He gripped my chin and moved my head to the left and right. My heart pounded and I had to force down my beginning panic. This whole situation was intimidating as hell. But somehow I managed to keep my anxiety from my face.

Then something happened that I did absolutely not expect. Despite my fear, my nervousness, and the fact that this giant of a man towered above me, I felt myself getting wet. That derailed my thoughts for a bit, while Walker examined my face. I fought myself to calm down. This was not a normal reaction for me, so I had to research it later. Now I had to ensure my immediate future.

As calmly and as coldly as I could manage I asked:

“Is this normal behavior for you?”

“I still have to decide if you are worth it.” Still, he let go of my chin and took a step back.

“And what, pray tell, has my face to do with it?”

He slowly moved back to his chair.

“If I decide to let you open your business in my territory, there may be ancillary services despite the tax that I might demand. And for some of those, your appearance could be important.”

Frick, that was not a direction I wanted to go in. But he was the boss and at least he was considering letting me work here.

“These ancillary services would have to be negotiated. I hope you are not affronted, but I want to know beforehand…”

Suddenly it clicked.

The smell, the twitches, the sweat, his slightly unfocused eyes whenever he did not concentrate.

“You have CRS!” I immediately regretted my outburst but it was so surprising that I could not stop myself.

His look became cold, as well as his voice.

“Why do you think I have CRS?”

Damn. Hope for the best.

“Something bothered me the moment I entered your office, but I could not immediately identify what.

You have many small indications.

Your cybermuscles twitch every so often.

Your eyes defocus when you don’t concentrate, as well as twitch.

You have a slight sheen of sweat on your brow.

Your breath is a bit labored.

That all could have any number of causes, but not the smell of Tricyclin. From the strength of the smell, I would estimate that you have late-stage three or even stage four CRS.”

He stared at me.

“And, as an implant surgeon, what would you advise in this situation?”

That was the question.

“With what I know at this moment, nothing. I simply have not enough information to give a sound opinion, much less advise how to go from here.”

That seemed to surprise him.

“Give me a general outline of what you would suggest.”

“Well, generally you have four options.

The easiest is of course to do nothing. Depending on the severity of your CRS and what cyberware you have, this will kill you sooner or later.

Could be weeks, could be months. From your breathing and the sweat I would guess you have a cybernetic heart and that it gives you problems, so years to live should be unrealistic.

Next, what you apparently are doing, using anti-rejection drugs. Tricyclin is good, but if you have a cybernetic heart then Demakilan would be a bit better choice. That would extend your life expectancy by 20 to 30%.

Third option, you could replace the cyberware with cloned organs. That would of course stop the CRS, but leave you without cyberware and demonstrating a weakness. It would also depend on your surviving long enough to get the cloned tissue. I don’t think a man in your position would survive long in that situation.

Fourth you could try Nicolins’ nano therapy. That could increase live expectancy by up to 400%.”

He leaned forward.

“Ok, now I am a bit impressed. You are only the second who mentioned the nano therapy. Not that anybody here can do it.”

I shook my head.

“I know how it works. I mean, I haven’t done it before, but I have the parameters and programming for the therapy. But I can’t promise you that it will save you. Also, it will only prolong your life so much. Fortunately for you, I may have a fifth option that might save you and eliminate your CRS.”

I saw how he tensed all over his body.

“What would you need?”

I mentally walked through the necessary steps.

“First and foremost I would need access to a medical scanner that is no more than 30 years old and would have to scan you. Also, I have just arrived in New York, and have no equipment except a few irreplaceable pieces I brought with me from Seattle. I would need to get the rest.”

He nodded.

“And you want me to give it to you?”

“No. I want to buy it myself. Don’t fear, I have the money for it.

What I don’t have yet are the contacts necessary to buy it. As well as replacement parts for the cyberware you have. My method won’t work with already implanted tech.”

He scratched his chin again.

“And what else?”

“Time. If you survive long enough to modify the cyberware I can almost certainly save you. But that is a big if, and I can’t tell you the chances until I have a detailed scan of you.”

“Almost certainly?”

“There is never a 100% guarantee. Even now any surgery has its risks. But if you are alive when we have the surgery, then your chances are somewhere around 98 to 99%.”

He thought for a moment and then nodded.

“All right. You get your chance to prove that you can do the job. Follow me.”

He stood up and moved swiftly to the door. I scrambled after him, followed by his bodyguards.

In the anteroom, he bellowed a quick order.

“Janet, call Doc Schaeffer. I will meet him in the clinic in 15 minutes. Then he moved out. When he walked toward the stairs I cleared my throat and he stopped looking at me.

“Is there a lift here?”

He had a sardonic grin when he answered. “Yes. Why? Are you struggling with stairs?”

I reciprocated his grin.

“No, it is for you. From what I already know about your condition you should avoid any exertion at all costs. Taking the lift may make the difference between you dying or living.”

That wiped out his grin, and he started moving again, in a different direction. Shortly we arrived at a lift, and not long after reached the ground floor. There we were met by another three bodyguards.

Kate jumped from her chair when we moved through the reception, but I shook my head, not having time for more.

A brisk walk outside later we entered the building beside Walker's headquarters. Now I noticed that it was a clinic, and an older man with a white coat stood beside the counter. He looked less than pleased.

“Ben, I thought I made it clear that you have to avoid any exertion. You could kill yourself the way you move.”

Walker made a waving motion.

“I know, I know. But this time it might be important. Let’s get to your office.” The older man sighed, before walking to a set of automatic doors in the back.

Walker signed me to follow him and moved along. Only two of the bodyguards followed us inside.

Inside Walker took one of the chairs in front of the desk, directed me to the other, while the apparent doctor took place behind the desk, before asking:

“Ok, Ben, what is so important that you have to risk the last few weeks you have left?”

Walker leaned forward.

“This young woman here claims to be an implant surgeon, and frankly, after the way she worked out that I have CRS I tend to believe her. More importantly, one of the options she mentioned was this nano therapy of this Nichols you talked about, Richard.”

Richard threw a short look at me, before again looking at Walker.

“Nicolin, not Nichols. And knowing about it won’t help you a bit.”

I entered the discussion.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I do not only know about it.

I haven’t done it yet but I know how to do it.

And frankly, I have something better than the nano therapy to offer, if Mr. Walker has enough time left.”

Now Richard looked much more intensively at me.

“Young woman, I don’t know how you convinced Ben, but if you want to play doctor please leave real sick people alone.”

I ground my teeth but held back my sarcasm.

“Doctor, I can assure you that I know what I am talking about.

I don’t know how much time we have, so I will keep it short.

I am a Pure, I have an IQ that would be deemed genius level for normal humans, I have a perfect memory, and I look extremely young for my age.

All together, yes I am an implant surgeon, and I know how to do the nano therapy.

I also have a way to beat CRS. A proven way. The only thing that could prevent me from saving Mr. Walker is time.”

Richard looked at Walker and then nodded tiredly.

“All right, if Ben thinks you should try it, I will give you a chance.” He sighed. “What do you need?”

“I need access to a medical scanner no older than thirty years and have to scan Mr. Walker. After that, I can tell you more.”

“OK, that is at least a serious approach. Then follow me.”

We all walked to another room, where we found a scanner. I did not recognize the make, so I had to ask.

“What model is this? I don’t recognize it.” Richard looked shortly at me again.

“That is a Norville MSP 337a. It is 13 years old.” I sent a short request to the cluster and received the answer shortly.

“OK, that should be sufficient. Mr. Walker, if you would enter the scanner please?”

While Walker moved towards the scanner Richard turned fully towards me.

“Can you tell me why you need a scanner not older than 30 years?”

“37 years ago Panacea Inc. combined the MRT with the grav anomaly scanner, giving us resolution on the macro-molecule level in real-time.

It filtered through to most manufacturers by 2216.

With the inclusion of a bit of a fudge factor 30 years is a good limit.

I need the resolution to get a precise evaluation of the damage the CRS has done and an estimate of how much time we have left.”

Meanwhile, Walker had entered the scanner, and I worked on the console.

Then the scan proceeded.

“Now we have to wait.” And waiting we did. I signaled the cluster to set the timer for the attack back two hours.

The picture that was slowly created on the display was not good. It was not good at all. Suddenly something caught my attention. That… would be a problem.

I turned toward Richard.

“Doctor, would it be possible that you give me access to Mr. Walker's file? It could help me begin to tailor the therapy.” No need to induce suspicion quite yet.

Richard thought about it for a while and then nodded, and with a few keystrokes opened the file on the secondary computer. I scrolled forward to the last half-year and quickly found what I feared.

“Hm, I read here that you gave him Aspertone. Any reason for that?”

He smiled a bit.

“Yes. I bet you think that it is wrong. I thought so too until Denzel made a bet with me. I then researched it further, and found out I confused it with Asparane.”

I took a moment to work that over.

“Sorry, but can you show me your research?” He shrugged his shoulders and made another few keystrokes.

Then I read the entry about Aspertone. To be completely sure I set the cluster to get anything about this drug it could find. Meanwhile, the scanner was finished, and Walker joined us.

“And what is the verdict?”

I thought a moment.

“First I would ask the doctor here to give you a mild sedative.”

Walker's face darkened, but he kept his calm.

“And why that?”

I waited a few seconds before answering.

“I have to tell you a few things that will agitate you, and that could be deadly at the moment. I was considering not telling you about them for medical reasons but I fear you have an urgent need to know them.”

Now both Walker and Richard looked worried, but the doctor left and came back with a syringe a few minutes later.

After he injected Walker, it took a while before the mob boss became rather mellow, and Richard turned to me.

“OK, he is calm and should remain so. What is so upsetting?”

Now the hard part.

“First, the CRS has attacked the cyber heart massively. If we do nothing, Mr. Walker will be dead in a week, two maximum. Three would be an outright miracle.”

Richard’s face clouded, and Walker had a sad smile.

“That is what I expected. Well, it was a good life.”

“Don’t give up so fast. I said if we do nothing. With nano therapy, we can extend that considerably. That will give me time to adapt a replacement heart for you. I won’t lie to you, even if everything goes right, your chances are no better than 60%. And that is with a Dworak Pulse III.”

That got Richard into the talk.

“Why a Pulse III? It is barely better than a natural heart.”

“Exactly because of that. It will take time to adapt any implant. I can convert a Pulse III in six weeks. Anything more complicated and the time needed goes up. A Kolvar Excelsior like he has now would take me a bit over three months. The chances that he survives so long even with nano therapy are a bit less than 20%. Everything else that is damaged is not critical. Even if it craps out, he will only be inconvenienced. But the heart will kill him. His neural implants are still unaffected, so with the therapy, we have a few years before they become critical.”

Walker made a pyramid with his fingers again.

“All right. What do you need to start the nano therapy?”

I answered with a smile.

“Actually that is the easy part. I just need access to the nano fab here.”

The doctor’s face fell.

“We don’t have a nano fab.”

I had to blink at that a few times.

“No… nano fab? I thought these were standard equipment for clinics nowadays.”

Walker answered me: “For you Commies maybe. But here these things are rare as hen’s teeth. Hard to come by is an understatement. Damn. Maybe we can trade for access to one.”

I shook my head.

“If they are so rare, how did Frankel get his?”

That surprised both of them, with Walker exclaiming: “Frankel has a nano fab?”

“Had a nano fab. I told you that I took possession of all his property.”

“So you can use it to make this therapy?”

“Sure, I could. But if I have to go to the fortress anyway, I will use mine. It’s better.”

Richard gasped.

“You have two nano fabs? And why is yours better?”

I shook my head to get the confusion out.

“Honestly, I don’t know exactly what Frankel had. But mine is bleeding edge for the Commonwealth. There simply are no better nano fabs. If you want I can give you Frankel’s. I think you can make better use of it than it catching dust with me. Or if you have a few months' time I can build you one. I just have to make the tools to make the tools first.”

That of course was a fib. I could make a new nano fab in three or four days if I got the right raw materials, but that would reveal the NADA, and I was not prepared for that yet.

Walker in turn got a thoughtful expression.

“You can make a nano fab?”

“Yes. I told you I am among other things an electronics designer. I specialized in nanoelectronics. In addition to allowing me to make nano fabs, it helps me design neuronal implants and computer systems.”

Walker smiled weakly. “Ok, that I can understand. So you have to go back to Frankel’s place and make the therapy? Then go.”

I shook my head.

“My place now, and a bit of a moment, please. I am not finished with the things you have to know. Before I continue, I have to ask, who installed the emergency air tank?”

Walker looked at Richard.

“That was Denzel, right?”

Richard shrugged his shoulders. “I think so.” Then he addressed me. “Why do you need to know that?”

“Because the CRS is neither an accident nor surprising. This Denzel tried to murder you and may have succeeded if I can’t stop it.”

They were visibly shocked by that. Then Walker asked me with an intense gaze.

“What makes you think that?”

I gestured towards the scan display.

“The tank itself told me that. Honestly, I have never seen an implant done so wrongly. Even a surge boy fresh out of the box would have done a considerably better job adapting it. Then it would have only a risk of around 55 to 60% to cause CRS. As it is, the surgeon must either have been intoxicated up to his gills, or he intentionally adapted the tank in a way to increase the risk as much as possible. This tank had a chance of roughly 80% to make you sick. I would guess that this Denzel has either moved or is dead.”

Richard shook his head.

“I can’t believe it. Denzel was always so a good man.” Dead then. That fit the pattern.

“Believe it. But he did not work alone. You have at least one more in the plot. The database here was hacked.” I turned toward Richard.

“Your first instinct about Aspertone was right. Somebody changed the information in your database. It is actually strongly contraindicated to every implant. It nearly doubles the risk of developing CRS. With it and the way the tank was adapted, there was maybe a chance of one or two percent of not getting CRS. This was without a doubt intentional. And whoever paid Denzel to do this covered his tracks.”

I turned back to Walker.

“Essentially you have somebody in your organization that wants you out of the way without the appearance of murder.”

It was clear that despite the sedative Walker became agitated.

“Mr. Walker, calm down. If you need it, let the doctor here give you another shot. Any agitation can kill you.”

He slumped down.

“What do I do now?”

I shook my head. “I can only help with your health.”

He gave me a weak smile.

“That is better than what most can do. So what now?”

I made a mental list before I answered.

“First I go to my place and make the nano therapy. Meanwhile, you have to get somebody to start searching for the equipment I need and the replacement parts. Or alternately have somebody introduce me to the right persons.

Decide now what heart you want. I would strongly suggest the Pulse III first and I can adapt an Excelsior later when we have you free of CRS.

Then you make the necessary changes so that you can take it slowly for a bit over a month. You have to be as stress-free as you can. I know you can’t disappear for so long but reduce it as much as you can.

Try not to think about who may want to have you killed, as that may be too much for you yet.

When I come back I will start the therapy for you.

You will need an injection of nanites every two days, so I will bring Frankle’s nano fab here and show the good doctor how to program the nanites.

You won’t be the only one needing it, as I would bet that he used Aspertone for a few of your men. If it were not deadly for cybered persons it would be one of the best drugs you could get for shortening recuperation time.” That produced an exclamation from Richard, but I ignored it and continued.

“Then, when I finish adapting the replacement heart I will hopefully have equipped my practice. I originally planned three to four months for that, but now I need at least the bare minimum in six weeks, so I hope you can organize the required contacts for me. If you survive until then I will replace your heart with the replacement and we have the time to take care of your other cyberware in a more leisurely fashion. Any questions?”

Richard cleared his throat.

“Um, yeah. If it is not too blatant, could you explain how you made cyberware CRS resistant?”

I held up a finger.

“Not resistant, proof. And it is at least quite simple in concept. I developed a biological sheathing for the cyberware.”

The good doctor looked crestfallen with that. “Damn and I had such hopes. I fear it won’t work. The same approach has been tried nearly 40 years ago. Without success, I have to say.”

“You mean encapsulating the cyberware with cloned tissue. And that approach has been tried 72 years ago, 68 years ago, 63 years ago, 59 years ago, 51 years ago, 39 years ago, 23 years ago, 17 years ago, twelve years ago and lastly seven years ago.

They all made the same error.

They encapsulated the entire implant with biomaterial, and when the implant needed a direct connection they left that uncoated.

They also used straight cloned material, without considering that while cloned material may not be attacked by the immune system it only slows the immune reaction, even if by a substantial amount. The only difference between the different attempts was the way they created the encapsulation.”

I gave both of the men a happy smile.

“I have chosen to call it a biological sheathing for a reason. What I do is not encapsulating the implant but I take it apart and coat the different parts separately with the biological tissue. For the needed contacts and openings I build a nano filter system that actively keeps the immune system away. The bio-sheathing also blocks the immune system.

With respect to the researchers of the other attempts, I have to confess that it has only been possible for the last three to four years to create the nano filters.

But I tested it extensively. I even used Aspertone on my lab rats and the only adaption I did was the coating.

It should have had a risk of around 99% for each rat to develop CRS.

Out of 10000 rats, not one developed it. Unfortunately, I haven’t adapted the process to every type of implant yet.

I can only help with about two-thirds of them so far.

Also, I only have an experimental bioreactor sufficient for relatively small parts. I intended to build a full production model here. With that, I could have adapted an Excelsior in three or four days if my projections are right, but for now, I have to disassemble any implant to rather small parts to do the coating.”

Richard nodded thoughtfully.

“I really hope you are right. The explanation at least sounds plausible. Well, please don’t take me for rude, but I think you should hurry. I would hate to have Ben die just when a cure is in sight.”

I nodded but did not leave my chair immediately.

“I understand that, but before I go, I would like to at least know your name. I am Veronica Sinclair.”

He had to laugh.

“Sorry, but I completely forgot about that. I am Richard Schaeffer.”

“Nice to meet you.” Then I turned toward Walker. “If you could signal your men that I am free to go, please? I don’t want any mistakes to happen. I will be back in roughly an hour. Good day.”

Then I stood up and moved to the door. One of the two bodyguards hurried along, and reached the exit before me, opening the door.

Outside he gave a signal to the other guards, before walking alongside me.

When we reached the headquarters he opened the door for me again. Inside he got to the counter.

“The girl can go. She has to run an errand for the boss.” I walked to Patrick.

“If I could have my gun back please?”

Kate had meanwhile left her seat and came to my side. After I got the gun back we left the building.

“You look better than I thought you would. What happened?”

I moved vigorously to the sedan.

“At first it went almost exactly by the script.

He was obviously disinclined to accept my proposal and hinted at getting Frankel back in position. I think I could dissuade him with the fact that the fortress is a, well, fortress.

I also played on the fact that I bested Frankel and insinuated that a confrontation might not be to his advantage.”

After I got into the car, I stopped the timer on the cluster, and set The Lamb back to dormant status, before I continued.

“Then we both had quite a bit of luck. I found out that he has terminal CRS.”

Kate made a strange sound and then asked me.

“How is that luck? I mean, yeah, we won’t be dealing with him in the long run, so that might be a bit lucky, but for him? I would define luck differently.”

I had to laugh at that.

“Normally I would agree with you, but not in this case. His luck was not in the fact that he has CRS, but in the fact that I noticed it. Do you remember what I told you about cyberware without the risk of CRS?

It can be used to replace older cyberware that is already attacked by CRS. So I am the only person that might have a chance to heal him. It is still a gamble, but he’s gone from ‘no chance in hell’ to nearly two-thirds.

My, and by extension, our, luck is of course that if I manage to fix him it will be very unlikely that he has a lasting grievance with our setting up shop.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose while I ordered my thoughts.

“I have to get back there in an hour or so. I need to start Walker’s nano therapy, and show his doc how to use the nano fab Frankel used for his enhancements.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back into the seat, relaxing for the first time in the last few hours.