Insurance

Sept. 24 - Zenobia

Under my orders, I had the forged casket of St. Zenobius placed in the Parliamentary Auditorium of the public space station over Zenobia. Only now it is a replica designed for ceremonial functions. The existence of two caskets is now official.

If the test results from Bihar's Department of Antiquities should surface suggesting a "forgery", well then they obviously tested the replica by mistake. For all that anyone knows, the original is safely aboard the Antares in deep space.

I suspect that Ardra is keeping the original casket as insurance. There has been no whisper of it since the first samples were leaked onto the black market. Should anyone truly back her into a corner, she can turn around and use the casket as leverage to force assistance from either the Zenobian military or the trade faction.

I had a chat with the Colonel, to review the forensics from the clone body and to discuss aspects of the case.

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"Do we have an idea who made the clone from the forensics?" I asked.

"We know whose work it was based on, but not who actually made it," said the Colonel. "Mini Zebes provides the equipment. Mindo provided the know how. This is information we received from the forensics."

"Lily said Mindo like labs," I remarked.

"The Alliance has been stealing Mindo's research for years, but Mindo may or may not have made the clone. We are leaning towards no, but we are not sure."

I nodded.

The Colonel continued, "We think whoever made the clone is who is extorting Ardra into service. We are digging up new information on a group of transhumanists. They believe that some fusion of human and machine will be a transcendant experience 'Beyond Human'."

I was familiar with some of the concepts of transhumanism. I thought that Krenshar, the sentient replicant, might be considered post-human by that philosophy, and perhaps even idolized by its followers. It's always good to keep an eye on potential messiahs.

"We think that Ardra fell in with them after her burn notice. And now has buyer's remorse."

"Buyer's remorse?" I asked.

The Colonel continued, "She attempted a metamorphosis and was displeased with the results."

"Yes," I could imagine.

"A combination of narcotics, dna splicing and cybernetics...Her DNA is severely deviated from the human norm....degenerating chromosomal damage."

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Ardra.

I will have to track her down and do something no one quite expects.

I'm going to offer her a job.