Trying To Get By Ch. 03

Ksana noticed some urine leakage. "She was afraid for her life, obviously.

She reached and carefully removed the frontal pelvic armour plate which appeared undamaged. Looking at what was underneath, she said, "Unusual ... "

"Very unusual," she said, "By the dates, she should have hair. They must have killed the follicles so nothing grew. Maybe someone wanted this."

The others stopped and looked for a moment before looking at one another.

"Modification," Sveta decided. "Her bio says she was originally modified some time ago to be pleasure 'borg of a sort. A notation states it was done in exchange for keeping her alive. It must still have been legal there - or it was in a place where they don't care.

In exchange for staying alive, she was made into sex toy. Decision was not hers; she was in induced coma state at the time. Next of kin - mother - signed for her, probably was not told what was planned."

She sighed, "Probably fake like her modification serial ID. Probably was not even real mother."

She looked further, "Deactivated for attempted murder of patron who paid for her modification. Not big surprise, I think.

"Sold for scrap and kept for some time in stasis, location indicates machinery storage. She pointed to some old damage.

"That could have been a 'bot junkyard or a cyborg storage and sales warehouse where she was alone in the dark and not able to move for a long time, living on protein shots whenever anyone remembered to feed her one. That can be hard on a mind," Tahnyal said quietly, shaking her head.

She pointed, "Rodent damage."

"Looks recent," Sveta said, "There were mice in snow nearby, most of them probably waiting for fire to burn itself out."

"Fire damage to her spine is light - surprisingly," Tahnyal said, "Mostly just destruction of covers and a lot of lube burning off. Nothing that I can't fix there. Her limbs were blown off and I've seen very little that I can even do anything with in the pieces that were brought back.

But the shot in the back itself didn't do much - other than set her on fire."

Sveta read a little more, "Most of her history after being put into stasis is corrupt. As a time reference, she was purchased from different place not long before we were captured."

She looked up, "She was bought by ... a Yautja. Why? They do not use human-types for pleasure."

"Maybe he or she has a kink," Prallah said as she walked in dragging a cart of more body parts. "This is all that I found, between some far-flung bits that must have been blown off when she was hit. The rest is from here ... what I could find in here and what Nika donated from her spares. I don't know yet if any of it's functional."

She put some pieces on a table and began to run test diagnostics.

"Most shooter damage was to extremities, "Ksana said, "Breasts and front are undamaged which is big surprise looking at rest of everything."

Ksana thought about things as she looked at the damage. "She was shot from the back.

"She was running away when she was shot!"

She turned her head away and let out a long stream of curses in Russian. "She was not bought for giving pleasure."

She pointed to some recent, rather crude repairs, "Just enough to be mobile. No thought for appearance." She looked up and swore another long streak.

"She was for training. Someone buy her for target practice."

Sveta nodded her agreement, shaking her head to throw off the tears which now flooded her vision again.

Nika spoke up from the doorway, "I - I found her face-down in the snow. By marks in snow, one leg was first and she crawl ... she crawled and other limbs were shot off until there was nothing to move or crawl with. I think that she was left to die, or he did not think she was alive. She was burning by then; fire was in polymeric cover components along her spine."

Prallah nodded, "Well, we don't have much of anything here to do much about her looks, though I'll do my best, of course. I don't have enough for full synthetic skin grafting onto the covers ... which you will have to make before I can try to graft, Tahnyal.

"What I've got probably won't even match what she's got of her own left."

She thought for a moment, "I do have some large repair patches that I could use. They're very dark, but they're command-adjustable to match many shades. I could make something up between them.

"The legs here check out at least, so we'll be able to have her walking again, though she'll have pretty long legs for that size torso. I have the muscle pad sets for them too; full sets, hips to feet. I hate seeing 'borgs with just mechanical legs. The calibration for the center of gravity shift as a result will be difficult. At least I've got skin for them. Arms and hand actuators ... "

She shook her head, "If these ones check out, we can give her something, but the best choices are spares for you, Sveta, The ones you donated from your spares locker. It limits her purpose choices, though."

Sveta looked down and reached to touch the unburned cheek of the one on the table. "I saw her eyes for a moment. They were filled with fear ... panic. She seemed to recognise Nika or something about her. She called her Nishta. Don't know who that is.

"If Chen-Ya Tsu even wants to live anymore beyond the fear of being hunted and blown apart, then it is what we can give to her, all that we have. If she wishes to have a purpose if she can recover, I can turn her into something like I am. I have all the training drive cards for it, simulations, everything."

She looked at H'Yan-ah, "If she wishes to stay, you will have two like me. Her size will not be limitation in the role.

Nika said, "If she lives and wants to stay, I will pay new boss for the skin so at least she looks right. I want to do it for her - even though I do not know her.

H'Yan-Ah smiled, "Our meeting went very fast, Nika. Just enough for me to understand that you would watch our perimeter. You might have forgotten it, but - "

"H'Yan-Ah!" Nika groaned, looking like she wanted to slap her forehead, "Sorry. I will pay the cost of the replacement skin that Prallah has. This ... this is horrible. I would not do this to a simple cleaning bot. She is living person, not a bot."

She looked at H'Yan-Ah, "I have a lot of my pay saved. Have not ... I have not wanted to go anywhere or do anything for a long time. I - I want to help her. I feel like something human is in me again."

H'Yan-Ah shook her head, "No, Nika. What we have is what was here. It cost me nothing. Chen-Ya can have it all."

Nika nodded and bowed her head once, "Thank you."

She turned her head to Ksana, "Please help her as you always help me, Ksyusha. She may need some time if she even lives at all from this. If ... if we can help her, then I hope that it can help us too."

Ksana was in no better shape after hearing it, but she heard her name spoken in a close, affectionate way from one of the two who meant the most to her, so she took it at full value.

She blinked and shook her tears off as her face grew grim and determined. "Captain, with your permission, let us begin."

H'Yan-Ah looked over at Ksana for a moment.

"Please excuse me," Ksana said, "did I say it wrong or something?"

H'Yan-Ah grinned a little, "No, Ksana. I just wasn't expecting to hear something like that. Thank you."

She nodded, "I'll cloak the ship better as I was taught earlier. We stay here for most of the night so that she has the best chance we can give her while she's on the table. I want to be away and climbing while it's still dark before the sun. We must be higher than any look-down satellite before we lose the cover of the night."

--

Chen-Ya regained consciousness a few times. Sveta had disconnected bank after bank of tiny sensory connections, so that chemical anesthesia doses could be minimised. Major flesh damage sites were dosed locally.

She grew aware that she saw something in the Russian girls that she transferred memories to. At times, she was quite lucid. At other times, she almost regressed to her childhood.

"I'm sorry," she said in a whisper, "I had three sisters. Older than me. I know that they are dead. I was there. I saw them shot down and killed. Nishta was holding me, trying to protect me, but ...

"I see them when I look at you."

She found that she had a left arm again and flexed her fingers to see if it was operational. She smiled then and beckoned with her hand to Nika.

Nika stared, but then she smiled because at least something worked for the girl on the table. She walked in slowly to stand next to Ksana.

"You," Chen-Ya whispered as Nika felt fingers close around her wrist, "I see ... I can see Nishta in your eyes." She looked around at them all, Ksana, Nika and Sveta.

"It is the same. They took care of me when I was small, from after Mother ... died.

Now ... now you ..."

Sveta nodded, "It's alright, Chen-Ya. I am Sveta. This is Ksana, and the big one there is Nika. We think that we can help you, all of us here."

Chen-Ya looked up from one to the other and smiled weakly. She told her sisters that she loved them very much, but they knew that she was regressing to a safer place and no one minded. Then she closed her eyes and was gone once more.

For a time, there was an almost steady stream of traffic in and out of the room. Prallah and Tahnyal almost bumped into each other several times, carrying parts back and forth when they weren't disconnecting or installing and reconnecting. Circuits were tested and servos were aligned and very carefully pulsed to check for correct actuation.

The calibration of everything and the careful fitting of the cosmetics required painstaking care and took the longest. Each limb had to map it's 'world' - it's range of movement. Finally, with everything that any of them could think of attended to, Ksana looked at the ruin of Chen-Ya's hair at the back of her head.

"I can't stand it anymore," she said, pulling out a brush, a comb and some scissors, "I can give her at least something simple, shorter and decent and then we see if it will grow out better in time."

--

Chen-Ya woke again.

She saw a woman with black hair and tawny skin hovering over her. The woman smiled down after a moment. "You're one lucky girl," she smiled, "They carried you in here looking more like a bagful of broken, but the more that we looked and checked, the more we saw that, aside from the major trauma areas, it could have been a lot worse. The bigger parts ..."

She laughed a little, "Between what we found here and what some of us had as spares, we actually had enough to build you up again so that you're functional, though you'll have a learning curve just to get acquainted with your new limbs.

"And you're seven and a half centimeters taller now, thanks to Nika. She donated her original legs. I couldn't save anything from the ones you had. Sorry."

Chen-Ya frowned after a moment, "I can't ... feel anything."

"That's because you're not supposed to yet," the woman said, "I'm Tahnyal, by the way. We haven't done the final reconnects yet. We've tested everything through your neural system and everything is functional and calibrated. Once each limb showed ok, we disconnected it again and went on to the next and so on. But it's all there and you're gonna be fine. You'll still need to learn what to do with it, since it's all new to you."

"Who is ... Nika?" Chen-Ya asked.

Tahnyal smiled, "You were talking with her awhile ago. I guess you've forgotten. She's right over there leaning against the doorframe. Everybody who's got any skill with cyborgs has been working with me. Nika's got nothing like that.

She pointed to someone else nearby, "This is Sveta. She was outside and saw something in the snow. She called Nika who found you. Since the second that she could, Nika's been a shadow in the doorway and she hasn't left yet. We've been working on you for more than twelve hours.

"Other than take her helmet off, Nika hasn't moved the whole time."

"Does she know me?" Chen-Ya asked, "I thought that she was Nishta, but now I see that I was wrong. Nishta is dead."

Tahnyal shook her head, "No, Nika doesn't know you at all.

"But she worries for you and it's a really strange thing. Until now, a lot of us called her 'The Ghost' because unless she's working, she rarely speaks at all. Today, I've heard more out of her than I ever have before.

Chen-Ya could sometimes speak with Sveta and Ksana and the others as they worked. She smiled at Nika often, seeing her standing there in the doorway every time that she looked.

Tahnyal showed her the synthetic skin that she had and outlined how she thought to apply it.

"If I do it this way, she said, "You might look a little ... edgy, but for sure, I'll have enough. The other way, you'd be half and half."

Chen-Ya smiled and said that she liked Tahnyal's way.

"Who do I belong to? She asked.

Tahnyal shrugged, "In any jurisdiction that has laws about 'borgs, what happened to you was attempted first degree murder. If he was your owner, you're automatically free."

She looked back and waved Nika over, "But you're gonna need a little time. Sveta has training for you if you want to stay with us. We're not a Yautja vessel. We just look like one, that's all. The owners have said that you're welcome to stay if you want. Everyone else in the crew wants you to stay."

She grinned as Nika walked up, "And Nika would like to take care of you as you heal up and learn."

Chen-Ya looked up, "I belong to you now?"

Nika amazed everyone by needing to wipe her eyes for a moment. But she smiled and said, "No. You are your own, just like the rest here. But you can stay with me until you are better. I would like it, to have something to do.

"Nobody owns you anymore, lyubimaya moya."

"I didn't understand the last words," Chen-Ya said with a confused look.

Sveta and Ksana laughed softly.

"Russian," Sveta grinned, "Nika calls you her sweetheart.

We three, we are all girls from same place. Good tight friends. Ksana and I are together, but all three, we are like sisters. Nika has room for you in her cabin so you should stay with her, let her take care of you. You will need her help. Nika needs to give help. She doesn't know this yet, but we see it."

Nika scowled, but Sveta wasn't having any of it. "Stop Nika. Think a little. Today, we see you like never before. You are so happy that this girl can be alright.

"So? Help her. You said it feels to you like something human again. Help yourself too, Nika.

They are your old legs but Chen-Ya has them now. They will be too long for her, little bit. Calibration is complete, but you know there will be trouble for her. You can make adjustments best, no rush. Take all day if you need. Set them for lighter loading. She will be fine on such long graceful legs, no?"

Nika smiled warmly, "You will be girl again, whole girl, not one who is on three tables at same time. The legs did not fit well for me, but on you ... beautiful."

Ksana nodded at Chen-Ya with a laugh, "Since she sees you, she is like new girl. We like very much how she TALKS so much now!"

Chen-Ya thought about things and said, "You said that I don't belong to anyone anymore. I want to look like I'm my own. Please finish it." She looked at Nika for a moment, "Thank you all for everything. Ni - Nika? Thank you for my legs."

Nika smiled, but almost fell apart as Chen-Ya's eyes slid closed. The girl on the table was very tired now, but she was thinking at a very low level all the same.

--

Chen-Ya awoke to find herself in a flight seat.

"We wanted to leave, but then Sveta found you," Ksana smiled. "So we waited and did what we could to put you back together as much as we are able. But it is night now and soon the dawn will come.

"We need to leave, Chen-Ya. That is why you are here in seat between us. When we are away from here, we can remove the belts."

She smiled, "You can begin to learn to walk again."

Chen-Ya nodded and then looked at herself as much as the position allowed, "I can feel everything - I think. My legs ..."

"Nika's spares," Sveta smiled, "They were first set for her, but she was too heavy for them. They will work for you. You are lighter."

"My right eye," Chen-Ya said, squinting to hold her left eye closed for a moment, "I get things when I do this. I see differently. I know ... distance if I close my left eye and then open it after a second."

"Both eyes are still yours," Sveta said, "I changed firmware for you, activating alternate spectrums, enabling range calculation. It was there, all of it, but was not enabled for the type they made you into.

"Closing left eye primes subroutines for image classification and most important - range calculation. It begins when you open left eye again. Range data is provided to your frontal lobes then."

She shrugged, "It was there, so I make it to work for you. No charge."

Chen-Ya looked all around, "I like it!"

Sveta shushed her gently, "Rest Chen-Ya. It was little after middle of day when I find you. We all work on make repairs for you. Some things, we don't have so we make them. Some things we have and only make to fit. Now it is early next day. We are all tired and your body needs to do what it can now. That means you must give it chance."

Chen-Ya looked up, "What will happen to me now? Where is this?"

"A vessel," Sveta said quietly. "We can all talk later. Ksana needs to leave now, but Nika and I will stay with you and Ksana will come back to us soon. You will not be alone."

Chen-Ya raised her hand and looked at it, turning it back and forth, slowly flexing her fingers, "I wanted ... to die. I saw you. I thought you were Nishta, come to take me with you to be with Su-Zha and Shenyi."

She looked from one to the other, "It is fading, but you are still here and you all feel that way to me. I feel like ... I am with my sisters again."

Nika leaned slowly and kissed Chen-Ya's cheek softly, "Then stop thinking of death. If it feels good to you to think this way, if it helps you inside, then we all want this younger sister."

Ksana nodded and smiled, her eyes wet again, "We spoke of it while we worked to make you better. To us, you needed the ones that you were speaking of, but they are not here. We want you with us. We think that with you, we can all heal better - if you want it with us. Nika has big cabin. You will not be alone."

She took Chen-Ya's hand in hers, "We can be sisters if a family is what we all need together. I must go now," she smiled, "I have to fly the ship, but I will come back as soon as I can, alright? Sveta will stay with you."

Chen-Ya reached up, "My sisters would always kiss me. This feels strange, but also just the same. Please, could you kiss me once?"

Ksana's smile felt like it would break her face. She bent down and softly kissed Chen-Ya's lips.

Chen-Ya's eyes were shining as she looked from Ksana to Sveta, who leaned a little to do the same. She reached for Nika and kissed her a little longer.

Chen-Ya smiled up, "It was there. Different because we are grown up, but I felt it. You are not Shayni, Su-Zha and Nishta, but you offer the same thing because I need it. I feel that you need it.

I don't even know what was done to help me. I know there were more than you both helping. But I know that you were always there, every time that I opened my eyes.

It's good enough for me. I want to be part of something, not alone. I feel like I have this again, my sisters and me."

Ksana kissed Sveta and nodded, "I will come back soon."

She walked away, feeling better than she had in a long time.

"What will we do now?" Chen-Ya asked.

Sveta shrugged, "We wait for the seat restraint warning light to come on. Until then, I will be busy holding new sister's hand, I guess."