Chapter 13

“Alright,” said Natalia as she blew out some air, “Here goes nothing.”

She stepped deliberately on the disturbance with the pointy heel of her high heeled shoe and the enormous door swung slowly open.

The room was dark except for the minuscule lights which lit the three chairs.

“Pam, “ Natalia asked somewhat taken aback by the sinister look of the room, “Do you have night vision?“

“Yes, “ she whispered, “there’s nothing else in the room. No windows, nothing.“

“You are not the mediator,” an eerie voice sneered which sounded right in middle of Natalia’s head.

“Did you hear that as well Pam?“ She asked her companion.

“Yes, that is cunningly freaky, “ Pamela whispered, “How the hell is that possible?“

“Don’t know but I better say something, “ she told her companion.

“Hi,” said Natalia with an upbeat tone, “I’m Natalia Bloom, nice to meet you at last. With whom do I have to pleasure of speaking?”

There was a long silence before the voice hesitantly responded, “My name can’t be expressed in sounds but you may call me Thymea.”

Natalia bowed slightly as she said with a reverent tone, “I’m honored to speak with you Thymea.”

“What is it what you want to speak about?”

“May I ask you a few questions? I assure you that the answers to those questions are very relevant for what I want to address with you, Thymea.”

“You may ask.”

“How many light years is your home planet away from earth?”

“The distance to the first colony of our species is 750.25 light years.”

“Thank you for your kind answer, Thymea.” Natalia as she bowed again, “Am I correct to assume that Enzuinia is much closer to earth?”

“Yes, Enzuinia is 0.05 light years away from your planet.”

“That is very interesting. How much time does a vessel of your kind need for traveling from your home planet to Earth?”

“An intergalactic vessel can overcome the distance in moments.”

“Thank you for your answers Thymea. As promised I’ll address my concerns which will not only affect the Earth’s population but also you and your brethren here on Earth.”

Natalia took a deep breath and blew it out again. She started to speak with a neutral yet soothing tone. “You are stuck on our planet for more than 700 years and you’ve survived it for this long but there is always a danger you will not survive.”

Natalia deliberately stopped for a moment hoping she was correct.

The voice was less sharp as it said, “Please continue your story, Miss Bloom.”

“I will Thymea. You have created Enzuinia as a base to house and train the different androids to keep the Earth as a safe haven for your species. As time progressed the people living on the Earth were getting more educated with the devastating result that the Earth was getting more and more polluted but it also prevented the androids from doing their work properly.”

Thymea responded hesitantly, “Your story so far is accurate.”

“Well, Thymea,” said Natalia, “My estimation is that the GIS will cease to exist within a few years and I believe that your brethren will not receive your distress signal for another 50 years. Without the GIS or a badly functioning GIS the Earth’s pollution will grow rapidly which will result in you probably not surviving and your kind will arrive too late to rescue you.”

“Holy cow, Nat!“ Pamela whispered, “Are you sure that is the case?“

“I’m pretty sure of it, but let’s see what our lovely Thymea has to say about that.“

“Your concern is valid,” Thymea spoke softly, “What is your proposal to prevent the GIS from failing?”

“Well firstly I think you should restore all of the type R androids and treat them as human beings.”

“But they are far from perfect!” protested Thymea.

“Oh?” Said Natalia surprised, “Who is perfect, actually?”

“The new recruits, after they have received the nanites their bodies will be restored to perfection.”

“Why do you think that a perfectly restored human being would serve the GIS better than the type R androids?” asked Natalia softly.

“If they are perfect, others will admire and listen to them,” Thymea spoke with an authoritative voice.

“Thymea,” Natalia said flatly, “Currently the major polluters on Earth don’t care about beauty and perfection, they only care about financial gain.”

“Preposterous!” Thymea exclaimed, “What use is monetary gain if one would suffer the consequences?”

“Because they live far away from the polluting factories they control and they don’t care what the long lasting effects will be. Those sad bastards only live a relatively short life of about 60 to 70 years. But surely you are aware of those cases. The ones who will pay the price are you Enzuins and the poor who cannot afford protection from their pollutants a generation or two from now.”

“What is going on here Nat?“ Pamela asked horrified, “Has Thymea lost his mind?“

“No, “ said Natalia pensively, “I think they are working in shifts.“

“Huh?“ her companion reeled in confusion, “What do you mean with that?“

“You’ll find out soon enough, “ Natalia said mischievously.

“Thymea,” Natalia said with a soothing tone hoping it would have the desired effect, “For how long have you been representing your group on Earth?”

There was a long silence before Thymea gave an answer. His voice sounded reluctant as he confided, “I’ve was assigned this function 25 years ago.”

“I see,” said Natalia, “Was your brethren, who occupied this function previously, so kind as to brief you on the current situation?”

“He was,” Thymea admitted, “But it seems I’ve missed a few important details in these matters.”

“OMG!“ Pamela exclaimed, “That is the understatement of the century!“

“Pam, “ aimed Natalia to her friend, “Please, you’re very distracting at the moment!“

“Oops, “ Pamela whispered, “Sorry!“

Natalia managed to keep a straight face, not really knowing what Thymea could see, as she tried to say calmly, “Those things can happen, Thymea and I think we can work this out.”

“Why do you want to restore the type R androids?” asked Thymea.

“They have the experience and the knowledge which we desperately need at this moment,” Natalia explained, “The GIS is on the brink of being totally ineffective due to lack of trained personnel.”

“It does make sense,” Thymea reluctantly admitted, “But how are we going to accomplish that?”

“Can you contact them, Thymea?” Natalia asked.

“We can,” Thymea confirmed, “There is an emergency protocol we could use.”

“Excellent,” she said enthusiastically, “But we need to come up with a catching story to get them to come to the GIS. I think we need to discuss that with the mediator and my anchor.”

The Enzuin was silent for a long moment before he said softly, “I think you’re correct. The senior GIS members can help you with this problem.”

“Thank you Thymea,” said Natalia, “I’m pleased you agree to help. But there’s one little thing I would like solved, and it is something only you can fix.”

“Please state your concern Miss Bloom,” he said.

“You are aware I’m a hybrid,” Natalia started her story.

“I am,” the Enzuin replied flatly, “You’re hosting android R2520 and you’ve refused to purge the nanites.”

“Yes,” Natalia answered sincerely, “As soon as I heard Pamela’s story, I decided to be a host for her.”

“I’m afraid I do not see the benefit of a human form being used to host the nanites of a type R android.”

“Ah, but I do!” said Natalia full of passion, “Because there’s another threat which is aimed at the new recruits of the GIS.”

“Please elaborate why you as a hybrid can solve this problem.”

“Simple,” Natalia said confidently, “We are stronger with the two of us as sentient beings in one body. One can concentrate on a task as the other one keeps guard: and having the capability to rapidly change my appearance will be an extra boon.”

“Which can be executed much faster if I have enough nanites, “ added Pamela.

“Good point Pam, “ aimed Natalia to her friend.

“You did not address the issue Miss Bloom,” the Enzuin stated dryly.

“You’re correct Thymea,” said Natalia soothingly, “I was getting there, I merely explained the benefits of being a hybrid. But the point is that, due to current circumstances, Pamela’s count is down to 30 percent and we would be much better doing the job if her count was brought back to 100 percent; especially with the speed I can change appearances which will improve considerably, along with my survivability.”

There was a long silence.

“Did we upset him?“ asked Pamela.

“I don’t know, “ murmured Natalia, “I guess Thymea is thinking about it or he’s checking out the facts.“

The silence became ear deafening and it looked like the Enzuin had left the conversation. Suddenly a small window in the wall lit up which startled Natalia to the core, making her jump.

“We came to a consensus, Miss Bloom,” Thymea responded, “We will provide you extra nanites.”

Before Natalia could say anything there was a soft hiss coming from the lit up window which suddenly looked like a small cabinet. Natalia stared at the contents, recognizing the distinctive shape of the 3 jars wondering why there were so many.

“Thank you, Thymea,” said Natalia politely.

It stayed silent and a few seconds later the massive exit door slowly opened.

“Oh! Okay, “ said Pamela, “It seems our little chat is finished now.“

“Apparently, “ Natalia grumbled, “At least he could’ve bid us goodbye.“

“No matter, “ said Pamela eagerly, “Let’s get my little friends into your body.“

“Oh really, Miss impatience?“ bantered Natalia as she walked to the cabinet, “And how are we going to do that?”

“Simple, “ said Pamela confidently, “Open one and gently stick as many fingers as you can into the jar.“

As soon as Natalia reached the cabinet the glass door silently slid up, disappearing from view.

“Is there a specific jar you want me to stick my fingers in first?“ Natalia asked jokingly.

“The left one please, “ Pamela almost sang.

She picked up the left jar and carefully examined the mechanism of the lid then pressed the little round button on top of the jar. The top opened like an iris and Natalia could see a silvery liquid which seemed to form little ripples on its surface.

“You want to put my fingers in that?“ Natalia asked in disgust.

“Hell yeah!“ Pamela said enthusiastically, “You won’t feel a thing!“

She stared at the moving liquid and, knowing it would help her companion, she slowly moved her fingers towards the opening of the jar.

“Here goes nothing,” she whispered and closed her eyes as she stuck her fingers in the cold liquid.

“That’s it Nat, “ Pamela said soothingly, “Just bring your fingers a little deeper.“

Natalia shivered as she felt her arm getting cooler as the nanites traveled up into her body.

“Brilliant, “ Pamela chirped, “The jar is now empty. Just move your arm and flex a little bit and the cold feeling will quickly disappear.“

“Are they the right type Pam?“ Natalia asked, concerned.

“Yup!“ Pamela sighed happily and asked eagerly, “Ready for the next one?“

“Alright, “ sighed the redhead and opened the next jar. She decided to use her left hand to let the nanites enter her body and resolutely plunged her fingers into the mercury looking liquid.

Deciding to get it over with as soon as possible, she opened the last jar as well and slipped her free hand into it.

“Oh wow, “ Pamela gushed, “This is different!“

“Too much at the same time?“ teased Natalia.

“No, “ Pamela said slowly, “The last jar has a different kind of nanites although they have my signature.“

“What’s the difference?“ asked Natalia a little panicked.

“Not sure yet, “ Pamela said distractedly, “Oh, they seem to have spread all over your skin!“

Natalia looked at her hand and was shocked to see her skin had a silvery sheen.

“Pam!” Natalia shouted, “Look at my hands, they are silver!”

Panicked, she lifted her T-shirt; and to her dismay, the skin of her stomach had the same metal like sheen.

“Oh, shit!“ Pamela gushed, “Give me a minute. I need to reorganize my structure before I can connect to them.“

Devastated, Natalia looked at the empty jars as she suddenly recalled the last sentence Thymea had spoken: “We will provide you ‘extra’ nanites.”

“Nat, it’s okay,” said Pamela soothingly, “I’ve connected to 1 percent of them and I’ve found out they are a kind of armor.“

“But I look like a metal android now Pam!“ Natalia sighed, “What use is it to have body armor if I look like a freak?“

“Hey Nat, relax. They look silvery because they not connected to me yet. Let me start to connect with the armor nanites in your face and hands first.“

“Oh okay, “ she said somewhat subdued, “How long do you think it will take?“

“Why don’t we walk back Nat, “ her companion suggested, “By the time we reach Gregory’s office, I think I’ll have it sussed out.“