Part Eighteen

High Security Lab 42: 0723 Hours…0724…0725…

0726.

0727.

Lore sat up and slowly, deliberately, pulled the colored leads from his body. He closed the access panels in his head, limbs, and chest and watched the white-gold synthoskin seal itself, leaving no trace of a scar.

0728.

The monitors surrounding the diagnostic elevator bleeped, so he turned them off, one by one. He walked to the locker and dressed himself, then strode through the security field and pressed his ear against the lab's heavy, magnetically sealed double doors, turning his audio gain to maximum.

0731.

0732.

0733.

The ventilation system was in mid-cycle, but Lore filtered that out. With the white noise of recycling air suitably diminished, Lore now heard his android systems working within him: the rise and ebb of his breathing, the steady beat of his pulse, the flow of chemical nutrients through the complex network of synthetic polymer tubes underneath his skin...

He strained to hear past all that, concentrating on the door…on the mechanisms inside…

The door locks vibrated with a low, electronic hum, resetting every 2 minutes, 28 seconds, 18 milliseconds, 1 microsecond, 4 nanoseconds.

0734.

Lore ran the pads of his fingers over the seal between the double doors, seeking imperfections that would allow him the best grip, then focused his entire attention on the relentless beats of his internal chronometer, counting the seconds…milliseconds…microseconds…nanoseconds…

0734.28…4e-9

The magnetic lock whirred, the automatic reset interrupting the charge for just a fraction of a moment…

Lore listened to whir after whir, synching his response times with the automatic cycle, preparing to exert just the right amount of force at just the right instant—

Something cold and hard smacked into his face and Lore blinked in disorientation, his senses snapping back to the human-like baseline his father had set.

Tiles. He was on the floor, gazing out at a long corridor of polished, gray tiles. And, on top of those tiles stood three pairs of polished black boots.

"Deities!"

"What the hell?"

"Is it damaged?"

Lore blinked again and rolled onto his back, staring up at three humanoid faces in various stages of alarm. He also saw that the doors were open.

Lore had fallen through the doorway.

Apparently, he'd been so focused on orienting his systems to nanoseconds, he hadn't noticed the scientists' comparitively glacially slow approach…or heard them unlock the door.

"The Mr. Lore!" the young Andorian woman was saying, on her knees beside him, her blue hands clasping his shoulders. "The Mr. Lore! Canssst thee ansswer me?"

"You're late," Lore said flatly. He lurched to a sitting position, then stood.

The human and the Benzite, Dr. Tyler and Dr. Isuri, jumped back in alarm, and Lore nearly smiled, rather enjoying the flicker of fear in their eyes.

"Late?" said Dr. Tyler. "What—"

"You kept me waiting," Lore said tauntingly. "More than half an hour. I don't appreciate tardiness. Especially when the stakes are so high."

"Stakes?" Tyler frowned. "What stakes? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about life, my dear doctor," Lore snapped, advancing until the startled scientist's back hit the wall. "Charlie's life! The life you didn't think he had. The life you've come to steal away from him!"

Dr. Isuri huffed anxiously from her breathing apparatus.

"I don't understand," she said. "Suuki, what's going on here?"

"Mr. Lore, pleasse," the Andorian said. "Thy dear brother isst not in danger. We have come to thee with important newss. Thou and the Mr. Charlie have been sssummoned to court. Thou art to asissst your father'ss defencce."

Lore turned his head, the Andorian's words failing to process.

"What?"

"Thou musst come at oncce," she said, gently touching his arm. "A sshuttle awaitss thee."

Lore shook his head uncomprehendingly, rocking slightly on his feet.

"A shuttle…?"

The rapid clack of high heels approached, and Lore heard a familiar voice…

"Yes, they tried – why do you think I insisted I come in person? If not for that young Andorian, I… Eileen! Oh my God, Eileen, he's here!" Juliana cried into her mobile viewer, her quick trot turning into a run. "Yes, of course I recognize him. You think I wouldn't know my own son!"

Lore blinked, a cold, unsettling quaking sensation starting deep within him. His breathing quickened, and he stepped back, reaching for the support and security of the concrete wall.

Juliana slowed her approach, her look of excitement shifting quickly to concern as she pocketed the little communications device.

"What is this? What's wrong with him?" she demanded of the scientists. "Lore? Lore, my boy… Are you in there? Do you know me?"

Lore shook his head, swamped by a nightmarish sense of dislocation.

"No…no…this isn't real… This can't be real…"

Juliana's almond eyes crinkled and she pressed her fists to her mouth.

"Oh, Lore…" She moved closer to him, tentatively reaching out to brush her fingers against his pale cheek. "What has that man done to you…"

Lore covered her fingers with a trembling hand. His eyes closed tight, and he felt his strained gasps break into racking sobs. Juliana brushed his tears away with her thumb, then wrapped her arms around him, holding the android close.

"Hush," she soothed in her soft, lilting accent. "Hush now. It's all right. I'm here. I'm here with you."

Lore continued to gasp and sob, unable to speak, unable even to translate his aching wounds into words. The guilt…the horror of what he had done…

"Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead…"

"What's that, Lore?" Juliana said. "What are you saying?"

Lore drew in a trembling breath and leaned down, pressing his cheek against his mother's shoulder.

"He's dead…"

The confession wrenched out of him like a serrated blade, and he gasped at the pain of it.

"Who's dead, Lore?" Juliana prodded gently. "Tell me what's happened."

"C-Charlie," Lore choked out. "Charlie. He's…he's dead, Mother. Charlie's dead. I-I held him, I watched…"

His throat closed up and his sobs started afresh, his tears dampening his mother's hair.

"They…they said they planned to reformat him. 0700 hours. I took his place, I waited… But…they were late… And now…"

He blinked rapidly and stepped back, his breathing harsh and quick.

"It didn't have to happen. He didn't have to… It didn't have to happen! Oh… Oh, Father, I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry…"

"Lore, Lore stop this," Juliana said, taking him by the arm. "Lore, calm down. You're hyperventilating!"

"I…I can't… I thought— But, they—!"

"Good God," Dr. Tyler said, his eyes wide. "It's having some sort of meltdown!"

Lore's eyes widened at the sound of the scientist's voice, and he released a startlingly animalistic roar, his right fist slamming an impressive hole into the concrete wall mere centimeters from Tyler's nose.

Tyler swayed slightly, a hand pressed to his chest, but Lore was the one who collapsed, his limbs and head jerking several times before he lay still on the floor.

"No!" Juliana yelped, and fell to her knees beside him. She lifted his eyelids, checking for any sort of reaction, then clenched her jaw.

"You!" She glared up at the scientists. "All of you! Help me get him into that lab. We have to stabilize his systems – now!"

"But, we—" Tyler started.

Juliana's eyes blazed blue flames.

"Don't. You. Dare. But. Me," she snarled. "Just get your ignorant arses down here and help me lift my son onto that table."

"Yes, ma'am," Tyler said, and gestured for the others to assist.

"Please, don't do this, Lore, not now," Juliana muttered between gritted teeth, staggering under the android's weight. "Your father needs you. You have to hold on…"

To Be Continued…

Your comments are always welcome! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)