Page 146 of The Restoration Program
As they filed out the door, Darlene tried to wrestle her way inside again. She snapped hoarse, half-coherent obscenities as she was ushered away. Her howl of grief was torn out of earshot as the police officers dragged her off the premises and shut the door.
Dr. Jenning approached the couch and laid her gloved hands on his. They sat in silence for a few moments as she observed the tiny corpse in his hands. Her expression grew tighter, lines drawn more severely. It was hard to tell if she was analyzing the damage to her product or mourning her patient.
“Please let go, Mr. Northe. We need to process the body.”
Ryan noticed with a start that her assistant had produced a matte silicone bag roughly thirteen inches long.
“Wait, wait! You can fix her, right?” Ryan sniffed and tried to gather himself. His mind raced, trying to remember every scrap he’d learned about the Restoration Program in the past months.
Any excuse to hold onto her for even ten seconds longer.
“She’s not reallygone, right? You can bring her back again.Please… Please fix this.”
Dr. Jenning squeezed her eyes shut hard. “Oh, Ryan…”
“This body is printed, right?” he insisted. “Can’t you just… just fix what’s broken?”
“It doesn’t work that way. Once a body is fully printed, it functions as organically as you or me. Whatever you did to her…” She paused to ease the accusation from her voice. “Whatever happened here is done. She’s dead. We’d have to create another NüPrint entirely.”
On the verge of another broken sob, stillness took hold of Ryan. “So it’s possible?”
Her gaze flashed. “We can’t pull consciousness from a corpse.”
He flinched at the word. But his heart was hammering. “What about from before? You said… Even back at the hospital, you said that you had her DNA extracted. Surely, you’ve stored that somewhere. Somewhere safe. Somewhere that we could…”
His eyes widened hopefully even as Dr. Jenning looked at him like a greedy child.
“Finish your sentence,” she said hollowly.
Ryan sucked in a breath. “We could make another Nicole,” he said in a small voice.
Her lips thinned. She wavered for a few moments before sighing. “We… do still have the memory imprint and DNA of her original body securely stored at headquarters.”
“Then do it! Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll pay any price.”
“And what will be different?” Dr. Jenning asked. “How can you ensure the end won’t be the same?”
Ryan closed his hands around the delicate, fragile form.
It should have never come to this.
“Leave that to me,” he answered. “I won’t lose her again. She and I… We’re fated. We’remeantto be together.”
“Familiar words, Mr. Northe.”
“Are you here to tell me how disappointed you are, or to fucking help me?” Ryan asked. He glared at her, daring her to refute what heknewwas his right. “I’ll file as a new client. I’ve seen the new ads. You’re opening requests to the public. You’re in the business of second chances, right? What’s one more?”
“You may not believe me when I say I care deeply about you both. But it wouldn’t be a charity beta program this time. It’d be a citizen’s request, and you may recall it comes with a one-hundred-thousand dollar fee.” She glanced around the apartment, clearly questioning whether he’d be able to afford a price so steep.
But his heart was already soaring and his thoughts were racing. He looked down at Nicole and imagined her eyes opening again. Imagined her burying herself against him in an embrace. He would prove himself to her, day by day. All would be forgiven. She’d be his again.
“I’ll find a way,” he promised.
Finally, he allowed Dr. Jenning to scoop Nicole out of his hands. As she moved, she touched Nicole’s cheek gently with her thumb. Then she fixed Ryan with a hard look.
“If you can come up with the money, I hope you’ll treat your third chance with care.”
“I will,” he said softly, watching closely as Dr. Jenning handed off Nicole to be zipped into the body bag. The image of her face disappearing was seared into his mind.
