ukan | 001.

[The first thing Lark does is follow his nose. He gets himself some food, enough to clear his mind, and then finds a quiet corner up on the deck where he can watch the universe drift by. He watches the network first, making cursory judgments of the people there. And then he turns the camera on himself.

He's not sure any of this is real, but it's always safest to pretend it is. If it's real to these people, it needs to be real to him.]

Monarchism depth doubtfully entrancing.

[He closes his eyes, no. Not right. Slow breath in: who am I?]

Sorry. My name is Lark. I've already introduced myself to the cafeteria, [he holds up his clean spoon] You eat pretty well here. Better than I've had in other cages. I can tell what most of the things on my plate were originally. In a place like this, in times like these, that's a blessing.

[Now the question. Time to find out the important things. He should have waited, but he doesn't have time to spare.

Who am I? Lark. Where am I? That, as Shakespeare said, is the question.]

I'm still monkey lid drudging cloud?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Maybe a girl already has.

What do you think she'd say, if you did?

She'd ask what a girl was waiting for.

Now how do you answer that?

How do you think?

Well, I answered with 'do it now'.

And then you became a king. The head of your pack?

Not right away. I had to work at it. I had to learn, and grow...and then I had to find wolves willing to work for me.

Then I had to kill the ones who wouldn't.

Why did you have to kill them?

It's the rule of law. If I hadn't, they would have mutinied, or joined other packs to come back to kill me and mine.

Then they were stupid.

[He smiles.]

I thought so, too. And from the way you act, that sort of rule isn't a surprise to you, is it?

People die. If they try to hurt you, you have to hurt them first.

Have you ever had to hurt someone first?

A girl has.

Good. It's better to have you alive than them.

A girl knows. [She rarely even feels bad about it anymore. Which is. Maybe not a good thing. B(]

[Depends on who you ask. Lark feels not an ounce of guilt for the people he's killed. And eaten. (He's not a good spiritual adviser.)]

Good.

I'm glad you're aboard. We need people like you.