“I don't see anything that will cause damage if we turn the gravity back on and it were to fall to the deck suddenly,” Price said as he took a look around the space. “We might want to close the service aperture first though.”
Finn drifted towards the two and a half meter wide circular opening at the far end of the room and looked outside towards the distant nebula. It still dominated the view, he couldn't see past it to the left, right, above or below but he knew it was actually over two light years away. He was just about to turn away when something caught his eye. “Agameg, has the ship changed course since last night?”
“No, we're moving in a straight line in dead space.”
Finn magnified a section of his view using his command unit controls. “Then this makes sense. There's a body out there.”
“From the funeral? That doesn't make sense at all.”
“No, she's in a vacsuit, her headpiece isn't sealed.”
“I'll inform security. Good thing you noticed before we turned on the gravity, Stephanie will probably want to see the room undisturbed.”
“I think our work is going to be delayed a while,” Finn said, shaking his head. “My C and C unit's forensic package just confirmed that she was strangled before being tossed out the service hatch.”
Gabriel's Gift
“A loss of coordination is to be expected.”, Gabriel had told him as he passed him the high density storage chip. It was labelled simply; General Collins, Collected Intensive Neural Scan. Wheeler had looked to the scrawny, dishevelled fellow then and gave him an apprehensive look. “So you want me to become him?”
Gabriel laughed loudly, uproariously, shaking his head. It was obnoxious, the man didn't acknowledge half of what was going on with more than an absent nod most of the time and when he did it was some extreme, over exaggerated gesture that was so over the top that it was distracting. “Not at all. That information has been distilled by a computer system. Once a neural scan has been passed through a digital system it becomes reorganized into pure data. If you were to plug that into an AI it would be nothing more than a large database of what it would call; informative experiences. Sure, the AI would learn from it, most likely emulate Collins very convincingly, maybe even think it was the old General, but it couldn't be him. When you load that into your own cranial unit your organic mind will be able to search it, read it like memories but they will be static, look as though you were viewing them through a holographic projection or simulation that you could fast forward or rewind, search at your leisure.”
“Because a computer read and rewrote the data.”
“Exactly, that's why there's been so much research into reintegrating digital memory into an organic mind.”
“And why you pursue Alice.”
For a moment Gabriel's eyes lost focus, as though he was looking at something far distant, then his gaze fell back onto Lucius. “Yes, but even I am becoming convinced she's not necessarily the answer to the problem. Finding her, having a chance to communicate with her is something I believe may never happen, though I wish it would. For the time being, I would like you to take the next step forward.”
“Why me? I'm sure there are other frameworks around who you could just slip this into and have them work on it.”
“You're one of our successes, we took great pains to transfer memories into you that could properly inform your personality.”
“And yet I could dictate what I remember in about forty five minutes.”
“That's not the point; your essence, your behaviour is a ninety four point three percent match to the original Wheeler.”
“And look where that essence got him.”
“That's one of the very reasons why I want you to have access to General Collins' memories, his tactical thought processes. Free of an AI routine everything that made him who he was is yours to examine and comprehend. In trade I'd like to draw on you for insight…” Meunez stopped a moment, interrupted by something out of sight. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and for several seconds it looked like the man was about to fall over. “… Collins had information no one else had access too, founded projects that were so far off the books people didn't know who they were working for. With that kind of information your mission to make life very uncomfortable for Jacob Valance and his crew will be much easier and the rewards much higher. You could also become an integral component of the new command structure we're building for the West Watch initiative. We kept Collins at arm's length on many issues because we knew he never truly approved of using a religion as a method of control, but according to the personality profile we have on you-”
“I don't really care,” Wheeler interrupted. “Use grape soda, Saturday morning cartoons, whatever you want to get people to fall in line behind you, I'm happy as long as the cash keeps coming in and I know where I stand. I'll scan this in once I get back.”
“Good, I have to visit medical. They're implanting a few things that might help.”
“Help?”
“A nutrients fabricator, little device that they're putting in my stomach that will materialize food so I no longer have to eat. They're also doing some cosmetic work that will make my physical appearance much easier to maintain. You should try it.”
“I'll pass, thanks.”
The other man looked at him with a cocked head. He didn't seem to have taken offence, instead he had the manner of someone who was offering important advice; “Some day I hope you experience a time when your life is so full second by second that eating becomes trivial, a distraction. We should all interact with the universe so ultimately.” Gabriel stood and walked out of Wheeler's quarters without saying another word, obviously distracted by something transpiring well out of sight.
Lucius sat back and looked around at the quarters he'd been assigned. The lush carpeted blue and green semicircular rooms were decorated and furnished with items that seemed too rich, too soft. He put the silver plated data storage chip on the table and stared at it for a moment.
It was true, he felt like himself, there was no question in his mind that he was Lucius Agrippa Wheeler, had grown up on Freeground, survived the All-Con Conflict as a deep Intelligence operative, served in many quiet but deadly battles before then and was eventually put out on a shadow ship. He had stolen the Triton, a Sol Defence vessel through ruthless deception and sacrificed most of his original crew during the act. Then after years of making his way through the galaxy he started to get weary of it all, to burn out. He started taking bigger risks for bigger paydays, eventually catching wind of the framework project and getting involved with the strike so he could sell the technology and become wealthier than he'd ever dreamed. Then Vindyne betrayed him and that's where the information on his old life ended. Those were facts, however, and weren't backed up by actual memories for the most part.
His memories were gone. There was no data chip labelled Lucius Wheeler because whoever copied him did it with a connection between the mind of the original and the input nodes built into the framework; built into him. The company had seen no need, they didn't deem anything in that man's head sensitive or worth preserving beyond what could be copied.
That was what he remembered most, that miserable year before his true identity was activated and he was able to contact people he remembered in an attempt to get himself off the planet, back into the stars where he could find freedom and make a new life. His fight for freedom started when he contacted an old friend who had begun working for Regent Galactic, was assigned to his crew on the Triton and saw what happened to the original Wheeler.