Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Three: Sourcing a Key Component (Patreon)

Quantosphere’s exhibit looked like the engine room of a futuristic spaceship. Various gymbals, gyros and gears spun, glowed or flashed different colours, signifying unknown meanings to the uninitiated.

Which in this case included myself.

“Isn’t it fascinating?” asked Jetstream. “I can’t make head or tail of it. It’s so far outside my specialty … and yet so compelling.”

Atop the exhibit, a massive black dragon floated. The beast waved its wings, opened its mouth, and shot a plume of fire into the air.

Illusion tech was one of Quantosphere’s specialties. I had to admit, he was very good at it. The ‘dragon’ was the size of an 18-wheeler.

It would have been terrifying except for five-foot-tall letters tattooed across the dragon’s wings:

BEST IMAGE GENERATORS FOR YOUR BUSINESS! ILLUSIONS@QUANTOSPHERECREATIONS.COM

“Quantosphere does impressive work,” agreed Falcao. “So what d’you think, Belessar? Something pique your interest?”

“We’ll see,” I replied, noncommittal. “The BAE folks are here today, though, so you can talk to them about your tech, Jetstream.”

“I’m looking forward to it. You sure they’ll be interested in my advanced missile technology?”

I waved Dr. Palmer over. “Sarah, this is Jetstream. We fought together at Liverpool; he has some ideas for new missile tech. Could be another application of nanofibre weave.”

“Sounds interesting,” Dr. Palmer said. “Tell me more, Jetstream.”

As Jetstream launched into a discussion of the finer points of air compression and wavefronts, I dragged Gideon off to the side. “I need you to help me buy some stuff.”

“The missile tech?”

“Not that. I asked Jetstream for a reference for a biotech inventor.” I pointed at a small, out-of-the-way tent. “That’s Honoria. We’re going to meet her.”

“Are you sure? Biotechs have an … unsavoury reputation.”

“They’re inventors like everyone else.”

"Normal inventors can't let loose a pathogen that could blanket the world in a deadly pandemic."

“You shouldn’t discriminate against the biological sciences, Gideon. For shame."

“I’d rather not have Farnborough turn into Wuhan 2.0, thank you.”

Honoria turned out to be a sullen-faced teenager in a white hoodie and a grey domino mask. “What do you want?” she scowled as Gideon and I strolled up to her.

“Honoria?”

“The one and only.”

“I’m Belessar.”

“I know. Saw you on TV.” Her eyes ran across my suit with an expression of annoyance. “Don’t expect me to get up and salute.”

I shrugged. “You came recommended by a friend. I was hoping we could do business.”

“What business?”

“I’m looking for someone who can duplicate neural tissue.”

“Let me guess. Someone close to you is suffering from brain damage, you need to help them desperately, I’m your only hope.”

“Er… no. You are in the field of tissue replication, right?”

“Sure,” Honoria shrugged. “I can duplicate tissue.”

“Great.”

“I don’t do it.”

I frowned. “Is that a matter of your technical specialty?”

“Do I look like an inventor to you?”

Now that one came to think of it… “No, not really. Although I don’t comment on other people’s fashion choices.”

“Do you even know what my power is?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“I’m a regenerator. When I lose an arm, or a leg, it grows back.”

Beside me, Gideon snorted, trying to control his laughter.

“You want to know how I figured it out?”

“Sure,” I said.

“I was in London a few months ago, just going about my morning routine. Then out of nowhere there’s an evacuation alert, everybody starts running. I got turned around in one of the dorms, and missed my bus.”

“You were in the city during the attack?”

“Obviously. Aren’t you inventors supposed to be smart? Anyway, things got more out of hand, our bus got delayed, and then the aliens attacked. I took shelter in one of the buildings, until something went off nearby and knocked the entire place down.”

“At least you got out safe.”

“I was inside.”

“Ouch.”

“Ouch, he says. Do you know what it feels like to have a ten-floor building collapse right on top of your head?”

“I’ve not had that experience.”

“Tell you what. Hit yourself on the head with a hammer. Hard enough to crack your skull. Then do that ten million times. Then you’ll know.”

“You were very brave to survive that.”

“Brave,” snorted Honoria. “Didn’t have a choice now, did I? Bloody concrete slabs smashed into my skull. Shattered it. Chunks went into my brain. Half my head was under the concrete. But… that’s when the regeneration kicks in. Repaired my skull, rebuilt my brain, kept me awake. Long enough for the weight of the concrete to crush it again.”

“... How did you survive that?”

“Regenerator, duh. I can heal from pretty much anything. Doesn’t numb the pain, though.”

“Wait… you had your skull crushed, regenerated and crushed again … and you were conscious the whole time?”

“Yeah. My power’s super awesome.” Honoria delivered those words in a flat, dead tone. “Anyway, crawled out of that mess, then got out of the building and crept to a safe space. Hid in an alleyway until the fight was over. Then went to the refugee camp.”

“I’m sorry for what you went through.”

“Don’t bother. I’ve heard a hundred variants of the speech all day.” Honoria took a swig from a flask. “So what do you want from me? I’m not fighting in the frontline, that’s for sure.”

“If you don’t mind my asking - what are you offering?”

Honoria shrugged. “Don’t know. The doctors told me this place would be good for me to figure out what I can do with my power. I’m not doing anything illegal or immoral, and I’m not going to fight. Otherwise, I’m open to job offers.”

“You need a job?”

“I have forty thousand quid of student loans to pay off, my mum’s apartment got blown up during the attack, and my scholarship got taken away last month when the uni went belly-up. Yeah, I need a job.”

“I’m sorry about your mum.”

“Don’t be, she’s alive but she’s on food stamps right now. Same with everybody I know. You want me to become a walking blood bank, I can do that.”

“You can donate blood?”

“Yeah, for ten quid a pint. I’m AB positive though, so I can only offer so much.”

“And your blood regenerates after donating?”

“Pretty fast, too. I cut off my little finger once, on a bet.” She held up her hands, all ten fingers intact. “Grew back in an hour. Easiest thousand quid I ever made.”

I took a deep breath. “Does the same apply for organs?”

“Yeah. I’ve donated my kidneys a couple of times. The problem is, if they go into someone else’s body, they become cancers.” She grinned. “So I can’t even make money from organ transplants.”

“Your body cannibalizes your stored fats and muscle to replace organs?”

“Yeah. During the attack I lost nine kilos, you know?”

“If you were to undergo a surgery that removed some part of your body, would you be able to regenerate it?”

“You’re not going to ask me to do something weird, are you?”

“I’m an inventor. We violate the laws of science and engineering on a daily basis. My definition of weird may not be the same as yours.”

Honoria snorted in amusement. “Fine. Yeah, I can regenerate anything.”

“And after the attack, did the doctor say how much of your brain was damaged and healed? Did you suffer any long-term effects?”

“No side-effects for me. My brain tissue, on the other hand, would mostly eat the recipient’s remaining brain cells from the inside. Plus, craniotomies are pretty painful.”

“Even under anaesthesia?”

“Anaesthesia doesn’t work on me. General or local.” She smiled blandly. “Both those kidney extractions, I had to be awake the whole time.”

“That must have been painful.”

“You have no idea. Now, what’s the job you want me for?”

I took a deep breath. “I’ll level with you, Honoria. I’m working on a project now for which I’ll need neural tissue. Cancerous is fine, it just has to be human brain tissue. Needless to say, this is highly confidential.”

“I’ll bet. ‘Belessar Harvests Brains’ would be an awesome headline.”

“And I need one point two kilograms for now… with the possibility of more in the future.” I paused. “Which means I can’t take everything at one time. We would want you to synthesise the batch in several lots - no more than you can safely handle at one stage.”

“Gotcha. What happens to the brain tissue?”

“It gets used up in a project that has a good chance of beating the aliens.”

“Heard that one before.” Honoria shrugged. “I can give maybe one-thirty, as much as one-fifty grams in a single shot. And I’ll need food, lots of food.”

“Consider it done.”

“Fine, then my fee is a million pounds. Per gram.”

I laughed. “Then the deal’s off, Honoria. I’ll wait and collect it from volunteers across the world instead.”

Honoria sulked. “I’m not going to get shortchanged, you hear?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, which is why I’m willing to offer you a fair price. A craniotomy would take about half an hour. At ranged fire rates, that’s ten thousand dollars per sitting - a little over six thousand pounds. We’ll limit the extracts to a hundred grams at a time and give you a week to recover between each.”

The teenager scowled. “I was hoping for more, but fine. I need six craniotomies for sure, though. And the rate for a full hour.”

“I’ll give you twenty thousand dollars per craniotomy if you agree to a minimum of twelve. And I’ll give you future jobs at the same rate.” I leaned back. “Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it. You sign a waiver saying that you’re not going to transplant the stuff you take from my head, though, and I want two people from my side in the operating theatre at all times.”

“Done.” We shook hands. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Gideon was quiet until we left the tent and headed back to collect Dr. Palmer. “Are you sure those many operations won’t hurt the girl? Or remove her memories?”

“Positive.” The ever-helpful Observe had confirmed that Honoria’s skill - Regeneration - could restore any kind of tissue to perfect, undamaged condition. “Hopefully, with her contributions and the rest of the system, we’ll be able to get into production by … February, perhaps. I’ll need you to arrange the funds and the operation, of course.”

“I’ll do that. Any other surprises you want to throw at me?”

“Well, there’s a few inventech devices that we might want to consider…..”