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Maybe it's possible for us to come up with a social contract under which we collectively pretend that floods like the last one just didn't happen? It feels like a lot of us enjoy each others suffering in a way that is inevitably going to come back around and make our lives uncomfortable at a later date.

[Filtered to wardens who Prefect is especially fond of. Rayne, Una, Kirk, Sexby, Four, The Marquis and Seven.]

Comrades, has anyone else noticed that Howie seems... particularly unlike himself, lately?

[Private to Howie]

Excuse me Comrade, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about God?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not entirely to... show off. God created the world so it might be inhabited, He created the world for humans, part of creation in His own image - He created us so we could worship him, yes, but He also created us with the free will to choose whether to be obedient to that or not. The free will to be corrupted, but also to be saved, to worship and to deny.

But if we don't use our free will to worship him, then we are corrupted? And then we come to the Barge?

Not necessarily. You can be a virtuous non-believer. If you act according to God's word, and according to the teachings of Christ, you are not necessarily corrupted, even if you do not worship Him actively. Acting according to His will and wishes is a form of worshipping Him in itself - in my church we call it 'living your life in Christ', others call it bearing witness.

So as long as you act morally, then you need not be corrupted.

That sounds better, Comrade.

So where does the Barge fit in?

I'll be honest, Prefect, I'm not as sure as I used to be.

But here's how I see it - I can't explain why this place exists. Or how it fits into the religious canon of what happens in your afterlife. No more than some of the scientists on board can explain it by scientific means.

But redemption, atonement and repenting are fundamental principles of our relationship with God. We all have the choice, every single day, every single moment of our lives, between doing the good thing, and doing the wrong thing. Circumstances can drive us one way or another, but we all have free will, none of us are created evil or good, we are created to make ourselves one or the other. The Barge, I think, gives people who may not have had the opportunity, or ability, to make the choice for good in their lives; and we aim to give them the ability and desire to choose good, and to atone and repent for what they have done. Not just repent in thought, but repent in action, to act differently.

It perhaps gives them one more chance to repent in their lives, one more chance to find their own capacity for good as well as evil, as perhaps all their life ever did was try to crush that capacity under the heavy weights of either expectation, circumstance, or the inability to see what was wrong in their actions.

It, fundamentally, is about redemption. Which is a fundamentally sound religious concept, to me, and something everyone should have a chance at, and something everyone can achieve.

Why aren't you as sure as you used to be?

It's complicated, but I'm still having trouble with the way John killed me and why, and it's making me question a lot of things I never have. That's all.

[and he sounds remarkably nonchalant about that.]

Because he said that he did it because of your Pride?

There was a lot, lot more to it than that. [oh, he just remembered this should bother him.]

I can't quite explain, and don't really... want to go into it.

Comrade... would you mind going to the pub with me.

To play darts?

...why, Prefect?

Alright, but why?

It feels like there's been a lot of pressure on you lately, Comrade. I think it could be good for us to spend some time relaxing.

You're right there, Prefect. But I am trying to, I swear.

Then we should go to the pub and play darts!

[HE WENT TO 1973, HE KNOWS THIS IS HOW POLICEMEN DEAL WITH THEIR PROBLEMS.]

Alright, Prefect. I just don't want you going out of your way for me.

That's all right, Comrade. I like darts.

Well, alright then. I'll see you... shortly?

All right, Comrade! I'll meet you in the pub?

Absolutely. I'll get you a drink in.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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private - Prefect: SECRET DARTS SHARK

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