After sending Stanley up to the Lexx to retrieve the sanguine extract, Xev, Kai and Maedra had searched through the town, looking for a suitable location to perform the…procedure. Now that she thought about it, Xev had no idea what Maedra was going to do. She didn’t know how she would make Kai different. But she was riding on a cloud of high hopes.

They had finally found an old factory that was closed for the day. Maedra thought it would do. It had spools of tubing and a flat table – she doubted she would need much else. Soon after, Stan had shown up with a container of reddish goo, the sanguine extract.

As Stan lumbered through the door with the cumbersome canister, Xev watched the liquid splashing inside. For the first time in her life, she had seen something that might prove as important to her as proto-blood.

“Xev, Stanley, please light the lanterns,” Maedra asked as she accepted the canister from Stan. Xev immediately set down her squawker and 790 down on the counter and rushed to help Stan light the lanterns. “Kai,” Maedra said softly, gesturing toward the table.

Heeding her unspoken instruction, Kai hoisted himself onto the table and stretched out. Stan peered at the two assassins over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure about this. Kai had been acting funny since he’d seen this Maedra and when Kai acted funny things got dangerous; zombies showed up and evil rulers of planets tried to kill them. He trusted Xev most of the time, but never when it came to Kai. Never. She just didn’t think clearly when it came to Kai. But Kai he usually trusted. As obnoxious as his “the dead do nots” could be, Kai was usually right. So, Stan supposed that if Kai trusted Maedra, he would, too. If Kai wanted Maedra to play with his innards, he wouldn’t interfere, but he would keep an eye on things. He had an interest in keeping Kai around longer too. After all, if Kai actually stayed dead, then Stan would be without a bodyguard whenever Xev dragged him to one of these stupid planets.

Maedra stepped close to Kai reclining on the table. She quickly opened the front of his uniform, exposing the proto-blood system embedded within the pale skin.

“Be careful with him,” 790 hollered, “you grotesque mockery of an undead assassin.”

So, the robot head was worried, too, Stan thought. He shrugged his shoulders, almost burning his fingers as he lit the last lantern. He just felt…nervous. “So, uh, hey, Kai,” he mumbled, taking a few steps closer to the two assassins. “How’re you doing?”

Kai turned his eyes to Stan. “Since Maedra has yet to begin the procedure, I’m fine,” he replied. Stan sighed, relieved.

Then, he heard a sound he had never expected to hear. Maedra giggled. Stan’s eyes widened and he stared at the chuckling assassin. Beside him, Xev was stunned. Even Kai stared.

“And it’s not like it’s going to kill him,” she teased, letting out another laugh. Then, she saw the three sets of eyes trained on her. Coughing, she suppressed her laughter and regained her expressionless face. But Stan was looking right at her and he saw plainly that her eyes darted about. She was *embarrassed.* The dead woman was embarrassed!

“Are you sure you’re dead?” he asked, legitimately wondering. They hadn’t checked her pulse or made sure she had that proto-blood…thingy in her chest. They didn’t question at all.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Maedra quickly replied. “The further implications of that question warrant a more detailed answer, but…let it suffice to say that I have often found it necessary to…behave alive.” She glanced about again, sheepishly, then returned to her task.

Behave alive, huh? That was an interesting thought. “Couldn’t you do that, Kai?”

“No,” was the predictable response. Stan grinned. Sometimes Kai’s predictability was reassuring. Like now, for example. Stan suddenly felt a little better about this whole extract thing.

Maedra leaned over Kai, her eyes running over his mechanics, her face very close to his chest. Xev watched, nervously chewing her bottom lip. It would be okay, she told herself. Kai would be okay.

Maedra lifted her hand and gently slid them along the metal in Kai’s chest. Her brow furrowed. “I haven’t seen a proto-blood dependent system in centuries,” she explained distractedly. Looking down, she opened her own uniform. Xev saw the metal, gleaming in the lantern light, embedded in Maedra’s chest, just as it was in Kai. Her hatred for the Divine Order was abruptly renewed. She had almost forgotten that this defilement had been done to thousands and not just the last Brunnen-G of the prophecy. “The bio-scholars seem to have improved over the years,” Maedra continued. “Stanley, could you hold a lantern over here, please?”

Almost tripping over his feet in his haste, Stan rushed to the wall and grabbed one of the lanterns and hustled to Maedra. Xev smiled slightly. Stan could never hide it when he cared.

“Maybe I missed this part,” Stan began, the lantern in his hand casting a gold circle of light over the surgery, “but does this sanguine stuff have any side effects?”

“I assume Kai’s body will respond in the same manner mine did,” Maedra replied. “Minimal regain sensation and dreams.”

“Dreams?” Xev asked.

Stan shrugged. “That doesn’t sound bad.”

Maedra let out a sigh, another uncharacteristically living action, and tucked her free-hanging braid behind her ear. Then, she grabbed a flat-edged tool and opened part of the Kai’s mechanics. “Your dreams are a series of images that seem to span hours,” she continued as she began the alteration. “In cryostasis, my dreams are a series of images that *do* span hours, for months at a time.”

“Why does that occur?” Kai asked, apparently unaffected by Maedra’s tinkering so far.

“The extract directly feeds the subconscious,” Maedra replied, “so my subconscious is alive while the rest of me remains dead.”

Xev grimaced. “That does sound bad.”

Using the flat-edged tool as a wedge, Maedra removed a thin strip of metal from Kai and walked toward the counter. Stan looked back and forth between Kai and Maedra, unsure of where his lighting skills were needed most. A moment later, he trotted after Maedra.

“But wait,” he said, casting his light on Maedra’s hands. “You mean you haven’t already asked these questions? Guys, what are you doing!? I didn’t think you would jump into something like this, Kai.”

“Proto-blood is rare,” Kai evenly responded. “The benefit alone outweighs the consequences.”

“I hope you feel that way in the morning.”

Xev swallowed, watching as Maedra heated up the tool in Stan’s lantern and then began to melt and shape the metal from Kai’s internal mechanics. Her lip was sore from her chewing. She hadn’t thought about all those questions Stan had. She didn’t even consider that she might be pushing Kai toward some sort of cryoborn torture. But he had made the final choice, she reminded herself. He’d even pointed out that he didn’t do it for her. Dreams. Kai would have dreams. Xev thought of her own dreams and blushed. Her dreams were not a good representation of her actual life. There were a lot more men around in her dreams. And it was through her dreams that Maedra had found out her history? That didn’t seem possible.

“So, all you remember about your past you saw in dreams?” Xev asked, leaning in to inspect Maedra’s handiwork. The metal shaped to her satisfaction, Maedra walked back to Kai.

“I have told you what I believe happened,” Maedra replied, fitting the metal shard back into place. “I know I was born on Trudel and raised on Brunnis. I do not know what happened to my brother or why I was disguised as a boy.”

Xev saw Kai flinch just barely. Great, she thought, I’ve given him nightmares and now he’s feeling pain. “Does it hurt, Kai?”

“The dead do not feel pain,” Kai replied.

“The dead do not walk or talk either,” Maedra pointed out as she walked to one of the huge spools of tubing.

“Good point, Maedra,” Stan cheered, chasing after Maedra with the lantern. “Good point. There you go, Kai.”

Maedra cut off a small section of tubing and then returned to the counter, Stan trotting after her. “It has taken me years to regain what memories I have,” Maedra continued. “It would have taken fewer had I spent more time out of cryostasis deciphering my dreams, but I don’t like my companions, so it was preferable.” Maedra heated up the tool again, this time using it to melt the tubing. “My appearance has been the most helpful. My dreams lead me to believe that I was a florist, but that didn’t explain the weapon, and then I thought I had been a seamstress, but no seamstress would dress like this.” Xev smiled, suppressing a laugh. Maedra shaped the end of the tube, making it narrower.

“How do you know you’re from Trudel when you look like you’re from Brunnis?” Stan asked, following Maedra and the reshaped tubing back over to Kai.

“I knew of the prophecy, and knew it had been fulfilled even when I had done nothing, so I knew I was not the last of the Brunnen-G. And I had seen images of a planet I knew was not Brunnis,” Maedra answered, inserting the remolded tubing into a valve in Kai’s chest. “Studying proved that planet to be Trudel. I then learned of the extinction of that race.”

“That must have been terrible,” Xev commiserated, not thinking, “to finally discover what you are, only to find out that you’re the last one.” Xev felt Kai’s eyes on her before she realized what she’d said. She suddenly felt enough sorrow for the both of them.

“You’re ready for the extract,” Maedra announced, setting down the tools.

“Really?” Stan asked, finally lowering the lantern. “Already?”

“I didn’t say the procedure was difficult,” Maedra replied. “I had only to separate the entry valves. The sanguine extract mixes with the proto-blood. That’s how it helps.”

Nervous and anxious, Stan and Xev neared Kai, moving to admire Maedra’s handiwork. Xev had grown accustomed to the dull grey metal in Kai’s chest, had even grown used to the feel of it when she touched him. She believed she knew every inch of that mechanics. Even if she didn’t, Maedra’s alterations were not hard to locate. Kai’s chest was a patchwork of the ancient metal of the original equipment and the shiner, freshly molded metal of Maedra’s additions.

“It looks…nice,” Xev ventured, unsure of what to say.

“It brings out the grey in your eyes,” 790 gushed. It did, Xev thought, but she would never have said that.

Maedra lifted the container of extract, resting it on the table beside Kai. Kai watched her motions as she attached a tube to the container’s spout and the opposite end to the altered valve in his chest. She turned the knob and, with a hiss, the red liquid began to flow. Xev watched it drift everso slowly toward Kai’s chest. The point of no return was fast approaching. She glanced to Kai and found that his eyes were not on the extract, but on his fellow assassin.

“How do you know you were raised on Brunnis?” he asked.

“Even with what little I know,” Maedra began, checking the pressure gauges on the extract canister, “my knowledge of Brunnen-G ideals and traditions is a lifetime’s worth.”

“You’re practically one of his ancestors,” Xev added softly, watching as Maedra’s eyes lifted to meet Kai’s. Green meeting blue. Then, with one almost bashful look down, Maedra’s eyes returned to the extract. Xev distinctly saw her swallow.

“My behavior, which Mot would call creepy,” she said, “stems from my efforts to decipher my dreams. As Kai already has his memories, he should not have this trouble; he should not be…creepy.”

“Yeah,” Stanley said. “It’s be scary if Kai started acting creepy.”

The sarcasm was not lost even on the dead. Kai’s cold green eyes turned to regard Stan with the faintest of admonishing looks. Maedra shut off the valve and returned the container to the ground. Then, resting one hand on Kai’s chest, covering his mechanics, and the other on his back, she helped him sit up and allowed him to refasten his uniform.

“You’re done,” she added, seeming to have little idea of what else to say. It was unusual to see, Xev thought, hesitancy in a dead assassin.

Stan watched apprehensively as Kai swung his legs around to the side of the table. He leaned over to Xev beside him. “If he starts giggling,” he whispered, “tell her to put him back the way he was.” He was expecting to see – to see…he didn’t know what he was expecting to see, but he was expecting something. Slowly, deliberately, like always, Kai stood up. He didn’t fall, he didn’t wobble. He didn’t do anything.

As Stan watched him, waiting for something to happen, Xev stood beside him doing the same. Neither realized that they had forgotten to breathe.

Maedra gathered the tools, inspecting the wear on the flat-edged tool, then looked to see her new friends, waiting. “Nothing is going to happen now,” she announced and saw that Xev and Stanley both immediately took a deep breath. “The extract must be circulated through his system.”

“Should he, uh, should he be frozen?” Stan asked, warily stepping closer to Kai and gently poking him with one finger, expecting the dead guy to feel different. He didn’t.

“That would be best.”

“I will return to the Lexx, then,” Kai decided.

“I’ll go with you,” Maedra offered.

Xev glanced between the two dark-clothed assassins and felt a faint twinge of jealousy. Kai would tell her that the dead do not give off impressions, but she still got the distinct impression from him that he wanted to be alone with Maedra. She didn’t like it, but if it was what Kai wanted...well, she would force herself to do it. For now. If he started wanting to be alone with Maedra all the time, she was going to have to revise that decision. Thinking out how best to sound casual, Xev walked over and gathered 790 from the counter. “How about you, Stan?”

“I’m going to explore some of the local wildlife,” Stan eagerly replied, straightening the collar on his red suit. Stan could be counted on for a good idea on that score. And, for once, they were on a planet that seemed to be populated by both respective genders of choice.

“Sounds good,” Xev said with a smile, handing 790 to Kai lest the robot head protest.

“Have a good time,” Kai said, handing 790 back to her. Then, he and Maedra walked from the room. The dead *do* give off impressions, then.

“Kai!” 790 hollered. “You don’t want to be alone with that rigor mortis reject.”

“Yes, 790” Xev said, ignoring her own confused heart. “I think he does. She’s the closest he’s come to meeting someone like him,” she said to console herself as much as 790. Kai wanted Maedra around. He’d never wanted anything, so, Xev decided he shouldn’t be denied the first time out. Maedra could stay with them. She wouldn’t mind and it didn’t matter if Stan or 790 did. Xev figured she still owed Stan an uninvited guest after he allowed Lyekka to stay with them. All she had to do was convince the salespeople. They would surely be out selling tonight. She would find them and make them leave Maedra. Usually, Xev would remind herself that Kai would appreciate it even if he couldn’t show it, but, now, with this new extract, Xev walked out into the street entertaining fantasies that just maybe he might show it this time.
* * *
Kai checked over his systems as he walked toward the cryochamber. He did not yet sense anything unusual, but Maedra’s description of the extract’s affects had been less than thorough. It was possible, he thought, that he would feel nothing at all.

“Your companions are more tolerable than mine,” Maedra said, trailing him at a short distance. “Stanley reminds me of a boyfriend I believe I had.”

Kai abruptly stopped to look at her. “Really?”

“Yes,” Maedra replied, vaguely confused by the question.

Kai inclined his head and continued walking. Maedra, when she was living, must have been a rare woman. Suddenly, Kai’s vision listed violently to the left and the corridor swayed uneasily in front of him. His head swam and his knees buckled. He fell hard against Maedra and she caught him in her arms, steadying him on his feet. “Is that supposed to happen?” he inquired, his words sounding thick and blurred.

“I hope so.”

Kai looked at her.

“I think so.” His gaze did not lift. “Yes. Yes, that’s supposed to happen,” she declared confidently.

She helped him across the few remaining feet to his cryopod. He leaned heavily on her shoulders and lifted his feet, stepping into the pod. “I want to examine you in a few hours,” she informed, pushing his weight back against the cold surface. Then, she stepped away, clearing room for the hatch to close.

Kai lifted his head to peer at her through his drifting vision. “You will not be in cryostasis?”

Maedra just barely shook her head. “I have dreams to sort,” she explained.

Accepting that, Kai closed his eyes and the pod hissed shut. Maedra stood a moment in the growing silence, watching Kai through the glass. She stepped forward, peering at him. He lay with a serene, undisturbed expression. Then, she saw that beneath his eyelids, his eyes began to move. Swallowing, she stepped away.