Free Helix by Viola Grace

Chapter One
     
     
    Harmony Winx eyed the storm approaching and checked the navigation systems. She could see it, but on her systems, there was nothing in front of her.
    “Computer, identify incoming anomaly.”
    The pleasant computer voice said, “Courier Winx, nothing is visible.”
    “There has to be. There is an incoming storm that I can’t get around, I need an alternate course.”
    “There is nothing visible on my systems, Courier. I suggest that you make an appointment to see a physician when you arrive at the next station.”
    “I probably will, Computer.”
    It was no use. With no way to get around it, no way to get under it, the gas cloud whirled and swirled as she approached. Lightning sparked and arced as her courier ship cruised forward. Pink and lavender vapour spirals twisted out and around in a wave thousands of kilometers across.
    Harmony held back until it was obvious that there was no possible way of making it through the system and out the other side without touching that cloud.
    “What the hell.” She took a deep breath and hit the throttle, flying directly into the cloud that wasn’t there.
    She flew in with amazement and wonder racing along every nerve as she was surrounded by the figment of her imagination.
    The first lightning strike killed her nav computer and the second turned off all the lights. She assumed there was a third, but all she remembered was fire.
     
    * * * *
     
    “We found her floating dead, sir.” The Catcher was apologetic.
    Nero didn’t need his apologies; he just needed to get into the ship to find the biological matter that was showing up on his scanners. “When can I get inside?”
    “The final decontamination protocols are nearly complete, Doctor. The Retrievers will have her soon.”
    Nero fought the urge to pace. It would not help his patient. The body was already cold. He had to wait out the protocols just like anyone else.
    Ninety minutes later, he was at the side of the ship and watching the extraction crew as they removed the body. “The chamber is waiting.”
    They nodded and carried the figure of the woman to the restoration chamber. He only needed a little DNA, so he hoped that the blast that killed her had not ruptured the information he needed.
    Once she was positioned on the exam bed, he took a long look at her. Her limbs were long and graceful, her features pure and her hair was long and dark. He had the ability to see what she should be through the burn and ash, what she was and what she was going to be once he brought her back in a new body with the memories he could scrounge from the old.
    Nero hoisted the scanner and set it on the tracks, looking for viable tissue and the precious DNA that would carry the information he needed.
    When the screen lit up, he sighed with relief. He quickly checked the tanks for bodies in process and exhaled when he found one empty.
    The storm brought them all manner of people. Some would thrive, some would reject their new bodies and leave the worlds of their own accord the second time around. He had hope for each and every one of them. It was his job, his duty and his calling.
    The tissue that he found came from her heart, which was highly unusual. In a normal case, the heart was the first thing to go. Either she had been affected in a peculiar fashion, or she had a very strong heart. Either way, he could hardly wait to meet her.
     
    * * * *
     
    Her first memories were of thrashing around and pounding on a clear wall in a panic. Breathing in fluid was wrong. She knew it was wrong, and she wanted out.
    A platform rose up under her and spilled her out onto a flat surface. She coughed the liquid out and sucked in sweet air that burned as it provided her with precisely what she wanted.
    “Slow down, miss. You have been through a trauma.”
    Gentle hands stroked her face. The voice was kind and excited at the same time. The flat surface she was on swung out and lowered her until the man with the kind voice could roll