I thought she was kidding.. Gods.. was I wrong!
When Seraphie Monroe radioed in telling me she had recovered the body of Fortune's Last Chance, I laughed at her.
"You wake me up at First Chime to tell me a joke!" I asked her astonished. "This isn't like you Seraph'.. what's wrong?"
"No joke!!" her voice crackled back to me, interuppted by the short bursts of electrostatic energy generated by the labs aqu'oxy tank. "I've got her.. really! My instruments are reading electro-impulses from her neuron net, and she's siphoning off the Price's energy backup!"
By this point, I could tell, from the stress in the young girls voice that she wasn't kidding. I leapt from my sleeping slab and across the chamber to the vidcom port.
"Seraphie, I'm patching you into visual. Show me the med-bay, and her condition monitors.." I ordered, taking the usual course of action when dealing with a deep-black exposure case.
The readouts shocked me. Heartrate, breathing, and bloodpressure were flatline. But, neural output was at a maximum; her brain was still kicking around inside her skull! It took a few seconds more for the med-bay vid to boot up. And when it did, the scene made me want to lose what little dinner I had eaten the night before.
There she was, lying in such a state that it was incredible that her skull was still intact. A massive gaping hole had obliterated all traces of her face. The flesh hung in charred strips across bleach white bone and fried circuits. Seraphie had taken the forethought to drape a cloth over the lidless, staring eyes. I knew the indicators.. she had been a victim of point-blank flakshock. I frowned.
"Seraphie, what are the voltage readings of the neural net.. and how much has it siphoned from your systems?" I snapped, as I moved away from the vid so I could keep my dinner.
"Uh.. " I heard her rummaging around on her ship. "Batteries are down a good fifty to seventy-five Volts... I've no readings from the 'net yet.."
"Good, good," I muttered. "You're on your way here, right?"
Seraphie's thrilling laughter tinkled over the speakers. "You betch your Shokubaren Lilies I am!" I noticed her voice was mirthless.
I smiled briefly at her mention of Shokubaren Lilies. She and Chance had brought me one of the last plants from the dieing planet over three years ago, and I now had a garden of the handsome flowers bloominging in my Sol-House, atop the lab. "I'll prep the clone bath now.. I believe I still have a sample of Chance's genecode on hand."
"Wizard!" Seraphie exclaimed. "You do that; I'm prepping Cha-.. the body for a hyperjump.. we-" She sighed from frustration at having to continually correct herself. "I'll be there in less then 2 clics."
The vidcom fuzzed out, leaving static on the line. "Mute." I commanded the computer. "Alert Babsen, and Jacobs... and Moerlyn. I want the CLB and lab prepped and ready for an emergency revival.. and I want it STAT!"
The computer's AI acknowledged my orders, and the urgency in my voice and set about carring out my orders.
If it was one thing Chance always hated, it was this scummy little planet. Nevya is a small gass ball tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of the Milky Way Galaxy, even further away from the hub than the Terran system is. She'd have killed us for bringing her back her.. Us as in Seraphie and I. I had no idea what was in store for me when that frosted little brunette showed up.
Seraphie carted Chance's body in on a hoverslab, towing all sorts of electrical supply machinery behind it. I was ready, scrubbed, in my greens, and finished escorting Babsen and Jacobs from the room. Moerlyn I requested to assist me, but only because he was the best neuroresuscitator active in the field.
"There, Seraph," I directed, motioning to the lightslab. "We have a clone bath going already... including the embryonic body." I couldn't help but smile. "Growth hormones are making this quick.. so we can save her."
I rested my hand on Seraphie's, and she gave me a sweet smile. "Thanks.. but I'm not the one you should worry about comforting." She receded from my touch, and I watched quizzically as she crossed the room. "Tell that to Cyrus Magna.."
"That's a new name!" I exclaimed to her. Then.. glancing at the tall, weaslish Moerlyn. "Get that neural net disconnected and get the cerebrum into the nutrient solution!"
Moerlyn whipped into action, taking the body into the other room. Seraphie moved to stand by the clone bath, reaching her hand out to brush the glass with her fingertips.
"So," she began as soon as she could see my reflection in the reinforced glass. "How long will this take?"
"The cloning process takes at least 48 hours." I replied automatically. Seraphie leaned forward and rested her head against the glass. I tenatively reachedout to touch her shoulder. "You know.. Chance's mental state... after waking up after such a trauma could be highly unstable.."
She didn't reply at first, moving away out from under my touch where normally she would have remained. "I can take that risk."
I followed her as she walked away from me. "You need some rest, Seraph'," I advised, taking doctor's perogitave. "Why don't you go up to my chambers and have a nap? A nice long nap.." I had placed my hands on her shoulders and was rubbing them lightly. She closed her eyes and leaned back.
"That sounds like a good idea," she whispered. "You're wonderful, Vic, you know that?" She didn't wait for my answer, but pulled away and ascended to my chambers.
"So're you, Seraph, so're you." I breathed. With a sigh, I smoothed my greens and looked back into the cloning bath. The new body was progressing nicely, already into the early childhood stage. I stood and looked at the 10-year old Chance. The body, curled in a fetal postion, floated delicately in the solution, seeming so.. vunerable and innocent. I hated to think what she had gone through living on the streets of this Gods-forsaken planet.
I tapped a few keys, frowing at the readout. Yes, it did seem that her brain was still active, alive and well, but the activity was slow lethargic, almost as if she was giving up. I muttered to myself, having dismissed Moerlyn to other activities. "Don't you dare give up on me, Chance. If you give up on me I'll never forgive you."
"I won't either."
I froze; that wasn't Seraphie's delicate happy voice. It was deeper, scratchier and fuller. "Thornn." I hissed, turning and postitioning myself to protect the brain.
"What gave me away?" the Loxian asked, shifting so his trench coat revealed the black barrel of his shotgun. "My malicious intent?"
"Go away Thornn," I warned, my voice shaking. "This is a place of science, not violence."
"Like I care!" He scoffed. "Now outta my way!" His taloned claw caught my shoulder and shoved me away, tearing my greens and opening small cuts on my arm. I was horrified as he punched a few buttons.
"Stop!" I cried. "One false command and you could kill her!!"
"That's.. what I want." Thornn growled. In a sudden fit, he raised his fist high into the air, and brought it slamming down on the control console. I yelped as sparkes flew and the lights blinked out and died.
"Don't!! Don't!!" In my fervor, I had raised my voice to be heard above the crackle of electricity, and now, as Thornn turned to me, I knew my mistake.
"Victor Talbridge," he intoned. "You are hereby sentanced to a life of pain and agony, for the interference in life's proper course!"
I couldn't even blink as the shotgun's blast tore into my leg. I crumpled to the ground in a haze of pain and fury.
At the sound of the shot, the alarm system registered hostility and began to sound. Red lights flashed, and Thornn sneered. Moerlyn ran into the chamber, and skidded to a short stop just inside the door.
"You!" Thornn barked harshly. "Begin the transfer!"
Moerlyn hesitated. "Do it!" I gasped.
The man moved to the console. "You've damaged it!" he exclamied. Thornn growled menacingly in responce. "Look at this readout!! It shows... it shows... " Moerlyn never finished; he flew into action.
Before long, Chance's brain had been transfered to her new body. "Most of it at least," Moerlyn muttered cryptically, while attending my wound. Thornn laughed slightly, watching the still immersed Chance in the nutrient bath.
"So.." he asked, slyly. "How much did I destroy?"
"What?"
"You know perfectly what I mean.. " Thornn snarled, turning slightly. "Her mind.. how much did I destroy? I'm thinking a quarter.. at best.. a half.. " His toothy grin was chilling.
"Three quarters," Moerlyn murmured. "She's lacking all motor abilities, and nearly all memory capacity."
Thornn cackled. "Better than I'd believed!" He looked over his shoulder at Moerlyn and myself. I shivered and withdrew into the blanket that had been wrapped around me to prevent shock. Those eyes were so cold and inhumane. He took the word "alien" to the extreme. "Now," he continued musingly. "I believe, Doctor Moerlyn, that you have been working on neuromemetic chips." Thornn scratched his scaled jaw with one long talon. "I believe that you can program them for certain memories, am I correct?"
Moerlyn glanced at me before replying. "Well, yes.. but I don't see-"
"Use them."
Moerlyn and I both gasped and exclaimed: "What?!"
"Teach me how to program them and teach me how to initate the birthing sequence." Thornn ordered. "Or else.." He motioned with his shotgun, toward my burned and charred leg, for emphasis.
Whatever happened after that, happened behind closed doors. I was carted out by 'droids and brought down to the nearest wing of Megatrop hospital. Only by watching the holotapes of the security cameras did I learn the following.
Moerlyn did indeed teach Thornn what he needed to know. And Thornn was ruthless. Once he had the information, he murdered Zacrai Moerlyn without mercy. I couldn't mourn at the moment.
Thornn encoded fabricated memories, so well crafted, from what I could tell, that they were indistinguishable from the real ones, and even when loopholes were created, the neuro technology filled in the gaps. She would never, in her new life, be able to tell that they were false. Unless...
All of Moerlyn's inventions were failsafed. If someone could induce the correct circumstances then the programs would break down. I have no idea what the right sequence would be for the chips. That information had died with Moerlyn. I paused long enough to mourn for the loss of not only Moerlyn but of Chance as well. She had left us for the second time, even as I watched the holo's, even as she stepped from the cloning bath, even as Thornn wrapped her in a blanket and treated her like a long lost love, and even, even as their twin malicious laughter echoed through the sound systems.
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