Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: FRAGILE (02/23/17)
-
TITLE: End Of A Delicate Body | Previous Challenge Entry
By Art Westefeld
03/02/17 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
When the door opened, she saw the doctor, her husband, the chief of bionics, and the chaplain with all but the chief looking sad on her behalf. The Chief spoke up first, “Jayde, while I am sorry about John, as his wife we’d need your permission to try an experimental procedure.”
Her synthetic face had difficulty showing emotions, but there was no mistaking the pain and confusion in her voice when she replied. “Why are you sorry about John, and what do you want to do with him?”
The captain and the chaplain, whom she had grown to like despite their issues over her marriage to John, lead her to a chair in the doctor's office and made the rationalizations she suspected they uttered when an organic crewman was near death. . The words spoken by Brewer were standard platitudes, she thought.
"Jaydem if John doesn't make it, you are aware he will have died in the service of his Lord. Helping that Qlag transport vessel fix its engines is what Christ would have done, despite the risk."
"Enough of this mindless talk!" Jayde shouted, surprising the other officers. "I need to know what Chief Danvers has in mind for John!" She then proved that her emotion programming was fully functional by breaking down in racking sobs.
Captain Noble stood and motioned Danvers into the office and ordered him to explain what he had in mind to Jayde. Danvers looked uncomfortable as he cleared his throat, and began to speak. "Well, Jayde, your husband has very little time left, and the doctors can only keep his body alive for a short time before the cellular degeneration becomes too advanced and he passes on. I came up with a theory when we had to reload your mind after that radiation storm a year and a half ago. What I plan to do is download John's mind into a synthetic brain, like yours, and build a body for it." His voice came faster as he reached the end of his idea. "If it works, people across the galaxy could be nearly immortal. Think, Jayde? You could be married to John well beyond his organic lifetime!"
She responded, "Can he be revived long enough to see what he would think?"
Captain Noble spoke quietly to the synthizoid officer. "We wouldn't be suggesting this experimental procedure if he could be awakened to give his consent." Her voice became angry when she said "experimental."
Jayde spoke as she lifted her chin in what her memory banks informed her was a brave gesture. “I have to try whatever can save John .”
Danvers moved swiftly, after she had given her consent, racing to his lab, where he had already built a brain for John’s mind, in anticipation of her acceptance. Jayde was somewhat offended by Danvers' arrogance, but was glad her spouse would be cared for quickly.
The first thing John heard as he awoke was Danvers exclaiming, "It looks like it worked! We saved his brain!"
John spoke in an odd voice, through the audio equipment Danvers had hooked up to the brain. "What are you talking about? Where's Jayde, and why can't I see or feel my arms and legs?!"
Danvers spoke to the superior officer, "Remeber the report I gave you last month, Project Download?"
John uttered a sigh. "Is that why I'm lying here unable to smell the ship's air, see the bulkheads, or hold my wife's hand?"
"Your wife approved this procedure, and she's here, just being very quiet."
Jayde's soft voice entered his range of hearing. "I'm sorry, John, if this upsets you. I wasn't going to lose my husband of a year to Gamma poisoning."
"I guess I understand, Jayde," John said in resignation.
A week and a half later he stood before his wife in the bionics lab and hugged her. “Careful,” Jayde cautioned him. “You need to remember you are much stronger than you were. You need to be cautious around organics, even if not with me.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
