Free Blood Relative by James Swallow Page B

"It's not like he's dead."
    "Don't be so sure," said Bagman carefully. The backpack's diagnostic cables were connected to the unit holding Zero's biochip. "We got a situation here."
    "Let's hear it."
    Ferris heard the hesitation in the synthetic voice. "Rogue, I'm running a chip-check through the internal sensors on the frame and I'm coming up with some bad numbers. Zero's dog-chip has got some serious degradation, I'm talking major loss of deep memory and engram failure across the board."
    "What the hell are you saying, Bag?" Gunnar demanded.
    "I'm saying that we're looking at a matrix failure."
    Rogue drew a sharp breath. Those last two words were a death sentence for a Genetic Infantryman; the spectre of physical trauma resulting in organic termination was almost an occupational hazard for the GI corps. The Genies had trained them not to fear death as the end to their existence it was for normal soldiers, but the corruption of their biochips held the very same terror that "real" termination did for a human. Matrix failure was quite simply the death of a GI mind, total and unrecoverable.
    "Can you patch him into your synth?"
    "I can try," Bagman said. "Wait one."
    There was a sharp crackle of static from the pack's chip slot and then a thin, ghostly mimic of Zero's voice emerged. "Rogue? NNNnnnnnhear me?"
    "We hear you, pal," Gunnar broke in. "Hang in there."
    "Aaaagain!" The word was a cry of pain. "Dead again! Rogue, help meeee."
    "Zero!" Rogue snapped. "I need you to focus! We don't have much time."
    "I nnnnnnknow. Leaking like rrrrrain. Losing myself. Self. Self."
    Ferris swallowed hard. "Can't you do something for him?"
    Helm answered for all of them. "No."
    Rogue knelt close to the synth pickup, as if that would make the strength of his words all the more urgent. "You were at the Quartz Zone with the rest of us, Zero. Gunnar, Bagman, Helm, everyone else, they were killed... How did you survive? Where have you been all this time?"
    "Dead," came the flat, toneless reply. "Died in the glassssss."
    "But he was alive..." Ferris gave an involuntary glance at the pool of blood.
    "Rrrrrreborn, Rogue. Reborn where I fell. Dddddddomain Delta. She did it."
    "Who, Zero? Who did it?" hissed Rogue.
    "I'm losing him," said Bagman. "He's cracking up on me."
    "Got away. Came looking for youuuuuuu." Violent crackles and barks of static punctuated every one of Zero's words. "Get her-zzzzzt. Ssssstop her. Delta. Ddddelta."
    "Where?" Rogue demanded. "Where is it?"
    "Kill it," Zero spat. "Savezzzzt-" The static hum rose to a peak and then suddenly ceased.
    "No matrix function detected," said Bagman, after a long moment. "He's gone."
    With infinite care, Rogue decoupled the support unit and removed Zero's dog-chip from the device. He turned it over in his blood-stained fingers, watching the play of light off the metallic surface. The chip was cold to the touch, bereft of life. The GI ran his thumb over the raised code number etched on the silicon and then thoughtfully placed it in one of his panniers.
    Ferris watched Rogue handle the tiny sliver of memory-circuit. The GI treated the corpse of his comrade with all the respect of a piece of rotten meat, but he held the biochip like it was the most fragile thing in the world. The pilot understood; if there was any place that a GI's soul rested, then it had to be there.
    Helm broke the silence. "Domain Delta again. There's gotta be something to that place, we just need to find it."
    "Reckon we already have," said Rogue quietly. "You heard Zero."
    "His mind was falling apart, Rogue," Gunnar snapped. "I didn't hear anything but garbage."
    "He said he was holding on, waiting for me to come get him," Rogue was introspective, weighing the dead soldier's words. "He wanted to tell me about Domain Delta."
    "He said 'reborn'," Ferris spoke without thinking. Rogue looked up at him and suddenly the pilot felt like he had intruded on a private moment. "Uh, sorry."
    "No, you're right," Rogue replied. "He