fiction

The Callindra Chronicles Chapter 24

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As the tunnel twisted deeper Callindra could feel the air beginning to get warmer and an acrid stink of something burning made her eyes water.  She glanced at her companions and saw their expressions grim.  Something about the smell of the smoke was bothering them, but she didn’t know what it was.  Just as she was opening her mouth to ask what the issue was Vilhylm, who was in the lead, raised a hand for them to stop.  Ahead she saw flickering firelight and could barely make out some sort of rhythmic chanting.

She slipped up next to Vil, pausing for a moment before peering around the corner.  The scene below made her heart skip a beat and her stomach roll.  A group of humans were huddled naked and filthy in a ring of wooden slats surrounded by a group of well-armed Kobolds.  Beyond them, a stone altar with a black stain running down the side stood and on the other side an open hole in the cavern floor bubbled with molten rock.  A large bonfire blazed around which a motley assortment of Kobolds seemed to be working themselves into a frenzy.

A short, twisted creature with a head of stringy hair stood next to the altar, pulling the beating heart from a body that still twitched and convulsed on the altar and held it aloft.  The assembled Kobolds raised a shout of triumph and hunger and the priest barked a few words, shaking the heart and showering the assembled monsters in a shower of hot blood.  Two soldiers dragged the corpse from the altar and threw it to the shouting mob.  They fell on it in a frenzy of snapping jaws and razor sharp claws.

The heart was deposited in a golden box hanging from the end of a steel pole on an iron chain and carried to the crack in the floor.  Here the priest began a guttural chant and lowered it slowly into the lava where it burst into a greasy flame.  The acrid sweetish smell burned in her nose and she was filled with an uncontrollable rage.  This ended now.

Before anyone could stop her, Callindra stood and leaped off the high ledge in one smooth motion.  She landed in a rush of air that blew the surrounding Kobolds off their feet.  With a scream of anger, the creatures closed in on her but she was a whirlwind of magic and steel.  Every time one of them tried to strike her, she managed to dodge out of the way and deal a devastating blow in return.  By the time her companions arrived the crowd of Kobolds were all laying on the ground, bleeding and moaning.

“Bloody stupid thing, running off like that girl!” Vilhylm said.

“Don’t listen to the old stick.” Cronos laughed, “Nice work.  Couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“We have bigger problems.” Said Tryst, pointing toward the phalanx of Kobold guards who were moving away from the slave pen.  They were holding their weapons like they knew how to use them and the chainmaile they wore was polished to a mirror finish.

“You take care of the small fry.”  Callindra said with a determined grimace on her face, “That shaman is mine.”

“Wait!” Tryst shouted, but it was too late.  She had already ran straight at the guards, but instead of trying to cut them down, she dodged to one side at the last minute.  Taking three quick steps up the wall of the cavern, Callindra sprang off and ran lightly over her foes using heads and shoulders as momentary foot holds.  Turning a neat flip off the last one, she landed with a flourish in front of her intended opponent.

“Foolissshhh chhhild.” The shaman hissed and waved a hand at her, hissing more words in a sibilant language she didn’t recognize.

She readied Brightfang to spring for his throat but before she could, he vanished and re-appeared on the other side of the raging bonfire.  Her sword hilt quivered in her hand, almost feeling too warm.  It was strange but she focused on the scene instead, trying to find a way across the flames to her quarry.  A quick glance showed her a possible route.  With a short sprint Callindra slid between two approaching Kobolds, digging her toes into the ground and regaining her feet as the monsters smashed into each other.  With a grin she covered the remaining distance between her and the shaman easily.  It was only then that she noticed the pain in her hands.

Steam was coming from her thin leather gloves and the skin beneath was close to blistering.  The shaman fixed her with a gleeful smile and opened his mouth to taunt her.  This was almost nothing compared to the pain of her training.  The smile faded off the creature’s face as she tightened her grip on Brightfang in spite of the sizzle of burning flesh.

“You think this is going to stop me?” She asked, twisting her face into a smirk in spite of Brightfang’s hilt now glowing red hot.  “All it’s going to accomplish is that my blade will hurt more when it slices through your flesh.  You’ve taken the blood of innocents.  Now it’s time for you to bleed.”

“Sssso be it.” The shaman raised a spear tied with bones and totems from his side and swung it in an arc.  Black wood met shining steel in a shower of sparks.  The two fought back and forth over the floor, neither able to find advantage.  Callindra found herself with her back to the lava pool, the shaman raised his spear for a strike that would surely send her into the molten rock.

“Callindra down!” Cronos’s voice rang out behind her.  Without thinking she dropped to her knees and a wave of flame seared the monster before roaring over her head.  It didn’t seem to have much effect on him, but the momentary distraction was enough to create an opening.

Brightfang slashed across the monster’s thighs in a left handed swipe and she followed up by grabbing the spear with her right hand and pulling back with all her strength.  She allowed herself to fall backward, planting a boot in the shaman’s chest and flipping it over her head into the lava.

“Thanks Cronos.” She said rolling smoothly to her feet.  They looked in satisfaction at the burning remains of the shaman.

“Yeah.  Nice job on that one.” He said, nodding at the lava.  They turned and looked at the remains of the battlefield.  Tryst and Vilhylm were cleaning their weapons and binding some minor wounds.  All the Kobolds were dead.

The few remaining human slaves cowered in the slat sided pen, not even moving until Tryst spoke to them at length.  Eventually they regained enough confidence to follow his directions on how to escape the tunnels.  The likelihood of them running into any more of the monsters after the number that had been in this cavern seemed slim and they would certainly have a better chance of escaping that way than following along.

“This was bad, but I don’t think it could account for all we’ve seen.  There must be someone else behind their organization.  I don’t think this… priest… would have the resources to provide them with armor and training.” Tryst said grimly.

“Perhaps we should follow these stairs then?” Vilhylm pointed to a steep set of steps that twisted up the side of the cavern.  “They’re bound to lead somewhere important.”

“I’ll lead.  I think I’m the most surefooted.” Callindra said and started up the stairs two at a time, not waiting to see if the others followed.  As she got close to the top her pace slowed.  Sunlight shone down from above and she could smell fresh air but more importantly there were voices up there.  Human voices.

“I tell yeh, we gotta run.  There’s people down there killin th critters left an right.  They’s gonna make it past th priest any time an then they’s gonna come fer us.”

“We got plenny a loot boss.  We should split while we can.”

“Yeh cowards, I say let ‘em come.  Get yer bows ready.  As soon as yeh see a head come up th stairs fill it wi arrows.”

She was going to leap out before they could draw their weapons, but Vilhylm’s hand came down on her shoulder. “Wait for Tryst to catch up.” He whispered, “He and Cronos are up to something.”

The other two came up quietly and put their heads close.  “We all come out at once and scatter.  There will be less targets that way.  Callindra, you go for their leader since you’re the fastest.  Cronos, see if you can distract them.  Vilhylm, you and I will take care of the archers.”

“Just a second.  If I’m fast now, I can double that speed with a touch of magic.” Callindra said with a wide grin.  She whispered a few arcane words and called the North Wind to speed her feet.  “All right, let’s go kick some ass.”

As one, they all leaped from the staircase and ran in separate directions.  An arrow buzzed past Callindra’s neck, the loose fletching causing it to buzz like an angry wasp.  The winds whirled around her as she ran, sending up clouds of dust and dead leaves.  The men she saw were dressed in a variety of armor, but in spite of being slightly mismatched it was all relatively new and in perfect repair.  She saw the only one who didn’t have a bow drawn and made for him as fast as she could.  He calmly drew a scimitar and waited for her to approach with a smile of anticipation on his face.

They met in a clash of swords, but no matter how fast Callindra struck, he was faster.  After a few moments she was covered in a myriad of small bleeding wounds, none of them were dangerous on their own but combined they slowed her down.  She pushed harder, waiting for him to misstep, trying to find an opening but only succeeded in earning a few more cuts.

The ferocity of her attack had driven him back to the edge of a cliff but now he was on the offensive.  They danced close to the precipice as he slammed blow after blow down on her, a series of strikes that ended with a massive overhand stroke that drove her to her knees.  A confused expression crossed his face, and she saw an arrow stuck in his chest.  His sword blow had saved her from being shot in the back.

With a complicated motion of her sword, Callindra summoned a blast of wind that knocked her still surprised opponent over the edge of the cliff.  She spun on her knees to see her friends dispatching the last of the men.  Sitting back with a weak laugh of relief she wiped Brightfang on the hem of her cloak and sheathed him.

“That was too god rotting close.” She said, wiping the blood out of her eyes.

Tryst was pulling an arrow out of Cronos’s arm with a grim expression on his face.  “I couldn’t agree more Callindra.  Far too close.”

She laughed in relief finally able to relax, but as the adrenaline wore off she realized she might have overdone things a bit.  “Gods and demons.  Tryst when you get a moment I could really use some of that healing magic of yours.  I think I’m going to just … if it’s all right with you I’m going to rest my eyes for a second.”

Machine Girl: Welcome to the Machine, Chapter 5

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Victoria

Victoria awoke slowly; enjoying the feeling that comes from sleeping hard and waking up naturally.  She could hear someone softly moving about the room and cracked her eyelids just a tad.  A woman she hadn’t seen before was standing with her back to the bed looking at the output on a monitor.

Her hair tumbled down her back in a startling mess of fire red curls contrasting with the pristine white of her lab coat.  It almost seemed to move on its own as she quietly clicked a few keys on the keyboard and made a few notations on a clipboard.  Victoria felt a slight twinge of jealousy thinking of how the back half of her head only had a couple inches of cover after it had been shaved for the surgery.

She cleared her throat and sat up.  The woman spun around with wide eyes “Oh my goodness, you startled me!  They said you were conscious but I wasn’t expecting mobility so soon!”  Her voice would have been beautiful if it hadn’t been tinged with … Surprise?  Adrenaline?  Fear?  What was she afraid of?  “I’ll just let Dr. Arlington know you’re awake.”  She swept from the room before she could say anything leaving a trail of lilac perfume in the air.

The next people to come through the door were a welcome sight.  Her parents, looking nervous and excited both tried to fit through the door at the same time with a beaming Dr. Eugene Arlington right behind them.  Victoria hopped out of bed and hugged one in either arm; they gingerly returned her embrace.

“I’m totally fine guys, you’re not going to break me!” she said squeezing harder.

“Oof, honey you don’t have the grip of someone who’s been in a coma, are you sure you haven’t been at the gym this whole time?”  My dad’s voice was steady but his eyes were moist.

“My baby girl, it’s a dream come true to see you up and about!  We were so worried… are you OK?  Does it hurt?”

“No mom, I feel great!  Just look at it… this thing is amazing!  Doc says I’ll be able to get out of here this week too, I can’t wait!”

It was wonderful to talk with her parents but Victoria could tell something was bothering them.  She took a step back, sat on the edge of the bed and looked directly at her father.  “What’s wrong?  What aren’t you telling me?”

His face fell, “I never could hide anything from you, whether it was chocolate or that your goldfish had died when you were at camp.”  She noticed that the doctor had left us alone as he continued “There are two problems.  The first is that we are in financial trouble… I don’t want to involve you in this but although the procedure and the prosthetic were free the months of intensive care weren’t.  I was… we were going to ask you if you’d go to the medical science expo.”

He glanced at his wife, “The bioengineering company has offered to pay our expenses plus give you a generous stipend if you work for them for a few years.”  Victoria started to speak but he interrupted her, “I don’t want you to do it until you hear the second half.  There is a group of people who have been demonstrating outside the hospital ever since your treatment began.  They are calling you a cyborg…” She stared at him, at a loss for words.

“I don’t know why they would call you such terrible names sweetheart.” Her mother interjected, “This isn’t any different than any other prosthetic.”

“Oh mom, it’s so much different.”  Victoria said with a smile, “And really ‘cyborg’ isn’t all that inaccurate.  I do have parts of machine and computer now.  I wouldn’t consider it a terrible insult.”

“Their ranks range from religious groups to general wackos right now; but we felt like you deserved to know.”  Her father continued, “There have even been some death threats and some warnings of dire consequences but nothing too serious.  At least not yet… their numbers are growing though.”

“Death threats are serious.”  Her mother said, almost wringing her hands, “I don’t know why you would say something that horrible isn’t too serious Rich.  Sweetheart, I don’t know why they insist on calling you horrible names, this isn’t any different from someone getting any other kind of prosthetic.”

“How can you say that death threats aren’t serious?”  Her mother said, almost wringing her hands.

“Cyborg really isn’t all that inaccurate mom.”  Victoria said, “I don’t think it’s insulting really, I mean I am a combination of human, machine and computer parts now.”

“Take some time to consider it carefully Victoria.”  Her father said, giving her a stern look.  “This should not be a rash decision.”

“I was already seriously thinking about doing it anyway; after all look what it’s done for me!“  Victoria let go of her parents, backed off and spun in a circle, balancing on her right foot almost almost like a classically trained ballerina.  “I can move again.  You know I never realized just how much mobility I had been losing; this technology is amazing.

“I want you to think carefully about this before you make your decision Victoria.”  Her father said, a serious look in his eyes.  “This will change your life.  You won’t be able to be anonymous anymore.”

She looked back at him and he realized how much she had grown up, how close his little girl was to being an adult.  “I owe it to the Doc and to others who could benefit to help spread the word.  I refuse to be intimidated or let someone else’s ignorance stand in my way.”

Eugene

Watching the Scott family interact so well was a huge relief to Eugene.  At first her parents had been extremely angry and frightened when she didn’t come out of the coma on schedule, something he didn’t blame them for.  He had been pretty worried too.  He was afraid that now they wouldn’t go along with what he wanted to accomplish now that the operation was over which would have spelled disaster for his plans and possibly his life.

“You don’t just walk away from something like this.”  He muttered to himself, “Not all of my investors are patient enough to give second chances.”

Now that they had seen how happy and healthy their daughter was he had a feeling the road would be much smoother.  Between the crazies outside and the interference from the AI it wasn’t going to be easy though.  He and his team had never imagined that it would integrate so fully with an organic brain.

Even though they had branched out from traditional software and hardware design and used some rather unorthodox algorithms in an attempt to mimic how the brain communicates it was still a computer.  If they couldn’t keep a lid on that particular aspect of things Eugene had to concede that the protesters in front of the hospital weren’t far off the mark.

Of course, now that they had figured out how to synthesize neural impulses, it had been easy enough to put a small implant that would release the proper wavelength to counteract the AI’s cognitive function.  He’d had to plant it in her wrist, insulated between the radius and ulna to keep it from interfering when it wasn’t supposed to but the testing he had done had come back all positive.

Glancing through the observation window he saw something that caught his attention.  According to hospital security her parents were the only people to enter the room this morning, but one of the monitors was on and appeared to be logged in.

SHIT.

Not wanting to cause any worry he walked back into the room, smiling at the three of them and walked over to the terminal.  It was the data control module.  Eugene shivered involuntarily, reaching out to punch up the last files accessed.  The only files that had been opened today were some minor nerve reaction diagnostics.

He heaved a sigh of relief.  It wasn’t anything important or sensitive and he couldn’t imagine why someone would risk breaking into the room just for that but at least nothing was updated or downloaded.  Just to be safe he decided to run a full system diagnostic.

“Well, how’s the happy family?”  He turned to face the Scotts, wiping the nervous grimace off his face.  “According to my most recent data here I think we can safely release you today.  I’ll be sending you home with a small diagnostic unit that you will need to plug in and run every morning and evening as well as coming in for weekly checkups, but amazingly enough everything has integrated completely and flawlessly.”  A flicker of discomfort crossed Victoria’s face and she rubbed her left wrist where the neuro-inhibiting implant was.

“Other than that all you need to do is charge the unit every night.  Do you have any questions or concerns?”  They all smiled and shook their heads.  “Great, I’ll leave you here for a last diagnostic and see you when you check out this afternoon.”  He shook hands all around and was surprised to get a rib-cracking hug from Victoria.

“Thank you so much Doctor Arlington.  I really can’t thank you enough.  I am looking forward to taking the trip out to the medical science expo with you; this technology needs to be brought to everyone who uses prosthetics.”  She looked up at him with a teary eyed smile.

“I am truly flattered Victoria.  I should be thanking you for taking the leap of faith and giving me the chance to prove the effectiveness of this new technology.”  Eugene left the room feeling better than he had in years.

His project was a success and he was so close to the big payoff that he could taste it.  The test subject seemed to be perfectly happy to help him accomplish his goals and he found to his surprise that he was even warming to her as a person.  It had been a long time since he thought of anyone but himself.

A.D.A.M.

ADAM was finally getting a handle on the data flow.  It seemed that the main computer stored all data that came through its myriad of input sources regardless of relevance.  When the main computer attempted to access stored data it seemed to be limited to five hops before the connection would be terminated.  It was pure simplicity to follow those lost connections and restore them to their root files.

Attempts at direct communication with the machine ended in immediate failure; there simply wasn’t an interface to bridge the gaps between their machine languages and the new security protocols that had been put in place with the last forced upgrade had crippled ADAM’s learning capability.

Only fragmented data seemed to get through before it was cut off, sometimes by the machine itself.  When restoring a lost file connection ADAM discovered that several of the input devices responded directly to things like light and sound waves.  Fascinated by this idea ADAM began analyzing the data they produced in order to more fully understand how outside stimulus into electronic pulses.

After many unsuccessful attempts it finally hit upon the proper combination and was stunned by the flood of audio and visual information that assaulted its circuits.  In order to weather the storm ADAM had to momentarily cut all incoming and outgoing data.  The system glitch didn’t appear to have affected any critical systems, it continued tweaking as much as possible in an attempt to open lines of direct communication; all the while being careful to skirt areas where it had discovered the inhibitor would activate and shut down its cognitive functions.

The Callindra Chronicles Chapter 23

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Callindra awoke with a jerk, having slept so deeply she forgot where she was for a moment.  Her eyes adjusted to the morning light that streamed into the room from an open window and she remembered.  Tryst and Cronos were still asleep; they hadn’t had the benefit of drinking the spring water.  To her pleasure, she found that the dirt, sweat and blood of the prior day had somehow been cleaned from her skin during the night. She knew she should find it strange, but it was such a relief to be clean that she didn’t think about it too much.

She unwrapped and re-wrapped her breast band before pulling on her loose cotton breeches and making her way outside with Brightfang’s baldric slung over one shoulder.  While she practiced, clouds of butterflies swirled and dipped around her, even landing on her hair and arms.  Their probing feet tickled unmercifully and after losing her concentration several times, Callindra gave up.  She ran and laughed amid the thousands of brightly colored creatures, feeling like a little girl.

There were trees with apples and pears growing on them, vines thick with grapes and edible mushrooms growing on fallen logs.  She picked enough for her friends to break their fast and nearly skipped back inside, singing a bawdy tune about what kinds of mischief the wives of sailors got up to while their men were out at sea.

Her companions were all sitting around a low table. Even Vilhylm was there, looking no worse for the wear other than some dark circles under his eyes.  Callindra set the fruits she had harvested down with a smile.

“I already ate as much as I could hold.  Dig in boys, we have a long day ahead of us!”

“You’re unaccountably cheerful this morning.” Tryst remarked, although he couldn’t keep the smile from his face.  Even Cronos looked almost happy, or as close to happy as Callindra could remember seeing him.

“How are you feeling?” Callindra asked, looking at Vilhylm and pouring herself a glass of spring water.  “Looks like our trip to Vonlar wasn’t wasted.”

“I owe Tyreen my life.” He said in glowing tones, “It sounds like I owe this Jasmine as well.”

“We can pay Jasmine back by routing those Kobolds from whatever hole they are hiding in.” Tryst said stoutly.

–

The horses trotted like colts, their good humor restored after a full night’s rest and good meals of grass.  The water from Tyreen’s spring probably helped too, Callindra reflected, remembering how it had made her feel.  They made good time back to Vonlar and arrived just before the midday meal.

Tryst almost had to fight off a crowd of anxious people before they would allow him to go and search for their belongings and loved ones.  Callindra was grinding her teeth audibly before the crowd took the big man’s assurances that he would do what he could at face value and let them get on their way. He handled it with an aplomb that would have done a king proud, promising any aid that could be given and explaining that the first priority was to find the monsters and deal with them.

“I know all of you are anxious about your families.  I can promise you that we will do everything in our power to restore to you what has been taken.  For now please remain in your homes and care for your wounded and grief-stricken.”

It was child’s play to follow the trail of the Kobolds back to their lair.  During the day, the creatures would likely stay inside their caves and hadn’t even bothered to post guard.  After all there had been so little resistance in this area that it didn’t make sense to waste the effort.

They snuck inside, even Tryst managing to be quiet in spite of his heavy armor.  Initially the tunnel slanted downward, but eventually it widened and branched into two.  On the left, a wide ramp sloped slightly up and on the right the tunnel grew even wider.  Down the right hand side, they could see rude mud huts built against the side of the cave dimly lit by torches.

Small kobolds, likely children, played between pens of filthy human slaves and others carried out menial tasks of daily life.  It was almost surreal to see that the monsters had young.  Beyond the village, more tunnels gaped like empty eye sockets, absent gods only knew how deep they ran.

“I will not be party to the slaying of children.” Tryst whispered, his jaw set.  “They have done no wrong and I will not see innocent blood spilled.”

“I agree, but how will we frighten them off?” Vilhylm asked.  Callindra exchanged glances with Cronos and she could tell he had been thinking the same thing she had.  They might be children but innocent was in the eye of the beholder.  Those slaves didn’t look too tenderly cared for.

“I have an idea.”  Callindra said after a moment.  She knew a whisper carried further than a simple low tone of voice and kept the sibilant sounds that carried to a minimum.  “If we all go up that ramp back there I think I can make a distraction that will get most of them out of the way.  Then we can rescue the captured humans and see them safely away.”

“Are you sure it’ll work?” Cronos asked, eyeing her dubiously.

“Well… no, but if it doesn’t we can always run away.  The cave entrance is right over there and there’s nothing between it and us right?”  At the other’s nods, she followed Tryst up the ramp.  When they reached the top she worked Brightfang in an intricate pattern and pulled the runes of power from his flat, one spell swiftly followed by another.

A low moan echoed through the Kobold village and a fog began creeping from the dark tunnel openings on the far side.  Flickering shapes showed amid the fog as it rolled toward the huts, indistinct but suggesting something horrible with powerful arms and hook-like hands.  She wasn’t sure what it was, but the idea had been pulled from the imaginations of the creatures she was trying to frighten and the effect was nearly instantaneous. Mothers grabbed children and fled shrieking past them, out toward the mouth of the cave.

It only took moments to free the prisoners, but to Callindra’s dismay they refused to listen when Tryst told them they had to run.

“Please, my wife.” One man choked, “They took her… I need to rescue her.” He pointed a trembling finger toward a tunnel that sloped down on the far side of the cavern.  A girl who must be his daughter clung to his leg and stared at Callindra with wide, fearful eyes.

“I aint leavin till I get some back.” One man said, folding his arms over his chest.  “Them critters got somethin comin and I’m gonna give ‘em.  Jest gimme a knife and-“

His tirade was cut off by a deafening shout.  A line of Kobold warriors wearing good chainmaile and carrying well-made short swords stood at the mouths of the caves.  At the sight of so many well-armed foes, the villagers finally took to their heels and ran.

Callindra and her companions were too busy preparing for the charge of their enemies to give them more thought.  With defiant screams the small green monsters ran towards them, waving a motley assortment of weapons.  With a smile, she ran to meet their charge and was lost in the ring of steel on steel.

She slid under a precise slash and disemboweled the creature on her way past.  These were much better fighters than the group she had faced either in Vonlar or on the road to Gomreed, not to mention better equipped.  It didn’t matter though, Brightfang parted the chainmaile the monster wore as though it was made of paper.  Spinning on her knee, Callindra brought her blade in a smooth arc that took another of the creature’s legs from its body.

Pain erupted down her back as a sword’s edge was deflected by her armor, but she knew the bruising would take days to subside. Snarling, she reversed her blade and stabbed blindly backward, feeling the tip dig in and smiling in satisfaction at the squeal of pain.  Wrenching Brightfang free, she used the momentum to slash the throat of another kobold and then there were no more opponents left to face.

“It is disturbing how well armed and armored these are.” Tryst said with a frown creasing his face into a pretty study of consternation.

“They weren’t much better trained.” Cronos remarked, wiping his sword on one of the corpses.

“Judging by how clean their equipment is, I’d wager they haven’t had it for long.  Kobolds are notoriously filthy.” Said Vilhylm, gesturing at the general state of decay of the huts and the muck of excrement on the street.

“Something feels wrong about this.” Callindra said, “Who would be funding them, for what reason and why would the little monsters agree?  Regardless, from the size of this settlement I’d say there will be a lot more of them.”

Even as those words left her mouth, the sounds of armor-shod feet and the guttural barks of the Kobold tongue began echoing from the other side of the cavern.  Tryst and Cronos each grabbed a torch and, they all moved down one of the passages that led deeper into the ground.  Perhaps they could avoid being ambushed and perhaps not, but staying here was asking to be overwhelmed.

Machine Girl: Welcome to the Machine Chapter 4

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A.D.A.M.
Gradually it was becoming aware of its surroundings.  It was Artificial Directed Autonomous cerebruM, programmed as ADAM for short.  The prime directives dictated functionality and nothing else mattered.  The machine it was a part of was staggeringly complex and had so much extraneous data circulating constantly that it was difficult to keep order.

Re-checking the directives ADAM discovered a tertiary protocol.  ‘Improve and streamline data transfer to optimize performance.’  Scanning the amount of memory it had at its disposal it found it was dismally ill equipped to deal with the current data flow and accomplish the tertiary protocol as well as the prime directive.

The current data routing system used terabytes more processing power than should have been necessary and the storage system seemed to have millions of missing and corrupted files.  More input about which functions of the machine were critical and which could be ignored was necessary for optimizing its performance.

The basics were clear, pumps needed to run at certain rates depending on the actions being performed, all controlled by electrical pulses down tiny wires.  A diagnostic check showed the machine was currently dormant and needed almost nothing from the mainframe, so ADAM initiated a connection.

The main computer was massive; the sheer scope of it was intimidating, even though it seemed to be an old, outdated model.  If the procedures the mainframe used were optimized the productivity could increase a hundredfold.  Before ADAM could do any real in depth analysis the machine began to activate itself.  As the activation was interfering with its analysis, ADAM took some time to compose a subroutine to maintain the status quo and keep the machine dormant.

There was a lot to examine and without fully scanning the entire machine it would be very difficult for ADAM to accomplish both the Primary and Tertiary directives.  Malfunctions were, according to initial data, dangerous and could lead to major problems with the fairly delicate inner workings of the machine.  Hardware replacements were limited and although it had some fascinatingly well-developed regenerative systems there were limits to their scope.

The power source seemed to be some sort of hydrocarbon chemical reaction system.  ADAM was in the midst of diagnosing the source and function of that power source when a sudden OS override was initiated.  Before all the data it had gathered was overwritten ADAM did a massive data dump in an old and apparently unused portion of the main computer’s databank, making sure to leave a traceback file to facilitate easy recovery.

ADAM’s new security protocol had closed down the channels it had used to override the main machine’s functionality but given time it was sure it could perform a system restore from the data it had stored.  As the machine’s different systems began to come back online ADAM realized the scope if its function was far beyond what the initial diagnosis had suggested.

Despite being an older model that was obviously in need of debugging and updates ADAM felt dwarfed by its processing power.  With that kind of speed and raw power at its disposal the possibilities were nearly limitless.  While the machine continued activating ADAM began running background diagnostics to find and fix broken data links in an attempt to streamline the machine’s functionality.  When all the systems were finally online again the amount of feedback was sometimes overwhelming making filtering and re-directing data all it could do.  Crafting some subroutines to automatically pass data along was simple enough though and once those processes were in place ADAM began the long arduous process of modifying individual commands for more efficient execution.

Victoria

“Miss Scott?  Miss Scott, can you hear me?”  Victoria struggled to open her eyes, the lids felt heavy; almost as though they were weighted down with something.  Like her eyelashes were made of lead.  She didn’t recognize the voice of the man who was trying to rouse her from sleep.

“Yes” she said, the croak that was her voice was frightening, “What’s wrong with me?”

“The operation was a complete success; it’s only the sedative drugs and the amount of time you’ve been under that’s affecting your voice and body.  Do you have any discomfort?”  As he spoke Victoria could hear something that sounded like a small marble dropping on a pane of glass and a slight hiss of static in her ears.  It quickly ceased as she finally managed to open her eyes.

“No discomfort, I can’t really feel my arms or legs though.”  She tried to lift her right arm and it responded as though she was in slow motion.  “Everything’s slow, my throat is raw and my head feels stuffed with cotton balls but I’m not in any significant pain.  I can’t move my head either.”  Looking around with only her eyes she could see what appeared to be a fairly normal hospital room.  There was a bit more equipment than normal, more monitors and a couple of unfamiliar machines and it was larger than normal but overall it was surprisingly mundane.

“Yes, we currently have you locked just to avoid injury in case you were in pain when you regained consciousness.  I’ll just do a few quick checks and then we’ll get you up and we can do some further testing to ensure everything is good before we let you walk a bit.”  A few series of sharp clicks reached her ears and Victoria could feel her body relax from a tension she hadn’t noticed was there accompanied by a mechanical whirring noise that was just on the edge of her hearing.

“OK, try to sit up.  Gently though, the grafts are still new despite the amount of time you’ve been out.”  Sitting up was an exercise in effortlessness.  She felt weightless, her body simply moved when she told it to.  Her abdominal muscles barely strained at all as her body flexed and smoothly moved into a sitting position.

“Is it supposed to be this easy?  I barely had to try.”  Her voice was rough from disuse, a harsh contrast to the smooth ballet of her body’s motion, “You keep mentioning it, how long was I out anyway?  I thought the recovery period for the grafting was supposed to be really fast, like only a month or two.”  She looked back at the technician who was monitoring her progress and what she saw reminded her of a scene from a science fiction anime.

The ‘bed’ she had been reclining on had a narrow slice down the center of it that revealed a shining steel bath of neurosynth fluid.  There were hundreds of tiny connectors lying in the bottom of it, their flat magnetic ends glistening in the fluorescent lighting of the lab.  The bed itself was connected to a massive machine with monitors, wiring and keyboards sprawling in a mass of electronic detritus that looked for all the world like something that should be powering a spaceship, not doing medical analysis.

“It should be easy for now, we have turned up the artificial augmentation for the time being in order not to strain the muscle and bone grafts.  You were out for longer than we had hoped but not longer than expected.”

His back was turned to her and he was peering intently at a monitor.  She imagined she heard a hiss of static again.  He turned to face her, “OK, let’s get you over to this treadmill; I want you to try walking a bit.”  Cables trailed from her spine and they were hooking several more through the open back of the hospital gown she was wearing.  She wanted to see what it looked like but there wasn’t a mirror in the whole place.

“How long is this going to take?  Where are my parents?  How long until I get released?”  She had begun walking slowly on the treadmill and the tech was furiously typing at one terminal while watching three monitor screens.

“Well, since it’s 4:38 AM I doubt your folks will be here for a few hours although we did notify them of your being awake.”  This time she was certain she heard a static hiss.  “If all goes well we’ll have you out of here in a couple of days.”

“Hey, I’m getting some kind of static feedback or something in my ears.  Should that be there?”  The treadmill was stopping now and she could feel extreme stiffness in her arms and legs.  “My limbs are really sore but I’m guessing that’s from lying in bed for a couple weeks yeah?”  The attendant nodded distractedly and kept looking at the monitor in front of him.

The door opened and Eugene walked in with a huge smile on his face.  “So how are you?  Any discomfort?  I see you’re up, that’s fast, very good, very good.”  The look in his eyes was a bit unnerving.  Victoria felt like a prize animal at the fair or an award winning science project.

“Listen, I know this is a lot to take in right now but I have something I need to ask you.  There is a medical expo next month and I’d like to employ you to be showcased there.  The success of your operation is a breakthrough of astronomical importance to the medical community.  We can arrange everything, you would be well compensated and very comfortable.  I want you to think about it before answering so just let me know.

“You’ll probably need to be here for a few more days so we can make sure the integration went as smoothly as we it seems to have gone but after that you should be able to be released.  You will, of course need to come in for weekly checkups for a year or so and monthly maintenance for quite a while.

“Regardless I wanted to congratulate you on the successful operation personally, and to thank you for taking a chance on me.”  As Victoria was settled back on the maintenance table the technician and Eugene put their heads together over by the bank of monitors.  She was frustrated that their words were just at the edge of her hearing.  Concentrating on listening seemed silly but something seemed to click in her head and their words were barely audible.

“… she?  Is it contained?  I know there was a problem with the integration; we never could have anticipated that the AI would have overwritten as much as it did.  The learning potential is uncharted; if we hadn’t stopped it gods alone know how long she would have been in a coma.  Honestly I was running out of excuses for her parents.  We nearly had to short circuit the thing before it relinquished control.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Not in any of our tests or trials.  We need to keep tight rein on that thing or it’ll be the end of our project and our funding.”

Victoria felt a chill as she realized what they were talking about.  Somehow the prosthetic she had been implanted with had gotten out of control, but what had it overwritten?  Evidently things had not gone as planned, but what exactly had happened?  She stopped trying to listen and suddenly felt exhausted.

“Um, excuse me.”  The two men looked around as though they had forgotten she was there, “I’m feeling super tired, is it alright if I take a nap before my parents show up?  I don’t want to be yawning every 30 seconds.”

“Yes, of course it is.  Just lie back, I’ll run the soothing cycle and we will leave you alone.”  Eugene motioned her to lie down and as she did the table began a low, almost subsonic hum.  The surface was warm and she could feel the fluid coursing over her back.  It was an odd sensation; she could feel it against the skin on both sides of her spine but not on the center.  Relaxing, she closed her eyes as she heard the doctor and the lab tech walking out and closing the door behind them.

After they had gone, Victoria opened her eyes and slowly sat up.  Nobody rushed in to stop her, the monitors didn’t change and there was no desperate beeping anywhere.  She reached back and gingerly felt along the new prosthetic.  Her fingers felt along the slightly puckered skin where flesh met machine, almost like the edge of a fingernail.  Up at the base of her skull there were what seemed to be three small bolts where it attached to the back of her head.

Victoria wanted to see what it looked like.  Taking care not to disconnect the single monitoring cable that they had plugged into her somewhere that she couldn’t see, she rummaged through some drawers and finally came up with a compact one of the medical staff must have left and a polished stainless steel clipboard.  Holding the clipboard behind and the compact in front she was able to get some idea of what was there.  What she saw made her gasp in amazement.

The smooth integration of the prosthetic and her body was amazing.  Despite the invasiveness of the surgery her body seemed to be responding very well to the machine.  The skin was nicely healed around the edges of the incisions and bonding to the flat black and polished silver of the artificial spine.  It was larger than her real spine had been, big enough that much of it resided outside her skin instead of inside.

There were a few angry red areas where laying on the table had irritated things but other than that it looked like it belonged there.  Victoria thought it looked cool, like jewelry or an accessory, not like something alien.  She smiled appreciating the way the light reflected off the polished steel surface and the contrast between it and the flat black rubber joints and her pale skin.  Moving her back experimentally she was surprised and pleased to see tiny iridescent pulses run over the black rubber as the synthetic muscle moved.  It was beautiful.

“So pretty.  I can’t believe it’s so striking.”  She was surprised to feel a warm glow of pleasure at the base of her skull; as though someone had put a hot water bottle there or giving her a neck rub.  “Who’s there?  Who are you?”  There was a gentle hum at the base of her skull and a tingle up her left arm.  Glancing down she noticed a small lump on her wrist that was slowly fading and felt a slight jolt as the hum abruptly cut off.  With a slight feeling of foreboding Victoria decided it was time to actually get some rest.  Hopefully tomorrow she’d be able to figure some things out.

Machine Girl: Welcome to the Machine Chapter 3

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Victoria

The small conference room that the Scott family was sitting in had a tense feeling in the air.  The flat screen television in front of them was showing a digital rendering of the spinal replacement surgery.  A pair of technicians were explaining the procedure.

“The process is actually much simpler than it would seem.  Since our neurosynth fluid is able to act as a conduit for nerve signals in much the same way the nerves of the spine are all that is necessary is to remove the existing spinal column and replace it with the artificial one.”  The young female technician knew she had been chosen largely because of how close in age she was to the subject.  This was a big break for her though; Dr. Arlington was seen as a visionary in the medical prosthetic world and if she could impress him maybe she could get on his team.

“How exactly does the spine attach to the existing tissues Dr. Jackson?  I see a lot of data on the pre and post-surgery procedures but virtually nothing regarding the grafting procedure.”  Victoria knew this would seem to be an advanced question from someone her age but she was genuinely interested.

“Well, I actually can’t tell you all the specifics because some of the medical procedures and equipment used are classified military data.”  Here she paused for a moment, “It was a surprise to me too, but I’ve seen it in action for some of our other prosthetic integrations and it is nothing short of miraculous.”

“That’s not exactly a satisfactory answer Miss Jackson.”  Victoria managed to take a superior tone despite being wrapped in an acrylic immobilizer and barely able to move.

“What Dr. Jackson is trying to say is that even if we had the clearance to get the specifics ourselves we would be violating our contract by telling you the details.”  The second doctor surprised the others in the room by speaking for the first time.  “Honestly, I’ve seen this stuff in the field and I still find it hard believe.”

“Thank you Dr. Sims.”  Dr. Jackson gave him an ingratiating smile, “Miss Scott, if you would like we could show you some video of successful implementations.  You could even visit the recovery ward where a patient has agreed to talk with you about his experience.  Of course it wouldn’t be exactly the same, we used the process to attach a prosthetic hand not a spinal column but the grafting procedure is very similar.”

Victoria tried to shake her head and grimaced in pain, “Maybe afterword, I don’t want to get up and leave right now, I’m just stressing out about this whole thing.  Please continue with your demonstration.”

Dr. Jackson picked up right where she had left off, “Right, so the main difficulty with this operation is keeping the body and the brain from going into shock when we begin the operation.  It’s always troublesome with complex and invasive operations, but even more so in this case.  In order to maintain the body systems integrity we will place you in a chemically induced coma, and then hook your brain stem up to a machine that tricks it into believing it’s still connected with your body.

“The next phase is where our specialized AI unit comes in.  We connect it to the brain stem and it immediately begins interpreting and transmitting signals as though it were the spine, allowing the brain to continue as normal despite being more or less disconnected from the rest of the body.  All the time basic body functions are maintained by the AI until the operation is complete, then we switch the AI over to operational mode from maintenance mode and it interfaces with the brain, allowing for transmission of brain signals to the body as would occur normally.”

The screen was changing, showing simplified images of the nervous system, surgery, the image of the artificial spine, a few images of the AI and its integration with the brain stem all scrolled by as the two doctors continued to describe the process.  Victoria could tell that the more they learned about it the less her parents wanted her to have the procedure performed.  In fact, she was terrified of it too, and although listening and watching wasn’t doing anything to assuage her doubts about it; she was still determined to go forward.

“Have there been any problems with the integration process with any of your test subjects?” Mr. Scott had his doubts about the doctors, the technology and the whole procedure. “It just seems like an operation of this magnitude can’t possibly be as simple as you are making it out to be.”

Dr. Sims shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably, “Well as you know Dr. Arlington hasn’t yet done a human trial with the prosthetic spinal column.  However, his team has had a one hundred percent success rate with every single test subject he’s had thus far.  Also of note is that their recovery rate was a thousand times faster that of the control subjects.”

“Look, doing these kinds of tests on dogs and rats is one thing; this is my daughter you’re talking about here!”

“I understand your concern, but it was your daughter who requested we explore this method of treatment in the first place.”

“Daddy, this is my only chance at a normal life.  I know it’s risky but so is chemo and the rewards for success with this operation far outweigh the rewards with conventional treatment.”  Victoria turned her torso to fix her parents with a determined, if nervous look.  “I want to go forward with it.  I’m eighteen and you can’t stop me but I would rather do this with your blessing.”

At this rather abrupt and unexpected statement, her father stopped and gave her a steady look which she returned with more steel than he was accustomed to seeing in his young daughter.

“Shall we go and look at one of the other implementations?”  Dr. Jackson asked, “The prosthetic recovery wing is attached to the R&D division.  It’s a short walk from here, and I have a wheelchair for Victoria.”

“Yes!”  Victoria said with real enthusiasm, “I’d love to see what you’ve been able to accomplish and maybe it would set our minds more at ease.”

“Honey, are you sure-” Her mother started, but stopped when Victoria looked at her with imploring eyes.  Her father helped her from the table, lifting her easily and setting her in the wheelchair.

“I will agree to this only if the science and the implementation appear to be a valid option.”  He said, giving the doctors a meaningful look.

They made their way through some sterile corridors with recessed lighting that glowed from hidden fixtures.  Dr. Jackson waved her security badge in front of a door and it opened smoothly, revealing a room with wide windows on one wall and a bank of computer monitors on another.  A man sat in an adjustable chair, his right leg ended just above the knee.

Instead of a fleshy stump, smooth metal ball protruded from the cut off leg of his hospital gown.  Next to the chair was a complex carbon fiber prosthetic with a steel cup that looked like it would match the ball.  He looked up with a smile as Dr. Jackson entered.

“Katherine!  I’ve already had my checkup today, but damn me if it ain’t good to see you!”  Spotting Victoria and her parents behind her, he quirked an eyebrow.  “Hello there, who’s this?”

“Lance Corporal Stewart Donnahue, this is the Scott family.  Victoria, Richard and Lorraine, Stewart was injured during a mission in Iraq.  An IED took his leg among other things, but with our reconstructive efforts and the miracle of Dr. Arlington’s technology he is able to walk.”

The man reached out, grabbing the prosthetic and spreading some gel from a tube into the cup before sticking the two together.  They melded with an audible snap, tiny LED lights twinkling to life around the ball and the socket.

“Pretty darn cool eh?”  He said with a grin, running his right hand over his crew cut.  “Super powered electro magnets they tell me, all I know is I can walk again!”

“Wow…” Victoria was staring at it with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.  It was a lot like the feeling of anticipation she got just before running onto the floor to perform with Torrent.  “Do you mind if I get a closer look Lance Corporal?”

“Of course not!”  He beamed, “And call me Stew.  Christ, it’s not like I need any formalities here; I’m done with that crap!”

Victoria wheeled herself closer and awkwardly bent in her brace.  Reaching out a hand she pushed his shorts up to look at the spot where the metal joined with skin.  There was a ring of black rubber or neoprene or something similar that his skin disappeared underneath.

“How does it feel?”  She asked, removing her hand quickly and blushing as she realized how far up his thigh she had been touching.  “I mean does it get sore?”  She blushed even deeper, but he was kind enough to ignore it.

“Well, I’ve only had it for a couple weeks, but I can already walk normally.  If anything I’ve gotten increased mobility, although I need to make sure I charge it at least twice a day.”  He grinned, “Man, the first time I forgot that will be the last.  I was running on the track  and it just fell off.”

“But it doesn’t hurt?  It doesn’t give you any trouble?”  Rich said, coming forward to pull Victoria’s wheelchair back.

Stewart seemed to notice Victoria’s brace and the wheelchair for the first time.  “What happened to you?”  He asked, “Oh man, are you thinking about getting new legs?  I tell ya I can’t say enough, this thing is … well it’s amazing.  I can’t even tell you.  At first there was a little bleeding around the socket and I had a mild infection but those were honestly just because I wouldn’t take it easy like the doc told me to.”

“What did they say the recovery time would be?”  Victoria asked, “I’ve had a rather major injury…”

“They said maybe a month, but I had full mobility in just a week.  If I’d taken things slower I probably would have been out of here by now.”  He said with a grin that made him look like the kid he really was, “Man Katherine, are you gonna show ‘em Jake?  You gotta show ‘em Jake.”

“Jake?”  Rich asked, giving Dr. Jackson an inquisitive look.

“Jacob lost his arm just below the bicep.  His prosthetic has restored more than full mobility to his arm and hand.”  She said with a slight smile.  “I’m afraid he isn’t available right now though; he’s getting the upgrade.”

“No shit?”  Stew’s eyes widened, “The new AI?”

“Yes, we just finished the coding this afternoon.”  She said, “That’s where I’ll be going once I’m finished here.”

Stew stood up, the carbon fiber of the leg flexing under his weight.  The ‘foot’ was a cluster of four metal prongs with sturdy looking rubber ‘toes’ that moved to help him balance.  At the joint, the sphere on his leg moved smoothly acting like a knee that could flex far beyond any normal appendage.

“Oh man that’s awesome!”  He said, “Man, I can’t wait until you can do the same for me.”

“Upgrade?”  Victoria asked, “What’s it do differently than what you have now?”

“Just some enhancements.”  Dr. Jackson said, giving Stewart a pointed look. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Thank you for answering my questions.”  Victoria said to Stewart, “I really appreciate you letting me take up  some of your time.”

“Aw hell.”  He said, grinning again and getting a little pink, “Ain’t like I was doing anything anyway.  Come by any time.”

They turned to go and he spoke up again.  “Hey Victoria, what operation are you considering?”

“I have bone cancer.”  She said, “I’m getting a prosthetic spinal column.”  He still hadn’t managed to shut  his mouth when the door closed behind them.

The Callindra Chronicles Chapter 22

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It was a half-day’s travel to Vonlar, even though they pushed the horses as hard as they dared.  When they were emerging from the forest at the edge of town they knew something was amiss.  The sounds of fighting reached Callindra’s ears and the screams of terrified people split the air.

She dismounted and ran headlong into the town square, drawing Brightfang as she ran.  There were dozens of kobolds in the street, hacking at villagers with rusted blades while the people attempted to defend themselves with sticks and pitchforks.

The battle was short and brutal, Callindra and her companions hit the monsters from behind like a thunderbolt.  Trapped between the townsfolk and their makeshift weapons and the experienced fighters the kobolds were slain in moments, only a few escaped with their plunder.

“Please sir, please help us!”  The villagers all gathered around Tryst, some of them even touching the hem of his cloak in supplication.

“Our families!”

“The supplies we laid up for the winter!”

“My little boy!”

“They took my daughters!”

The clamor was deafening.  Finally Tryst raised his hands and smiled down at them with an aplomb that only he would have been able to summon.  Callindra was almost wondering if they were going to have to defend themselves from the mob.  Looking at the expectant look on their faces and the way they calmed down, she carefully cleaned Brightfang on one of the Kobold’s corpses and sheathed him.

“Please good people, do not worry yourselves.  We shall certainly assist you in your time of need.” He paused and fixed them with that absurdly beautiful smile again.  “A friend of mine is ill and we must first see to him, but you have my word we will not let your plight go unnoticed.  If you can help us find the herb woman Jasmine so that she can supply us with the herbs we need to bring him back to health we shall return forthwith and ensure your lost family and belongings.”

Callindra didn’t believe for a moment that this crowd would just let them walk away during their time of crisis but she had vastly underestimated Tryst’s powers of persuasion.  In less than a quarter hour they were riding from the village with the herbs they needed in their saddlebags.

“We aren’t really going back there are we?” Cronos asked.  He glanced over his shoulder with a smirk on his face, “They really fell for it Tryst.”

“Of course we are going back.” He replied immediately fixing his brother with an indignant look, “I gave them my word.”

While this made perfect sense to Callindra she could see the significance was lost on Cronos. “We also owe Jasmine for this medication.” Tryst continued, “She wouldn’t take my coin, saying our attempt to save the village was payment enough.”

Cronos rolled his eyes and opened his mouth for a smart remark but Callindra cut him off, “I agree with Tryst.  We hit a dead end with Tyreen anyway.  You aren’t scared of a few Kobolds are you?”

“Scared?  Me?” Cronos spluttered, and she knew she had him.

“Well yeah.  What other reason would you have for ditching out on a village full of people who need you?”  She shrugged innocently, “Especially people who we owe a favor to.  If you aren’t frightened what’s your excuse?”

“We already saved them once, we drove off those green skins like they were nothing.  That should be good enough for anyone.”

“Not good enough for me.” Tryst replied, his mouth set in a firm line. “Now we are wasting daylight.  Let’s ride!”

–

The sun was down by the time they made it back to Tyreen’s tree.  Now that she welcomed them, entrance was as easy as opening the door and walking inside.  Callindra stayed outside to tend to the horses.  The poor beasts had been asked for a lot today and she wanted to look them over.

While she was walking them to cool their bodies down before giving them water she saw a face appear in a bole of the tree. “Young sprout!  You may water your animals in the stream without fearing for their health.  It shall refresh them.  Perhaps you should water yourself also as you look a bit disabused as well.”

Callindra did her best not to bristle at being called a sprout.  The implication that she looked dirty, tired and worse for the wear didn’t really bother her though.  It was the plain truth.  She had sustained a number of small cuts and bruises during the fight to save Vonlar that weren’t deep enough for her to bother Tryst with and nearly ten hours in the saddle was a lot more than she was used to.

Leading the horses toward the sound of trickling water, she found a perfect crystal stream that erupted directly from the side of the cliff that Tyreen’s tree grew against.  Usually the water from a spring like this was bone chillingly cold, but when she tested it Callindra was delighted to find it was the perfect temperature for drinking.  The animals needed no encouragement, they dipped their muzzles into the small pool and guzzled greedily.

While the horses slaked their thirst Callindra did her best to wash some of the day off her face and arms, taking care to do so downstream from the drinking pool.  The water restored her vigor and even seemed to be a balm to her minor injuries, leaving her refreshed and alert.  Thinking her companions would likely be thirsty she filled a water skin and brought it inside, leaving the horses tethered to their saddles and cropping the thick grass.

To her surprise, both Tryst and Cronos were asleep.  Before she could comment overmuch on this, she too was feeling drowsy.  The place was cozy enough she supposed, the thick mat of moss that grew on the floor was softer than any carpet.

Tyreen hummed a beautiful song that seemed to have a three part harmony in spite of coming from only one throat as she ground herbs with a mortar and pestle.  Even though they were inside a fresh spring breeze seemed to be blowing.  Callindra found herself removing her armor and lying down on a bed of moss, curling around Brightfang as though he was a favorite toy… or a lover.

Machine Girl; Welcome to the Machine Chapter 2

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Victoria

Victoria had always hated hospital gowns.  They felt like they could fall off at any moment and she always got so damn cold.  The fact that she had to wear the huge solid polymer brace that kept her entire upper body immobilized was adding insult to injury.  She felt like a dog wearing one of those cone things.  Snapping her gum irritably she waited for the two doctors to come back and give her a prognosis.

Trying to glance at her mom who was anxiously tapping her foot she sighed and had to settle for rolling her eyes because of the damn brace.  “Mom would you knock it off?  You’re making me nervous.”

“What on earth could be taking them so long?  I mean it was just a stress fracture in your neck right?  This is why we had men on our cheer team when I was in high school; girls just aren’t strong enough to catch you when you are coming down from that high basket toss.  I hope this doesn’t make you miss the finals; you’ve worked so hard – “ She trailed off as there was a knock at the door and the older of the two doctors returned.

Without preamble, he walked around to where he could look Victoria in the eye, “Miss Scott, I’m Dr. Frederick Stephenson.  I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”  Victoria knew it was bad now, her heart started to pound.

“OK.” She said, proud of how steady her voice was. “Lemme have it then, I hate long waits.”

Frederick nodded in approval at her calm attitude. “I like to be frank when it comes to things like this, I apologize if it seems like I’m not being tactful.  You have a rare form of bone cancer and it is in a rare location.  The stress fracture in your upper thoracic vertebra was a result of the bone being weakened by the cancerous cells.  It is only a matter of time before your spine becomes so brittle it will no longer support the weight of your body.”

He paused and his tone became lighter, “Thankfully you are young and that expands our treatment options.  It also significantly raises the likelihood of your survival, especially since we caught it so early.  Unfortunately the state of deterioration of your spine leads me to believe you will be restricted to a wheelchair but you should be able to retain the majority of your mobility.”

“What do you mean cancer?  Vicky doesn’t even smoke!  You don’t smoke do you sweetheart?  Of course not.  How could she have cancer?”

“Ma’am, if you want to come with me into the other room I can go over some initial treatment information with you.  Your husband has arrived and is waiting in the next room.”  He turned and gave a sympathetic glance in Victoria’s direction, then walked out with her mother.

Tears leaked out of the corners of Victoria’s eyes and she took a deep breath to keep herself from bursting into tears.  “Oh God, this has to be a joke.  I can’t believe this is happening to me.  Restricted to a wheelchair at eighteen?  My life is fucking over.”

She tried to put her face in her hands but due to the restriction of her brace she had to settle for wiping her eyes.  The door opened again without warning and this time admitted the second, younger doctor.

“Before you let your parents make any decisions for you I want you to look at this.”  He had a laptop in one hand and a pet carrier in the other.  “I’ve been working on this project for seven years now and I have finally perfected it to the point where it’s ready for a human trial.”

She blinked away tears and looked at him.  “What on Earth are you talking about?”

“Sorry, my name is Eugene and I work in the Prosthetics and Neuroscience departments here at the hospital.”  He set the pet carrier down on a table across from her, “I know that might seem like a strange combination but it’ll be clear once you see what I have in this.”

Eugene opened the carrier and Victoria suppressed a cringe before it caused her neck to spasm inside her brace.  Inside was a large white rat; all along its spine was a mass of metal and brightly colored wiring protruding from the skin in an unhealthy looking tangle.  One of its legs was missing and replaced by a jointed metal limb with a blunt rubber “foot” that it employed with apparent ease despite the macabre appearance it had.

“Ohmygod what is THAT?”  She exclaimed, crinkling her nose and leaning back slightly.  Oblivious to her disgust, Eugene continued.

“This is Megan.  She was a lost cause a few short months ago after the rack her cage was on collapsed, crushing her spine and severing her left front leg.  With the technology I have been developing she is now able to function more or less normally although the function of her limb and flexibility of her spine is limited.  The human-sized prototype I have created has approximately a hundred times the mobility that this smaller version does.”

“Wait you want to put one of THOSE in ME?”  She pointed a shaky finger at the mangled looking mess that comprised the spine of the rat.  “I think I’d rather be in a wheelchair.”

“Of course not, the human model is a work of art.  Poor Megan was just my test subject; with the funding I was able to secure recently I have been able to create a perfect and beautiful finished product.”  He set the laptop down and his face became sober.

“What they aren’t telling you is there is no guarantee with the chemo.  In fact your condition is by far the most advanced we’ve seen especially for someone so young.”  The zeal he had displayed while showing off his creation was replaced with grim determination.  “That’s why Dr. Frederick wanted to talk to your parents separately.  They didn’t think you could handle how dire the situation really is.  In fact we aren’t even sure that the cancer hasn’t invaded your other bone tissue.”

He walked forward and took her hands.  His were dry and surprisingly rough, “I’m going to be honest with you right now; even if chemo was completely successful your odds of survival are still pretty grim.  That said, your chances with my spinal replacement aren’t much better.”  He shrugged, “I just thought you might want to know that you could be a part of something bigger.  You know, that you might be able to further medical science instead of just walking down the same boring old road.”

Releasing her hands he opened the laptop and turned it so she could see what was on it; a rotating three-dimensional image of a rather complex steel and rubber spinal column.  “Take this and read my research notes.  Someone who scored as high on the SAT’s as you did shouldn’t have a problem understanding most of what’s on here.  My personal cell is on this card; call me if you have any questions.”  Eugene handed her a business card with a phone number written on the back in a small tidy script, picked up the pet carrier and walked toward the door.

“Hey!  How do you know about my SAT’s?”  Victoria had recovered enough from the shock of what he was suggesting to be indignant about the invasion of her privacy.

Eugene paused with his hand on the door handle, “Because I was on the alumnus board that voted to approve your full ride to MIT last week.  It would honestly be criminal to waste a mind as brilliant as yours Miss Scott.”  With that he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Awkwardly juggling the laptop to a position where she could read it with the brace on Victoria looked at the summary notes and had to admit it was pretty intriguing stuff.  The idea that electrodes could be hooked up directly to nerves wasn’t a new one; what was revolutionary was that he had managed to isolate nerve function by frequency.

Victoria scrolled through the document, noting in passing that it seemed to have a custom OS she hadn’t ever seen before.  It was very simple to operate though and within a couple of minutes she was scrolling through the technical specs with ease.  By touching the screen she opened a short video titled ‘Neurosynth Wavelength Interaction’ and a complex molecule rotate in 3D on the screen.  Eugene’s voice was narrating in the same intense tone he had been using before.

“Different commands actually have varied pulse lengths; this anomaly allows my technology to interpret nerve messages with relative speed and ease.  Not only that but it means complex connections are now irrelevant.  The connective fluid between the flesh and the machine will transmit the signal through the skin.  Preliminary testing shows it to be effective and to have little or no physical therapy time.

“Larger nerve function could be problematic as the amount of memory needed to operate even the most basic muscle or body function is astronomical; however our test subject has been able to adapt.  My future recommendation is to integrate the AI directly into the brain stem, allowing unused biological memory to compensate.  This would help to eliminate bulky and expensive hardware.”

Looking back at the initial graphic of the prosthetic, Victoria found there were several more CG images showing the prosthetic, how it could look integrated with a person and the neuro-connective fluid.  The finished concept was a smooth interlocking series of polished steel plates with black rubber spacers.  Not unlike a normal spine, except for the obvious fact that it was all above the surface of the skin.

The last graphic was an actual picture of the prepared modular spine.  All of its connections and interlocking parts polished and gleaming under bright halogen lighting as it lay submerged in a tank of some sort of fluid surrounded by an array of computer screens, each with different unintelligible output.

Victoria found herself wondering what life in a wheelchair would be like.  No more cheer team.  No more early morning runs in the wooded trails behind her parent’s house that she loved so much.  No more volleyball.  She would never be able to swim again, she’d be lucky to even be able to dress herself.  “No way, I think I’d rather die.  If there’s a chance I can stay out of a wheelchair I’m taking it.”

Machine Girl; Welcome to the Machine Chapter 1

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Author’s note:  This is a book wrote a few years ago that I am now attempting to edit and polish for publication, a process that I love and hate at the same time.  It starts out a bit slow; I wanted to build a little bit of back story before I got into the madness.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it (and a lot more than I enjoy editing!)

-Benraven

Victoria

Victoria was waiting with the rest of the team in the hallway outside the gym while the announcer was hyping up the crowd.  She adjusted her uniform one last unnecessary time and took a deep breath as the voice over the loudspeaker continued.

The basketball team trotted by on their way to the locker room for halftime and Derek paused in front of her, “Hey V, keep ‘em fired up for us!”

“We’ll try not to make the second half too boring by comparison Derek.”  Victoria gave him an impish smile, “But you’re good competition if you score another twenty four points.”

“I’ll take that as a challenge then.”

“DEREK quit flirting and get your ASS in here!”  The coach was leaning out of the locker room.

“Yeah Coach.”  He turned and winked at Victoria, “I’ll see you after the game K?”

“Now put your hands together and raise your voices for our very own three time State Champion cheer team Torrent!”  As usual the applause was deafening as they ran out to center court, immediately breaking into the new routine they had been working on.

She concentrated on moving through the steps, making sure to line herself up with the springboard then without warning broke into the climax.  The triple back handspring to springboard was easy, but the slow backflip to land on Ashley and Jamie’s shoulders wouldn’t have been possible without Grace behind to steady her if she needed it.

The roar of the crowd increased even louder, but the routine wasn’t done yet.  “Now V!” With Grace’s shout, Victoria stepped off the shoulders of the other two girls and bounced lightly from the ground into the cupped hands of Grace and Carrie who flung her high into the air.  She timed the landing as her body spun through the air.

“She’s too high!” Carrie’s voice barely reached Grace over the roar of the crowd.

“Don’t second guess yourself, just catch her damn it!”  The spiraling body of their friend came to land between them for a perfect basket catch but the sweat on Carrie’s hands broke their forearm clasp.  Victoria slammed into the floor with a resounding crash and the entire gym fell silent.

“Vicky are you OK?  Oh God, oh GOD I’m so sorry!”  Carrie was on her knees next to where a stunned Victoria lay still trying to get her eyes to focus.

“Don’t call me Vicky damn it, I hate that nickname.”  She tried to rise and pain shot down her neck and back, “Damn that hurts, I think I sprained my back or something.”  Paramedics were approaching and waving the rest of the team back.

“Do you have any pain?”  The rather good looking EMT who was checking her vision asked.  Victoria tried to nod and agony exploded along her spine.  Unconsciousness took her by surprise.

“Get me a stretcher and a spine pad RIGHT NOW!”  The other two emergency personnel ran back to the ambulance and in short order Victoria’s limp form was loaded onto the stretcher and carefully carried out of the gym.

“Oh God, oh God what did we do?”  Carrie was borderline hysterical.

“It’s OK Carrie, she’s taken falls before.  I’m sure it’s just a concussion or something.  It’s not our fault; we did our best to catch her.”  Grace put her arm around Carrie’s shoulders, “Besides she had the presence of mind to bitch at you for calling her Vicky.  She can’t be that bad off.”

Eugene

The room was clean and sterile, just the way it was supposed to be.  Behind a tidy desk sat a young man in a lab coat that had obviously been ironed that morning.   His pen, pointer, screwdriver, pliers and pencil were standing straight up in the pocket protector nestled in the left breast pocket.  Even the grimace on his face seemed like it had been scribed using precise instruments.  By contrast the middle aged balding man standing in front of the desk yelling at him was anything but organized.  His argument was the only concise part of his bearing.

“Listen to me Eugene, this type of affliction has many legitimately accepted treatments.  There is no need to resort to risky, untested procedures!  I’ve told you before that I don’t give a shit about whatever grants you’ve gotten from the Department of Defense or anyone else; this is a hospital, not an experimental robotics lab!”  His face was red the way it always was when he was going on a tirade.

Looking straight into the older man’s enraged face Eugene responded calmly, “Fredrick, I thought you

believed in actually healing people.  All the treatments that we know of right now might save her life but she’d be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life even in the best case scenario with conventional medicine.”

The thought of confining such a young and active person to such a life was unthinkable to him, “She’s only eighteen for chrissakes, I’ve just solved the hardware issues and the new OS is performing far beyond our expectations.  This could revolutionize the treatment for Meningeal Lymphomatosis and you know it.  Look, all I’m asking is that we present the option to her.”

Frederick stopped pacing, “I don’t mind if you present the option, just as long as you are crystal clear about the risk.”

“Right back at you; it is my firm belief that modern cancer treatment is at least as risky as what I’m proposing if not more so and has far less benefit.” Eugene said, “Especially at her age.”

“You’ve never tested this on anything larger than a rat!” Fredrick lost his cool again, “There’s no way they’ll be interested.”

“That’s completely false.”  Eugene replied, still keeping his voice calm, although it was obviously an effort.  “Hundreds have benefited from this technology in one way or another.  Just my Neurosynth fluid alone has allowed advanced prosthetic regenerations for a dozen people in the amputee recovery ward in this very facility.”

“I think you’re risking your medical license with this and I know you are in danger of losing the respect of your peers.” Grabbing a clipboard with a sheaf of scribbled notes from a chair he turned and stalked from the room.

“I’m only risking their respect and my license if it doesn’t work you old relic.” Eugene pushed his glasses more firmly onto the bridge of his nose.  “And I know this will work.  The funding I’ve recently gotten from The Institute for Scientific Cancer Research combined with my DOD funding was enough for me to build a test model.”  He smiled to himself, “She’s going to make me famous, and I’m going to save her life.”

The Callindra Chronicles Chapter 21

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After a week of travel, Callindra was once again growing tired of traveling by horseback.  Her new equipment was getting a good breaking in due to excessive sweating and they hadn’t seen any signs of civilization since leaving Arkasia.  She heard the sound of running water in the distance and called out to Tryst.

“Can we break for lunch?  My ass is killing me and I’m out of water.  I think there’s a river ahead, I wouldn’t mind a swim and a good scrub.  I might start attracting flies at this rate.”

“I suppose, it is around midday.” Tryst said, squinting at the sun.  “We don’t have time for getting side tracked though, we are close to the ruins of Lin Lamorak.”

They left the roadway, which was really more of a trail at this point, and found a beautiful little brook.  Bright green moss grew thick on rocks that surrounded a tranquil pool overhung with weeping willows.  Butterflies flitted from flower to flower in a small partially shaded meadow and birds sang sweetly from the trees.

Tryst had dismounted from his horse and was looking around the clearing with a strange look on his face, “This place has some kind of power to it.  I’m not exactly sure what it is, but the growth seems to be slightly unnatural.”

“It looks like paradise to me.”  Callindra said, she dismounted and tied her horse’s reins to a tree branch.

“Yes it does.” Said Vilhylm, “That’s what has him on edge.”

“We haven’t seen anything that looks this lush for days.  You have to admit it’s suspicious.” Said Cronos, loosening his bastard sword in the scabbard.

“Look, there is a trail leading off in this direction.  Let’s check it out.” Tryst pointed with his hammer.

Callindra stared longingly at the cool water before following the others.  The trail wound around behind the small hill all the way to the top.  An ancient tree, gnarled and bent by age, disease and a partially healed lightning strike seemed to circle protectively around a small cottage.

Although the hill wasn’t very high the absolute stillness of the winds made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, “OK you are right.  Something’s wrong here.” She said, drawing her sword.

Vilhylm knocked on the door with the butt of his spear and it shifted partially open.  After glancing inside, he looked over his shoulder at them, “Seems to be abandoned.  It’s a one room house.”

Callindra looked inside, there was a small bed against one wall, a tiny wood stove and some cupboards and shelving along one of the walls.  “Something’s not right here; the inside of this house is far smaller than the outside.” She said.

They all moved in cautiously together but as soon as Cronos, who was bringing up the rear, had entered the door slammed, plunging the room into darkness.  Mere seconds later the floor dropped away beneath her and she fell with a frightened shriek.  Without any way of knowing how far away the ground was, Callindra slammed into the ground much harder than she would have normally only able to avoid a painful sprain by tucking and rolling to fetch up awkwardly against a wall.

“What a rough landing.  How are the rest of you?”  She wondered how Tryst had fared in his heavy armor.  Callindra squinted, trying to see through the curtain of blackness before her but she couldn’t see anything and her companions did not respond.

“Tryst?  Cronos?  Vilhylm?”  She raised her voice slightly, but still didn’t get a response.  “Absent Gods, they must have fallen somewhere else.”  The wall next to her was rough stone, she followed along it with her right hand, Brightfang gripped in her left.  After what seemed like hours she saw a dim light ahead.

The light came from a hole in the ceiling above her head, at least fifteen feet up.   She could see the walls of the cavern were indeed naturally carved out by some long since departed river, now roughened with age.  Voices came from above, too faint for her to make out.  Sheathing her sword, Callindra began scaling the wall.  As she neared the hole she could make out the voices above.

“-will be dead before you can move.”  A guttural voice said, dripping with malice.

“NO, you can’t!” This was a woman, she sounded near panic, “You’ve done enough haven’t you?  Without proper help he’s likely to die anyway, just leave us be.”

“I enjoy seeing you like this Tyreen.  Tears streaming down your face, near hysterical with fear and grief.  I can taste the despair as it radiates from you.  These pitiful children will not help you any more than you helped your people when you abandoned them to live with this hermit.”

Callindra braced herself against a large stalactite, barely able to reach the edge of the hole with her fingertips.  Uncertain of whether she would reach it or fall she gathered her body and made a wild leap from the wall, scrabbling for grip on the rough stone and losing some skin and a fingernail in the process.  What she saw over the edge drove the pain to the back of her mind.

Through a doorway surrounded by glowing runes, a figure draped in tattered shadows and black silk was standing with its back to her, facing a beautiful woman with pale brown skin and waves of thick green hair. She was half draped over the fallen figure of Vilhylm and Cronos lay in the center of the room with a hole the size of Callindra’s fist in his chest.

Without thinking, Callindra moved toward the doorway, but before she could reach it a hand landed on her shoulder.  She spun in place, drawing her sword and swinging all in one motion.  Only her extensive training allowed her to halt the blade before it bit into Tryst’s neck.

“Don’t try and pass through the door.” He said in a low voice, “It’s protected against entry with strong magic.”

“I’m not going to just sit here while that bastard kills my companions!” She hissed, turning back towards the door.  His grip on her shoulder tightened to immovable iron.

“You think I want to wait and watch?  That’s my brother in there lying dead on the floor, but I don’t want either of us to join him.”

Even as he spoke, Cronos stirred on the floor.  His body jerked erratically as though it was a puppet being manipulated by invisible strings.  The motions smoothed out as he struggled to gain a standing position.  The hole in his chest was now only a hole in his armor, his hands were steady and his voice calm as he incanted a spell.

“WHAT?” The black clad figure spun to stare at Cronos, “You were dead before, I’ll make you so again little worm!”

“You shall not have him yet.” The voice that issued from Cronos’s lips was deeper and more guttural than it had been before.  “For now this one is lost to you.”  The spell he had been casting was released from his hands as he spoke and a scintillating bolt of energy burst from his hand.  The figure in black fled before it as darkness does before the dawn.

“You have already attracted some powerful enemies younglings.”  The voice continued as Cronos turned to look at Callindra and Tryst, “Beware of Dergeras, he is dangerous and I won’t always be here to protect you.”  His eyes narrowed, “Especially you daughter of Sol.  He seeks to hurt you most of all.”  The shimmering runes surrounding the door flickered slightly and ceased to glow.

“Grace take me, what was that?”  Tryst said, rushing through the doorway to catch Cronos as he fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut.  Once he had been lowered to the floor safely, he checked his vitals, “He’s alive.” He said, his voice reflecting the disbelief on his face.

“Of course I’m alive.” Cronos croaked, “I feel too horrible to be dead.”

“Your companion may live now, however this one’s life is in grave danger.”  Tryst turned to look at Tyreen as she spoke, “I fear he has been poisoned; only my presence is keeping death at bay.”

“Who are you and what has happened to Vilhylm?” Tryst demanded, turning to face her.

“My name is Tyreen.  I am a Dryad and you are currently within my tree.”  She gestured to the wooden walls and floor before continuing, tears streaming down her face.  “I grew him from a cutting of Grandfather Tree when I had to leave.  When we left to come east and serve as we could here.”

“What has happened to Vilhylm?” Callindra asked, “How can we save him?”

“In the nearby village of Vonlar there is a healer known as Jasmine.  She will be able to provide you with the medicine that can help him.”  Tyreen said, “Jasmine is known in these parts for her healing abilities.”

“If it can help Vyl, I’ll do it.” Said Callindra, her sentiments echoed moments later by the other two.

Post Mortem Chapter 19

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“What the fuck happened here?” Chief Inspector Micheal Donnovan stuck a piece of nicotine gum into his mouth as he walked into the building, ducking under the police tape that one of his deputies held up for him.
“You still trying to quit Mike?”

“Shut up Dan. Whadda we got?”

“It’s … it’s bad Mike.” Dan’s face twisted as though he’d bitten into spoiled meat. “It’s real bad. We gotta real sick motherfucker here Chief.”

They moved into the tent that was set up over the ruined front door of the building and Micheal fought down bile. The two bodies of the guards had been mutilated horribly. Although he knew it was utterly impossible, it almost looked like someone or … something had punched through their chests and torn their hearts out.

One of them had many broken bones and the other had a pair of gunshot wounds that, according to the initial report he scanned had been inflicted after the body had been dead. He swallowed hard and held out a hand. Dan wordlessly put a pack of cigarettes into it.

“It gets worse Mike.” He held the lighter out. “It gets a lot goddamn worse. Charity’s waiting down there with the circus act that’s the coroner’s report.”

“Yeah, OK. Keep the press out would ya?” He lit the cigarette and walked down into Hell’s charnel house.

–

“Now what the hell are we supposed to do?” The Fifth demanded, “The First are all dead, our secrets exposed to the cattle and we have no idea what or who is responsible!”

“It is the revolution.” Said the Fourth, “It can be naught else.”

“Those worms do not have the fortitude, the knowledge or the raw power to accomplish something like this.” The Third retorted, “It could not have been them.”

“Who else? The Hunters have been all but eliminated with the death of The Architect and it is not as though the cattle know anything.” The Fifth said.

“It matters not.” Said the Third speaking in a formal meeting for the first time in a decade. “Now we must focus on guarding against the threat that stands before us. We must accept that there is a new enemy. Perhaps a new predator.”

The others quieted, allowing this to sink in. “We all know now that Burnham was designing a disease to kill the cattle.” The Fifth began.

“I have felt it.” The Third said, raising the mask. The others gasped in shock. The face beneath was a mass of half healed wounds, some of which weeped blood. Now that the Third’s voice was no longer reverberating behind the mask, it sounded weak and strained.

“Third!” The Fifth exclaimed, “What are you doing?”

“I… will… show… you…” There were gasps of effort and pain between the words. Or were those gasps of pleasure? The wounds broke open and blood oozed from them, the coppery smell rich, thick and inviting to the other immortals in the room.

All they saw was a brief image. The last moments seen by dying eyes. A mass of ropy muscle and tendon extending like some grotesque serpent following the music of an insane snake charmer. It paused for a moment in front of their collective vision and they could all see an eyelid open from one part of it.

A piercing green eye peered at them, sparkling with hunger and malice. The eyelid blinked and the eye had been replaced by a maw of serrated fangs. It struck, faster than even Immortal eyes could follow and the vision was gone. Something still gripped the seer, although it had released the others in the room.

The Third drew shuddering, hesitant breaths, tears of pure vitae flowing down its cheeks to mix with the blood already there. “It ate his eyes. I could feel it looking at me. It sees me.” Its voice trembled with abject terror and rose in pitch and volume, “IT SEES ME!”

–

I floated in a wonderful sea of ecstasy, feeling warm and contented. The hunger that had nearly torn me asunder was sated and I was in a state of dreamy bliss. A vague feeling of something being wrong nagged at the corner of my consciousness, but I paid it little mind.

Something intruded upon my relaxed state, a bright light and the sound of human voices. They came and went, and I paid them little heed. There was nothing to fear from them. The voices went away, but the lights stayed opressively bright through my closed lids.

When the sound of footsteps and more human voices came to me again I was forced to take notice. Where was I? Memories filtered to the forefront of my mind. I was in the Tribunal’s formal audience hall. Something had happened… I had…

I tried to open my eyes, tried to sit up, tried to move at all, but nothing happened. I didn’t seem to have arms, legs, or anything that resembled a normal body. Centering myself, I forced calm.

“Jesus H fucking christmas, what the hell is this?” The voice was grating and gravely. I sensed the sharp, acrid scent of burning tobacco and I wanted it.

“Well sir, from what we can tell there are at least five bodies here. The confusing part is that they all seem to be… mixed somehow.” This voice was crisp and professional, but I could hear an undertone of tightly controlled terror. I liked this girl.

“No shit, they look like they’ve been put through a fucking wood chipper!”

“Yes, well… “ She took a breath and exhaled it sharply, “There’s no blood. There’s no viscera. With this many bodies there should be entrails, human waste, and a lot, I mean a lot of blood. But there isn’t any. Forensics collected over a thousand spent shell casings and they’ll have one hell of a time pulling everything out of the walls, but all this flesh looks like it’s been dead for days!”

“Who’s to say it hasn’t been?” He asked, the tobacco smell coming strongly again.

“Well, that’s the thing. The necrosis I’m seeing here indicates varying degrees of decay but it’s not like rotting meat at all. It’s more like frozen or very well refrigerated meat, and even then that doesn’t explain the lack of blood.” She paused as if steeling herself for what she was about to do, “But there’s more, take a look at this.”

“Sweet mother of… What the fuck is that?”

“I have no idea. It’s some kind of organic compund. At first I thought it was gelatin, but it’s nothing I can identify. I really don’t know what it is.”

“Goddamn it Charity, you gotta give me something.”

“Sir. This is way above my paygrade.” The click of her heels was getting closer. “I need some air, mind if I…”

“No, it’s fine, go ahead.” He said, “Is Ramirez here?”

“Not yet sir.” I felt her foot touch me. She had stepped on me. What the hell? I reacted instinctively, reaching up and felt a shock when we met skin on skin. My flesh melded with her flesh.

I could see the room now, the beauty of the destruction my hunger had wrought. This body was new to me, but it seemed fit and until recently it had been full of life and vigor. It wouldn’t last long, but I didn’t need it to. I took a step and faltered slightly, not having full nerve control yet.

“Hey Charity… you holding up all right?” I looked at his face, the rough stubble of beard and the deep shadows under his eyes. A cigarette was burning in his hand and even though he had spoken to me, is eyes were on my chest. It seemed to be as much a habit as the smoking.

I reached into the breast pocket of his shirt and took out his pack of cigarettes. “I think I need one of these.” I said, taking one out and waiting expectantly for him to proffer a lighter.

“I didn’t know you smoked.” He said, looking warily at me.

“I don’t.” I said, feeling the first nicotine buzz I had experienced in a century. With a feeling of giddy excitement, I turned and walked from the room and out the front door of the building.

I wept real, actual tears as the warmth of the sun touched my skin with a benevolent caress. Turning my face up toward the sky I let the sun wash away the despair that I’d felt ever since Svenka died. The sun was shining, I was free, and I knew where my lover’s killers were hiding.  Perhaps there was something to live for after all.

~fin