The news could not have been worse.
"Are you sure?" Bryce asked, looking at Network 23 physician Dr Duncan with disbelief in his eyes.
"Unfortunately, I am," there was pity in the man's eyes. Here was a boy not yet seventeen and the doctor had the misfortune of having to tell him that he would not see that birthday.
Bryce just sat there, dumbfounded. This could not be happening to him. He could not die so young. Not when there was so much he still wanted to do. He would not give in. There had to be something that could be done.
"Isn't there anything you can do about it?"
"You're already at stage four," Dr Duncan told him. "There's nothing anyone can do."
Bryce nodded, glumly, and walked out of the doctor's office.
Reaching his studio, he lie face down on the bed and allowed himself to cry for several minutes.
"Something wrong?" Max Headroom's voice drawled from a nearby TV.
"No," Bryce sniffled. "Just go away."
Max did not disappear from the screen. He could tell that Bryce was upset. The tears on his face were a good indicator of that. "You're c-c-crying?"
Bryce wiped away his tears. As he looked at Max, an idea came to his mind. It was risky, and he would need someone else to pull it off. But it was better than just giving in and letting himself die.
Thinking it over carefully, he went to his viewphone and tapped in Jenny's number.
"Jenny," he said when she appeared on the screen. "I need your help."
"Right to the point, Bryce," Jenny grumbled. "Never a hello or good morning or how've you been."
Bryce sighed. "How have you been, then?"
"I've been good," Jenny replied. She looked carefully, an eyebrow going up. "Have you actually been crying?"
"I have my reasons," Bryce told her. "Which is why I called. I just came from my annual physical. They found cancer."
"What?!" Jenny was horrified. "What are they doing about it?"
"Nothing," Bryce admitted. "It's stage four so there's no point."
"So how can I help?"
"I want to transfer my mind into another body," Bryce explained. "We can use the Max Headroom process, the same as when I rebooted Edison's brain during the Neurostim incident."
"And where are we going to get the body?" Jenny demanded. "We can't just expect someone to say 'Here! You can use my body! I don't have any use for it!'."
"We'll grow one at Ovu-Vat," Bryce told her.
"I don't know if I like this idea," Jenny told him.
"I can't just abandon Edison," Bryce said. "He's completely lost without me."
"Okay," Jenny said after a pause. "I just hope you know what you're doing. I'll be at Ovu-Vat in ten minutes."
Bryce disconnected the call and threw on his coat.
"Don't tell anyone, Max," Bryce warned. "I don't want Edison to try and stop me."
"I didn't hear a word-word-word," Max complied. He didn't want to lose Bryce and was willing to turn a blind eye if it meant Bryce would be around a bit longer. He wondered, though, what Bryce's new body would look like.
"Thanks," Bryce said as he grabbed his coat and departed from his studio.
Making his way to Ovu-Vat, he also wondered about his new body. He didn't want to clone his current body. It might get cancer again and that would defeat the purpose.
"I took the liberty of creating a new body for you," Jenny told him as he arrived at Ovu-Vat. I figured that way we could begin the transfer as soon as you arrived. Don't worry, the brain capacity is more than adequate for your intellect. And I can assure you aesthetically it is acceptable."
Bryce nodded. "Thanks, Jenny," he said. "Now, the transfer process is quite simple. You need to upload my mind to the computer. My entire , download it into the new body you grew for me. Hopefully all will go well."
"Let's hope so," Jenny agreed as Bryce lie on the table in the room. "We only have five hours before they open and kick us out… or arrest us for trespassing."
"We'll be out long before then," Bryce assured her as she attached the wires to his head.
"Close your eyes," Jenny told him. "It will minimize the influx of additional data."
Bryce agreed that this was a good idea and let his eyelids drift shut.
It was the last time those eyelids would do so.
New eyes flickered open. Bright blue, they looked around the room for the first time.
"Jenny?" a voice asked. Wait a minute… that didn't sound right. It wasn't his voice.
'Oh, that's right,' Bryce's mind thought. 'This is my new body. It's bound to sound different from the old one.'
"We have to get out of here," Jenny explained. "Put this coat on. I'll take you clothing shopping later."
Bryce stood up and stumbled. He stood up and found himself staring down at a body that was anything but what was expected.
"What the hell, Jenny?!" Bryce asked, astonished at the female face that looked back at him… no dammit, her.
"Women have longer lifespans than men," Jenny explained. "I figured since you wanted to live longer, that would be best."
"But I'm ancient!" Bryce whined.
"You're only twenty-three years old, physically speaking," Jenny pointed out. "I figured I'd spare you the rigors of female puberty. The aches of growing breasts, hips getting wider. All those pains. Though you'll still have to experience your first period. There's no way to avoid that, short of pregnancy. And that's just a ten month delay. Plus you'd have a baby to worry about."
"My what?" Bryce demanded, she had no intention of experiencing pregnancy. She didn't even want to think of babies.
"I'll explain once we're shot of this place," Jenny said, as Bryce put on the coat Jenny had given her. She was grateful that it covered her down as far as her knees.
"What happened to my old self?" Bryce wanted to know.
"I had a friend take the body to Gladhand Meadows," Jenny told her. "Once we get you some proper clothes we can go and visit if you like."
Rik looked at Jenny and then at Bryce.
"Who's your friend?" he asked Jenny.
"It's a long story," Bryce told him.
Rik knew better than to ask a Blank too much about themselves. Blanks liked their privacy and Rik respected that.
"Cool," he said, turning his attention to driving the rickshaw he captained. "Where to?"
"Know Clothes," Jenny said.
The rest of the ride was silent. When they arrived at the clothing store, Jenny looked up at Rik. "What do I owe you?"
Rik smiled. "Just keep on helping your friend," he suggested. And he drove off, saying nothing more.
Once inside, Bryce started for the teen boys' department out of habit. Seeing this, Jenny grabbed her by the sleeve and led her to the women's clothing.
"You're going to have to remember you're a young lady," she whispered. "Just stick with me for now."
Bryce nodded and followed Jenny.
By the time they were done in that department, Bryce was carrying several nice shirts, both long- and short-sleeved, a number of pairs of skinny jeans, and one long pretty skirt and Jenny had insisted she buy "for special occasions".
"I'll never wear it," Bryce said, firmly. "Not in a million years."
"Famous last words," Jenny laughed. "Trust me. You'll thank me someday. By the way, you should retain the name Bryce. It's just as much a girl's name as as boys, and it will be easier for you to remember than some new name."
"I wonder what the others will think when they find my grave," Bryce pondered. "Maybe you should've had it taken to Nightingale's."
"That would've been disrespectful," Jenny said. "I couldn't."
Bryce's smile dropped when they got to the lingerie department.
"You have got to be joking," she groaned.
"It's necessary," Jenny told her, tossing a package of panties marked "boy shorts" onto the pile Bryce was carrying. "I think you'll be more comfortable in these than the bikini style. And now to get you fitted for a couple of bras and we'll be all set."
Jenny dragged the reluctant woman to the fitting room. She held onto the items they'd already chosen while the detection circuits did their measuring and printed out the size she would be most comfortable with.
"Just be glad we don't live in the old days where you had to lift your arms above your head while a woman wrapped a tape measure around you." Jenny said as she handed the clothes back to Bryce and tossed a handful of bras onto them. "There, that should be enough."
They paid for the items with Jenny's credit tubes. Jenny had had Bryce's converted to cash before the transfer, but she thought it would be better for Bryce to hold onto her cash for as long as she could.
"Where are you going?" Jenny asked as Bryce turned toward Network 23.
"To see about getting a job," Bryce told her. "I'm never going to survive in the fringes. And my cash won't last forever."
"You're a Blank," Jenny pointed out. "Network 23 won't even look at you."
"No," Bryce agreed. Then she smiled and added. "But Edison Carter will."
Edison spotted the new grave as he moved amongst the memorial stones to visit his old friend and colleague Paddy Ashton. Curious, he stepped over to read the name.
"Bryce Lynch." he said, quietly. For a moment, the name didn't register.
Then it did.
"No," he whispered. "No, it can't be! How is this possible?"
A woman in her early twenties approached. Edison didn't see her at first, as grief stricken as he was over the death of his young friend. She stood there for a long moment, holding a small bunch of blue flowers.
Edison finally sensed that someone was behind him. He arose and turned, looking at the woman as she stood there.
"Did you know Bryce?" he asked, wondering if she were the young genius's older sister.
"Better than most people," Bryce replied. She reached up, not sure why, and wiped a tear from Edison's eye as she handed him the flowers and then walked away.
"Wait!" Edison called after her as he began to follow.
"Go visit your friend Paddy," she said. "We'll meet again."
Edison wanted to ask her how she knew about Paddy. But she got into an unmarked powder blue car and rode off before he had the chance. He stayed at Bryce's grave for a few minutes, a tear falling as he thought about how unfair life was.
"He was only sixteen, dammit!" Edison swore under his breath as he slammed his fist into the wall beside the door to Murray's office.
"Did you want something?" Murray asked, storming over to the door in response to Edison's show of anger.
"Get Theora and Cheviot," Edison demanded.
"I get that you're angry about something," Murray said. "But I think you'd better calm down and get your act together before I summon the troops."
Edison took a deep breath. Murray was right. He was letting this get to him. But this was Bryce they were talking about. Bryce, who had been like a little brother to him. Who would never get to grow up and have a family one day. Bryce… who was dead.
"It isn't fair, Murray," he said, sitting down heavily and putting his face in his hands.
Murray stared at him for a moment. Even the death of Paddy Ashton hadn't hit the reporter so hard. "Edison? What happened?"
"I went to see Paddy's grave," Edison explained. "There was a new one not far from his. A grave I wish I'd never seen. One that has no business being there."
Edison let out a fresh sob.
"Whose?" Murray asked.
Edison took several minutes to compose himself.
"Bryce's." he finally managed.
Murray's face fell. He hadn't exactly gotten along with Bryce. But he would never wish the boy dead. Not when he had a daughter who was the same age Bryce had been.
He picked up the receiver of his viewphone and called Cheviot's line. "I'll tell Theora later."
"Cheviot," the boss said as he appeared on the screen.
"Sir," Murray said, unhappily, "I'm afraid I have some very bad news."
Cheviot's face fell a little, and Murray reflected how it would soon fall a lot more.
"How bad?" Cheviot asked.
"We've lost Bryce," Murray told him.
"How?" Cheviot wanted to know.
"I don't know," Edison admitted. "I only found out when I stumbled upon his grave while visiting Paddy's."
"Then when you say lost, you're not saying that he left us to join another network. You're saying he… died?"
Edison nodded. "I just wish I'd known something was wrong. I don't know how he died, even. I only know that he did. Excuse me," he added, seeing Theora arrive at her station. "I have to tell Theora."
He could hear Murray and Cheviot continuing their talk until he closed the office door behind him.
"Good morning, Edison," Theora said, cheerfully.
"Not really," Edison replied.
"What's wrong?"
Edison looked crushed as he told her, "Bryce is dead."
"How?"
"I don't know," Edison admitted, hugging her.
After a moment, she pulled free. "How did you find out?"
"I saw his grave earlier when I stopped to see Paddy's."
"I'd like to see it as well," Theora told him. "It doesn't feel real to me."
"We can go after work," Edison suggested. "For now, let's try to focus on tonight's story."
Edison looked up from Theora's control desk a short time later as the elevator door sounded nearby. A woman stepped out. The same woman he'd seen at Bryce's grave. Edison wondered what she was doing there in the control room. Had she been aware of Bryce's connection to Edison's team?
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"I'd like to speak to Mr. McKenzie," she explained. "I'm here about a job as a controler."
That wasn't what Edison had expected.
"Of course," he said, after a moment. "Right this way."
As they crossed the Control Room, Edison asked her "How did you know Bryce?"
She gave him a sly look and replied. "I'll tell you as soon as you buy me Castle Grayskull."
Edison didn't know what she was referring to, but he decided he could always ask Theora or Max.
"Fair enough," Edison agreed. "Do you know how he died?"
"He had an inoperable brain tumor," Bryce explained. It felt odd to be referring to himself in the third person.
"Cancerous?" Edison asked.
"Does it matter?" Bryce asked, bitterly. "Even if it wasn't, and it was, it was inoperable and spreading. It would have caused him major brain damage. He would've ceased to be the young genius you knew so well. He didn't want that. Isn't that enough?"
"I guess it has to be," Edison growled as they reached the door to Murray's office. "I suppose I had no say in the matter."
"No," Bryce agreed. "You didn't."