"(Pretty much,)" Hawkeye responded in Japanese. "(It means androids. Robots. Us, if this thing is to be believed.)"
"(Us and Akane,)" Ranma said, frowning. "(Akane and all of my friends. Only for whatever reason, Akane's transfer messed up somehow.)"
"Well, is that a bad thing?" Hot Lips wondered. "Little things like being younger again aside, I don't care much for the idea that I'm some kind of robot. Much less that this thing," she jabbed a finger at the terminal, "can mess around in our heads without so much as a mother-may-I. Would this Akane girl want to be a robot? Would you want her as a robot?"
Hawkeye relayed these questions to Ranma. "(She raises some good points,)" he added. "(If this version of Akane is only a robot, then why revive her at all? In fact, what the hell is the reason for this place? Why turn people into robots, or whatever?)"
"(I don't know about any of that,)" Ranma said. "(All I know is that Akane, or something very close to her, is stuck in that machine somehow. Maybe not her body, but what makes Akane Akane. If I can save her, then I have to.)"
"(But is it really saving her?)" Hawkeye asked. "(I'm a bit confused about this 'soul transfer' thing.)"
Ranma shrugged, then typed into the terminal: What is a transferred soul technorganic humaniform?
TRANSFERRED SOUL TECHNORGANIC HUMANIFORM: Most test subjects retrieved from study worlds are taken at or near the point of systemic organ shutdown. In order to maintain subjects for study, their memories and souls are archived and then transferred into artificial forms replicating the form and function of the organic bodies down to the molecular level.
"All functions?" Hot Lips asked.
All functions compatible with healthy life of the subject. In addition, modifications are possible by this facility. Unhealthy function calls caused by subject's genetic matrix are eliminated from design (2,187 as of current catelog.)
"Such as?" Hawkeye asked in English, and then blinked as the screen scrolled faster than the eye could follow. Here and there he could just pick out words; at one point a long string of terms ending in 'noma' meant that he, at least need never worry about cancer. Great, I can go back to smoking, then. Some of the diseases he managed to identify weren't even genetic in nature- at least not according to medical science at the time Hawkeye had retired. The list ended with "senescence," which Hawkeye mentally defined as "old age."
"When you had Ranma under the knife, did you take care of all of this as well?"
With Ranma at the keyboard, the terminal replied: Affirmative. Sufficient intact DNA/RNA remained for complete gene-therapy remap of genetic code to eliminate defective code.
Hawkeye whistled appreciatively.
"It didn't answer my question," Hot Lips said. "What functions, specifically?"
Metabolic. Cognitive. Nervous. Cardiopulmonary. Immune. Endocrine. Motor. Digestive. Excretory. Sensory. Extrasensory. Reproductive.
"(Extrasensory?)" Ranma asked.
"Reproductive?!?" Hawkeye and Hot Lips both asked.
Extrasensory: the etheric system which supports the soul and which allows interaction with magical energies such as telepathy, sorcery, etc. Reproductive: the system which allows the creation of new members of the species.
"We KNOW that!" Hot Lips shouted. "But you're saying that we..." She glared at Hawkeye, who converted his leer into an innocent whistle. "That transferred soul whatever-they-are can have sex, get pregnant, have babies?"
Affirmative. Humaniform bodies produce gametes capable of producing children indistinguishable from genetically modified human beings (Homo sapiens modificati).
"Nice to meet you, Eve," Hawkeye muttered, "they call me Adam."
"Oh, grow up," Hot Lips muttered. "And speak Japanese, you've lost the kid."
"(Sorry,)" Hawkeye said to Ranma, "(that last part caught us a bit by surprise.)"
"(Me too,)" Ranma said. "(I didn't know you two could do magic.)"
"(We can't,)" Hawkeye said. "(Unless you count what I can do in my bedroom, which my late wife would definitely say it doesn't.)"
"There's no such thing as magic," Hot Lips added. "I think this machine has a screw loose somewhere." Before she finished the sentence, a drawer opened from the wall, revealing two glasses of water. One steamed; the other had frost on the rim.
Ranma looked at the glasses, then typed into the computer with deliberation: You gotta be KIDDING me!
It is the most efficient demonstration available. Additional: curses and other magical affects, being connected to the soul, carry over in the transfer process and are present in transferred soul technorganic humaniforms.
"(Wonderful,)" Ranma grumbled. "(And obviously you didn't cure me.)"
That function is beyond the capacity of this facility.
"So there's something this thing can't do," Hot Lips muttered. "Wish I knew what."
Ranma sighed after getting the translation. "(Might as well show ya.)" Roughly twenty seconds later, Ranma shook the hot water out of his head and adjusted his clothes where they had shifted in the two instant transformations. "(Now do you believe in magic?)"
"(Sure, kid,)" Hawkeye muttered. "(Which one is you, anyway?)"
"(THIS one,)" Ranma said. "(I'd rather not talk about it.)"
"(And do you just look like a girl, or-)"
"(I really don't wanna talk about it. Can we get back to Akane now?)"
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(Posted Fri, 24 Feb 2006 07:54)
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