Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rissa lay back, resting her head on Sin's pillows. When Zan passed her the cable, she carefully inserted it into a port beneath her hood. Sitting beside her, Sin watched. It looked like it was near her left ear. With a twist, she locked it into place.
"Ok," she said.
Zan leaned over and took the other end, glanced at the box once, then he slid the plug into place at the back of his head, pushing the second prong into the case. Nothing happened for a moment, then his eyes went wide.
"Holy fuck," he breathed.
"You ok?" Sin asked, the question for her, not him.
"Yes," she said, sounding surprised. Then she smiled at Zan. "Your storage setup isn't efficient, and that's a lot of pornography."
Zan just laughed. "Isn't against the sixth precept. Delete it if you need space."
The priests all chuckled, understanding completely. "Just tell me it's good stuff," Rob joked.
"I'd rather she didn't," Zan said, blushing brilliantly.
At his words, she sucked in a small breath, her eyes roaming across the room, seeing nothing. "What?" Sin asked.
"I can figure out the entire molecule." She shook her head a bit. "Ok. Downloading."
She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. A few feet away, Zan dropped to his knees, gasping. "Fuck!" he said, grabbing at his head. "Slow down, we have time!"
"I'm sorry," Rissa said. "I'm so sorry."
"No, you're ok," he assured her, "but damn. Easy there. That's going through me for verification. I don't have the bandwidth you do, Ingénue." With a sigh, he moved to his rump, leaning back on his hands and making no move to regain his feet.
"Right about now, I'm glad I never got a neural implant," Davis said softly.
Zan smiled. "Sin has one."
"My eye?"
The kid nodded. "Linked to your optical centers."
"I have one," Julie said. "From when I took that shot to the back of my neck on the upper side."
"My enhancements are all physical," Davis said, pointing at his leg. "No neural stuff for me, thanks."
Rob patted his lower chest. "Only a pancreas for me. One that actually works, and I got that before becoming a priest."
"Unlike the rest of you, I'm still all-natural," Trent joked, but Rissa and Zan were ignoring them.
"You can go a little faster," Zan said, his focus completely on Rissa. "If it doesn't burn, I mean."
"It's more like cold going down. Hot going up." Rissa looked over. "You feel it too?"
"A bit. Not like you do though."
"Can I look?" she asked.
"Feel free," Zan assured her, leaning back. "I'm gonna be a fucking priest, so I don't have anything to hide."
"Except porn," Trent teased.
"Yeah, but you all have that too, even Julie."
The woman in question chuckled. "I repent."
Suddenly Zan sat up straighter, shooting a look over to Rissa. He blinked a few times, but said nothing. When Sin turned to look at her, Rissa's eyes looked mischievous.
"Personal?" he asked.
Zan shook his head, but still didn't speak.
"They're up to something," Trent said, as if everyone in the room hadn't already figured that out.
"Getting off, most likely," Rob teased. "Never seen Zan that intense about anything."
Zan shook his head, obviously following the conversation, but unwilling to add to it. He reached up, touching the back of his skull. Rissa giggled softly, but her entire focus was on him.
"Awkward," Julie said.
"I think he's a bit young for you," Sin said, trying to make a joke of his jealousy.
"He's twenty-four," Rissa replied. "And I'm simply enhancing his efficiency."
"You're rewiring his mind?" Davis gasped.
"Not quite." Her eyes were moving, tracking something only she could see. "Think of it more like filling in potholes. I also removed a few redundant loops."
"How?" Sin asked.
With a blink, she looked at him. "I solved the problem."
Zan sighed. "Wow," he breathed. "That was strange. Never had that when I was awake." He paused, then smiled deviously. "I'll pay you back for that, Riss."
She smiled, then glanced around the room again. "I think you already have."
"This gonna be as fast as at City Hall?" Trent asked.
"Nope," Zan said. "They fried her brain, and she's still got ten times—or more—the connection I do. Sorry, guys. I'm holding this up."
"It's at sixty-eight percent, though," Rissa said.
"Ok," Rob said, standing. "If this is gonna take a bit, I'm gonna grab some food. Burgers from the Fallen Angel all around?"
Most of the room agreed, except Zan and Rissa. "Really?" Zan asked her, shocked.
The girl nodded slowly.
"What?" Rob groaned. "She a vegetarian too?"
"She's never eaten," Zan said softly. "Ever."
Sin just closed his eyes. "The care bay. Fuck."
"Time to change that," Davis said.
"No," Zan held up his hand. "You can't. What goes in must come out, and she's not exactly set up for that in the Enclave." He sighed, turning to her again. "You're fucking kidding me."
Rissa just shook her head.
"Forever?"
She nodded.
"I fucking hate OutLink. That shit isn't right." Zan sighed, looking back at Rob. "Get me one?"
"Yeah," Rob said. "Back in a bit."
"Do I want to know?" Sin asked.
Zan looked up at him. "No," he said, completely serious. "No, Legate, you don't. Not yet."
Rissa spoke up then, preventing Sin from asking any more questions. "Julie? Are you on injections?"
"Yeah, weekly."
"For the implants?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Rissa turned to Sin. "I know you are."
"Yeah."
"It's expensive?" She sounded honestly interested.
"Yeah," Julie said. "Mine's about three hundred a dose. I bet Sin's is worse since he's got more."
"Five," he admitted. "Every four days."
"I don't pay nearly as much," Davis admitted. "Just about two hundred a month for my leg."
Rissa nodded, accepting all of that. "Does protecting the weak mean things like making those medications more affordable?"
"How are you gonna do that?" Trent wanted to know. "Pharmacon isn't going to just cut the cost of the meds to be nice."
"Medical applications, pharmaceuticals, patents," Rissa looked at Sin. "Would curing your need for the injections count as a miracle?"
"Yeah," he said, not even ashamed to show how much he hated them.
"Well, then that answers one part of the problem. The download is done." Rissa pushed her feet over the edge of the bed. "Pull it up, Zan?"
The kid nodded and opened the file. It took a while, then a strange conglomeration of shapes and angles appeared. It looked like nothing more than garbage.
"You sure that decoded right?" Zan asked.
"Yes," Rissa breathed. "Dear God."
"Hey!" Julie snapped. "None of that."
Rissa just pointed at the screen.
"I still don't know what it is," Zan said.
"That is the active bend of a complex protein," Rissa told them. "The molecule is huge. Fourteen Ingénue, at least, have carried a portion, but this was the heaviest piece I've had so far."
"You're talking Greek again," Sin said.
"They broke it up," she explained, nodding at Zan. "Save that and let me unplug?"
"You're good," the kid assured her. "Gonna miss your mind, though. Fucking impressive."
Rissa smiled and reached up for the cable, sighing as it released, then she turned back to them.
"The shape on the screen? It's the actual chemical composition of the therapeutic portion of a new medication.
The part that makes the drug work, basically.
It's going to be unstable and will have a short shelf life, but that," and she pointed at the screen again, "will make the body identify your implants as a part of itself.
Basically, it will reset your immune system. It's not just a new drug."
"Ok?" Julie asked.
"This is a cure for cybernetic rejection," she said, trying to make them understand. "Take it once and never need another injection, pill, or patch. I don't know why they're running it through us, but that just went to City Hall for patent approval."
"So they'll get it," Davis said. "How does this affect us, and why is everyone acting like it's a bad thing?"
"More importantly, why is someone jacking Ingénue to get it?" Sin added.
Rissa closed her eyes and sighed. "Because they don't want to give it to people.
Pharmacon has had this medication for a while.
They've hidden it because it wouldn't be profitable.
Recently, someone has decided to patent the active portion so no one else can discover it by accident.
" Lifting her lids, her eyes landed on Sin.
"But this download wasn't from Pharmacon. The encryption was."
"Then who?" Sin asked.
"Making a lot of assumptions, I think this was stolen," she explained.
"I can only guess the Legion has made some kind of deal with one of Pharmacon's competitors for limited use in exchange for assisting with the patent somehow.
Pharmacon will turn in their application to find the active portion is already patented, and this other company will likely get some kind of Legion benefits in the end—but there's not enough information for me to be sure what. "
"Ok…" Sin was nodding at her, encouraging her to keep going.
"So if only the church can cure rejection, it's a good way to 'prove' God is real—or at least that miracles are.
If only the active bend is patented, it protects the medication without revealing what it actually is—or that it's complete.
Pharmacon's competitor will be paid off, so they won't say a thing.
But to make a chemical like this takes a lot of research, and that means a lot of people who know about it.
Someone talked." Her eyes moved back to the molecule.
"And the number of attempts at jacking it from Ingénue minds makes me believe someone else wants to get their hands on it.
I don't know if that's for profit or to help others, but they're willing to kill the Ingénue to get it. "
"Shit," Julie mumbled. "So we don't just have one problem on our hands. We have two?"
"At least," Rissa agreed. "But I know what that is. I know how to make it, and they should have asked me to design it." She paused to glance back to Sin. "I could make the whole thing better."
"And not conflict with the patent?" Zan asked.
Rissa nodded. "They discovered that chemical. It's much less efficient than designing it and planning out the reactions necessary to create it."
"Lemme get this straight," Sin said, pointing at his hand. "One shot, one time, and this is mine?"
"Yes."
"God works in mysterious ways," Trent breathed, his eyes locked on Rissa.
"Amen," both Davis and Julie added.
Sin just rubbed his hand across his mouth, trying to take that in. "What are the negative consequences?"
Rissa's eyes went distant as she thought about that. It didn't take long. "Increased desirability of body modifications. Potential for abuse."
"What abuse?"
"That formula?" Rissa indicated the one pasted on the screen. "The backside of the active section is a near-perfect match for dopamine."
"English, brainchild," Trent reminded her.
"It'll get the user high, and it's cheap to make."
"Hence the jackings. It's a fucking street drug." Sin yanked the elastic from his hair, letting it fall loose. "Riss, are you sure?"
"Positive."
"And you think he's going to use it at the church?"
She nodded. "Yes, someone is unless you find a way to stop them. I need to see the rest, but if they slip it to your…" She waved her hand, looking for the right word. "...followers? They will feel euphoria and then simply be cured of their need for anti-rejection medications."
Trent chuckled. "I'm starting to like her. Think we should keep her?"
"She doesn't believe in God," Sin reminded him.
Trent just shrugged. "She can't be perfect, and I'm pretty sure you can fix that." Sin glanced at his friend, and Trent looked back, feigning innocence. "I take confession for my brothers."
"Fuck off," Sin groaned. "And we all know Joshua is looking for any excuse to break us. He can't be blind to our suspicions."
"He could be," Rissa said. "Narcissism often has that effect."
"No, he used to be a Legate," Davis reminded her. "We're required to pay attention."
Zan shrugged and tapped at the screen, examining the molecule. "If what she's saying is right—and I have no reason to doubt her—then I think Sinclair's assignment might have been divine."
"You mean her?" Julie asked.
Zan looked at Sin, his face completely serious. "We've been stuck for a month, Sin. Clueless. We just got a fucking miracle in a very cute hoodie. Do not question His methods."
"But we can't really use her on a regular basis," Sin reminded him. "She's locked up in that damned hellhole, and getting her out will take some work, unless we all want to be on the run."
Which was when Rob returned, his hands filled with paper bags, the smell of food wafting in with him. "What did I miss?"
"Pretty much a miracle," Trent told him. "Davis, fill him in. Sin, we need to get your girl back. The rest of us? We need to do some serious planning, and Zan, that means you."
"Sounds like a plan," Zan agreed. Then he looked back at her. "I'm sorry we can't keep you."
"Oh, we're keeping her," Sin promised. "One way or another, I'm going to get her out. I think it's my calling."
"Let's just hope God agrees," Julie told him.