13 Degrees of Separation (20 page)

Thornby's
nostrils dilated as she got control of her anger. She had thought she would
have been exposed to other views in the weeks she had been on the station. That
the Chimerians would have seen through a life time of crap. Apparently it was
too instilled, too ingrained to get out so quickly.

She
knew she was tired, too many long days, but that bugged her. “Really?” she
turned and pointed out a Veraxin nurse. The nurse looked up to her after being
nudged. An elf looked up and stared at them from the stool she was standing on.
Thornby turned and pointed to an orangutan nurse, who waved, then went around
the room pointing to Neo's and aliens in the room. Granted only a tenth of her
staff was on hand in the big surgical bay, but it was enough to make her point.
“I don't discriminate. Gender, species, they don't matter, what matters to me
and to others like me is the spirit within. Their will, and their mind. How you
use it and your body to better yourself and others,” she said, waving to the
room in general.

Several
doctors clapped. A few nurses did as well but she waved the accolade aside. “As
you were people, let's get back to work.”

...*...*...*...*...

Over
the next several weeks the lead medics watched and aided as surgical teams
worked on the clan members one by one. Quick heal helped them recover in short
order. Nano therapy however was limited, they would remain genetically Neo's
for the remainder of their lives.

One of
the women was carrying triplets in her first trimester. By using nano surgery,
they were able to alter the fetuses to as close to human normal as possible.
Unfortunately two of the fetuses died and were aborted, but the one remaining
female survived and thrived within her mother's womb.

Doctor
Martel tried to counsel the family on patience and on what level was
acceptable. Now it truly was a matter of breeding, their next generation would
be Homo Sapiens.

Exposure
to life on Anvil had rubbed off on some of the more open minded of the clan,
they were more inclined to come out of their shell and accept some of who they
were, as long as they knew their generation would end and a new human one would
soon begin.

The
gene therapy they had applied had definitely ended their genetic reproductive
issues. They had used gene resequencing and nanites to extract animal and
Chimera DNA to replace it with stock human gene sequences that she had on file.
Some were so tangled they instead replaced the entire DNA strand with donor DNA
she had on file. She was careful to match the basic information, height, skin,
hair and eye color, and other things the best she could.

A final
round of plastic surgery altered the Chimerian clan to as close to human normal
as possible. Doctor Martel did what she could to treat and repair the genetic
damage, many had ticking time bombs in their DNA. A lot of what her medics
could do would only ease symptoms. Some problems would crop up when they aged
as the clocks in their cells broke down.

Doctor
Thornby realized it would never be enough for them after explaining that it
wouldn't help them but would make all the difference to their children. She
hoped they wouldn't project that annoying inferiority complex onto their
children. The self pity... it was grating. In some ways she was glad they were
now leaving, even though she would miss Trenton.

...*...*...*...*...

The
clan made their goodbyes and departed for Gaston on The Red Rover IV, a tramp
freighter passing through the system from Seti Alpha 4. They had wanted to take
Mariah's Mischief to Seti Alpha 4, but the ship just wasn't large enough for
all of them so they were forced to change their plans.

At
their departure, doctor Thornby was amused and somewhat gratified to see that
they no longer wore the masks but kept the robes and gloves. Apparently some
habits were too hard to break. They even had hair, albeit short hair. And they
looked so much better with eyebrows and the occasional facial hair. She did
smile at the newborn baby a woman was carrying with her as she waited patiently
in line. Men and women of the clan were still in awe of the child. The little
girl was only a day old, born a week premature, but healthy. Her name, appropriately,
was Hope.

“Time
heals all wounds. I hope the same goes for you and your people Trenton. I
really do,” Doctor Thornby said, grasping the Chimerian's hand for the last
time.

He
looked on to his people with a satisfied smile and then nodded. “It does indeed
doctor. In time, all things if not forgotten are forgiven. And after all,” he
turned back to her. “It is a matter of breeding for us now. We will do our best
to pass on to our children our eternal gratitude to you and your people.”

“Thanks,”
Thornby replied. “But don't pass on that inferiority complex. Do get some
therapy,” she said holding a finger up.

For the
first time Trenton laughed, it was a braying sound that surprised her and those
around her. A few smiled at his laughter. Thornby slowly joined in.

“I will
certainly look into it doctor.”

“Last
call, Red Rover, last call. If you're coming, get the lead out people,” a voice
said over the intercom.

Trenton
looked up to the speaker. “That's my cue.”

“Here,”
Thornby said gruffly, handing him a bag. He took it. His eyebrows rose in
inquiry. “Yes I know it's heavy. It's a medical database and gift package.
There is a lot more on the ship. Use it in good health,” she said gruffly,
stepping back.

“I will
doctor,” he said softly.

Suddenly
she leaned in and hugged him. His eyes flared wide in surprise as her arms
wrapped around him. She broke the hug as fast as she took it, but held his
arms. “I'm serious. Write too,” she said, staring into his eyes.

“I'll
certainly try,” Trenton said, eyes now soft.

She leaned
in and kissed him on the cheek, then stepped back as he turned. He looked over
his shoulder once, then joined his people as they filed into the ship.

“Good
luck,” Thornby said softly.

“Think
they'll be okay?” Doctor Martel's soft voice asked from her right side.

“I hope
so,” Thornby said, not taking her eyes off the sea of robes. She picked out the
one with the bag moving to the head of the line of bodies. A hand reached up to
wave, and then he was gone into the ship.

“They've
got a long road ahead of them. Maybe they'll do some good. They certainly have
the right attitude in helping to better themselves and the next generation,”
Martel said.

“Maybe.
Only time will tell.”

“Time
and breeding,” Martel said, smiling. Thornby snorted.

“Come
on, I've got to look into the crap Standish and Jethro were up to, catch up on
gigabytes of paperwork I've been ignoring, and look into this hospital complex
Major Forth wants for the Agnosta base.”

“Oy,
you don't ask for much do you lady?” Martel demanded.

“Well,
now that you mention it, there is all those Ynari toys we've got... and a few
aliens in need of a miracle,” Thornby said wickedly as the hatch to the ship
closed and red lights strobed. She turned, moving to the viewing corridor.

“Great,”
Martel drawled as they walked slowly, eyes out the long windows. “Come on, I
think you owe me dinner. We can go over the manuals to that Ynari thing. See if
anyone translated it yet.”

“I
doubt it. Hey wait, who owes
who
dinner lady?” Thornby asked, mock
affronted. She turned away from the view as umbilical's detached themselves
from the hull of the ship and withdrew. Robots buzzed around as the boarding
ramps were retracted. The Valdez tugs were out there, one on the bow gently
nudging the big freighter away from the station.

“We'll
go Dutch then. But next time it's your treat,” Martel said, grinning and
wrapping her arm around her bosses shoulder. “It feels good getting it right.”

“Something
like that,” Doctor Thornby replied with a smile.

The end.

The following starts nearly 20 years prior to New Dawn but
extends up to Jethro 2.

 A middle aged man named Leonardo Vinatelli or Leo to his
wife and friends was famous on Antigua. He'd built up a reputation as an
extraordinary man, capable of making many things, and remaking many pieces of
technology long thought lost.

Leo wasn't much to look at, tall, with unkempt hair and
rather worn clothes, but he had a look to him, a look of deep thought. Papers
were stuffed in his pockets. Some who first met the man thought him quite mad,
since he constantly muttered about this or that or would turn and keenly
examine some trinket or piece of ancient Federation technology.

If they got to know him better they would nod in
understanding. For the young man was a genius. He had been responsible for some
of the miraculous achievements in restoring the fusion reactors to two of the
planetary defense guns. He had also found a way to tie their power grids into
local networks without overloading those networks.

He had also been deeply involved in restoring the island
city of Eternia, though he knew it was a long term project. He had however had
trouble with the various prima-donas involved in the project, and after a deep
row and a close call by a man in a skeleton mask he had quit the project and
returned to the mainland to return to his research. There he had met his lovely
future wife a few years later, and the rest as they said, was history.

He owned several hundred patents before he turned thirty.
Most people saw the lack of fabricators and modern industrial tech as a
handicap, one that debilitated them. He saw it in a different way, as a
challenge to overcome.

It was something he tried to pass on to everyone he met, to
think outside the box. He'd drilled it into them. If you couldn't make it with
a replicator, make something almost as good. Then keep refining your work until
you got it right! After all, industry had existed
before
Replicators
right? It was a chicken and egg sort of thing, to use a replicator you had to
make the tools to make the devices right?

He had started small, he had started one of the first
engineering think tanks on Antigua, and donated heavily to local libraries and
schools. He had encouraged science and industrial teachings.

His mother kept trying to marry him off to one lass or
another but he was too distracted and somewhat repulsive for any courtiers. He
frequently forgot to eat or bathe, and sometimes he stank of grease and sweat.
When his father passed away it had been a bit of a shock to some. Leo had taken
it in stride, burying himself in his work. That hurt his mother greatly.

His efforts brought him to the attention of a lovely lass
passing through the system.  She at first hadn't even noticed him in the bar.
It was only when she'd leaned over and noted the life support system he had
been doodling on a bar napkin that she'd been intrigued. She'd quizzed him
about it and had been further amazed when he'd admitted he'd done the sketch
from listening to some of the spacer patrons and their stories of working on
their ships. Her bright eyes and lively smile and driven all thoughts of duct
work and recycling plants out of his head however.

He fell in love with the temptress, this young beautiful
vibrant woman. Her smile, her laughter was like wine to him. He'd fallen willingly
into her spell and created windup toys and other things to amuse and delight
her. His paintings and sculptures of her made her passionate for his kisses.

Over their brief spring time courtship she isolated him
from his disapproving family and then lured him to Horath much to their dismay.
He had thought they had been bitter for the fame and fortune he was now denying
him and felt the move was justified. He thought he was striking out on his own,
no longer held down by them. His blushing bride had after all been the best
thing in his life, someone who adored him.

They took the small liner the Carib Queen to Triang, and
from there the Lieandra to Briev. He hadn't understood why his normally
blushing bride had been shy and rather distrustful of the Veraxin Captain. She
had remained inured in their quarters for much of the trip. It was a long one, 
after leaving Briev they had went through an empty system to Kathy's World, and
finally Protodon where Lieandra left them in order to return to Antigua. He'd
been tempted to return, but she had enticed him down to Protodon.

It had taken several weeks of waiting, but finally another
ship had come. They had hopped Jericho's ship to Garth, and then finally his
wife had sweet talked another Captain of a Horathian small freighter ship the
Prinz Zir to take them to Horath. The journey had been quite expensive but it
had been equally fascinating for him, he'd spent his time divided between
drawing and delving into the computers and her delightful distractions.

His lovely bride inevitably became pregnant in Garth, and
he did his best to attend to her needs as she went through a serious bout of
morning sickness. He'd fretted over her until she'd banished him from their
cabin in order to get some peace. He'd been upset about that but a passing
crewman had come by and intrigued him with a story of a broken heat exchanger.

They traveled to her homeworld of Horath where he was given
virtually unlimited resources to reinvent the technology of the Federation. He
had been stunned at seeing the jewel of a world enshrouded by orbital habitats,
fortresses, and ships. Great ships, but many long dormant, and some badly
damaged. His wife leaned against him, holding his hand and resting her head on
his shoulder. “It's your job to bring them back to life my love,” she murmured.

“I'll certainly try,” he replied softly.

<|> <|>
<|>

He was quite brilliant after all, educated in many things
far beyond any current standard of education most people in the quadrant had.
He had learned to read and program at a very young age, and he'd done his best
to invent or in most cases reinvent many pieces of technology.

He was an artist, able to pick apart the design of a
mechanism in hours and sketch it from memory. His eye was keen, his memory
photographic. When he grew older he discovered CAD programs and used them to
better his designs. The software also allowed him to better describe what he
wanted to those who helped in his endeavors.

He took great joy in the process of research,
experimentation, testing, as well as the learning involved, and applying what
he had learned to the next project. He documented every step in the
manufacturing carefully, making certain each step could be made by machinery
other than a replicator. He told his wife over and over that it was an
exponential thing, almost as good as sex. She had smiled at that qualifier.
“Almost,” she had teased and then kissed him hungrily.

“Definitely,” he had replied, holding her close and
stroking her swelling abdomen gently.

Part of his gift was the ability to replicate the lost tech
without using replicators. The work was tedious and time consuming, but he was
stubborn, patient, and thorough. He even worked out the manufacturing process
steps for others to copy as well.

His interests varied wildly. Any challenge that caught his
interest would become his next topic of intense mind. When a neighbor's beloved
pet bulldog champs had been hit by a car, he'd found a way to make the animal
live on through crude but effective cybernetic implants. He tried to pass on
that ideal, to think of it not as a hindrance but as a challenge when you tried
to recreate the old Federation's tech. To never give up, to keep moving
forward, refining their understanding and designs until they got it right. With
some of his assistants the ideal took, in others, not so much.

For some reason his wife's patrons pushed for ship and
weapons technology. He could understand the first, everyone wanted a return to
the easy energy of fusion and antimatter. The weapons technology bothered him
slightly, but figuring out how to recreate a Gauss rifle from a single
nonfunctional example had been quite an engineering challenge. Just creating
the infrared circuit that detected a round in each coil and triggered it's
event had been a challenge. He was particularly proud of the discharge
circuitry. By adding a diode circuit he had allowed the coils to discharge
their loads as heat. The recovery system had prevented the system from
exploding, always a good thing. By altering that to a discharge recovery system
he'd recovered half the energy while only loosing thirty percent to heat.

The lessons learned in developing the capacitors, infrared
trip circuit, recovery system, lower resistant wiring for the coils, coolant
method, and batteries, not to mention the relatively simple electromagnetic
coil for the barrel had been applied to a number of peaceful projects. The exo
suits alone would revolutionize the construction and medical industries! Having
the ability for a man to lift ten times his own body weight... or the
handicapped to walk again... the elderly to get about on their own... Those
noble ideals had justified the project in his eyes.

Largely due to his efforts, and only marginal guidance from
his backers and patrons, his inventions and can do attitude made major changes
to the Horathian society.  Just his comments on overhauling the educational
standards on science and engineering, establishing a better foundation had made
enormous strides in things. He'd noted it when he had seen his son's schooling
change the following year.

Horath had been a step above Antigua in civilization,
having running water, electrical power, and other utilities in every home. But
now the pace quickened, much like he had read about in the history books
detailing the nineteenth and twentieth century Terra.

“It's so fascinating, seeing the technology change the
lives,” Leo said as he stroked his wife. She murmured softly. He smiled,
rubbing her shoulders gently. “I do wish to explore medical technology though.
It isn't my field but...”

“Each of us have our strengths and weaknesses my love,” she
murmured softly, patting his hand as she looked over her shoulder to him. “Let
someone else with the interest in such things excel there. After all, you can't
be everywhere,” she teased.

He chuckled. Then the chuckle turned into a softer more
throaty one as her hands pulled his off her shoulders and then down to some
very interesting places to explore on her body. His thoughts of a career change
abruptly ended by her shrewd distraction.

<|> <|>
<|>

Carefully insulated for years, he had a family with the
young woman he had fallen in love with and watched as she birthed him two
children, both boys. Over the years he worked and watched them as they grew
into strong lads. Proper education and nutrition he noted, that and adequate
medical attention. His lovely wife doted on them and him when they had so much
as a sniffle.

As their eldest son got older, things began to change. His
wife assured him it was normal, after all, teenagers began to want to stretch
their wings and push their boundaries. Still, it troubled him a bit.

One night he picked up on a rant by his eldest son about
aliens and became troubled until his wife distracted him. He had had many non
human friends as a child on Antigua and thought Horath was the same. He frowned
pensively, for the first time in thirteen years he was now concerned about the
environment they were raising their children up in.

Later that evening he tried to talk to his lovely wife
about the subject but she silenced him with a kiss and a sleepy, “not now dear,
I'm tired.” He frowned as she settled and wrapped her arms around him. When
they were younger they would stay up until dawn talking about things. He rolled
over, feeling her arms around him. He tried to let his discontent go.

<|> <|>
<|>

He was troubled by the celebration of the 'Supreme
secretary' turned emperor a week later. The family watched the coronation
speech together. Emperor Ramichov took the throne wearing a robe of purple
trimmed in tiger fur. He was in his fifties, but quite fit. He had a red
uniform on, covered in gold braid and medals. The entire scripted event seemed
very martial, with the emperor carrying a naked sword and sheathing it only
briefly to bow to take his crown. He declared himself the First Emperor of Man.

It bothered Leo, such a blatant seizure of power. The
people of Antigua would never have allowed it. The people of his adopted
homeland however didn't seem to mind, the streets were filled with
celebrations. Fireworks were going off in the air. There were some ugly
incidents of violence as well. His wife stroked his hand and told him it would
be fine, after all, the emperor wouldn't live forever and they still had the
senate to watch out for the people's interests.

“But they voted him in!” he waved his impotent hands to the
television. “They voted him in, and then gave him emergency powers. They just
declared him emperor! What emergency? I don't remember an emergency being
declared!”

“Daddy, don't be stupid,” his youngest said. His wife
rounded on the child with a glare. He visibly gulped, wide eyed. “I'm um, sorry
for sounding disrespectful. I'll um...” his brother came to his rescue and
dragged him out of his seat to the kitchen.

“Come on loud mouth, you can help with the dirty dishes,”
he said.