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Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details. Earth Woman continued It had been two centuries since Earth scientists had first discovered and managed to control personal teleportation, but a person had to have a very high level of intelligence and had to be conscious to operate and control such a method of transportation. Quite a number of Earth agents, like Janus, had been lost while engaged on important missions, until the safety relay had been devised. Now, when an agent lost consciousness, or was killed, his body automatically teleported back to his headquarters. The chamber was white, bright, and spacious, and completely bare, except for the solitary piece of sculpture that dominated the entire room. The sculpture, created from bio-aluminium and, pulsating with the vitality of life, was of a woman and child, motherly love and innocence coupled with the purity of the newborn. This symbol, of all that mankind stood for; of its fall from innocence, of its redemption, was the emblem of mankind's striving for perfection. As such, it was the insignia of the organization to which Janus belonged, the statue being used to focus an agent's thoughts on his headquarters, when he wished to be teleported home. It was into this room, on Earth, to which Janus' body suddenly materialized. A warning light flashed in another room, where a group of white-clothed figures awaited just such a summons. The figures rushed to the receiving room and gathered about Janus' unconscious form. "Get him to the op room immediately." The speaker was a tall man, the number seven appeared on a small plastic disc self-adhering to the upper right-hand side of his uniform. "He's pretty far gone," spoke up one of the assistants, who had just arrived and who had briefly, but expertly, examined the unconscious Janus. The assistant was dressed in light blue and his number was 302. "My ears tell me it's his heart." "Has it stopped beating?" queried Medico 7. "I'd say it almost has," responded 302. "I'm not a high-ranking, low-numbered medico, but my stetho-ear tells me that this man's heart is only operating on auxiliary power. We have ten minutes, at the most, to save him!" "A fine diagnosis, 302. I'd say that you're almost ready for promotion. Now let's get a move on with this patient." Once in the op room, modern and mechanized with computers and other complex machinery lining three of its walls, the medicos surrounded Janus' body and commenced the task of saving his life. The chest of the patient was quickly opened and bloodlessly, using a laser beam, modified for just such a purpose. Various electronic cords that carried messages to banks of computers and analysing machines lining the walls of the room were then attached to the main body organs: heart, lungs and liver. Another machine was similarly attached to the base of the brain, to supply this organ with blood, in the eventuality of the heart failing altogether. Within seconds, the computers had diagnosed the cause of Janus' exhaustion: the power pack that drove his heart muscles had begun to weaken under the continual stress of his profession, and was thus not pumping sufficient blood through his system, to sustain his life. Immediately the medicos removed the patient's heart. It shone, reflecting splinters of light back at the brilliant arc lights illuminating the op room; but its living aluminium outer-shell no longer beat with artificial life. Medico 7 tossed the heart into the waste-disposal unit as another heart appeared in front of the chief medico, handed to him by his assistant, Medico 302. In contrast to its lifeless mate, this body organ pulsed beneath the bio-aluminium casing. Within minutes, the new artificial heart had been inserted into Janus' body, all circuits had been tested, and the machines and computers disconnected. It was only then that the medicos relaxed. "I never cease to be amazed at how easy these replacements have become now that we use artificial organs and limbs instead of real transplants," commented Medico 302. "Rejection was the biggest problem," replied Number 7. "Transplant techniques were held back over a hundred years until artificial organs were first perfected." "And now you can't tell the difference, once they're inside a patient and operating," added 302. "Take this patient, Agent Philk, for example, he's had five artificial transplants in the last hundred years, and he does not remember one of them. And there's probably not an original organ left in his body. Why, there's probably not --" "Why are you standing there, nattering, when an important agent's life is at stake?" The voice that interrupted the medicos' conversation was harsh, chilled, and authoritarian. It came from behind the two medicos; the speaker was the Director of Earth Security, Janus' Superior. "The patient is alive and the operation is completed, Sir," replied assistant Medico 302, his voice quavering. 302 spoke to a video screen located at one side of the op room. The Director, whose face dominated the screen with its cold, grey eyes, thin lips and bald head, answered harshly. "Right! Take him to the indoctrination centre. He must remember nothing of this." "He won't remember any of it," assured Medico 7. He resented the implications of the Director's last comment. "No more than he's remembered any of the past operations, or his past lives. We'll see to that, as usual." "Good!" It was little more than a grunt. "When he's ready for action, have him teleported back to Hooja. He has an important mission to complete." The screen flickered into blankness, and Janus was removed to a room across the hallway. Electrodes were attached to the control centres of Janus' brain, and the dreams of his subconscious and the memory of the recent operation were forced to hide in the dark corners of his mind, perhaps to be awakened when the indoctrination process began to wear off. **** Janus opened his eyes. He blinked them several times, trying to recall who, and where, he was. Then with the flood of memory, the opening of the sluice gates of the dam of his mind, he recalled the recent battle with the Hoojan. He whirled, picking up his fallen sword as he did so, but he could see that there would be no further danger from that particular creature. Of the operation and the trip to Earth, he remembered nothing: the indoctrination had completely erased all memories of these experiences. He now felt fully rested and surprisingly refreshed, and this he believed to be due mainly to his forced sleep, plus his unique powers of recuperation. Approaching the body of the Hoojan, purple and transparent before him, Janus looked down at the first Hoojan that he had had the chance to study closely. The creature was naked, except for a harness that normally held its knife and sword. Janus could look right through the skin and flesh to the human-like skeleton, and even see the red dust beneath the creature. Apparently the creature's organs were, like its flesh, invisible as well, for Janus could see nothing of a heart, or lungs. Upon rolling the figure over, however, Janus discovered an unusual thing: the Hoojan's wings were not a part of its body, as he had previously thought, but were attached instead to the creature's back by a series of belts that formed part of the Hoojan's harness. Quickly removing the harness, Janus strapped the wings to his own back. A small power pack located between the two wings operated these outer members while control of the wings was by a series of studs located on a front section of the harness straps. By pushing any one of the several buttons, eight different movements of the wings could be elected. Janus chose the lowest wing speed control and pressed it. Instantly the wings began to beat slowly, and he felt himself rise from the ground. He was determined to explore further this new method of transportation. As Janus experimented with the new wings, delighting in a freedom of flight that he had never encountered before, a dozen dots rose from above the far horizon and headed towards him. Janus was totally engrossed in his new wings. He banked, climbed, soared and, all the while, the dots grew and as they grew, they took on the form of a squad of Hoojans returning to their camp. There could be no doubt that they had seen Janus, for they had already altered their course in order to intercept him. The Earthman frolicked in the sky, oblivious to this impending danger while the Hoojans flew closer and closer. There was no warning of their attack. One moment Janus was gliding through the air as peacefully as a seagull; the next he was beset by a number of bloodthirsty Hoojan warriors. A misdirected stroke by one of the Hoojans caught Janus a glancing blow, on the head, with the flat of a sword. He cartwheeled in the air, spinning towards the ground, one hundred metres below.
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