The quiet in the room, broken only by her rummaging, was tense. Tanin wanted a real answer and was still expecting one. But Haven said nothing.
It was Alred who gave in first. His light form stepped into being on Tanin’s other side, tail lashing at the air, hands behind his back. He was looking up at her though.
“You got this for me?” He asked, almost sounding surprised. Like he couldn’t believe that she’d done so.
“Of course,” she broke out into a wide, toothy grin. “I promising to helping, didn’t I?”
“You did…” he agreed, expression thankful, but still with a hint of disbelief.
Tanin didn’t ask again. He just looked at Alred. Waiting for the explanation he knew that would be coming. Because these crates weren’t being given permission to stay here unless he knew what they were for. Alred, like the others, had given him his absolute loyalty, so he would never deny him the answer to a question.
The light form turned and inclined his head to his captain. “To tell you the truth, I’ve been working on building… a body.”
“A body,” Tanin repeated, a question inherent in the word.
“Yes. Specifically, I’m trying to rebuildmyold body. My core contains samples of my DNA, and I can use it, if I have the technology, to rebuild myself.”
“For what purpose?” Vytln asked, frowning, as Grace cocked her head and Sway popped a brow. All three of them curious and surprised by the admission.
“To live again, of course,” Alred said, his smile sad. “To be biological again. I… I don’t want to remain trapped in the computers any longer. I want to live and experience the world along with you, my brothers and crewmates.”
“You want to what?!”
Everyone turned, looking to the second floor storage. They hadn’t noticed Goldie approaching. She was standing at the railing, grasping it with both hands tightly, staring down at Alred with a stunned expression.
He didn’t seem surprised to see her there. Of course, not. He was constantly tracking their locations whenever they were on the ship. He knew she was coming. He knew she was going to hear his confession. He made it anyway.
“I want to be real,” he said, to her specifically this time. “I want to live alongside you. I don’t want this barrier between us anymore.”
“Is that…” Goldie paused, her breathing coming fast. “Is it possible?”
Alred didn’t answer this time. His light form glitching slightly from the emotional strain of the question and his thoughts.
“It’s definitely being possible,” Haven declared, holding up a pipe that was completely cracked down the body and totally useless because of it. But it could be replaced, and the metal itself was still good so it could be melted down. That’s why Vytln kept that convenient forge of his in their workroom. She looked it over as she continued. “They can regrowing parts for people easily. It is requiring medical grade equipment and DNA synthesizers and incubators. We don’t having that. But I am betting we can be making them. We are just having to figuring out how to getting himintothe body. Figuring that out, building the body, finding an energy sourcing. Easy!”
The room was quiet in the wake of her declaration. Her rummaging broke it again as she tossed the broken pipe back into the crate and started looking around at the rest of the junk.
“I don’t agree that it’seasy,” Alred said, chuckling. “But, as she said, it should be possible. My mind was transferred into a machine. Theoretically, I should be able to put it back. We just have to figure out how it will be done. And how we are going to actually build the body. It requires more than just medicalgrade machinery. We would also need medical grade supplies. Those things are not cheap. And they’re not used to make anentirebody.”
“That’s an understatement,” Vytln grunted. “Biological replacement organs and limbs are so expensive, it’s cheaper to use cybernetics instead. An entire body? That’s going to be a lot.”
“Not impossible though,” Tanin added. “Just difficult.”
“Might be easier to make it a hybrid of biological and technological components. That would make it a lot less expensive and difficult,” Vytln said.
Alred glitched. Stunned by the suggestion.
“That would definitely be easier,” Sway added. “But there are only certain places that will make the equipment we’d need for either. Biological and cybernetic components aren’t usually mixed together. At least, not when they’re both prosthetic. But I’m familiar with both from the Master I used to serve. It’s not impossible at all, and if chosen correctly, would be easy to piece together.”
Grace smiled. “I bet I can find some jobs that would help. If we can get an in with a medical supply company, it would be easier. We would need to lower our fee, since it’s not a dangerous job, but forging relationships often paves paths for jobs like that”
Alred looked surprised again, his head glitching and darting between all of them as they spoke in turn. Like he couldn’t believe how quickly and easily the others had fallen in line with his plan and immediately offered up suggestions.
Haven chuckled and called to him in French, “Did you expect anything less?”
He gave her a sad smile back. “I didn’t expect anything. I never do.”
Haven gestured at Goldie. “You’re doing the impossible for those you care about. Don’t be surprised when we want to do the same for you.”
