by A. Payne
“If you get a patient. It’s been dead for you, too.” Hart popped another candy into her mouth and watched him. “You know, I’m a practicing empath.”
“So? You mentioned this to me before.”
“You’re excited about something. What’s up, Victor? You’re hiding in your office, anxious to leave when you’re usually the last to go, and you’re stuffing your face with candies – when they’re serving fried chicken in the mess tonight. Your favorite.”
“If you are reading my thoughts, I will punch you out of this ship’s airlock. I’ll explain later to Bishop about why he lost a physician,” he threatened grumpily. He avoided meeting her eyes and kicked the trash bin out from behind his desk. “I have a lot of things on my mind.”
“I’m not reading your mind. I only pick up on strong emotions and feelings, which you should know since you’ve been to med school.”
“I slept through the class on telepaths, all right?”
“C’mon. Dish.” Hart folded her hands together and practically bounced on her toes.
A quick glance to the left and to the right confirmed no one was within ear shot. Their conversation would remain private. “I have a date.”
“Ohhh?” Her eyebrows rose beneath her bangs. “Will you meet her for tea in the cafe? Or shall it be a make-out in the bio-farm? That’s where all the kids are snogging these days.”
“It’s an online date,” Victor quickly clarified. “I don’t want… we aren’t ready to meet in public here yet. She has a private rig in her bunk and we planned to meet in a game.” Except you forgot to ask for her login handle, dumbass. Victor sighed and considered phoning Zoe back to ask, but her time on the clock wasn’t as fluid. He had all the free time he needed between patients.
“So she’s not a fellow officer then. I have to say, I’m curious about who’s caught your eye. Pretty sure you’re not going to tell me though.” Hart wrinkled her nose at him.
“You guessed correctly.”
“Go on, sod off, and get out of here. Shift is almost up and unless Daniels rips someone’s tech out of a socket, you won’t be needed.”
“You don’t mind?” Victor hesitated, perched on the edge of the seat.
“I can handle things. Besides, the way your feelings are bouncing all over the place you won’t be focused anyway.”
“Thanks, Kath.”
Without any patients awaiting his care and with no scheduled procedures, Victor abandoned his post early for the first time since his arrival on the ship. He was halfway to his stateroom when his communicator beeped.
“Tactical room, Victor.”
Ethan’s terse voice cut off and Victor swore. A call like that meant now, not later. He turned about and headed directly for the briefing room as ordered. Daniels arrived at the same time and didn’t utter a word or acknowledge his sociable nod.
Ethan, Amelia, and Oshiro had already taken their seats. Their grim expressions told it all.
“We just received word from the Glenn. She’s been on similar mission as ours in the Tersian Nebula.” Ethan cut to the point without greeting them. “They discovered a mining settlement out there under the same circumstances as Athena. Only they arrived too late… and the pirates left more bodies behind than they took.”
“We forwarded several autopsy results to your personal medical rig, Doctor,” Amelia informed him. “You’ll find them to be of interest.”
“Why is that?” Victor asked politely.
“The survivors from Athena said the pirates took everyone with cybernetic implants on the ship first and secured them. After that they weeded through the rest. According to the personnel files, everyone on that ship either had an implant or was a technician involved in the manufacture of cybernetic parts.”
“Right. So we have pirates on a high tech ship with their sights set on cyborgs.”
“The bodies found by the Glenn had been… stripped.” Amelia frowned and pulled up a file on the display. Over a dozen images flickered open, each more disturbing than the last.
“What the hell is all that?” Daniels leaned forward to get a better look.
“Someone practiced cerebral augmentation on that man. Right here, I recognize it by the cyberware burns on his brain,” Victor commented. He stared at the frozen image hovering above their table. “Typically, we’re allowed minimal interference with the brain.” The photos demonstrated another story of opened skulls and blank, staring faces attached to motionless corpses, their bodies strewn over the ground like refuse. It pissed him off. It wasn’t ethical. It wasn’t right.
“He is correct,” Oshiro said. “Good eye, Victor. I didn’t recognize the burns.”
“You’re not trained for it,” Victor replied quietly. Oshiro practiced general health, psychiatry, and a host of other necessary medical specialties, but he didn’t share Victor’s intense love of technology.
“Okay. It’s clear that they’re abducting experimental subjects, but why would they prefer to take cyborgs,” Daniels said, cutting in. “If they plan to do the work on them already…”
Yes… why are they? Victor wondered. Experimental brain research could help millions, but the strict codes enacted by the Empire forbid it. Zoe’s little sister would benefit greatly. “I’ve got it!”
“Yeah? Well don’t keep us in suspense,” Daniels said.
“I’ve got two theories.” The four officers gave him their full attention. “When the steps are made to become a cyborg, often we install a small neurochip between the brain and spinal cord. It’s a wireless conduit between it and the new cybernetic part. Practically every cyborg of the past fifty years should have one.”
“You think they’re after the chips?” Ethan asked. “If that were the case, why not simply hijack a freighter with a shipment of the chips on the way to a medical installation?”
“No. About twenty percent of the cyborg population rejects their chip. Their bodies can’t handle it. When that happens, they’re downgraded to a less efficient, but very useful model from early century. There’s a firm that specializes in building more of the old tech to today’s standards.
“So, what you’re saying is that they’re hunting for cyborgs who have already undergone the trial?” Daniels asked. “Christ. I didn’t know it was so complicated.”
“I haven’t told you about the number who die on the table, mate. Choosing cybernetics isn’t an easy decision.” And for a soldier with a career, it was absolutely necessary to remain in the military without a medical discharge.
Daniels looked abashed, and rightly so.
“But there’s more to it than that. As we discovered, they’re also claiming psychics. I believe that whoever we’re after has chosen to abduct them for illegal brain experimentation. A psychic’s brain can accept a lot of punishment before it’s absolutely exhausted beyond the point of regenerating.”
“Is it possible that he’s correct, Yuki?” Amelia asked.
“Very possible. Why plant the seed when you can purchase a sapling? Only in their case, they’re stealing living human beings.” The words chilled Victor as they left Oshiro’s mouth. “But what do we plan to do about it?”
“Find them,” Ethan said swiftly. “I have Nisrine and Lockhart conducting a search of their own. In the meantime, we plan to visit the remaining outer rim colonies. Set them on alert. We’ll conduct weapons training with their militias and local police forces to prepare them.”
“Still, what is their goal? Can just anyone do this kind of work on a body? You went through years of training to get where you are,” Amelia pointed out.
“Takes a skilled neurosurgeon and a cyberneticist working in conjunction with each other,” Victor replied. “Anything less is murder. You can’t pick this up from a FaceNote video and practice it out.”
“The brain is off limits to tampering. Back when the experimental trials first began, Parliament decreed that the human mind was too delicate to undergo enhancement,” Oshiro explained. “I was fresh to neurosurgery
then, but I remember the day clearly. Hundreds died during unnecessary cybernetic procedures.”
“Obviously someone decided to pick that research back up.” Ethan grunted in disgust. “Doesn’t matter why, not right now. You lot can figure that out after we catch them.”
They adjourned the meeting after discussing their next destination. The commodore hung back instead of filing from the room along with the others.
“Victor, a moment.”
“Yes?” The door closed behind Oshiro, leaving the two men alone.
“We’ve been so busy that we haven’t had a chance to really talk. Free time has been shite.”
“That’s because you’ve been busy flirting with virtual nymphs.” Victor grinned and put on a smile. He had a niggling feeling about the reason behind the chat.
“We don’t all have young women visiting our staterooms aboard the ship.”
Shit. “How did you–”
“No one told me anything. No one alive anyway. I tried to ring you last night for a chat, but the ship’s bloody A.I. insisted you were busy with a female friend. She screened me. Me. Do you plan to tell me who?”
“No.”
“Fair enough.” Ethan backed down easily. Too easily. He always had a knack for knowing when to push and when to withdraw. “At any rate, that isn’t why I asked you to hang back a moment. You’re aware of the mission schedule, right?”
“You’re worried about our next scheduled liberty location.”
“Yes. Will you be all right there?”
All right. Such a simple concept, but far from how he felt when he considered the rolling green and blue oceans stretched endlessly over the globe. The little aquatic planet held memories for him of his deceased wife. Ylona wouldn’t want him to avoid her home planet. She would want him to celebrate every moment as if she were there in spirit.
“I’ll be all right,” he responded slowly. “I’m looking forward to it. I miss her, mate, but I promise going there isn’t going to push me over the edge. I won’t collapse again.”
“And… your new friend? Is that a onetime dalliance or will you be sharing the time with her?” Ethan regarded him with brotherly concern.
“I don’t know. I didn’t think… I honestly don’t know what she expects.” Victor frowned. “I haven’t told her about Ylona.”
“Or about the rest of your troubles, I take it. Go ahead and ask her. We’ll work with you on the schedule if your shore leave doesn’t overlap.”
“You don’t have to do that, Ethan. No special favors.”
“This isn’t a special favor. Now get out of here. I’d ask you to join me in game tonight but I have plans to visit Engineering and the Main Battery. When we run into those pirates again, I don’t want history repeating itself.”
“Don’t terrorize them too much.”
The men parted ways and Victor hurried as fast as he dared down the passageway. A glance at his chronometer revealed the approaching hour for his date. Thanks to the unexpected meeting he was cutting it close.
Lil smiled at him in passing, her bright eyes practically twinkling within her dark face. “Hi, Victor. Are you okay?”
“I’m perfectly fine,” he replied. “Why?” Aside from the jitters that kept him practically bouncing on his toes like an anxious teen waiting on his first date. Was Zoe waiting for him yet? Would he find her exasperated and bored, or had she logged off?
“You seem very different,” the young woman told him. “A good different, I think.”
“Do I?” Flustered, he shot her a nervous smile. “I’m meeting up with a friend in a game. I suppose you could say I’m excited.” And nervous.
“Go on. Please do not let me keep you.”
“Thank you, Lil. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He flew into his room, stripped out of his clothes and showered. He had his VR gear in place less than five minutes later.
The game asked him if he wanted to log into his last known position, or teleport to a new location. He chose the Gardens of Manhattan. Seconds later, the virtual world greeted him with a splash of colors and humming sensation. It came alive, bombarding him with natural green smells associated with chlorophyll and melodic trills from local birds once native to Earth.
Zoe had picked the location. Victor turned in a circle, taking in the exotic sight surrounding him. New York City as a whole didn’t appeal to him; it was too crowded and noisy. No wonder their past ancestors had looked to the stars for greener pastures.
He waited in an oasis within the chaotic city replica. Trees grew inside and soared up to the vaulted glass roof, water fell over rocks in a natural fountain, and flowers in every color sprouted up in neatly tended beds. Birdsong filled the air. It was beautiful and quiet, with only a small handful of other players occupying the large space.
What’s taking her so damned long to get here? She should be done with her duties by now, he thought, becoming all the more flustered with each passing minute. I should have asked her username… What if she came while I was in the meeting, and she’s already logged off?
Waking beside her had been a solid reminder of what he lost when Ylona died. As typical, he was early to rise, long before the time necessary to prepare for his day in the medical bay. Victor left a note tucked under Zoe’s hand, urging her to call him at his office extension.
Then he had spent a few minutes watching her sleep. True to her word, Zoe somehow managed to spread out across his entire mattress and immediately snuggled into a pillow when he left the bed.
A soft breeze whispered across his cheek and stirred through his hair. It carried the scent he associated with rain and thunderstorms, mingled with the green and floral fragrance of the room. The game provided the most realistic tastes and smells rivaling anything from the physical world. It was no wonder that some people logged in and lost their lives to the virtual world. For a time, he had been one of those people, throwing away his physical life to numb the pain of losing his wife.
“Oh, hello, Juan. Fancy meeting you here.”
The use of his avatar’s name drew Victor’s gaze upward. Zephyr’s ethereal form shimmered and coalesced into existence near a vented window. Pale blue and silver silks fluttered around her slender frame, accompanied by beautiful iridescent wings that vanished one she touched the ground. Her bare feet left slight indentations in the lush green grass.
“Get bored with England’s zones?” he asked.
Zephyr smiled and shrugged. “I was after a certain weapon drop in this area last time I played so this is where I logged out.”
“Did you get it?” Chatting with Zephyr became an acceptable distraction until Zoe arrived. If she arrived. If she didn’t decide to back out and cut her losses.
The sylph nodded eagerly, her face aglow with enthusiasm. She accessed her holographic interface and tapped at the floating keys. A moment later she held out a short bow for his inspection. Living vines twined around its length. “A reward from the local tree nymphs for defending them against some fire happy warlocks. I can hit an imp at a hundred paces, easy.”
“Nice.” He handed the weapon back and watched as it disappeared back into her inventory.
“So what brings you around here? I’m so used to seeing you with the other two.”
Victor opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it again to search for an appropriate response. He certainly didn’t want to admit that he’d been stood up by a woman in an online game. “Eh… I didn’t set up a time to play with them today. They’re busy.”
“So just taking in the view then.” Zephyr’s glance slid past him briefly, toward the sound of an opening door. Two people stepped out of the gardens into the room beyond. She sighed and glanced back.
“Yep. What about you? I usually see you with a gaggle of your nymphly cousins.”
“True, but today I’m waiting for someone.” She dropped down onto a nearby bench and swayed her feet from side to side, tapping her fingers against her thigh. The familiar gesture drew
his gaze until she lifted her eyes and caught him staring. “Nymphs don’t have a footwear slot. I sort of like it.”
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to stare.” She’s going to think I’m some weirdo sticking around her now. “It’s just that… you remind me of someone I know.” He paused to consider the absolute absurdity, then marveled over how dry his mouth felt in a digital videogame. “Zoe?”
Zephyr’s lips parted in a silent “oh” of surprise. She hopped up and hastily tucked her long, silvery hair behind her delicately pointed ears. “Victor?”
“You’re a sylph,” he stated in confusion. He’d expected some hulking Inquisitor type character with a flaming sword of righteousness, or maybe even one of the tough-as-nails wizard avatars.
“So?”
“You’re roleplaying the most feminine class in the game.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Zoe drew herself up defensively. If Victor had any doubts about her identity, that action ended them. “I’m supposed to be a tank because I shoot guns in real life?”
“No, I like it!” he quickly clarified, waving his hands. “It was just unexpected. Bloody hell. We’ve been playing together all this time.”
“You’re playing a healer.” Her lips quirked at the corners into a broad smile. “You’re a doctor and you’re playing one here, too.”
“Stick with what you know.”
“It suits you.” She clasped her hands behind her back, toes wriggling in the grass. “I should have guessed. You like chastising me in-game as much as you do out there.”
“Sorry. I guess I can’t help it.”
“It’s all right. I always liked to think it was because you liked me.”
“I do. Like you, I mean.”
“So…” She stepped closer and took his hand. “Now you know I have a girly side. I like dresses and stuff like that.”
“I haven’t seen you in a dress yet. I mean, in the real world. Last time I saw you step off the ship on liberty, you were wearing pants and boots. Not the most feminine attire.”
She glanced up shrewdly. “You’ve been paying attention to what I wear?”
“Not exactly… You forget, I sort of have to stand there and monitor all of you for medical flags as you leave. I notice a lot. Like I know your bunkmate Radha likes to skate the boundaries of what’s within the dress code.”