IO Vapoura - Part II: Non-finite

  Nariaki tapped nervously on the rail. It was a habit he'd developed whenever waiting. He pulled out his vid again and opened the sim. Before running it, he checked the memory cell count against the stems... just one more time. The green lights indicated one success after another, yet did little to calm him. The physical results were what he waited on.
  Minutes later, a tone from his vid announced an incoming file. As if the data represented the patient herself, Nariaki said aloud, "There you are, Sahra. Let's see how you're doing. Cell count remains the same, all sensory tests passed, consumption still high... heh... even after three months... and... and glowing?"
  Nariaki puzzled over that last word. It had been left in the patient's comments field. "Glowing?" He mentally boxed the word away, scanning to the doctors' summary: "Zero mutation. All tests indicate her body remains identical to our scans three months previously. Incisions from that time cannot be detected. I know you're reading this, Nariaki. Yes. Her body is in a constant state of remembering itself."
  The emotions rose with every word. Disbelief turned to doubt, then doubt gave way to gratitude and relief. Finally, Nariaki unboxed that last word again. Glowing.
  Sending the reply, Nariaki waited on the comm to connect. The grinning face of Miles popped onto his screen a second later, asking at once, "You've gone over the file I take it?"
  Nodding, Nariaki replied, "It's stable. We're not in the clear at three months, but zero derivation? No mutation? I just couldn't hold out hope for a 'perfect' like this... not on the first try. But what is this part about 'glowing'?"
  Miles laughed. "She's not glowing. She said she feels like she's glowing."
  "Is she still there?"
  "Yeah, Jen wanted to run some more tests. They're here now."
  Nariaki was smiling. "You're both doctors to the end. Always more tests. Trust me though... I understand. Can you give her my comm when you're done?"
  "Yeah, should be any minute. You're celebrating, right? I know where you hide in the gardens and work can wait 'til tomorrow."
  Nariaki let the vid slip a little, looking around himself as if for the first time. "I'm not hiding."
  "Of course not", said Miles. "You're lost. Stay there, I'll come get you in a bit."
  The feed ended, his vid returning to the open file.
  Nariaki began tapping the rail, waiting for the call while going over the data again. Suddenly, he stopped tapping, looking down at his finger. He tapped one more time, harder. A metallic sound reverberated throughout the hollow piping of the rail.
  Metal.
  This must be one of the first gardens built in the city, back when they still used metal. Miles really did know where he was. Nariaki sighed in defeat. A celebration couldn't hurt too much.
  He looked out at the plants hanging in columns just beyond the railings. Almost no one but the gardeners came down here. There were too many areas exposed to the open sky. Botany and structural engineering were beyond Nariaki's own specialties. As such, this place fascinated him and kept his mind in action. Also, the plants reminded him of the sunken city of his life before. In fact, this could be the only place in all the floating city of Halcyon that brought him near to that memory.
  His vid toned, waking him from his revelry. Sahra's eyes met his own. By her expression, she may as well have been actually glowing. "Hi doc", she said.
  Nariaki ignored the misplaced title. Miles had likely put her up to it. "How are you doing? We know what the scans show and have heard what the numbers have to say, but how do you feel?"
  She grunted. "Hungry! I've been eating like five times a day."
  "That's expected. Your body needs more energy to maintain itself. Change up your meals so you don't get tired of eating them."
  Sahra looked offended. "Oh, I don't think I'll ever get tired of eating. I'm just tired of being hungry."
  Nariaki raised an unamused eyebrow. "Are you going to be able to live with it?"
  Sahra raised two unamused eyebrows. "Can I live with it for a few hundred years? I dunno, ask me again in fifty."
  "And what's this about glowing?"
  "I'm telling you, I'm glowing. It's like warmth coming right out of my fingertips. I'm... glowing."
  Nariaki paused, mentally searching for the source of this "glowing" sensation. Sahra grew impatient, tapping on her vid from the other side. "Doc? Hey doc, back here, back to Sahra." When she had his attention again, she asked, "Am I gonna be alright? Are we gonna share this with the humans?"
  "The humans." How quickly the word "the" had come to symbolize the divide in their species, denoting a "they"--a "them"--and excluding the "us". Nariaki let the expression pass over him, returning to the conversation at hand.
  "Yes, this process should work on any human still undergoing the rapid changes of adolescence. But no, we're not sharing it with the ones below. Anything we've tried sharing has been rejected. The few who took our gifts were killed for their trust. And yes, you'll be alright. You'll be hungry and you'll be glowing, but you'll be alright. You're no immortal, but you are non-finite.
  "Who knows how long you'll live."

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