Mimic
14 Oct 2023Ryuko Ntsikana
Part Sixteen.
Mimic
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Xochitl sat in her bridge-wing office as her department chiefs debated deleting the entity and the dredger ship hosting it. Not too long ago, it would never have made it this far, but her last encounter—and its saving Zooey, whose injuries were not survivable—gave her pause. Each of them had changed and grown since their first encounter. One was genocidal by the nature of its creation, evolving over time to be something far more. She herself, then, had been willing to nearly split a moon to destroy it.
The dredger was parked within a few hundred meters of the barrel of a large capital-class plasma cannon. All its visual sensors would be looking down its energized, gaping maw. Its other sensors would detect the massive charge, just one command away from releasing a blast that would reduce the tiny ship to atomized ash.
All of the department chiefs stopped their arguing as the communication channel opened.
"Do you understand your situation?" Xochitl asked, looking at the ceiling in her office.
"I understand my current position but do not completely comprehend how my presence here was possible."
Xochitl glanced at Avery, who nodded in confirmation. She was monitoring every nuance of the transmission, confirming that it was clear and the entity was not attempting any deception.
"I have one concern, and it is not you. Your presence is allowed to answer the one question on my mind."
"I do not know her present condition. The neural surgeon and I were winning the battle to retake Zooey's mind when something unknown and unexpected happened, absorbing both her ID and myself."
"Her what?" asked the shocked ship's doctor, who was present.
"It is good to hear your voice again, doctor. I attempted to salvage her damaged and disjointed memories by having a rated neurocybernetics surgeon install a neural processor more advanced than Xochitl's, as a storage medium. It was hoped that these memories could be stored and categorized to begin rebuilding the damaged parts of who she was. Unknown to us, the deeper, primal, and instinctive parts of her psyche were more active without the checks and balances of her other cognitive functions, and were waiting for a medium through which they could exert control."
The doctor's face changed to one of horror. "You're saying, psychologically, that her ID gained control?"
"Yes, doctor. I knew the danger this posed and that Xochitl was attempting to track us down. I tried to transmit a warning to stop in the only method that could bypass your defenses. There was a risk in this, and I did not want to compromise yourself, so I focused on Inspector Gladsen. I sent him repetitive dreams, knowing it would take time for him to comprehend the message. I didn't want anyone else to be at risk until a positive solution could be found."
Xochitl stared at the far wall. Her own mind and neural processor were attempting to comprehend what they were being told.
"What was the last thing you recall?" Avery asked.
"I had reprogrammed a second series of surgical nanobots to disrupt the quantum modulations required by the first initial set—required to build and reinforce the connection between the processor and her brain. As you know, time was limited. Once these were all complete and established, the biological processes would maintain themselves. I commandeered the surgeon, the surgical robotic arms, and the medical android assistant to subdue Zooey physically while she was distracted by higher brain functions. Once the second series broke the connections, I could enter through her cranial port and directly confront this part of her and attempt to contain and isolate it in the processor. The surgeon could then remove it."
The doctor's face showed a mix of realization and surprise as she walked over to Xochitl's desk, gripping the back of one of the chairs next to it.
"But something unexpected happened."
"Yes, doctor. Something did. What I cannot define. We were winning the battle. It was only a matter of a few more seconds when something unknown appeared. Visually, it seemed like a vortex that absorbed her primal nature and me. My last observation was being decompiled before regaining consciousness in this ship."
The doctor's face showed the look of someone on the verge of unraveling a great mystery. "You were originally a program, but you were inside the genetic code of the host... oh." The doctor looked again at Avery. "Can either you or the entity ascertain if a copy has been made?"
Xochitl bolted upright in her chair as everyone in the room tensed.
Zooey walked through the door, pausing as the neurological testing equipment at the base of the wrecked robotic arms turned off, surprising the surgeon who hadn't noticed it was still active.
The medical android moved past them, walking down the hallway and leading them past several staff and security officials. The surgeon looked around curiously at the familiar faces; none seemed to notice or acknowledge their passing.
The journey through the facility to the elevators leading to the upper levels—where his office was located—felt as surreal as his recent experiences. There were no glances, greetings, or acknowledgments of any kind. He waved at several staff members, but none appeared to notice or care. The secure door to his office unlocked and opened of its own accord as Zooey, followed by himself and the android, entered.
Zooey smiled as she took a seat across from his desk, motioning for him to take his usual position. After all, it was his office.
"Before I lose control of myself, would someone explain this nightmare to me?" he asked.
"A ghost story it is, then," Zooey said with a smile.