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| Generated by Canva text-to-image AI software |
When the surgeon attempted to remove the foreign body from Alyssa’s brain,
she went into autopilot and warned them not to do that. She spoke in
monotone, and it was clear that she was only reciting a script rather than
speaking from the heart. When the doctor let go of her brain, she was able
to give him consent to remove it from her, but every time he tried, she
would protest again. Under normal circumstances, no means no, whether or not
it’s preceded by a yes, but in this case, it was obvious that the implant
was speaking for her, and that the real her wanted the thing gone. The
surgeon removed it, and then the anaesthesiologist put her back to sleep so
they could seal up her head. If her substrate is anything like the ones that
Ramses built for the others on the team, her skull should heal up
completely. There shouldn’t even be a scar.
“Why not?” she asks. She’s woken up now, and asked to see herself in a
mirror.
“I can actually answer this,” Mateo says. “I had a friend when I was younger
who kept getting hurt. He ended up with this huge scar on his neck, and he
explained that when the body is injured, it produces collagen to repair the
damage, but it’s better to produce too much than too little, because too
little would result in it not healing all the way. Too much ultimately
creates extra skin. It’s evolution’s way of making sure that the healing
finishes all the way.”
“Yeah,” Leona agrees, “but the medical nanites that you have now can gauge
exactly how much collagen they need to order to get the job done, so there’s
no extra.”
“Oh. And the hair?”
“Don’t know about the hair,” Leona replies. “Ramses may have included a
subroutine that would command the nanites to activate the right protein
growth factors, or it didn’t occur to him. If he did think to include it, it
may still take a while. Hair treatment isn’t bad in this reality, though. We
can sign you up for follicle stimulation. In the meantime, we’ll buy
whatever wigs you want.”
“Don’t bother,” Alyssa says. She uses her illusion ability to generate a
hologram of her original hair. “I may just leave it shaved. I’ve found it
easier to produce an artificial image from scratch than to superimpose it on
something else.”
“True,” Leona says as she’s waving her hand through the hair, and touching
nothing. “However, the hair’s not really there, and people can tell.”
“Right.” She frowns slightly.
“I’m sorry we had to do this,” Leona said. “We just...”
“We just wanted you back,” Mateo finishes.
“Yes, and I appreciate that,” Alyssa tells them, “but there’s something you
should know. “I am still bound to Dalton’s commands.”
“What? You are?”
“I’m sorry, the surgery didn’t do what you thought it would. That’s not what
the dot was for.” What that thing did was block her from remembering certain
things from her past. Removing it didn’t reprogram her. It’s just that now
she knows what’s at stake, and understands why the Gyroscope must stay
active. Fortunately, she can explain it now too. “It was just a...uh—what
would you call it? A memory inhibitor. I still want to keep the Omega
Gyroscope working, but now I know why.”
“Why?” Leona presses.
“Someone is trying to get into the Third Rail. They have been trying for
ages. The original programming was enough to prevent that from happening,
but things have changed in recent days.”
“What’s changed?” Mateo asks.
“You,” Alyssa says. “You, and the team. And Aldona, and everyone who came
from the Insulator of Life. Everyone who disappeared into the Livewire.
Every time you tap on the glass to the Fourth Quadrant, and every time you
teleport, you’re pushing the boundaries. You weaken the system. Luckily,
Dalton broke the rules, and looked into the future to see all this coming.
He set in place a series of events that would put me in charge, and I have
been this world’s protector ever since.”
“Well, he was late. All those versions of Constance managed to come through.
I suppose, if it had to happen, he should have made it happen sooner.”
“Those Constances were about as threatening as a lone ladybug compared to
the one who’s trying to get in now.”
“Wait, are you talking about Constance!Two, or someone else entirely?”
“Both,” Alyssa answers. “She’s the most dangerous, not because she’s
inherently different than the others, but because she’s formed a
relationship with the Superintendent’s alternate self.”
“The Superintendent has an alt?” Mateo questions.
“I don’t have the details, but yes. He has a...more local form of the real
Superintendent’s power, but if you’re in the same universe as he is, he can
do a lot of damage. Evidently, you were this close to meeting him a couple
times. From what Dalton has discovered, he was on the Stage at the same time
you were, before you came here. When we ran into your friend, Meliora by
that river? He was there too.”
“Was Constance!Two there too?” Leona asks.
Alyssa waits a moment to respond. “She was Meliora. Or rather, she was
impersonating her. Dalton thinks she started to try to break through just
after you, but luckily the Superintendent’s alt stopped it.”
“So what do we need the Gyroscope for?” Mateo asks.
“I think he stopped it by distracting her. She ends up trying anyway. The
good thing is that the portal she sent you through closed up, so she missed
the only opportunity she had...unless you force me to take the barrier
down.”
“It has to come down eventually,” Leona points out. “Certain things have to
happen. This world is ending.”
“Dalton is aware, and has accounted for that. He will let Constance!Two in
at the right time, on the right day, to destroy her before she can do any
damage. That time is not now. That day is not today. You just have to trust
us.”
“We can do that,” Leona begins, “but Dalton has to give us two things in
return.”
“I’ll talk to him about Angela and the immortality waters.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” Leona says. “We want to talk to him ourselves.”
“I’ll try, but he hasn’t been very inviting with me. Our relationship is
one-way.”
“I see that. He took your fancy cane back.”
“He didn’t take it back. I lost it,” Alyssa admits.
“Lost it where? How?”
“What’s the second thing?” Alyssa asks, avoiding the question.
“We want you back,” Mateo says. “No more short emails. You stay with us.”
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