Page 9 of CHOICE Lover
It’s true that his failures in the early days never pointed to a true NAM expression—like Electra, where the subject wakes up believing they’re still the same person they were in the past. Just enough NAM expression that the subject might have some lingering memory resonance—which would have been problematic for his product design. They needed complete control, and with what essentially amounted to an echo of the original vector’s memories, that wasn’t possible.
Lextr toggles through different windows until the experiment design is displayed on the screen. “I had some ideas about how we might achieve a complete restoration—”
“Hold on,” Res6 says, scraping his nails across his scalp. “I wasn’t trying to resurrect someone!”
Tommy frowns. “I thought you said testing the hypothesis was prudent—I can check my notes.”
“Not now, Tommy,” he says, keeping his focus trained on Lextr. “Couldn’t we have proved it with an AI model? Now I have a realhuman woman from the past in my unit having a mental breakdown as we speak!” If he isn’t careful, he’ll be the one having a mental collapse.
He should have read Lextr’s experiment design more thoroughly. He signed off on it thinking his head scientist might pinpoint a genetic alteration that would allow CHOICElover to produce manupartners exhibiting manneristic idiosyncrasies that defined generations and cultures past, giving users a more realistic, unique, and customizable experience. It’s what GROW was doing with their Realer Than Real line that evidently led to their mishaps. Naturally, he assumed he’d succeed where GROW failed.
You couldn’t just be satisfied with your success.He covers his eyes as if his hand might block out his stupid decision.
Lextr frowns, his gaze flicking past the glass doors to the cabinets where the medical supplies are kept. “This is precisely why I suggested decommissioning her. The more time passes from her activation, the harder it is going to be.”
Tommy gasps. “She’s a real person, Lextr. Sometimes you frighten me.”
Is it possible Lextr has a point? Could he decommission her? Put her out of her misery? He thought about her trembling lip on the ride to his lab—he’s sure those were tears welling in her eyes when he left. It would probably be better for all of them if he just gave the order and let Lextr go to his unit and deal with the woman. She doesn’t belong in this time anyway. Decommissioning her will save him so much trouble. What they did is wrong on so many levels. What right do they have to resurrect the dead?
The scientific implications, though . . . The what-ifs . . . Time stills and his heart thumps out a set of insistent beats. He feels a little heavier than he did a moment ago. Like he’s swimming through liquid mercury. That’s what they did. They brought back a woman who’d been dead for hundreds of years using a DNA sample. A dead person.
Jerme.
Though he hasn’t thought of his brother’s name in weeks, it flashes in his mind like a lightning strike across a clear blue sky.Jerme, Jerme, Jerme.It eclipses all other rational thoughts. Was his subconscious guiding him all this time, leading to the invention that would give his brother a second chance? Was bringing Jerme back possible?
No, that’s insane. Scientifically unethical. He already has one person from the past who shouldn’t be here to deal with.
But it’s his brother.
Slow down, Res6. Think rationally. Jerme is gone.But he’s never fully rational about the people he cares about. Well, the person. The one person Res6 had, who is now dead and gone. Has been for nearly a century.
With a mind of their own, his feet carry him out of the conference room into the larger open laboratory, Lextr and Tommy behind him. He scans the room, glaring at the dozen lab technicians who share the space with him and Lextr. “Everybody out!” Lextr and Tommy jump but move to follow the other employees out the door, halting when he barks, “Not you two.”
After the lab finally goes quiet, he turns to them. “Based on our successful experiment, we have the power to resurrect the dead. Is that what I’m gathering?” Because if that is what Lextr is telling him . . . what if he brought Jerme back? Would it be ethical? Legal? Obviously not. But he already has one person from the past to hide from NHOS. What’s one more?
But to really go through with it . . . Are ethical limitations or man-made rules really enough to stop him if it means seeing Jerme again? He could do things differently. Be the brother Jerme needs. Fix everything. His heart squeezes, and there’s a little voice inside his head that feels like it’s trying to tell him something.Bad idea, Res6.He resolutelyignores it.
“You okay, sir?” Tommy asks. “You’ve gone ashen.”
He feels like he’s floating. The prospect of another chance with his brother is causing a not altogether unpleasant dizzy sensation. He’d thought inventing CHOICElover would be enough to atone, but with each passing day inching closer to another anniversary of his brother’s death, he isn’t sure. What if he brings Jerme back, then focuses all his attention on getting Jerme the help he needs so he won’t leave him again?
He turns his attention to Lextr. “Answer me. Can we bring people back from the dead?”
Lextr has no trouble meeting his eye. “Not reliably.”
Res6 slumps back against the counter, the brief glimpse of joy leaking out of him. It’s not possible—he got his hopes up. Electra was a fluke. Jerme is still lost to him, which only emphasizes how alone he’s been.
“But . . .” Lextr says, which Tommy responds to with a disapproving frown. “But with a few more experiments, it might be possible.”
He perks up. There’s still the issue of the perfect storm Lextr mentioned since Jerme’s DNA is from the modern era, unlike Electra’s unaltered sample. “What about someone from our lifetime?”
Lextr scratches his chin. “I suppose if the conditions were just right—”
“This has to violate countless NHOS laws, not to mention the ethical implications of playing Zorg.” Tommy’s lips press together in a disapproving line.
Is that what he’s doing? Playing Zorg?
“Oh, Tommy, don’t be so moral. Just think, studying Res6’s faulty unit for this special project will give us a perfect excuse not to decommission it,” Lextr offers.
