No, I do not own any characters or Big O itself, and no, I am not making any money off of this.
Norman came into Roger's room a day later. After thouroughly examining both Dorothy and Instro, the technicians had managed to construct an android replica of Roger. It was an exact duplicate, down to the finest detail. The as-yet blank shell lay on a stretcher next to Roger's bed. Roger himself was unconcious, a strange sort of device wrapped around his head. Dorothy sat, ever vigilant, by his side.
"How is he coming?"
Dorothy blinked and looked up at Norman, then checked a display on the cart-load of equipment that connected man and machine. "It has been ten hours, now, and the transfer is at fifteen percent."
Norman crossed to Roger's side, and grasped one of the Negotiator's hands in his own. "Stay firm, Master Roger. I know you did not fight your way back to the surface, and back to Dorothy, merely to die like this. Do not let us down." Norman pulled up a chair and sat opposite from Dorothy. "We are watching over you."
Angel came in on the morning of the second day. Norman was asleep on a cot against the wall. Dorothy sat next to Roger as always, her eyes focused on some point in the distance. "Is he doing alright?"
Dorothy shifted only her gaze to Angel. "It has been 22 hours, and only forty percent complete." The android girl turned to look at her love, stricken on the bed. "I am concerned that he will not live long enough to complete the transfer."
Angel heard the words, pure android, but something in them gave away the pain Dorothy must be feeling. "I'll go talk to David, perhaps he knows some way to help."
David came into the room only ten minutes later, obviously distressed. "Only forty percent, you say?"
Dorothy simply nodded. "I am fearfull he will not live long enough."
"At this rate, he won't." David moved over to check the displays. "It's as I feared. His organic body is failing, and much more rapidly than we thought. If we don't transfer everything that's left to another location, we could lose him." He ran a hand through his hair. "But this system isn't capable of taking that much data at once. Even if we could move everything that remains that fast, I'd be worried about damaging some of the coding. The problem is not how fast we can move the information. We need to encode it so the cybernetic body can understand what it's recieving. If we had another system to help, we could do it in time, but this isn't rigged up for multiple stages..."
Dorothy sprang to her feet. "Let me. I can process data faster than any normal computer." She looked down at Roger's inert form. "Use me as both buffer and encoder."
David's eyes widened. "Of course, a thinking mind would be much better...but there's the possibility that parts of his psyche might get copied into yours during the transfer. We couldn't be sure it'd all go through, or that we could erase what might have been left behind."
"If he was willing to risk this operation in the first place, then I am willing to risk myself in finishing it." Dorothy spoke with adamant behind her voice.
"Alright. Nurse! Bring in another bed! And get me some extra wiring!"
Norman came into Roger's room a day later. After thouroughly examining both Dorothy and Instro, the technicians had managed to construct an android replica of Roger. It was an exact duplicate, down to the finest detail. The as-yet blank shell lay on a stretcher next to Roger's bed. Roger himself was unconcious, a strange sort of device wrapped around his head. Dorothy sat, ever vigilant, by his side.
"How is he coming?"
Dorothy blinked and looked up at Norman, then checked a display on the cart-load of equipment that connected man and machine. "It has been ten hours, now, and the transfer is at fifteen percent."
Norman crossed to Roger's side, and grasped one of the Negotiator's hands in his own. "Stay firm, Master Roger. I know you did not fight your way back to the surface, and back to Dorothy, merely to die like this. Do not let us down." Norman pulled up a chair and sat opposite from Dorothy. "We are watching over you."
Angel came in on the morning of the second day. Norman was asleep on a cot against the wall. Dorothy sat next to Roger as always, her eyes focused on some point in the distance. "Is he doing alright?"
Dorothy shifted only her gaze to Angel. "It has been 22 hours, and only forty percent complete." The android girl turned to look at her love, stricken on the bed. "I am concerned that he will not live long enough to complete the transfer."
Angel heard the words, pure android, but something in them gave away the pain Dorothy must be feeling. "I'll go talk to David, perhaps he knows some way to help."
David came into the room only ten minutes later, obviously distressed. "Only forty percent, you say?"
Dorothy simply nodded. "I am fearfull he will not live long enough."
"At this rate, he won't." David moved over to check the displays. "It's as I feared. His organic body is failing, and much more rapidly than we thought. If we don't transfer everything that's left to another location, we could lose him." He ran a hand through his hair. "But this system isn't capable of taking that much data at once. Even if we could move everything that remains that fast, I'd be worried about damaging some of the coding. The problem is not how fast we can move the information. We need to encode it so the cybernetic body can understand what it's recieving. If we had another system to help, we could do it in time, but this isn't rigged up for multiple stages..."
Dorothy sprang to her feet. "Let me. I can process data faster than any normal computer." She looked down at Roger's inert form. "Use me as both buffer and encoder."
David's eyes widened. "Of course, a thinking mind would be much better...but there's the possibility that parts of his psyche might get copied into yours during the transfer. We couldn't be sure it'd all go through, or that we could erase what might have been left behind."
"If he was willing to risk this operation in the first place, then I am willing to risk myself in finishing it." Dorothy spoke with adamant behind her voice.
"Alright. Nurse! Bring in another bed! And get me some extra wiring!"