Internal Appearances

Audra and Zephyr had fallen into a comfortable silence as the pod truck rumbled along. The rain had let up to where it was just barely drizzling now. The sky still remained dark and ominous though, casting the world outside in a gloomy pallor.

Audra gazed out at the landscape.

They were passing through a more developed area now, and the buildings were no longer sparse. They were packed densely together, not quite as compact as a city would've been, but much more than wherever the heck Zephyr's place was.

Storefronts, apartments, and warehouses lined the streets. There weren't too many people out at the moment, but it was easy to imagine that this place was bustling normally.

Eventually, the truck pulled up to a neighborhood with houses that looked more like warehouses than actual homes. They were all squat, square, and unassuming. Some were painted in bright colors, others had rust stains running down their sides, and a few had been decorated with graffiti.

Zephyr stopped the truck in front of one and powered it off.

"Here we are, Minerva's place. What do you think?"

Audra disembarked after him and basked in the humidity.

It reminded her of Portland, where the air was constantly thick with rain and asphalt.

"It's sorta comforting."

The home they were parked in from was painted a muted shade of yellow. The door was made of wood, but it looked sturdy enough, and there were a couple potted plants sitting on the doorstep. It wasn't anything too fancy or flashy, but it had a homey feel to it.

Audra thought about what Minerva could look like as they approached the door. Zeph had only described her in a vague manner, so she couldn't quite picture her. Although if she ran a scrapyard and was one of the first people on the Bygone, then maybe she'd look like some eccentric old lady mechanic?

Before she could ask him, he was already knocking. The entrance swung open almost immediately, and a tall, imposing woman stepped out.

"!" Audra's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Holy crap, this girl was huge!

The Amazonian before her was easily six feet tall with broad shoulders, a strong jaw, and muscular arms. Her hair was long and dark brown, tied up in a ponytail, draped over tanned skin and framed green eyes that pierced right into Audra's soul.

"Hello there… Zephyr."

Her voice was low, measured, and a bit husky, almost like the hum of an engine. Her loose shirt and jeans did little to conceal her powerful physique as it swayed with her movements.

Zephyr replied with a small wave and smile.

"Hey Min, how's it going?"

"It is going."

Her eyes flickered to Audra. "And… who is this?"

Audra immediately gulped at the attention. It was like a tigress had just locked onto prey, and she was getting a ton of conflicting feelings.

"Oh, remember the squatter I told you about?" Zephyr nudged Audra forward gently, and she stumbled a bit. "Go on, introduce yourself."

Audra cleared her throat awkwardly.

"H-hi. My name is Audra. It's um, a pleasure to meet you."

"I am… Minerva," the woman said, offering a hand.

Audra shook it with her non-prosthetic one, trying not to wince at her firm grip. It could definitely crush her skull like an egg if she wanted, saying nothing about the rest of her.

"I-it's nice to meet you, Miss Minerva."

"Just Minerva, please. Come on… inside. If you would like, I have… some tea."

Zephyr's grin grew wider. "Tea, huh? Sounds good. I would never turn down refreshments before getting to work… Oh, before I forget. This is uh, for you, Min."

He handed some things from the bag to her awkwardly.

"What is this?"

"Presents for putting this off for so long and for helping me out in general," he recited like he'd mentally run through that response a dozen times.

"I see. Thank you… I suppose."

Minerva led them inside, still staring at the presents with a sweet smile.

Her house was surprisingly normal. There were no crazy machines or piles of junk lying around the living room. The kitchen was similarly uncluttered with the exception of a single potted plant on the counter. It felt cozy and a bit like an old grandma's place, especially with the doilies on the table and the shelves.

Audra couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit relieved. She'd been half worried that they'd be stepping into some kind of scrapyard-gym hellscape.

They got comfortable on the couch.

"Now then, please… settle in. I will get the… tea ready."

The two of them plopped themselves on the couch as the woman left to brew stuff in the kitchen.

Tension leaked from Audra the further she sunk into the cushions.

Overall, Minerva—or Min, as Zeph seemed to call her—was nice, just a little odd. Audra couldn't quite put her finger on it. It was almost like the woman was out of sync with the world.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but can I ask you something, Zeph? Doesn't the way Minerva speak seem sort of strange?"

"Hm? Oh, that. It's because of the bolting. I mentioned that earlier, right?"

Audra frowned at the unfamiliar word.

"The heck is bolting?"

"Oh. Must've slipped my mind. I can try to explain if you'd like.

"Please do. I'm so lost."

"It's nothing too complicated, just… old, I guess. Bolting was a procedure that transferred the consciousness of someone into a cloned or lab-grown body. It was meant to be used for terminally ill patients that modern medicine couldn't save yet—a way to live on despite that. It was the pinnacle of medical and bioengineering. In theory, anyway."

Her jaw dropped, dangling dumbly.

"Why have I've never heard of this before?!"

"Like I said, it's old—forty-eight years to be precise. It was also pretty controversial."

"Why?! That sounds super cool!"

"Well, it's a little complicated. You know the entire moral dilemma about mind uploading, right? This was meant to be an alternative. There's no pure digitization of the brain involved in bolting, so there isn't a question of 'is it really them' or 'are they just a copy.' At least—I'll say this again—in theory."

"How so?"

"Bolting linked a patient's original brain to a compatible, identical replica, then slowly transferred the neural activity over to the second one. Consciousness would exist in both bodies for a period of time until it fully transitioned over, making them one and the same."

"So it was like cloning, but involving one mind in two brains instead of two minds in two brains?"

"Basically."

Zephyr leaned back and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Of course, the whole process was incredibly invasive, dangerous, and had a high risk of complications. The two brains were linked via a ton of tiny electrodes and wires for the mind to move across, and that's ignoring all the stuff that had to be done to link the nervous system. If something went wrong, the results could be disastrous."

"Woah, okay. That sounds like a pretty terrible gamble."

"Actually, the success rate was 100 percent. It was just an unpleasant process for the patient. With that said, a ton of them experienced minor complications afterward, and critics claimed that it was unnatural, immoral, and a violation of human dignity."

"Sounds like bullcrap. What happened to it?"

"About a decade ago, a court ruled that bolting violated the Geneva Convention on Genetic and Cognitive Heritage, so it was banned worldwide. No new cases were allowed to go through."

Audra glanced towards the kitchen where Minerva was still brewing the tea, a strange kinship beginning to form. Although, switching bodies might've been more existentially challenging than cybernetics.

"Sounds like Minerva's been through a lot. Is that why she's talking like that then? She went through this bolting thing?"

"Yep, she was one of the earlier patients. She got apraxia of speech as a side effect. She actually had a much thicker impediment when I first met her. She's gotten way better since then, and I'm proud of her for that."

Audra's lips quirked, her curiosity about the woman mostly sated. However, one last thing bothered her.

"You said people were going through this forty-eight years ago. Exactly how old is Minerva then?"

"I thought it was rude to ask for a lady's age."

"I'm just curious!"

"Mmm, alright. Physically? I think her body's perpetually in her mid-twenties—one of the perks of having a body's genetics built from the ground up. Chronologically though, she's seventy-five."

Audra's eyes went wide at the number.

Like, it made sense she supposed. Still, why did she keep meeting old people that looked super young?

"Here is… your tea."

Minerva approach interrupted her thoughts. She balanced three steaming cups and a small plate of cookies on a cute little platter. She was way quieter and deft than Audra had thought.

Zephyr eagerly took a cup the moment he caught a whiff of its fragrance.

"Is this chamomile? You're spoiling me, Min. Thank you."

Audra reached for one too but hesitated at a strange feeling. Minerva's eyes were boring through her like lasers.

"Hey… Audra. I have a question for you."

Despite the additional context she now had, her heart trembled as the woman sat and leaned in closer.

"U-uh, what is it, Minerva?"

A light smile carved upward to match Audra's nervous one.

"I am just curious. How are you liking… the Bygone?"