III
Landers Brecht never had what would be considered an adventurous existence: his parents loved him; his social skills had developed beyond the virtual interactions of the psynet; when he entered university, his innate skill with languages -- both organic and technical -- drew accolades and he was on the path to a flourishing career as a teacher and researcher.
But the Starcane Foundation came knocking and along with it came Deirdre. Then, Deirdre died at the hands of an unknown assailant during a secret assignment for the Foundation. She had come into his life shining like a bright star and their love had been the kind fuelled by a mutual respect, admiration and devouring lust. Her death lead him to seek out the most isolating affectation the Foundation could provide. But she had come back to him as a ghost in a machine. A pity the reunion was doomed to end in fire.
Araa had survived the impact of the life pod with little damage – and what damage there was, her nanotech structure could repair easily. Brecht had not shared that same fortune. Under the light of some flares Araa had found, Brecht's moans of agony signalled he was fully aware of the pain he felt: his right arm was crushed and right leg was a jagged stump. His femur bone was exposed, surrounded by the meat of his shredded, dripping, thigh muscle. Blood left crimson stains all around the debris of the life pod. The pale, greyish, bone of the right side of his skull was exposed as part of his scalp was torn to a bloody piece of meat. Araa hovered her hands over him while a diagnostic glove cast a holographic cross section of his innards.
"Breathe slowly," Araa whispered as sections of the hologram were magnified and a detailed list of the damage appeared along with possible treatments. She furrowed her brow and her concern deepened. "Breathe slowly or the oxygen saturation in your blood with make you delirious. It might even drown you."
"Noo ..." Brecht moaned. "I mourned you. Deirdre. How can you be here? Space isn't supposed to be full of ghosts ..."
"I'm Araa, Lan ... Professor. Just Araa."
Brecht lapsed into a moaning unconsciousness. Araa foraged for a med kit and found some pain killers – she quickly loaded a hypo-syringe and injected Brecht in the neck. His moans subsided but his body shook as a seizure overcame him. Araa stifled a gasp and held him down in a attempt to prevent him from harming himself. Her artificial muscles modulated to compensate for the lesser gravity and not add to his injuries.
"I wont mourn you again," Araa said. The sentiment was not hers though. A memory from the woman Deirdre surfaced as she looked upon the professor. He had once been studying to be a teacher of xeno-linguistics – he was referred to as the professor because he was already and associate in a few virtual universities. Deidre had met him in a preparatory class where he was teaching them the importance of cross cultural symbolism in linguistic referencing when dealing with proto hominid cultures. Deirdre fell in lust at first sight. It had been mutual.
Araa held Brecht's head gently on her lap after his seizure had subsided and applied an organic regenerative adhesive to his torn scalp – while his skin began to rebuild, the new cells forming from the stem structure in the adhesive, Araa recalled the sensations she felt as they copulated while the life pod tumbled towards Voltariis 6. From Deirdre's memories the word fuck emerged. Araa understood that she and the Professor had fucked, like humans do.
Araa closed her eyes as she was awash with her own singular memory of the pleasure she felt as he fucked her – it was clearly connected to the sensations Deirdre had felt, but the core reaction was her own. Araa proceeded to set Brecht's crushed arm – she used a nano structure to reconnect the bones and she formed a protective barrier over the stump of his right leg. She pondered Brecht's comment about mourning Deirdre – the word conjured a memory where Deirdre had received word from the Starcane Foundation that Brecht had died in an accident. Grief had deadened her skills and in her insouciance, she fell. When the stranger's blade had pierced her, he had apologized – he also used the engram decoder that served as Araa's upgrade module. The Foundation, Araa though, worked in mysterious ways.
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Z'eth'I's skin was a scabbed, oozing wound that dragged as the young Vik'sh crawled to what could only be the skeleton of the great blazing beast that had fallen to the ground and had stirred the ire of the core dragon. Z'eth'I hoped that if the heart of the beast could be found and offered to the core, a blessing would be apposed and the Passing would be achieved.
But Z'eth'I was the anointed heart.
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Araa found a water container and poured some on Brecht's chapped lips – her med analysis showed that his internal injuries were more extensive than she had initially believed. She did not have the skill or the equipment to treat him. She looked around and began to rummage through the debris with deliberate speed as the planet's lesser gravity was hampering her search. A few moments later, she found her objective: it looked like a discarded spinal column comprised of 24 black interlocking segments. When she picked it up, her mind became aware of the a.i. that resided in the apparatus and knew it was called a sub-spine. They scanned each other and when the challenge codes were authenticated, Araa knew she held the key to saving Brecht's life. It was a logical decision, but she felt a conflict she had never endured before – a moral conflict. Was it right to use it to save him when, through Deirdre's memories, she knew he had always sworn never to use any kind of enhancements? She understood it could be argued she had suffered the same fate – yet she had not chosen the engram enhancements. It had seemed logical considering the limited parameters of her previous version; she had no concept of choice. Brecht was also currently without the power of choice and his life was now in the hands of someone for whom choice was newly acquired. So, she chose and she was now ready to accept his hate if her decision allowed for him to live.
Araa deposited the apparatus, gently lifted Brecht off the scorched earth and lowered him onto the sub-spine. At first, nothing happened, although Araa was monitoring the progress of the symbiotic a.i. Brecht moaned when a series of neurogenic tendrils grew from the modules newly grafted to his back and pierced his skin and laced with the nerves extending from his natural spine. It was the battle armour the Foundation had sent – an experimental armour designed by the Gate Keeper alliance, said to have been reverse engineered from ancient alien technology. The tendrils spread across Brecht's entire nervous system, including creating a weave within the frontal lobes of his brain. His mouth snapped open in a silent scream his eyes rolled back into his head as the tendrils burst from the cap that covered his right leg stump. Blood dripped from the eerie strings as they fanned out from his wound, causing Araa to reflexively jump back – they had found his severed leg and were dragging it back to where he laid. His leg was reattached, torn and missing flesh replaced by layers of nano tubes. An ebony web of nano particles spread from the sub-spine and covered Brecht's limbs before sinking into his skin.
The armour had been designed as a weapon -- its battle systems synced with Brecht's senses and installed wet drive networks in his frontal lobes to allow Brecht control of the armour's advanced infiltration and defensive grids. After the drivers were installed, the sub-spine extended overlapping layers of nano tubes that covered his body from head to toe. The final touch was single molecule thick layer of exotic alloy – the same that created the the hyper-gates. While the armour's external structured was finalized, the nano web had spread in Brecht's body, repairing his extensive internal injuries while augmenting his natural systems to better cope with the demands of the armour.
Araa watched as the mono-molecular armour changed Brecht, the symbiotic a.i orchestrating his rebirth as a melding of organic and tech. She projected the anatomical renderings she had coveted in her previous version of the man and was saddened. The armour sealed itself across his face and a single green, illuminated slit occupied the faceplate the armour had created – the armour itself seemed to glistened as its dark, sinewy appearance completed its reptilian design.
Before she could reflect on her decision and his condition any longer, the armour retracted from his body and Brecht was exposed and whole before her. He was naked and his skin glowed in the firelight as though he was a newborn. Araa rushed to his side and brought the flares with her, hoping their greenish flames would be enough to warm him.
Minutes passed until Brecht opened his eyes and took a deep breath. Light flickered in his dark eyes and he slowly ran his hands over his body. He touched his head, his arm, and finally his right leg – he felt the ban of nano tubes that held the limb in place. He jaw muscle tightened as he sat up and reached behind his back – he found the sub-spine and his mind was given access to the data the symbiont a.i. had recorded during his reassembly. Araa observed as Brecht stood and took a few hesitant steps. He clenched his fists and hung his head. She joined him but hesitated to touch him. He turned and faced her.
