As the monitor bank went blank, Alex Yu joined both hands on the top of his head, letting out a long-suffering sigh. Rising up from his chair, the corpulent man had to grab the edge of the striped desk surface to stabilize himself. His legs had gone numb from all the sitting.
"Are you alright?" The slightly canned-sounding but still smooth voice of Dayo Igwe inquired from the emerald and white casing of a Medical Operator.
"Peachy," Alex grumbled.
"Ugh. This isn't going anywhere!" the Science Operator next to Igwe exclaimed. Danielle Sho's frustration seemed to be boiling over.
"I agree," Sarah Elazar, in the form of a Blackbox Military Operator, opined. "This is pointless. They are nothing more than Typhon — Typhon that display slight glimpses of curiosity, perhaps, but that is the extent of it. We are wasting time," she concluded acerbically.
"You're right," Alex nodded.
"Really, you agree? And are… giving up?" Engineering Operator Mikhaila Ilyushina seemed surprised. After all, it was Alex who had pushed this so much.
"Yep," Alex drew his lips tight, eyebrows raised. "This has been a decisive failure."
"Surely we're not capitulating now?" Igwe asked in disbelief.
"Well, do you see any other options?" Danielle clearly thought there weren't any.
Alex cleared his throat.
Danielle turned to face him, poker-faced as only an Operator could be.
"There… may be a way," he began uncertainly.
"Is that so?" a questionably genuine cheerfulness crept into Danielle's voice. "Light the way then, our dear fearless leader," she quipped, her bright bluish front diode shining upon him.
Alex blinked a couple of times. "Glad to be of service," he replied dryly.
A moment later, the man clasped his fingers on his chest, drumming his thumbs together. "I think we've been missing something," he began. "We've implanted mirror neurons into the test subjects," he turned to consider the twitching Phantom strapped into the Looking Glass chair. "But that's not enough. They're too alien. They keep having an immune response to the neurons, and they have no point of reference for what it means to be human."
"We've been telling you this already," Mikhaila pointed out. "It has been an obvious problem."
"Yeah, and we kept hoping that one of them would pull through in spite of it," Alex recapped. "But they need some additional help. Help that we can give," he raised an index finger.
"Brace yourselves," Sarah's voice was an odd mix of resigned and droll, "we are about to have a migraine."
"We're Operators, we can't have migraines," Igwe pointed out seriously.
"That's what makes it all the more impressive when he gives us one," Sarah reparteed.
Alex sighed. "Anyway, what they need is more of us, more humanity," he returned to the topic at hand. "Dayo, can we reduce the cellular rejection somehow?"
"Theoretically…" Igwe began, "Injecting more human cell lines from the same donor as the mirror neurons may help with overcoming the Typhon immune system, and allow more mirror neurons to survive."
"But… would that not merely strengthen the immune response, and the rejection?" Mikhaila queried.
"Perhaps initially," Igwe replied. "But Typhon biology is different from our own. The general principle that applies with them is that when they are faced with significant foreign incursion, Typhon adapt themselves and evolve to include the foreign entities or parts of them. Assimilate, mimic, weaponize."
"That sounds vaguely threatening," Danielle said, then continued sarcastically, "Surely, nothing could go wrong!"
"We have to work with what we have," Igwe dipped momentarily, which could be read as a shrug. "Our methods must take into account the reality of the Typhon, and operate within their biological framework."
"And you think that will be enough?" Sarah seemed skeptical.
"No," it was Alex who replied. "I don't. I think we also need to give them the tools to understand the world around them. Including humans, our personhood."
"Are you suggesting a tutorial?"
"That might be part of it," Alex nodded. "We can tailor the simulation to fit in more with Morgan's original vision—"
Danielle interrupted him. "Once again, Mitsuko Tokaji is conveniently forgotten, and her original idea is entirely credited to the Yu family member," she pointed out sardonically.
Sighing, Alex rubbed his eyes. "Fine, Morgan and Tokaji's vision," he conceded irritably.
"Damn right," Danielle said.
"Anyway…," Alex continued from where he had been cut off, "we'd have to redesign some aspects of the simulated Talos to gradually induct our subject into the sim and give us more milestones along the way. But what I think will make the greatest difference…" Alex trailed off, in a dramatic pause.
When nobody interjected, he went on, "…would be knowledge. Actual human knowledge, with context. Real, lived experience," his voice was low, almost a whisper, as his hands made a pointed gesture.
"You mean to input a connectome," Igwe stated, an undertone of awe apparent in his voice. This must have sounded like a dream come true to the cutting-edge neuroscientist.
"What?!" Sarah barked.
"Alex…" Danielle drawled his name dangerously.
"Are you serious?!" Mikhaila blurted. "To inject a, a human mind into… into that?" she faced the Phantom and pointed a manipulator arm at it.
"Once inputted, it would not be a human mind anymore," Alex waved his hands placatingly. "With that amount of neurobiological difference, the mind would necessarily become someone else. Most likely, the melding of the human connectome into the Typhon nervous system would only be very partial. Just enough to give it some context for the world around it."
"It's a human mind. And you'd be throwing it unwilling into a Typhon," Mikhaila was irate.
"It's not like it's aware inside the data drive," Alex responded defensively. "We're merely giving it a purpose, one that may help all of humanity. And besides… what it does from then on, is its own path to choose. Including whether it wants to live or die."
"I knew it!" Danielle exclaimed. "It had to eventually end up with you trying to get us to buy into yet another of your ghoulish human experiments," the disgust and mounting anger dripped from her words, "and here we are."
"It's not like that," Alex raised his voice, heat coming into it.
"Oh really?" Sarah riposted venomously. "What is it then, given that you want to put a human into a Typhon?"
"A second chance," Alex spoke intensely. "An opportunity to make things right. To have a chance to fix past mistakes and do better."
"What're you on about?" Danielle was perplexed.
Alex merely stared into her black 'eyeball' for a minute.
"Wait… you can't be thinking…" Mikhaila spoke haltingly. "Surely you don't mean… that you will implant your own connectome into it?!" Her tone conveyed disbelief.
"An intriguing thought…" Igwe mused.
Alex took a long breath before he responded. "I see where that comes from," he addressed Mikhaila. "But no. Actually, I think we all know, deep down, who the ideal person for this job is. The one whose path we already follow in the sim. The one whose memories we've built upon more than anyone's."
Mikhaila gasped. "You can't be serious," she seemed horrified.
Danielle growled menacingly. "Over my dead body!"
Sarah said nothing — merely activated her laser weapon with a whir.
"Please, let us stay calm!" Igwe was alarmed.
Alex just stared at Sarah's gun, wide-eyed.
"You are not using Morgan for this," Mikhaila's low voice conveyed fury and determination.
"She's your sister," Danielle spat.
For several seconds, nobody moved. Finally, Alex broke the tense standoff.
"Look," he began, shaken but trying to speak calmly. "How many people do you know who actually, fully volunteered for experimentation on Talos? Knowing what was about to happen?"
"None," Sarah shot back. "Morgan was losing herself, and forced to remain in the Simulation Lab, in case you've forgotten. By you," she emphasized acerbically.
Alex sighed, momentarily closing his eyes. "Yes, but I mean initially. She agreed to the neuromod experiments, knowing what she was getting into as best she could. My point is, if anyone would agree to do this for the greater good, it's Morgan."
"Hah. 'Greater good'," Danielle's chuckle had a canned quality to it. "More like 'throw whomever I need to into the grinder so I can get the cool powers'."
"Our research was meant to benefit all of humanity," Alex was insistent.
"If by 'humanity' you mean the TranStar bottom line and those who could afford the neuromods," Danielle retorted.
"This argument is pointless," Alex stated. "How about we focus on making this project work?"
"Not at all costs," Mikhaila said firmly, "and not by forcing Morgan into a Typhon."
"Well, the simple fact is that for this to work, we need a human mind," Alex pressed on. "And who better than somebody who's already dead? That way, we don't create duplicates of existing people. Morgan already went through the sim's progression path, and she's the one person whom we have reason to believe might volunteer for this sort of project, especially if humanity's survival is at stake," he paused for a breath.
Alex continued, "We have her cell lines, her mirror neurons, and several of her connectomes. Not to mention how she's the only true volunteer who had significant Typhon material in her nervous system, and we know for a fact she could handle it," Alex enumerated.
"Haven't you put your sister through enough?" Mikhaila's voice was quiet and sad. "Leave her be."
Alex blinked rapidly, quiet.
"You want a guinea pig? Volunteer yourself," Danielle suggested.
"Hmph. I'm not the right man for this," Alex opined. "Besides, would you want more of me in the world?" he smiled weakly.
"…Not really," Danielle conceded.
"I wouldn't mind," Igwe countered airily.
"Shut up, Igwe," Sarah shot him down half-heartedly. Alex noticed that her laser was idle again.
"Rude," Igwe said.
The ensuing minute of silence was broken only by the light hum of the Operators' stabilizer jets and the unintelligible mumbling of the dazed and restrained Phantom.
"You said that we are here to oversee the project, and put a stop to it if things go too far," Mikhaila addressed Alex. To his nod, she continued, "Well, if we are thinking of putting Morgan's mind into a Typhon, or anyone's really, then… this is where I step off," she stated with an air of finality.
"Yeah," Danielle piped up. "We're in 'Yu Ethics' territory, and that's a hard nope from me."
Sighing, Alex asked, "I take it we have no volunteers among the people here?" His tone had an air of defeat.
"Well…" Igwe began.
"Don't even think about it, Igwe," Sarah warned. "We are supposed to teach the Typhon empathy, and for that we need someone who has at least some of it."
"I have empathy!" Igwe protested.
Danielle made a choking sound. Then, for several moments, everyone silently faced the doctor. Even Alex just… stared.
"What?" Igwe asked, perplexed.
"Nothing, Dayo," Alex said soothingly. "Don't worry about it."
"I am not without empathy," Igwe reiterated more quietly.
"Right," Sarah spoke. "So, unless we have another candidate here… I take it we are bringing this ill-advised experiment to an end." She did not seem to be particularly forlorn at the failure.
"I suggest we take some time to think it over before we pull the plug," Alex tried.
"There is no point," Mikhaila countered. "My decision is made."
"Ooooh," Igwe suddenly murmured.
"Dayo?" Alex raised an eyebrow.
"January!" Igwe exclaimed.
"January?" Alex queried, with a sense of déjà vu.
"What is it now?" A weary-sounding Sarah managed to make a sighing sound, despite not having lungs.
"We have been speculating what Morgan may or may not want, whether she would consent to the proposed experiment…" Igwe began.
"Yes, and?" Sarah hurried him along impatiently.
"We do not need to wonder," Igwe claimed. "We can simply… ask her."
"What do you mean?" Mikhaila seemed both worried and doubtful.
"We have her connectome," Igwe pointed out, "and a virtual environment where we can run it for a moment. If we are worried whether she would agree to our proposal, the solution is simple: explain the situation to her, and have her decide," he finished confidently.
"That's…" Danielle trailed off, apparently uncertain of how she felt about Igwe's idea.
"We would still be bringing her back for only a moment, and then plugging her out almost immediately," Mikhaila noted, clearly uncomfortable. "We would in a sense be returning her to death."
"Morgan would understand," Alex assured her. "In fact, she'll be glad we asked."
"I believe so, but still…" Mikhaila said quietly. "It seems cruel to her."
"Morgan's dead," Alex's voice was gentle, "she'll be glad to come back for a moment. Especially if it means she gets to talk with present company."
Mikhaila had nothing to say to that.
"I can't believe I'm saying this," Danielle spoke, "but I might just agree with Igwe. That's… actually not a terrible idea. 'Sides… we're not here forever, either. Our flesh bag selves made us for this purpose, and we agreed before we came here. And we're not even making Morgan into an Operator; just asking her whether she's okay with doing the Cobalt."
After a beat, Alex folded his hands, facing the Operator who still hadn't expressed her opinion. "Sarah?"
"Well…" she drawled, "If Morgan would agree to it, I am willing to give it a chance," she conceded guardedly. "But first… Mika?"
Everyone faced the Engineering Operator.
For a long moment, she was silent. Then, "Khorosho. Very well," Mikhaila said. "But Morgan's word is final."
Alex let out a long sigh of relief. "Of course," he nodded. A smile of anticipation drawing his lips, he walked towards the security locker door. "I'll get the connectomes."
A/N: To see the results of whatever Morgan's decision turned out to be, proceed to the next story in the series: Remedial :)