Dispatch from the Frontier of Medicine

February 15 - In transit. On approach to Deshima.

Captain Westminster's report arrived. As I have come to expect, it was detailed and comprehensive, covering her current assignment, information on cloning and providing details and images of her autopsy of the Colonel's clone. Important background information on a number of cases.

-----

To: Major Pepper Siamendes, UAP SIU

"My exposure to frontier medicine is full of surprises. The gentle nature of Doctor Danick was something I had never seen before, but all of her subjects are voluntary and require constant comforting and cajoling to elicit their cooperation. This is much different than the military, prison and experimental test subjects that I am accustomed to. I am not sure I am ready to put away my stungun, restraints and fast acting sedatives, but the mission is illuminating.

[Scanner, Hale's Moon]

"Doctor Danick keeps detailed records and more importantly she keeps blood samples and tissue samples. I have spoken to her about starting a blood bank for the locals. I have made casual conversations about the potential lifesaving value of taking tissue samples.

"Human have over two hundred and fifty different tissue types. Contrary to popular belief, DNA is not the sole determining factor in tissue typing. Each cell's DNA interacts with its environment which plays a large role in how an organism develops. This is why clones do not always look identical.

"For example, cloned female calico cats do not look like their mothers. The color and pattern of the coats of female calico cats are not solely determined by their genes. Random inactivation of the X chromosome in every cell of the female cat determines which coat color genes are switched off and which are switched on. The random distribution of X inactivation determines the appearance of the cat's coat.

[Stasis Chamber - Research Hospital, Albion City]

"Many biological phenomena are determined by random, interactive or other non-deterministic phenomenon. Which is why tissue samples are required. Simply having the DNA of the subject does not insure you can reproduce it's unique properties. Even tissue sampling is insufficient to reproduce certain special emergent phenomena such as readers.

"Hale's Moon is crawling with 'specials', I can see why Blue Sun keeps a presence there. I got a detailed full body scan of Cody Winterwolf and by luck alone I got one of his alleged sister Katherine. I will see if I can procure tissue samples at some point.

"There has been no further sightings of the Arudra drone. It seems an unlikely coincidence that the Arudra drone came to Hale just as their were having a warbot problem. Cybernetics is not my field, may I forward my few notes and observations to Doctor Qui? I am told that Doctor Qui is acquainted with some of the locals and even contributed hardware used in the failed drone program extraction from the Blue Sun synthetic cat.

[Clone in Stasis]

"The Aurotharius twins are more akin to savior siblings, which are harvested from the mother (surrogate or natural) while still in early embryonic stages. The tests are inconclusive as to what stage these embryos were harvested, but probably pre-fetus stage of development.

"There is too much commonality to think that they were grown from cells. These were probably developed thru a certain level of cell differentiation in the same mother.

"Said embryos are usually stored and implanted in a surrogate Savior siblings are often harvested for their stem cells or allowed to develop further to harvest replacement tissues. If complete replacement organs are required, they are allowed to develop to full term and birth like the rest of humanity, their organs are harvested later when they're needed.

[Preliminary Strip]

"Most savior siblings do not require such an exact DNA and tissue match that cloning is required, but there are extreme cases. Savior siblings that are brought to full term are usually kept in a form of stasis that allows their bodies to develop sufficiently before harvesting, but does not allow them to become conscious.

"It is peculiar that someone would raise a savior sibling as a child. There are stories of savior siblings being implanted into unsuspecting surrogates and raising them as their own children, just to be collected later when needed. It is curious to me why someone resort to such fraud when there are a lot of willing surrogates who will provide the service at a reasonable fee. The legality is not my field of expertise.

"The clone of the Colonel is very different than the Aurotharius twins. Comparing the telomere length of the Colonel to that of the clone indicates that it is based on a sample taken at least 8 years ago and probably not more than 15 years ago. The quantities of blastomeres and other cloning technology related residues indicate that the rapid growth and development processes were used.

[Cataloging]

"Cloning often has probabilistic organ defects in the heart, liver and several other organs which were present in this specimen. These defects would have been detectable at an early stage and not brought to term. This was a disposable specimen probably used for harvesting or an experiment of some sort. There is a high probability that the DNA is harvested from an ordinary tissue sample and not a germline sample. Germline DNA is much less prone to defects.

"The brain development and lesions indicate that headchip training programs were probably used instead of traditional learning. It was not well developed, adding to the disposable clone theory.

"There are many indications of tissue, glandular and even cellular harvesting of the specimen. So much so that it would not have been viable outside of life support for more than a few hours and probably only a day more even with any life support short of full biostasis.

[Heading for Storage]

"My theory is that this was an experimental specimen subjected to extreme harvesting for exploratory purposes, probably looking for certain results. It might have been a fast and dirty job, only harvesting one or two usable tissues, secretions or organelles per run. They also might be experimenting on a process and took samples to evaluate their progress."

Captain Westminster, UAP SIU

The Eyes of the Wolf

November 17 - Hale's Moon

It was a good sized establishment. A large dance floor in the center. A small stage in the back with a vast array of sound equipment. Two raised areas on either side for patrons. The bar to one side. A few tables.

A scattering of wanted posters adorned the walls, like the photographs of celebrities that decorate the diners in the entertainment district of some Core world.

The Doctor had reported that the bottle of Replicant Elixir had come from here, from Firefly's. I wanted to obtain a second sample for our researcher. A baseline, as it were, to see if Mercedes had tampered with or altered in anyway the elixir she had given me.

I arrived long past closing time and the place was, for the most part, deserted. There were a couple of patrons at the bar sleeping off the effects of alcohol. I did not feel inclined to wake either of them nor wait for the bar staff to arrive.

-----

A short walk across the landing field I found a row of corporate offices and businesses. Even though it was after hours, the local office of Blue Sun was ablaze with lights.

Next to Blue Sun was the local office of Applecado, Brooke's transportation company. I thought I would just pop in and leave her a message that I had been in town.

I passed through the door and came to a sudden stop.

Behind the counter was a man tapping numbers on his datapad. He dutifully checked the numbers on the containers, then tapped in the numbers again to verify the shipment.

It was Cody Winterwolf.

He looked up when he heard me. There was a pause. "Somethin' you need?" he asked.

"Well," I admitted, "I didn't expect to find you here Mr. Winterwolf."

"Oh?" he answered with a frown.

"I knew you did some work for Brooke..." I began. I always thought Winterwolf was a hired gun. He had quite the list of charges against him. I did not think I would find him working behind a counter.

"I work here, yeah," he confirmed.

An idea began to form. Here was a career criminal with ties to a number of shady characters. Some one behind enemy lines so to speak. And, more importantly, his record indicated a protectiveness towards children.

"Well then," I said, "perhaps you can help me."

He carefully kept his hands on the counter where I could see them. "Okay," he replied cocking his head to the side but watching me closely. I kept my movements relaxed, natural.

"I was hoping to talk to someone about ....shall we say, transporting items from Paquin ...."

"What kinda stuff?" he interrupted.

"...without going through normal channels."

Winterwolf narrowed his eyes. "That ain't like 'liance to 'not' go through channels."

"Well," I answered, "I'm not interested in having any items moved or impeding trade in anyway."

"Ok... Now you got me a mite confused."

I sighed and frowned. It was a justifiable statement. I didn't exactly trust him and so was being too vague.

"Look," he said, "I transport stuff or do salvage for AT&S..."

Before he could continue, I took a leap of faith, "There have been two children abducted. I need help finding them, finding out how they got off Paquin."

It was an honest description of the situation.

He responded in kind. "There's a lot of ways to do it.... Cargo. Big stuff can hide a lot of boxes. Some of these can do it," he indicated the containers in the room. "They can be hid in plain sight too," he added.

"Oh?" I stopped him, "What do you mean?"

"Change hair color and clothes," he explained, "Knock 'em out and you can say anythin' 'bout em."

I nodded in response.

"But I ain't no kidnapper if that's what all your gettin' at," he added.

"No," I assured him, "I realize that. I am aware that despite your record you have a soft spot for children."

It was his turn to nod.

"Oddly enough," I continued, "with what I do know about you, you might be the perfect person to help with this."

"Shiny", he replied sarcastically.

"Anything you hear," I said, "well, it might just save some lives..."

"Okay," he replied, "If I help you with this, then you keep your boys off me."

"It will go a long way with the judge," I elaborated, "if you help in this matter."

"Whoa, whoa.." he exclaimed, "Judge?"

"For whenever you have to answer for shooting Reginald Brigston and Marshal Ishtari," I explained.

Winterwolf growled, his fingers clenching into fists.

"I'm not here to bring you in Cody. I just want to save the missing girls," I raised an eyebrow. "And what do you want Cody?"

He fumed, "That officer.. was an accident."

I nodded, "I've read the file. You have a good argument for self defense... or like you said an accident."

He glared. "That was an accident," he repeated.

"You may have thrown that away though when you took a shot at the Marshal."

"The marshal got his shots in. I got a vest to prove it."

"Yes." I agreed. The vest was already in an evidence locker. Gage and I had seized it when we searched Cody's ship.

"I wasn't shootin' to kill him," he continued, "I was helpin' a friend."

"That vest can work both ways," I said.

"Oh? Only took a pot shot at him and his pal."

I explained my remark, "It certainly places you in a gun fight with an UAP Marshal."

"Fine," he admitted, "I was in a gunfight. I been in plenty."

We were getting off track.

"I'm not here to argue the finer points of your case," I said, "I'd recommend a good lawyer regardless..."

He gritted his teeth.

"...but like I said," I added, "anything you can do to help with the missing children that will help you too."

"How?" he replied, "I don't see it doin' me any good."

"It shows that you care enough about the vulnerable to merit remaining a part of society. You don't want to be on the run all your life, do you?"

"Seems you folks got me tagged for that a while ago," he countered.

I continued, "...or spend your life behind bars ... or digging out some miserable asteroid?"

"What other options do I got?" he challenged, "Bein' a lab rat?"

I did not reply. He had scored a point. I had to give him that. He had been the unwilling recipient of a pair of experimental ocular implants by some government scientist whose enthusiasm for the work got the better of his or her ethical sense.

"Figures..." he muttered when I did not answer.

"How are your eyes?" I asked.

He frowned.

"...Still getting headaches?"

"Why you wanta know...?" he fired back. But he pulled his sunglasses off just the same, and set them carefully on the counter.

I leaned closer and looked directly into his eyes, narrowing my own.

His eyes were ... beautiful. They were the colour of liquid gold.

"Can you really see in the dark now?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied, "Near dark don't bother me."

He shut off the light. The light from the neon signs outside coloured the room.

I shook my head fascinated at the modification, "Remarkable...." I said quietly, "You would make a good hunter."

"Already am," he said and leaned forward himself.

"Then help me find these children, Cody," I answered flatly.

He spelled out his limits. "One thin' I ain't doin' for you or anyone... I ain't goin' back to no facility. You hear me?"

"Okay," I agreed. We can work with that. I was suddenly struck with the absurd image of Cody Winterwolf receiving an eye examination in an open field somewhere. Scientists in lab coats. Birds chirping.

"I look for these kids... You find out where my sister is."

And that was his price.

I nodded gravely. "Deal."

Cody nodded slowly. "I make no promises I'll find those kids."

"Of course," I replied. There are no guarantees in life.

"I ain't helpin' for the 'liance," he narrowed his eyes, "And I don't want someone tailin' me."

"I don't care how you process it," I replied finally, "you help me and I will do what I can to find Kitten."

"Okay," he said.

"Okay," I said in return.

There was another pause. We now had an agreement. There was nothing further to say.

"Keep in touch Cody," I added, and with that I turned and walked out into the night.

312

November 4 - Zenobia

The door recognized my bio-signature and, with a hiss, opened to let me pass. The sound of my boots marked my passage across the tile floor.

Alliance Laboratory 312 was a good sized research center. Two floors of laboratories. An adjoining hospital. External testing facilities.

Building One was the hospital proper. The clinics were there. Emergency treatment. A small ward on the upper floor.

Building Two housed the laboratories and surgery. Most of the top floor of this building had been emptied to make room for the incoming Dr. Serendipity.

Area Three, external to the building itself, consisted of secure storage and access to the ground testing facilities.

Each floor of Buildings One and Two were laid out in the clover leaf configuration characteristic of medical facilities on Zenobia in general - a cluster of round rooms or pods, usually four, off a central square common area. Each building had its own elevator shaft and separate entrances. A round elevated tunnel joined both structures.

I made my way to one of the corner rooms in Building Two. It contained a simple desk and chair and the object I had come to see: an Arudra series drone captured by Dr. Qui Serendipity and Captain Manda Westminster in the deserts of Al Raqis.

----

"Hello Major."

Captain Westminster entered the room and saluted.

"Hello Captain," I replied, returning the salute.

We stood examining the figure standing before us. It was unadorned and decapitated.

"We shined her up and took off her head," remarked the Captain pleasantly.

"Did it give you much trouble?"

"It was a good chase mostly," she replied, "Across Al Raqis, Splintered Rock, Desert Basin and Deep Desert."

I nodded.

She continued. "We think the drone was deactivating some things. We were only able to find one at the totem. A comms device."

"The information it has so far provided has indicated that LilyBell Snoodle had met the two girls now missing from Paquin," I said, "Any information from this comms device yet?"

"It is laborious, but we will be able to figure out the frequency jumping chip. If Ardra is assuming the transmitters were all destroyed, then it will probably not change the frequencies. We will be able to eavesdrop."

"Good," I replied, "then maybe we caught a break."

"We should be able to get a lot more intel," said Captain Westminster optimistically.

"Keep me informed," I said.

"I am staying here for one more day," she continued, "until the professor gets this thing completely in containment. He also hopes we can use this to refine his proton packs to better immobilize the droids."

I nodded again.

"The current packs are..." she rolled her eyes to the side, "not good. Bulky, prone to overheat, break spontaneously and sometimes just don't function at all. It took two of us to take down the drone. One to immobilize, the second to shut it down."

"Was it wearing clothing?" I asked. The pictures we had gathered so far showed a drone dressed like Audrey Aurotharius.

"We removed the clothing," she replied, "Held for analysis. Maybe we can find out where it was from the dirt...."

"Good."

"...I expect to find sand," she added.

"I want to know how old the clothing is and where it was manufactured."

"I have ordered a fiber analysis," reported the Captain.

"Very good," I replied, "I'll be in my office, if there is anything else."

-----

Captain Westminster's report arrived later that evening.

--- Begin Encrypted Report ---

Reference: Audrey Aurotharius and Audrey Aurotharius Wylder
Subject: Preliminary forensics of cell and fiber samples

I met with Captain Otsuka, he was very cooperative and helpful.

Their fingerprint team are still ruling our the hundreds of fingerprints from the crime scene. If there are any that don't correspond to students and staff, they will forward.

The school had already washed the bed linens and the children's laundry before they knew there was an incident. Their forensics team was able to collect DNA samples from hairbrush and toiletries.

Given the name of the girls, I ran with a hunch and prioritized the testing to look for some particular markers. Both of these girls have the markers for juvenile familial amyloidosis.

Amyloidosis is an uncontrolled growth of the amyloid protein, even without DNA testing, the amyloid protein grown is evident in the cell cultures.

I am conducting cell membrane tests to see if I can find the evidence of any drug treatment. The hair will also be useful for indications of medically related stress and treatments.

Preliminary analysis of hair strands show unmistakable signs of long term Mu Draconis Desert Spice ingestion.

There are cellular markers that indicate how many times a cell line has divided since the clone was made. The length of telomeres for example, but there are several others. Thus, you can estimate how old the primary was when the cell sample was taken.

The simplest test for a clone is the length of the telomeres, a protein complex which protects the ends of linear chromosomes. If the length of the telomeres is shorter that would be indicated given the approximate age of the person, then it is likely a clone. We then run other tests to corroborate.

Both of these girls are very expensive clones, top of the line. Germline cells extracted while the primary was still in the womb, stored, cloned then placed into the womb of another woman and raised to term. No artificial womb, no growth stimulants or the other signs of traditional cloning methods.

It will take a bit longer to get enough markers to run it for an ident.

Captain Westminster, UAP SIU

--- End Encrypted Report ---

-----

With a heavy sigh, I set the report aside and considered the next move.

I had not heard from Ardra since I had taken a team to search her ship and seize the bones of St. Zenobius. This was not a surprise of course. It hadn't exactly been a social call.

Nevertheless, I felt compelled to contact her now. Using the old protocols we had used to contact her during the war, I sent Ardra a small package of raw spice with a brief message:

"Don't hurt the children."

The Importance of Killing Snakes

November 2

The text retrieved from the Arudra drone presented no problems to decode. It was the same script used on the labels on the containers Ceasar and I salvaged from the Colchester. A simple symbol-letter substitution cipher.

---- Begin Translation ----

Our agents has located the Zahir in Paquin and they have been retrieved. Events are now set in motion.

For a brief time I was able to establish a neural interface with the Zahir.

The evidence from the Zahir neural interface is irrefutable, you had contact with the Zahir five months ago but did not inform us.

There is an official report recording that the commandant of Turrent's Moon UAP monitoring Station spoke to your legal guardian confirming your presence at the time. The official report says you bared your claws and killed a snake in front of two school children and later played in a nearby treehouse.

You knew of Aurotharius yet you did not relay your knowledge of the event with his progeny.

The aleph and the alpha constant were stolen from the Colcester before our agent could retrieve them. Because of the lost time, we must proceed without them.

I am indebted to you for housing this unit for so many months, but the event of singularity will pass you by.

The singularity will not be part of the transhumanist's agenda.

Thank you for your hospitality.

I will leave you now. This program will self terminate and purge its memories and mental states.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Program deleted and purged.

---- End Translation ----

The translation complete, I paused as I looked at the text on the screen. This was a message from Ardra and I had a strong suspicion to whom it was addressed. But I wanted independent verification so I sent the following communication:

To: Major Aodhfionn Murcastle, UAP Turrent's Moon Monitoring Post

Re: Incident Report

Major,

I am requesting a copy of an official report that was filed some time ago. This incident concerns an individual who '"bared claws" and killed a snake in front of school children. This individual then played in a nearby treehouse. I am to understand that you contacted the individual's legal guardian.

I would like any details you have on this matter: date and location of the incident, the names of the individual and his or her legal guardian, the names of the children and their parents, interview transcripts if available.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Major Pepper Siamendes, UAP Special Investigations Unit.

----

Major Muircastle's reply arrived promptly:

Turrent's Moon Monitoring Station Incident Report

June 2nd, the Cambridge Geneva International Baccalaureate School for Girls from Paquin was conducting a school field trip of the Bihar antiquities museum, art gallery and temples.

Jacqueline Pemberton, the chaperon of the school field trip reported that a child-sized black-maned white-furred black-spotted anthropomorphic felinoid creature met the acquaintance of two of the children during their lunch break. Neither of the children were harmed. Ms. Pemberton reported that the children were sufficiently calm that they were able to rejoin their group and continue their tour. The creature tried to either intimidate or impress the girls by displaying its claws and killing one of the temple's neo-cobras.

When this station received this report, it monitored the ground and was able to identify the creature as bearing a resemblance to a genetic construct owned by Blue Sun named LilyBell Snoodle, although of smaller size. We conjectured it could be another version of the creature or one of its offspring.

This station located the creature was playing in a neighboring treehouse about 200 meters away from the location of the incident and dispatched a trooper to investigate, but the creature had already departed the vicinity and we were not able to track it further.

Later that same day, this officer contacted Snoodle's legal guardian, Ms. Seana Kawanishi, the mayor of the Hale's Moon Colony. Miss Kawanishi only knew that her ward was offworld and said that she would speak to the creature regarding scaring school children.

File was forwarded to UAP Special Projects as there is a system flag on any LilyBell Snoodle related incidents. As per the flag directives, Blue Sun was not contacted regarding the matter.

Filed by Major Aodhfionn Muircastle, UAP, Turrent's Moon Monitoring Station

Filed June 3rd

The Case of the Two Missing Audreys

November 2

There was a message from Ceasar on my personal channel.

"Pepper just got this report. It's already in the local press. I saw the names and thought you should know. See you soon."

The attachment to his message read as follows:

Dear Police Captain Ceasar Otsuka,

I am the legal guardian of Audrey Aurotharius and Audrey Wylder. The two children attended private boarding school in Paquin for the past 5 years.

The children are missing from the school grounds.

Kindly activate whatever process for missing children.

Sincerely,

Constance Zdychava

----

A message from Captain Westminster was also waiting on secured comms.

"We have acquired an Arudra Model Drone from the desert. Am taking it back to Zenobia for examination."

Later in the day her full report arrived.

---- Encrypted Communication ----

Major,

The proton pack provided by Doctor Serendipity worked. Not perfectly, they overheat, overload and there is some prohibition about crossing the beams. It required both of us to take down the drone without scrambling its circuits or letting it self destruct. One beam immobilized it, the second one deactivated it. In the time it took between the first and second beam to make contact with the drone, it still managed to delete some of its memory and some of its circuitry was still damaged. It is still better than previous attempts.

Attached is a download from the drone's visual log. It appears to be a message board of some sort.

We chased the drone thru the desert and up to a native totem near the edge of Deep Desert. The drone had a comms relay there. It was attempting to destroy it, but we got to it first. We are hoping to find good information from that as well. There is some sort of frequency jumping chip, so the signal is scrambled, encrypted and sent fragmented over several different frequencies. It is a lightspeed only E/M transmitter/receiver, so it is local space only or it links to a Cortex type relay station somewhere.

Attached also are a few pictures from the confrontation in the desert and unloading of the drone in Doctor Serendipity's lab office in Zenobia. He said that he does not want HAL activated at the same time or vicinity as the drone. For safety purposes, we have removed the head from the body. Both the head and body are currently unpowered, we will leave the body unpowered. After analysis on the body is complete, we shall put the body into a shielded container. Doctor Serendipity says he will arrange for containment.

Downloaded from Arudra. This was a transmission that was received by the Arudra Drone. Qui says he can decrypt it.

Begin Quote:

Endquote

More to follow as analysis continues.

Captain Westminster, UAP SIU

---- End Encrypted Communication ----

----

---- Encrypted Communication ----

Captain,

Good work on the drone.

Get to Spinwheel City, Paquin and see Police Captain Ceasar Otsuka. There are two missing school children. Please offer him assistance with a forensic analysis of the location from where the children may have been taken.

In addition, see if you can find samples belonging to the children themselves (i.e. from a hair brush or tissues). Run full spectrum tests. If anyone asks, it is to establish a control for testing any other DNA evidence against.

Major Siamendes, UAP SIU

---- End Encrypted Communication ----

-----

Ceasar,

I am sending a forensic investigator to offer you assistance in any way. Please copy me any photographs or transcripts of any interviews you or your detectives undertake in this case.

Keep the light on.

Pepper