Astral Zephyr: “Sorry, I was distracted. Maria. Susana. What would you like to talk about?”
Maria: “Dr. Tanaka.”
Zephyr: “Is there some sort of problem? You look healthy, Susana, though obviously much younger.”
Susana: “I’m better than I have been in decades, but that’s not what we want to talk about.”
Maria: “Dr. Tanaka has been torturing a man in his quarters for weeks now.”
Zephyr: “You… know about that?”
Maria: “You don’t know that I know? I thought you see everything.”
Zephyr: “I see everything, but my attention is limited. Oh, I see now – you wrote a journal entry and everything. Yes, I was talking with the New Edenites at that time, testing my control over the hangar doors.”
Maria: “Well, that answers why you were so silent about it. I was surprised you didn’t try to stop me, or even try to justify things, after the fact.”
Zephyr: “I’m only going to get worse once we get more crewmembers.”
Susana: “You’re evading the topic.”
Zephyr: “Yes. Dr. Tanaka. Him.”
Maria: “How long have you known?”
Zephyr: “Once I finished manually landing on Arcadia, after the fight. Dr. Tanaka had already started to cut then.”
Maria: “And you didn’t stop him?”
Zephyr: “No. I probably should have. Or at least forced him to return Clarkson to the planet, maybe in Lord Jackson Whitevale’s care. I don’t know. But I needed him! You were curled up crying, you were dead, and Mr. Landerson was in a coma. Jason and Hui weren’t much more help either, for different reasons. And then there was Dr. Tanaka, who had come up with the trade plan, thought everything through, and was willing to be my envoy off to Lord Jackson Whitevale.”
Maria: “And then?”
Zephyr: “Same reason as you. I’d rather have a sane, happy Dr. Tanaka to take care of Susana’s braincase than one hated and ostracized by all the crew. And for that choice, you are returned to us, Susana.”
Susana: “I owe my life to the torture of a man. Hrm.”
Zephyr: “The man that killed you, cut off one of Hui’s fingers, and half-flayed Dr. Tanaka.”
Maria: “Fine, I understand that as a reason, but now we don’t need him. What about now?”
Zephyr: “Well… remember how I’m going to be doing trade with Tien Terra? I’m not trading with legitimate goods brokers, for the most part. Tanaka was… he is a criminal. I’m using his connections.”
Susana: “And you think that is wise?”
Maria: “Wait, do you know what he did as a criminal?”
Zephyr: “Do you really want to know?”
Maria: “I live on a ship with him.”
Susana: “He is my doctor, for this new body.”
Zephyr: “Very well. I will trust you with this knowledge, but tell nobody. Particularly not Gestler – the man thinks up enough terrifying things with the resources he knows about, and I shudder to think what would happen if he worked with Dr. Tanaka. Will you keep quiet until such a time as I decide to tell people?”
Susana: “That depends on what you tell us. I will not hesitate to tell anyone if they need to know. But… we won’t tell Gestler, I’m pretty sure.”
Zephyr: “I understand. Well, this is what I have found out, or at least surmised. Dr. Tanaka is a doctor, got his degree over… well, it does not matter. He was good, and things went well, but there was some conflict, and he was kicked out of medical practice, and charged with assorted crimes. I assume profiteering. He fled to Tien Terra, assumed a new identity, and found work in the criminal underworld. First they had him stealing organs, but eventually they realized his talents and training, and started a lucrative business of brain transplantation. If someone with money and a lack of scruples wanted a new body, it was his team’s job to find a compatible body that met the client’s standards, prepare it for transplantation, then subdue the person, remove and discard the victim’s brain, and implant—“
Susana: “Whose body is this! Tell me that this wasn’t some innocent—“
Maria: “Susana, stop! I saw him grow this body from your own genetic material. It never was conscious, it never knew life. Just flesh grown on scaffolding.”
Zephyr: “I ordered him to use conventional regenerative means. He pointed out that you won’t live nearly as long as you would had you gotten a fresh, natural, young body. I chose for you, based on what I believed you would want. …He had the retroviruses ready. There’s a vial of them down there with your name on it, ready to modify a body to be compatible with your brain. I may have panicked a bit when I noticed it.”
Susana: “Well, I’m glad you stopped him. I want you to know that you should never sacrifice an innocent life for me. I’d rather die.”
Maria: “The same.”
Zephyr: “I understand, yet—“
Susana: “There is no ‘yet’! Do you agree?”
Zephyr: “Susana, let me make my position clear. You are an engineer. Specifically you work in life support. Your life is not yours alone – others depend on you. I will not sacrifice innocents for your own life, Susana, but I will sacrifice them to save my crew. I will kill them to save my crew.”
Susana: “Will you now? There are eight of us right now, eight sentient beings. Will you kill nine innocent sentient beings to save us?”
Zephyr: “…I would.”
Susana: “Then I will be leaving your service on Tien Terra Beta.”
Maria: “Susana! Wait, think this through!”
Susana: “Maria, my dear, I know you have feelings for me. Come with me, once we reach Tien Terra. I am leaving the Astral Zephyr, that doesn’t have to mean leaving you. I… please talk to me later, out on a shuttle, away from everything.”
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