Scan

Jesse felt like hell. The couch was comfortable. She was being scanned, same as before. But this time, the AI was talking to her. Well, communicating. It wasn't using speech. It was using code and it's code was elegant, beautiful. She replied the same way and it felt right. Now if only the pain would go away.

"Jesse?" Raven sounded worried and Jesse turned her head to where her sponsor sat by one wall. Draco stood beside Raven and both were watching her. The two med techs who were working the machine hadn't even bothered to try and keep them out.

Jesse could not talk aloud. The docs had put a tube down her throat, just in case. Jesse appreciated that, because this time, the scan did hurt. It hurt a lot. According to the AI, she was more than halfway through the scan cycle and the pain was just as bad a she had been warned. She could not talk aloud, but she could communicate. A quick query to the AI reassured her and Jesse replied to Raven.

It hurts, but I am okay, Raven. Jesse reassured her mentor. The AI is helping me cope. Raven nodded and relaxed a little.

"Did you hear?" Raven asked Draco. The shrouded helmet moved in what was obviously a nod. "Is there anything we can do, Jesse?"

Give me something else to focus on. Jesse fought to keep still and managed, but a grunt escaped her control as energy played over her body. Really hurts.

"Okay." Raven frowned, but nodded. "We need to find out where the other AI came from. And if there are others like it, we need to find a way to communicate with them that won't make them expire."

Trinity said that anyone talking to them would make them self destruct. Jesse said sadly. Which makes no sense to me. The AI that was monitoring her sent a pulse of worry to her and she reassured it. So we either need to find another way to communicate or we need to find a way to go around them until we can find a way to communicate.

"Hopefully, the records search will come up with something." Raven replied. "They have so many though. Without Cecelia and the records AIs it wouldn't be possible to search them in any reasonable length of time."

Avalon had originally been a hideaway for the Orokin rulers. A place they could go to get away from everything. Not a wonderful vacation spot, but it had a number of advantages. First, it was nearly inaccessible even if you knew where it was. Avalon was inside the stellar corona of the Sun and solar accumulators provided more power than even nearly six thousand inhabitants could ever manage to use. Second, the power available made it a dandy place to store backup copies of information.

Jesse had been shown one data vault on her way to Medical and had nearly swooned. The sheer amount of knowledge contained in those massive drives was mind boggling. She had forced herself to turn away, to walk on. It had not been easy. She lusted for knowledge, but she knew it. It was a weakness from her earliest memories and she worked to overcome it. One reason she got along so well with AIs. She understood their need for information.

She was musing over that when the pain ended. She jerked, but remained still as the machinery around her retracted. One of the techs came up and Jesse relaxed as best she could as the tube in her mouth slowly retracted. Despite her control, she gagged as it passed her throat. The tech was ready though and Jesse managed to get the resulting nastiness into the bin the tech held.

"Yuck!" Jesse managed to say as the tech wiped her mouth with a moist cloth. "The scan?"

"We are done, Cyberlancer Jesse." The tech said formally. "Can you sit?" Jesse took a deep breath and slowly sat up. "Careful." The tech warned her. "The energy will have thrown off some things. Take it slow for a few minutes." Jesse nodded and regretted it as her head swam. The tech held the bin ready, but Jesse shook her head.

"Under control now." Jesse reassured him. "Thank you."

"Scans are done." The tech said as he helped her swing her legs off the couch she lay on. "We have identified the anomaly. We can remove it." Jesse nodded. "Take it easy for a bit, Cyberlancer. You will be shaky for a few minutes."

"I know." Jesse replied easily as she focused on her breathing. "Any idea what the oddity is?" The tech shook his head and Jesse sighed. "Yeah, would have been too easy." The tech smiled at her wry tone and patted her arm.

"Whatever it is, it took the place of one strand of your hair." The tech offered as he stepped back. "And it is organic, but not human. Not in our databanks." Jesse stared at him and then sighed. "Good luck, Cyberlancer."

"Thanks." Jesse repeated as he stepped back to his machinery. Raven stood up and moved to Jesse's side. "That really sucked. I hope I don't have to do that again."

"You and me both." Raven agreed. "Can you walk? The others are waiting." Jesse took a deep breath and slid her feet to the floor. She gingerly touched it with her toes and then set her weight on her feet. The tech looked at her and she shrugged.

"I am coherent and Raven won't let me fall on my face. Thank you for your concern." Jesse reassured him. "I won't do anything stupid, but I do not want to keep the Empress waiting." The tech grimaced but nodded. Both of the tech bowed to Jesse and left the room. Jesse paused and laid a hand on the housing of the scanner. "Thank you." She said gratefully to the machine which pulsed a silent acknowledgement. She stood up slowly and Raven was at her side as she stumbled a little. "I am okay! I am okay." Jesse was quick to reassure her sponsor.

"No, you are not." Raven replied sourly. "But you are stubborn as any Tenno I know. You should be in a hoverchair, but you won't do it."

"Would it make you feel better?" Jesse asked quietly. Raven stiffened, staring at her. "I am not stupid, Raven. I am also not a Warrior. I am not trained to keep going when my body is falling apart. Or feels like it is." Raven went totally still and Jesse scoffed. "I know it will pass, and fairly quickly. But it still hurts."

"It would, Jesse." Raven said in a soft tone and Jesse nodded.

"Then call for one, please." Jesse said, sitting back on the couch. "I am not the stupid little brat I was as a human, Raven. I-" She broke off as Raven slapped her arm and not lightly. "Hey!"

"Stop denigrating yourself." Raven's tone brooked no intransigence. "You made mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. We learn from them and go on." Jesse stared at her and then slowly nodded. "You need to talk to someone, Jesse. This mental foible can and will grow out of control if you let it. You are not stupid. You never were. So stop saying you were." This was an order and Jesse nodded again. Raven turned to the shadowed form by the wall and Draco nodded slowly as well. Then she looked back at Jesse. "You should call for the chair."

"Right." Jesse swallowed hard and reached for the intercom that was built into the couch.

"Yes?" The voice of one of the techs asked quickly.

"I am not going to be steady on my feet for a bit." Jesse admitted. "Can I get a chair?"

"Coming right up, Cyberlancer." The tech promised. The com clicked off and Jesse sat back on the couch.

"I hate feeling weak." Jesse admitted. "Not one of my major psychological weaknesses. But still... unpleasant."

"You know yourself better than anyone else will, Jesse." Raven reassured her. "And frankly? No one I know likes feeling weak." Jesse had to smile at the Elder's wry tone. Then the women's scarred visage turned sober. "How you doing?"

"Truthfully?" Jesse said with a sigh. "I don't know. Talking to the other AIs has helped. They say it was the shock of the other passing that hurt me. They say it will fade in time." She slumped a bit. "I hope so."

"You know it wasn't your fault." Raven said s she sat on the couch beside Jesse. Jesse nodded. "But you do not believe it." Not a question.

"My emotions are all messed up." Jesse agreed. "You think the AI in the scanner at Karl's dojo did this thing to my hair?"

"I would think so." Raven said with a frown. "Actually..." She corrected herself. "It could have happened anytime since your body was created for you. So no. We don't know." Jesse grimaced but nodded. The door opened and a hoverchair moved itself into the room. "Ah, here we go."

Jesse let Raven guide her the two steps to the chair. As soon as she plunked herself down in it, it reacted to her and she could feel it's controls resetting to her use. It was fairly comfortable.

"I better not get used to this." Jesse said with sigh as she started for the door. Raven followed her and Draco fell in just behind her. "Too much luxury."

"It is a temporary thing, Jesse." Raven chided her gently. "Only until you can walk without stumbling." A door ahead had two Royal Guardsmen standing outside it and Jesse urged the chair that way. They nodded to her.

"All done." Jesse said as she got close. "Everyone here?"

"Yes, Cyberlancer." The Guardsman said with a nod as he keyed the door.

Jesse entered the room and tried not to quail as all eyes landed on her. Empress Eliza stood with Michelle, both had their guards present. Karl and Olim stood by one wall and Chirurgeon had apparently been talking to them when Jesse had entered. Jesse wanted to melt into the chair, but paused as Eliza chuckled. She looked at Michelle and the Princess sighed, but she shrugged as Jesse looked at her.

"You just cost me ten credits, Jesse." The Princess said with a wide smile. Jesse felt her eyes bulge and Michelle's smile turned into a grin. "I bet my mom that you would walk here under your own power. I am glad I was wrong and you are not as hardheaded as I was."

"I will recover quickly." Jesse said weakly. Being under such scrutiny was downright frightening.

"Jesse, relax." Michelle said with a sigh. "No one here is going to eat you. We are waiting for one more. She should be here momentarily."

"Iriana?" Jesse was curious as she moved the chair to a spot that was out of the way. Raven and Draco moved to flank her and she felt reassured by their silent support.

"No." Eliza said sadly. "She is swamped with work. We asked, but she said that she couldn't even detect it, let alone remove it or identify it. So she asked someone else."

"Who?" Jesse managed to ask before the door opened and an Ember Prime warframe... stalked in. Jesse froze as everyone else did. The youngest Tenno in the room swallowed as she recognized the Tenno. Then she hit a control and rose to her feet despite Raven's cluck of disapproval. She bowed formally to the Ember Prime. "Caretaker Jasmina."

"Cyberlancer Jesse." The Caretaker of the Unclean returned the bow with equal formality. "Now sit down." She snapped.

"Yes, Ma'am." Jesse said in a quiet voice. All eyes were on her as she sat again and folded her hands. "I was not expecting you." Jesse said quietly when no one else spoke.

"I have bad memories of this place." Jasmina replied, her ire cooled just a little. "The others seem to think coming here will help."

"I hope it does." Jesse kept her voice calm as the Ember looked at her. "Trinity told me a little. But I remember talking to you before, even if you never told me who you really were." She put just the right note of outrage into her voice and Jasmina actually chuckled.

"Would you have believed us?" Jasmina asked, relaxing more.

"Probably not." Jesse admitted. "But I am glad you are here. Did Lisa make it home all right?"

"She did." Jasmina nodded to Jesse and then her gaze swept the room. "I came under protest because a sister needs me." The Empress nodded but it was Michelle who spoke. From what little Jesse knew about the previous interactions between Avalon and the Caretakers, Jesse was glad of that.

"A strand of Jesse's hair was remade." Michelle said quietly as she turned to one wall where a monitor came alive. On it a long thick rope like thing shone. It had spiky things extruding from it and Jesse inhaled as she realized it was a hair, but magnified several hundred times. Her hair. "The root was untouched, but the rest of it is different."

"That was why I cannot access it." Jesse murmured and Michelle nodded.

"Exactly." Michelle replied evenly. "The problem is this. We cannot identify what is was made into. Nothing in our files is similar."

"Nothing?" Karl and Jasmina both exclaimed. The Rhino and the Ember Prime looked at one another, but did not speak further and after a moment, Michelle continued.

"We have run every tingle test we can think of." Michelle nodded to Chirurgeon who nodded back. "We cannot find anything out of the ordinary, except that the hair is not Jesse's DNA. it is human."

"What is human DNA doing in my hair?" Jesse asked.

"That is the big question." Michelle agreed. "None of us have any idea."

"Can we see the whole hair?" Olim asked. Michelle nodded and the image shrank until the entire length of the hair was visible. Nothing jumped out at Jesse from the image and when she looked at Olim, he shook his head. "I am not seeing anything."

"Neither do we." Chirurgeon said, uneasy. "We have been debating removing the hair to study it further, but hair degrades quickly when it is separated from the skin."

"So it is probably best to keep it where it is for the moment." Jesse agreed. She shook her head again. "Human DNA? That makes no sense. The pod this body was grown in was sterile. After my various adventures, I was subjected to scans, the genetic one was supposed to be the last of the series. This only showed up when Lisa touched me." Jasmina stiffened and Jesse hurried to continue. "She didn't do it. She touched me once. If she had been manipulating my DNA, someone would have noticed."

"The only reason we can ascertain that the previous scan would not have hurt was if most of the energy was being diverted to another function." Chirurgeon said with a sigh. "But the scanners are not designed to do this kind of thing."

"Your scanners aren't." Jesse said softly. Everyone looked at her and she sighed. "I have had time to think. What did Nikis do? Why did he think he was going to cause problems? Where did he get medical scanners?" Jasmina did not react and Jesse blew out a breath. "He is not available."

"He will be asleep for several weeks." Jasmina said quietly. "And the only way anyone is waking him up is over our dead bodies."

"Not an option." Eliza said quietly. Jasmina looked at her and the Empress frowned. "Nikis is a lot of things. He is not evil." She shrugged. "If he was? I would be dead." Jesse let out the breath she hadn't known she was holding as Jasmina relaxed. "And honestly? I know about making decisions that haunt me to this day. Trusting the one who cost your mate his life is one of those, Caretaker."

"So Nikis is unavailable." Jesse nodded. "The shades of the First cannot answer our questions about this, according to Trinity. And asking any of the AIs in the other scanners will cause them to self destruct." She shook her head. "What a mess."

"We have looked through our available memories." Jasmina said with a sigh of her own. "Nothing matches this."

"So if it is not Orokin and it is not Infested, what does that... leave.. us...?" Jesse trailed off as everyone stiffened. "Tenno."

"I hope it is Tenno." Jasmina actually gulped. "I really, really do. If it isn't..."

"Let's not borrow trouble until we are sure." Jesse said firmly. The others did not interrupt and she wondered about that. Maybe they were letting her deal with Jasmina? That made a certain amount of sense actually. She didn't have the same emotional baggage with the Caretakers that the others did. She could talk to Jasmina with no horrible memories getting in the way. "Who might know? Might have some idea of this kind of thing?"

"The Citadel." Eliza, Karl and Jasmina said as one. They looked at one another and Karl continued.

"The Citadel has more Tenno records than anywhere else." Karl had a frown in his voice. "But they are very closemouthed about dealing with the rest of us." He sighed. "Understandably."

"Would they talk to me?" Jesse asked. She went still as Draco spoke for the first time.

"Yes. They will."

Elsewhere

"They are coming." The female voice sounded young. But not.

"Are we ready?" The second female voice was older, worried. Maybe with a hint of fear.

"As ready as we can be."

"She -they- are going to be madder than hell."

"As mad as we are. We have to do to it. If we don't, the lock breaks and all hell breaks loose. She will understand." The first voice was sad now. "But we do need to explain. If we try to do anything to that girl without explaining, you know what Draco will do."

"I didn't believe until I saw him again, Ona." The second voice said softly. "But yes, I know what he will do if we hurt Jesse."

"Then we better not hurt her, Rachel."