by Viola Grace
The doctor blushed. “Yes. I have four—”
“Six.”
“Six pieces of her brain left.”
“Did you have plans for them?” Jianik raised her brows.
The doctor cleared his throat. “She is my only successful transfer, and I want to learn why.”
“We will have researchers help you with that. From now on, she is a project, and the security clearance will be top secret; cluster team access only. Doctor, you will have the resources you require, and Venda, you will have a body again, more or less.”
Venda focused at the serious faces and the notes that were being taken about her housing. She might really get to walk around again in a legal bot. That was rather exciting.
The line of scientists waiting to work on her project was gratifyingly large. Jianik came by and did the interviews at the main lab miles away, while Venda watched through the security systems.
The doctors all explained why they wanted to participate in the project of seeding the AI into a new body, but only one of them referred to her as a person.
Jianik caught that mention, and she turned to Dr. Remahl. “Why do you say it’s a person?”
Dr. Remahl straightened. “If it were an AI, you would not need us. The designed consciousness could be scattered throughout the bot, and it would be fine. If you are concerned with moving the entire enormous data pack, you are dealing with the theoretical size of the living brain. That would be the only reason that you are interested in all of those of us who specialize in data storage and accessing it again.”
Jianik lifted her head. “What do you think, Venda?”
“I think his work is rather interesting. Liquid metal storage would make everything easy to access. Shortcutting all the loops and curves of brain tissue.”
The doctor jolted. “It is listening?”
“She. I am female. I am listening. I have listened to all of your contemporaries prattle on, but you are the only one who clued into the fact that I am not an artificial consciousness and therefore I can’t be moved around in the same way. I have to be stored as I am. I have muscle memories for a body that doesn’t exist. I can learn how to move in a new body, but I don’t like the idea of switching around. I want to keep to myself and do what I have contracted for.”
Venda mulled it over and looked into the available supplies for someone in the service of the cluster. She flicked through the equipment and then paused. “Can you do anything like this?”
She displayed the tiny object with a hologram and then activated the vid to show that it could expand into a two-wheeled motorized cycle.
Jianik paused and looked at the display. “Would this work for you?”
“Well, the liquid expansion technology is a little weird, but it would allow me to be simply delivered to the area where I was needed, and I could expand the body from there.”
Jianik nodded. “It could certainly get you a blank body. Do you need any special structures or data installed?”
“Just a beacon to whatever type of consciousness transfer we end up using.” Venda looked at the cycle. “If it could be expanded into a human form, I think that would be a step in the right direction.”
Jianik looked to Dr. Remahl, and she nodded. “I think we are heading in a new path. Discretion is always key, and we will be watching.”
Venda felt a little bit of hope rip through her. She didn’t squash it, she let it flare and then settle. Hope felt a little odd in her new system, but it might find a place to hang out and make itself at home.
Chapter Six
Venda waited for ten days before the woman who would change her existence walked through the door with her lab attendants and a lot of equipment.
Investigator Jianik greeted the scientist warmly and then escorted her to the computer bank to make the introductions.
“Venda Mills, this is the designer of liquid metal mechanicals, Engineer Tabba Morninggar. She has agreed to help design you a body.”
The engineer looked the huge bank of lights and crystals over. “Are you joking, Jianik? This unit is a monstrosity.”
Venda was amused. “Thank you. Dr. Hemmar wasn’t truly expecting this to work. He is far better at assembling mechanical interventions for war machines.”
The engineer blinked. “What?”
“He builds bombs. I was a friend of the family, and transferring consciousness was a hobby of his. He tried. It worked. Here I am. Angry and stuck.”
Tabba looked to Jianik, and she stared. “This is a joke, right? No one has managed to transfer consciousness from a dead body yet.”
Venda sighed and animated the bot on the stand.
She walked over and looked the engineer in the eyes. “If you would like, I can play the moment of my death, tell you what scars my body used to have, down to a few that no medical scan would have known about. You can see it in the visual passes, but no one knows what caused them. I do. It was my body, my life, and I don’t want it back, but I have been offered a chance to continue on with my revenge, and I do want to make the most of it.”
Jianik cleared her throat. “You have to work for us as well.”
“I know. That is the payment. Well, part of it. I know there are years ahead of me to work. It isn’t like I have anything else to occupy my time. It is too late to take up needlework.”
Jianik laughed, and Tabba cracked a smile, understanding dawning in her eyes.
“You are really in there.”
“I really am. It is apparently my own doing with a little help from Dr. Hemmar, so my talent is psychic survival. What I need is a body to walk around in and, within that, a storage device that can hold my mind and soul.”
Jianik blinked. “A device to hold a soul. Please excuse me. I will be right back.”
Tabba was staring at the bot. “You are really in there.”
Venda chuckled. “Oh, dear. We won’t get far if you don’t accept that much.”
“I am sorry. It is just so out of my normal workload. I don’t normally get to work on projects of this nature. I make bikes, cycles, hover trailers, that kind of thing. I have been working with the cluster teams for a couple of years, and I have no idea where to start.”
Venda put a warm tone into her voice. “Don’t focus on the body. Put together a collection of liquid metal with a sufficient mass for an active and relatively tall woman, and I will do the rest. All I need is the mass and a basic control centre.”
Tabba smiled slowly. “It will take me a week or two to generate that much material.”
“Tell Jianik what you need. By the time you have it together, she might have a lead on a place for me to centre myself.”
“I will tell my team and find a place to get settled. It is going to be interesting working with you, Venda Mills.”
“You as well, Tabba Morninggar. I will not be disappointed if we fail, but if we do not keep trying, I may get cranky.”
Tabba smiled. “I am fairly sure I would not want that.”
Venda turned her bot around and walked over to her stand. “I have a lot of patience. Frankly, I have nothing else to focus on, other than this project. I will make every effort not to nag you. Just remember, if you are in this facility and wish to speak to me, just lift your head and address me directly. I will hear you.”
“Thank you. I am not sure I would be as patient in your situation.”
“I am fairly sure that you would not have survived to enter this situation. This is pretty much a unique scenario.”
Tabba nodded respectfully and beckoned to her team. With Jianik pointing toward a corner of the lab, Tabba and her team set up equipment, manufacturing devices, and a few other projects.
Venda didn’t begrudge her finishing any commissioned work. An engineer had to eat, after all.
Jianik returned and looked delighted. “You said it. Confinement for a soul and a huge data storage in a small space. I think I have three or four experts that I can bri
ng in.”
“Wonderful. If you send me their names, I can help narrow things down. If there is something grossly unsuitable, I will be able to spot it.”
“Sending it.” Jianik flicked her fingers and waited. “Did you get them?”
“I got them. I discarded Jamoro. He is working on the spiritual aspect and has brought religion into the transport of the soul. If I can zip around and assassinate enemies, my soul’s purity is not my primary concern. I have an agenda and being nice and friendly and helpful are fun but not if they get in my way.”
Jianik nodded. “Fair enough. No religious nutbars. He’s off the list.”
Venda chuckled. “I love the sound of progress. There is usually a lot of cursing.”
Jianik quirked her lips. “Usually. I will get on it.”
“Look out for any mention of the afterlife. It is a dead giveaway.”
“Yes, Venda.”
Venda looked around the lab and the workshop that was taking shape. This was more like it. If they wanted something from her, it was nice to see that the cluster’s teams were taking her needs seriously.
This was not going to be a short process, but it was going to be entertaining. The anniversary of her death was coming up soon. She needed the distraction.
Dr. Hemmar was doing some maintenance on her mainframe when she finally got up the nerve to ask, “Does Theeda know I survived... sort of?”
“Not yet. I am waiting until after the memorial service. She is very upset right now, and as we don’t want to show the public that you have been rebuilt, we will wait until you have a body and can visit with her yourself.” He patted her mainframe in commiseration.
“So, she thinks I am dead, but you are going to let me tell her that I am alive? That is a little twisted. Is she at least dating again?”
Dr. Hemmar grinned. “Actually, she is just about to go on a date with one of the young researchers at our main lab.”
Venda wanted to smile. “Torbin Lekfar. Those two were making eyes at each other before Timmor got between them. He was a very charming bastard.”
“He was. I have stalled settling your estate, by the way. I thought you might want some funds when you have a body again.”
“That was very thoughtful. Thank you.”
“It was the least I could do. I also added a trust that you will be able to access when you are working. It can be split and transferred to aliases as you like.”
“I am sure that Jianik will give me a little instruction when the time comes. It is not my imagination, there were two team members here on the day she arrived, yes?”
“There were. Bright Burn and Bright Spark. They are on Team One.”
“It is bizarre. I can’t find their facial images, but I have Jianik and the guards with no issue.”
“Haven’t you seen a hero before?”
“No. Well, on the day that I died, I saw them coming up toward me. I can remember their faces, but I can’t visualize them. It is very vexing. I can bring up hero team images, but the faces are constantly out of focus. How is that possible?”
“When the hero program was started, there was a huge fan following for the different heroes, and that led to them being stalked by villains and admirers alike. The cluster hero program was halted for one day, and when it was restarted, the uniforms had changed, the teams had been created so that events could be answered by a team with the right fit for the situation, and a computer virus was spread throughout the cluster that made it impossible for anyone to keep a focused image of a hero. Their uniforms put out a signal that stops them from being stored in a file.”
Venda was impressed. “How do you know all that?”
She was shocked to see him blush.
“I developed the receptors and the broadcasters embedded in the fabric. Hemmar Corp has the contract for the team suit fabric.”
That was something. It didn’t appear on any of the documentation she had rifled through when she was bored. “How long have you had the contract?”
He smiled. “Ten years. You didn’t find it?”
“No. Where is it?”
“Keep looking. You will locate it eventually.” He chortled.
“You know that I will find it.”
“Yes, but you don’t know when, and I think that will keep you calm while you wait for your first trial body to be prepped.” He chuckled. “I have also asked for permission, and gotten it, for Theeda’s child’s name. You can look for that as well.”
Venda would have scowled, but she went through the records, and the name was blurred by the same tech that worked with the faces of the heroes. No matter where she looked, she couldn’t find the name. The hunt was on.
* * * *
Investigator Jianik was in communication via coded message. Dr. Hemmar nodded.
“You were right. She needs puzzles. She is looking through all of my financial records right now and has actually shown me a few places where I could gain interest or save money.”
The investigator nodded with a smile. “Infecting her with a virus was cheap, but it seems to have done the trick. She is looking into all of the team mission histories and trying to gain any and all information about what they did and how they did it. It is a handy distraction that will get her ready for placement with a team of her own.”
Dr. Hemmar scowled and ran a hand through his hair. “Are you sure that is wise? She has no compunction about killing.”
“That is fine. We are not here to arrest everyone in a pretty children’s tale. These are murderers that we are sending them after. Using any and all methods to win is important. The team we are working on assembling is a year or two away, but they are all showing strong signs of the individual operation. Most of our other teams are dependent on each other. The team we are trying to create is one that can function as a sealed unit for most missions. The variety of skills is going to appear weak until they are all grouped together. I confess it is exciting to be part of this project, even if it is extended over years.”
“Can’t Theeda meet with her? They are both so desperately lonely.”
“No. It is best that we wait on that. Venda needs something to strive for. If she wants to get a body that works so that she can see Theeda and the baby, she will try harder to make it as human as she can. That is the goal here. We want her to be human when her skills could make her a monster with very little effort.” Investigator Jianik smiled. “Now, I have to meet with Bright Burn and Bright Spark. They have a candidate they want me to consider, and though she has few obvious skills, there is something about her.”
“Do I know of her?” He was expecting her to mention one of the underground heroes that occasionally popped up.
“It is a relative of theirs. You might know her. You send her the fabric to make the team suits.”
“The seamstress?” He raised his brows.
“The very one. Now, please excuse me and keep lying to Venda. When she starts reading your pulse, I am sure she will tell you.”
“My monitors are not precise enough for that, nor are any of the sensors in the lab.”
“Good. Keep it that way. Once she gets into a body and gets control, tell her the truth. You won’t like what happens if she pitches a fit.”
Jianik ended their call, and Dr. Hemmar sat back and exhaled slowly. She was right. Getting Venda fully into a body was going to take all of her will and control. If either one of those cracked while she was entering her new home, those around her were doomed.
No pressure.
Chapter Seven
“Is that it?” Venda focused the monitors at the knee-high sphere of molten silver metal.
Tabba grunted. “It is. Get in it. There is a standard bot control program inside, as well as the equivalent cognitive housing that you normally occupy. This is just a test to see if you can get into the liquid body. Once you are in control of it, if you could attempt an arm first, we can move on to other things.”
&nbs
p; Venda wanted to nod. “I will still be able to talk through the mainframe, so address any questions or orders to me. I can and will hear you.”
“I hope so. You may only be able to manage a few seconds. There aren’t any joints or vocal cords in this. You have to craft them all, so you will need to learn anatomy if you don’t know it already.”
Venda looked at the ball and its position on the stand. She sought the tiny beacon inside it and slid her consciousness into it. If she had been human, it would have been the equivalent of sliding the first joint of her smallest finger into it, but she did it.
The liquid silver felt surprisingly warm. That shocked Venda. She hadn’t felt anything in over a year. She worked her way into the ball, and it quivered.
Tabba and her team high-fived for a moment before Tabba returned her attention to Venda. “Okay, now make an appendage.”
Venda reached up, and through the cameras, she could see the tentacle that she was pushing up toward the ceiling. It kept going up and up, and when she reached the beam, she wrapped the tentacle around it and pulled herself up.
Whee! She created a second tentacle and climbed around in the rafters while Tabba and her crew stared, aghast.
Hanging from the rafters, she remembered her training, the feel of her body when she did a pull-up, the way her legs hung and swayed while she strained, and she did the same now.
She did pull-ups until the feeling of her memory-body matched the one she was in now. When she was done, she let go with one hand and lowered herself on a thin filament with the other.
Tabba and her engineers were stunned and staring as she walked toward them with careful steps. She bowed and moved back to her stand, letting the body slowly relax into the orb.
Venda watched the replay of her short workout on the screen. She had made a female body, similar to her old one, if in slightly better shape. Her mind had crafted it, so she had chosen the ideal her to become. There were minimal features, and she had moved slowly, but it was definitely her.