Warpath (49 page)

Doctor Anderson
realized he was rambling, avoiding the most difficult topics of the
day. “Details on all that are on record. Doctor Messana’s work on
Jake led her to begin thinking that she could find a way remove
framework systems from the hosts they create, starting with Alice.
That was the top of her slippery slope into ethically questionable
research.”

He sighed and forced
himself to look at the young red-headed corpse on the table. “This
body is a testament to rushed research and an ethical code that was
largely ignored. I would not have gone this far. That is coming from
a man who made a daughter for himself without her mother’s
permission. That is, while removing the mother’s DNA from the
daughter I created and replacing it with programmed material instead.
I will not apologize for how my daughter came to be, I broke no
actual laws, but I did irreparable emotional harm to the first Ayan’s
mother. If we’re comparing sins, and it is only human nature to do
so, I admit Messana makes my transgression seem small. I admit, I
have gone far and a little wide of my own ethics more than once, but
never have I stretched that code to the point of breaking. This is a
child, and the records show that she was not only alive, but was
awake and aware.”

“Are you sure you’d
like your last statement, comparing your transgressions to Doctor
Messana’s, on the record, Doctor?” the Ando asked him.

“Absolutely. Anyone
who dares to judge someone should be examined for hypocrisy. I’d
hope that whoever gets access to this takes a minute to examine my
records, and they’ll find my worst crime is a brutal one,
emotionally speaking. I regret cutting the blood ties between Ayan
and her mother, it hurt Jessica Rice deeply, and I loved her with all
my heart for a long time. Part of me still does. So, no more asking
if I’m sure about what’s going on the record, all right?”

“I understand. Thank
you for explaining, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome,
let’s continue. The research I’ve examined here can save Alice,
and then save millions more by defeating the soldiers of our enemy
bloodlessly. That raises the question: do the ends justify the means?
Would I be proclaiming that they do by using the methods she
discovered if I used her research? This is a question I’ve asked
myself more than once in my career, and I have almost always answered
no. I have seen medical technology that could have accomplished
miracles, but had a hand in judging them based on how they were
discovered. Locked away are the secrets to automatic limb
regeneration, instantaneous memory transfer from any range, and not
to mention the crush gate technology that Lorander has kept from the
rest of the galaxy for over a century. My former association with the
British put me on a council that judged the researchers of these and
other technologies based on ethics before the first Ayan was even
born, and I have to wonder if putting those secrets away was truly
good for mankind. No one had to know how the technologies were
discovered and the researchers could have been kept from reaping the
rewards for their work. In this particular case, Doctor Messana is
dead, along with all but a few members of her team. One is being
delivered to a place where he will most likely not survive long,
while the others are hiding somewhere on Tamber, a place that will
soon be more dangerous than ever thanks to a food shortage. If riots
or random crime don’t kill them, my Rangers will find them and I’ll
have them imprisoned. No researchers will be rewarded for what
they’ve done yet ethically using the technology to cure Alice is
wrong. It validates their actions.

At the same time, her
future is in question because she is not suited to do the one thing
she wants to most: become a soldier. I have been watching her
progress for long enough to confirm that her ability to process
traumatic events will not improve over time regardless of any
therapy. Whereas the Framework technology stifled Jake’s ability to
properly process positive emotions under most circumstances,
something I admit I’m surprised my daughter was able to break
through, Alice’s framework does something different. As Alice
participates in, and witnesses more real or simulated violent acts,
her mental trauma will steadily increase. A memory lock will prevent
therapy from working. Reprogramming the framework technology so she
is more receptive to therapy is not an option. Doctor Messana tried,
and something inside the framework detects intrusions and reacts,
sometimes destroying the framework host permanently. No, the only way
is to trick the framework into thinking it is critically damaged,
then to alter the software during repairs so the framework removes
itself. It took seven tries to find the right method. Six copies of
Alice were mutilated and destroyed before she got it right with the
seventh. The solution is here, and I’m not supposed to use it to
cure this bright girl of a system that will eventually take
everything but life from her?”

Doctor Anderson ran his
hand down his face.

“Am I supposed to
answer that question?” asked the android recording him.

“No, Ando Three,”
he replied. He looked a little like Minh-Chu Buu, so Doctor Anderson
left him that way instead of customizing his appearance. Doctor
Anderson stared into the face of the Alice copy that had been cured
for a long moment. “Wait, why not? Go ahead and answer.”

“Putting emotions
aside,” the Ando Three said. “You are questioning the ethics of
using Doctor Messana’s research thoroughly and well. You’re also
putting your thoughts on record, which offers people who question
your decision later an insight into the process that will lead to
whatever action you take.”

“All right, so my
butt is at least partially covered,” Doctor Anderson said. “What
conclusion is your android brain coming to?”

“It tells me to refer
to the law. A machine that is proven to be fully aware may be copied
legally if there is no other solution to continuing its existence,
and only if that machine agrees to be duplicated,” Ando Three
answered. “That is the law where I was manufactured on Albin Five.
The law is a result of several judgements spanning the past seventy
years. Those judgements answer the questions you’ve asked in a
particularly clear way. Was it right for her to attempt to cure
Alice? Yes. Was it right for Doctor Messana to conduct her research
using sentient copies of Alice? No. Now that the crimes have been
committed, does it matter if anyone makes gains from it? Yes. Are
those gains satisfactorily prevented according to the Albin Courts?
Yes, but only if the last two researchers who could have reported and
prevented the crimes are apprehended and kept from making future
gains. Will further harm come to the people who the research methods
damaged? No. The subjects are all dead. Should you use Doctor
Messana’s research to prevent further harm? Yes, but only if those
benefiting from that research are made aware of how the treatment was
discovered and refined.”

“So, according to the
laws governing sentient life on Albin Five, I should show Alice the
records then ask her if she wants this cure,” Doctor Anderson said.

“Yes,” Ando Three
answered. “A difficult situation, especially since Alice is not
known for being perfectly logical.”

“Good point. What
would you want, if you were Alice?” he asked.

“She is a teenager.
According to the Marson Guide To Raising Adolescents, all teenagers
want to be treated as an adult sentient. They want to feel that they
control their own destinies. If I were acting on the advice of that
guide, the most popular guide on adolescents in the galaxy, I would
show her the materials surrounding the issue and assist her in making
an informed decision. I caution you that most teenagers want more
responsibility than they know how to handle, sometimes leading to
failure. It is one of the ways in which they grow.”

“But Alice will never
grow,” Doctor Anderson said.

“Then I don’t envy
the decision you have to make. It makes her problem unique, all
living things change, but she does not, even though she qualifies as
a living thing in every other way.”

“I think I agree with
you, Ando Three, thank you. One more question: What do you think of
using this technology as a weapon to shorten a war that could kill
billions?”

“Two wrongs do not
make a right. This research resulted in the destruction of sentient
life. Using it to kill more sentients will only continue that legacy,
especially when there is another way. Use the weapon the Order of
Eden already made to kill unregistered frameworks instead. Even
considering that framework technology may eventually be made immune
to that option, the result will still be similar.”

“I should just leave
and let you make all the decisions,” Doctor Anderson said.

“I don’t think that
would help, since I wouldn’t get myself into your kind of trouble,”
he replied.

“Fair enough,”
Doctor Anderson said. “All right, preserve this body for now. How
is our VIP doing?”

“She is stable, and
ready to wake,” said Ando Two from the next room.

“All right, wake her
up,” he said as he left the main room of the lab, leaving Ando
Three behind to carefully re-insert the body back into a stasis tube.

An open, heavy
reinforced doorway led to the next room where a woman was propped up
on a table set to a sixty degree angle. Her chest and arms were
visible but the rest of her was covered by a long tube. The room was
simple, with life support machinery that was sealed and silent. The
woman strapped into the table began to groggily open her eyes.

“Welcome to our
facility. You are the prisoner of a clandestine organization with no
name, have no rights, and will not escape unless we decide it is good
for us if you do so. Answer my questions, and we may consider making
your stay more comfortable,” Doctor Anderson said as though
reciting something he’d said a hundred times.

She stared at him, and
Doctor Anderson simply looked back at her, keeping his attitude and
demeanor light. “You were put into full stasis after technically
dying aboard the Fallen Star. They brought you to me on my request,
and the records say that we were not able to save you, and that your
remains were incinerated then put into this storage box.” He took a
long silver box from the android standing next to him and shook the
contents. It sounded like ash and bone fragments. “This is what
we’ll be cataloging. About half of it is actually you, since I
didn’t bother saving your legs or lower torso.” He handed the box
back to Ando Two. “Catalog that in the official record please, we
need to finish reporting her dead.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Ando
Two replied. “I’ll send Ando One in with some water for our
patient.”

“Thank you,” Doctor
Anderson said. He looked at her and could see that she was trying as
hard as she could not to react to her situation. Her arms did not
move within their restraints and her breathing was steady. He brought
up a medical hologram that verified that she was stable, and
perfectly connected to the life support systems that did everything
her missing organs were supposed to. “I’m not a ghoul, or a
torturer, and I’d like to give you your independent health and
mobility back some day. Until then, I’m not going to harm you, I’m
going to maintain your life, and keep you as healthy as you are right
now. You will be comfortable, but alone except for me and the three
androids who maintain this space. That is, unless you give me
information. I think we should start with your name. I don’t care
if it’s your real name, though that would be preferable, but I
don’t want the Andos to keep calling you ‘patient’ for the rest
of your life, so anything will do for now.”

Just for a moment there
seemed to be a little fear in her expression. He was sure he caught
it around the time he told her she would be alone. He waited. He did
not move, but stared at her calmly and watched every motion on her
face. Every few seconds she looked her up and down, calling her
attention to what wasn’t there: nearly everything from the rib cage
down. For several minutes she stared back at him, but then her gaze
began to wander. His unmarked vacsuit didn’t warrant much
attention. The open door kept her staring for close to a minute,
where she could see the copy of Alice being put into a stasis tube by
an android. She managed to look the rest of the room over in a few
seconds. Then her eyes fixed on the hologram that displayed what was
left of her body, everything from the mid-torso up, and her life
data.

Ando One arrived with a
water bottle and offered it to their captive. She drew on the straw,
drinking long gulps of the cool water calmly. Then Doctor Anderson
saw the first crack in her armour, and it was a large one. She closed
her eyes after the first few sips and continued drinking. A tear
rolled down her cheek. She breathed raggedly and when she opened her
eyes she was more a young woman in distress than she was a Citadel
Special Forces member. “My name is Paka.”

Ando One, who looked
like a pretty young woman with almost overlarge cheeks and eyes,
mopped up Paka’s tear with a soft cloth. “Are you finished
drinking?”

“Yes, thank you,”
Paka said. “This was my first mission as an agent, I was a soldier
with medical training before I was noticed, then retrained as an
agent. I was told that you would torture and kill me if I was
caught.”

“Well, you’re safe
here. I’m not interested in torturing you. I’m wondering what you
were after in the Fallen Star? Why did you kill everyone aboard?”

“They were playing
with technology they did not understand, a trans-dimensional drive
that could tear the galaxy apart,” Paka replied. “I was to kill
the researchers and destroy the drive’s core.”

“From what I
understand, you had gained access to the main controls for that
system. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to overload it. It
would have been easier for you to destroy the drive then.”