The only sound in the room is the rhythmic beating of Lux's soles on the treadmill, echoing throughout the hotel gym. A sliver of moonlight escapes through the gaps in the closed floor length blinds, and Lux casts a glance up at the simple department store clock in the center of the room. 2:13 AM. She had lost track of time. Not that the lateness was unintentional, the late night workout was the only way she could speak to her companion without drawing unwanted questions.

I'm telling you it was different this time.

HELPER'S sensor ears waggle in response as he hovers up to eye level with Lux.I think you're taking the loss too hard. You're still adjusting to a non-combatant body...

Yes, yes! Lux interrupts irritably. A non-combatant body of a 17 year old boy who died of a drug overdose. A steaming pile of waste, in another parlance. HELPER, this isn't sour grapes over a loss. I was EXPECTING the loss. I know this adjustment period is going to be difficult. But damn it, that wasn't your usual shadow.

How do you know?

Lux rolls her eyes irritably. Shadows are supposed to be glimpses into the body's past. They're MEMORIES. And...I....I've had those about this body too. But what I experienced wasn't like that it....it....

Lux's memory retreats back to the pivotal moment in her match with Vita.

Quote:Lux tries to stay on the offensive, going out and getting the bloody champion.......setting her on the top rope.......

Lux signals for a suplex off the top......

But her attention is drawn to something standing at ringside. Something that can't possibly be there. A boy is there. No, not a boy. Her BODY is there. Apart from her. He looks sickly, pallid. His face glistening with a fine sweat. His chapped lips part and he mouths the words “Why are you here?” Lux freezes in surprise.

VV reverses...........somehow.......

And suplexes Lux off the top rope.......

Holding on for dear life!!!!!

Rings of Saturn!!!!!!!!!

Well there's your problem right there, Lux. A SUPLEX?! Kinda outside your wheelhouse, ain't it? HELPER does a playful loop in the air, his “mouth” illuminating as though he's having a chuckle at his own joke.

Did you listen to a word I said? Lux turns off the treadmill, allowing it to slow to a halt before continuing. I SAW the boy! I saw THIS body. And it wasn't a memory. He addressed me directly! He SAW me, Helper! Now tell me, how is that supposed to happen? These bodies are corpses. They're not supposed to be capable of any conscious thought but mine. Lux looks back up at the clock, ruminating,before returning her full attention to HELPER. Can you tell me more about this body?

I'm sorry Lux, but without a connection to the neural-net, I don't have any way of accessing archived data like that. Hmmmm....oh, wait! There is one small chance! Some of the host forms were old....like, really, really old. Maybe if I can connect to the internet, and the body you're in is was cryogenically frozen in this era, I can scrounge up some info.

Sounds good. You can connect to my tablet once we get back to the room. Lux's attention is drawn by someone passing by the gym, she catches a fleeting glimpse of them through the glass door. A night janitor, perhaps? Maybe you should get back in the bag.

HELPER does another little playful flip. Will do! He hovers away from Lux and drops down into her open gym bag, alighting on a towel before powering down.

Lux dismounts the treadmill, sighing deep at the dull ache arcing through her new body. A body that was clearly unused to the level of exercise she was putting it through. Making a mental note to take it down a notch, she catches a glimpse of herself in the wall sized mirror at the front of the gym. Instinctively, she starts, not recognizing herself for a second or two. Drawn towards the reflection, her mind escapes again into the past...or rather, the future. To the lessons Orlu drilled into them. “The host bodies are tools. They are deceased. Don't get attached.” Certainly there are a number of psychological pitfalls one can fall into when your very consciousness is uploaded into the body of a dead person for the purposes of carrying out covert espionage and assassination. Rigors that many of her compatriots were able to adjust to. But some would get lost in the new identity. The memory shadows so intense, so viscerally real, that the hitchhiking consciousness would lose sight of what memories belong to them and which belong to the body. Orlu always stressed disabusing ourselves of those attachments, disavowing the very humanity of the forms we took. Only corpses. Only bodies. But people once...right?

With a shiver, Lux considered that this was how it started. Was she becoming lost in being this boy? Was that even possible? Even after 14 flawless transitions, could her mind just now be starting to fail? It was impossible to consider. Too much was on the line. Lux was, quite literally, humanity's last hope for survival. She couldn't fail. She just couldn't.

She dared to take another step towards the mirror. And then another. And another still, until she was nearly nose to nose with her body. You're dead. Lux intoned with finality. You wasted your chance...wasted your life. And now, I'm doing something meaningful with it. Her voice almost descended into a snarl. So you will.... But her ardor left her. She felt a pang of...something. Something like....wistfulness. Sadness. She considers the boy's youthful face. The slight scar bisecting his right eyebrow and continuing down into his cheek. The way his uncut hair was starting to break out into curls. The deep brown of his eyes.

She recalls the memory shadow from last night. Fleeting enough, but still powerful enough to leave an impression just over 24 hours later. Seeing the world through his eyes as he threaded the stem of a sunflower through a girl's auburn hair. The sun high in the sky, the world golden. He was laughing. He was happy.

Lux snaps out of it, biting her...his...bottom lip so hard it brings a bright blossom of pain. She turns towards the gym bag, scoops it up and leaves the gym.


We catch up with Lux on the terrace of her hotel room, looking out at that same moonlit sky. Without turning to the camera, she speaks through the mouth of the boy. Hello John. You're a bit more perceptive than I gave you credit for, I suppose. You're right about why I chose you. You are, ostensibly, a good athlete. Though not a very polished one. Lux smirks sardonically. Look who's throwing stones at glass houses....heh.

Leads me to my next concession. You're right. I am fucking up moves. And you're also right that it is NOT representative of the skills I possess. Now, I can't expect you to fully understand why that's true, but suffice it to say I'm still working on bringing this bo-...MY body, in line with my capabilities. Again, that's lost on you....I know.

Another thing you were right about. I'm afraid. I'm very afraid. But it's not for the reason you think. You see John, I'm not afraid of any particular person. I'm afraid of failure. I'm UNUSED to failure John. And I'm not talking about losing a match. Because there are things that are so, so much more important at stake here. What drives me is that the countless people who gave everything to put me here and now wasted their time, energy, and LIVES on someone who's going to fail. Can you appreciate what a profound burden is? Can you appreciate the strain? Few people can, John. But it's also the most powerful motivator in the world.

If I fail to get stronger. If I fail to train this body, people died for NOTHING. You're fighting for fame, money and glory? Fine. I'm fighting to give credence to people who sacrificed it all to bring me here. So you can don't my skills. For now. Because they're ever improving. But you cannot doubt my motivation. And failing those people is so much worse than any HURT you can give me.

Lux allows herself a little mirthless chuckle. You know what? This is about talking trash, right? That's what we're supposed to do with this time. Well let's wind you up a bit so I can really wring the most out of you. I wasn't being completely honest about why I picked you. Don't get me wrong, you still weren't random. I could just have easily requested a rematch against VV, or any match against another champion. No, I chose yous specifically because I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew. Lux turns to the camera now, smirking. What's that mean? Well, for starters, it means I'm a realist. I jumped into the deep end against a champion and realized I wasn't ready to swim yet. I realized I needed to start smaller. Build myself up. Unlike a lot of you people, I don't suffer from the terminal stupidity of overestimating my present abilities. And I never allow my ego to take the wheel. I know where I'm at. It's not where I want to be, but I'll get there. And that's where you come in.

You're an athlete, but not one so gifted, bright or talented that it makes you anything more than a stepping stone. A means to an end. You're strong and relatively fast given your size, but you're also a heaping helping of unrealized potential. And, to be quite frank, as opponents go, I've faced quite a few that were smarter and only a smattering that were dumber. You're a relatively simple creature John, one I don't have to exert much to wrap my head around.

So yeah, I'm going to put my floaties on and head right out into the three foot section of the pool. Because that's where you're waiting. Because I need to wade before I can really swim. Lux winks at the camera. That get you all nice and tightly wound? Good. I want you right pissed off.

Help me

Lux stops suddenly stops speaking, casting a furtive look around before beginning to look very worried. Her eye settles back on the camera. Turn it off.

The camera blinks off.