After the End -Chapter 23
"AHH! Turn off the light!"
Cybersix looks over at Sylvester, cowering on the bed in the corner of the lab. "You need sustenance."
"Duh." His muffled voice emerges from the pillow over his head.
She walks up to him. "So what, now because VonReichter is dead you're going to die too?"
He removes the pillow and looks at her. his face is tear-stained and haggard. "Well what so you expect me to do?" He looks away from her and speaks in a very small voice: "He was my Master, Cybersix. I lived for him. He was so good to me, he loved me-" He breaks off suddenly .
Cybersix sighs. "Sylvester, VonReichter didn't love you."
"Yes he did! He told me so!"
Cybersix feels a pang of sympathy. As much as Sylvester has done some pretty awful things in his time, she knows that the grief he's feeling now is real. She sits down beside him and puts her hand on his shoulder. "Sylvester... must understand you've been brainwashed. VonReichter wanted you to believe he cared about you. He knew that was the best way to control you. You were just a tool to him, like the rest of us."
Sylvester shakes his head. "You don't understand, Cybersix. You didn't see what a great man he was. And... you're not like me. Now leave me alone, please."
She sighs again. She knows it will take months to get through to Sylvester, if it's even possible, and they certainly don't have that much time. She supposes she could force some sustenance on him - but should she? Unfortunately, right now she has more immediate issues to deal with . "Look, I'm going to cremate his body in the incinerator. There's nothing else we can do with it."
He looks up to her. "Oh, let me do it, please. He told me once what he wanted done with his ashes if he ever died." He looks like he's about to cry and again.
Cybersix nods. "Okay, Sylvester. If that's what you want." She quietly leaves the room, going see how Yashimoto's doing.
"Any luck yet?" Cybersix walks up to VonReichter's main computer.
Yashimoto shakes his head and sighs. "Well I got in all right, but all the files I've found are in German. And there are many things in here that look like they could be scientific formulas.... at least to me. Maybe Lucas would know better? Where is he?"
"He insisted on going to help search for Kevin. I made Data 7 go with him: I'm still not sure I trust the types." Cybersix looks at the time. It's been almost three hours since she'd mobilized the kin into action: Most of them are now out looking for Kevin. The two oldest types are apparently missing, though - and that has her worried.
"Cybersix!" A now-familiar voice calls from the corridor.
She sighs. "In here, 38." The techno seems to have appointed herself Cybersix's personal assistant. She knows she needs all the help she can get, but sometimes the 38 can be a pain in the neck. She wishes she could have some time to herself to think about everything that's happened. She needs to carefully consider her next move, that's for sure.
"Types 1 and 2 are back. They've got the human Kevin with them, and they're not... happy."
Cybersix blinks, then looks at Yashimotto. "Don't worry. " He tells her. "I'll be fine here by myself." She hesitates, but he makes shooing motions at her.
Cybersix turns to Techno 38, who automatically starts to lead the way.
She takes her to the front foyer of lab building. The two types stand in the doorway, holding a frightened-looking man who must be Kevin between them. Cybersix remembers Type 2 from the fight they had, and Type 1 as one of the ones who beat her up at VonReichter's hideout. She stands and looks at them for a minute, frantically trying to think of how to proceed.
"So it is true." Type 2 breaks the silence. "You killed VonReichter."
"Yes I did. " Cybersix answers quietly. The atmosphere is tense; she can tell the types aren't just going to accept her as leader. She has to be careful or they might hurt Kevin.
"And now," Type 1 continues, "You come waltzing in here and presume to take his place."
"No." She answers, with a bit more feeling than she intended. She tries to soften her tone. "That's the last thing I want to do, believe me. All I did was organize the kin into a search for that man... and you found him."
"We chased him when he first ran off into the jungle." Type 2 says. "But when we were coming back we saw something was wrong, so we hid until we figured out what was going on."
Cybersix weighs her words . "Well, I'm glad you brought him back. We need him - all of us, that is - he can make sustenance so all of us can live." She looks the man Kevin in the eye. She's not sure if he actually does know how to make sustenance, but it's a useful deception for now. He wisely keeps his mouth shut. "Now let's, um, take him to the lab so he can show us how it's done."
"I don't think so." Type 1 says darkly. "Why should we listen to you, when we're the ones holding the human?"
Cybersix closes her eyes and sighs. Suddenly she's tired of all this - tired of trying to direct technos who can't think for themselves, tired of trying to placate a bunch of confused and worried fixed ideas. Nevertheless, she summons patience; anger and haste could get her killed here. "I'm not here to be your slave driver like VonReichter was. Believe me when I say I have no desire to be like him; I'm one of the ones who rebelled against him in the first place, remember?"
"Then what are you doing ordering everybody around?" Type 1 demands.
"You're forgetting something." She answers calmly. "We're both
in the same boat now; I need sustenance just as badly as you do. None of us will live
very long if we don't find the secret to it. We have a common enemy now that
we'll need to be unified to fight; time."
"You know," Techno 38 speaks up; Cybersix has forgotten she's there. "Cybersix could have stolen some of our sustenance and taken it to another human scientist who could make it for her. But she didn't; she stayed here with us instead." Suddenly Cybersix is glad she's there.
Type 2 glances at her brother. "The techno has a point. And... don't you remember... Master told us that the Cybers were the closest of all the kin to types."
Type 1 sighs. "All right, we'll do things your way. But just remember; there's 30 of us and only one of you." Finally the two types let go of Kevin. The human walks over to stand beside Cybersix, passing her a grateful glance on the way.
Cybersix turns to Techno 38. "Go spread the word that Kevin's been
found."
He obviously wasn't expecting the greeting. "Um, you too, Cybersix. Lucas has told me a lot about you. He... uh, speaks very highly of you."
She absorbs that comment. "Lucas was out looking for you; he should be back soon." He nods. "Kevin... do you know how to make sustenance?"
He takes a breath. "Well, not exactly. I think I know how, but I've never actually done it."
Everyone is silent for a moment. Then Cybersix asks: "Will you try, to help us?"
He nods almost imperceptibly. "I'll do the best I can."
A few hours later, Cybersix, the two types, Kevin and Yashimotto are all in VonReichter's main lab. Lucas and Data 7 have just walked in.
"Kevin! I can't believe VonReichter kidnapped you!" Lucas exclaims.
"Yes. It seems like I've been here for months. That lunatic scientist was looking over my shoulder constantly.... It's been the most stressful time of my life." Kevin half-smiles, a little sheepishly. "But at least things turned out for the best... or as good as possible under the circumstances."
"Kevin, do you think he can explain to us how sustenance works?"
"Well..." He glances from Cybersix to the types and back again. "It has two active components. The main one is extremely close to, but not exactly, human ACTH - that is, adrenocorticotropic hormone."
"You mean like adrenaline?" Yashimotto asks.
Kevin shakes his head. "No. It's the hormone that the pituitary releases to stimulate the adrenal glands to produce cortisol - which is your daily stress hormone. You see, adrenalin is only released in emergency situations; cortisol - and its close relatives, cortisone and corticosterone - are released every day. They are necessary to survive."
"What do they do? What sorts of things do they effect?"
"What don't they effect would be a better question. Let's see... directly, the metabolizing of carbohydrates and the control of blood sugar levels, the break down and synthesis of protein, maintenance of blood pressure, and of course suppression of allergies and inflammation, which cortisol all is famous for. Indirectly, overall metabolism, appetite, memory, electrolyte and fluid balance, muscle strength, mood, ability to cope with stress... The first thing you learn about the endocrine system is that it's one big web: everything affects everything else.
"Wow." Cybersix says quietly after a minute. "So sustenance does
all that for us." She suppresses a surge of disappointment. She had always
liked to think that her superhuman abilities weren't simply a result of taking sustenance; that they were
intrinsic to her own body. And Kevin had said 'necessary to survive...'
"That would be the logical assumption, but the truth is I don't know. All I know for sure is that your physiology is definitely different from ours. Sustenance wouldn't work on a human - first of all, the dose is too high, but there are a lot more complications besides that."
"You said there were two components." Lucas speaks up. "What's the other one?"
"Oh, yes. That would be the addictive chemical."
"The what?"
Kevin grins sheepishly again. "I didn't know bout this before, VonReichter told me. He said he created a chemical that his creatures have a particular vulnerability to - one that's highly addictive to them but they can't build up a tolerance for. You see, suddenly being without ACTH could be fatal, so VonReichter added an addictive component to sustenance so that his people would feel withdrawal from it right away. They'd come to him for more before their lives became endangered."
"So really there's nothing in sustenance that they absolutely need to live. " Lucas says. "We could wean them off both the addictive chemical and the hormone slowly. Their bodies would begin making ACTH on their own again, wouldn't they?"
"That would be true for normal humans, although the process would be very long and difficult. But like I said, VonReichter's creatures are different; it's possible they can't produce the correct hormones on their own. It could be a flaw in their make-up VonReichter couldn't fix."
"But it is possible, right? At least in theory?" Cybersix questions eagerly.
"Well, yes."
Suddenly she feels a lot better. "Do you know how to make just the ACTH?"
"Yes. That's relatively easy."
"Then do that, please. I personally will go without the addictive chemical from now on. Then I'll try being weaned off the hormone."
Cybersix's words are brave; doing all that will be a tall order even for a superhuman. But Lucas knows without a doubt she can do it. He begins to see light in the future - hope for her life... Maybe even for their life together.