A Different Place

Chapter 27 - ???

"Mistress Yuna! Mistress Yuna!"

Yuna rolled out of her sleep chamber, one which had lost half of its effectiveness since she'd actually had to start falling asleep before getting any rest. She missed the old days when she could just hop in and and wink in and out of consciousness like a light. "Yes?" she asked sleepily after punching the intercom button. That was another difficulty with her new body. It was far too inefficient at waking up. She would gradually drift from sleep to complete wakefulness across a period of around sixty minutes, and sometimes she'd have to ingest certain chemicals in order to become properly alert.

"I've just detected some strange power readings from the D-27 Sector. These emanations are strong enough to indicate a Purifier unit might be present."

Yuna felt herself jump to alertness far quicker than usual. "That's impossible! The last Purifier was destroyed over fourteen years ago." She looked at herself in the reflection of the sleep chamber. Her new body never did look that good upon awakening. She gently combed the tangles out of her short blond hair. "That would be welcome news, Gatz, but I don't think your findings are accurate. Re-check them, and I'm sure you'll find that what you're looking at is merely one of the Sentinels of Iscreme acting up again. Those poor carbons..."

"Yes, Mother," replied Gatz over the intercom.

It was really too bad that there were no Purifiers left alive. One of their hidden subroutines involved the production of excess nanomachines, which could be useful in so many different ways. The foremost of these uses currently in the Mother Unit's mind, however, was that of consciouness transfer. The excess nanomachines could repair her original frame and then send her cognitive functions back to where they belonged.

Once again, Yuna cursed herself for her soft-heartedness. She'd poured so much of herself into fixing this carbon unit's broken body that, well, she had poured herself into it. Every now and then she could feel her host's biological mind processes try to influence hers, futilely, of course. No primitive brain could ever hope to overwhelm her higher functions, no matter how strong its emotional impulses were. She walked over to the other glass coffin, which was now sealed permanently, and inspected its inhabitant.

"This is really all your fault, you know," she told her original body, with its luxurious, long, green hair which never tangled, no matter how she slept on it. Yuna often effaced herself this way. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."

Now Gatz piped up over the intercom again. "Mistress Yuna, my readings are confirmed. You are correct that an Iscreme Sentinel was activated within the last three days, but the scanner report shows something else in addition. I admit I cannot confirm that it is from a Purifier model, but the readings themselves seem to have been obscured in some way. I would venture to say that it is something meriting further investigation."

"Very well," Yuna allowed. "It's possible Sera developed some new Purifiers to serve her---without informing us, of course---before she was deactivated." She wouldn't put something of that sort past her sister. "That may actually work in our favor. That's assuming she didn't alter their programming to make them fanatically devoted to her."

"We might be able to find some way of bypassing those commands," her Servitor suggested.

"Yes, if there really is a Purifier there."

"Perhaps these distorted readings are being emitted from some form of Ancient technology," said Gatz over the speaker. "It could be from something other than an Anthro Unit, or some form older form of Anthro Unit we are unfamiliar with."

"Has there been any word from Eden?"

"No, Mother," Gatz replied. "As you know, Eden has been run on full automation since Mistress Sera disappeared. All units save the Portal Guardians have been put into stasis. If you like, I can attempt to make contact with Eden's systems."

Yuna shook her far too organic head. "There's no need for that right now. We need to go check out the Sector D-27 before taking any other action."

"Do you want to me to fly you myself?"

"No, I think we'll take a Carrier," Yuna said. "I sometimes get uncomfortably chilly when I'm riding on your back."

"I am sorry, Mistress."

"You couldn't help it," Yuna told the Servitor. "It's just this frail body of mine." She sighed and began her preparations for the journey. Yuna dared not allow herself to believe that a Purifer had been found. She had gotten her hopes up many times in the past, only to sink to the absolute depths of despair when she discovered once again that she was forever locked in her adopted host.

If only that beautiful Trigger hadn't gotten himself killed fighting Sera...