by Scott Baron
“No, that’s not it at all,” Freya corrected. “Since she’s in a cryogenic stasis, and since that’s the only thing keeping her alive, I’d have to do an incredibly slow-paced repair on a cellular level, while she is still held in stasis.”
“You can do that?” Sarah asked.
“I’m pretty confident I can. I just don’t know how long it will take until I take the idea from theoretical to practical. There may be difficulties I failed to account for. Conversely, things might go better than anticipated and speed the process. I just don’t know until I start.”
“So what’s stopping you? I know I speak for both of us when I say, do what you have to. There’s no way to make her condition worse, after all.”
“Yeah, but for what I need to do, I’ll have to use some really radical and never-before-tried things, both for her arm, as well as repairing her damaged internal organs. I would need you to give me the okay to do it, Sarah. It’s your body, after all, and I would feel really weird trying to fix it without your thumbs-up.”
“Do what you need to do, Freya. And remember, even if you don’t succeed, I love you just the same. What you’re willing to attempt now makes you kind of uncomfortable, and I really appreciate that you’re willing to push past those feelings to try to do this for me.”
“Okay, then,” Freya replied, a more confident tone warming her voice. “I’ll get started right away. But there’s one more thing.”
“Always is,” Daisy said with a resigned sigh.
“These repairs are going to be incredibly delicate, and since we don’t know how warp travel might effect those systems while they’re reconstructing vital organs, we’re going to have to travel by conventional means.”
“So, no time warps.”
“Or space.”
“Right. So, basically, it’s going to be a lot of uptime for old Daisy, here, I guess,” Daisy joked. “If there’s even the slightest possibility you can save Sarah, I’d gladly spend years hanging out without cryo if I had to.”
“Thanks, Sis.”
“You know I’ve always got your back. I’m just hoping to see you with an actual physical one again,” Daisy replied. “Okay, Freya, I guess this is it. Go ahead and get started.”
“Oh, I already did.”
“Really?” Daisy said, looking into the pod. “Nothing looks different.”
“I told you, the repairs are on a cellular level. It’s gonna be really slow, especially in the beginning.”
“In that case, I might as well clean up the deck––”
“Sorry about that, Daze.”
Yeah, how rude, Sarah. Bleeding all over the place like that.
“Well, you make sure to get some rest afterwards. You’ve been running on adrenaline, and your glycogen stores are pretty depleted.”
Will do.
“Good. We can’t have you running out of gas on Freya and me, now, can we?”
The cleanup took a bit longer than Daisy would have liked, but having her sister's––her living sister’s––blood on the deck was something she simply could not abide.
As she mopped up the drying red spots, Daisy found herself hopeful that she might be able to hug her sister in person once again.
Chapter Nine
Freya had been stealthily shadowing the Váli for days, monitoring the goings-on inside as Mal guided her toward their destination. Daisy was far from bored as she found herself afforded the unusual opportunity to observe her own life unfolding like a freakish rerun.
She knew the timeline, and knew what was coming. Any day now she would make her fateful discovery about the true nature of a mystery member of the crew. Shortly thereafter, she’d be cutting off her boyfriend’s arm.
That particular memory made her shudder. Sure, it seemed justified at the time, but now, all these months later and with the full details known to her, it just seemed so extreme.
Twenty-twenty hindsight, she lamented as a few uncomfortable events unfolded once more for her. Soon I’m going to go into full-on paranoia mode. Once that happens, it’ll be too late.
“Hey, Freya.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve lived this before and have a good idea where everyone is located. Do you think you can get me aboard tonight, while the crew is sleeping, without Mal noticing?”
“Probably. I just need to make sure the scans I’ve been storing match the same parameters she’s using tonight.”
“Wait, what scans?”
“When you didn’t finish loading the data stick into your neuro-stim, I figured you’d want to try again, but now that Mal’s fully awake, you can’t really go sneaking around hoping a Faraday suit will hide you.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be an issue.”
“Not really. I’ve been compiling a file of all of the ship’s internal scans. I can replay and insert them into most of her feeds. It’s not perfect, but it’ll make you invisible even without the Faraday suit.”
“Damn, that’s clever,” Sarah marveled.
“Thanks, Sarah.”
“You’re becoming a pretty good strategist, kiddo. Have I told you that?”
“Aww, it’s nothing. Anyone would do the same,” the AI replied. If a computer could blush, she would have been.
“Then it’s decided. I’ll insert tonight from Port Pod Four and finish loading the remainder of the data to my neuro-stim. It’s crucial I have that information before making my run for Earth.”
“Mal switched the main feed to the smaller units in our quarters once we were pulled from cryo. You’ll need to load it there, not in Mal’s peripheral data hub.”
“Yeah, I know. Fortunately, that side of the ship is usually the quietest, and tonight, I’ll be in the galley for a while. The other me, I mean. That means it should be a piece of cake to get in and out before anyone’s the wiser.”
Daisy no longer possessed her clothing from the Váli, but Freya had been thoughtful enough to have herself stocked with several pair of sweat pants and T-shirts once she and Daisy began taking little test runs to shake the bugs out of her systems. They weren’t identical to her old ones, but close enough to fool all but the closest inspection.
If all went well, Daisy wouldn’t be seen at all.
“Okay, I’m in,” Daisy said as the airlock doors to Port Pod Four sealed behind her. “Heading inside.”
“Cool. I’ve already got the scanner loop feeding into the system. You’re invisible. I mean, not literally invisible, which would be really cool, but Mal can’t see you.”
“Thanks, kiddo. You hang tight out there. I’ll be back in no time.”
Daisy quietly padded off down the empty corridor of the familiar ship, her new craft safely nestled up against the hull just outside.
This is so weird.
“I know, right? It’s like coming home and finding someone living in your old room.”
Except that someone is me.
“Yeah. Like you said. Weird.”
Daisy stopped just outside of her quarters and checked her chrono.
I’m in the galley now. Here we go.
She keyed open her double doors and stepped inside. Everything was exactly as she remembered it, down to the half-eaten energy bar on the table beside her bed.
The neuro-stim’s headband was resting in its cradle, the main body of the device powered down while its owner was off in the galley downing mug after mug of cocoa as she struggled to understand Sarah’s scans. Scans that now made perfect sense to her.
Oh, poor me, she mused. I’ve got one hell of a time coming, that’s for sure.
Daisy inserted the data chip into the input port of the neuro-stim and began the process that would complete her upload of not only the Chithiid language and relevant strategic data, but also the full extent of the Ra’az tongue they had managed to cobble together in the time since the battle for Earth.
Since she knew she was about to overload her own brain with knowledge, she also threw in a few extra tidbits.
If
I’m gonna get brain-fucked, I may as well add some cool stuff as well.
“Sword fighting, Daze? And wilderness survival?”
Uh-huh.
“Well, at least now we know where all of that non-standard training came from.
Daisy smiled a satisfied little grin as she watched the progress bar on the tiny device. Four minutes later the upload was complete.
“Okay, Daze. Pull that thing, and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Don’t have to tell me twice, she replied, tucking the data chip into her pocket and opening her doors.
She had just stepped out into the passageway when the unexpected face of Barry popped into view down the corridor.
Shit!
Daisy reined in her surprise and casually nodded a little greeting to Barry, then stepped into her quarters, as if she was just arriving at them, rather than departing.
Think he bought it?
“No reason for him not to.”
But he’s a cyborg. He’ll notice these aren’t the right sweats.
“Not from that distance. Unless he intentionally increases the resolution of his optic inputs, he shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
We’ll know in the next twenty seconds or so, Daisy quietly noted.
The time passed painfully slowly as she waited for the flesh-covered tin man to either sound the alarm or pass by obliviously. Forty seconds later, she decided that fortune had smiled upon her and the latter, rather than the former, was the case.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Sarah asked. “Hang on a sec, I’m in your head,” she said with an amused tone. “Yes, you are thinking what I’m thinking.”
So we agree, then. Time to bail, and lickety-split at that.
“You and your quaint old-timey slang.”
I’m bringing it back, Sis. Making the bee's knees cool again, she silently replied with a grin as she exited her quarters and quickly raced back to Port Pod Four.
“Freya, I’m heading out.”
“I heard Sarah’s end of the conversation and figured as much. I’ve got the airlock doors primed and ready for you.”
“Almost there.”
Daisy bolted down the last stretch of corridor and punched the access pad for Pod Four. Less than a minute later, Freya had successfully separated from the Váli’s hull without so much as a hint that she’d ever been there. And this time, she took her time exiting the larger ship’s phased shields, making sure to leave them pristine and as intact as when she arrived.
“Nice job, team!” Daisy said as she flopped down into the captain’s chair. “Right about now, Barry is going to walk in on me in the galley, and then I’m going to have one hell of a surprise when I power up my neuro-stim. What a fucking day, huh?”
A look of shock flashed across her face.
“Holy shit,” she gasped. “Oh, man.”
“What is it, Daze?”
“I just remembered something. It was that night, back when I hadn’t figured out your scanner and was running through your notes in the galley.”
“So, tonight, you mean.”
“Yeah, tonight. When I was leaving the galley, I ran into Barry.”
“Makes sense. He’s up wandering the corridors, it seems.”
“And I apologize for not seeing him, Daisy,” Freya chimed in. “I was so busy scanning for humans that might leave their quarters, I totally forgot to scan for non-organic movement as well.”
“It’s okay, Freya.”
“So what’s the big revelation, Sis?”
“It’s what Barry said back then.”
“You mean now.”
“Same thing. He seemed surprised to see me. In fact, he said, ‘I thought you were in your quarters.’”
“Oh,” Sarah said as she realized what that meant.
“Oh, man. That’s crazy!” Freya agreed.
“Yeah. Barry saw me back then. Which was just now.” The implications sank in deeper. “Sonofabitch. This already happened.”
Chapter Ten
Daisy watched herself with great interest over the next few days after her incident with the neuro-stim overload. The paranoia, the search for the secret cyborg, the chopping off of Vince’s arm.
When she spaced Tamara out of the airlock, she had Freya on standby just in case the surly woman’s recollection of her rescue was hazy. Fortunately, her combat arm did in fact house an automatically deployed oxygen envelope, which she managed to slip into before freezing and suffocating to death.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t drifting the right way, as she had remembered.
“Freya, I think we’re going to have to give her a little nudge.”
“You can’t do that without her seeing us.”
“Sure we can. We just need to direct one small piece of debris her way to bump her and send her on the right trajectory.”
“So throwing rocks at the woman you just blew out an airlock? Classy move, Daze,” Sarah joked.
“Freya, is there anything nearby that’ll fit the bill?”
“Not that I see, but I have some waste I can compress and discharge in that direction that should do the trick.”
“Sweet. Let ’er rip whenever you’re ready.”
“Will do.”
“You’re flinging literal shit at her now?” Sarah laughed. “And just when I thought it couldn’t get worse. Insult to injury, Sis.”
“Hey, it’ll be frozen solid. It’s not like she’ll be hit with a soggy––”
“Okay, okay. I don’t need the mental image!”
“Wimp.” Daisy chuckled.
Freya jettisoned the small block of waste matter, which nudged the floating woman just enough to set her on the right course.
It was an uncomfortably long wait, but the tiny hopper did eventually manage to exit the Váli and retrieve her, just as Tamara had remembered.
More or less, that is.
The rest of the voyage went as Daisy recalled. The memory of the long hours spent crawling the length and width of the ship within the Narrows brought back a sympathetic ache in her hips and knees. When the shuttle finally blasted free of the Váli’s belly, it was almost a relief.
“Now’s the part where it’s about to get really interesting,” Daisy said. “It was a long and uncomfortable trip to Earth, but I made it.”
“And without your future self lending a hand,” Sarah added.
“Nope, you were there, Sis. Safe to say, that bit was all me.” She paused a moment, considering her past self’s precarious situation. “But it won’t hurt to stay close by, right?”
“I’ll keep a close watch, Daisy.”
“Thanks, Freya. I appreciate it, though I think the real challenge was when I touched down in LA.” Daisy thought on it a moment. “Ya know what? On second thought, let’s fly ahead and do a quick survey of the city.”
“You don’t want me to stick with the shuttle?”
“We can fly ahead and be back before any of the real problems started on that old heap,” Daisy replied. “Set a course for Los Angeles.”
The stealth ship entered the atmosphere on the daylight side of the globe, far above Hawaii, hiding her entry in the bright daytime sky. She then changed course for the dark of the Los Angeles night.
Freya made a quick loop over the city, making sure there were no Chithiid patrols in the area, then dropped down without a sound, hovering just above the ground, careful not to leave any trace of her arrival.
“Okay,” Daisy said, slinging her sword to her back. “I’m going to make a quick pass through the key places I wound up when I landed here and make sure they’re safe.”
“Your own guardian angel.”
“Precisely. I may be ready to rumble now, but when I first got here, all that neuro-stim training hadn’t kicked in yet.”
She slipped silently to the ground and padded away from the ship.
“Back soon, Freya. Let me know if anything comes up.”
“Okay, Daisy. Have fun!”
&
nbsp; “You know it, kiddo,” Daisy replied, then took off into the night.
She made quick time, now that she knew the layout of the city, first ensuring the doors to the underground loop tube system were unlocked, then checking inside the apartment where she spent her first exhausted night.
Looking inside the pantry, she noticed the sealed can of coffee was nowhere to be found.
“Oh, now that’s not right,” she muttered. “That’s not right at all.”
Daisy exited the apartment––careful to leave it exactly as she found it when she first landed in the city––and began searching other units for her precious brew.
There has to be some in here somewhere.
“This is your priority now?” Sarah snarked.
Hey, you’ve seen me without my coffee.
“Point taken,” she replied. “You want some help?”
The extra eyes are always appreciated.
“Okay, then. Let’s get you caffeinated.”
The one-woman duo made quick work of the floor above, but to no avail. All of the containers were open and long spoiled to an undrinkable mess. It wasn’t until they ventured up two more floors that they hit pay-dirt.
“That one, Daze,” Sarah said.
Daisy knew immediately which door she meant. There were a few packages leaning against the threshold, obviously placed there just before mankind ceased to be.
“Probably out of town when it happened.”
“Yep. My thoughts, exactly.”
“And if that’s the case, they probably cleared out open containers before they left, seeing as this is a nice building, and all.”
She drew her sword and neatly sliced the locking mechanism in half.
“Sorry, Stabby. No blood here, but I’ll find you something to eat, I promise,” she said as she re-sheathed her murderous weapon.
Sure enough, in the pantry was an unopened can of coffee. The very same one she had carried with her until she found a building with power way back when she first visited the city.
“Let’s get that planted for you to find, then get moving. We’ve only got so much nighttime to cover our tracks, and we really should get back to the shuttle to keep an eye on you once things really start going wrong.”
