#including Simon's “original” body on Theta

[bopossum]

I finished Soma last night

and the main thing that has been sticking with me is the two Simons in the end. As depressing as it is that one Simon is left behind, it's even more excruciating to realize that the Simon on the Ark doesn't even know that a version of him was left behind, alone, in the dark, at the bottom of the Atlantic.

It's possible that Catherine tells him on the Ark that Simon and Catherine are still down there in Pathos II, but considering how blasé she tends to be about brain scans, copies, and the robots they meet along the way, I could believe that she never even mentions their other selves left behind, so the Simon on the Ark never learns about the version of him left behind.

And if she did tell him, he definitely wouldn't handle it well. Knowing that he's still down there for who-knows-how-long would probably fill him with a sense of guilt he could never live down, be it survivor's guilt or disgust for what he's done.

In a way, the post-credits epilogue on the Ark made the ending so much more gut-wrenching, knowing how polarized the rest of the Simons' near-immortal lives will be.