The Earth Chronicles

Chapter Four-1

Chapter Four

When Sayen Lee woke up, she knew something was wrong. She tried to make sense of the feeling. Then, as always, the realization hit as her memory returned. She’d been injured in the crash-landing on K. 67092d, and now all that remained of her mind was trapped within a brain that no longer controlled her body. Machines were keeping her heart beating and her lungs breathing. She was in stasis, and though she could think, hear, and speak, she was otherwise entirely cut off from the world.

Except...except...Sayen could feel. She was lying on sheets, and air moved gently on her skin. Her heart began to race. A beeping sounded.

“She’s coming around,” said an unfamiliar voice.

“Sayen, oh, Sayen,” said another voice. Her mama. It was her mother speaking. The events of the last few days came flooding back to her. Could she...move? Was it possible...? Sayen had grown so used to not being able to open her eyes that she had to make a conscious effort to do it. She willed her eyelids to lift. A blur of indistinguishable shapes and light came into her view.

Footsteps sounded beside her, moving away. A door opened. “Craven,” her mother called. “Get in here. She’s woken up. Our baby’s awake.”

The footsteps returned.

Sayen forced her lips and voice box to work. “M...mama?” Her voice was no more than a whisper.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Her mother’s voice broke. The door opened again. More footsteps sounded, heavier and firmer than her mother’s.

“Sayen, darlin’,” said her father, “now don’t you try to move or say a thing. The nurse has called the doctor, and she’ll be here any minute. It’s a miracle, Carleen, a miracle.”

The shapes Sayen saw were becoming more defined by the second. They were multi-colored tiles, lined with thin light strips. But the lights weren’t on. Her vision was filled with sunlight. The sound of her mother’s sniffles was coming from her right-hand side, and the window was to her left.

Sayen felt like crying herself. The operation had been a success. The genetics team had grown her a new body, and they’d taken all the knowledge, memories, and personality contained in her old brain and transferred it to the new one. She’d survived. She would move, eat, speak, live again.

After Dr. Sparks had told her about her accident, and that it would be a long time before the Galathea could return to Earth, if ever, she’d thought she was living a kind of half-death, and that her real demise was only delayed a little. It had been good, of course, to talk to Carl and Jas and others aboard the ship, and to help out with their problems, but she’d given up on any chance that she might be saved.

Yet here she was, in a brand new body. And not only was it brand new, but it was also enhanced. She’d been fitted with the latest in organic-synthetic technology. She didn’t only have a new body, she had a better one.

The door opened again. “Hi, Sayen. I’m Doctor Evans, and I’m in charge of your treatment. Do you remember me? We had a long talk before we attempted the transfer. Now, I don’t want you to say a thing. Just close your eyes once for yes, twice for no, okay?

“So, how’re you feeling, sugar? You feeling okay?”

Sayen closed her eyes once.

“Great. Do you have any pain anywhere?”

Sayen blinked twice.

“Even better. Well...” A shadow crossed Sayen’s vision as the doctor moved past, blocking the sunlight. “All your vitals are looking great, honey. I don’t like to be too optimistic—there’s plenty that could go wrong even at this stage—but I think you’re gonna be fine. Mr. and Mrs. Lee, could you join me outside, please?”

Her parents and the doctor left the room, but Sayen remembered one of her new enhancements. She strained her hearing hard, and through the closed door, she could clearly make out the conversation the doctor was having with her parents. Had the doctor under-estimated the quality of the hearing the cloning service had supplied, or did she intend for Sayen to hear what she said?

“Mr. and Mrs. Lee, I know I already told you this, but I wanted to emphasize that it’s very, very early days with Sayen. She’s got her new body, but you have to remember that she’s spent quite a while trapped in her mind. It’ll take her some time to get used to controlling her movements. She’ll be like a little baby learning to walk. She’ll learn faster than a child because she’s done it before, but she will have to learn.”

“I understand, Doctor,” said her mother. “We’re prepared to pay for the very best in therapy to get her back to normal.”

“Yup,” added her father. “Whatever it takes.”

“I know you are. You’ve both been very generous, and we all appreciate your kind donation to the hospital. But the real reason I wanted to speak to you was so I can be totally sure you understand she might not have all the mental capabilities she once had. Even without the death of brain tissue, there’s no guarantee we can recover everything from the old mind, and after Sayen’s accident...”

“We do understand,” came her father’s deep voice.

“We know, Doctor, we know. But it doesn’t matter. You brought our baby girl back, and we can never thank you enough...” Her mother began to weep again.

“Just doing our jobs, Mr. and Mrs. Lee,” said the doctor, “but it’s a pleasure. A real pleasure. Now, why don’t you go spend some time with your daughter? Just an hour or so. Please continue to resist the urge to hold or touch her, however tempting I know that must be. Her body is very, very fresh. We were forced to push the envelope on getting her transferred into it, in consideration of the conditions she’d been stored in. If we’d waited any longer, well, let’s just say it might have been a very different Sayen you would be taking home.”

“We’ll be careful,” said her mother. “Don’t you worry.” She blew her nose. “We won’t let anything bad happen to her ever again.”

***