Cutlass Sharpened (8 page)

“
Enough with the pissing
contest boys.” Stone and the Hunters knew that tone and moved away.
She strode forward and Oliver stopped, saw she was fine then went
to grab her. Renee smacked his hand away and he looked at it.
Oliver tried again and she smacked his hand away even harder. Added
a shock the third time. “Don’t try grabbing me again like that
Oliver.”

He tried, but suddenly found himself forced
to the ground by something heavy, but saw nothing. His wild eyes
flew around in fear… until locking his gaze upon green ones lit
with an inner light and her pulled back hair raised as if by wind.
Somehow he knew she was the one doing this. She smiled when he
relaxed, but didn’t expect him to smile and say “Renee different.
Renee no need Oliver to keep Stone Calliko, Steven Metts and Deegen
Castor from hurts. Oliver content Renee in no danger. Renee
strong.”

“
Quick learner.” Renee’s
eyes dimmed to their natural luster and the pressure holding him
down lifted. He stood up, but learned his lesson. “Oliver, I have
just one rule you need to follow. Do as I say and I won’t kick your
ass.” He didn’t respond as he struggled to understand. Renee didn’t
continue confusing the poor man. “Stephanie, please tell me my
patient stayed still for the exam?”

“
Yes. When it finished not
ten seconds before the boys showed up. It was tense there for
awhile, but it seems Oliver heard me introduce our Hunters’ full
names when you happened to step out.”

“
Fine. Boys, go into the
decontamination room and give a blood sample. You know the drill.
When you pass I want you to leave the med bay. No
questions.”

“
You heard her.” Said Stone
as they went into the room that cleaned them of alien pathogens,
stepped out and placed their palms down on a plate where
micro-needles took samples, found nothing to indicate a compromised
immune system their nanites couldn’t handle and gave a green light.
They filed out of the room under the withering glare of Renee and a
humored Sparky.

“
So what now?” Stephanie
asked, sitting with the sword and cloth.

“
Did you give a sample?” The
woman nodded. Renee sat down in her swivel chair and crossed her
legs, hooking one ankle behind the other out of habit. “Then go
wind down. We’ve had a more than interesting day. I’m going to keep
Oliver under observation till morning shift at oh eight hundred. He
needs a lot done and I need to understand the depths of his
condition. I’ll send Papa my recommendation and full analysis as
soon as I unravel this mystery.”

“
Send me a layman’s copy too
please.” Renee nodded as the woman got up. “Oliver,” He turned and
Stephanie was thrilled he responded to a name given not even forty
minutes ago. “If it is alright with you, may I borrow your
Star-saber and this material? I promise to return it.”

“
Return? Like Renee leaving
through that?” He pointed to the smooth white door.

“
Yes, precisely.
These
are
yours.”

Renee was lifting a cup of water to her lips
from a drink dispenser as he said “Mine? Like Renee?” The medic
choked and spewed water in a fine mist. Stephanie doubled over
laughing at Renee’s colored cheeks going as red as her hair and
making the freckles disappear.

“
Now listen here!” Renee was
more embarrassed than mad, but took the frustration out on him.
“I’m a person. Not an object. I do not belong to anyone let alone
you.”

“
Who do I belong to
then?”

Those words were a blow so strong no punch
could match. Renee’s anger vanished faster than Stephanie’s laugh.
The two women looked to each other and spoke without words as
people so close only could. The words were exactly those she had in
the shower. Renee decided to be truthful. “Oliver I’m sorry, but I
don’t know. Not yet anyway. You could have a family or even
friends. But until I can find out, I’ll be responsible for
you.”

“
Oliver belongs to Renee?”
he asked.

“
For now.” She clarified and
noticed Stephanie slip out, items in hand. “Oliver, you can tell
people your name, but don’t reference yourself. It is not a good
habit to make. People will be concerned if you talk about yourself
in the third person.”

He cocked his bald head. Renee knew she was
going to develop a sigh habit with him as she did it again, but
couldn’t blame him. “Come sit beside me. Chair requirement. Place
within conversation distance of mine.” She said, looking up.

The hole in the ceiling
opened again and down floated an identical, comfortable chair which
landed in the mostly empty room. He sat down and tried crossing his
legs like her, only to grimace and grab his
not
so tiny phallus she remembered
earlier. “It’s alright. Most men don’t cross their legs knee to
knee. This would be more comfortable for you.” She adjusted ankle
to knee and he was much more grateful. As his right arm moved, she
saw the peeking of black from the vambrace Stephanie called a
multi-tool and had an idea. “Oliver, do you know what that is on
your right arm?” he drew the sleeve back and looked at it to shake
his head. “It is extremely valuable and has near infinite uses. Do
you know how it works?” he again shook his head. “From what little
I remember, it’s connected to the wearers desires. If you want
something enough, it will create it. You must have really wanted to
understand and it took words from Deegen’s mind and gave it to you.
I’m not a patient woman and I loathe talking down to someone who
doesn’t deserve it… I can’t believe I’m considering this, but…
Oliver, I want you to want to speak better. Will yourself to make
that multi-tool help you to learn. To understand.”

Oliver blinked and hated feeling so distant.
He wanted to have knowledge, much more than now. He needed to speak
better… to understand more complex words. To not be so lost when
everyone around could talk so fluidly and not ask oddly like he
did.

The thing on his arm became warmer, like the
shower earlier. It didn’t do that before.

Brain-hacker shot a thin sucker a meter long
on Renee’s head, staying momentarily longer as it absorbed a more
complex desire for its host then left her with a minor hickey dead
center of her forehead. It would dissipate minutes later. After
retracting it shot again, this time attaching to his head.

Information downloaded through complex
synapses, mirroring Renee’s pathways and associations. He copied
all her words, sentence structure and could now understand human
emotions. His mind took and stored it all, committing everything as
if it were his all long. But he didn’t steal her memories of
people, places history, or personal experiences. Brain-hacker could
only allow its host to understand another, not copy who they
were.

It would have resulted in an abomination.

Renee understood what Deegen admitted earlier
as she saw her own life flash in a strange blur coupled with
dizziness and a few deep breaths later recovered. She was again
astounded to hear him say “Renee, I’m not sure I should do it again
anytime soon. My joints coupled with atrophied muscles and an
intensified migraine from learning proper Standard English has made
me require sleep. Do I have your permission to sleep so I may
assimilate all I learned and can recover?”

She heard herself breathlessly say “Go
ahead.” while internally feeling separated from her own body as one
part was overjoyed it worked better than she dared dream, another
worried in his compromised condition it was too much and lastly was
too stunned to do anything else.

Oliver rubbed his neck and stood up to go lay
down on the warm, comfortable bed of gelatin. As soon as his eyes
closed he fell asleep.

Sparky was patient for
several minutes and when Renee had yet to pull herself back to the
here and now he thought
“My Friend, now is
not the time to be dumbfounded. By now the entire ship will be
fully aware of all that transpired below on the desert planet. Let
him rest. But now you need to make him healthy. To do that you must
discover how to best make it possible in the shortest time. I also
suggest you constantly monitor during his slumber. I saw what you
did after Deegen was touched by the dark object. His mind will be
likely doing similar and we both know how dangerous overstimulation
can be to a normal mind… let alone one in his
condition.”

Several more concentrated breaths stopped a
minor panic attack before turning on the proudly laying Drake.
“Thanks for the kick in the ass. I needed it.”

“
My pleasure.”
Sparky mentally laughed and hissed quietly. Renee
lovingly flicked him off and turned around.

Running the download
sequence to her chip she got up to walk around a cleared space,
crafting holograms within her mind. Sparky saw too, but for anyone
else it would seem Renee was aimlessly walking around staring at
bare white walls. She audibly began recording her findings while
also dropping the hovering ball from before to continuously scan
him. Her voice was normal, but not so loud as to startle him awake.
As she talked she noticed his heart rate slowing and smiled
thinking absently
He is soothed by my
voice.

“
New patient under Medic
Renee Dorgen of the Dorgenox. Name Oliver. Discovered within the
chamber of an extinct volcano in some form of stasis as yet to be
confirmed. The stasis was biology in nature rather than cryo.
Patient was prolonged to an undetermined time and has lost much
muscle mass. Readouts suggest due to size and skeletal structure of
the patient to be estimated at a ninety three percent muscle mass
loss.

“
Upon reviving, patient
showed signs of massive amnesia and was primal at best. I was
forced to administer a gentle sedative for his own safety. During
retrieval he was then taken hold of by an object called a
multi-tool which then attached a suction cup-like tube to First
Class Hunter Deegen Castor’s head and then removed with no
lingering effects, but then the object gave words to the
subject.

“
Upon extraction we were
under attack by a Beast and the subject came out of the sedative’s
effects and defeated the Beast in a single strike by a psionic
weapon discharge wave to then consume its brain matter till we were
forced to leave.

“
Subject then displayed
rudimentary comprehension of our language and a willingness to
cooperate, especially after forming an attachment to myself.” Renee
blinked rapidly, but continued pacing and audibly reading results.
“Subject displays a left-handed dominance and rapidly learns my
mimicking and retains knowledge. My theory is that his unnaturally
forced amnesia allows for memories to develop at a rate as of yet
to be determined.

“
Subject’s scans are
questionable at best. His skeletal frame is indeed human but his
bone density is like nothing I’d expect from one his size. Core
body temperature is a normal thirty seven Celsius. His bone density
I’d expect to be three to four times Standard gravity like the
Hunter-born worlds, but Subject’s density is nine times denser
despite appearances. Muscle atrophy percentage may need to be
adjusted accordingly.” Her brow furrowed for she had never seen
someone with bones so dense. “Subject’s muscle structure at the
moment to be human with no known deviations, but his tendons and
cartilage appears to have exceedingly above average reactions,
likely needing to work on extreme gravity environments.
Flexibility, undetermined at this point. Anatomy is proportional
and shows no sign of alteration.”

Renee switched to another readout and nearly
choked, but with Sparky’s help she continued undaunted. “Subject’s
immune system is off my charts. I see signs of him already adapting
to pathogens and are immune to everything exposed to all he’s
endured since being revived. I find no other signs of virus or
harmful bacteria. Meaning antibodies already destroyed them. Must
research. If my breath and touch on a person not immune and
suddenly becomes so, must be studied.

“
Also of great note, Subject
shows no genetic markers associated with gene therapy or splicing,
but has the two extra chromosomes made available for
bio-immortality and cellular regeneration. It seems
inherited
by birth.
Subject is a medical conundrum I’ll dedicate to
understanding.

“
As assumed by first class
Hunter Stone Calliko, Subject Oliver is likely associated to an
early Hunter programs. Subject’s amazing immune system negated
Beast brain poison consumed earlier. Like Hunters, cannot consume
complex carbohydrates like bread without severe physical reaction
of rejection. Subject is a complete carnivore like all true
Hunters. Most likely cannot even consume any form of flora. In my
opinion the protein needed will aid Subject’s mental development
and regeneration.

“
Already preparing synthetic
intravenous solution to feed his weakened body.

“
Lastly, scans show minimal
psionic ability at this time. It may increase, but at the moment is
a class one. And he has no form of standard com implant.

“
End primary
assessment.”

Charts, grids and lines vanished from her
field of vision as everything was stored for future reference.
Renee then walked over to where he slept and for the first times of
many asked “What the hell are you, Oliver?”

Chapter 3

A soft beep had Oliver’s consciousness push
sleep aside and his eyes fluttered open. Compared to when he had
fallen asleep he now felt no pain. Breathing came effortless in
comparison too. He had to close his eyes quickly as the hovering
in-depth ball scanner was sending beams of light that falsely
hurt.