Appearances are Deceiving
--------------------
The look of amusement on Cybersix's face
at his surprise made Dr. Zack hesitate a bit, but he went ahead and opened
the door.
The Fixed Idea bent down, peered through the door, saw Cybersix, smiled and nodded, "Good evening, Dr. Anthony Zacharias."
Dr. Zack blinked, recognizing the voice immediately, "Well, good evening and come on in! And you are?"
The Fixed Idea carefully eased himself through the door, "Fixed Idea 4, Doctor. Although I like my friends to call me Mel."
Dr. Zack glanced at Cybersix: She had turned her attention to him, and saw the same look in her eye that she always had when talking about Data 7, "Come on upstairs, Mel, and we'll have some fruit tea and get acquainted," He hazarded.
"That would be nice." Mel said.
They made their way back up to the library, the staircase groaning at Mel's weight. As Fixed Ideas went, Mel was on the large side. Dr. Zack was glad he was a friend of Cybersix's, not relishing wanting to meet him him an alley. Even with a Wave Suit on. Intelligence haa a way of equalizing unequal opponents.
He had been planning to have fruit tea anyway that night, so it was just a matter of getting the extra chinaware and pulling out a selection of teas for Mel to choose from. He could hear Mel and Cybersix discuss the seating and moving the chairs into place. When he came out, Mel was kneeling on the carpet, while Cybersix was in her usual chair: Dr. Zack marvelled at her ability to sit so ladylike after having to pretend being a man all day.
"Perhaps that's the reason for the way she dresses: It's her way to reaffirm her femininity after suppressing it all day." he mused. Aloud, he said, "I have some fruit teas that you can try, Mel. You couldn't find a place to sit?"
He made a face, "I don't think the furniture you have can support me, Doctor."
"Good point." Dr. Zack conceded. Mel's upper body was so high, he still towered over the small table.
Mel chose Mandarin Orange, while Cybersix had her usual Blueberry, "Well, I suppose I should apologize," Dr. Zack said while the teas seeped, "I'm obviously not a fire inspector."
Mel grinned, "I concluded that when Cybersix paid us a visit that night."
"That quarter case has been invaluable for both of us." Dr. Zack said, "I've been able to do a lot of experimentation with my half."
"He's got an engine that can run on sustenance for weeks!" Cybersix said with admiration.
"And not a whiff of pollution all that time." Dr. Zack said rather proudly, "Had to change out the carburetor, unfortunately, but switching over the current car fleet to burn sustenance is still quite feasable. In fact, the power density is so high, we can sell the stuff over the counter in the same way motor oil is sold, and in the same containers too." he leaned over to check his tea, "All we have left to figure out is how to charge the stuff."
"Which is why I'm here, Doctor." Mel said.
"You know how to charge sustenance?" Dr. Zack asked, sitting up.
Mel shook his head, "I can get away with a lot of things pretending to be a dumb Fixed Idea, but I don't think he has that secret written down anywhere."
"By the way, how come you're-" Dr. Zack started.
"-smart?" Mel grinned and shrugged, "I have no idea. My programming also is incomplete, so the two may be related. I believe that several electrodes that are used to program a creation while it's growing were faulty in my tank. At first, I kinda imitated everyone else. It wasn't until I witnessed the first beatings that I decided that my ability to put two and two together to make four would best remain a secret."
"So how did you two get to be friends?" Dr. Zack asked.
Cybersix looked pained, "It was after Cyber 29-Data 7-fell off a cliff. I didn't know Von Richter had recovered the brain, but I was blamed for the accident and beaten terribly by my Unit leader."
"I think he would have killed her by accident if I hadn't said anything." Mel said. "I later went by and tried to comfort her, and wound up being her friend." He glanced at her, "She has a way of attracting people by her grace and sweetness."
Cybersix blushed slightly, "That friendship saved me." she said, smiling at Mel, "Mel was the watchman for the gate that my Papa used to get me out of there the night before-" she stopped.
"Before what?" Dr. Zack asked, lifting the teabags out of the cups to signal that the teas were ready.
"Before the Cybers were destroyed." Mel said, "Fed to the Xenors.*"
"Xenors?"
"Giant spider-like creations." Cybersix said, shuddering, "He always threatened to feed us to them, but we never believed him."
"A terrible way to kill those children." Mel shook his head, "Von Richter saved a few who proved loyal, although I never saw 7 ever again. Elio discovered the plot first, and was determined to save one. It was a hard choice, but I confess my choice was biased-" He smiled lopsidedly, glancing at Cybersix, "There were two who were able to get away on their own. I also contacted someone who could take one, but she didn't get there in time. She took a body, probably to give it a decent burial, which is what they all deserved, the poor things."
"Why did he destroy them?" Dr. Zack asked.
"He thought we were not obedient enough to him." Cybersix said after sipping at her tea.
"Damn bastard," Mel sighed, "They were just being children, for heaven's sakes!"
They all sipped their tea in silence, thinking of the lost Cybers.
Cybersix sighed, "I suppose I'm not any better than he." she said, "I mean, I asked you to create a doomsday bug to kill sustenance based creations."
Dr. Zack glanced at Mel worriedly.
"I know about it, Doctor." Mel assured him, "And I agree to the necessity of it."
"Now that you mention it." Dr. Zack said sourly.
"It's done?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes. It was depressingly easy, once I figured out the similarities between three different Von Richter creations."
She blinked at Dr. Zack, "Three? But you only looked at me, Doctor. I brought Mel here so you could get more data from a second model. What were the other two?"
"Well, there was a young la-woman" Dr. Zack corrected, "Sent from Von Richter to kidnap me several days ago."
"WHAT?" Cybersix gasped.
"Quite unusual. Her bloodstream, if you want to call it that, was essentially 100% sustenance. Or a variant of it. No blood cells. I didn't keep her around long enough to, umm, probe further, but there were a lot of similarities between her muscle systems and yours."
Cybersix looked at Mel, but he shook his head, "Von Richter doesn't always tell everyone about his Specials. Keeps us on our toes."
"And the other model?" Cybersix asked.
"The Velvet** series."
"HAZEL?" Cybersix made a face.
"Well, yes. She was rather-"
"Count the silverware!" she muttered.
Mel suppressed a chuckle, "Von Richter's still pissed at how that turned out." he said**.
Dr. Zack got up, went to the wall of books, and pulled several volumes out, revealing a wall safe. He spun the dial open, opened it up, and took out a photo and a tray of sustenance vials, which he set aside. He then took out a small canister and turned back to them. It had a biohazard symbol on the outside, but it was colored green, not red, "This is it. The factory nanites." he showed it to Cybersix and Mel, "Disperse this in the air, and they will produce the attack nanites using birds as the host for the manufacture. The Attack nanites can go airborne, like the flu, and then attack sustenance based creatures."
"Wait a minute. BIRDS?" Cybersix asked, incredulous.
"Yes. Blue birds mostly."
Cybersix chuckled, "Poetic justice!"
"Yes, isn't it?" Dr. Zack grinned, returning the bottle, as well as the other items, to the safe and putting the books back into place.
"How does it work, Doctor?" Mel asked.
Dr. Zack returned to his armchair, "Although there are differences, the muscle proteins are basically the same between all three models. It is massively modified and more tightly coiled to give greater strength without tearing. However, a higher energy variant of AMP, the fuel used to power muscles, is required for the muscles to contract. Off on a new and separate biochemical side chain, the essential component used to make this SuperAMP is fabricated on the surface of a protein cage, within which a molecule of sustenance is burned. Depending on the model, 13 or 18 molecules of this SuperAMP component are created per molecule of sustenance destroyed. Obviously, there are billions of these cages embedded in all the muscle tissues of a Von Richter creation."
He pulled out his pipe, but when he noticed that Mel looked a bit distressed when he saw it, put it away, "The Attack nanites zero in on the protein cage and dismantle it without being destroyed themselves. The creation grows weaker and weaker until it simply stops, unable to harness the energy of sustenance to move their muscles. The weaker ones die first."
"A frightening and terrible way to die." Mel commented.
"Agreed." Dr. Zack made a face, "But the sustenance cage is unique, so nanites that attack that are inherently safe for humans and other animals. The builder nanites don't replicate, and fall apart after building about 2000 attack nanites apiece."
"Well, I suppose you don't need to look at Mel, do you?" Cybersix asked.
"On the contrary. Your story about the death of your brothers and sisters makes me even more eager to look at him."
Mel blinked, "It does? But Why?" he asked.
"Remember that woman you mentioned, who took a dead cyber to bury?"
"Yes."
"She had a BODY to bury."
"So?"
"Fixed Ideas don't leave a body behind when they die."
"Ohhh!" Mel blinked and grinned, "It WOULD be interesting to know why the later models, and most of the specials, do that, wouldn't it?"
"You bet."
"Okay, let's start." Mel nodded.
Dr. Zack pulled out a pad and pencil, "Hold your hand out like this, and set it on the arm here. Move your fingers slowly, like this."
Mel did so, and Dr. Zack began to stare at his arm.
"What's he doing?" Mel asked Cybersix.
"He's got a talent that seems to make his eyes better than a microscope." she explained, "He can even see electrons."
"Wow." Mel breathed, impressed, "Von Richter sometimes looks at his new cultures in the same way for long periods of time."
"We know."
"You do?"
"Yes. Dr. Zack and Von Richter are related, and we think he's able to do what he does with the same talent."
"Must have been distressing to discover that."
"It was."
"Wait a minute," Dr. Zack said, sounding very displeased, "This isn't right!"
"What isn't right?" Mel asked, concerned. Cybersix frowned and leaned forward.
"Let me check to make sure." He said, staring at the arm. Mel and Cybersix looked at each other.
"Don't worry." He told her, seeing the concern in her eyes.
"I can't help it." she said.
Mel grinned, "We did good." he said in a strange voice.
"What?"
"Elio wanted the nicest and sweetest of the Cybers to rescue. We both couldn't think of anyone more deserving than you." Mel said.
"No. No. NO! That's not right!" Dr. Zack said, irritated.
"What?" They both asked in unison.
"Follow me to the basement, and I'll show
you why what I'm seeing is impossible." Dr. Zack said, rising after taking
a vial of sustenance out of his tobacco case.
----------
All three stood in front of a thick brick
wall with an opening holding a thick block of lead glass. On the
other side, they saw a beaker under a faucet whose handle was connected
to some solenoids. Dr. Zack had poured one CC of sustenance into
the beaker. He was now at the controls in front of the wall, his
wave suit ski-mask pulled over his head.
Cybersix did not like the looks of this, "Are you sure this is safe?" she asked him.
"To you, but not to me."
She blinked, "But why-"
"Just look." Dr. Zack said, pushing a button. A solenoid moved, opening the faucet and letting a small stream of water splash into the beaker, diluting the sustenance, "Nothing interesting will happen until it passes the mark that I put on the beaker. That's about 100 CCs, representing a 1% sustenance concentration. Wave suit on. 80 percent."
They watched as the water level went up to, then passed the mark. It went about 10 cc's above the mark when, suddenly, the water began to glow green brightly. In fact, it was about as bright as a Fixed Idea disappearing. There was a flash of steam. When it cleared, the beaker was empty.
"Wave suit off. Below something like 0.9 percent concentration, sustenance spontaneously loses its ability to hold its charge. The majority of the energy is released as light, with the remainder given off as kinetic energy of electrons, or beta radiation." Dr. Zack explained, "Your bodies are able to handle the beta radiation, but not a human body. That's why it's behind the wall, AND I have my wave-suit on."
"What has this got to do with me?" Mel asked.
"I've double and triple checked. Cybersix's sustenance concentration is about 1.5% to 1.2%, although a vial would probably boost it to about 2%. Your blood concentration is about 0.7%, not more than 0.8%. You should go POOF right now, but you're not."
"But I would if I died." Mel reminded him.
"Yes." Dr. Zack said.
The trio stared at each other.
"There could be many things!" Cybersix said excitedly, starting to pace, "It could be circulation, body heat, muscle activity."
"Circulatory system. Digestive system." Dr. Zack said, "Nervous sys-THAT'S IT!" He exclaimed.
"What?" The other two demanded.
"Electrical activity dies out! I have noticed an excessive amount of electrical activity in all the nervous systems I've looked at. I thought it was necessary to activate the stronger muscles, but what if it has a second purpose? After all, an electrical field effect of some sort is keeping the excitated electrons in sustenance from decaying, in defiance of the Pauli Exclusion principle."
Mel looked at Cybersix quizically, who just shrugged.
The brick wall that had protected them was open at both ends, with the back wall being the wall of the basement. Dr. Zack hurried inside and set up a larger beaker, marked it at 100 CCs, and poured in another CC of sustenance. He then took two electrodes from a rack and put them into the beaker. He returned to the control panel and turned on some switches. The water began to flow into the beaker, "Okay, there's an electrical current going through the water. See the bubbles on the electrodes? It's decomposing the water. If my guess is correct, the electrical field MAY keep the sustenance in a charged state, even if it's diluted below 1%."
"Your wave suit, doctor." Mel reminded him.
"Thanks! Wave suit on, 80%"
The trio watched the water level rise up to the mark. It went up past the mark. Up past 10 CCs. 20 CCs. 30CCs.
Dr. Zack stopped the faucet when the water level almost was at 200 CCs, "That's it. 0.5%. Goodness, that answers a LOT of questions!"
"My arm!" Cybersix said.
"What about it?"
"When I need sustenance, my left arm starts shorting out1 Do you think its related to that?"
"It's probably a protective mechanism." Dr. Zack hazarded, "Your nervous system may be shocking itself to raise the voltage in your arm to handle a localized drop in sustenance concentration. That, or sustenance may be spontaneously discharging due to lower blood circulation. The sustenance is burned more, so drops below the lower limit there first. Blood circulation does seem a bit less in that arm, judging from the thermal photos." he said absently, looking at the beaker.
"Thermal photos? What thermal photos?" Cybersix asked suddenly.
"Uh, ah, I m-m-mean-" Dr. Zack began to stutter.
"Doctor!" Cybersix insisted. Dr. Zack rarely stuttered: The last time he did, he had been trying to parry a come-on from the amorous school librarian in the Faculty Lounge.
Surprisingly, Mel came to his rescue, "What would happen if the electricity is turned off?" the Fixed Idea mused aloud.
"Good question!" Dr. Zack grabbed at the hint, "Let's find out!"
He reached down and flicked off the switch
that sent current through the beaker.
---------------
The trio stumbled up the staircase and
out into the kitchen, coughing, covered with white dust. Cybersix
closed the door to the basement to keep the dust clouds from following
them.
"Well, now we know!" Dr. Zack said around his coughs.
"Sorry about your basement, Doctor." Mel said apologetically.
"Mel, Issac Newton said he saw further by standing on the shoulders of giants. He was referring to his predecessors. In my case, it seems to be the pile of repair bills I've run up after starting to work with this stuff."
"How powerful IS sustenance, Dr. Zack?" Cybersix asked, using her hat to beat the dust off of herself.
"Hmm. Gram for gram, it's about 80 times more powerful than TNT, making a vial of sustenance equal to seven NATO hand grenades in explosive power."
"You used only one CC in that beaker, Doctor. That explosion was a lot more than a hand grenade." Mel pointed out.
"True." Dr. Zack thought a moment, "It must have converted most of its power to heat, since it flashed yellow instead of green, superheating the water and making the effect more, umm, explosive."
"So why doesn't a creation go boom instead of vanish in a flash of light?" Cybersix asked.
"I suppose, when you kill the creation, that the nervous system doesn't shut down immediately, being biologically driven. The electrical activity decays slowly and doesn't disappear immediately, like what happened in the beaker."
"By the way, where does all the matter go?" Mel asked.
"I had originally thought that the majority of the energy released by sustenance was heat energy, but it appears that that is wrong in certain cases, depending on the concentration level. The light emission is rather intense, especially since the source is in and among the cells of the body," Dr. Zack frowned, thinking, "I believe I read something somewhere about light and the human body, but I'll have to check to make sure."
"What time is it?" Mel asked.
Dr. Zack glanced at his watch, "About 10."
"I'd better get going. I may be missed." Mel said, worry in his voice.
"Goodbye, brother." Cybersix said.
"Goodbye, sister." Mel replied, returning her smile.
Dr. Zack thanked him as he led the way to the front door. After letting him out, he came back to the kitchen, "Now THAT opens up a lot of avenues of research!" he mused aloud, excitedly, "Perhaps there are a few extra terms I should add-"
"Doctor."
"What, Cybersix?" Dr. Zack looked up, only to be taken aback by Cybersix's stern look.
"The thermal photos."
"Oh. Those. Are you sure you want to-"
"YES!"
He batted at his deactivated wave suit, sending up puffs of dust, "Let me get into something fresh first and wash up. Then I'll explain those thermal photos, Miss Seidelman."
Dr. Zack valiantly suppressed the urge
to grin when he saw the look on Cybersix's face, but only long enough to
turn quickly and start up the staircase to his bedroom.
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*The Xenors are (C) Cybersix Fan. Used with permission.
**"When in Rome". (C) Sita/Surferchic2000/Sita_uv. Used
with permission.