Carpathia IV: Episode 217 - Blue Flowers
Engineering Lab, NCCS Shadowdancer-A
Relief in the engineering lab, for Alka's recovery, quickly shifted to alarm when the monitors connected to Phobos started dropping into red zones. First one alarm and soon followed by many more.
Artemis: His neural matrix is collapsing!
Artemis did not have to say anything, for everyone already had their eyes glued to the status screen. Cyn rushed round the table and whipped a device from her kit.
Cyn: Artemis, I'll need your help! We have to remove the damaged sectors before it spreads!
Artemis: But he'll lose some of his memory!
Cyn: Better than losing all of it. It's only 2% right now but it's going to spread fast and start damaging Deimos too. Alka will know what's going on and he can slow the spread from in there. It's up to us to stop it.
Artemis made a quick glance at Minnie and Ramei, who both nodded. With that, Artemis leaned over Phobos and began disassembling his head.
Artemis: Okay, let's do this.
Inside Phobos
Inside Phobos was pure chaos. Deimos running in little panicky circles. Phobos completely befuddled trying to understand what the fuss was about. Alka trying to calm Deimos down.
Deimos: What do we do? What do we do?
Alka: Deimos! Deimos! We need you now!
As though someone smacked her in the face, Deimos stopped running around, now ready to listen.
Alka: You have to talk to him. Talk about your shared past. Keep him remembering. Cyn and Artemis should be starting work removing the damaged sectors to stop the spread, but we need to buy them some time. Start reminiscing!
Deimos: Right! Um...
Deimos rushed to Phobos, taking his hands into hers and pulling him down to sit on the floor with her.
Deimos: You remember the dads, right?
Phobos: Of course! Captain Dad and... erm... the shouty one... Dr. Dad!
Deimos: Good! Tell me about your shipmates!
Phobos: What? You already know about them.
Deimos leaned in, getting a tight grip on Phobos's shoulders.
Deimos: Tell me anyway. I want to hear about them from you.
Phobos: Well, there's Captain Valro. He's very nice. Good Captain, but he holds a lot inside. There's... um... What's his name? The horny one...
Deimos: You'll have to be more specific.
Phobos: Amenaru! Yes, he's the the one with the card games.
Phobos shut his eyes tight and ran his fingers through his hair with both hands.
Phobos: Why is my memory so slow?
Alka: Keep it up, Deimos. Remind him of things that happened when you were still separate.
Deimos: Oh! Phobos, you remember that time we tied up the shop owner and his assistant?
Phobos: I remember that! Sra and Haria. That was funny, but I kind of feel bad about that.
Alka: Older memories seem better. Try some newer ones.
Deimos nodded and an actual light bulb appeared over her head, complete with accompanying "ding."
Deimos: Tell me about your boyfriend!
Phobos: Who? I've never had a boyfriend.
Deimos gasped and clapped her hand to her mouth.
Deimos: Oh no!
Alka: Stick with that, Deimos. Keep going!
Deimos: Well... do you at least remember our head of stellar cartography?
Phobos: I do! Yes, Baal Morningstar. Red hair. One demon horn. He's always spying on me for some reason.
Deimos: You... don't remember what happened after that?
Phobos: Come to think of it, that was awhile ago. What has he been doing since then?
Deimos: Can you remember what you've been doing since then?
Phobos: That's a good question. What have I been doing? I remember that I got new quarters. Why did I do that?
Deimos: Think, Phobos!
Phobos: Blue flowers... I remember blue flowers. What does that have to do with any...
Phobos froze in mid-sentence as though someone simply switched him off. Head cocked. Mouth open. Hands up in the middle of a gesture.
Deimos: Phobos?
Another shake, but nothing happened, and then, as though an ON switch flipped, Phobos blinked. He glanced back and forth between Alka and Deimos.
Phobos: Oh, hello Deimos. Alka. What was I doing?
Engineering Lab
Artemis wearily leaned back in his chair. The lights, charts, and sounds on the displays now back to normal, but he paid those no mind. Instead, he stared longingly down at at the two rice grain-sized pieces of Phobos's brain in his open palm with tears streaming down his face. Bits of Phobos's memory lost forever.
Artemis: That was the hardest thing I've ever done. I want to say I hope they weren't important, but is there such a thing as an unimportant memory?
Engineering, One Hour Later
First Adell and now Baal paced around Engineering so much one might be forgiven for thinking that the deck might collapse from extreme wear.
Adell: It's been nearly five hours. I don't know how much more waiting I can take!
Without looking at Adell—no need as he'd been pacing the same spot for an hour—Aire answered as he gazed through the lab windows.
Aire: I don't think it will be much longer. Something's happening in there.
Adell and Baal froze momentarily in their well-worn tracks before rushing to Aire's side. Tension mounted as the door opened and Alka staggered out, bracing himself against the frame.
Alka: I have never been so wrong about anything before...
Before Alka could finish, a green-haired streak careened through the door and crashed into Adell, who promptly collapsed to the floor.
Deimos: Daddy!
Adell: Deimos, for sure! I take it everything was a success?
After several more heavy breaths, Alka finished his thought.
Alka: They are so much more than just AI.
With that, he collapsed in the doorway just as Sorchae appeared with her medkit.
Sorchae: Now hold still! Your body needs to recover from that ordeal!
Next through the door, sidling around Alka and the doctor, was Phobos and Artemis.
Phobos: Hi Dad!
Adell: You both made it!
Artemis: Almost. There's just one th...
Baal: Phobos!
Like Deimos before, perhaps not as violently, Baal rushed in and threw his arms around Phobos. For his part, Phobos immediately began squirming.
Phobos: Ack! Baal, what gives? I thought you hated me!
Baal, caught immediately in a stupor, loosened his grip enough for Phobos to wriggle free.
Baal: Um... er... What?
Artemis started by giving Phobos a little push toward Adell.
Artemis: Go say hi to Adell. I'll deal with Baal.
Phobos did not need to be told twice, for that is what he wanted to do from the beginning. Artemis put his arm around Baal's shoulder and gently steered him away from the reunion, deeper into Engineering.
Artemis: We need to talk.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Less_End
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
Falke2009
