by Scott Baron
“Jesus, what the fuck!”
The servos hummed and whined as the needle pressed harder and harder against her femur until it finally punched in, claiming its prize of bone and marrow before withdrawing, spraying a sealant into the tiny hole.
“Sorry, it shouldn’t do that. Usually it goes in really easy. Anyway, we’ve got blood and bone now, so you’re good to go.”
Daisy eased herself back to the floor and padded over to the readouts as Chu pored over the data.
“Amazing,” he said. “Look at this activity. Your brain, it’s firing at an incredible rate.”
“Gee, I wonder why that is,” Sarah chimed in. “Not like someone removed all their safeties from their neuro-stim, now is it?”
I knew I could count on you to give me shit at a time like this, she thought.
“What are sisters for?”
“My God, you’ve even partitioned it,” Chu marveled.
“Partitioned what?”
“Your brain. It’s like you’re running a multi-core processor now. This is so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen, I don’t even know how to interpret it.”
“Let me take a look,” Daisy said, leaning in to get a better look at the screen. As she did, Chu turned to another screen to examine her tissue samples. His eyes widened as he did but Daisy was too engrossed in what was on the screen in front of her to notice. It seemed that indeed her mind was indeed running at several thousand percent higher levels than a normal human.
“Whoa. This must’ve happened when I ran the neuro-stim without any inhibitors.”
Chu gasped and spun to look at her in disbelief. “You did what? How are you not a vegetable? No matter how robust your body is, that should have fried your brain!”
“Yeah, this robust thing? Not a word ladies like to be called. Just a note for future reference.”
“Sorry, it’s just that, well, look at this readout.”
She pivoted to see the screen.
“What you’re made of is so much stronger than normal human tissue,” he continued. “Now we know why the machine was having such a hard time. It wasn’t broken, it’s just that it required about eight hundred percent more force to take a bone sample than normal. You almost broke the needle, and that should be nearly impossible.”
“Hang on. What’s that?” she said, pointing to her bone matrix displayed on screen.
“Looks like a crystalline structure organically grown into the bone itself. And look! It’s repairing itself despite being in a sample dish. See how it draws from the residual marrow to resolidify? My God, you must heal incredibly fast.”
“Okay, well that wasn’t my doing. I just messed with the neuro-stim, is all.”
“About that. It could explain why your mind is partitioned like it is. Running multiple systems simultaneously. The data input you withstood must have been enormous.”
“Ha, that’s probably why I have one of our dead crewmembers living in my head now,” she joked.
Chu looked at her, deadly serious.
“Are you messing with me?” he asked. “Because given what I see here, that’s entirely possible.”
Daisy felt her stomach flip.
“No, wait,” he continued, “what am I saying? Even if you did manage to override the firewall all the way down to base code levels, you still physically wouldn’t be able to download a non-genetically compatible backup.”
“A what now?”
“Yeah, what was that about backups?”
“Oh, I thought you knew. Any new crew that is being grown and fed neuro-stim data during the course of a flight as long as yours is automatically backed up to the central processor’s parallel neural array. It requires a massive amount of storage, and it takes years upon years of constant backups, but your ship is powered by one of the most impressive systems I’ve ever seen. More than capable of running a group of human backups at once.”
“Backups? How can they even do that?”
“They grew us all, remember? Until we are woken from cryo, we’re just essentially one big data set, and after waking, every time we sleep with our neuro on, we add a little more to the file. Why, even some portable arrays in our gear are wired to capture the basics of daily activities, just in case there’s an accident before a proper backup can be run that night. Like every time we wear an EVA helmet or something.”
“Fuck me,” Sarah said in shock. “He said genetically compatible. We come from the same egg. Daisy. Am I really alive in here?”
Daisy’s stomach flipped back and forth a few more times before she managed to right herself from her suddenly upside-down world. I don’t know, Sis, she answered. I think we need to keep this to ourselves for the time being, in any case.
“On that, we agree. But holy crap, Daze. I was just getting used to the notion that no matter what I thought, I was just a figment of your imagination, but this?”
Tell me about it.
“Are you okay, Daisy?” Chu asked. “You look a little green.”
“Just need to get something to eat, is all,” she covered. “If we’re all done, I’m gonna go hit the galley.”
“Yeah, that’s it. Oh, and now that you’re on a base, it’s called a mess hall.”
“Got it. New vernacular. Thanks, Chu.”
“No, thank you for your cooperation. This data is absolutely astounding. I can’t believe what I’ve learned today.”
“You and me both,” she managed with a forced smile as she exited the lab.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
One of the unforeseen benefits of moving into a facility designed to house a crew for lengthy periods of time was the impressive kitchen in the mess hall.
If men and women were expected to spend months or even years on the cold surface of the moon, they’d need a few creature comforts to keep them from going completely stir crazy. Food was one of the most viscerally appreciated of all the creature comforts, and Dark Side had made sure the cravings of all its residents could be satisfied.
Finn was still marveling over all his new toys when Daisy walked in.
“Hey, renegade girl,” he said with a little smile.
“Hey, Finn.”
“So, you’re all up to speed now, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Kinda sucks, right?”
“Yeah. Kind of an understatement, though, don’t you think?”
“Look, I’m sorry I never said anything. It’s just the captain told us day-one we had to keep quiet about it until he assessed things. Till he saw how you and Sarah were handling everything. I guess by the time it would have been okay to talk about it, well, we’d already fallen into a groove of sorts.”
Daisy dug in the refrigerator’s freezer unit.
“Bingo.”
“Oh, you found the pistachio,” Finn said, his spirits falling slightly. “I sort of started making ice cream out of habit when we got here. Made Sarah’s favorite without even thinking about it.” He fell into an uncomfortable silence.
“Aw, what’s up with Finn?” Sarah asked.
He liked you. Like, really liked you.
“So why didn’t he say something?”
Shy?
“Finn? Shy? I think not.”
Waiting for the right time, then. Who knew time was so short? We’d all act differently if we knew there was a clock running out. Twenty-twenty hindsight, I suppose.
The sisters looked at the down man through shared eyes.
“Hey, do me a favor. Tell him how much I always appreciated what he made for me. Tell him I loved his pistachio ice cream. Just don’t do it in a way that’ll make him sadder, okay?”
Daisy pondered how best to relay the message from beyond the grave, finally deciding on a direct and simple approach.
“You know, Sarah always said how much she enjoyed what you cooked for her. Said you had a real talent. You already know she especially liked your pistachio ice cream, but you should also know she thought it was really sweet how you always took the time to mak
e her a batch.”
Finn’s mood shifted slightly.
“So she noticed?”
“Yeah, she noticed.”
The mess hall doors swung open, and Shelly, Omar, and a scruffy man Daisy hadn’t seen before came striding in.
“Mister Finnegan!” Omar called out. “My new favorite person, you think you could whip us up a little something before we suit up and head out?”
“Head out? Where you going?” Finn asked.
“Well, Shelly and me, we’re on repair detail. Hangar Three always needs more work, so it’s moonwalk time for us yet again.”
“And I’ll be drifting for a bit. See what I can find,” the scruffy man said.
“Hey, Donovan, you met Daisy yet?” Finn asked.
“No, I was out with Bob when she came in.”
“Bob?” Daisy said.
“My ship.”
“Oh, yeah.”
He keyed his comms. “Hey, Bob, say hi to Daisy. She’s the one we saw blazing down to the surface last week.”
“Oh, yes, the daredevil. Sid and Mal told me all about her,” a voice said over comms. “That was an unusual re-entry you pulled off.”
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t exactly a compliment. I’m actually rather amazed you didn’t burn up in the atmosphere,” Bob said.
“Hey now, don’t be rude,” Donovan chimed in. “What my friend means to say is, he was surprised by the tactic, is all. It was reckless, sure, but it was also impressive as hell, especially seeing as you’re not actually a pilot.”
“Mother. Necessity. You know the saying,” Daisy replied. “Now what’s this drifting you’re talking about?”
“Ah, yeah, it’s how we gather intel and scavenge parts at the same time. Me and Bob, we park out in the debris field in orbit to monitor the surface. From time to time we come across a piece of wreckage that might actually come in handy, sometimes even a salvageable ship chassis, and when we do, we bring it back here to be broken down into usable parts.”
“That’s where us grunts come in,” Shelly added with a chuckle.
“Well, I mean look at you. You’ve got those kick-ass arms, Shelly. Would you rather I tried to do it with these scrawny guns?”
“No, Donovan, of course not,” she answered with a grin. “You stick to flying. Omar and I will be your beasts of burden and handle the heavy work.” Shelly turned to Daisy. “So, you chomping at the bit to get back to the surface?”
“Oh, hell no. You couldn’t drag me back down there,” she replied.
“Wait, what?” Shelly said, confused. “But I thought—”
“She hasn’t talked with the commander yet,” Omar interjected.
“Oh.”
“Commander Mrazich did ask to speak with me later, so I guess I’ll get filled in soon enough,” Daisy said, heading for the door, ice cream in hand. “Thanks for the treat, Finn. See you all around,” she said, then stepped into the hallway, wondering what extra serving of grief the pending conversation would pile on her already-full plate.
Fatima, Mrazich, and Harkaway were waiting in the conference chamber when Daisy arrived that evening at their request.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes. Thank you for coming, Daisy,” Fatima said with a warm smile.
“Does she ever not smile?” Sarah asked, a little annoyed.
Seriously, Daisy replied. It’s freaking me out a little. She always looks like she knows the punchline to a joke we haven’t even been told yet.
The silver-haired woman observed Daisy’s momentary silence with interest in her eyes, but said no more.
“Daisy,” Captain Harkaway began, “we’ve been looking over the lab reports from this morning and wanted you to be a part of the discussion.”
“Um, thank you?” she replied.
“You’ve been left in the dark about a great many things, and we feel it is important that you be included in all aspects of this mission moving forward.” Commander Mrazich looked at her kindly.
At least as kindly as a man with a metal jaw and mechanical eye can manage.
“I understand Captain Harkaway filled you in on many details of the prior missions, as well as Sid’s former role in all of this before he was installed in Dark Side.”
“Yeah, Sid was the overseeing AI for the initial assault. Got it,” she answered. “But what I don’t get is why this crazy need for humans to reach the surface. Seems to me you could just as easily build a fleet of remote-piloted throw-away ships and run a numbers-game attack until you take out the distribution hubs you say control things.”
“If only it were so simple,” Harkaway said. “The problem is, after the prior failed assaults, the invaders have shifted their defensive stance. We simply cannot afford a major assault from space. That would cause a recall of the invading fleet. They have moved on and are light years away, and that’s to our benefit. We just have to keep it that way.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
“A smaller, focused incursion has been assessed to be our best chance to reclaim control of the cities and eventually the planet, but it is imperative we stay off their scans as long as possible if there’s to be any hope of success. We’ve had many failed missions at this point, Daisy, and ultimately, we’ve come to realize we simply do not have the firepower or resources necessary to succeed.”
“So why are we here, then?”
“Because the city defenses do,” Mrazich replied. “If we can get an operative successfully inside one of the cities to access its weaponry, perhaps we could do more than just have it launch automated repelling barrages at the smaller alien craft. At least, that was the plan, but with your new intel that some of the cities’ AIs may actually still be active beyond mere auto defenses, well, that changes everything. We’ve been working on a revised set of mission parameters since you brought us that news.”
“But why me? I mean, I saw Vince and Reggie and Tamara down there. They didn’t seem to have much trouble with the Chithiid soldiers.”
“First, those weren’t soldiers, they were a resource disassembly team. Construction workers, basically. And second, you weren’t conscious for the particularly hairy escape and evasion part of your recovery mission.”
“Yeah, thanks to Tamara blasting me with a stun rifle.”
“She did what had to be done,” Fatima said.
“Maybe, but I think she enjoyed it.”
Harkaway leveled his gaze at her. “You blew her out an airlock, Daisy. She’s going to hold that against you for a while.”
“Fine,” she conceded. “But I still don’t see why you needed me and Sarah.”
“Because after decades of failed missions, we learned that even the most basic levels of active technology would be noticed and quickly eliminated by the Chithiid. Only an entirely non-augmented human could pass their scans without detection.”
“But the cyborgs live there—”
“And you saw what happened to them when they stayed above ground for any length of time,” Mrazich noted. “And the stolen shuttle you so brilliantly crashed? It was one of the few means of reaching the surface dead-stick. Debris from the war still rains down from time to time, and a seemingly inert ship, one capable of gliding and not giving off a power signature, could make it down without being targeted, as you learned the hard way. Unfortunately, after you powered up its comms array with those solar cells, it was only a matter of time before those alien bastards investigated the new energy signature.”
“So the shuttle?”
“Gutted for parts moments after the rescue team snatched you away from the Chithiid.”
“Great, so I was your golden girl, but that plan’s gone to shit. Now what?”
“Given the pace at which the invaders are harvesting our planet, by the time the next generation of viable candidates reaches Earth, it may be too late. It took so long to prepare you for this, Daisy. I hate to sound maudlin, but you’re our only hope.”
For som
e reason, she couldn’t help but smile at the memory of an old space movie she’d watched with Vince just a few months prior. Our only hope, huh?
“Look, why not train your people to do this?”
“We told you, they have artificial parts and would be detected almost immediately.”
Daisy thought a moment.
“Okay, well I saw what looked like—” She shuddered at the memory. “What looked like more people being grown in the Váli’s secret little laboratory. Why not wake them up?”
Captain Harkaway glanced at the others, a concerned look on his face.
“Daisy, what exactly did you see?”
“Well, between being chased down, shot at, and forced into hiding, I did see vats of limbs, and what looked like a few intact bodies in there. If what you’ve been saying is true, then why not wake them up and let them join the party?”
Harkaway sighed. “Because, Daisy, what you saw weren’t viable humans. They were grown as emergency sources of organic replacement parts. They’ve never been hooked to the neuro stim. Their minds are still complete blanks, and it would take far too long to even consider beginning the process to give them a consciousness.”
Daisy felt a shiver run up her spine at the thought of mindless husks, grown for the sole purpose of being cut up and used as needed. Given the problems with metallic limbs, she could understand the rationale, but, nevertheless, it was an incredibly disturbing thought.
“Okay,” she began. “So it might take a few years to bring them up to speed. It still sounds like a better plan than sending little old me down there on my own.”
“Daisy,” Fatima said, kindly, “you don’t understand how long the process takes.”
“Well if I was fully-loaded in just a few years of flight time in cryo, surely you could do a stripped-down version faster.”
Fatima beamed that damned warm smile again.
“Daisy, you and Sarah were our best yet.”
“So you’ve said.”
“So we have,” Fatima continued. “It was a long flight, Daisy, and your minds were both carefully nurtured over that time. A long time.”