Immortal Mistakes

how much time did she have?

At Chloe's command, ROD drained the blood from Henry's veins, replacing it with cooling solution. Chloe stood unable to move while the blood was sucked back into the machine, snaking through thin tubes and disappearing to be broken down into the building blocks of life. Then her body took over and she ran to the emergency cart, tripping over the uneven floor and throwing out her arms to grab the side of the cart. She pulled herself up, snatched up a syringe full of sedation and rushed into the printing machine to access Henry's port. At her touch he became a whirlwind. His right arm shot out and pushed her hard against the side of the machine. Pain stabbed her left shoulder and she dropped the syringe. She scrambled to find it, but Henry was bouncing around inside the machine. His foot slammed into her face and she slumped to the ground.

She could hear him thumping against the glass, the thuds punctuated with groans but she couldn't open her left eye to see. She turned her head trying to see where the syringe had landed. It was behind Henry. He had fallen and was lying on his side jerking. 

Chloe crawled forward, ignoring the pain in her head, picked up the syringe and jammed it into the port in his arm. The sedation spread quickly and he stopped moving. She braced her hand against the glass, pain pushing against the inside of her skull. The hum of machines, the cool stone and smooth glass, the smell of heat and skin and urine melted away. All Chloe could see was the body. Dead. On the floor of her clinic.

She shouldn't have done it. It was stupid. But it worked so well in animals, why not in humans? Her brain refused to make connections. If she had ever known, she didn't know now.

She didn't have much time. ROD's files were automatically uploaded onto the web. A cloning death was a major mishap. The Scientific Oversight Committee would be notified. There would be a misconduct trial at the very least. Or worse.

She leaned her forehead against the glass wall. "ROD, start analysis."

A playback of the scene ran through her head. ROD printing the body and inserting an electrode into the brain. Theta waves forming as the memories flowed in. Neurotransmitters lighting up as neurones connected. Then an angry jagged mess as neurotransmitters emptied out of the neurones. Neurones swelled. Some broke open and burst. Chloe's heart burst as she watched and slid down the side of her ribcage. She knew before ROD said it. It sat in the pit of her stomach, weighing her down to the ground. "Extraneous memories inserted. Neuronal rejection. Neurotransmitter storm leading to irreversible brain damage."

Henry's body lay motionless. Chloe lay her head on his still-warm chest feeling for breath, for life. She reached her fingers up to his neck wishing more than anything to feel a pulse. Nothing. He was dead. 

At the same time Henry stood hugging her, whispering hot-breathed questions into her ear.

"The memories?" he said.

"All there."

But he didn't speak, this Henry. He lay on the ground, not moving, not breathing. The synthetic memories had killed this Henry. Chloe started shaking. She had killed him with hidden thoughts. 

Fragments of thoughts tumbled around Chloe's mind. Death. Memories. Inquiry. Prison. She had to re-clone him and clean this up before anyone found out. 

"Shit," Chloe said into Henry's chest. "I'm sorry." 

She shuffled around to the front of the case, pressed her finger to ROD's control panel and whispered, "Identify the body." Thin forceps extended from one of ROD's arms and took a skin sample from behind Henry's ear.

"Rejuvenation required for Henry Kim. Genetic maintenance engineer. Body found in the Brisbane Memory Bank and Rejuvenation Clinic."

Chloe's whole body shook as she took the vials out of her left pocket and inserted them into ROD's control panel. Blood rushed through her ears, pounding, pounding until she couldn't see. She felt for the bioreader and pressed it and sank to the ground. "Start printing," she said. 

She was almost sure she remembered Henry walking out of the printer and hugging her and walking out of the clinic and down the steps and back into the world.

She longed for the things she thought she remembered to be true. The clarity, the hot breath, the questions, the life. Why wasn't she living that version? Instead of this one. She pressed her fingertips to her temples. Her head was pounding and she couldn't focus. There was no way to cover this up. They would scan her memories. How much time did she have?

Thanks so much for reading. If the government tracked all our memories, would you try to hide some of yours?

This chapter is dedicated to @Perci_Snickedy - thanks so much for your extremely helpful feedback.