>>6007985“Don't look so down, Commander. I wouldn't call the cells in your skin sample hu-, umh, hominid, but what they are, is extremely resilient. Their regenerative capabilities are near-miraculous, even.” He turns towards his computer, “Nonetheless, procedure is procedure. You know better than I the costs of rampant gene-editing, especially when done to people.”
Delicate as Tsu was in glissading over the subject, the spectre of old, hearing the sower's summon, grew heavy over the room, its bough sunken floor-deep, its branches laden with stinging fruits. You could almost reach out and crush one of them in your hand, feel the juice mingle with your blood before it stained through the picture-perfect shirt to wet the scar below. From this mixture distilled, red brilliant, unfading, an ink that never quite dried on the Titanean Covenant Governing the Use of Psycho-, Bio-, and Geno-Technology.
No, you shake your head. This time, past ghosts must play Cassandra to the living present. “Write down nothing yet. As you said, no what is certain. You want to ruin an innocent young sister because of a guess? Guess with basis, correct, still, just a guess.” Staring blankly ahead, Tsu sits motionless, saves for a twitching index finger.
Eventually, he sighs longingly at the whitewashed roof as the light drives back the rotten tree, “I know you would ask that. Trust me, I'm a sucker for slow-motion trainwrecks myself. Yet, this time, why do I feel like the train is heading straight for me?" The corners of your lips don't quite reach your eyes as the choker murmurs a soft ‘Thank you.’
“Before you leave, Commander, just one last question. How is Silas' investigation going? He haven't been in touch with me.” Heart skipping only one beat, you careless toss the answer behind like a crumbled piece of paper, "Oh, can't tell you too much. The murderer still is not caught, remember? But... Request from Goldsmith might be related.”
Turning right from the nanolayer room, you head for the recovery room you were placed in earlier after putting down Chernov's little rebellion. As expected, the room has been turned into a temporary holding cell for Pahan-Hysin. A badly bruised orderly snaps to attention to your approach, though his eyes betray doubts as to the wisdom of your decision. “The subject has been sedated, Ma'am. It, uh, he is ready for interrogation.”
