Anyway, now I get to work on Freedom. I have to say, I'm pretty excited to work on him for a number of reasons. Firstly, he's just one of my favourite characters. He interests me, and his story is going to be kind of fun to work out because, as a character, he goes in the opposite direction of ZeCat. Where ZeCat becomes braver, more independent, and more able to take charge of his life, Freedom kind of spirals into figurative darkness. He starts out as a kind of a shady character, but in the beginning he is still essentially a good person. He still looks out for other people to an extent and has no inclination to resort to any crime that is dangerous to anybody but himself...but that totally changes, and it changes surprisingly quickly. You know how I ranted at one point that my characters are often as unpredictable to me as real people? Well, Freedom turned out to be less mentally stable than I had originally thought. I don't know if you remember anything about him from my character descriptions, but he's the guy who is systematically doing all he can to turn himself into a robot. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it might just be easier to include a little except that kind of describes his character in the beginning rather than trying to summarize all of it like I usually do. Let me find something. Picture elevator music as I look for this even though you won't actually have to wait...
Okay, I was scrolling through what I have of the book so far and this isn't really what I was looking for, but it tells you something about his character and kind of about Paradise City, so I'm going to put that on here really quickly and then find what I was actually looking for.
"A shiver of desire ran down Freedom’s spine with the thought of the Techno Age as he adroitly swabbed the surgical equipment laid neatly over the surface of his desk. He wished that he had been born during the Techno Age. All that remained of it was the dregs of some of the technology that had been used during its time and a number of laws restricting further technological advancement, and he longed to catch a glimpse of the time during all of its glory. Evidence of its magnificence still remained, but it was high obtain and against the law to use. Naturally, Freedom was familiar with ways of acquiring some of this dazzling circuitry. He had a number of hook-ups who were technology smugglers from lesser-visited areas all around the city, usually on the outskirts where the police hated everyone equally and did not pause to inspect suspicious persons because everyone around those parts was fishy. He also knew one surgeon who was a fan of the extreme and often admittedly dangerous surgeries that had used to be preformed during the Techno Age, and, as a result, Freedom was treated to a few implants that most humans ought not to have. He recognized the danger of having wires underneath his skin, but he could not stay away from it. It made him feel empowered and untouchable, something more than human."
So there's that. Let me find the other thing. Oh, and keep in mind that this stuff is unedited, so be kind. It WILL get better than this.
In this little excerpt Freedom is operating on his hand, just so you know what the heck is going on. It's the last part of this that's really important, but all if it provides information so I decided to just put in the entire paragraph.
"His eyes adjusted accordingly, and he slightly squeamishly got to work. As it turned out, the connection in his middle finger was being interrupted by a bit of tissue like he had suspected, which he swiftly removed. He could not find what was wrong with the other two, but once he injected them with a unique mixture of bone marrow and lubrication near the joints he was able to move them again with a minimal amount of trouble. He could have guessed that they needed such a simple tune-up, but he was not quick to use the blend that had resurrected them. He did not like to think about where the bone marrow came from. He knew that it must have once been someone’s that had died at Almost Heaven; any good parts of the body were harvested after death and used to serve the living. He supposed that he should be thankful for it rather than off-put and mildly repulsed, but he could not help but imagine that one day the marrow that was being injected into someone’s robotic joints would be his own. He still had two years left before his Date, but two years was not very much time, and it was getting nearer with every passing second. He was terrified of Almost Heaven and everything that it meant, which was perhaps why he was so obsessed with upgrading the body he had been born with. If he successfully became an android or some such thing, then what would there be for the government to kill?"
So that's his kind of mentality at the beginning of the book when he is first introduced. I'm actually really glad I went back and looked at this stuff because I just remembered a few things about him that I had forgotten. Anyway, so yeah. That's him. He's not really dangerous, but he's definitely kind of shady and a little weird, and he's definitely fearful. That's probably the key thing that turns him into sort of a monster: fear. When people are scared they do crazy things, and, though he's a fairly intelligent guy, Freedom is no different. Pretty early in the book he is finally discovered by the police and...jeez, this is extensive. I'm tempted to put that whole part up here to save myself the time of trying to explain every little bit of it, but that will make this post even LONGER. Ah, screw it. I'm copying and pasting it on here. Sorry, everyone.
Actually, no. I just discovered how long it truly is, so I'm going to make a whole separate post for it. Sorry, I know you all probably do NOT care this much, but I'm inspired and I'm going to go ahead and do my thing.
-Iridian
Freedom kind of reminds me of Altrius, but they're completely different at the same time. They both kind of spiral down, they're mentally unstable, and they're trying to turn themselves into robots (Freedom literally, Altrius figuratively).
ReplyDelete-Cori
He kind of reminds me of Altrius, too, which is kind of why I went and gushed about him for a thousand years. I was inspired by reading all of your posts.
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