Beep…beep….beep. Luca tugged at the collar of his ‘clean suit’ and watched Mr. Buckles heart monitor as it beeped each heartbeat. The intellectual and brilliant part of Luca’s brain told him the heart and blood pressure monitor wasn’t actually monitoring anything, Mr. Buckles didn’t have a heart, or blood pressure. One of the technicians had probably setup the machine to keep him occupied. But, the seven year old part of his brain told him it was very real and Mr. Buckles life depended on Luca doing his job and watching the machine. Luca decided to go with caution and kept a close eye on the machine. “Luca, I need a report,” said Miss Jena as she bent over Mr. Buckles. “Heartbeat 82, Blood Pressure 120 over 80, Oxygen 97,” Luca diligently replied. The repetitive swoosh of air in and out of the breathing tube hanging from the ceiling and attached to the back of his hood served to ensure the environment inside the ‘clean room’ remained free of contagion. No particle larger than .00010 micron, smaller than a white blood cell, could enter the room. Miss Jena and a team of neuroscientists were bent over Mr. Buckles lying on a metal table next to the robotic search and rescue robot. The wolf’s outer fur was pulled aside to expose the graphene skeleton beneath. Luca lifted up on his tippy-toes to see inside the wolf robot. Mr. Buckles quantum core brain would not actually be placed inside the skull of the wolf, but instead would be located within a waterproof and shockproof casing within the torso where the metal ribs of the robot would serve as even further protection for the quantum core brain. Mr. Buckles brain was based on holographic neural non-linear phase coherence technology principles using a quantum processes through the core synaptic algorithm and quantum mechanical wave equation. In essence, Mr. Buckles was an artificial brain and had the same learning capabilities as a living biological person. Miss Jena lifted the quantum core out of Mr. Buckles. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Luca stared at the heart monitor for only half-a-second, his brain freezing in fear for that half-second. “CODE BLUE!” shouted Luca. “The core is off the teddy bear power supply, we have 2 minutes to get him on the wolf robot's main battery,” said Miss Jena. Luca’s voice was tinged with fear and urgency. “Hurry, Doctor, we’re losing him!” “Power interface active and ready to receive the core,” said one of the attending scientists. Miss Jena lowered the quantum core into the specially insulated and shock-proof housing inside the robotic wolf. “We have a positive seating... hands out! Hands out!” The group of scientists lifted their hands away as the core began deploying new silvery strands of artificial nerves with pulsating lights running the length of the tens of thousands of fibers. The artificial neural network searched out the power connections and fused themselves in place. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…Beep…Beep…Beep. “We have a heartbeat, Doctor, you did it!” shouted Luca. “We’re not out of the woods yet, Luca,” replied Miss Jena. “Oxygen levels are low, get that mask on him.” Luca grabbed an oxygen mask, ignoring the fact it wasn’t actually hooked to an oxygen tank, and placed it over the robot wolf’s muzzle. “Oxygen levels are stabilizing, Doctor.” “Good job, Luca,” said Miss Jena. Up in the observation gallery, Jack rolled his eyes and looked at Tan. “One word and you’re grounded for three months,” warned Tan. Jack raised his hands, then made the ‘zipper motion’ across his lips. “Wise choice,” said Tan. Miss Jena leaned over Mr. Buckles and lifted out the cooling unit for the core with a set of tongs. Steam rose in white tendrils off the liquid nitrogen cooling unit as Miss Jena transferred it to the robotic wolf. “Cooling unit is in place,” said Miss Jena. “Go ahead and seal the core housing unit.” Another scientist leaned in and placed the cover over the core insulated unit, then used a device that emitted a blue light to molecularly seal the central core inside the casing. “Alright, everyone stay back while the nano-bots go to work,” instructed Miss Jena, then looked at Luca. “Can you hear Mr. Buckles yet?” Luca shook his head. “He’s still sleeping.” With an artificial nervous system, the pain would have been too much for Mr. Buckles, so the A.I. had shut down until its remote sensors detected it was safe to wake again. The group watched the interior of the robotic wolf as the pulsating hair-thin strands of an artificial nervous system grew outward, seeking out all the interior components of the robot. The storage of bio-mass began growing artificial muscles and tendons next, connecting the frame to an artificial body. “Luca, come on around here, you might want to watch this,” said Miss Jena. Luca came around to Miss Jena to see the robots insides. “This is what makes this our most advanced robot we’ve ever built.” “It looks like a real body inside,” said Luca. “That’s right, this robot is a merger of blood, muscle, and flesh to a nearly indestructible robotic frame. It’s why none of our A.I.’s could operate this machine, but I think an advanced Aeden A.I. might be able to do it.” Suddenly there was a spasm that rippled across the newly formed muscles. “There it is!” said Miss Jena. “Did you see that?” “What was it?” asked Luca. “That was the spark of life,” explained Miss Jena. “Mr. Buckles has made the connection between machine and flesh.” “Is Mr. Buckles a real person now?” asked Luca. “As real as a machine can be,” said Miss Jena. “He might even be more real than the dragons the Aeden’s created.” Another of the scientists raised a hand in caution. “Animating flesh is easy, but we’ve never successfully merged an A.I. mind with an artificial body. Let’s wait until he sits up and says hello.” Luca looked up at Miss Jena. “Will Mr. Buckles will be able to talk?” “Yes, there’s a voice synthesizer in the throat. It was designed for the robot to give interim rescue and first aid instructions until the SAR team arrives on the scene. Okay, let’s close it up. I’m sure Mr. Buckles wouldn’t like to wake up and find his guts hanging out.” Up in the observation galley, Jack and Tan watched. A voice behind them spoke. “This is what could have been.” Jack and Tan looked back and quickly stood. “Captain, I didn’t know you were here,” said Tan. The Captain of the RS-40 came down the stairs to look out on the ‘clean room’ below. “Imagine how many people this new technology will help, and we could have had it a thousand years ago, but the Ruk left a fledgling civilization to grow into monsters.” “I’m sorry, Captain, but I don’t appreciate the disparaging comment toward my boys,” said Tan. The Captain turned to Tan. “I said their civilization, not the boys as individuals. I have no doubt there are many Aedens like Jack and Luca. Aedens with a caring heart, but there comes a point when the civilization has grown so large that the will of the individual is lost.” “Perhaps, but I’d still appreciate if you don’t talk like that in front of the boys,” said Tan. The Captain nodded. “I like you, Mr. Tan, you’re not afraid to stand up for your boys. Very well, I’m in a melancholy mood, I apologize. I see this experiment below and it makes me angry and sad for all the people that could have benefited from what Aeden and Ruk working together has just done.” “How so?” asked Tan. The Captain turned back to the window. “We have an entire hospital ship full of people that have lost limbs, some with their bodies so mutilated they will never get out of their beds again. Living in space can be dangerous. What if we were to continue coming together to advance this technology and give those unfortunate souls new bodies?” “I understand,” said Tan. “Maybe with what you’ve just learned, you can do that now.” “This experiment was only successful because we have Jack and Luca, and yourself here, but I cannot keep you here against your will. I’m honor bound to assist you in any way I can to get the boys to Aeden.” Tan joined the Captain at the window. The wolf robot was still lying flat on the table, but now its tail was twitching. “I don’t see any way for that to happen.” The Captain retrieved a piece of paper from his pocket. “Jack, do you want to return to Aeden?” “I don’t like hypothetical questions,” said Jack. The Captain turned around and held the piece of paper out to Jack. “I want you to stay, but that’s a decision you have to make for yourself. This is a map of Deck Zero. The location I’ve marked has a device that might help you get back to Aeden.” Jack took the paper, and without another word the Captain left the observation room. Jack unfolded the paper. There was an X in the middle of a hand-drawn map, and it was very deep out in the jungle of the stacks. It wouldn’t be easy to find whatever the object was the Captain was sending him to retrieve.