Author's Notes: Hey you guys. Sorry this one took a little longer than usual. I'm afraid it's more tech-talk again, but you do get to learn more about Malar and what motivates her. I expect some of you will have mixed feelings about her character, and I am interested in your impressions. That said, we'll get Blair and Naveed back together agian next chapter. I promise.

Friction - Chapter Twelve

Despite relaying what she believed had been unexpected news to Naveed the night before, Malar felt confident upon arriving at Port Locke's neuroscience center to attend Blair's follow-up. She'd received the human's final test compilation during her breakfast and was eager to share the results with her hanar superior. The analysis she had to offer was one she'd been looking for for a very long time.

Excited though she was, Malar was first and foremost a practical person, so her first stop after passing through the clinics security checkpoint was not Rena's office but her own. She needed to put her things away and acquire a clean lab coat - not only so she was in compliance with lab standards, but also for the extra layer of insulation it provided her from the icy interiors. While her job often entailed unpleasant aspects, it was the cold that was the worst and most constant.

After storing her personals and fortifying her body with a fresh garment from the closet behind her desk, Malar clasped her hands together and blew into them for warmth. She closed her dark eyes a moment and conjured images of the sun in her mind. When she imagined a radiant heat on her skin, her eyes reopened and focused thoughtfully on her folded hands. A smile of mixed emotion crossed her face as her gaze traced the two pale scars running between her middle, surgically-separated fingers.

Frigid skin and sour air. A bright light above, indistinct shapes hovering at the edge of blurry vision. Flashes of light, and familiar voices. Her mother, placating, her father, furious.

"This is unacceptable-"

"This is necessary."

A new noise in the cacophony. Loud, whirring, threatening.

"This is cruel!"

A fast motion from her father. Wild lashing and discord. The bite of metal and a scream echoing deafeningly off the naked walls. Panic.

Malar came to with a shiver and, though her smile faded, her spirit remained high, defiant. Today she would make that horrid memory and the eight years she'd lived with it worth it - for herself and her people. She snatched her data pad off her desk and made for Rena's room with a haste that made her coat tails ride a current of air behind her.

.oO-Oo.

Rena's 'office' was a curious mix of open lab and closed aquarium. It was warmer than other parts of the lab due to the heated floor of the tank, and had a smell reminiscent of the rains of Kahje. Malar disliked the place due to the sticky, damp air inside, but she never let it show when in the presence of the hanar that lived there. Like herself, Rena was a victim of circumstance, and being unkind or impatient to her was not only disrespectful of the Compact, it was unfair. She needed the hanar as much as the hanar needed her if her plans were to succeed.

Malar entered the space quietly, lest the vibrations of her passing were to reach Rena and upset her. She'd learned early in her service to the Primacy just how much more sensitive hanar were in the water than suspended in the air by their anti-gravity packs - even to things that weren't in the water with them. Quiet as she tried to be on her approach, Rena always seemed to be waiting for her when she reached the raised dais she used to interact with her aquatic counterpart.

As she moved nearer the platform, she paused in dismay. A vaguely familiar voice was engaged in conversation with Rena, and for the first time that morning Malar's will took a stumble. She had hoped to speak with the hanar privately, but she resolved to steel herself and continue forward nonetheless. There was no point in waiting for perfect conditions she knew might never come.

The dais was built against the tank just high enough for a humanoid to be eye level with the hanar inside while providing the latter enough room for their tentacles to float freely in the water beneath them. A large multi-panel display afforded Rena a view of the world around her though her glass and water barrier, and when Malar climbed the stairs to reach it, she found the face of the drell doctor from the previous evening gazing placidly out. Nebulous light flashed and brooded in the body of the hanar crowded closely to the glass nearby.

Good morning, Malar.

The female drell inclined her head to her superior and placed her data pad on an open space near the display control panel. "Good morning, Rena."

Naveed mimed the gesture himself at Malar. "Doctor."

With mild annoyance, Malar repeated the small bow a second time. She disliked the overly-polite mannerisms the hanar had impressed upon her people, but she couldn't afford to make enemies of either figure before her. "It's good to see you again, Dr. Eldrani. Have you already spoken with Miss Hodges?"

"Ah, no. Some questions came to me over the night and I wanted to clear them up before advising her on this situation."

Malar's skin tightened and her mouth drew into a line. "Was I unclear in my report to you?"

The yellow drell smiled in an apologetic way that made Malar's teeth grind. "No, doctor - the fault is mine. I had just come off a long flight last night and I'm afraid I was not as keen as I might have been otherwise."

"I see. And your lingering concerns are?"

Naveed's dark eyes moved to Rena then back to Malar.

"I understand that Blair's brain port needs to be replaced before it dies, and that the possibility of that happening could be dangerous to her," he began, "But that is a secondary problem that neither she nor I were aware of when I sent her to you. My primary concern in referring her here was in regards to her phantom pain and the excess of static she seems to carry with her. These more immediate problems also need addressing if Blair is to see any improvement in her quality of life."

This one agrees, Rena conveyed through the storm of light roiling within her, It is possible that a modernized brain port better capable of carrying the load will reduce her charge, but it cannot be said with certainty. As for her other discomfort, Malar has a theory that is worth investigating.

The female drell straightened eagerly and went to her data pad. She'd prepared a series of videos in advance of this moment, and as she queued them up, she explained her position to the drell on the screen.

"Have you ever seen any of the old CRT technology?" she asked him, "It was used in early television and computer monitors, but it commonly suffered from something called 'burn-in', which is exactly what it sounds like. Static or repetitive images would 'burn' into the screen over time and become permanent. The screen would still work, but you would have a constant, ghost-like overlay."

"I am of the mind that Blair's phantom pain works in the same, or a similar, way" she continued, "My theory is she keeps experiencing pain because that is the last state her subconscious brain understands her arm to have been in. Because her arm was amputated, it cannot send anymore feedback to her brain, so it persists in believing that she is still in pain."

"The memory is 'burned in'…" Naveed said thoughtfully.

Malar nodded. "If new feedback can be sent to her brain, it may unfreeze itself and return Blair to a more neutral state."

Naveed was quiet a moment and Malar could tell by his expression that he was reviewing his own knowledge of the workings of the brain and weighing her idea against it.

"There have been studies where motor control is influenced by visual stimuli," he offered, "Mirror box therapy, for example."

"Yes!" Malar replied, happy to seize onto his understanding of her thought process, "But Rena and I can do more than trick Blair's brain into thinking her arm is whole again by reflecting her good arm to her bad side in a mirror. We've developed a new prosthesis prototype that will break that negative feedback loop permanently."

Naveed visibly perked at this, and Malar glowed inwardly. She turned to her computer and played one of her videos on the terminal's projector. A model of a human hand appeared in 3-d wireframe, laid over with a fine mesh of lines converging into several small dots running up and down the length of the limb.

"You've undoubtedly noticed that Blair doesn't break her line of sight on things when interacting with them using her prosthesis," Malar said to Naveed, "And this is for the same reason that her phantom pain persists - she can't feel anymore. While she can perceive the heft of objects in her shoulder, she has difficulty in determining if she is holding something delicate too tightly, or keeping her coffee cup upright, without the aid of visual input. Her eyes have become a stand-in for normal muscle memory and sensitivity, but, obviously, that has limitations. Things like heat, cold, and density are not always obvious to the eye."

"And you've found a way around that?" Naveed asked hopefully.

We -may- have found a way, Rena stressed with a bolt of luminescence from her watery abode, This one wishes you to understand that this technology is new, and, perhaps, flawed.

Malar's eyes shot to Rena and her mouth gapped in protest. Her eyeridges pinched and she swung back to Naveed fervently. "I cannot prove with certainty this prototype will interact with the brain as I believe it will, no, but that's only because it's never been tested organically, and it's never been tested organically because we've never had a viable candidate."

She lifted her data pad pointedly. "Miss Hodges is that candidate. The test compilation I received this morning has all the markers I've been looking for, and I believe my science is sound. The world needs this, Dr. Eldrani. Your patient needs this."

The yellow drell looked taken aback by Malar's directness, but before he could form a reply, Rena rumbled. Please forgive this one's assistant. She is brilliant, but she is young.

Naveed composed himself with a smile and looked at Malar. "I imagine you and Blair must get along, then."

"She is…quite bright," the female conceded. "She understands her condition well, and seems to possess the will to do whatever she can to overcome it, which is part of why I have chosen to open this avenue to her. Acclimating to the new prototype may be hard, but I believe she can do it."

"What makes this prototype so different?"

"It's capable of restoring her tactile senses," Malar said simply. She gestured at her model. "The prototype is outfitted with an electrode network mounted to a wiring mesh designed to pick up surface information. With additional work on Miss Hodges' brain port and internal cybernetics, it can be used to relay this information back to her, thus providing the feedback necessary for her brain to realize she's no longer in the ghost-state it remembers."

"That would be wonderful," Naveed said, "Not only would Blair's phantom pain cease, she'd be able to experience the world as she had before also." He glanced to the hanar. "What about this concerns you, Rena?"

The matter of degrees, the hanar replied, The electrodes work by stimulating nerve centers in the brain associated with sensory perception, but we aren't certain how much stimulation is necessary to form an accurate impression of the information being received. Too much and a faint touch may translate as a heavy blow. Too little and the additional brain implants may be for naught.

"I can adjust this," Malar started anxiously, "It can be dialed up or down as necessary, and shutoff entirely if need be. I've run many scans of patients in the past to formulate my numbers on the amount of current needed to provoke the correct response."

Even so, Miss Hodges must not be treated as a guinea pig, Malar.

The female drell felt her fists clench at her sides and had to sacrifice a great portion of her willpower to refrain from forming a vicious retort to the hanar's comment. She forced herself to put away her anger and reach for her wit instead. "The Primacy does experiments on drell all the time."

To cure Kepral's, Malar. Rena replied as her body turned an irritable violet color.

"So experimenting on live subjects is only acceptable if imminent death makes failure unimportant?"

MALAR. A riot of flashes pervaded the hanar's body and spilled out of the tank in fractured waves.

Sensing the personal nature of the sudden tension in their discussion, Naveed attempted to mediate.

"Perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves," he suggested, "We have to yet to share all of this with Blair, with whom the final decision will rest. As Malar has said, Blair is unhappy with her life now, and is intent on finding a way to improve her situation - as am I. However, she has been…reluctant in the past to place her well-being in the hands of others. Her life has given her reason to be cautious, and she's as likely to refuse this treatment as to take it."

Then she is wise, Rena pulsed.

Malar ignored the comment in favor of her own assessment. "I spoke with her at length yesterday. She is intelligent and willful, and…and brave. She won't turn away from the chance to get her life back, especially if it means she'll be helping others in the process. After all, if I can get this to work for Blair, I can get it to work for everyone."

And maybe then the hanar can use it to help themselves we won't have to, she thought.