Much to horror, all there was in its place was a huge empty lot with a sign declaring it for sale.

This couldn't be. Her father left the land and the facility to her. No-one had a right to take it.

She went and purchased a cheap comm phone and called the city manager of the town she lived in, well, area, since it wasn't incorporated.

He told her that the Civil Authority of Ketaterra was ordered to tear down the Cerena Artificial Life facility by the Commonwealth Ministry of Envrionments. It supposedly polluted the atmosphere of Ketaterra with aerosolic cytec, which was too heavy to escape a closed environment. Merisa was crushed. Her father's, her life's work, all gone. She collapsed against her groundcar, mercifully still here and untouched, and began to cry. -----------------------------------------------------------

The fat yellow sun Ketaterra orbited was setting in the south-west when Merisa had run out of tears. Her eyes and throat hurt. She had trouble breathing because of her heart condition, inherited from her mother, who died from it when Merisa was 7.

As she breathed from a breathmask, a shadowy figure in grey rags from head to toes emerged from some bushes that lined the back of the property. She got up and reached into her pocket for the powerful stunner, her personal protection.

The person came to her, removing thier ragged hood to reveal a familiar face. Orela.

Merisa was astonished. "Wha-? Orela? Why are you dressed like that? What happened?"

Orela frowned. Her face was dirty and one of her eyes was milky white, a sign of internal damage in the optic sensor. "I am saught by the Ketaterra Civil Authority for illegally completing Unit Number 8870."

Merisa was doubly astonished. Unit 8870, who was unnamed as far as she knew, was the replicant she had been working on last. Her heart attack occurred while she was working on the head, almost complete and ready for final assembly. For Orela to finish the work was a very wonderful sign of her initiative and skills. "You did, and activated her?"

Orela nodded. "Exactly according to your information. Unit 8870 became Oresa. She was able to escape Ketaterra as I distracted the authorities." She looked down. I am damaged. Shot 7 times over the last few years by eager police. I have cytec shift in my abdomen, which hurts."

Merisa felt bad for her. She didn't have the resources to repair her. Her groundcar only contained tools. "Um, I can't help you without some new materials."

"I know," Orela said, looking disturbingly grim. "I beseech you just to take me away from here. I am not saught outside this planet's influence."

Merisa opened the back of her groundcar. "Climb in, lay on your back. I am going to cover you with a scan-proof blanket. Please bear with it, it will be confining."

Orela had trouble climbing, suggesting that the shift had spread. Merisa helped her inside and she lay very slowly, as if in great pain.

She lay, blinking in the tiny lights in the groundcar's cieling. "I do not know if I can remain online, Merisa, I have not eaten in 45 days."

Merisa really frowned at that. If Orela got too low on power, it would require a painful plug-in to restart her power cell. She had no desire to plunge a 22 inch rod into her friend's abdomen, especially with the shift in that area. "I will stop at a store, get you some energy bars to eat. I am also going to mix an energy drink for you that should get you by until I reach somewhere safe to work on you."

Orela nodded slightly. "That will be most kind of you, Merisa."

Merisa smiled and covered her with the thick blanket. She went to the operator area of the groundcar and got in, hoping its fuel still held after so long.

She started it and grinned. It had. She engaged the motors and drove away from her stolen land.

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It was 312 AM local time as Merisa used a scanner to search for shift in Orela's body as she lay, eating the energy bars.

She was mortified to find shift in the main cytec abdomenal wall and pelvic region. A thin sliver of it ran down the center of her left leg.

Merisa would have to take Orela apart and replace these as well as any bones or wiring that came into contact with it. A huge job with needs now gone with her facility. They were in the groundcar, in a parking area near the local spaceport. Merisa had been rather happy to find that her ship was cared for by its mechanic.

Trouble was, it would be very hard to drive into the spaceport unnoticed. The groundcar fit into a special compartment for it in her ship.

Also, Merisa was not rated to fly. Her heart condition had taken her operator lisence. It was a risk she had to take to save the remnants of her work.

"You've got it rather bad, Orela. Can you even feel your belly?" She reached under the rags and cringed as she touched the bulge of shifted cytec, which did not affect the corite skin.

Orela shivered, a bad sign that it had started affect her motor control systems. "Yes, I cannot name the sensation. When you touch, it feels like burning." This was serious. Mortally so.

"Listen to me, my friend, try not to move. Stay still and relax completely. The shift will not spread if you are totally relaxed."

"I understand."

A screech of tires in the near distance got Merisa's attention. She spun around to see a police groundcar speeding towards them.

"Attention! Merisa Cerena! Submit to arrest or face weapons use!," an amplified male voice said.

Merisa could not run. Her chest suddenly hurt. She was scared.

The police stopped and emerged from thier groundcar, wearing dark blue shock armor. Both of them carried a powerful neurostunner, which would kill Merisa if she was shocked with it.

She gulped as they approached her. "Wh-what did I do?"

One of the police slapped her hard with the back of his gloved hand. "Shut-up. You are wanted by the Civil Authority. Turn around and place your hands flat against the groundcar's hull."

She did and cringed as he groped her.

A loud boom suddenly rattled the air. A ship was coming in. But no ordinary ship, an M-Class Attack/Interceptor, an ACDF military ship. it raced in and roared as its retrothrusters set it down near them on the parking area. Its wide, flat landing feet cracked the pavement.

Its side door flung open and a lone figure stood there in a black uniform.

Merisa turned to see in shock, Orena, holding a powerful NR-17 plasmic cannon.

"Police scum, the Ministry of State is taking over here. Leave or face destruction for meddling in goverment affairs.," she said silkily but in an ominous tone.

The police grumbled as they hurried back to thier groundcar and sped away.

Orena looked at Merisa. "Merisa! Hurry to your ship. You must leave at once!"

She couldn't believe this but acted, closing the back door of the groundcar and hurrying to the operator area. She gunned the motors and the groundcar sped into the spaceport, racing to the hangar where her ship was.

The hangar doors opened on an automatic signal from the groundcar, whic also opened her ship, a heavily customized B-Class transport.

She drove right in and the ship's doors irised closed, its outer door clanging shut as armor plates struck each other.

"Orela! Stay in here. Mind what I told you!," she yelled and hurried to the cockpit.

Time had not dimmed her practise as she ran checks and confirmed her ship was ready to fly.

With shaky hands, she gripped the controls and lifted off in a smooth motion as she had done thousands of times before.

Worry, fear and adrenaline caused her to fly at an unsafe speed out of Ketaterra's atmosphere and into space. She did not know where to go. Where was safe?

As if to answer her unspoken question, a text message scrolled across her comset's screen. It said: Merisa. This is Oresa. I have a suprise for you. Travel to Tirakel and land in Zone 11. You will need no permits to land.

Merisa entered the co-ordinates for the distant (from Ketaterra) Commonwealth world of Tirakel. Her ship jumped into hyperspace safely but it was being followed....

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On final approach after a 5 hour trip, Merisa noticed that Orela had not said anything since leaving. She hoped that she had not gone offline. She could not check and fly the ship at the same time.

The flight was hard on her, the landing would be doubly so. She clutched her chest as she flew, hoping her heart could take it.

She contacted the Zone 11 Traffic Center. "Tirakel-11, this is Cerena-2, requesting landing vector information."

A reply was immediate. "Cerena-2, follow the transmitted instructions exactly. Failure to do so could result in the destruction of your ship and your death." Instructions scrolled across the flight screen.

Merisa frowned at that. What was so dangerous? She followed the instructions exactly.

The ship smoothly flew in and banked widely around a large odd-looking metal frame tower. Its wings, rarely used, spread out, showering Ketaterra dust behind it as it slowed to a frigteningly slow speed.

Merisa saw a huge shiny new facility below suddenly and a lone dark-suited figure standing on an obvios landing area.

The figure held a huge gun with her left hand and waved with her right.

Merisa carefully landed as not to jar Orela or herself too bad. She took her heart medicine and stepped back to the ship's ramp-door as it lowered automatically.

"Merisa? Its wonderful to see you. I am Oresa, Unit 8870," the blonde-haired pale-skinned female said. She wore the same work jumpsuit Merisa did when she was working, only Oresa's was spotlessly clean.

Merisa came down and hugged her. "Im very glad to see you, Oresa."

Oresa smiled. "There will be time enough for talk, my friend. You must stand back, you've seemed to pick up an unwanted guest." She raised the huge plasmic (?) cannon.

Merisa covered her ears as a police ship from Ketaterra violated Tirakel's atmosphere.

Oresa carefully took aim at it as it raced across the sky and fired, the gun recoiling hard enough to push the powerfully strong replicant back.

Merisa was nearly bowled over and watched in wonder as the projectile left a glowing trail as it raced to its target. The police ship suddenly vanished in a bright burst of light and glittery particles. A loud boom followed a minute later.

Oresa smiled. "That got them. Are you alone, Merisa?"

Merisa was astonished by this one. Who was she? She reminded Merisa of Omanda. She shook her head. "No, Orela is with me. Do not touch her. She has a bad case of cytec shift."

Oresa shook her head in empathy. "That's terrible. I will not allow you to work. I will send for workers to carry her inside."

"Inside?," Merisa asked.

Oresa pointed to the granite stone building which easily covered a couple of sqaure miles. "Welcome to your new home. The Tirakel Planetary Government and the Commonwealth Ministry of Science and Technology both co-operated to build this facility and to replace every bit of equipment lost in the destruction of your facility on Ketaterra. All of the information and relics of Aldan Cerena as well as the memorial to Oelia have been preserved, and improved."

Two yellow suited farm workers came up with a large hand cart, made of metal and was shiny clean.

"Ms. Cerena? Ms. Oresa asked us to cart a sick android to your facility," a tan skinned man said.

"Sure. This way," Merisa said and led them to the groundcar, which automatically left the ship when it landed as it was designed to do.

She opened the back door and removed the blanket to find Orela looking at her.

"Are we safe?," she asked.

Merisa smiled. "Yes. Can you get up?"

Orela slowly got up, shakily stepping out of the groundcar. "I feel better now that I have eaten."

Merisa helped her onto the cart. "I am glad. Let them take you inside. Take everything off and get onto a worktable. I will be along shortly to repair you if its possible."

Orela nodded and was taken away.

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Merisa was amazed at the new facility, twice as big as the old one and everything was new and ergonomically designed for her.

She had all the cytec she could ever use and her own corite maker.

Much to her shock was the skinny yellow-haired female working on a corite skin at a workstation in that area.

She was Theren Cerila, a young follower of Aldan Cerena's work on his native Cristalia. She only spoke Cristalian which was fine because Merisa did too. it was the language of her people.

Theren was employed by the Sci-Tech Ministry as was Merisa now due to an order from Coordinator Gray, the Commonwealth's head of state. It seemed that she took an interest in Merisa's work and heritage.

Merisa loved her new work area, which included computers and the latest scanners and tools.

Boid even had his own station though it was way too complicated for Merisa to touch.

She got right to work on Orela, assisted by Theren, which was wonderful. At last could merisa devote all her attention onto cytec molding and artistry.

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Oresa frowned as she led Merisa to the Memorial Garden. One was a stone memorial to her father but the saddest one was a read stone memorial to Oelia. It had a holographic image of her in the stone surface and the only remnants of her, the logic memory and action memory moldules from her AI Core, were selaed in a box below it.

"Why did she die?," Oresa asked.

Merisa sadly shook her head. "She lost her mind. Killed some people. I still don't understand why. I had to shoot her."

Oresa looked at the image in the stone. "I feel sad for her. Should I?"

Merisa looked at her. "I do, you can too. What are you doing here, Oresa? You are a free person."

Oresa smiled. "This is my home. I designed it. I took your case to Coordinator Gray. I appealed for Zone 11 land from the Tirakel Farming Authority. I proved that this industry is non-polluting and will have a positive economic impact on this area and trade."

She was shocked. A replicant, an android with an AI mind did this? It re-affirmed her belief that they are people after all. "Why? If I may ask."

Oresa smiled. "I did it for you. I owe you my life so I gave myself to this project. Its success is phenomenal but was always anticipated to be so."

Merisa smiled at that. "Thank you, Oresa."

Oresa bowed her head. "I require no gratitude from you, Merisa."

How could anything that was built be so good?

� 28 Feb 04 Gregory Thompson