Bubblegum Crash : Knights' End

A Knight Sabers' fanfic in nine parts
by Mark Latus

Part 7 : Soul Survivors
 
     5 pm Thursday Dec. 6 2035 - Phoenix Biological & Cybernetics Research 
                                 Center, Berlin.

     In the underground lab complex Sonya heard the security doors hiss open.
Sounded like Mackie had arrived, this would be the first time in over a week
since he'd been here.  He was so busy these days that he rarely had time for
BioCyb.  Which was a mixed blessing.  Now he was here she couldn't stall
Sylia any longer.
     Ever since Red Tuesday Mackie had been throwing almost all his efforts
into Phoenix's business side.  At the last board meeting he had used his 
ownership of a majority of shares to make himself CEO.  After which he had
thrown his enhanced intellect into establishing an anti GENOM cartel headed
by Phoenix.  There was enough national xenophobia remaining in Europe to 
make the crusade possible.  While the board was initially leery Mackie's
uncanny ability to predict business trends was earning him a reputation as
the financial wizard of this decade.  The dinosaurs of European business 
watched as Phoenix began to soar.  As they did they began to listen, 
envisioning a future other than the steady erosion of their markets by GENOM.
     Unfortunately Mackie knew that this was a false hope.  His enhanced 
intellect charted a lot more factors than his allies.  Giving him a much
clearer picture of the future than them.  Phoenix had three to five years 
before it ceased to be a financially viable.  Mackie thought a lot about those 
figures.  He had two years before the cracks started to show in his little
empire.  After which his allies would start falling away like so many dried 
up leaves.
     As he headed down the steps the figures kept rebounding through his mind.
"Best case scenario gives us five years.  Shit.  And we only last that long
if I start selling hardsuit specs in year three."  Not for the first time it
occurred to him that life was a lot easier when all he did was work at the
garage and fix Knight Saber equipment.  He had to smile at the thought, not
quite nineteen and he was already living in the past.  There wasn't a lot 
else to smile about these days.
     His footsteps echoed through the silence.  BioCyb was empty upstairs.  
He'd announced the almost total shutdown of the pure research wing to pursue
more financially rewarding projects.  That had been fine with the board. 
They'd never been happy with the clauses in his father's will that kept the 
place opened and staffed.  Sonya was the only staff member left on the 
Center's payroll.  Everything else was automated.  Since the prototype ALF units
had been built they were put to work on general maintenance.  The board would
have preferred the total shutdown of BioCyb but figured it was a concession
to his lover.  As he owned most of the company he could get away with it.
Dumas undoubtably figured he was keeping the building open because it housed 
the Knight Shadow headquarters.  Since it was true it made an excellent cover
story.  Dumas didn't give a damn about the Knight Shadows.  If Mackie thought
he honoured his sister's memory by maintaining them fine.  They couldn't 
touch GENOM, besides with Staeler gone they'd lost their purpose.
     Sonya was waiting for him.  After a prolonged welcome back embrace she
asked, "So how'd you like London?"
     "Hard to say, didn't really have time to see it.  I spent all my time in
either meetings or supervising tests.   Why the hell do they insist on face
to face meetings?"
     "Someone once told me it's because they're dinosaurs mired in the past 
and unwilling to face their own obsolescence."
     "I'm really going to have to watch the cynicism around you."  He looked 
past Sonya to the ALF support tubes.  It was the three figures in front that 
captured the eye.  The resemblance was amazing.  "I see you got rid of the 
green tint."
     Automatically Sonya looked at the naked figures of Linna, Priss and Nene.  
She wasn't particularly keen about the attention Mackie was paying to them.  
"Yes, we got the skin pigments to exact matches.  While Sylia had all the 
medical data stored that wasn't covered.  Good thing you had that videodisc 
compilation of nude shots."  Which reminded her.  "Just why did you have that 
disc Mackie?"  Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
     "The relic of a mis-spent youth", Mackie responded absently.  Sonya 
realized he wasn't looking at the tubes but through them.  Focussing on 
something really within his own mind.  He looked distracted and more than a
little worried.  That set off her own misgivings.
     "Say Mackie ..."  He turned to face her.  "I realize you're a 
bioenhanced intellect and I'm only a plain old fashioned genius ..."
     "Go on."
     "But ... well, are you sure this is a good idea?"
     Mackie sighed.  "I think this is quite possibly the stupidest thing I've
done in my entire life."  Great, that really made her feel confident.  He
continued, "Back on the night it seemed the ideal solution.  A way to spit in
the faces of both death and Dumas.  But now ..."
     "But now what?"  Sylia entered the lab.  She'd thrown away the cane two
weeks ago and was walking with no trace of a limp.  Her tone was cold.  It
had been that way since her arrival.  She'd completely changed from the woman
Sonya had got to know.  She was ice cold and intense.  She gave no other sign
of emotion, nothing seemed to touch her.  Frankly Sonya was beginning to get 
scared of her.  She had the feeling that if she got in the way Sylia would
bulldoze her aside without remorse.  Mackie had told her he'd never seen her
this driven before.  Right now she was staring down her brother and waiting 
for an answer.
     Mackie didn't shake.  "Now I've begun to question the wisdom of our
decision."  He waved a hand at the support tubes.  "How do you think they'll
react when we wake them up and tell them, 'Hi, it's six months later than you
think and incidently you're dead'?   How do you expect them to react?"  He
took a deep breath.  "Let me be more specific.  How do you think Priss will
react to the news that she's now a Boomer?"
     "An ALF, not a Boomer."
     "Tell her that!"  Mackie calmed down.  "Look Sis, obviously we have to 
fight Dumas on all fronts and the Knight Sabers make a great hidden card.
But we have to take into account the feelings of Priss and the others."
     "Priss is dead."  Sylia's tone was final.  "These are biomechs carrying 
human engrams ..."
     "... but if the process works perfectly they'll think they are the
recordees.  In fact if they have the same memories and personalities for all
intensive purposes won't they be the people we remember?"
     "I'm not looking to solve philosophical problems.  I'm looking to create
a weapon."  That had to be the coldest thing Mackie had ever heard Sylia say.
"Now you can either help me or stay out of my way."
     "You're dead serious", Mackie thought.  "If I get in the way being 
family won't even slow you down.  I don't want to fight you Sis.  But I 
really wish I felt better about this."  Out loud he said, "Since I can't stop 
you I'd better help you.  Besides I would like to have them back."
     "Good.  We've been ready to go for over two days. Everyone insisted on
delaying final activation until you got back.  Now we can get on with it."
     "One question first."  Sylia looked at him.  "You've been putting off
answering it all along.  Even back in May before any of this seemed remotely 
necessary you dodged the question.  But now I want an answer."
     "And the question is?"
     Mackie was sure she already knew.  "How did you get them to consent to
memory recording?"  Sylia stayed silent and Mackie had his answer.  "They
didn't, you never asked them."  She nodded once and Mackie heard Sonya mutter
"Jesus Christ!"  He sighed, "I was afraid of that."  He remembered the 
machine the two of them had built from extrapolation of the stolen Gilgamesh
data.  Lie back on the couch, pull down the helmet and let the machine begin
transcribing your personality.  Theoretically anyway.  They didn't have the
resources in MegaTokyo to test uploading the recordings.  Besides if you 
tested it and it worked what would you do with the copy afterwards?  If it 
had your mind and memories wouldn't it be murder to purge it?
     "What the hell did you tell them?"
     "That I was designing new suits with a computer/mind interface.  They
all grumbled about the time it took but I got them to sit through it."
     "After which you sent their recordings to me in the unlikely eventuality
things went lethal again.  I already had ours."  So I used our specs to build
my own version of Gilgamesh and designed the MegaALF's to hold the downloads.  
But back then it was just a precaution.  I never thought the Knight Sabers 
would die.  But nobody's immortal.
     "Frank and Ilsa are standing by in 'Shadowbase' so we should get on with
it.  They're all ready getting suited so we just have to pick our first 
Lazurus."
     "Anyone except Priss."
     "Agreed."  Sylia thought for a second then said, "Linna's probably the
better choice."
     Mackie nodded and activated the Waldos.  More gently than necessary the
ALF was raised out of the support fluid and placed on the waiting automated
stretcher.  Sylia elevated the head and stood back as the ALF coughed the
oxygenated fluid out of her lungs and began breathing.  No signs of 
consciousness, so far so good.  In response to vocal commands the trolley   
began rolling along the corridor.  They could have activated her right away
but everyone felt it would be best to have heavy firepower handy in case 
things didn't work as planned.  Something Victor Frankenstein should have 
thought of.
     As they walked along the corridor Sylia suddenly asked her brother,
"Mackie, just how did you get a all those shots of Nene, Priss and Linna?  I
always thought they were very thorough in destroying your cameras?"
     An old secret, no reason not to share it.  "I added extra video chips to
the Knight Saber helmets.  They activated as soon as the suit was unhooked for
use instead of waiting until the neck seal engaged.  As everyone got dressed
at different rates at different times I got a variety of footage from the
changing room.  When the suits went back for maintenance I downloaded the 
chips.  I just kept the cameras scattered around as a diversion."
     "I should have thought of that."
     Sonya looked at him.  "Seems like way too much trouble to me.  Why didn't
you just go buy porn CDS like other boys."
     "Where's the sport in that?"
     The last security door slid open.  The two armoured figures inside 
stopped leaning against the walls.  "Welcome back Mackie."
     "At last the boss stops by."
     "Let's get on with it."  Sylia manoeuvred the trolley over to the 
equipment she'd set.  With Mackie's help she transferred the body to an
examination table. She set the headband around Linna's head (It's not Linna, 
remember that Sylia) and checked her monitor.  Reading REM sleep equivalent, 
time for a wake up call.
     "Don't be so impatient Sis, there's a few last minute details."  He 
turned to Sonya, "That stuff I asked you to get?"
     "Over there, hang on a sec."  Sonya headed over to a plain cardboard 
box stuck in a corner.  As she did Mackie talked to his fellow Knight Shadows.
"OK just stay in the background, hopefully everything will run smoothly.  All
the major weapons are locked down (hopefully) and she'll be functioning on
human strength levels.  So there shouldn't be a problem.  Just be ready to 
jump in if you have to."
     "How'll we know?"
     "I'll scream."  In a more serious tone he added, "She'll be a bit
disorientated.  If this works perfectly she'll think it's May in MegaTokyo
and she just laid down on one of Sis's gizmos"
     Ilsa looked disturbed, "It ... she's going to think she's the real one?"
     "I think so."
     "I don't know about this Mackie."
     "Me neither", he thought.
     Sonya came back with an armload of laundry.  She dropped the clothes in
a spare chair by the monitor and spread the sheet over Linna's form.  Sylia
looked at him.  Mackie shrugged.  "I figured whichever of them we woke up 
first wouldn't appreciate finding herself naked in front of me and a couple
of strangers.  Particularly when she's in a place she's never seen before."
     "There was a time you'd have enjoyed it that way."
     "It's hard to get worked up over a body you built yourself."  Although
ALFs are a lot more organic that Boomers.  Even given the implants it ...
she's a lot closer to the sexaroid class than the standard boomer design.  
But they're still not human.  I just wish I knew whether or not this is a 
mistake.
     Time to find out.
     "Let's do it."  Sylia nodded and inserted the probe through the skin of
the forehead.  Sonya, Frank and Ilsa all winced a little.  She felt it click 
into the cranial socket.  "Probe in place.  Beginning to shift out of standby 
mode."
     Mackie kept scanning the med monitors.  "Increased heart rate.  Body 
temperature rising to 97 degrees.  Rising ... holding at 98.  Heart rate is
optimal.  Respiration increasing.  Biostasis has ended.
     "Brainwave activity is peaking.  I think ..."
     The figure raised a hand to her rub her closed eyes and groaned in 
Japanese, "I don't want to go to work today."  It was unmistakeably Linna's 
voice.
     Sonya switched on the translator hanging from her belt and wondered if
Linna would pull that hovercraft joke again.  Again?  If everything worked
right this was the Linna of six months earlier.  She'd hadn't met Sonya yet.
     Sylia pulled the probe free.  The small hole began to heal.  Switching
from the English she'd been using she asked, "Linna, how are you feeling?"
     "Sylia?"  The figure sounded confused.  "Oh yeah, I remember now.  I
must have dozed off.  So are your tests done yet?"  She still hadn't opened 
her eyes.  Linna wasn't much of a morning person.
     "Yes.  Yes they are definitely finished."
     "Linna, I don't want you to panic but ..."
     "Mackie?"  Mackie went to Europe months ago.  Why was he back?  And what
was wrong?  The only time you get told not to panic is when there's something 
worth panicking about.  She opened her eyes and saw a bare concrete ceiling 
far higher than it should be.  She sat up and saw Sylia, Mackie and a girl
she didn't recognise clustered around her.  There was a slight chill on her
torso so she looked down.  It seemed the only thing she was wearing was a
sheet that had fallen forward when she sat up.  Linna squawked and wrapped the
sheet around herself.  "What ... what the hell is this?"
     "You've been through a few changes."  It was Mackie again.
     "Where am I and what's going on.?"
     "You're in Berlin.  To be more specific in the headquarters of the Knight
Shadows."
     "Knight Shadows?"
     "My version of the Knight Sabers.  That's them behind me."  Linna saw
two black hardsuits looking toward her.  One waved at her.  She waved back
automatically.
     "Berlin?  What the hell am I doing in Berlin?"
     "That's a long story ... what month do you think this is."
     Silly question.  "May.  May 13th to be exact.  What's that got to do 
with anything?"
     "It's actually December.  The sixth to be precise"
     Linna felt a cold chill.  Seven months later.  How had she lost seven 
months?  "What ... what's happened.  Why don't I remember?"
     Mackie looked to his sister.  Sylia was busy monitoring Linna's vital
signs.  "Well Sis is a little preoccupied right now so I guess I get to 
explain."  He'd thought this through and there was no easy way to say this.
"I guess it all starts with the first time you met Daniel Dumas ..."
     It was an hour later and Linna was crying on Mackie's shoulder.  She
stopped and wiped her eyes with a tissue Sonya handed her.  "I can still
cry, huh?"
     "Your new body should be able to do everything the original did.  After
all you have to live in it so we designed it to be as human as possible.
     "But I'm not who I think I am.  The real Linna's dead.  I'm just a
second generation copy."
     There was no easy answer to that.  "You are Linna.  You've got the 
memories, personality and emotions of Linna Yamazaki.  Who else could you
be?  Look if you'd been seriously injured and needed extensive cybernetic
implants you wouldn't doubt who you were.  Regardless of how nonhuman your
body had become."  She didn't seem to be buying it.  Better try a new tact.
"Why don't you think of yourself as Linna with her mind transferred to a new
body."  In a sense that was what had happened.  Frank muttered something about
Star Trek and Spock.  Since he was talking in English Linna wouldn't 
understand, even if she was listening.  
     "So I've got everything of Linna's except the last five months of her 
life and her soul."  She seemed a little calmer.  Withdrawn would probably be
a better description.  She was going to need time to deal with this.  If she
could.  After all this was a unique situation.  Right now anyway.  
     "Souls I don't know about.  Metaphysics isn't my field.  But I don't
feel there's anything vital missing from you.  You're whoever you think you
are.  And that's Linna Yamazaki."
     Sylia had finished her tests and announced, "Everything checks out.  The
beta unit is operating within optimal parameters."
     Linna paled at that reminder of what she was.  In controlled English 
Mackie said, "Sis, we are dropping the beta unit crap right now.  She thinks
... no, she is Linna and that's what we call her."
     "If you insist."  Sylia's voice indicated that it didn't matter to her 
one way or the other.  What the hell's wrong with you Sis?  "It's time to 
bring the second unit online ..."  At Mackie's glare she amended that to, 
"... it's time to wake Nene up."  
     Frank and Ilsa stayed to watch Linna while the other three went to
collect Nene.  When they wheeled her back in they found Linna was off the
couch and had pulled on an oversized sweatshirt and slacks.  She was lacing 
up a pair of sneakers as the trolley wheeled towards the place she'd woken
up.  She stared at the inert body of her friend as the Stingrays transferred
it to the table.  When Sylia inserted the probe she felt her own forehead.
There below the skin she could feel some sort of indentation in the bone.  
Bone?  Whatever her skeleton was made of it was unlikely to be bone.  Who
was she?  Like Mackie had said, with her memories who else could she be?
Except she hadn't done any of the things she remembered doing.  Who am I?
she shouted mentally.  Why didn't something answer?
     Meanwhile Nene was in the transition between sleep and consciousness.
"Go 'way Ma, I've got a late shift today."
     "Nene, I need you to open your eyes."
     Mackie's voice.  Nene's hands shifted around and a few pieces of 
information flickered through her mind.  Waking up, covered by sheet, naked
underneath it, Mackie very close.  This could be bad news ... or good news. 
She wasn't certain which.  With a mixture of fear and elation she opened her
eyes.  
     It seemed her worst fears hadn't come to pass.  She was somewhere she
didn't recognise.  Mackie, Sylia and some girl she didn't know were standing
around her.  Linna hovered in the background looking upset.  Further away two
hardsuits shifted position as they watched her.  Where the heck was she and  
what was going on?  And what happened to her clothes?  "What's going on ...
last thing I remember I was lying down on Sylia's scanning gizmo?"
     Mackie answered, "That's going to take a little explaining.  The first
thing you should know ..."
     Mackie ran through the explanation again.  Linna didn't look any happier
about it the second time around.  As he explained Nene studied her body.  It
was just like her old one.  A little less bulgy around the waist.  She must 
have lost weight between the time her memories were recorded and her last
medical scan.  Cool.
     Mackie finished and Nene gushed, "Wow.  You can actually download people
into storable format.  That's incredible!"
     Linna stared at her.  "Are you nuts!  In case you didn't get it Ms.
Cyberpunk we're both dead!  We're not the people we think we are!"
     Nene looked like she didn't quite understand this reasoning.  "Would we
be any less dead if they hadn't recorded our memories? "
     "What!"
     "I don't know about you but I love being alive.  This is great!  How many
murder victims get a second chance."
     "But ...?"  Linna trailed off in confusion.
     "The way I look at it as long as the software's the same who cares if 
the hardware it's running on's changed?"
     "Are you serious?"
     "Well you can make a good case for the mind being a biological computer.
And from what I know about Biomechs our brains are still largely organic."
     Mackie nodded, "Yes.  In fact ALFs are designed to be more biological 
than Boomers."
     Nene had wrapped the sheet around herself leaving her arms bare.  She 
looked at them then asked Mackie, "So what can it do?"
     "Sorry?"
     "This body.  It's got some cool features added, right?  Although I can't
feel anything unusual."
     "Uh yes.  The weapons systems are locked down for the time being.  Until 
we're sure you can handle them safely."  Mackie hadn't expected to be asked 
this so quickly.  Might as well tell her.  "Well you've got some designs we 
stole from the Largo class Superboomer.  Your right arm contains a kinetic 
forcewave generator.  The emitter's located in the knuckles, you have to form 
a fist to use it."
     "A real knuckle bomber."
     "Yes.  The left arm contains the generator for a beam saber.  The
emitter for that is located below the skin of the palm.  The surrounding 
tissue is designed to quickly reseal the hole caused by activation."
     Nene was studying her arms.  "Neat.  Anything else?"
     "You have superhuman strength and endurance.  Right now you're locked to
normal human levels.  We'll be reducing the interlocks bit by bit so you 
learn your limitations and don't wreck yourself trying to act like superwoman."
     "OK.  Anything else?"
     "There's an interface socket on your neck.  The new Knight Saber suits
will be designed to link directly too you.  That'll reduce response time to 
minimum.  The suit should literally feel like your body."
     "So Sylia wasn't really lying when she conned us onto that couch.  She
really was planning a mind/hard suit interface."
     "That's ... one way of looking at it."  Amazing as it seemed Nene looked 
like she was going to manage best at coping with her new circumstances.  
However Linna looked horrified at the list of nonhuman capabilities of her new 
form.
     "I've got all these implants also?!"
     "Yes.  We used a standard design for the MegaALFs rather than making 
customized versions.  Actually we never expected to ever use them but Dumas 
fooled us all."
     "Hey Mackie."  Nene was fingering the back of her neck.  "Can I interface
directly with computer systems now."
     "Theoretically you should be able to tap directly into cyberspace.  We
haven't tested it yet because ... well we couldn't."
     Nene looked awestruck.  "I'll be the greatest hacker of all time.  No
more klutzy keyboards ... just think about it and ... wow."  Something else
occurred to her.  "Say, we can update those memory records, right?"
     "Sure."
     "So as long as we do that we're immortal.  As long as the record exists
you can bring us back again."  Linna looked like she wasn't sure this was an
attractive prospect.
     "Theoretically.  However we've got a finite supply of ALFs available.  So
don't do anything too crazy."
     "Nuts.  Say where are we going to live anyway?"
     Mackie hadn't expected that subject to arise so quickly.  Nene was
adapting fast than he'd anticipated.  "Well you're officially dead and we 
don't want to make Dumas suspicious so for the time being you'll live here.  
Sis has been since she got to Berlin.   We've got some rooms down here set 
up.  They're a bit spartan now but since everything seems to have worked I'll 
smuggle in some more amenities."
     "OK."  She leaned forward.  "Say do you live here?  It'd been fun to
have everyone together."
     Mackie took a step back, "Ah, I have my own apartment in the city."
     Sonya took a step forward, "And I share it with him."  She locked eyes
with Nene. 
     The latter shrugged and said, "Well, he might change his mind."
     "Not a chance."
     The tense moment was broken by Sylia saying, "Everything checks out.
We can bring in Priss."
     Sonya took Mackie's arm.  To Sylia she said, "Why don't you get 
reacquainted with your friends.  The two of us can handle it.  Come on!"  She
dragged Mackie with her as she ordered the robot trolley to follow.  As soon
as she thought they were out of earshot she demanded, "Just what was there
between you two anyway."
     "I've already told you.  We just dated a few times.  Nothing happened."
     "Uh huh."
     "Look I swear.  We never got past preliminary fondling."
     "You didn't mention that before."
     "Errr ... well you didn't give me all the details on your past 
boyfriends."
     "There weren't any.  All the guys I met were either intimidated or turned 
off by smart girls.  Now since we're stuck with her I want the details."
     "If you insist."
     "You're damn right!"
     "OK when I was about to leave for Berlin last year they threw me a party.
Things get kind of blurry later on in the evening.  Enhancement doesn't stop 
drunkenness, but you remain functional longer.  So it takes a lot to get 
yourself well and truly plastered.  Anyway Nene was trying to match me drink
for drink.  I'm hazy on the details but while the others were ... doing 
something, I'm not sure what, the two of us wound up staggering into the 
bedroom.  Things started happening but Nene passed out pretty quickly.  She
collapsed on the bed ..."  Mackie decided not to mention looking down at the
unconscious redhead with several dark impulses.  However his conscience had
managed to make itself heard in his alcohol soaked brain so he'd rebuttoned
her blouse and collapsed into a chair.  Soon after he was unconscious.  He'd
woken up to find himself draped in a blanket so Sis must have found them.
"... so that finished that.  Next morning I was able to block out the nausea
and other pains.  Nene felt like death warmed over so she didn't get to the
airport to wish me goodbye."  Very bad choice of words under current 
circumstances.
     "Must be handy being able to block hangovers.  You certainly looked 
better than me after Priss's wake."
     "Speaking of whom ..."  They'd arrived at the lab.  The last prepared
MegaALF floated waiting.  "Let's get on with it."
     It was almost routine by now.  They drained the tank, loaded on the ALF,
and wheeled it back to Shadowbase.  As before they moved and covered the
resurectee and ran startup procedures.  Again the Knight Saber woke up 
unaware of where she was and what had happened.  It was during the Mackie's
explanation that things took a different turn.
     "Biomech!"  Priss's voice was filled with loathing.  "You've turned me
into a FUCKING BOOMER!"
     "You're not a Boomer!"  He'd been afraid of this.  Good thing he'd
warned Frank and Ilsa to be ready.  Priss wasn't listening to him.  She'd
turned to glare at Sylia.  Who was looking back at her with no sign of 
emotion.
     "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!"  Priss gripped the edges of the table 
and tried to calm down, unmindful of having knocked the sheet off the table.
"I thought we were friends.  How could you do this to me?  To all of us, 
without our consent?"
     "If I'd told you, you might have refused."
     Sylia's calm was infuriating.  "You're goddamn right I'd have refused!
I hate Boomers!  Now you wake me up and tell me you've turned me into one?"
Priss stared at Sylia.  "What the hell were you thinking?"     
     "I thought it a reasonable precaution.  I admit I never expected things
to get as out of control as they did.  You always trusted me as leader of the
Saber's before.  This is just more of the same."  After a pause Sylia added,   
"It's unfortunate you were recorded prior to the ADAMA incident.  You had 
begun to mellow towards Boomers in recent months."
     "That's a crock.  The only good boomer's a dead boomer!"  Priss stared 
at her hands, "The only good ..."  Mackie thought she might be about to break
down and cry.  A serious misjudgement.
     Priss screamed and flung herself at Sylia.  Sylia snatched her 
outstretched arms and spun her towards the hardsuits.  Frank and Ilsa caught
and held her limbs.  Sylia picked up a probe and advanced towards her.  To
Linna it looked like something out of a nightmare; a naked Priss held 
helpless by power armoured thugs while someone approached with a long needle.
She started forward only to find Nene gripping her arm.  "Calm down.  I think
that's the ALF version of a sedative."
     As Sylia approached Priss raved, "YOU GODDAMN STUPID BITCH THIS WHOLE 
THING'S YOUR FAULT!  IT WAS YOUR FUCKING BOYFRIEND WHO MURDERED US! 
YOU
DID IT!  YOU CAUSED IT ALL ...."  Priss went unconscious as Sylia inserted
the probe.  Sylia looked at the slumped body for a long moment.
     Without emotion she said, "Put her back on the couch.  We'll add the
restraints then wake her up again."  Looking at the shocked faces around her
she added, "I realize this is a difficult situation for her but I'm sure in
time she'll adjust.  Right now I don't want her to hurt herself or anyone
else."
     Frank and Ilsa looked to Mackie for confirmation.  After a moment he
nodded and they carried Priss back.
     As she walked back a single thought kept echoing through Sylia's mind.
Priss was right, it was all her fault.  "But I am going to fix it!", she
thought.  Someday she would see Daniel's blood sprayed across the GENOM
tower.  When she'd done that she'd be able to live with herself again.  
Maintaining her emotionless mask she arrived by Priss's side.

End of part seven

Next: How do you cope with knowing you're not who you think you are?

Part 8 : Afterlives

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