Synth

TO was positive that the medication they took for the sickness affecting them had tranquilizers added to them since they fell asleep almost immediately once left alone, and only woke up briefly as Goretta came to check on them and give them medication. What were they being given? Painkillers they recognized as they were the same small pastel pills they had been taking since DH took them off the more powerful painkillers. There was another pill, thin and white, which would prevent infection from their wound.

A third pill, large and blue. They knew what that one was for, but for some reason, it was like they couldn’t reach the information in their mind. It was much like when they were sitting paces away from something, couldn’t reach, and didn’t want to bother to move to get it because that would require getting help, getting into their chair, and moving from where they were.

They hadn’t forgotten; they were just too tired to reach the information in their mind.

Then there were two new medications whose names TO didn’t care about. All they knew was that they one would make the fever go down, and the other was supposed to make their lungs stronger.

Any other moments of wakefulness were so dreamlike that TO couldn’t tell if they really happened or not. They had no idea how long had passed, or what time of day it was on either the Arkanian clock or in standard Galactic time, but when they finally woke up enough to hold on to thoughts for longer than seconds Goretta was back in the room with them. She sat as far away from TO as she could, a mask over her face as she typed out frantic notes while looking at pictures projected in the air before her.

TO gazed at the projections in silence for a while before recognizing the twisted maze of tightly coiled lines, separated into three neat, almost triangular tri-spheres.

“Brains?”

Goretta jolted, her skin flashed suddenly white, and she made a sound that was somewhere between a whine and a yelp before looking up at TO.

“You startled me.” She said, her skin deepening once more, shifting to a reddish brown colour. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I was.” TO croaked. They were awake, but they wished they weren’t. Everything felt heavy, and their throat felt like it had layers of gunk coating it. They struggled to sit up, looking for something to drink.

“One second.” Goretta said as she got up and went over to the bed. She pressed a button on the edge of the bed, and the head of the bed rose up, putting TO in a sitting position. A can of Syrp was put in their hand, a long straw sticking out of the mouth. “Need help with this?”

“I can feed myself.” TO said, their ears flicking back as they shakily held the drink to their lips, “I’m just tired.”

“Since you’re awake, we can try some food as well.” She said, sending a message on her communicator, “Though, given a Chilacians increased metabolism, I was considering putting you on IV nutrients.”

TO grunted and drank more in an attempt to clear away the gunk that covered their throat. A short time later, there was a knock on the door. Goretta slipped out and quickly returned with one of the nutrient cubes in its packaging. She placed it on a wheeled tray, which she slid over TO’s lap.

“Here.” she said as she brought it forward. “Do you want me to break it up for you?”

TO’s only response was a baleful glance as they set down their drink before opening the package and starting the process of breaking down the cube into bite-sized pieces.

“Alright.” Goretta said, “Need anything else, let me know.”

“Right.” TO croaked. They watched Goretta go back to the little table she had set up in the corner and throw her focus back onto the projection before her. TO knew they were synth brains that she was looking at: there were a few species with tri-spheric brains like they had, though as far as TO knew they were the only brains that seemed so perfectly round.

“…That’s not mine, is it?” TO asked again, their voice scraping from their throat. Goretta glanced up from her work, surprised.

“What?”

“That’s not a scan of my brain, is it?” They asked again, straining to see the lettering on the projection.

“It’s not.” She said just as TO located the small, shining lettering in the lower right corner. There was a name there, but even backwards, they could tell it wasn’t theirs.

“It’s Chilacian though.” TO said, squinting as they studied the projection. “No. A synth. They have a ‘normal’ synth brain, right?”

Goretta fell silent for a moment, resting her chin on her hand as her tentacles gently turned on the floor. “How would you know that?”

“The part near the top.” They said, “When you let the light patterns go through the image, there’s not a lot of activity there. On mine, and on DH and GiDi, that area has a lot of reds and yellows. On this one, there’s only a little activity, and it’s blue and green.” They glanced at the other projection, their eyes seeking out the letting there. Thankfully, it was easier to read backwards than the first one. “Ah, that one is GiDi’s.”

“That’s right.” She said. “It’s GiDi’s. Do you know why that part of the brain lights up so much?”

“Because that one has been altered, and GiDi’s hasn’t,” TO said, their ears twitching slightly in amusement, “But, as for why that is, no, I don’t.” They pursed their lips, going over what they knew about the procedure that occurred when they were in the tank, being fed artificial memories doomed to be forgotten. “I suppose that’s the-“ They stopped, coughing violently as one set of vocal cords suddenly began a violent protest against their continued use. TO reached out to the table near the bed and grabbed their water bottle. They took a long chug, grateful to have something to soothe their throat other than the sugary drink, but when they were done, their ears flicked back and their snout wrinkling as they took in the aftertaste.

“DH added some kind of supplement to your water while you were asleep.” Goretta said, “It may taste a little odd.”

TO sniffed at the water again and while they couldn’t determine a specific scent, there was something different about it. Even drinking it again didn’t help them identify that it was.

“Right.” TO said, clearing their throat as best as possible. “The brains. I suppose that the front part is the part that gets changed the most when synths are being developed in the tank. “

“Exactly.” She said. “A commonality among many species is the presence of a singular section of the brain which deals with emotions.” Goretta pulled up another screen displaying a Chilacian brain with no alternations. “It’s not everything that’s been altered, of course, but a lot of work was done here. Some of the more complex fixes are here, actually.” She zoomed into a specific part of the brain located in the middle. “This here is your limbic system, as far as I can tell. It-“ she paused, frowning.

“What?” TO asked, “Is it something bad?”

“No, I’m just making sure I explain this simply. I’m used to speaking in depth about this to professionals.” She pursed her lips, then continued, “Basically, this is what makes you feel your emotions. When you get excited and your heart races, or you’re embarrassed and your skin flushes… or I guess just your ears, for you. None of that is in your control. The frontal lobe helps you deal with it, to put it simply.” She sighed and leaned back, her eyes darting between the two images.

“What are you looking for?” TO asked after the silence had stretched on for longer than was comfortable.

“I don’t know.” Goretta said as she leaned forward, her hand hovering over a small folding keyboard before her. “Answers. Solutions. I knew that it would take some time for Kei to settle with their emotions. Everything was repaired, so it was as it should have been, and I expected some kind of issue, of course, but not as extreme as it ended up being.”

“You think you could have stopped Kei from attacking?”

“Oh, probably not.” She said, speaking with unhesitating confidence. “At that point, what’s done is done. I had hoped they’d be more corporative, of course. In the end, their upbringing, for lack of better words, was vastly different from yours. For a synth, yours was unique; You had friends around you the whole time, and you had the ability to question what was happening, even if you never pursued those questions until you came to us. Kei never had any of that so their reactions would be much different.” she paused, chewing on her lower lip as she looked over the two scans, “I don’t know. Maybe I’m looking for some way to make it easier, and some reason why their ears stopped signaling their lies. Despite my best efforts, I’ve not isolated the part that fires the whole ear-lying response.”

“Is it that important?” TO asked. They found a way to talk that didn’t hurt so much, but made their voice sound somewhat airy and deeper than normal. Still, it was better than the alternative. “I don’t think any of us want that done.”

“Doesn’t matter.” She muttered, “I need to know why it happened. That wasn’t intentional. If I’m to do the procedure again, I need to know what I did wrong this time.”

TO fell silent, once more straining to read the lettering which glowed, tiny and backwards, on the projection. After another quiet moment, they could make out what it said. “Who is Kirela?”

She stopped, her hands hovering over the small keyboard once more while her tentacles tightened into small curls. “… Where did you hear that name?”

“I didn’t.” TO said, “I read it. It’s on the projection.”

She looked around for a moment in confusion until her eyes landed on the small lettering in the corner of the projection. “I forgot that was even there.”

“They’re a synth.” TO stated, “Their brain seems to be like a normal synth’s brain. But if they’re a normal synth, why would they have a name and not a call number?” They coughed and took another sip of their drink. Yes, speaking like this was easier, but their throat still dried out too quickly, and it still hurt.

“It’s nobody you know.” She said, going back to her work, “They came to Arkane several years ago, back when Flit was sending any many ‘strange’ synths our way as possible. They came with a strange synth, but they were ‘normal’. In the end, we sent them to Apoikia. The Chilacians there gave them the name when they ended up in a pod, so-“

“What?” TO’s voice cracked on the word, and they fell into a fit of coughing. It took a moment for the fit to stop and it was only then they could painfully croak, “I thought normal synths couldn’t bond like that”

“I don’t know much about that.” She said, “But here is what I do know: The strange synth was the one who was supposed to be ‘in charge’ on their mission. When we told them what was happening, they were cooperative and wanted to go to Apoikia. They told Kirela that was what they were doing, and Kirela went with it.” She shrugged. “Flit said it had to do with the chain of command. Because the other one was their superior, Kirela did as they were told.”

“I see,” TO said, leaning back again. So, there was a strange synth over on Apoikia, just living and not being angry that weren’t helping King Decon? How were they not angry like Kei had been? Did they know exactly what was going on, or not? What did the other synth tell them? They frowned, their ears flicking back slightly, “What’s the other one’s name?” They asked.

Goretta shrugged, “Not sure.” She said.

“Well, what was their number before they went to Arkane?”

“I don’t know: Ark-something.” She paused. “Kirela’s was Ark-27, so I suppose it was Ark-26. That’s how it works, right?”

“Right.” TO said. they lay back, sipping their drink and thinking about how specific Goretta’s memory for names was in this moment.