You Only Live Twice

Zack awoke in a room which he did not recognise. He also felt different and attempted to rise from the bio-bed he was lying on. At first his muscles didn’t appear to want to work, but with a little extra effort he managed to sit up and took a look around.

Whatever the room was he had found himself in, it was unfamiliar. He swung around and placed his bare feet on the floor, which felt cold. He was wearing some kind of unitard, blue in colour.

Zack moved around the room, examining the consoles, none of which appeared to react to his touch. Some of the visuals appeared to be scans of his body, specifically his brain.

Suddenly there was a noise from behind him and he turned to see a female enter the room. At first he didn’t recognise her, but then it came back to him, the woman was Azri Garner.

“Hello Zack.” Azri said. “How are you feeling ?”

“Strange…..” Zack replied. “…..where am I ?”

“Things will settle down in a while.” Azri stated. “It just takes time for the body to adjust, you’ve through a lot. As for where you are, you’re back on Earth, Starfleet Medical to be exact.”

“How did I get here ?” Zack asked. “What happened to me ?”

“You where brought back here after your attempts to revive Karissa and Rahel.” Azri stated.

For a moment Zack was silent as if he was trying to remember something long forgotten. Suddenly a wave of emotion and pain passed over him and he started to feel faint. Azri reacted, moved towards him, catching him before he dropped to the floor. She was faster and stronger than she looked. She half-carried Zack back to the bio-bed and he sat down.

“I remember now….” Zack remarked, still only half alert and with a dozen questions buzzing through his mind. “….Rahel….Karissa, the lab fire…..oh my god……I died……But I’m here………..How ? Why ?”

“I’ll explain what I can, but the temporal prime directive means I can’t tell you everything.” Azri said, pulling across a chair and placing in front of Zack.

“Rahel, Karissa did they die too.” Zack asked. “Did I fail ?”

“They survived….” Azri replied. “….but the strain of the link put a devastating strain on your own systems. You sacrificed your own life to save theirs and in doing so changed history.”

“Wait a minute….” Zack said as he fully regained his composure. “….you said something about the temporal prime directive……”

Azri half smiled. “Welcome to the thirty-second century.”

“What’s going on ?” Zack protested, once more getting agitated. “Who are you really ?”

“My name is Azri Garner or at least that’s then name I have been given.” Azri stated. “My designation is Time Agent 04-005/A.”

Zack just laughed like a crazy man.

“You want me to believe that you’re some kind of agent from the future, that you took my dead corpse from the twenty-fourth century and brought it here.” Zack stated. “I don’t buy it, who are you really ? What do you want ?”

“Zack, please calm down.” Azri suggested. “You’ll cause your systems to overload…..do you want me to prove that I’m not lying ?”

“If you can….yes.” Zack said.

Azri left the room and returned moments later with a small hand mirror. She passed it to Zack.

“Have a look.” She suggested.

Zack took the mirror and brought it up to his face. He reeled back in shock as he looked into the mirror and didn’t recognise the face.

“What have you done to me ?” He asked.

“Do you believe me now Zack ?” Azri asked.

“Well you’ve either performed some major surgery on my face….. or this body isn’t mine.” Zack remarked. “On the plus size at least I now have some hair.”

“Do you believe me ?” Azri asked again.

“I’m willing to keep an open mind for the time being.” Zack replied. “So what happened to me ?”

“We were unable to restore your original body, the damage to the nervous systems was just too great and so your conscious was transferred to a Time agent cadaver.” Azri started to explain.

“A what ?” Zack asked.

“How can I explain this ?” Azri said, more to herself than to Zack. “I am not a biological entity in the way you would think of me, I am a bio-engineered mechanoid. I have superior strength, speed and intelligence; I even have an electronic form of DNA. We were designed to be the perfect Time Agent, the idea was that we could be sent back into the past to observe various events, interact with others and not succumb to temporary psychosis.”

“And this body you’ve put me in is one of these bio-mechanoids ?” Zack stated. “I’m now some kind of android ?”

“Artificial life-form would be a better description.” Azri suggested. “To all but the most sophisticated scans you would appear to be flesh and blood. You now have a life-span of centuries, you have an advanced immune and healing system and you could live for ever, so long as you don’t get beheaded or disintegrated.”

“So what happened to my body ?” Zack enquired.

“After we extracted the data stored in your brain, it was placed into storage.” Azri answered.

“Extracted data ?” Zack exclaimed. “What data ?”

“The mind is a very curious thing.” Azri stated. “Even in the twenty-fourth century no-one was aware that everything is recorded, every sight, every sound from the time you were conceived. We learnt a lot about your father and what he was doing on Kritarus.”

“My father ?” Zack said. “You know who my biological father was ?”

“We do now.” Azri replied. “He was the man you know as both Helorian Drakara and Bakar Mikori. He used his own DNA to create you and that of his wife to create Karissa and Shara.”

“His wife ?” Zack exclaimed.

“Yes, Jesikara Buku.” Azri replied. “Or as you called her, the “dead” lady.”

It took Zack a few moments to remember who Azri was referring to.

“The body in the Geni-tech lab !” He stated. “She was Drakara’s wife….now I remember……she looked so much like Karissa and Shara.”

“Would you like to see some images ?” Azri announced.

“Of Drakara ?......” Zack asked.

“It might make things a little clearer.” Azri suggested.

To be continued…….