… I don't like blood. Reminds me of how fragile people can be.”

She smiled at him. “Of course, I understand.” And Spark felt like she did, even if he didn’t entirely. They walked away from Hvaldi’s rally, quite a few Synths were leaving now that it was wrapping up. Most wanted to make the execution. Having numbers would be important if the militarists tried anything.

According to Dyrian that wasn’t too likely a scenario. He told Spark ‘you have to choose what’s worth fighting for’ apparently this man’s life wasn’t worth all that much.

Still, he saw that Dyrian was deeply regretful. Maybe he knew something Spark didn’t.

As he and Linaya made their way to the plaza among the slow flow of people, they saw the other group headed there as well. The militarists were out in force of course. They always were one of the best organized, even if a bit less inclined to collective thinking then Synths. Spark also saw the third much less organized but even more numerous group.

People who were bored and wanted something to fill the evening.

Executions were fairly rare.

The destination for this mixed crowd was a large hallway at the far end of the Plaza. The opposite end of his mom’s place.

A great hall, used exclusively for government purposes. So not very often.

On the way Linaya spoke to him. “You know it’s okay if you don’t want to go Spark.”

He shook his head. “I’ll go.” Technically he had to.

She turned to look him in the eyes. “Look, you don’t need to prove anything. You’re mom may be human but, well... “ She put a hand on Spark’s shoulder. “Most of us think she’s pretty cool. You know? With the whole fighting to not have us sent as fodder on a battlefield. We know she’s one of the good ones.”

“Yeah but... “ Spark knew that, in fact, the predicated problems his mom and him thought he might face had never come to pass.

Apparently all you need to pass prejudice is being brutally beaten to within an inch of your life in full view of the entire society. Who knew?

Spark’s actual problem? He really didn’t want to watch an innocent man get his head cut off, his job just required him to do so. He couldn’t hide his distaste, but what could he tell Linaya? he didn’t want to lie but…

Linaya pushed ahead when Spark didn’t continue. “I get it, I do Spark. I know there’ll be some calling for the heads of humans, after that? It might get bad, but we don’t blame her, right? It’s different. Most of us know she just got stuck with,” She nodded her head to one of the banners the milarteratsts put up. A portrait of Steve, grasping at the galaxy, leading the people behind him. “That. She was conscripted, Synths understand the perils of forced labour.”

“No, it’s not… I’ll be fine. I- I need to see this, there’s a reason my mother is laid up right now and Lyrcen is apart of it.” Spark shook his head. “A small part but-” Linaya waved a hand to cut him off.

“You don’t need to explain Spark. I’m happy you’re here.” She took his hand. “Interesting times. Let’s get through them, together.” Spark looked at her eyes.

Linaya - Smart, caring, gentle. I really like her. Have for some time... Happy to see a man executed. A man she had never met.

The thoughts didn’t fit well together in his head. The absurdity of someone so caring being… casually hateful? A disparity of character.

He still liked her though.

Together they entered into the hallway leading to the room. Noise slowly growing as the crowd pushed forward, movement constricting. When Spark and Linaya reached the entrance the sound would have been deafening, if they could deaf. In their case, it was still very loud.

Two groups separated by a divide were yelling at each other, Synths to the left and the militarist faction on the right. The non militarist humans had a few options, the quality ranging from ‘meh’ to absolute stupidity. Many were camped out near the stage, forming their own bloc. Some few, decided to accept the relative safety of the militarist side. The odd unicorn of stupidity tried to do the same with the Synth side to expected results. Worse were those that stood in the no man’s land. Almost reveling in the chaos surrounding them.

The truly brilliant had just left, wisely deciding a slight amount of entertainment wasn’t particularly worth the hassle.

Because each side had brought numbers.

Room - Is this over a third of the station's population? It’s a big room but…

Spark didn’t even try to count.

Linaya motioned for him to shut down his hearing, and pulled out a cord to hook up directly. He obliged, moving his arm to be plugged into.

“Move to the Synth side Spark, but don’t go into the crowd yet.” Linaya’s voice processed directly into his mind.

“Why?”

“We should duck out. I don’t like the looks of this. Too many people. Too small of a room, something could go wrong real quick.” Spark looked around, he had already seen that but-

“You can go, Linaya. I’ll be fine, I need to see this through. Anyways, I don’t think this will end in violence, not if we don’t start anything.” Dyrian had assured him his people would stay their hand.

“Are you not seeing what I’m seeing Spark! Look at them.” Spark did, he could read humans. He prided himself on the ability, one of the few skills he had developed. One of the things he felt he truly needed.

He looked into the faces across. He expected to find anger. Perhaps a sense of injustice. But-

Crowd - Hatred. Pure hatred. Contempt validated. War paint? Possibly Wyndra’s people. Weapons in the crowd. Steel swords, axes lanc-

Linaya shook him again. “SPARK! We need to leave!”

He looked her in the eyes and shook his head defiantly. “Go, I can’t, I have to see this through.” How else would he help his mother.

“I won’t leave you.” Linaya glared at him. He chuckled at her words, how was it that he got into these stalemates. “Don’t laugh, you asshole! I won’t forgive myself if you get killed being stubborn.”

“I’m not laughing at you.” He said ruefully, and pulled out his ‘invisibility’ device. “Here,” He gave it to Linaya. “if things go wrong turn it on with this.” He pointed at a button. “It’ll cloak you entirely.”

“Seriously? You don’t expect me to believe-” Turning it on silenced her. Then- “THAT’S HIGH TECH! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT!” She yelled in disbelief, not angry. excited.

“I have my sources.” Spark smiled coyly. “I expect that back later” He winked, trying to appear calm.

Linaya settled and moved closer to spark, up against his side, leaning her head against his shoulder. You could almost call the position intimate.“Spark, person of mystery, with all your high tech. No wonder you’re so confident.”

He hesitantly moved his arm around her body and tried to smile confidently. Fake it til you make it!

With the way the crowd looked though, and his only lifeline being given away, Spark couldn’t help but feel a little powerless. As if everything could go wrong in a moment. Like his life was on the chopping block.

And it wasn’t even his execution.

Spark could only wonder how the man of the hour must feel.