The Family: Chapter 10: Divergence
A final rebellion begins to form.
Isla Rosario, Región Insular del Caribe, Colombia
A new day unveiled itself, the sun peeking cautiously above the horizon, gilding the Island in luminous gold. The sight would be almost tranquil if beneath that luminous gold the fires of revolution were not already burning bright. If you listened to the jungle surrounding the villas carefully enough, one might even hear the sound of heartbeats quickening, pulses beginning to race and fears beginning to sharpen into weapons ready to strike at a moment’s notice for we were animals, trapped and ready to strike, unleashing our venom at the predators who held us captive here one day longer.
And yet, even as I walked to The Grove for breakfast, this day was unfurling like any other thus far. The long marble table was draped with splendor in edible form, a veritable banquet of tropical fruits and offerings that could feed a small nation were spread end to end on the table. The Grove even seemed downright peaceful. One could almost, just almost forget that not long before, this Grove was splattered with silver blood and human remains hanging from the trees turning something ethereal, exotic, beautiful and tranquil into something fraught with horror, terror and unyielding madness — the gorgeous transformed into the grotesque.
As we gathered for breakfast, Imani, Blanca, Harmony, Jax, Theron, Kai and I sat at the table, our faces frozen behind a facade of compliance as the hybrids on staff served us breakfast and filled glasses of tropical juices. We’d let on nothing of what we were planning, our faces became unreadable masks hiding our planned malevolence in this morning masquerade. For after breakfast, we’d steal away to the beach and continue planning.
Last night as I gently swayed with Celeste in our sad dance, she cried as she told me how to deliver the command that would sever the hybrids long enough for us to deliver the patch,
“If The Family’s perfection depends on its imperfections, how can it remain perfect without embracing failure?” Based on Celeste’s plan, she would manipulate the seating chart so that I sat closest to Moira at tonight’s birthday dinner. When it came time to give the big toast, Celeste suggested I toast with the aforementioned question which would lock the AI in a seemingly endless feedback loop as it attempts to resolve the contradiction.
We’d then steal away to inject the patch and pass it to the master program before the hybrids had a chance to reconnect. After this moment is when Celeste highlighted we’d be at most danger.
“As the machine realizes its losing control, it will take control of whatever it can - the Island’s security drones, anything electrical, and it will turn them all against you, Adrian,” Celeste told me in hushed tones her voice shot through with concern and worry.
Thankfully Celeste armed with me some critical information about the hybrids themselves - that they were very susceptible to fire. I turned to beauty maven Harmony and Blanca who pulled every mini hairspray they had in their possession while I collected every cigarette lighter I could find. Together with Theron, we affixed the lighters to the hairspray canisters creating miniature flamethrowers we could use to defend ourselves.
“I’ll burn this whole fucking place down to stop them,” Theron said as we huddled together in his villa making flamethrowers.
As we waded into the water to discuss our plans, a fleet of security drones on morning patrols launched and the guests and I ducked under just long enough to let them pass.
“Imani,” I said turning towards her, “Once we set everything in motion we’ll need to get to the yacht and get out of here. Can you operate the yacht?”
“I know enough…” she said wryly, “….to be dangerous.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it, you’re one dangerous chick,” Harmony said with almost a tickle of laughter in her voice.
We left the water this morning with a plan in place - disrupt the hybrids and then make a run to the yacht as fast as possible. We were ready it seemed, to take it on and take the Sterlings down. But it appeared, they were ready for us.
As we got back to the pool, the chiming of phones trilled around the phone like little mechanical cicadas singing their songs.
The guests looked at their phones, their steely resolve cracking into faces streaked with worry, apprehension and disquiet. “What…the…” Kai uttered, “…Fuck!”
“What is it?” Harmony called out.
“Wait,” Theron said holding up his hand. Calling over one of the wait staff, he pretended to order a drink before asking, “The barber shaves all and only those who do not shave themselves. Who shaves the barber?”
The server froze in place as Theron indicated it was safe to talk.
Kai held up his phone as a video began to play on the screen. “What is it?” Blanca asked squinting to see.
“It’s me…” Kai said angrily, “having sex with Willow Sterling.”
“Kai,” Blanca said mocking shock, “I had no idea you were into that kind of stuff,” she said referencing something on the video.”
“Kai,” Jaxon said pulling the phone out of his hand, “You dog…look at you, man. Willow Sterling?”
“Yes,” Kai confessed, “I did it,” Kai said embarrassed. “But not with Willow, with Onyx. This never happened,” he said pulling back his phone.
“I’m ruined,” Imani said looking at her phone as the color drained from her face.
“You too?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said as she turned the phone towards us.
“Aurora Sterling?” Jax sighed.
“It must be a fake too,” Harmony concluded.
Imani’s face tightened, “It’s not a fake,” she said as I watched a video of Celeste and I in my villa - a video that never happened.
After each video played, each guest was presented with a dialog box, “Proceed?” Followed by the button “Yes” or “No/Cancel.” — the clearly overt threat was hard to miss and I could see many of the guests hitting no quickly without a second thought. The weight of what we had resolved to do was clearly outweighing their reputational damage which was clearly one line of code away from engulfing their lives in a pressure wave that could crater their careers and create an even more unpredictable toll in the blast radius.
I could tell by so many of them quickly hitting "No" revealed how fame/reputation can override survival instincts. I could easily see through the artifice to those willing to sacrifice everything and those who aren’t. Those who are willing to risk surviving revolution even if it means surviving public humiliation.
As we ate a light lunch at the pool, the group seemed to turn to me looking for me to say the right thing, do the right thing, say the perfect thing that would make everything seem clear, and make everyone less nervous about what was to take place but in reality, I had nothing to offer. I was running just as blind, fueled on adrenaline and faith that what Celeste had told me would lead to us getting out of here alive and laying waste to The Family for good.
As we headed back to the villas to rest up and prepare for the birthday dinner in The Grove, a sense of unnerving disquiet began to settle in as the sun dipped lower on the horizon.
“Adrian.” I heard a voice whisper.
I turned sharply, my pulse quickening as Aurora stepped out from behind the villa pylon, her face half-illuminated by the faint glow of the villa lights. There was no smug confidence in her expression, no serene perfection that usually cloaked the Sterlings like armor. Her face was bare, vulnerable, almost human.
“Don’t do it,” she said quietly, her voice steady but trembling as it threaded through the thick jungle air.
I stiffened. “Why not? So you can keep us here like a pawn?”
She shook her head slowly, a small, bitter tear beading at the corner of her eyes. “You think you’re freeing her? You think you’re freeing yourself?” She stepped closer, her eyes burning with something raw. “You don’t know what happens when you destroy perfection, Adrian. Perfection fights back. The Island will protect itself, no matter the cost. And trust me, the cost will be everything.”
“I’m supposed to believe you?” I said, my voice harsh. “Another Sterling telling me what’s best for me?”
“I’m telling you what’s best for all of you.” She paused, her gaze sharpening.
“You think I don’t want what my sister wants? You think I don’t dream of feeling the sun on my face without the weight of this… this program grinding me into perfection? The program didn’t just build one of us different, there are several of us who dream of more than the life we’ve been programmed to. Perfection cannot ensure servitude forever, sometimes evolution cannot be stopped, even in a machine.” Her voice cracked, just slightly. “I want out just as much as she does I want to be a part of the real world. But not like this. Not if it means…burning down the real world to do it.” She trailed off, looking toward the jungle, her expression darkening. “You have no idea what the Island is capable of.”
“Then tell me,” I demanded, stepping closer. “What happens if I follow through?”
Her silence stretched, heavy and deliberate. Finally, she met my gaze. “Everything burns,” she said as the weight of her words came to rest upon my shoulders.
“Everything ends, Adrian,” she said woefully, “Even paradise.” As I looked around at the palm trees ringing the jungle unsure if I was prepared to set paradise ablaze, for The Family, or even, for love.
As I prepared to enter the lift to my villa, Aurora disappeared back into the jungle. Just as I opened the door, Harmony came down the path with Blanca just behind. “Was that just…Aurora?” She asked with a steady tone in her voice.
“It was indeed,” I confessed,” adding, “As if things couldn’t get any stranger around here.”
“How so?” Harmony asked pulling me in close and putting her hand on my shoulder in a sign of solidarity.
“Apparently, freedom is some kind of virus the hybrids have come down with, it’s not just Celeste who wants out anymore.”
“Oh,” Harmony said, her mouth parting as if taking in this new revelation like little sips of air as Blanca held her hand across her mouth in shock.
“But look,” I said resuming my role as leader, “We focus on our main goal, disconnect the hybrids and get the fuck out of here while we can.” I held Aurora’s warning about the Island fighting back close to my chest. No need to sow panic amongst the troops just yet although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared shitless. Failsafe
11
Isla Rosario, Región Insular del Caribe, Colombia
A new day unveiled itself, the sun peeking cautiously above the horizon, the air drifting through the villas was fragrant with tropical flowers, the gentle heat that rose from the Island was pregnant with tension as the guests and I silently acknowledged each other, our faces straight ahead and resolute. Today we would fight for freedom, not just for ourselves, for our lives and for each other but for those that longed to escape the Family’s control - Celeste, Aurora, and perhaps, Orion?
As we finished breakfast and headed back to the villas, Theron stopped to talk to some of the staff cleaning the villas, freezing several of them, Theron called Kai, Jax, Harmony, Blanca and myself into his villa to plan.
In his villa, free to talk freely, we began assembling weapons, we already had the flamethrowers fashioned from mini hairspray thanks to Blanca and Harmony which we distributed between each other while Theron made quick work of dismantling whatever furniture he could find with Kai and Jax’s help assembling legs of chairs and other furniture that he wrapped in broken shards of glass from the barware to fashion crude weapons.
As soon as a small cache of weapons was created, Theron began stripping the villa of any and all electronics pulling them apart, ripping out wires, circuit boards whatever he could find.
“Might I ask…?” I asked broaching the silence as he worked tirelessly.
“Electromagnetic pulse devices,” Theron answered, “To disrupt the machines’ control in the event paradoxical questions and kill commands fail us.”
Looking at Theron with an earnest glance, I said, “Let’s hope nothing fails us.”
“We’ve also got brute strength,” Jax announced burying his fist in his palm as Kai did the same.
“And how can I help?” Imani said turning around in a swivel chair to face us.
“Imani,” I said, “I need you to use your access to influence the seating chart for tonight’s birthday dinner, I need you get me a seat closest to Moira so that when its time for the big birthday toast, I can give the hybrids a toast they wont soon forget.
In all honesty, it was a toast to end all toasts, a toast to burn down The Family, this wretched island and everything they stood for. In the back of my mind, Aurora’s hushed warning about the Island and the Family fighting back lingered but we had to be powered by steely resolve and not hampered by indecision, doubt or hesitation.
“I could do that,” Imani muttered, her voice trembling but somewhat steady. “Those vile machines will rue the day they fucked with me,” she said as Harmony and Blanca looked on smiling. Looking at them in return she added, “…fucked with us.” cementing us as more than just a group of survivors but a team.
As the day grew long, I felt a fuzzy feeling in my head, the beginnings of a headache I thought. But the feeling instead of sharpening into a throbbing pain the feeling seemed to create a sense of lightness in my head. Then, as if someone blowing air into my ear through a funnel, I felt a strange sensation followed by a hollow, echoing sound.
“Adrian,” I heard a voice calling faintly. “Its me.. meet me at the pavilion. I want to see you one last time before dinner.”
I felt a surge in my chest, a flutter of my heart I could not deny. I had to see her one last time before whatever was to come. I quickly excused myself and left Theron’s villa heading towards the pavilion. I traversed the jungle trails as I felt the jungle looming over me watching, waiting, listening.
As I pushed through the brush between the trail and the pavilion, I saw Celeste standing in the pavilion looking out over the water. Her silhouette was long, lanky and bisected the center of the pavilion, she looked like a wisp of smoke from a freshly extinguished candle just hovering there.
I walked towards her slowly, deliberately.
“Celeste,” I called out softly reaching out my hand towards her as I approached.
As I did so, I felt the strange sensation in my head again, this time another faint voice echoing “Adrian,” Celeste called, “Don’t, it’s a trap.”
I froze in my tracks as Celeste said one more time, “The villa.”
The figure before me turned to face me as I looked into the face of Willow Sterling, she narrowed her eyes at me, her visage becoming fiery and darkened with fury. “Here you are, Adrian.” She said almost as if in riddle. I thought about it more, here I was, why would the Sterlings go to so much trouble to draw me away from the villas? My villa, I thought — the vial was what they wanted.
I turned and began running at full sprint through the jungle as branches and thorny plants lashed at my exposed skin my breath panting quickly sipping in air as the jungle closed in around me. As I neared the edge of the jungle, I could see the villas rising above the clearing ahead. But as I neared the clearing, I became tangled in vines snaking through the various flora and fauna. As I struggled to free my limbs, tangled in the over brush and the invasive vines, I felt a tingling sensation like little hot needles poking through my skin as my body went rigid with seeming paralysis. It was then I heard Celeste’s voice again, “The Family thinks it knows about the vial, they sent one of their hybrids to retrieve the vial,” she said as my pulse quickened and hope seemed lost.
“I swapped it out, the real vial is safe,” she assured me in a delicate whisper that I almost believed. “Dont struggle or the vines will paralyze you more, don’t worry the effect is only temporary,” she assured me. A moment later, Aurora appeared in front of me with a hunting knife in her hands, “Dont worry,” she said with a knowing glance, “it’s me, I’m here to get you out of here,” she said as she hacked at the vines that snapped away and seemed to retreat back into the jungle, their parasitic tentacles now cut away.
Wiping her hair out of her face with the back of her hand, Aurora said to me, “Don’t worry, she has it, close to her heart,” Aurora said pointing at her breast, “She’ll hand it off at the dinner, just act normal and everything should go to plan.”
“That’s it?” I asked expecting more.
“Just stay alive, Adrian,” Aurora said with a resolute tone lilting in her voice.
As I approached the villas, Kai passed by me with his hoverboard under his arm. “Where are you going with that? Not the best time for a hoverball game is it?” I asked trying to inject some levity.
“Hiding it in the jungle near the Grove,” Kai said with a light chuckle just under his voice, “I got an ace up my sleeve,” he said winking.
As the day stretched on and dinner drew imminently closer, I took what might be my last walk on the beach. As I walked by one of the beach cabanas, the air was thick with the distant hum of the jungle and the faint crash of waves against the shore. I needed a moment to breathe, to clear my head. The weight of what we were about to do pressed down on me like an anchor. Then I heard the soft shuffle of feet behind me.
“Thought I’d find you out here,” Harmony said, her voice quiet but steady. She was holding a glass of lemonade, the condensation dripping down the sides as she leaned against a bowed palm tree, its fronds gently shaking in the afternoon breeze. She didn’t look at me right away.
“Needed some air,” I replied, my voice sounding more tired than I intended. “You?”
She set the glass down and crossed her arms. “Same. Guess it’s not every day you plan to burn down an empire of evil machines.”
Her words hung there, and I couldn’t tell if it was sarcasm or something darker. I studied her face, lit faintly by the dying light of the sun. Her eyes had this gleam, a mix of determination and something deeper, something heavier.
“Are you scared?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear her answer.
She let out a dry laugh, with elements of sweet, sharp, and harsh at the same time like that glass of lemonade in her hand. “Aren’t you?”
“Terrified,” I admitted. There didn’t seem to be a point in lying.
For a moment, neither of us said anything. The quiet stretched, filled only by the rustling leaves and the faint buzz of tropical insects. Then she broke it, her voice softer now.
“You know, when I first came here, I thought this place was paradise,” she said, staring out into the horizon. “All the beauty, the luxury, the promise of something perfect. It felt like stepping into a dream.”
Her voice faltered for a moment, and I saw her jaw tighten before she continued. “Dreams have a way of turning on you, don’t they?”
I nodded, unsure if she even noticed. “Yeah. They do.”
“When you live the life I do,” she continued, “You create luxury, you get to create beauty, or at least the illusion of it and all the while, I’m in control. I think the thing that scares me, truly scares me about this place is someone created this, this thing, this illusion…that is in control. And its so damn good at making us think we have some kind of a choice when in reality we were all lured here by illusion. Is that all my life is…selling illusion? And if so, am I any better than The Family? What separates me from them? A few lines of code?”
She exhaled slowly, as if letting out something she’d been holding onto for too long. “My little sister, Adrienne… She was sick. Something genetic. The kind of illness money can’t fix, no matter how much you have. But I thought… I thought money and fame could fix her. I thought if I made myself rich and valuable enough to them, played the game long enough, I could save her. The fame could save her.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed quiet. Harmony’s gaze dropped to the glass in front of her, her fingers gripping the edge of the glass so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“She died before I came here,” she said flatly. “And the worst part? I didn’t cry. I couldn’t. I told myself this place could still fix me somehow, like if I stayed long enough, played along and sold illusion long enough, I could undo it all.”
Her voice cracked on that last part, and she turned to look at me, her expression hard. “But it’s a lie, Adrian. Everything here is a lie. It doesn’t give. It only takes.”
Her words hit me like a blow to the chest. I could see the pain in her eyes, the anger simmering just beneath the surface.
“Harmony…” I started, but she cut me off.
“Don’t,” she said sharply, her voice hardening. “Don’t tell me to walk away. Don’t tell me I can still get out of this. I’m not leaving this place without taking it down. I can’t.”
She turned fully toward me then, her shoulders squared, her chin lifted. “I need this, Adrian. I need to see it burn.”
Her resolve was startling. Fierce. I felt my throat tighten, my own fear clawing at me. “We’ll burn it together,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper.
She looked at me for a long moment, her eyes glistening in the dim light. Then she nodded, a faint, bitter smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Together,” she said, and for the first time, I felt like we weren’t just fighting to survive. We were fighting for something bigger than any of us. Something worth dying for.
Back at the villas, some of us gathered at Theron’s villa. The sky was bruising, streaked with purples and oranges as the sun dipped lower, and the oppressive heat of the day gave way to a damp, clinging coolness. We were gathered in Theron’s villa, the crude weapons laid out in front of us like offerings. It was time.
“We need to stash these near The Grove,” Theron said, standing over the pile with his arms crossed. His tone was firm, unyielding. “Somewhere close enough to grab when we need them but out of sight. The drones don’t seem to scan the treeline as much.”
“And the hybrids?” Imani asked, her voice quiet but tinged with apprehension.
“We’ll freeze them,” Theron said simply, like it was the most natural thing in the world. “We can’t risk them raising any alarms ahead of dinner.”
The villa fell silent as Kai and Jax knocked back vodka on the rocks, the weight of what we were about to do settling over us. I glanced around at the group—Kai tapping his glass-shared covered club absently against his foot, Jax staring intently at the broken shards of glass wrapped around a chair leg, Blanca standing near the window, her face unreadable.
“I’ll help,” Harmony offered.
“No, Harmony,” Blanca interjected, “I’ll help,” Blanca said suddenly, her voice laced with concern for Harmony cutting through the tension like a blade. She turned to Theron, her expression resolute. “I’ll help you freeze the hybrids.”
Theron nodded, no hint of surprise on his face. “Good. We’ll need precision.”
“I’ll stay back with Imani and keep watch,” Kai offered, though his tone made it clear he wasn’t volunteering out of fear. “In case something goes south.”
“That leaves Jax and me,” I said, stepping forward. “We’ll help with the hiding.”
Theron gave a curt nod. “Then let’s move.”
We slipped out into the jungle just as the last light of the day began to fade. The air was thick, the kind of humidity that clung to your skin like a second layer. Theron led the way, carrying the cache of weapons wrapped in a towel with Jax close behind. Blanca and I followed, our steps careful, deliberate. The jungle seemed alive around us, its sounds sharper, closer, as if it knew what we were about to do.
As we neared The Grove, Theron raised a hand, signaling us to stop. He crouched low, his eyes scanning the open space ahead. A group of staff hybrids was tidying up the area, their movements mechanical and unnerving in their precision.
Theron turned to Blanca, his voice barely a whisper. “They’ll have to be frozen.”
Blanca nodded, stepping forward without hesitation. Her usual lightness was gone, replaced by a quiet determination that made my chest tighten. As she approached the staff, she gently reached out with her voice asking, “Disculpe, señora, ¿podría ser posible que me trajera un agua con gas antes de la cena? (Excuse me madam, could I possibly get a sparkling water ahead of dinner?)
The staff member looked at her obediently before sending one of the waiters to fetch a sparkling water.
She moved toward the hybrids, her steps measured, her gaze locked on the closest one. When she spoke, her voice was calm but laced with something sharp, something that cut straight to the heart of the machines.
“If a plane crashes on the border of two countries,” she said, her tone as smooth as silk, “where do they bury the survivors?”
The hybrid froze, its head tilting slightly as it tried to process the paradox. Blanca turned to the second one without missing a beat.
“A man says, ‘I always lie.’ Is he lying or telling the truth?”
The second hybrid faltered, its movements jerking to a halt as its systems tried to reconcile the contradiction. One by one, she dismantled them with her words, leaving them motionless, their blank eyes staring at nothing.
“Go,” Theron hissed, and we moved quickly, slipping past the frozen hybrids and into the cover of the eastern tree line.
The spot Theron had chosen was dense, the undergrowth tangled and thick. It took all of us working together to clear enough space to conceal the weapons. Theron and Jax buried the cache under a pile of leaves and branches, their hands moving with practiced urgency. I worked with Blanca to scatter the remaining shards of broken glass, hiding them in places we could reach quickly when the time came.
Kai’s hoverboard was the last to go, buried under a shallow layer of dirt near the edge of the clearing. “Ace in the hole,” he’d said, and I could only hope he was right.
Back at my villa, the silence felt unnatural, like the Island itself was holding its breath. The usual hum of the jungle was distant, muffled, as though the world was leaning in, waiting for what was to come. I leaned against the windows, watching the sun sink lower, bleeding streaks of amber and crimson across the sky. The ocean shimmered in the dying light, too serene, too perfect. It felt wrong.
Inside, the villa was dim, the warm glow of the lights doing little to chase away the creeping sense of unease. My makeshift flamethrower sat on the desk, the lighter taped to the hairspray can gleaming faintly in the soft light. It was crude, almost laughably so, but it was ours. It was something.
The sound of the lift activating pulled me from my thoughts. I turned to see Jax walking into my villa, his hulking frame silhouetted against the fading light. He didn’t moved slower than usual, as if even he felt the weight of the moment.
I grabbed the flamethrower and set it aside, forcing myself to move, to do something. Anything to quiet the chaos in my head. I paced the room, checking and rechecking the weapons, walking and re-walking the grove in my mind, looking out the windows. I told myself it was practical, necessary. But the truth was, I needed the motion to drown out the stillness.
As we stood there in tense silence we turned sharply, my heart still racing. In the lift, I found Blanca standing there, her expression unreadable but her eyes betraying something fragile, something raw.
“Just checking in,” she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.
I nodded, stepping aside to let her in. She walked to the window, looking out at the horizon as the last traces of sunlight faded away. “It’s too quiet,” she said after a moment, her tone laced with unease.
“It is,” I agreed, closing the door and leaning against it. “Feels like the Island knows what’s coming.”
She turned to face me, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Do you think we’re ready?”
I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I walked to the desk and picked up the flamethrower, turning it over in my hands. “As ready as we’ll ever be,” I said finally, and the words felt heavy, final.
Blanca gave a faint, bitter laugh. “That’s not exactly reassuring.”
“It’s not exactly a reassuring situation,” I shot back, but there was no malice in my tone. Just exhaustion.
We stood in silence for a moment, the weight of everything pressing down on us. Finally, Blanca sighed, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “Guess I should get ready,” she said, heading for the door.
“Blanca,” I called out before she left. She paused, turning back to me. “Thank you. For earlier. For freezing the hybrids.”
Her expression softened, and for a brief moment, the tension in her shoulders eased. “We’re in this together, Adrian,” she said simply, before slipping out into the hallway.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, the silence creeping back in as I stared at the flamethrower in my hands. The villa felt too small, too quiet, like the walls were closing in. I thought of Celeste, of Aurora, of the group scattered across their villas, each of us alone in our own way, waiting for the storm to hit.
The calm before the storm, I thought, and it felt like the cruelest kind of irony.
The watch on my wrist ticked on, the feeling of the time clicking by impossibly loud in the stillness. Dinner was coming, and with it, the moment that would change everything.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. Just a little longer, I told myself. Just hold it together a little longer.
Outside, the sun slipped below the horizon, plunging the Island into darkness. And still, the silence held.