Imposter System - Chapter 41

The two lovers locked in a long kiss which was eventually interrupted by the captain clearing his throat. The captain walked over once they stopped smashing their faces together and stuck his hand out. Matt looked at him and reached out slowly to shake. The captain seemed to be pleased with the results.

“Good work, Dr. O’Connely. We left the situation here unreported last time as a small bait. It is lucky that he bit it. You did good this time. I will make an appeal for you to move on in your promotion process.”

Before Matt had a chance to respond, the captain’s communicator activated and he received an urgent message. After listening to it, he looked over at Matt with a frown. Matt had no idea what just happened but it didn’t seem good.

“I’m afraid that I can’t fulfill the reward I just mentioned. I overheard you two are planning to get married? I am the only one with authority to ordain you, therefore, I approve of the union. Let me know the date. Congratulations by the way.”

The captain and all of the people he brought with him left, leaving Matt and Alexis alone. Matt was confused with the situation but decided to ignore it for now. He activated Sense Life and detected Martha hiding in the ventilation area behind the cage. He was amazed at how quick witted she was.

“So, what happened? How did you get the captain here so quickly?”

“When he accessed the system to locate you, your device pinged you on this deck and we guessed where you were being led. Seeing that, the captain seemed to figure something out and made a decision. He gathered some personnel and left immediately.”

“Wait, how did you get changed so quickly?”

“Ah… well you see…”

She opened an interface on her forearm and pressed some buttons. The suit began to compress into what seemed to be a handbag. Underneath she was wearing the dress still. Matt remembered that she brought along that purse and didn’t think anything about it, but it turned out she was carrying her combat suit around. The juxtaposition of the situation made Matt chuckle.

“Wait, then why did you make me help you put it on before if it could do that?”

“Uh… So anyway, where did Sheila go?”

“She died a few weeks ago. The captain knew about it and had me deal with it.”

“That explains a lot. It’s a shame our date got interrupted though…”

“Actually, I have an idea. Let’s go.”

During the time he was chatting with Alexis, he had formed a telepathic connection to Martha and told her to keep hiding for a while. She replied with simple words that conveyed her understanding. Once he had confirmation, he took Alexis by the hand and led her to the holographic simulation room. While holding her hand, she assertively adjusted the grip so that their fingers were interlocked.

Matt’s eye twitched at the sudden change in her style. It seemed that the moment their relationship moved up a peg, she increased her affection. Matt didn’t mind the change. He felt that she likely held herself back because she knew how the previous Matt operated and wanted to accommodate him. He scoffed at his former body’s owner for missing out on life.

Over the last week, Matt had been searching for everything about his parents. He discovered the necklace, and some information. It turned out that he had a strangely familiar backstory. His parents were researchers in a big lab run by the government studying the organisms on Exveus. However, due to a catastrophic accident, his parents died. He was only eleven at the time.

Matt’s uncle took him in; However, five years later, his uncle died in a similar lab accident. Since he was still a minor, he was moved to the care of his cousin’s family. Instead of being scientists like his close relatives, they were farmers. Matt was unable to form bonds very well due to the trauma he experienced and ended up befriending a baby goat. That goat would eventually give birth to Sheila, which he personally recommended to be brought on this mission.

With that information, he discovered why the original owner was so closed up, averse to children, and attached to a goat. Another thing he discovered in his personal effects was a data stick that contained a complete rendering of Matt’s farm. When he discovered this, he put away the stick and decided it may be interesting to see one day. Due to their date being ended suddenly, he had a great idea to take her on a date through the farm he stayed at for six years.

A lot of the memories from his childhood were fragmented or altered. It was fortunate that the Federation did a complete background check and kept the files for public access on the database. Matt was able to figure out a few facts about his childhood. His parents didn’t die in some accident, they were taken out by corporate espionage. His uncle, however, did in fact die because of an accident.

Once the two of them arrived at the holodeck, Alexis understood his intention and became giddy. She really wanted to know what kind of simulation he had in mind and looked forward to it. The two of them entered the room hand-in-hand. Matt pulled Alexis over to the control panel and inserted the data stick. Then, he commanded the computer to run the simulation and the world around them began to change. Matt had Alexis cover her eyes while the scene was changing in order to surprise her.

The scene of metallic floors and walls quickly changed into one of a rural setting. Trees, grass, a farm house, and various animals all came into existence. Matt watched in wonder and excitement. The attention to detail was extremely high. Whoever created this rendering was very skilled. Matt couldn’t find anywhere in the original owner’s memory about acquiring this data stick, so it was probably passed down from his parents.

“It’s finished, you can look now.”

Alexis uncovered her eyes and looked around. Seeing the rural setting reminded her of the little cottage she went to with her parents back home. Seeing her excited and grinning, Matt was relieved. He took her by the hand and led her toward the farm house that used to be his home.

“This is the farm I grew up on as a teenager. Let me show you inside first.”

“It’s really nice. Did you like living here instead of the big city?”

“I didn’t have a lot of happy memories in the city so it was an escape for me.”

Alexis’s grinning face turned slightly sad and she gripped her hand tighter around Matt’s. He acknowledged her concern with a smile. They walked the rest of the way in silence as Alexis took in all of the surroundings. She would occasionally gasp or express her amazement with ooh’s and aah’s. Overall, her reactions were very interesting for Matt to listen to.

When they arrived in front of the door, Matt surprised the distracted Alexis by taking her into a bridal carry through the threshold. This was something he had always wanted to do to someone. She shouted in surprise and instinctively clung to his neck. When she realized the situation, her face turned red but she also had an expectant look on her face.

A great advantage of the programing for the holodeck was that it would attempt to simulate things within the user’s area of access with object substitutes. Matt didn’t know the technology since it was a guarded secret, but he enjoyed making use of it. The solid holograms would allow him to carry out his plan. Matt carried her into his old room and sat her down on his bed.

“This was my room growing up. I can’t believe the rendering looks exactly like it did when I was sixteen.”

“So, this was your room, huh? Not what I would have imagined honestly. So, what did you have in mind bringing me here…” Alexis was usually very forward, but being carried into his childhood home like that made her a bit shy.

“What’s with those impure thoughts Lexi? I just wanted to show you my room…”

Matt leaned forward on the bed attempting to do this and that to her. However, he accidently kicked something under his bed. It sounded like a box. He didn’t remember a box under his bed so he was curious. Matt took it out and was amazed at the details of this render.

He sat next to Alexis and set the box on his lap. Alexis was curious too and got distracted from her thoughts. It was a normal shoebox without any special markings or brands on it. When Matt took off the lid, there were various documents and pictures inside the box. This was not something he kept in his room. The most surprising thing was all of the pictures and documents were blue and white fragmented image.

“Wait, Matt. Look at this— under the lid. It looks like a retinal scanner.”