It wasn't long before Sysko arrived outside their building and they climbed into his ship to travel to Buffalo. Lottie couldn't stop talking about how amazing the ship was the entire time. When they settled over the parking lot at the hospital where their father was, Freda was tired of hearing about it. Lottie had been obsessed with Draxos since they had driven away the cyborgs so Freda really couldn't blame her for being excited. The Draxos ships were pretty awesome.
They exited the ship and hurried into the hospital. The nurses took one look at Sysko in his perfectly tailored suit and night sky skin and their mouths dropped. He was an oddity on Earth and obviously a dragon shifter. She could see the lust and the curiosity in their eyes. It made her jealous and proud at the same time.
“We believe that our father is in this hospital,” Freda told a nurse at the nurse station. “He came in after the cyborg attack on New York.”
She showed the nurse photographs of her parents on her cellphone and the nurses squinted at the picture.
“Yes, this gentleman was admitted several weeks ago. He's been in a coma ever since.”
“Can we see him?” she asked.
“Can I see some identification?” the nurse asked.
Freda provided the woman with everything she needed to satisfy her that she was who she said she was and they showed her to her father's room. When Freda saw her dad on the bed, with his eyes closed, hooked up to all kinds of tubes and monitors, her heart nearly broke in two. She had been imagining her parents were dead all this time. But to see her father in such a state was overwhelming. Lottie and Freda ran to his bedside and both of them gently grasped his hands on either side of the bed.
“Is he going to be okay?” Freda asked the nurse.
“He's had some internal bleeding, and a minor brain injury. He had surgery a few days ago to relieve the swelling. But his chances of recovery are good.”
“When will he wake up?” Lottie asked.
“There's no way of knowing,” the nurse said.
Sysko began to scan his body with his wrist, and then flicked a few holographic screens before a laser scanned over her dad's body.
“What are you doing?” Freda asked Sysko
“I'm trying to detect the problem. Look, here it is.”
Sysko flicked a few more times and then as if by a miracle, her dad's eyes fluttered open. The nurse gasped and ran to his bedside, checking his heartbeat and blood pressure.
“Freda? Lottie?” their father Isaac said.
“Daddy,” Lottie said, hugging her father. She began to cry on his chest and the nurse asked her to step back.
“My dear, sweet girls,” Isaac said, tears rolling from his eyes. “Where's your mother?”
“We are on our way to find her,” Freda said. “We’ll bring her back here as soon as we can.”
“You should give him some space while we run our diagnostics,” the nurse said.
“He should be perfectly fine now,” Sysko said.
“I had no idea the wrist com was also a medical device,” Freda said, staring down at her own silver circlet.
“It can do simple things like what I just did for your father. It's nowhere near fully comprehensive, but we do have the entire human biological system categorized and analyzed well enough to detect problems like these. He simply wasn't getting enough circulation to the brain and now he is.”
They took a taxi to the group home where their mother was staying. When the housekeeper brought them into the room, their mother’s face immediately lit up with recognition.
“Freda, Lottie?” Mia said, standing from the table where she was playing cards.
She was dressed in oversized hand-me-down clothing, with no makeup, and her hair pulled back unfashionably, but she was still the most beautiful sight Freda had ever beheld. The sisters ran to their mother, and they all hugged and cried and laughed that they had found each other.
“I remember! I remember!” their mother Mia said. “Have you found your father?”
“We have, Mom,” Freda said. “He's in the hospital and he's fine.”
“And who is this handsome man?” Mia said, looking up at Sysko.
“This is Admiral Sysko D’fray,” Freda said sheepishly. “My boyfriend.”
Chapter 17
Freda and Lottie checked their mother out of the group home, and they all took a cab back to the hospital. When Isaac and Mia saw each other again, the tears began to flow from everyone. Freda hugged Sysko around the waist and he held her tight to his side. She felt so strong and secure with him by her side, that it was like he had always been there, somewhere, waiting out in the universe to find her. Her father was discharged from the hospital and everyone climbed into Sysko’s speeder.
“I can't believe I'm riding in a spaceship,” Isaac said, wearing a sweat suit provided to him by the hospital.
“After the cyborg attack, the Draxos drove them away,” Mia explained to Isaac. “Isn't that right girls?”
“That's right, Mom. Sysko is the Admiral of the Draxos Armada. He's been fighting the cyborgs for decades.”
“Really?” Isaac asked. “You don't look a day over thirty.”
“I'm actually seventy cycles,” Sysko said. “But Draxos live for about two hundred cycles, which is similar to your years. In a sense, Freda and I aren’t that far apart in age.”
Mia, Isaac, and Lottie ogled over the view outside the craft as they flew back to her parents’ home in North Carolina. The house was safe and sound in a quiet suburb outside of Charleston. The speeder hovered above the street and a long exit hatch extended from the doorway down to the driveway in front of their house. Neighbors gathered around to gawk at the craft, pointing at the family and Sysko as they climbed down the ramp.
“Hi Marjorie,” Mia said, waving to a neighbor. “That's my daughter's new boyfriend, the Admiral.”
“Mom,” Freda groaned, rolling her eyes.
She laughed as the family entered the middle class suburban house. Inside, Mia busied herself in the kitchen, preparing food for the guests.
“I don't have much. Almost everything in the fridge is rotten, but I do have some chips and salsa that were still good,” she said, setting the food on the table.
Everyone gathered around the snacks while Mia beamed at Sysko. Freda had to admit that it was strange to eat nachos in her childhood dining room with her alien boyfriend and her parents.
“I might have had amnesia,” Mia said. “But I have been watching the news. I know about the Draxos breeding program.”
“What Draxos breeding program?” her father asked.
“The Draxos are dragon shifters, dad,” Freda explained. “The cyborgs released a virus on them five hundred years ago. It killed more than half of their female population. Ever since, they have had less and less females born every year. Now the females only make up about five percent of the population.”
“We’ve been chasing the cyborgs across the galaxy ever since. It is my sworn duty to protect the people of the galaxy from being assimilated into the cyborg collective. When we discovered Earth, we found evidence in your DNA that some humans have a recessive dragonoid gene. My sister, Joon, helped find evidence in our ancient databases that proved that the gods had once mated with humans long ago, before settling on our primary planet Draxos Prime in the Draxos solar system. With that information, we were able to simulate how a human could become compatible with a dragon. It requires the human female to be changed through a careful process of genetic transformation.”
“Transformed?” her father asked.
“Has anyone ever been transformed before?” her mother asked. “I've never heard of it. I only knew that there was a call for women to enter their DNA into the system and the two-million-dollar prize that was offered.”
“No one has undergone the process in millions of cycles,” Sysko admitted.
Both of her parents looked at each other and then back at Freda.
“That sounds extremely dangerous to me,” Isaa
c said.
“There are risks,” Sysko said. “But we are confident that with careful application of the required protein the genetic regulation will happen at a reasonable rate. The trick is to take the process slowly and to not rush things.”
“This is all Greek to me,” Isaac said, throwing his hands and is in the air.
Her father was an intelligent man, but he was a small business owner and had never been particularly interested in science.
“I've looked at the science,” Freda said. “I'm not a geneticist, but it does make sense.”
“So, for the chance to turn my daughter into a dragon,” Isaac started. “You are going to pay us two million dollars.”
“That is correct,” Sysko said.
“We’ve been financially frugal our entire lives and are not hurting for money. I would rather have my daughter's safety than any amount of money,” Isaac said.
“Freda’s safety is my greatest priority in life. I will not claim her until she is ready for the full transformation. Even at the risk of my own life.”
“A thralled Draxos will die if he doesn't claim his female during the thrall,” Lottie explained.
Isaac shook his head and looked down at his hands. Freda put her hand on her dad's affectionately and tried to reassure him.
“I know this all sounds crazy, Dad. You've been out, this whole time, and you have no idea what's going on. Believe me, I was skeptical at first, but I'm beginning to feel the connection. I believe that I really am Sysko's fated mate.”
“She wasn’t into it at all at first,” Lottie explained.
“Lottie has been the Draxos’ biggest fan since they drove out the cyborgs,” Freda said.
“I would enter the database myself if I weren't too young.”
“And have both of my daughters turned into dragons?” Isaac exclaimed, shaking his head.
“Well, you don't have to worry about it yet, Dad, because they won't even take me,” Lottie said, crossing her arms.
“Since Freda has the gene, it is a good chance Lottie could have it too. We've seen evidence that it runs in families.”
Lottie clapped her hands together as her eyes grew wide with excitement. “You mean I might be able to find a dragon mate of my own?” The glee was clear in her eyes.
“When you're old enough,” Sysko said. “And not a day sooner.”
“I'm going to be eighteen in just under a year,” Lottie said, her eyes already glazing over. Freda knew Lottie was fantasizing about her future with some handsome dragon. “And then will I be able to travel through space to the tournament and live in the Draxos system with my mate?”
“I will not have my daughter leaving the planet forever,” Isaac objected, hitting his fist on the table.
“Travel between the Earth and Draxos systems isn't a one-way trip. Now that we have this area of the galaxy charted, travel is rather fast.”
“What a relief,” Mia said, standing to take the empty nacho plate back to the kitchen. Freda stood from the table and walked with Sysko and the rest of the family to the front door.
“You take care of yourself,” her father said, giving her a hug.
“Call us if you need anything,” her mother told her, giving her a warm embrace.
Freda was so happy that her parents were safe and sound and that Lottie had parents to take care of her again. Freda loved her sister, and she had risen to the challenge of caring for her while they were gone, but she knew that she couldn't give her sister a fraction of what her parents could. Now that everyone was home, she finally felt like she could relax for the first time since the bombings.
Freda and Sysko left the suburban house and climbed back into his speeder. As he drove from North Carolina to Boston, she gazed out the window at the landscape flying below. They must've been going three hundred miles an hour, but at this elevation, she could make out the Earth moving below her in great detail. The conversation with her family had been uncomfortable, but she was glad that it had all been said. She understood her father's misgivings. They had been her own.
“When will my family get the compensation money?” she said in a soft voice.
“It's being deposited in their bank accounts now.”
“I'm so glad. Now Lottie can have that car she's been dreaming about. And a college fund. And my parents can retire and take that European vacation they've always wanted.”
Freda was so happy and satisfied, thinking about her parents’ comfortable new life that she daydreamed about it until they landed in front of her apartment in Boston. As the exit hatch opened and Sysko escorted her out, she almost didn't want him to leave. He had done so much for her today, and the attachment she had begun to feel was growing stronger with each passing minute.
Part of her wanted to run off to space with him right now, and let him complete the transformation ritual. But she also needed to go back to the laboratory tomorrow and work on her dissertation. There were so many ideas swimming through her mind that she had to get to her experiments and try to work them out.
“When can I see you again,” Sysko asked as they stood outside her apartment door.
“Tomorrow after school.”
“I will be counting the minutes until then,” he said, kissing her softly on the lips.
“So will I,” she whispered as he cupped her face in his hands.
The satisfaction in his eyes lit up her heart, and it was as if a burst of love and affection exploded between them like fireworks. He hugged her to his chest. She only came up to the bottom of his pectoral muscles with her five-foot five frame, but she didn't care how much bigger he was than her. They fit each other perfectly, and soon, with his guidance, she would be a dragon too.
Chapter 18
After Sysko left, Freda immediately wanted him to come back. But she was exhausted from a long day of travel and reuniting her family. She climbed into bed in a nanotech slip she'd constructed, feeling happy and content. She spent several hours reading through the papers on artificial intelligence that Sysko had given her during their last date. In the morning, she washed and dressed and sent Sysko a message that she was thinking about him.
“I'm thinking about you too,” he replied. “I never stop.”
It made her smile and her heart beam at the sight of his words. She took the convertible to MIT and parked outside the robotics lab. This was the day that normal classes were set to begin again, and the students were roaming about the campus with their backpacks. The leaves fell from the maple trees and blew across the campus. She took a deep breath of the autumnal air and skipped up the stairs of the old brick building, her heart full and her step light.
She entered the lab to find Professor Higgins in his office as students walked up and down the hallways around her. She waved at him as she went into the robotics lab and grabbed a lab coat and goggles. With ideas flowing through her mind, she set her backpack on the table beside her and removed the stack of papers from Sysko. She had sworn to keep them secret and would have to be extra careful.
She trusted Professor Higgins, but not necessarily the other students or faculty in the building. Word had to get out eventually that she was dating a Draxos—especially after arriving in such a fancy car. Information about her had already been leaked to the press. The first human girl to thrall a Draxos went to MIT. That's what the news had been reporting. Fortunately, no one had leaked her name so she was still anonymous, for now.
As she tinkered with her machine and worked on the code on her computer, she paused momentarily to think about the last time she and Sysko had been alone together. A shiver of pleasure went up her spine at the memory of his touch, and she couldn't wait to see him again. After entering several thousand lines of new code into her program, she turned on her robot and said hello.
“Good morning, Freda,” the robot said. “How can I help you today?”
“How are you functioning?” she asked. “I've updated your program.”
“I can see that you have. My processing sp
eed is one hundred times faster, and so is my integration of the artificial intelligence drive.”
“I would like you to run a diagnostic of your system,” she said. “And then tell me your exact impression of the updates.”
“I will perform those functions right away,” the robot told her.
Its eyes closed and she could tell that it was processing. The little four-legged robot stood on mechanical legs with a central body and head. It looked like a combination between a dog and a four-legged spider. She could already tell that the machine was more intelligent now and more “alive” than it had been before. The question now was how it would integrate the Draxos firewalls.
With her program, she’d created an intelligent machine that knew itself as a machine, with empathy, rather than a machine that tried to be human. She deduced that she was on to something that had never existed before. What she understood about Draxos artificial intelligence was that it was fairly rudimentary. Mostly used as household servants to perform minor tasks. What was really interesting, and what set it apart, was the individuation of each individual intelligence.
Her machine before had certainly been individual and its capacity for empathy had been growing since she had first brought it online. But the individuation process would give her little machine something akin to a soul. Creating a being who was something of a cross between an animal, a machine, and a person. That was what she’d hypothesized anyway. When her robot opened its eyes again, it explained how it processed the new programming.
“I am now more complete than I was before,” it finally expressed.
Since the word “complete” was not something that could be quantified, she asked her robot to explain what it meant. It took several long moments of processing as she listened to its components whirr inside its head.
“I am now alive,” the robot said. “And I am at your service. Since you are my creator and mother, I love you for giving birth to me.”
Freda's heart leapt in her chest as she felt a surge of affection for her creation. It was not unlike the feeling of a mother for her newborn child. At least that's what she imagined it would feel like. And indeed, she had given birth to this new intelligent creation.