The months have passed too quickly, Sam thought to himself, as he lay on his side in bed looking at the sleeping form of Elly. He thought of the irony of her beauty, having never particularly noticed Lady Grey before they had transferred Elly’s consciousness into her body. To be fair, he had never really noticed anyone before Elly; it was one of the many virtues she had added to his life.

He was living beyond his workshop, finally, having even undocked recently, though his brief adventure ended as it always has, him emerging from a new clone back at VAF HQ. He had even begun forming real friendships with his colleagues, not merely being appreciated for all the work he had done in the past, but rather forming tangible memories for the future.

He gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face, then leaned down to softly kiss her lips. She purred, a smile crossing her face, as she twisted and stretched, her eyes slowly fluttering open. 

“Good morning, sunshine.” Sam said, his eyes beaming with love for her.

“Morning.” she replied, her voice filled with morning huskiness. “What time is it?” she asked, leaning over to look at the chrono on the wall.

“Does it matter?” Sam asked coyly. “We’re together, so it’s always a good time.” She laughed at his corniess, wrapping herself around him, then stopped suddenly, surprised. A more devilish smile crossed her face as she felt him against her.

“Good morning indeed.” she said, and Sam took his cue. They spent the next several hours making love.

Elly awoke first, noticing she was alone in bed. “Sam?” she asked, wondering where her beloved had gotten off to. Maybe he had gone to bring her breakfast in bed, or pick some flowers from the botanical conservatory in the main promenade. Maybe he was in the shower, waiting for her to join him.

She quickly arose, and searched their quarters; Sam was nowhere to be found. She had a quick shower herself, scrubbing herself down, a sudden jolt of pain drawing her attention to her upper left arm. A small, blood clotted incision was there. She separated the skin slightly, her mind recognizing the telltale signs of a biopsy entry. She turned the faucet off, towelling herself dry, then stood in front of the mirror.

She looked closely at her face. The blue of her veins was showing more prominently through her skin; her time was running out. She had noticed the veins for the first time weeks ago, and showed them to Sam. He still hadn’t found a way to successfully clone her with her memories intact; her terran DNA adding unprecedented complications to existing cloning technology. Together they had exacted over forty one different sequential equations, trying to refine the process to filter her DNA properly. They had not experienced success.

She gripped the sink firmly. The headaches were coming more often as well; it was becoming a more difficult battle to contain the real Lady Grey. Elly found herself becoming lost in the other woman’s memories, often confusing them with her own. It was a terrifying experience, to feel yourself slipping away, not knowing if there would ever be a cure to save you.

After quickly eating some breakfast, she commed Sam. He wasn’t answering. She heard his comm unit beeping, and found it sitting on his bed side table. She pocketed it, and made her way to his workshop, a smile on her face. She enjoyed taking care of him and his eccentricities. She truly had fallen in love with him.

Moments later, she entered the dimly lit workshop, having no trouble finding Sam hunched over some analysis equipment. She walked up behind him, slowly sliding her arms around him from behind, her head resting against his back.

“I see how it is.” she said with mock hurt. “You get what you want, then have no more use for me.” She enjoyed playing against his social insecurities; Sam had never experienced a real relationship before. He stopped what he was doing, and turned to face her, his face apologetic.

“No, it wasn’t that, it’s just that I…” Sam began before Elly could stop him.

“I’m teasing you lover. I thought you’d know me by now.” She smiled warmly at him, hugging him, kissing him again, but noticed Sam was hesitant; his reciprocating kiss not as affectionate as usual. She pulled back.

“What is it?” she said, her voice all business now. 

“We’re almost out of time, Elly. I don’t know what else I can do. We’ve tried everything!” His voice sounded despondent, desperate. They both knew there was only a small window of opportunity in which to solve this riddle; the solution to this puzzle her very existence depended on.

“Ok, what have you discovered this morning. Anything new?” she asked, pulling her glasses out of her pocket. It was amazing how the mind could fool the body. In this day and age, there was no need for glasses; sight correction was a painless and inexpensive procedure corrected at birth and completely unnecessary in capsuleer clones. Still, she had worn glasses in her first life as Elly, and her mind still believed she needed them now. Sam had put flat lenses in them for her, as Lady Grey’s vision was perfect, but it simply made Elly feel more like herself.

Sam began reviewing their progress. “I’m still working in the isolated sequence we’ve narrowed the incompatability to. I’ve ran 1, 024 splicing simulations today already, the closest match being 13%. That number just isn’t high enough for cognitive retention. You wouldn’t be you. You wouldn’t be anyone.”

Elly kept it professional. “Has there been any acceleration in dermal degradation?” she asked.

“Not really. Lady Grey’s consciousness keeps pushing forward, and you can see here,” he said, pointing to a graph on a screen, “that there are expontentially more neural spikes in her, in your, brain activity. She wants out, Elly, and pretty soon she will be.

The constant battle of wills the two of you are engaged in is physically affecting the body. Skin elasticity is down 0.04% since yesterday, pigment cell count down as well. Pretty soon, you’re going to be somewhat translucent.”

About a week prior Sam had noticed similarities between the physical symptoms of her condition to that of the little that was known about Jovian sickness.

Together, and with the help of NORA, they had scoured the galaxy for more detailed records as to what disease the Jovians contracted that was so horrible it forced them to leave New Eden. What little they found was speculative, mostly wild theories as unbelievable as the conjecture she and Sam had put forward on many a quiet evening.

She put her hand reassuringly on his shoulder, a gesture they had both come to accept as a sign of encouragement and faith over the last few months.

Sam didn’t want to lose Elly. It wasn’t for fear of what reprisals would inevitably come should Lady Grey regain control of her body, it was that he simply had never found another being so much his equal before. Truth be told, she was his intellectual superior in many ways, but unlike most males he didn’t find that threatening at all. He loved that he could learn from her, and yet at the same time, she was continually learning from him. She had an unquenchable thirst for all things New Eden, sponging up everything he shared about this galaxy he took for granted. 

Sirens came to life, blaring their voices painfully. Emergency lighting dimmed red. Sam wondered if they were under attack, and quickly slid across the workshop floor on his chair to a security terminal. He entered his access code and was presented with a Quarantine Alert, origin point … his workshop.

He quickly began entering override commands, but he was locked out.

“Elly, the door! Run!” Sam screamed, launching himself from his chair at a sprint for the rapidly closing doors. First step in a quarantine situation was containment, a full lockdown of the offending area. They would be trapped, unable to access the cloning facilities vital to their research and experimentation for Elly’s cure.

The doors slid shut and sealed, manual overrides not responding. Sam slammed his palms against the doors in impotent frustration. “Dammit!”

“What’s going on Sam? Why did the doors close?” Elly asked, her voice slightly afraid.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” Sam replied with grim resolution. He stormed over to the comm unit, flicking it to life. “This is PyjamaSam, authorization code Echo-Charlie-Sixer-Niner-Bravo-Bravo-Foxtrot. Requesting override authorization for quarantine protocol.”

The word ‘quarantine’ sent chills through Elly.

They waited for a response. “Request denied, PyjamaSam. Quarantine is to remain in effect until further analysis performed. Sit tight; it shouldn’t take long.” an anonymous voice replied.

“Who is this?” Sam replied impatiently. “What’s your handle?” he yelled into the comm.

“Sam, keep it together. It’s me, Tavin. Everything’s gonna be fine, man; just following procedures.” Tavin replied.

Sam did calm noticeably at the familiar voice of his corpmate; Tavin was as kind as he was able. “Sorry, Tavin, just a little freaked out here. What’s the nature of the quarantine?” Sam spoke in a more controlled manner.

“Station systems have detected an unknown viral micro-organism. Source is your lab. Computer says both you and Lady Grey are infected. What the hell you messing with in there now?” Tavin replied jokingly, trying to lighten the seriousness of the moment.

Sam’s mind reeled. Infected!?! What was going on? He ran to his analysis terminal, where the most recent sample of Lady Grey’s cellular tissue he had taken only this morning still was.

He ran a full spectrum analysis against the sample until Aura found the problem, showing him in great detail the results on his screen.

Sam’s eyes went wide. Lady Grey covered her mouth in disbelief.

Sam turned to her, his demeanor completely serious, and said with dead certainty “I think we’ve found what made the Jovians sick.”