Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

shooing things away. “They’re always floating round the lab, getting in the way. Pestering me, when I have better things to do.” He looked fixedly at nothing for a long moment, his head cocked on one side. “They’re quiet, for the moment. I think you frighten them. I’m pretty sure some of them are people I came back from Haden with. You remember.”
    “The crew of the Hunter , and the scientists of Haden,” said Finn. “The people you poisoned and drove insane.”
    “It’s not my fault they weren’t strong enough to tolerate the miracles I fed them! I would have made them superhuman if they hadn’t all died on me. People have no stamina these days. I blame late toilet training, myself. You don’t think they blame me for their deaths, do you? How very unfair. But you’re here to see Anne, aren’t you? Come and see, come and see. I’ve made such marvelous progress since you were last here. You won’t recognize the old girl.”
    “That had better not be true, for your sake,” said Finn, but Dr. Happy had already lurched away, and was pottering about his lab. He was heading towards the living quarters at the back, but he kept being distracted by various chemical distillations and computer displays. He gave his gene splicer an encouraging pat in passing, and beckoned imperiously for Finn to follow him. Finn sighed, and did so. The line between genius and madness was thin enough at the best of times, and being dead probably didn’t help. He followed Dr. Happy on his erratic journey, pausing now and then when the good doctor stopped to talk to people who weren’t there. More of his ghosts, presumably. Finn tried hard to see something, but couldn’t. He hated to miss out on things. Dr. Happy whirled round abruptly to face Finn.
    “Now, this is interesting! This spirit claims to be you, come back in time from the future, after you died. I’d probably be able to understand him better if he didn’t have his head under his arm.”
    Finn made a mental note to get as much work out of Dr. Happy as he could while he still lasted. “How are you getting on with your new version of the Deathstalker Boost?” he said, loudly and clearly.
    “All right! All right! No need to shout! I’m dead, not deaf. The ears are still attached, see? And the Boost is going very well, thank you. I’ve already produced a viable prototype, and given it to Anne.”
    “You’ve done what?” Finn said sharply. “I told you I wanted to test it myself first.”
    Dr. Happy looked at him with his sunken eyes, and twitched his stiff fingers nervously. “There was no time, no time! Anne needed my Boost, if she was going to hold together. You have to remember, most of what I’ve done to her is extremely experimental. No one else could have kept her alive as long as I. I’ve used old Hadenman tech, Wampyr tech, and even some new options that came to me during my time with the Maze. I had no choice but to make her into a cyborg, after the appalling damage she suffered.” He paused, considering. “I have to admit, I’m not always sure how or even why some of it works, but we learn by doing, after all. Still, tech implants, miracle potions, and my loving care can only do so much. Often the very things that keep her alive are at war with each other in her poor abused body. The Boost should make all the difference. I have the highest hopes for it. Come and see, come and see!”
    He pottered off again, and Finn followed him to the back of the lab. The living quarters were kept separate from the rest of the lab by a single door of solid steel. It was kept locked at all times, as much to keep Anne in as everyone else out. Dr. Happy spoke his name into the voice lock, and the door ground slowly open. Beyond it lay a comfortable enough room, with every amenity but no windows. Anne was standing before the full-length mirror again, studying herself. Her new self—or what had been done to it in the name of survival. Finn had offered to remove the mirror, on the grounds that it only upset her, but Anne had wrecked the room in protest, even denting the steel door, so he never mentioned it again.
    Anne stood awkwardly. She was still learning how to walk and move smoothly in her new, altered form. She wore no clothing, so she could see herself more clearly. Tech implants bulged crudely out of her flushed pink skin, thrusting out sharp and curved edges. One arm was longer than the other, and the power unit in her back gave her a slight