said the voice. Small, weak ... and scared, Vanessa realised with shock. She could feel the emotion clearly, could smell it in the simulated air. The construct reverberated with thick, cloying fear and pain. For a moment it was almost overwhelming.
"It's no trick. I'm with the CSA. We've arrested the people who've done this to you. If you don't let me in, you're going to die anyway. Let me help you. I want you to live."
"... why ...?" God, an honest question. An innocent, hurting question from someone with no reason at all to believe her ... someone , good Lord. She could feel the presence, could feel it probing weakly, trying to feel, trying to live ... Someone. This wasn't a machine. This was a person. It hit her with a force of revelation that almost left her speechless.
"Because," she said after a brief regathering, "we want to catch the people who ordered this done to you. And no one deserves this."
A moment's indecision. Fear. Reluctant, for reasons Vanessa could only too well understand, now that she'd seen, and heard, and felt. It thought she was going to finish it off. It did not want to be powerless. And it had no reason to believe that anyone would consider it worth saving.
Then, "... go ..." And the light about her began to fade, retreating down broken, fragmented pathways, a distant pulsing left in its wake. In haste, Vanessa recovered her selection panel, and activated the correct icons ... another gathering, humming sensation, her programs unfolding, a gleaming, latticework link unfurled, shooting up the deadened pathway down which she'd come, establishing hooks and feelers into the walls as it went. Past and over her, reaching for the pulsing node ... ripples spread, as if on the surface of a still pond. Interface accepted, established, and did not reject. The node glowed, and the glow spread, gathering to accumulate in many branches around, pausing at severed links, rebuilding as it went. The interface grew, assisted now by the GI's own systems, which merged smoothly with the growing flood, directing, mapping, showing the way ... with greater direction, the flow continued, and the surrounding universe began to gleam with pulsing, spreading energy. It was only a small portion of what needed to be rebuilt. But it was beginning.
Vanessa retreated, wanting to be clear of the constructs depths before it restored to anything like full power, feeling that she might not normally be so welcome here.
But, "... thank you ..." a soft voice whispered, weak with emotion and fading among the gleaming, broken strands.
----
... And she surfaced, eyes flashing open to reveal a glaringly bright operating theatre, and a cluster of worried armoured SWAT personnel gathered around, and someone shining a penlight into her eyes... she batted him aside, unplugged herself and leapt to her feet, mind spinning, breath coming hard as she strode across the room and stared sightlessly into space for a moment.
"LT?" came a cautious voice from behind her. Armoured footsteps approached, doubtless concerned that she might not be entirely together. Or sane for that matter. "Are you okay?"
"Jesus Christ," she said breathlessly, slowing her racing heartbeat with an effort. Spun about, to find a half dozen anxious faces staring at her, and Singh the one venturing close, the one with medical training. He held up four armoured fingers.
"LT, how many?"
She ignored him, and strode about the table, staring at the half-torso that lay there, stripped of skin and bristling with monitoring implements ... most recognisably not human, at this range — incredulously similar, but she had seen autopsies first-hand and they were nothing this neat and precise ... She still held the headset in her hand, a trailing cord along the floor to the GI's head, connected to her suit's exposed collar. Continuing to feed the code, and make corrections and adjustments as it went.
"LT?"
"She's alive," she said breathlessly, staring at the GI. "She's taking code. I
"It's no trick. I'm with the CSA. We've arrested the people who've done this to you. If you don't let me in, you're going to die anyway. Let me help you. I want you to live."
"... why ...?" God, an honest question. An innocent, hurting question from someone with no reason at all to believe her ... someone , good Lord. She could feel the presence, could feel it probing weakly, trying to feel, trying to live ... Someone. This wasn't a machine. This was a person. It hit her with a force of revelation that almost left her speechless.
"Because," she said after a brief regathering, "we want to catch the people who ordered this done to you. And no one deserves this."
A moment's indecision. Fear. Reluctant, for reasons Vanessa could only too well understand, now that she'd seen, and heard, and felt. It thought she was going to finish it off. It did not want to be powerless. And it had no reason to believe that anyone would consider it worth saving.
Then, "... go ..." And the light about her began to fade, retreating down broken, fragmented pathways, a distant pulsing left in its wake. In haste, Vanessa recovered her selection panel, and activated the correct icons ... another gathering, humming sensation, her programs unfolding, a gleaming, latticework link unfurled, shooting up the deadened pathway down which she'd come, establishing hooks and feelers into the walls as it went. Past and over her, reaching for the pulsing node ... ripples spread, as if on the surface of a still pond. Interface accepted, established, and did not reject. The node glowed, and the glow spread, gathering to accumulate in many branches around, pausing at severed links, rebuilding as it went. The interface grew, assisted now by the GI's own systems, which merged smoothly with the growing flood, directing, mapping, showing the way ... with greater direction, the flow continued, and the surrounding universe began to gleam with pulsing, spreading energy. It was only a small portion of what needed to be rebuilt. But it was beginning.
Vanessa retreated, wanting to be clear of the constructs depths before it restored to anything like full power, feeling that she might not normally be so welcome here.
But, "... thank you ..." a soft voice whispered, weak with emotion and fading among the gleaming, broken strands.
----
... And she surfaced, eyes flashing open to reveal a glaringly bright operating theatre, and a cluster of worried armoured SWAT personnel gathered around, and someone shining a penlight into her eyes... she batted him aside, unplugged herself and leapt to her feet, mind spinning, breath coming hard as she strode across the room and stared sightlessly into space for a moment.
"LT?" came a cautious voice from behind her. Armoured footsteps approached, doubtless concerned that she might not be entirely together. Or sane for that matter. "Are you okay?"
"Jesus Christ," she said breathlessly, slowing her racing heartbeat with an effort. Spun about, to find a half dozen anxious faces staring at her, and Singh the one venturing close, the one with medical training. He held up four armoured fingers.
"LT, how many?"
She ignored him, and strode about the table, staring at the half-torso that lay there, stripped of skin and bristling with monitoring implements ... most recognisably not human, at this range — incredulously similar, but she had seen autopsies first-hand and they were nothing this neat and precise ... She still held the headset in her hand, a trailing cord along the floor to the GI's head, connected to her suit's exposed collar. Continuing to feed the code, and make corrections and adjustments as it went.
"LT?"
"She's alive," she said breathlessly, staring at the GI. "She's taking code. I
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