Rehash

Eighteen

"You're kidding, right?"

A loaded silence in the lab followed my question, indicating Ava had, in fact, not been kidding. 

"My memory's been tampered with a lot already, Camilo," Zed offered. "This would be the last time. For a good cause: allowing us all to walk free."

"But... If you're re-installing a war period backup, you'd no longer remember anything," I protested. I turned to Ava. "Can't we do a partial restoration, not all of it?" 

"No," Ava flatly shot down my suggestion. "I understand your feelings, but uploading a new version of a Spectre model system into a vessel isn't a simple process. If we mix and match as we please, we can cause corruptions and conflicts in Zed's memory that can never be resolved, or in human terms: drive him insane. There's a reason why only clean installs were used during the war, even if it would've been more convenient to retain some information." 

Zed took a step closer to me. "I'm not who I used to be in the war, Camilo. Surely, you must have noticed. I don't have the same skillset nor mindset because that was wiped when I was put on that aeroplane. For safety reasons, based on a 'need to know' system." 

"Still..." 

I wanted to protest louder, but for once, I was out of words. What Ava said had made sense. If we wanted one final showdown and convince everyone she and Zed had been terminated for good, we needed his wartime skillset. We needed full soldier Zed, not one that Mr. Shea had only equipped with piloting skills and codes to override drone commands with. For safety reasons.

"So, let's see if I got this," I said. "Zed becomes a blank slate and regains all his military knowledge, and therefore he will successfully raid the vault. But, seeing what he has become I turn against you both, and contact the school. Agent Denn find this base as planned, kills and destroys everything inside, and believes that's the end of it. In reality, Zed enters a remote transfer at the very last second - the timing is so close to your cores exploding that the signal can't be detected by any scanners. They think you're dead, I saw the light and 'turned' back to humanity's side. We all live." 

"Seems like you got it. We must start the procedure swiftly. The clock is ticking and we can't assume we will remain undiscovered for long." 

Ava spoke without much emotion seeping through. Like she didn't care about erasing someone's memory. I supposed that was to be expected, since it was so normal to wipe androids in the Singularity War it was no big deal to her. Maybe this memory of Ava in a gyndroid body didn't even feel anything.

It was a big deal to me though, so when Ava gestured for Zed to lie down on the hospital bed I'd been sleeping in before, I stepped in.

"Wait," I called out. "Just fucking wait for a moment." 

Ava folded her arms in front of her chest. "Camilo, you know we're in a hurry here. We don't have unlimited time."

"Just--" I let out a frustrated groan, burying my hands in my hair. "The past few days have been like a huge cluster mindfuck for me, alright? I know you process it all at lightning speed and it's no big deal to you to wipe memories, but I'm having a hard time here."

"What are you suggesting then?" Ava asked, tilting her head to the side. "What do you want?" 

"A moment to say goodbye," Zed filled things in for me, and I was grateful he did because my slow, human brain didn't seem to function right. 

"Right," I agreed dumbly. "Exactly." 

Ava didn't look pleased, though, even that expression was only the slightest narrowing of her eyes.