“I didn’t realize the Martians had the medical technology to thaw and bring people back to life.”
“We’ve advanced, but even we can’t do that. Luckily, I managed to extract a viable genetic sample.”
It took second for his sluggish brain to figure it out. “You cloned me.”
“Not easily. Growing you a new body turned out to be the easy part. I never thought to get a copy of your mind before I left. Luckily, your dumb rock of a brain froze instantly. The extraction process of your memories was a bit tricky, though, seeing as how I had to carefully thaw and then reactivate your neural pathways for transfer. So far, you seem intact.”
“Meaning what?”
“Could be you’ll find yourself with holes. AKA, you’ll try to remember something, and it just won’t be there. While I did my best to get everything, you did die.” The last emerged accusatory. “In better news, your clone is in perfect health, but I did tweak your genetics slightly.”
“You didn’t give me a tail, did you?” He only half joked.
“While tempting, I stuck to strength, longevity, resistance viruses, oh and stamina, because you’re going to need it.”
“Oh?” He purred the syllable, but she shook a finger at him.
“Not for that. Not yet at least. First, you’re going to listen to the epic harangue I prepared, and it starts with, what the fuck did you think you were doing?”
“Which part? Because the coming-to-Mars part was a no-brainer. When I saw you go down and the Kukakk take off in your ship, I knew I had to come here. Would have been here sooner if Nimrod hadn’t blocked me from getting to the portal,” he stated sourly.
“On my orders because I wanted to handle the Kukakk without putting you in danger.”
His brows rose. “Oh, because it’s so much better that you were the one in peril.”
“I had spare bodies. I was fine,” she groused.
“I guess Nimrod didn’t think so since it eventually let me use the portal. And a good thing, too, because I managed to destroy the Kukakk after it killed you again!” He didn’t hide his annoyance at having lived through her death twice.
Her lips twisted. “Yeah, it caught me off guard. Your fault. When I realized you were wandering the citadel, I did a quick copy of myself and then started looking for you instead of watching for the Kukakk.”
“Well, that Ishtar told me to take out the fucker, so I technically was listening to you.”
“My dumb ass should have told you to wait while my clone revived. I arrived minutes after it was all said and done, and let me tell you, seeing you dead was not fun.” She glared.
He glared right back. “Gee, I don’t know how that feels. Oh wait, I do, times two.”
Her lips curved. “Maybe we should avoid that in the future.”
“Agreed.”
“Now on to why you died. You gave up your avatar status.”
Not asked, stated. “I did. I made a deal with the Aquarius Astraeus. Actually, more like I asked it to do me a favor and it agreed.” He paused before asking, “Did it work?”
“We’ll get to that in a minute. I told you I didn’t want you sacrificing yourself for a dead planet.”
“I made you a promise I’d fix Mars if you helped with the Kukakk.”
“And I told you to forget about that deal. Not to mention, if you thought I was dead, why the hell would you have gone through with it?”
He shrugged. “Because.”
“Because you’re a big dumb hero,” she growled. She grabbed his towel and yanked him close. “Brave. Selfless. Honorable.”
“Really hoping you’re going to add handsome in there.”
“As if your looks matter. It’s what’s inside your skin that attracts me most.”
