Despite herself Thornby smiled, warming to the other woman. “Well said. I hate the slike myself.”
Miss Winters shivered but didn't respond. She pulled out a tablet. “Can I have your recording now ma'am? And the events from your perspective?”
“Sure,” the doctor replied, taking the tablet and putting her left hand over the universal port. She sent a signal and data flowed through her implants to the tablet. After a moment her implants signaled the download was complete. She smiled and handed it back. “There.”
The woman gingerly took the tablet back, eyes wide. “Oh! I had known you had implants but I hadn't known they worked quite like that,” she said with a slight hint of wistfulness in her tone.
“Is there anything else?”
“Just some questions ma'am,” the attorney said.
“Did they get that lady? Mae?”
Miss Winters frowned. “I shouldn't be telling you this, but for your piece of mind, yes. Yes they did. 'All the way Mae' is in custody.”
“Good. Wait...” she shook her head, parsing the name out. “Never mind, I don't care, I don't want to know.”
“It can keep doctor. You've had a hard and trying day,” the ADA replied.
Thornby smiled and waved to the two chairs on either side of the metal and glass coffee table. “Have a seat, let's make this as quick and painless as we can, I've got an early day tomorrow,” she said, taking a seat and crossing her legs and arms.
Miss Winters took a seat and adjusted her skirt before she nodded. She held the tablet in front of her. “Very well, let's begin as they say at the beginning. Please tell me in your own words what happened prior to the alleged abduction. Where were you going and where were you coming from. Your state of mind...”
Thornby frowned thoughtfully and then began to answer.
...*...*...*...*...
“Are you okay doctor Thornby?” Trenton asked, coming into her office the next morning. She looked up and smiled.
“It looks worse than it is,” she said, as he came over and touched her face. She didn't flinch as he explored the cuts and bruises. The bastards had roughed her up when they had been cornered. She'd gotten a rash when she'd rubbed her face on the decking trying in futility to protect herself in a fetal ball as Jethro took the three hoods down.
“I'm okay, so is doctor Martel. Thanks for asking,” she replied.
“Quick heal?” Trenton asked.
“I hate to use it when it may be needed in trauma. Call me silly and old fashioned. I still hoard materials in case of future need. If not next year, maybe ten or twenty years from now.”
“The cure does you no good in the bottle doctor,” Trenton said. She had scrapes on her wrists and neck from struggling with the plastic bindings. He made certain her pupils were okay, she showed no sign of concussion. After a moment he released her chin and nodded.
Thornby reached out and patted his thigh. “Thanks,” she said.
“What happened? I heard part of it in the news,” Trenton said.
She sighed. She was tired of talking about it, but since his people were peripherally involved, he had a right to know. Thornby talked with Trenton about her rescue as she got up and put her coat on. She waved for him to proceed her as they made their way to the lab.
“I heard rumors of a Neo savior,” Trenton said, sounding like he was questioning that.
Thornby felt the door to the lab close behind her and then she made certain no one was around before she agreed. “Off the record yes.”
“Why keep such things under wraps?” Trenton asked. “Wouldn't the publicity... oh, the authorities do not want to acknowledge a Neo,” he said sounding dispirited.
“It's not like that! Not like that at all!”
“Oh?” he asked.
“Look,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair. After a moment she decided to put her hair up. She gathered her hair and put it in a pony tail, using a rubber band to keep it up. “If I tell you something, can you keep it in confidence? Doctor patient?”
“Of course.”
“He's not your patient, he's mine. And technically some of what he is, is classified, so I won't go into it. But... well, maybe his life will shed some light on things for you.” She leaned against a counter and told him of Jethro, how he was a great Neo. “I can't get into details about his abilities, but he is... unique. Rare, and well, very precious.” Trenton was surprised and amused. She told him of F platoon, and Valenko's squad. “They are legends in the Marines already, beyond any mere human. I am very proud to know them. Jethro was on a dark path before he became a Marine. Now; well, now he's becoming a hero.”
“Interesting.”
“So you see, we don't want his abilities advertised. If others knew, like the Horathians, they would go after him. They would try to get his genetic material or try to kill him just so he can't fight them.”
“I see.”
“It's funny. Back, oh, back before starflight, humans changed themselves to be different. To stand out from the basic norm. To be tigers or elves or whatever they chose to be. And here you are, trying to fit in, trying to mold yourselves into conformity, turn yourselves into shapeless forgettable people.”
“Exactly. Sometimes doctor, being different isn't all it's cracked up to be.”
“Cute,” she smiled. “I'll take your word for it since I take my shape for granted every day.”
“I know. By the way, I had some thoughts on your Malekian issues...”
“Oh?” Thornby asked, raising an eyebrow. Recently Trenton had let his own eyebrows grow. They were bushy, but at least he didn't look weird anymore. He'd even allowed his head fur to grow out a bit.
She had expanded their deal to repairing the Chimerian cyber implants and even giving everyone basic Ident implants. The engineers and doctors were upgraded to level two or three implants in order to help them help her with their project. A few had been in pain from their crude implants. That was now corrected.
The Chimerians were busy, almost all had some form of job no matter their age, most part time. Some sold things they made with their replicators, others did odd jobs. All took advantage of the free basic education on the station and seemed to devour as much knowledge as they could.
“Let's see what you've got,” she said, smiling and leaning over to see his tablet.
“Apparently, doctor Standish originally thought they were born neuters and then chose a sex using some unknown process or chemical mix. It was even indicated that social pressures drove the gender position. That's where the research and papers indicated anyway. Apparently that's not the case though. I've been researching it, comparing what we know to what our representative knows.” She sighed. “And a lot of what we thought we know, we don't.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Apparently the Malekians like some other alien species, had taboos. They were reluctant to get into the reproductive habits so a lot of what we have on file is supposition, or vague notes. For instance the clown fish analogy Doctor Standish found. Clown fish are, or I should say, were, tropical fish from Earth. They and some species of amphibians were hermaphrodites. They were able to trade genders when there was an imbalance of one gender or the other. If there were too many females, one or more females would switch sex over a period of a standard week or month. In the case of clown fish they were sequential hermaphrodites in a dominance hierarchy. A matriarch society of sorts. The dominant female was on top. If she died then the most dominant male would switch genders and everyone would move up the social ladder.”
“An interesting ability.”
“Right. Pass, talk about gender confusion and an identity crisis!” The doctor said shaking her head. “Anyway, this analogy was applied to our patient's species. According to the prevailing theory on file, they started as a neuter, then some would take on the semblances of male or female behavioral traits, this would induce hormonal changes which would trigger genital changes and then you have males and females. At least two other s
apient species use this, but it's not true for the Malekians.”
“Oh?”
Thornby shook her head, frowning. “It seems they genuinely are a 3 sided race. I've talked with our lone representative. They pass genetic material between each of the 3 parties, each adding their own gene sequence, then passing it on to the others. Hormones from each host, as well as the order of partners, all played a part in how the prodigy developed. Any of the 3 sexes could carry the eggs to term and then lay them using a pouch, though the more feminine Malekian usually did so.”
“Oh. And we've got a neuter?” Trenton asked.
“Yes. I'm wondering if there is something in the soup, something that is missing to create a neuter verses a so called male or female. Our representative is distinctively uncomfortable talking about sexual relations.”
“I see. And does he, it, understand what we are doing?”
“Yes, but that doesn't make it easier. We have some genetic material on file in the medical records, but not the gestation steps. It's all vague.”
“Frustrating.”
“Exactly. So, for now our representative has retired to San Diego with our Ssilli friend. Apparently he can run under a dome, and now that he has regrown his flight feathers and has an antigravity harness, he can fly.”
“Isn't that risky?”
Thornby sighed. “At this point, keeping the patient active and comfortable physically as well as mentally and not depressed and brooding over how hopeless things are is a good idea. We do need to work on this. We need more medical records and a greater exploration of avian physiology, and more xenobiology.”
“Which we don't have on file doctor. There is a limit to our database, even though we've pooled everything in the system.”
“I know,” Thornby replied, sounding exasperated. She sighed, sitting back and drumming her fingers on the desk blotter. “We can get a bit further along with our Ssilli friend, but those uterine replicators are key here. We need them.”
“So, um...”
“We'll figure something out,” she frowned, looking away. “Hopefully before they die of old age, or I do.”
...*...*...*...*...
“Shouldn't you be focusing on, well us? The project at hand?” Drusilla demanded. She didn't like how Trenton tended to veer off topic and into the resurrection projects. He was doing that a great deal as of late.
Doctor Thornby frowned. She didn't like the criticism, however well politely presented. “We can do both, multitask. We tabled the resurrection projects to deal with your project, but we are getting some interesting cross pollination going which will hopefully move all three forward.” She nodded to Trenton.
“Ah, I see.”
“We haven't forgotten about you, nor them.”
“Well, it would seem more prudent to attend to the needs of the living over those of the dead. They have been dead for centuries doctor.”
“Perhaps, but a few are now awake and alive. They have finite life just as you do, and their project is much more pressing then yours. Theirs is survival. Yours is cosmetic,” she said, eying the Chimera.
“I...” Drusilla frowned, eyes narrowed. Trenton looked up and frowned as well.
“It's true, we both know it. Your people aren't dying. There is no need for melodrama. They have a problem, a mental one, an inferiority complex along with genetic issues from interbreeding and inbreeding. You're a doctor, Trenton, I wish you would see the truth.”
“We are inferior doctor,” he replied stubbornly.
The one thing that would get under her skin more than anything else was someone feeling self pity and wallowing in it. “What you are, is a people. You are what you make yourselves out to be, no better or worse than any of us. Different than humans, but people damn it. Terrans, you like humans like me descended from Earth. Your origins may have started in a petri dish, but we're way beyond that now. Your outward appearance has no meaning to me,” she tapped her chest meaningfully. “If anyone else has a problem with your appearance, well, that's their short sighted stupidity.”
“Oh? And you have so many others working for you?” The female Chimerian asked scornfully.
Thornby's nostrils dilated as she got control of her anger. She had thought she would have been exposed to other views in the weeks she had been on the station. That the Chimerians would have seen through a life time of crap. Apparently it was too instilled, too ingrained to get out so quickly.
She knew she was tired, too many long days, but that bugged her. “Really?” she turned and pointed out a Veraxin nurse. The nurse looked up to her after being nudged. An elf looked up and stared at them from the stool she was standing on. Thornby turned and pointed to an orangutan nurse, who waved, then went around the room pointing to Neo's and aliens in the room. Granted only a tenth of her staff was on hand in the big surgical bay, but it was enough to make her point. “I don't discriminate. Gender, species, they don't matter, what matters to me and to others like me is the spirit within. Their will, and their mind. How you use it and your body to better yourself and others,” she said, waving to the room in general.
Several doctors clapped. A few nurses did as well but she waved the accolade aside. “As you were people, let's get back to work.”
...*...*...*...*...
Over the next several weeks the lead medics watched and aided as surgical teams worked on the clan members one by one. Quick heal helped them recover in short order. Nano therapy however was limited, they would remain genetically Neo's for the remainder of their lives.
One of the women was carrying triplets in her first trimester. By using nano surgery, they were able to alter the fetuses to as close to human normal as possible. Unfortunately two of the fetuses died and were aborted, but the one remaining female survived and thrived within her mother's womb.
Doctor Martel tried to counsel the family on patience and on what level was acceptable. Now it truly was a matter of breeding, their next generation would be Homo Sapiens.
Exposure to life on Anvil had rubbed off on some of the more open minded of the clan, they were more inclined to come out of their shell and accept some of who they were, as long as they knew their generation would end and a new human one would soon begin.
The gene therapy they had applied had definitely ended their genetic reproductive issues. They had used gene resequencing and nanites to extract animal and Chimera DNA to replace it with stock human gene sequences that she had on file. Some were so tangled they instead replaced the entire DNA strand with donor DNA she had on file. She was careful to match the basic information, height, skin, hair and eye color, and other things the best she could.
A final round of plastic surgery altered the Chimerian clan to as close to human normal as possible. Doctor Martel did what she could to treat and repair the genetic damage, many had ticking time bombs in their DNA. A lot of what her medics could do would only ease symptoms. Some problems would crop up when they aged as the clocks in their cells broke down.
Doctor Thornby realized it would never be enough for them after explaining that it wouldn't help them but would make all the difference to their children. She hoped they wouldn't project that annoying inferiority complex onto their children. The self pity... it was grating. In some ways she was glad they were now leaving, even though she would miss Trenton.
...*...*...*...*...
The clan made their goodbyes and departed for Gaston on The Red Rover IV, a tramp freighter passing through the system from Seti Alpha 4. They had wanted to take Mariah's Mischief to Seti Alpha 4, but the ship just wasn't large enough for all of them so they were forced to change their plans.
At their departure, doctor Thornby was amused and somewhat gratified to see that they no longer wore the masks but kept the robes and gloves. Apparently some habits were too hard to break. They even had hair, albeit short hair. And they looked so much better with eyebrows and the occasional facial hair. She did smile at the newborn baby a woman was carrying with her as she waited patiently i
n line. Men and women of the clan were still in awe of the child. The little girl was only a day old, born a week premature, but healthy. Her name, appropriately, was Hope.
“Time heals all wounds. I hope the same goes for you and your people Trenton. I really do,” Doctor Thornby said, grasping the Chimerian's hand for the last time.
He looked on to his people with a satisfied smile and then nodded. “It does indeed doctor. In time, all things if not forgotten are forgiven. And after all,” he turned back to her. “It is a matter of breeding for us now. We will do our best to pass on to our children our eternal gratitude to you and your people.”
“Thanks,” Thornby replied. “But don't pass on that inferiority complex. Do get some therapy,” she said holding a finger up.
For the first time Trenton laughed, it was a braying sound that surprised her and those around her. A few smiled at his laughter. Thornby slowly joined in.
“I will certainly look into it doctor.”
“Last call, Red Rover, last call. If you're coming, get the lead out people,” a voice said over the intercom.
Trenton looked up to the speaker. “That's my cue.”
“Here,” Thornby said gruffly, handing him a bag. He took it. His eyebrows rose in inquiry. “Yes I know it's heavy. It's a medical database and gift package. There is a lot more on the ship. Use it in good health,” she said gruffly, stepping back.
“I will doctor,” he said softly.
Suddenly she leaned in and hugged him. His eyes flared wide in surprise as her arms wrapped around him. She broke the hug as fast as she took it, but held his arms. “I'm serious. Write too,” she said, staring into his eyes.
“I'll certainly try,” Trenton said, eyes now soft.
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, then stepped back as he turned. He looked over his shoulder once, then joined his people as they filed into the ship.
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