The Good Shepherd

ssssss

Mass Effect is owned by Bioware.

Carrie is owned by Stephen King.

The 2013 version of Carrie is owned by Metro Goldwyn Mayer productions and director Kimberly Pierce.

The only things I own are this crossover of the two and any original characters that may be featured.

sssssss

Episode 7: Husk

December 12th 2169, a shuttle headed for New Chamberlain, Maine.

Carrie found herself reflecting on just how much the world had changed as she looked out the window at the Maine Countryside below.

In her time Maine would have been under a thick blanket of snow at this time of year-so would New York, but global warming had made that a thing of the past.

The changed climate was probably the thing that Carrie was having the most difficulty adapting to-aside from the scant handful of people who had actually shown her some kindness she really missed the snow and how pretty it looked.

Of course if somebody had reminded her of the times her Mother had kicked her out of the house at this time of year she would have been singing a different tune.

The Earth's climate had undergone massive change-the northern ice cap was gone, the southern ice cap was half the size it had been in Carrie's time, sea levels were higher and snow only fell in the very coldest places at the very coldest times of year now.

This was Carrie's world now-she was even an official citizen of the Alliance.

Her new identity as Carrietta Jeanette Shepard was now official and had been downloaded to her omni tool.

"Credit for your thoughts Care," Maria interrupted from beside her.

"I miss the snow," Carrie confided.

"I could talk Chambers into taking you on a trip to Noveria if you want," Maria suggested.

"I don't think I could put up with the corporate BS," Carrie replied dismissively "It's just a silly longing really."

"Okay then," Maria decided "pop quiz to take your mind off it-you are the only known natural biotic among the human population and currently recognised as the first human biotic. However, there have been others who are suspected of having been naturally biotic but for whom their status could not be confirmed-five of them in fact. Considering that you are in fact related to four of them you should be able to guess who two of them were."

Carrie thought about this for a moment, remembering things she had heard from her mother-then she spoke.

"Well-my Great Grandmother obviously," Carrie deduced "Momma sometimes mentioned that she had 'the devil's power' but I think she might have had some deformity in her biotic lobe that was causing L2 like symptoms."

"What makes you say that?" Maria asked, her brows furrowing curiously.

"Well to hear Momma tell it she was batshit crazy," Carrie explained "And if I recall correctly insanity is one of the possible side effects of the L2 implants-um, no offence Maria."

"None taken," Maria smiled back "Still-consider the source."

"True," Carrie admitted reluctantly "The other one-My Dad?"

"Correct on both counts," Maria confirmed "As for the three that you wouldn't know about, they were; a young cousin of yours by the name of Annabel Jenks, Andrea Kolintz who is no relation to you and your much younger half sister Rachel Lang."

"All passengers please strap in," the pilot of the shuttle announced over the intercom "We'll be landing in New Chamberlain in five minutes."

ssssss

Their landing at the transport terminal in New Chamberlain was uneventful as was acquiring public transport.

The first place they visited was a historical museum built on the site where Ewen High had once stood and it was at this place that Carrie now found herself looking at the current subject of her attention.

Finally she spoke.

"Why is there a life size hologram of Miss Desjarden here?"

"Greetings, I'm Rita-please allow me to be your virtual guide," the 'hologram' said pleasantly.

"It-talks?" Carrie asked hesitantly.

"I guess you've never seen a VI before," Maria observed with a small amount of amusement "They're still a new thing even in this time-at least in Alliance space. The other races have been using them for centuries."

"What is a VI exactly?" Carrie asked.

"It stands for Virtual Intelligence," Maria explained "The hologram you see is a form of voice controlled user interface, they can perform reasonably complex tasks efficiently provided they have been programmed for it."

"So 'Rita' here is a sentient computer whose appearance and personality are based off of Miss Desjarden?" Carrie guess.

"No-a VI isn't the same thing as an AI," Maria corrected gently "True artificial intelligences are illegal in Council space and thereby in Alliance space-a VI only has enough intelligence to accomplish tasks it has been specifically programmed for and there are very strict programming restraints placed upon it."

"Ah-I see," Carrie observed "So it has some intelligence but not enough to be truly sentient-kind of like a dog."

"Good analogy," Maria remarked "VIs are seeing their most use on warships nowadays."

"A spaceship controlled by talking holograms?" Carrie remarked "That conjures up quite a mental picture."

Maria chuckled at this.

"Most of them don't use the holographic personality interface," Maria elaborated "They just have the software-they're typically used to run the targeting systems for the weapons."

"It'd be hard to miss with something like that," Carrie remarked as she then turned back toward the VI that had sparked this conversation "Okay-um, Rita-could you point out the areas of interest please?"

"Behind me is the cafeteria, where you may purchase refreshments," the VI recited "The door directly opposite leads to the gift shop where souvenirs may be purchased. The short hallway on the left leads to the museum proper, where objects of historical significance to the event known as Black Prom are displayed while the short hallway on the right leads to the Archives where footage of Black Prom and events relevant to Black Prom may be viewed. Out the front of the building is the memorial statue to commemorate those who died on the night of May 27th 2013."

"Thank you Rita," Carrie nodded at the VI before turning in Maria's direction "I'd like to start with the museum proper if that's okay."

ssssss

"This brings back memories," Carrie told Maria solemnly as she took in the various items on display that had once been used for everyday activities at Ewen High "Sadly not many of them are good."

Maria found herself watching the younger(well-technically much older when one considered the time Carrie had spent in stasis) girl soak up what had once been her present but was now everybody else's distant past.

It's been a century and a half since the tragedy of Black Prom, Maria thought solemnly but for Carrie the memories are still fresh-still vivid. I sometimes-no often worry about her well-being.

As Carrie approached the cordon around an antique desk Maria watched her carefully, trying to get some clue as to her thoughts and feelings.

"This used to be Mr Ulman's desk," Carrie finally spoke up lowly so that only Maria could hear it "He was my English teacher."

"What was he like?" Maria whispered back.

"As bad a bully as any of the students," Carrie replied quietly "And I'm pretty sure he was banging Tina Blake."

"Please tell me you killed that bastard," Maria implored under her breath.

"No-he got out alive," Carrie denied "Tina bit the big one though."

"If you ask me the caption should read 'got what she deserved'," Maria opined quietly "The fact that she was screwing with her teacher is quite obviously why he went along with that shit."

"Maybe-but I was so damn cruel about it," Carrie lamented guiltily "I whipped her to death with a live electrical cable."

Do I tell her about the nanites? Maria wondered Would knowing that her actions may have been influenced by them alleviate her guilt?

"Didn't she whip you with a nettle at Christian Youth Camp?" Maria instead countered quietly "Didn't she and Chris duck you again and again until you nearly drowned and the only reason you didn't drown was because the camp coordinator came to your rescue? Didn't she push you in front of an oncoming car, the driver of which barely managed to stop in time?"

"Yeah-she did those things," Carrie confirmed "But after what I did-how am I any better than her?"

"You feel bad about it for one thing," Maria explained "And you only did what you did because you were driven to it. Nobody drove Chris and her gang to bully you but plenty let it happen."

"I suppose so," Carrie admitted as she crossed her arms over her chest, her head tilted down "I doubt Chris or Tina felt any guilt for what they did. Every time I think about what they put me through I just feel so angry-I don't want to feel this way but I can't help it."

"But you feel remorse for killing them," Maria explained "That's what makes you better than them. Do you want to grab a bite to eat?"

"Let's check out the Archives first," Carrie suggested "I need to make sure that it's concrete in my mind just what I did and why I have to atone for it."

sssssss

Carrie paused for a moment before she and Maria entered the archive room with the next group.

"Are you sure about this?" Maria asked "Nobody is going to force you to do this Carrie."

"I-I need to see with my own eyes," Carrie insisted "I can't run from this forever. I have to face it and then move past it."

"Maybe then you'll actually be able to enjoy Christmas," Maria suggested.

"My first real Christmas considering that Momma didn't allow a tree or presents," Carrie remarked with just a hint of a sad, wistful smile "As far as she was concerned that kind of materialistic activity was sinful, from her point of view it was meant to be about prayer and repentance-more than once I ended up in the closet on Christmas day. I hope this Christmas is better-the first of many better Christmases."

"I hope so," Maria agreed quietly "But Carrie-I don't know how to tell you this but-."

"What is it?" Carrie asked, a concerned look creasing her brow.

"This will probably be the only Christmas you get to spend with me," Maria told the young girl solemnly "I'm-dying."

"You're-what?" Carrie asked, the shock completely throwing her for a loop as her mind finally caught up "It's that damned implant isn't it?"

Maria's only response was a solemn nod.

"How-long do you have?" Carrie asked quietly.

"There's no way to know for sure," Maria told Carrie gently "But I've started experiencing bouts of partial paralysis and these attacks have begun to affect my breathing-if I don't receive a safer implant I'd be surprised if I lasted any longer than six months."

"It's not right," Carrie lamented quietly "You deserve better."

"You deserve better than what happened to you Carrie," Maria countered gently "Life's like that sometimes. Come on-if you really want to relive the guilt then let's get it over with."

sssssss

Maria watched Carrie carefully as everybody took their seats in the Archive room ready for the selected footage to be shown.

"Now before we begin," the museum curator told everybody present "Carrietta Natalie White as you all know was a victim of the worst kind of abuse when she was alive. Unfortunately for those who liked to torment her she was also a natural biotic of immense power, a biotic savant-at seventeen she was powerful enough to rival the strongest Asari matriarchs. She also had a natural understanding of biotics that allowed her to perform feats that may seem like magic, but there is a scientific explanation for each one if one allows for mass effect fields and the way biotics can use them to distort space and time. Please feel free to name such a feat if you wish."

A hand was soon raised at the back.

Once the presenter acknowledged the man in question he spoke.

"Causing a localised hailstorm over the White Bungalow?"

"Ah yes-that's a popular one," the curator noted with a smile "The best explanation for that one relates to a biotic technique known as Singularity-Singularity as you know creates a localised gravity well intense enough to temporarily create an event horizon. This technique requires precise control of a mass attracting field but I digress-as the singularity draws in air that air is compressed to a significant degree, when used in humid environments this has been known to cause ice crystals to form from the water vapour in the air. Although that day was sunny Estelle Horan when interviewed many years later did mention that there were some clouds overhead-a large scale singularity created inside a cloud directly over the White Bungalow would have compressed the humid air of the cloud to the point of freezing the water vapour in it into ice-then gravity most likely did the rest."

Maria could see Carrie thinking hard about that one-most likely she had simply done it instinctively and hadn't given how she did it any thought.

Another hand was raised.

"Yes?"

"Melting a deadbolt closed?"

"This relates to a technique called Warp," the curator informed the audience "Another technique from the distortion branch of biotics by the way. Warp as you all know will shred organic flesh or delicate circuitry from the inside, but when it is used on solid metal objects it has a different effect-there is nothing to shred inside a solid piece of metal so instead it the friction causes the metal to heat up. Depending on the intensity of the warp used this can cause the metal to melt-and only a very small but very precise use of Warp would be required to melt a deadbolt."

Once again Carrie was deep in thought about this when Maria glanced over at her.

To think that other biotics have to learn this stuff, Maria thought in admiration for Carrie's natural talent-biotic savant was putting it mildly she does it naturally.

Another hand was soon raised.

"The rain of stones that destroyed the White Bungalow?"

"I knew that one was going to come up," the curator noted seriously "when those stones were examined later they were found to be ordinary granite from a national park a short way outside of Chamberlain-a park that Miss White had visited on a school field trip. On Prom Night a couple of hikers were standing near a rocky outcropping in this national park and they swore that it was like gravity had turned off in that area causing rocks to float up into the air until they were out of sight. Many years later in an interview Sue Snell mentioned that her body had felt like it weighed five times as much when she was inside Carrie's house-the investigators who arrived later also noted that the way the house seemed to have collapsed was like it's weight had suddenly increased to the point that it couldn't remain standing."

After a time it became clear that there were no more questions, the presenter took note of this and nodded.

"Well then, let's review the footage-I should warn all of you that what you are about to see is extremely graphic and I don't just mean Black Prom. If any of you are squeamish in any way it might be in your best interests to leave."

ssssss

Despite how much it clearly hurt and angered Carrie to relive these memories Maria could see that she was quite brave about it.

Black Prom wasn't shown straight away, instead the presentation started with some footage that provided examples of exactly what Carrie had to endure.

Some of this footage had come from surveillance cameras at Ewen High, as for the rest-well it turned out that the incident in the shower room wasn't the first time Chris had recorded an act of bullying committed against Carrie White.

Following the confessions of the surviving Ultras it had been revealed that the videos were still on YouTube and they had been seized as evidence-now they were kept as historical footage.

Halfway through the presentation a recording of the incident in which Tina had pushed Carrie in front of a car had come up-Chris obviously was the one operating the camera-as usual, and she was clearly egging Tina on.

"Chris was recording that?" Carrie hissed through clenched teeth as she glared daggers at the holographic screen.

"What a sick, twisted bitch," Maria agreed.

Most of the footage was harassment, but there was also petty theft, vandalism and physical violence including Jessica Upshaw hitting Carrie in the face with a hockey stick, Chris slamming her head into a locker, Nicky holding her while Lizzy beat her senseless and of course the deplorable incident in the shower room.

By the time the footage of Prom was shown nobody seemed to blame Carrie for snapping.

Maria however could see that Carrie was becoming more and more upset.

And partway way through the footage of prom, just after the terror twins got trampled while Carrie's biotics held them down and Freddy got nailed by a table the holo screen suddenly fizzled out without warning just as it was about to switch to one of the other sources of footage.

Maria looked over at Carrie, immediately catching sight of her horrified and guilty expression and the hand she was holding over her mouth.

"I'm so sorry about this," Carrie apologised meekly.

"It's okay-accidents happen," the museum curator told the young girl "If you need anything for the L2 headaches you let me know."

ssssss

Professor Chambers rolled his shoulders as he seated himself at his computer and switched it on, in just a few seconds it was booted up with the word Processor, Spreadsheet, handful of games and Codex accessible on the holoscreen.

Pausing for a moment Chambers reached out and placed his right thumb against a small scan plate built into the top of the computer's chassis.

Scanning-biometrics recognised an electronic voice reported Professor David Chambers-encrypted files now available-encrypted software now available.

A second later a multitude of new icons appeared screen, simulation programs for chemical reactions, interactions between cybernetics and flesh and the dynamics of Mass effect fields and biotic fields as well as other software and two data drives, all of which were previously invisible.

Reaching out to the screen, Chambers touched the icon marked 'Personal Journal'.

Waiting a moment for the audio recorder to turn on, Chambers began to speak.

"Personal Journal of Professor David Chambers-PHD, December 12th 2169," Chambers paused for a moment before speaking further "The examination performed on Carrietta White has yielded exactly the results we were hoping for, detailed medical scans of her biotic lobe have given us a thorough picture of exactly how this organ works in a natural human biotic.

Reverse engineering this for use in a biotic implant will be a challenge but I am certain it can be done-our technicians at Arcturus station have already begun work on the designs for the L3 prototype and will send it here for testing when it is ready."

Chambers paused for a second as he composed his thoughts before continuing.

"Discovering that Miss White is in fact alive was nothing short of a miracle, and it has allowed us to find the answer much faster that otherwise would have been possible.

On a personal note I pray that the prototype is ready soon, my assistant, Maria Wills has begun suffering bouts of paralysis and breathing difficulties because of the side effects caused by her L2 model implant, according to her physician-if she doesn't receive a safer implant soon her condition is terminal.

As for Miss White she is recovering from the ordeal she has suffered surprisingly well, she has changed her name-to what I will not record here-and her therapist, my wife Doctor Hannah Chambers, is confident that she will make a full recovery from her emotional trauma in time.

Major Steven Hackett believes that she will recover well enough to be fit for military service-he may be right.

One complication has arisen however-it was recently discovered that Miss White has dormant nanotechnology in her bloodstream, her body is breaking it down but if any of it leaves her body it seems to reactivate.

I have injected some of the nanites into two lab rats in the isolation lab, and over the course of a few days it has caused their aggression levels to almost quadruple, the nanites also seem to induce hallucinations.

Recently the process seems to have accelerated, between the last time I checked and the previous day I noted a further sixty percent increase in the aggression levels of both rats.

At the time the process began accelerating my omni tool's sensors detected massively elevated levels of adrenaline in both animals-leading me to believe that there is a link.

I'm gassing both rats-it's getting too dangerous to keep them alive.

Doctor Tate has suggested that we may need to consider placing Carrie in quarantine until her body finishes breaking down the nanites but I don't believe that will be necessary seeing as she seems to be resistant to their effects, however both she and Maria are probably right that I should tell Carrie about the nanotech in her blood.

I'll tell her when she gets back-Journal Ends."

Chambers shut off the recording software and leaned back with a brief sigh of resignation.

It was time to let Carrie know about that nanites-he knew that.

He just had to find the right words to do it.

ssssss

After the holoscreen in the archive room was repaired and everybody was able to finish the solemn task of reviewing the footage the next stop was the memorial statue out the front of the museum.

Carrie was solemn and unmoving as she read through all of the names inscribed on the plaque at the base of the memorial until she reached the last name, whereupon she spoke three simple words.

"Please forgive me."

The names on that plaque would be burned into her memory forever.

Maria maintained a respectful silence throughout this.

After that they visited the old Chamberlain cemetery-stopping by a florist first so that Carrie could purchase a single white rose.

They briefly stopped by the grave that Carrie herself had rested in for a century and a half.

A part of Carrie wished that she were still in there-that she had died for real.

But the rest of her knew that this would solve nothing.

After that they soon located Margaret White's grave nearby.

Carrie approached the grave of her mother forlornly, placing the rose by the headstone and then stepped back.

"Goodbye Momma," Carrie whispered quietly "I love you-and I'm sorry that-I'm sorry that things ended the way they did."

Maria gave Carrie a simple, supportive smile and a nod.

"If she was alive and in her right mind I think she'd be proud of who you're becoming," Maria told Carrie.

"I hope so," Carrie replied as the two turned to leave.

That was when they felt the first vibration through the ground-coming from Margaret White's grave.

Another followed, then another-and then the grave seemed to collapse as a skeletal hand reached out of the ground, festooned with what could only be some kind of advanced cybernetics with just a few strips of blackened, desiccated flesh still clinging to the yellowed bone.

A bare skull with an unhinged jaw and just a few strands of dark hair still clinging to the scalp followed, then the rest of the skeleton, still dressed in the ragged remains of a nightdress that was familiar to Carrie, pulled itself out of the ground.

The whole skeleton was covered with shiny black cybernetics that clearly functioned as a substitute for muscles long since decayed and gray tubes and a nightmarish blue light shone from the empty eye sockets.

Carrie stood rooted to the spot in horror, her eyes wide with fear as her mind reeled from the nightmare unfolding before her-she wasn't seeing the cybernetic undead that stood before her though-she saw who it had once been.

"M-Momma?"

sssssss

As Carrie stood frozen in horror at the thing that her mother had become the reanimated corpse let out an inhuman roar and charged-skeletal hands outstretched like claws to rend her flesh.

Carrie could have taken this nightmare down easily with her biotics-she could have crushed it to powder, torn it apart or smashed it a thousand different ways, but in spite of what this thing was now Carrie still saw it as who it had been.

Her mother-who she loved in spite of the abuse she had received from said mother.

"Carrie," the young girl dimly heard Maria shout "That's not your mother."

But Carrie still saw her mother-not the nightmarish creature that her mother's corpse had become.

This mindless techno zombie probably would have killed Carrie had not a slender, serpentine biotic field lashed out like a whip at that exact moment and sliced through the skeleton from right shoulder to left hip-dropping the walking corpse to the ground in two pieces.

Maria's cry of pain snapped Carrie out of her daze as she turned and caught sight of the other biotic sinking to her knees, her face a mask of pain as she held her head with her left hand while her right arm hung uselessly by her side-paralysed.

"D-dammit," Maria cursed.

Even rent in half the top half of the skeleton still dragged itself forward with it's remaining arm-but Carrie had realised at least intellectually that this was not her mother but a monster that was wearing her mother's former body.

A monster that needed to be put down for good.

"I'm sorry Momma," Carrie whispered quietly, tears moistening her cheeks as she reached out with her biotics and crushed the monster's skull-silencing it for good.

"Your mother was already dead Carrie," Maria weakly told the young biotic "You just put the corpse out of commission, that's all."

"Maria," Carrie called gently as she knelt beside the older girl "Are you all right?"

"Er-not so much," Maria admitted "Doc said I shouldn't use my biotics until I get a new implant-said it'd kill me faster."

Carrie's face took on a look of horror as realisation dawned.

"And because I hesitated-," a hand rose as Carrie covered her mouth "Oh no."

Okay, Carrie told herself firmly beating yourself up isn't going to help, you need to pull it together and find a way to fix this.

Carrie glanced at the briefly reanimated corpse of her mother.

The Alliance military should probably seal this place off-the public doesn't need to see that little piece of horror.

Her mind made up-Carrie activated the comm built into her omni tool and paged Professor Chambers.

ssssss

Four hours later.

Carrie waited anxiously for news outside the infirmary as Doctor Lan examined Maria to determine the extent of the neural damage.

Chambers was also waiting-also concerned but more composed about it.

Finally-after nearly an hour of waiting as she sipped on a hot drink Carrie heard the door hiss open and Maria walked out accompanied by the doctor.

"How is she doctor?" Chambers asked simply.

"She's getting some feeling back in her arm and the headache has died down," Doctor Lan informed the professor "But the degeneration has most definitely accelerated."

"It's my fault," Carrie lamented in little more than a whisper "I just-froze up and she had to step in and save me from having my throat torn out."

"Nobody is blaming you for this Carrie," Chambers told the young biotic "Mercenaries and pirates are one thing but what you had to face in that graveyard is something else entirely."

"Do we know how my mother was infected with the nanotechnology?"

"We're still trying to determine how it might have happened," Chambers told Carrie "Your mother's remains have been sent to Arcturus Station for analysis-we're also digging into the old records to see if any clues can be found. One thing we can be sure of is that it happened before you were born."

"How can you be-? You found nanotech in my bloodwork didn't you?" Carrie realised "Why didn't you tell me? It might have been useful for me to be warned about the fact that I'm a walking time bomb."

"Carrie-you're not going to turn into one of those mindless-husks," Chambers assured the young girl "The nanotech in your blood is inactive-it was burned out on Prom Night when your biotics went out of control and your healing ability makes you resistant to it's effects, thus keeping the nanites from reactivating and repairing themselves. Your body is even breaking the nanotech down-in just under three months it should be all gone"

"But I'm still an infection risk," Carrie noted solemnly "Maybe you should have let me know so that I could be placed in quarantine until my immune system finishes dealing with the nanites."

"There is only a risk of infection if you bleed on somebody," Chambers assured Carrie "As long as those nanites remain inside you they can't reactivate-given this fact I'd say that the only times they were active inside you before Prom Night were when your adrenaline levels were elevated."

"Adrenaline makes them more active," Carrie deduced "Safe money says they increase aggression right?"

"Yes-to a massive degree," Chambers confirmed "The build up to this after infection is gradual unless adrenaline is involved-then it accelerates dramatically. They also appear to induce hallucinations."

"That time in the closet-," Carrie noted thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Chambers asked "Which time in the closet? If I understand there were a lot of them."

"About two weeks before prom," Carrie explained "The day of the shower room incident Mother sent me to the closet for 'having lust filled thoughts'. I was pretty worked up when she threw me in there and I could have sworn that I saw the Jesus figure on the wall of the closet bleeding. That must have been a hallucination caused by the nanites-they cause hallucinations all right, but not just any hallucinations-they prey on your fears."

"You're afraid of the sight of blood?" Chambers guessed.

"Not so much-but I do find it distasteful," Carrie corrected "But remember my freak out earlier in the day and what it was about? These nanites-or whatever is controlling them may have been trying to capitalise on that. In fact I'd say it's more than likely considering that I hallucinated the blood coming from a figure of Christ as I was praying to God."

"Professor-you are certain that the nanotech is inactive right?" Maria asked as she walked out of the exam room.

"I'm certain," Chambers confirmed "And it won't be long before it's gone."

"In the meantime," Maria suggested to Carrie "Keep exercising your biotics, push your limits."

"Don't worry-I intend to," Carrie assured her fellow biotic.

"Any idea why Carrie's robo zombie mother reactivated when Carrie got near her grave and not before that?" Maria asked.

"If I had to guess I'd say that it was the presence of a biotic field," Chambers reasoned "It seems obvious to me that whoever or whatever did this to her mother programmed her for the specific purpose of eliminating human biotics. Whoever these heartless monsters are they obviously see humanity as a threat."

"It would explain why she freaked out over Carrie's biotics," Maria agreed "but what about the other aspects of her religious mania?"

"I'm sure an explanation for that will reveal itself with enough digging," Chambers stated-his faith in research obvious.

"You said that the nanites in me were burned out on Prom Night?" Carrie asked as something occurred to her.

"Yes," Chambers confirmed.

"I think I can pinpoint the exact moment when it happened," Carrie elaborated.

"You can?" Maria asked.

"Yeah," Carrie explained "You see, from just after I realised that Tommy was dead-right up to just before my powers stopped running wild on the walk home I could have sworn that I heard a voice in my mind, one that I was convinced was God for some reason that I can't explain-telling me to kill along with the insane level of rage burning through me. Then the voice suddenly stopped and my anger died away to be replaced by guilt within minutes-at the moment that happened I could have sworn I heard static in my mind for a moment."

"Sounds like a form of indoctrination," Chambers noted "You never mentioned this before."

"What was I going to say?" Carrie asked defensively "It would have sounded like I was making excuses."

"Point taken," Chambers relented "It seems obvious that your Mother was hearing the same voice most of the time, meaning that it wasn't so much the nanites controlling you and you mother as them allowing something else to control you. What did the voice sound like?"

"Slightly metallic and deep, so deep that it sounded like it could shake the Earth, and I mean the whole Earth," Carrie explained "No emotion detectable in it but it sounded like it was used to getting it's way."

"I see," Chambers nodded as he note the information down using the note taker on his omni tool "Given this new information it's debatable just how much of Black Prom was actually you and how much was this intelligence controlling the nanites. Possibly it was hoping that if it forced you to kill then the guilt that the act of killing caused you would destroy you mentally."

"I probably still would have snapped," Carrie remarked thoughtfully " But it might not have been as bad without these nanites in my blood. In any case the indoctrination should have forced my mother to kill me when I was born-but she fought it. For seventeen years she fought it-her love for me gave her the strength to do that, that's who my Momma really was and that's who I'll always remember her as. And I-I killed her."

Maria placed a comforting hand on Carrie's shoulder and offered a genuine smile of understanding.

"It was an act of mercy," Maria assured her "Your free will subjugated? Twisted into an insane mockery of your former self? That's no way to live."

"I guess so," Carrie admitted "I just hope she's at peace now."

"I should have told you about this sooner," Chambers apologised sadly "I'm sorry I didn't Carrie-are you still upset with me."

"I'm a little-perturbed," Carrie admitted "But it's nothing that I can't work off on a few practise dummies. Then I plan to call Emily and talk about something-anything that isn't related to zombies or cybernetics in any way."

ssssss

Some time later Carrie walked into her dormitory at the institute-still dressed in her exercise sweats and headed for the shower.

I know that Momma said showers were evil,Carrie reflected with a slight bit of nostalgia but as it turns out she was wrong about a great many things-not that I can blame her seeing as her mind was scrambled by those nanites.

A short while later the sound of water splashing on tiles was heard and a while after that the water shut off.

A few minutes later Carrie emerged wearing her favourite nightdress, her hair still wet from the shower.

Sitting down on her bed-the comfort of which was still a new thing to her, Carrie activated her omni tool and paged Emily Wong's Extranet address using the videophone software.

A moment later Emily replied, linking their omni tools through the extranet as the younger girl's face appeared on the holo screen of Carrie's omni tool.

"Hi Care," Emily greeted her cheerfully, the cheerfulness dimming slightly as she noticed the weariness of somebody who has just survived a battle about her friend "Rough day?"

"You could say that," Carrie admitted "I went back to Chamberlain-."
"Why would you go back there Carrie?" Emily asked, her expression betraying concern for the older girl's well being and exasperation that she would put herself through reliving such horrible memories.

"I can't run from it," Carrie countered quietly "I had to face my past and begin to come to terms with it-and toward the end of me redeeming myself I plan to enlist."

"Enlist? As in Military? Carrie-that's dangerous," Emily protested "You could get killed."

"By rights I should be dead already," Carrie reminded her friend "I have a second chance and I don't plan to waste it. I plan to use my gifts to protect people instead of-."

"That wasn't your fault Care-why would you put yourself through reliving such horrible memories?" Emily protested "Surely you could have dealt with this another way."

"I owed it to my victims," Carrier replied simply "Reliving that footage was pretty upsetting-but that's not what really got to me. When I visited my mother's grave-something happened."

"Something as in-what?" Emily asked.

Carrie chuckled slightly, but there was no humour in it.

"If I told you you wouldn't believe me. In any case I'd feel really good about discussing something else entirely."

ssssss

Unknown Location.

Jack Harper set his glass of Kentucky Bourbon down on the wide arm of his chair before picking up his cigarette from where it rested on the edge of the ashtray and taking a drag on it.

A flashing orange hologram in the shape of a ring above the arm of his chair.

A single tap on the holographic control was all that was needed, bringing a holographic screen to life in front of him, the face on the screen that of his research head at the Teltin facility on Pragia.

"Just giving you an update Sir," the tech reported "We are close to isolating the gene responsible for Carrie White's immunity to Omega Enkaphalin-once we determine which gene it is devising the nanosurgical procedure to incorporate it into other subjects should be fairly straightforward."

"Very good doctor," Harper acknowledged "Keep me updated."

"One more item of interest was found in Miss White's blood sample Sir," the research head added.

"What else was found?"

"We found traces of dormant nanotechnology in her blood," the research head told Harper "This may be of interest to one of our other projects."

"Do you have enough of her blood on hand to extract a sample?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good," Harper told the Head researcher "Extract a sample of this nanotech, then send the sample to our hidden facility on Farnuri for analysis."

sssssss

A forgotten Storage room in the historical museum in New Chamberlain.

Right at the back of this storage area was a worn, leather bound book, it's leather binding was cracked and yellowed with age, the writing on the label that adorned it's cover was faded but still legible.

If somebody had read the writing on the book's cover it would have read 'Personal Journal of Margaret Brigham.'

ssssss

Episode Closing Theme: 'Circle' by Slipknot.