think, no, I’m sure Patrizia was actually envious of you when she realized you were the one who gave Jake his scarf. I think you made a mystery real for her, I think you lived up to what she pictured in her mind as a woman she couldn’t compete with.”
“Oh, come on,” Ayan said with disbelief. “Not in this lifetime, or any other. Did you see her?”
“Yes, and she was hanging on your every word, especially when you stood up to her and actually countered her price with an offer of your own.”
“Must happen all the time,” she replied with a barely suppressed smile.
“You know it doesn’t, and if something did happen between Jake and her, it’s probably ancient history now. Just talk to him about it.”
“That ought to be an interesting conversation,” Ayan sighed. “But I think I will.”
“Good. It’ll be fine.”
“You’re amazing, Laura. Busy picking me up off the floor while Jason’s still out there. I’m sorry.”
Laura closed her eyes and nodded. “I’m worried, but I’d know if something happened to him. Wherever he is, I know he’s doing his best to come back to me.”
“Minh should be back soon.”
“I know. I think I’ll try to get some rest before he arrives. Do you mind?”
“No, I think I’ll wait for Jake in the Captain’s quarters.”
“Good luck. I think everything’s going to be fine though.”
“I hope so.”
Chapter 33
It was impossible to know whether she was waking up when her eyes snapped open, or if she was becoming aware. What was certain, as Eve lay atop her made bed in her finest green and blue silk gown, was that until the very moment of awareness or waking, she was not in control. She couldn’t feel Gloria behind her eyes, but there was a residue. There was guilt, and a strange giddiness that was unlike anything she’d known.
“What have you done?” Eve asked aloud, hoping the other woman wouldn’t answer from somewhere inside her mind. Despite her growing dread she began to reach out, to search the network of surveillance and storage for evidence of her passage. Within milliseconds she found the trail. Gloria had made no efforts to hide her activities.
Eve went to bed. It took her exactly forty three minutes and nine seconds to fall asleep. Four minutes and fifty one seconds later she sat up and dressed in her finest gown, put on the heels she never really learned to walk properly in, and exited her quarters. She was humming something, and after a quick search through the archives, she realized it was an ancient song called Birdhouse In Your Soul.
Eve didn’t remember any of it. Not a single instant. Watching the woman wearing her body swagger down the familiar hallways, smile at soldiers and officers as she walked past, and look right into surveillance hot spots so Eve could look her in the eyes later was infuriating. When she realized the woman’s destination she was so enraged that she lost her connection with the network. She forced herself to settle down and focused her attention on the surveillance footage of Gloria entering Beaudric’s quarters.
With a grace Eve never had, Gloria sat down on the edge of his bed and whispered; “I have something to show you,” as she caressed his cheek.
He roused with a start, sat up, and after a moment smiled at her warmly in the dim light. There were few words as she let him get dressed behind her and walked him down the hall to the lift. In seemingly easy silence they made their way to the bowels of the command carrier and Eve was horror stricken as she recalled the next batch of surveillance data from the system. Gloria walked him directly into the emergency genesis chamber. It was a long, broad corridor with black tiled floors and bare generation one frameworks lining the walls in their cubicles. Like a collection of hundreds of skeletons they stood waiting, empty eye sockets staring across the room at each other. A box at each one’s feet contained everything they needed to get to work after coming to life. It was a place no one was supposed to see, a place where, if they urgently needed basic personnel in vast numbers they could be produced hundreds at a time. Behind each cubicle was a loading mechanism that would stand another framework skeleton up after one had finished generating and walked off. Another loader under the box would put a fresh uniform, and weapons or tools inside.
These frameworks did not have the individuality or higher functions that Beaudric did. They were ready to be programmed with any of twenty pre-set basic personalities and skill sets. Very few would be given an improved version of the programming, which really only enhanced them enough to be basic, logical commanders. Those were the A-Types, or generation one point fives that could take over as an officer for a short amount of time.
Beaudric stared open mouthed, wide eyed as the lights came on and he was rendered speechless. Gloria filled the silence before long. “These are your lesser cousins. This technology is responsible for bringing you into being, and while you’re a vast improvement, you still have the same bones, the same machines forged you.”
The man turned and stared at her with a confused, hurt expression on his face.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but the guilt of what I’ve done is too heavy. I was human once. I was born of a mother and a father, grew up like any little girl and was about to become a woman. Then I became deathly ill, and my father, a great scientist, couldn’t find a cure. Instead he harvested my mind and connected it to a new body. A network of machines built so I could protect the Eden solar system. I took things a little bit too far. My father was killed, I was isolated from the network and the machines I built. Years later someone recovered me, created the perfect body for my reintegration into humanity and transplanted my mind.”
Beaudric stared at her with that bulging eye, open mouthed expression that he couldn’t seem to shake. “Eden. So you are Eve?” He asked at last.
“I am, and I’ve decided to begin taking responsibility for all my misdeeds, starting with you.”
“With me? Your people rescued me.”
“No, I stole from you. We’re all memory and body thieves here, even the Child Prophet, who is in his second body as well. I watched from a distance as you made yourself at home on Pandem, and after deciding that you were living a life of frivolity, I began to construct memories, new memories that would help you make the right attachments and decisions. You think your father was killed when there was no attack, he was never here.”
“But I remember-“
“Creations, just figments from my mind transplanted into yours. They are made so you feel anger at an enemy that has never interfered with Pandem.”
“The book, this ring-“
“Oh my God, you are deeply stupid. That’s another reason why I chose you. They are offerings from your original, who gave them to us in exchange for a few days of meaningless indulgence. He’s still down there! Do you want to see?” Gloria shouted. With a gesture a large hologram appeared of Patrick laying in the middle of a king sized bed with a young woman in his arms. “She’s just one of a number of women Patrick, that’s the name given to your original, has slept with since he arrived. He does as little as he can to get by, plays by the rules whenever he feels like it, and spends the rest of his time indulging in the most convenient pleasure. Think, use that shallow mind of yours and try to remember.”
Beaudric looked from the hologram to Gloria several times, confused and irritated before admitting; “It’s all blurry. I can see pieces, but when I try to focus on something it’s just… blurry.”
“That is because you’re an experiment. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t tell you this at all, but the lie is too heavy for me to carry. I thought I could turn you into a simple soldier, that you were the right template to experiment with, and I was right. Your thinking is so simple, you’re so stupid that you fell for all of it. You’re not intelligent enough to question your own thoughts and you’re so obedient that you didn’t even request a service for your father. You just soldiered on because I made sure you were programmed that way.”
Beaudric’s reaction was animalistic. He slapped Gloria so hard it rang down the corridor. “Good,” she purred as she strode to one of the boxes, flipped it open with her toe and retrieved a sidearm.
“No! I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry!” Beaudric whined as Gloria slowly, methodically raised the weapon and
