Restoration

by Daniel C McWhorter

“No shit,” Sam replied.

  “So, even if we grab our targets they could still be running around somewhere?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “That’s fucked up,” Luanne said. “So, have they updated the target list?”

  “Only one add so far…a Doctor Lily Harris who could also be going by the names Aubrey Harris or Josana Saunders. They thought they had Aubrey Harris in custody but they found her nano-wiped in her cell eighteen hours ago.”

  “How the hell did they let that happen?”

  “Unknown but that’s not the half of it. The one they had in custody turned out to be a clone and now they aren’t sure whether she was Aubrey or Lily.”

  “Unbelievable.”

  “Oh, it gets better,” Sam added. “They also think that Josana Saunders is either Aubrey or Lily but…”

  “Let me guess, they don’t know which?”

  “Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!”

  “Do they at least know where this Saunders/Harris person is?” Luanne asked.

  “They had her working at the Telogene research lab in Kepler City but they think that Endeavor picked her up when they did their slingshot around Mars.”

  “Based on what?”

  “Based on the fact that an unregistered shuttle craft departed Kepler City and rendezvoused with Endeavor just before it jumped out of orbit.”

  “So, what does Zelda think?” Luanne asked, referring to Sam’s AI by its human-friendly name.

  “She and Emma are still crunching data but I am seeing a better than eighty percent chance that all targets are on Ceres, or one of the orbiting ships.”

  “Can you confirm, Emma?” Luanne asked of her own tactical AI system.

  “Confirmed,” Emma replied. “We estimate an 83.2 percent chance that all targets are now on Ceres or in orbit around Ceres.”

  “How are you coming on the mission plan…do we have a viable stealth option yet?”

  “Mission planning and final recommendation will be complete in approximately two hours and thirteen minutes. We are developing a viable stealth option but it is contingent on receiving assistance from a GSSA operative on board Endeavor.”

  “They have an Overwatch agent on board?” Luanne asked. “Then why haven’t they already done something?”

  “The agent has limited access to shipboard systems. Secretary Merkel has approved our use of the agent but we are waiting for confirmation that the agent can gain access to any relevant part of the ship.”

  “And the assault option?”

  “Our best direct assault option has only a thirteen percent chance of success,” Emma replied.

  “Well, that’s just fucking great. Limiting factors?”

  “Current intel limitations include unknown interior layout, engineering and defense systems, crew compliment and ability and scope and timing of opposition initiatives.”

  “Keep at it. I want two options with better than fifty percent success rates.”

  “That may not be possible but we will try,” Emma acknowledged.

  “Very well. So, what do you think, Sam?”

  Sam shrugged. “I think we are going to have to improvise when we get there. There are just too many unknowns and things are happening way too fast for us to get ahead.”

  “Alright. Try to grab some shut-eye. I want the crew up in three hours and I want all equipment checked and ready to go by 11:30.”

  “Including SHAS?”

  SHAS, pronounced "shaz", was Peacekeeper slang for their Space Heavy Assault Suit. The SHAS armor and offensive system enabled the Peacekeepers to undertake combat operations in almost any environment, including the hard vacuum of space.

  Each suit is equipped with a variety of offensive and defensive systems and is armored against both energy and kinetic weapons. Two teams wearing SHAS armor would be a formidable force against almost any opponent.

  “Absolutely,” Luanne replied. “If we have to go in hard, we are going in very hard.”

  “Hooyah!”

  CHAPTER 32

  APRIL 6, 2075 8:40 AM GST

  Galilei Station

  Ceres

  Adee pressed his palm against the DNA scanner mounted next to the locked door. It hissed open to reveal a small, dimly lit room with four people staring intently at an array of holodisplays, the largest of which showed Evan and Lily sitting on a couch talking in another room.

  Yin turned to see who had entered the room. “Hey,” she said.

  Adee smiled at her. “Hey, how’s he doing?”

  “So far so good,” Chen replied without taking his eyes from a smaller display floating directly in front of him. “His bio-signs are stable and synaptic integrity appears to be holding at 97.2 percent—down 1.5 from restoration.”

  “That much in three days?” Adee questioned. “That’s not good.”

  “No, but to be expected given everything we’ve put him through. The loss seems isolated to this section of long-term memory.”—Chen pointed to a section of Evan’s brain on his display—“And, as we know from our past attempts, some additional degradation was expected since we didn’t have a perfect archive to start with.”

  “Well, let’s hope and pray he holds up this time,” Adee “We won’t get another chance at an on-Earth restoration.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  Adee continued, “What has she told him so far?”

  Dylan turned to face Adee. “She tried to get him to eat but he won’t and he keeps wanting to know how she could still be alive…and why she chose a plane crash to fake her death. I guess that hit a little too close to home.”

  “Should we stop?”

  “We can’t,” Aubrey said. “We know from our previous attempts that once he gets stuck on wanting to know the truth there is no getting away from it until he’s satisfied.”

  “That’s right,” Chen added. “If we can’t convince him this time—and soon—then it’s likely we will lose him.”

  “Have you thought about sending Aubrey in? At least he will recognize her face…would that help?” Adee asked.

  “We were just discussing that, it’s a risk,” Aubrey replied.

  “We haven’t had time to review the data Bruce sent,” Chen replied.

  Adee scowled. “Well, how long will that take?”

  “A couple of hours at least…we think it would be better if she knew what happened to her after he last saw her,” Chen replied.

  “What if you just tell him the truth?” Yin asked. “Have you ever tried that before?”

  “Not exactly,” Chen answered. “We usually try to create a story that blends his old reality with the new one…at least as best as we can.”

  “Right and how has that worked out for you? Plus, this is the first time where you killed off Lily in his welcome back narrative and the Aubrey he met wasn’t really Aubrey. Right?”

  “Umm, yes, that’s correct. But you know we had no choice,” Chen said.

  “Right, and it seems to me that you really don’t have a choice now.”

  Chen was getting annoyed. “Look, Yin, you are probably right but we cannot afford to blow this. He’s got to be stable before we attempt the next transfer.”

  “I have to agree with her, Chen,” Adee said. “We are running out of time. My sources tell me that the first GFN ship will be here in a little less than four hours and, even if we neutralize that one, there will surely be many more behind it.”

  Aubrey rested her hand on Chen’s shoulder. “It’s okay, I can do it.”

  “Are you sure? You won't know anything other than what I’ve told you and he’s likely to ask for proof…just like he did with Lily.”

  “I can do it.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Dylan asked.

  “No, I think it’s best if Mom and I try this first.”

  “Okay, honey but I’ll be right here watching if you need anything.”

  “Thanks, Dad, I’ll be fine.”

  Adee brought his hands toge
ther in a single, loud clap, signaling that they had reached a decision and it was time to act.

  “Alright,” he said. “I will leave you to it then. I have to get back to preparing for our…guests.”

  Aubrey followed Adee into the hallway.

  “Good luck,” Adee said.

  “Thanks,” she muttered. “I’ll need it.”

  The room where Lily and Evan were talking was just a short distance down the hallway. Aubrey pressed her palm against the scanner and the door hissed open.

  Lily and Evan were sitting opposite the door and both looked over as she entered. Evan stopped talking in mid-sentence and rushed to greet her.

  “Princess! It’s so good to see a face I recognize. How did you get here?” he asked.

  He threw his arms around her and pulled her close against his chest. Aubrey waited a few seconds before gently sliding her hands up between them to create a little space.

  “Hi, Papa, I missed you.”

  They squeezed each other in another tight embrace. Several long seconds went by before Aubrey pivoted so she could take his hand.

  “Let’s sit. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

  Evan returned to the couch and Aubrey slid a chair over so she was close enough to her mother and grandfather to hold both of their hands.

  Lily grabbed Evan’s free hand, and the three sat quietly, just holding each other’s hands for a moment.

  “Before we start,” Aubrey finally said to Evan. “You need to know that what I am about to tell you is the truth. Parts of it will sound unbelievable to you but I need you to listen and trust me…trust us. We love you. We are your family and, although you may not agree with everything we’ve done, please know that we did it all out of love.”

  “I…I’ll try,” Evan said as he fought to hold back the tears welling up in his eyes, they were tears of joy caused by touching his daughter and granddaughter at the same time.

  “What Mom told you is all true. She faked her death so she would be free to help Adee build the Kutanga. If the GSSA, or anyone from the GFN, had known she was alive she could never have finished her work on Mars.”

  Evan wiped his eyes with his sleeves. “Go on.”

  “What she hasn’t told you is that the Aubrey that oversaw your restoration wasn’t me—she was a clone.”

  “But…but she acted like…”

  “Hold on, just let me explain. She was a version of me that we restored using an engramic archive created two weeks before Mom staged the plane crash. She believed that Mom had died and, although I don’t know exactly what she said, I have to believe that everything she told you was the truth…at least as she understood it.”

  Evan struggled to keep up with the tears pouring down his cheeks.

  Lily handed him a small, white cloth. “Here, Dad, use this.”

  The cloth was soft and highly absorbent and did a much better job at drying his face than his sleeves.

  “Like all of us, that Aubrey was operating based on what she knew and believed at that time, and she did what she had to do to achieve her goals...goals that we gave her.”

  “Did…did she…did she know that she was a clone?”

  “No, we erased all memories related to her restoration. She thought she was me. We needed her to be there because I had to be here. Do you understand?”

  “N... no. Not really.”

  “Papa, I have been here working with Mom on the Kutanga for over a year now but I couldn’t be here doing this important work and also on Earth running Telogene. Nor could we fake my death because one of us needed to keep control of the company. Building this ship is taking a tremendous amount of resources and we couldn’t do it without keeping control of Telogene.”

  “That’s right, Dad,” Lily said, “you should be very proud. The company you started has allowed us to make the ultimate investment. Kutanga is a colony ship that will allow mankind to leave this solar system and spread out among the stars. It’s a new beginning…a second chance for us—for all of us—to start over.”

  Evan's tears stopped as anguish and anger replaced his feelings of joy and happiness.

  “Not all of us,” he said.

  “What do you mean, Papa?”

  “Christine isn’t here...so not all of us.”

  “I know and I am sorry, Dad. I promise you we would have tried if we could but she died too soon. We had nothing to work with. Sure, we could have grown a body that looked like her using cells from the parts of her body they pulled from the water but it wouldn’t have been her. We didn’t…we don’t have her engrams, and without those we don’t have her. Don’t you see?”

  “But we had you, Papa, and we brought you back…just like you made Mom promise.”

  That surprised him. “What do you mean I made you promise?” he asked Lily.

  Lily frowned. “You don’t remember? The video you had Bruce Wagner play for me after you died? The one where you told me about your top secret Second Chance project? Ring any bells...no?”

  “I don’t remember that, I’m sorry.”

  “Do you remember Bruce Wagner?”

  “Yes, he died with you in the plane crash.”

  “Well, yes and no. Bruce Wagner’s original body died in that crash but Bruce lived on in the form of his son Geoff. Or more accurately, he lived on in a clone created using his DNA but modified to be the son he always wished he had.”

  “So he never had any children?”

  “He has a daughter with his second wife but they haven't seen each other in a very long time.”

  “And the video?”

  “I’ll have to show it to you later. It’s very touching, you called me Lilypad but the short version is that you told me about Second Chance and expressed your wishes that I assume the CEO role at Telogene so I could continue your work…so that I could bring you…well, bring you and Mom back once the technology was ready.”

  “Lilypad?”

  “Yes, that was your nickname for me. Don’t you remember? You used to tease me and say Lilypad, Lilypad why is that frog sitting on your head, my little Lilypad?, and then you would chase after me like you were trying to catch a frog.”

  “I…I guess I remember that…when you were young.”

  “Don’t worry about it. In a few more days it will be clear as a bell. That’s a pretty strong memory, and it comes back every time.”

  “What do you mean every time? Have you brought me back before?”

  Lily froze when she realized her mistake.

  Aubrey mouthed “It's okay” to her horrified mother before answering her grandfather's question. “Yes, Papa,” she said. “This is the fifth time we’ve tried.”

  “Five times! What happened to the other four?”

  “Maybe you should take this one, Mom.”

  Lily took a second to regain her composure before answering. “We made our first attempt to restore you on December 15th, 2033. Ten years to the day after you died, in fact. Unfortunately, the process was flawed and your synapses broke down within just a few hours.”

  “I died again?”

  “Yes and I grieved again.”

  “Was it my body?”

  “Yes, we still had your DNA.”

  “Did you know Aubrey?”

  “No, she didn’t tell me,” Aubrey answered. “I was too young. I was just starting my freshman year of high school.”

  “Go on,” he said.

  Lily continued. “The second time was in 2040. We successfully performed the procedure on someone else in July of 2035 and…”

  “Yes, Chen told me about Arianna.”

  Lily smirked. Of course he did.

  “And Arianna was doing well. We also had three other successful restorations behind us and I was confident we would succeed with you.”

  “But something happened.”

  “Yes, the New Madrid quake happened, and we lost your DNA in 2037, which meant we would have to transfer you into a donor body, which hadn’t been done before.”


  “The others were all transferred into bodies created using their own DNA,” Aubrey added.

  “And that one failed too?”

  “Yes. Just like the first time, your synapses broke down and all those newly created neurons died within hours.”

  “And after that?”

  “Well, by then engramic transfer had become fairly routine and everyone who could afford it ordered new bodies like they were new cars. Accelerated growth technologies rapidly developed and by 2045 we could produce a twenty-year-old body in as little as five years.”

  Aubrey interjected. “But by then was becoming clear that our technology was creating a tremendous strain on society because...well because it allowed wealthy people to live forever. They kept a supply of bodies stashed around the world and transferred into a new one whenever something happened to the old one.”

  “Some even had dozens of fully developed bodies placed in cold storage around the world so that there would always be one ready for them to transfer to, no matter what,” Lily added.

  “By then the public outcry was overwhelming. There were massive protests in every major city and we knew the GFN had to ban cloning...and possibly before Mom could make another attempt with you,” Aubrey said.

  “So, what did you do?” Evan asked Lily.

  “We set up a cloning facility on Hades One,” she replied, “I needed time to solve the problem with donor DNA restorations and the Martian government doesn’t prohibit full-body replacement.”

  “Something happened though, didn’t it?” Evan asked.

  “Yes. As it turns out, the things we call engrams contain not only our thoughts, feelings and memories but also other biologic information keyed to the host DNA.”

  “You lost me.”

  “It’s hard to explain, and the truth is that we still don't fully understand it.”

  “Try me,” Evan demanded.

  “Well the simplest way is to think about engrams is like palm prints, or the patterns on our tongues or the blood vessels on our retinas. While it is possible for two people to have similar patterns, it is extremely rare and usually only among relatives.”

  “So, our engrams are unique. Go on.”

  “Right,” Lily continued. “As we age the neural pathways within our brains form a unique pattern, just like a palm print.”