crack_van | Relations by Penny Dreadful (R)

Hello, I'm

astrogirl2, and I'll be piloting the Blake's 7 van this month! I have pretty broad tastes in fanfic, with a definite leaning towards the dark'n'angsty, and I've got a hell of a story to start you off with:

Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: Travis/Kiera
Author on LJ:

archbishopm
Author Website: On-Line Fan-Fiction
Why this must be read:

It beautifully ties together and fleshes out various insufficiently-developed bits of canon. It presents an utterly believable and convincing look at what life is like on Earth under the Federation. It's extremely well-written, as all of Penny's stories are. And all of that would be reason enough to read it, but what really makes this story a stand-out is the chillingly perfect way it conveys the horrifying, mundane evil of the Federation, evil inflicted not by mustache-twirling villains, but by human beings who may actually believe they're doing good, or at least doing an honest day's work. The POV character -- whose name attentive B7 fans will recognize -- works in a processing facility which creates mutoids, and the complete matter-of-factness with which she regards the horrors that surround her literally makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This one isn't for the faint-hearted, but it packs one hell of an impact.

Excerpt:

"These people come to you for help, Miss Laver." Tao Hal and her camera turned slowly around to take in all the pre-product, in their black gowns, strapped tight to black gurneys. "Do you feel that you've helped them?"

I stifled an exasperated sigh. "They're dreamheads, Tao. Their brains are burnt out for good in several important places. It's this or they die, that's a scientific fact."

"Opponents-" There was a noise; she glanced nervously to the side. "-opponents of modification have long maintained that a quick death would be far more merciful."

"Even if that argument held, Tao, which it does not, the fact would remain that a corpse could hardly hope to repay the debts he's incurred to the Federation during his years of shadow addiction."

"His or hers," Tao Hal murmured, looking around. Of the sixteen pre-product present, fourteen were certainly female, and the other two might have been.

"Male shadow addicts are much more likely to die of the drug, if not by suicide or other violence, before they have a chance to come to us. Which is everybody's loss."

One of the pre-product was starting to move rather a lot, make noises. There were no techs present, so I decided it was time to move on to the next stop on our tour.

Relations

Relations by Penny Dreadful (R)

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