“I'm sorry Dex, we're letting you go.” He wasn't too surprised. This had been what? His ninth job in the last six months. At least he had lasted more than a week here. “I'm really sorry Dex.” Frank said again. “Your a great guy and all but you haven't been able to hit goal since you started.” 

 Dex blinked at him a few times and then nodded. “Yeah, no it's cool Franky, I get it. Just doing your job bud.” He made an attempt to smile. It must not have been very convincing because Frank's grown got bigger. 

 He really hadn't been a half bad manager. 

 Dex let out a sigh and then climbed to his feet. “Thanks for letting me at least finish the week. I'll grab my stuff and get out of your hair.” Dex wasn't sure who was more disappointed him or Frank, the middle aged half bald man looked as if someone had kicked his puppy. 

 “I know the manager at Save Mart. It's not much pay but it's something.” Frank offered. At least the guy was trying. 

 “Already worked there a few months back. Really Frank it's alright. I'll figure something out. You really feel that bad come by Brick bar and buy me a drink Saturday night.” Dex said heading for the door. “Squeeze'er easy Frank.” He called over his shoulder with a wave. 

 He grabbed his coat and bag from the employee lounge and ducked out without saying goodbye to his co-workers, well ex co-workers. He didn't really feel like making a big fuss and honestly didn't want the attention. 

 He stepped on to the NYC sidewalk with a sigh. He had moved here four years ago and didn't regret it for a second. Life had taken him down more than a few dark paths and NYC? NYC wasn't nearly that bad. 

 He knew he should be a little more worried. If he was honest with himself though, he was just too tired to care at that exact moment. He had two things on his mind. Taking another painkiller and getting a drink. He would figure it out after that. Eventually he would have to break the news to his mother who was oddly accepting of her son's loser nature. 

 At least he had enough money he wouldn't have to work for his drinks tonight. 

 “Hit me Mark.” He said crashing down onto the bar stool. “The cheapest strongest shit you got.” He said with a grin. 

 Mark was something of a enigma to Dex. He always wondered how a man who looked like a professional body builder had ended up owning a bar. Especially one as odd as Brick bar. The place was entirely made of bricks. From the bar to the padded booths all the way down to the brick urinals. You could say it sort of followed a theme. Then again it was called Brick bar, so no real surprise. 

 “That's all you ever ask for Dex.” Mark replied with a sigh. “At least have some decency and order something that can't strip paint.” He dropped a glass in front of Dex and filled it with a clear liquor from a unlabeled bottle. “It's three in the afternoon, loose another job?” 

 Dex rubbed his hands together watching the liquor like it was the most precious thing in the world. “Yep, two this month so far.” He dug in his pockets for one of the capsules and popped it into his mouth chasing it down with the liquor. “No matter how many times I have this stuff it still burns so good.” 

 Mark frowned and shook his head. “Tough break.” Mark said and leaned against the bar. “So what's your plan now?” 

 Dex shrugged his shoulders. “Get drunk. Future me can deal with all the technicals.” He took another swig from the glass with a smile. “I hear you can get thirty grand for a kidney on the black market. Know any shady doctors?” 

 Mark chuckled and topped Dex's glass off. “Even if I did, they wouldn't want damaged goods. Your kidneys and liver are probably shot.” 

 He couldn't argue that, he hadn't exactly taken the best care of himself. No real point, damaged good was about right. “Yeah probably.” He grumbled and took another swig. 

 “What about that band you started up? You guys going to start playing gigs soon?” Mark asked pouring himself a glass of the clear liquor. “Maybe do some bar gigs?” 

 Dex shrugged. “Didn't really work out. Bunch of kids who want to be rock stars.” That and they had played like shit. He wasn't the best musician in the world but he at least had a bit of skill and talent. “That and I wasn't really up to playing viking death metal.” 

 Mark nodded and gave him a concerned look. “Your not thinking of going back to...” He didn't finish, he didn't need to. Dex knew what he was thinking. He couldn't really blame him, that had been a dark time in his life. 

 Dex shook his head with a small smile. “Nah man. I'd rather die than go down that dark hole again. I'll be alright, always am.” Somehow he always managed to stay afloat. It wasn't always pretty or glamorous but he always managed to keep his head above water. 

 Mark nodded. “Good. I got a delivery coming in. Try not to drink the entire bottle before I get back.” He clapped Dex on the shoulder and headed for the back. 

 Dex waved him off and took another swig from his glass. He leaned forward resting his elbows on the bar with a sigh. What the hell was he doing with his life? 

 It felt like he was holding his breath. Like he was waiting for something to happen and it never did. He had gotten himself into some real trouble once upon a time. Managed to get himself out of it as well. Now though? Now he just felt....bored, lost and bored. Was this what his life was suppose to amount too in the end? 

 He nearly dropped the glass when his phone rang. “Fuck.” He muttered digging in his pocket. 'Albert Moore' the caller ID read. He tensed a little. He hadn't heard from Al in....a long time. It made sense after everything happened that they would drift apart. Why was he calling him now? 

 “Al, it's been a while.” He answered with a nervous chuckle. “How's it hanging old man?” He took another swig from his glass. 

 “Dexter.” Dex cringed a little. Al seemed to be the only one who ever called him Dexter. His mother didn't even call him Dexter anymore. “How you doing son?” 

 Dex chuckled and stared at the glass. “You know.” He polished off the drink and set the glass on the bar. “Hanging in there. How about you? Finally go to work for the suits?” 

 “Something like that Dex.” Al laughed. “Listen, I was wondering if you could make a trip upstate. I've got something I want to show you. It's important.” Dex frowned as Al's voice turned serious. Needed him for something? What could Al possibly need from him? 

 He was silent for a long moment before finally answered. “Yeah Al, I can do that? When you need me?” 

 “As soon as possible Dexter.” 

 “Yeah, I'll catch a train out tonight. Everything alright Al?” Dex asked a bit concerned. 

 “Everything's great Dex. Better than great. Just get here as soon as you can.” 

 “Yeah Al, I will.” 

----------------------------------------

 Albert hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair letting out a sigh. “Are you sure about this Victoria?” Involving Dexter would....complicate matters. “You don't think he is emotionally compromised?” 

 Victoria Morgan gave Albert that small smile that spoke volumes. “It's because he is emotionally compromised that I believe he is a perfect candidate.” She straightened her suit jacket and folded her hands across her lap. “This has been a long time in the making Albert. Dex is a perfect match.” 

 Albert nodded resting his fingers against his chin. “If you insist. Still I think it's a bit unfair to do this to him.” It was beyond unfair, they both knew it. It would be like tearing open a barely healed wound. 

 Victoria shrugged her shoulders. “He's the only one I trust. He has the most familiarity with the system. We need the data and I.... the experiment requires it.” 

 Albert snorted. She could try and justify it any way she wanted. “Well when he looses his shit. Which he will. I'm pointing the finger at you.” 

 Victoria chuckled. “I don't blame you Albert. Yet, it was her final wish. In a way the system was designed for him. I won't trample her legacy by going against her wishes.” 

 Albert exhaled audibly. There were no good options here. “This could change everything Victoria. Absolutely everything. The implications it's almost to vast. What if...what if this is wrong Victoria?” It wasn't the first time he had doubts about the project. 

 Victoria was silent for several moments. “I don't know Albert. If there is a God maybe he will mock us for our folly.” She had no good answer. It had only ever been seen as fiction. Something in bad movies and stories. 

“If there is a God. If we are wrong. Then may he have mercy on our souls. It will be the least we need to atone for.” Albert murmured closing his eyes. 

 He was so tired, so very tired. It had been so long. He had spent his entire life working towards this one goal. Now that he had achieved it... 

 It was just the beginning. 

----------------------------------------

 Dex let out a yawn staring out the taxi's window. Al had sent him an email with an address and a L-rail ticket for five in the morning. He had been more than a little grumpy about being up that early. It had taken a few sips from his flask and a painkiller to get him moving. 

 He used the time on the L-rail to reverse search the address. New River Technologies and Prostheses. A new cutting edge science lab in prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation. The website and wiki page had been rather lacking which was surprising in today's data driven world. 

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 Not only that, what would Al be doing working for a limb clinic? He was a neuroscientist He was THE neuroscientist actually. Probably the best in the world with all sorts of awards and shit like that. Wouldn't he sort of be wasting his time working at a place like that? 

 Whatever. 

 The taxi took him well outside the city and closer to the Adirondacks than he had ever been before. It was nearly an hour taxi ride before they reached a gated drive. Two armed guards at a booth sent the taxi back and had him waiting for a few before a non-descrip SUV picked him. 

 “Mr. Landon, I'm Rebecca Black.” A perky blonde greeted him. “I work directly under Dr. Fleming. He sent me to pick you up.” She said chiperly as he climbed into the passenger seat.  

 Eddy grumbled. How could someone be so cheery this early in the morning? It had to be a crime. “Hey Becky, just call me Dex.” He said flatly. 

 “Actually it's Rebecca.” Eddy glared at her. “Becky's fine. Welcome to New River!” She said with a bright smile. 

 The trip to the building proper was only a few minutes but with the way Becky droned on it felt like hours. It took every fiber of his being not to just chug the entire flask in his pocket. 

 Dex let out a low whistle as they got out of the car. “Pretty fancy digs.” He muttered. The building was huge, bigger than any lab he had seen Al work at. Then again he wondered how many labs had a full security team with automatic rifles. Some kind of off the books government facility?

 Becky clapped her hands as they started to walk. “Impressive isn't it? It was founded in..bla bla bla.” Dex tuned her out surprisingly quick. His attention more focused on the headache that had started to form behind his eyes. 

 This was going to be a long day. 

 Becky, bless her soul. Lead him through the front door and through a half dozen security checkpoints. That was just to get the visitor badge. It was another four or five before they reached the elevator. Of course she was talking the entire time. She was a good multi-tasker like that. 

 He had expected them to go up but instead they had gone down....a really long ways. At least a dozen floors from what he could tell. It had dumped out to a windowless hallway that only went one direction. At the end of a hall was a single desk and then another door. 

 “Go on in, he'll be expecting you.” She said cheerily. “Just let me know if I can get you anything.” 

 Dex nodded. “A cup of coffee would be super, thanks.” He said offer his shoulder before going through the door. He hadn't had a single cup of coffee this morning. It took everything just to make it to the L-rail on time. 

 Al was sitting behind his desk plugging away at a keyboard as Eddy walked in. Albert Flemming was in his late 40's. Definitely overweight, definitely balding, and definitely liked the classic white lab coat look a little too much. He was even wearing his horn rim glasses, exactly like Dex remembered. 

 “Dexter.” Al greeted with a smile. Climbing to his feet and coming around the desk and pulling him into a hug. “It's been far too long Dexter.” 

 Dex clasped him on the back a few times before they separated. “Yeah it has. Looks like you haven't aged a day Al. How things been?” 

 Al chuckled. “Like usual I'm good Dexter. Better than good. I started working for New River for the last three years. We're doing big things here Dexter.” Al said walking back to the desk and sitting. 

 Dex nodded and sat in chair across from him. “Yeah, read something online about that. A chop clinic? Something about prosthetic technology? Thought you would have been on to bigger better things.” Though at this point Dex was pretty sure it wasn't just a simple prosthetic lab. 

 Al let out a chuckle. “Not quite Dexter. While prosthetic is a focus of ours. It's only one direction of many here at New River. But before we get into all that. I wanted to ask.” Al's face turned a bit more serious, watching Eddy in that clinical way he had all those years ago. “How are you doing Dexter? How have things been since....” His voice trailed off. 

 “Better, a lot better.” He lied. “I'm kind of between jobs at the moment. Haven't really found anything that fits to well. You know how it goes.” He avoided Al's gaze. “It's been hard since....since loosing Sarah.” 

 Al nodded solemnly. “Of course. It's never easy, loosing someone. It's good to hear you are doing better.” he didn't seem at all convinced. “It seems to our advantage that your between jobs at the moment.” Al said in a bit lighter of a voice. “I happen to have a job opening and I think your the perfect candidate for the position.” 

 Dex raised an eyebrow. A job? He wasn't a lab geek and he wasn't exactly missing a limb. “What kind of job?” He asked cautiously. “This isn't like that neuro-monitor thing is it?” He shuddered at the memory of the long needle.

 Al let out a full belly laugh. “No, no, nothing of the sort.” He took a minute to recover and folded both hands on his desk. “Think of it like...oh I suppose it would be a sort of beta testing. Someone to test one of our newest technologies.” 

 Dex waited for him to say more, then frowned when he didn't. “You going to give me anything more than that Al? Just testing a new technology?” 

 Al shrugged. “I can't say more until you at the very least sign a NDC. It pays well and you'll even be able to do it from home. We'll even cover your expenses.” Al said with a smile. 

 Which made Dex nervous. 'Pays well' to Al was a lot more than what Dex considered as good pay. All expenses paid? It really must be something big, but then why have Dex test it? Why not someone far more qualified. He wanted to ask but knew Al wouldn't give him anything more until he put his name on a dotted line. 

 He also really needed the money. 

 “Alright, alright, fine. Give me the damn form.” Dex grumbled. Al slid a folder and pen across the desk. Convenient red tabs had placed in all the spaces he needed to sign. He hastily flipped through the paperwork signing without much of a thought. When he finished he pushed the folder back. 

 Al smiled ear to ear. “Perfect. Now come with me and I'll tell you a little about it as we walk.” He said climbing to his feet. Dex nodded and followed him. They passed Becky in the hallway on the way to the Elevator a cup of steaming coffee in her hand. 

 “Thank you Becky. Your a real peach.” He said with a plastered smile. The elevator doors barely closed before he fished out his flask and poured a generous helping into the mug. 

 “Still a day drinker I see.” Al said disapprovingly. “I imagine if we were quiet enough we could hear your liver screaming for help.” He muttered. Dex gave him a look and Al rolled his eyes. 

 He tucked the flask away just as Al was pulling something out of his pocket. He handed it to Dex. Dex looked it over with a raised eyebrow. It was made out of some kind of soft synthetic material. It had a few circuit boards and wires attached to it. He looked at Al waiting for him to explain. 

 “I told you earlier that prostheses is one of our fields here. That.” He said inclining his head towards the rubber thing. “Is a hippocampal prosthetic. A working artificial hippocampus.” He said with a smile. 

 Dex blinked a few times. Brain stuff wasn't really his field of expertise. That had always been Sarah's thing. He had been more of a assemble the ikea furniture and replace motor oil kind of guy. “Awesome.” He said finally. “An artificial Hippocampus which, you know...does hippocampus stuff.” 

 Al rolled his eyes again. “Dexter this is basic neurology. The hippocampus serves multiple functions. It interacts with other parts of the brain to produce emotions. Consolidates new memories, spacial awareness, and long term recognition memory. That much time around Sarah, did any of it stick?” 

 Dex let out a sigh and handed him back the hippo-thing. “So you made an artificial hippo thing. Cool, what you want to stick one in my brain? I mean....I could go for a new liver or something. But this might be a little extreme Al.” He said with a chuckle. 

 Al let out a sigh. “I could tell you how big of breakthrough in medical technology this really is but I don't think you would really get it.” The elevator doors opened and they started walking down another hallway. 

 “This was only the first step in a much bigger project Dexter. It brought us one step closer to making a complete artificial brain. While we have been able to upload memories and store brain patterns as data. We really had nothing to do with it once it was uploaded.” They stopped at another door and Al but his hand and eye up to a bio-metric. 

 The door unlocked with a click and they walked through. “These parts aren't completely synthetic they are organically grown. Made from stem-cell and synthetic components. Our original goal was to try and find a way to take that raw...we'll call it brain data for now.” 

 They stopped outside another door Al turning to face him. “To take that raw brain data and see if we could fit it into a synthetically crafted brain.” 

 Eddy thought about that for a moment. “You were trying to see if you could upload people's brains into new brains? Okay....still don't see how that involves me.” He said. Though this did sound reminiscent of something Sarah had been working on. 

 “One of our most successful uploads was Sarah's brain data. She was the one who developed the process. We haven't been able to get as clean and cohesive data since.” Al said his voice getting quiet. “Her brain data became the pinnacle of our research.” 

 Dex felt the pit of his stomach drop out. He couldn't mean....no, no he couldn't possibly mean. “Are you telling me...” He started. “You took my deceased wife's 'brain data' as you called it and put it in a artificial brain?” Al wouldn't do something like that...he just...he wouldn't. “Are you fucking saying you Frankenstein monstered my dead wife?” He hissed through clenched teeth. 

 “Yes, no. We tried but it didn't work. Not in the way we expected it to. We couldn't get the memories to stick. No matter how much we tried we couldn't. Instead...well, I think it's easier to show you. Just...stay calm.” Al said and slid a card against a reader. The door hissed open. 

 Dex didn't know what to expect anymore. God he hoped it wasn't a brain in a jar. Please don't let it be a brain in a jar. Or some kind of mutilated HAL 2000 bio shit. He wasn't prepared for that. He hadn't even fully processed what Al was saying. 

 He walked into the room and felt his heart skip a beat. 

 Well, it wasn't a brain in a jar. 

 The room was empty of almost everything but a bed. Laying on the bed was a woman. Dex guessed she was in her mid twenties. She had a tall lithe build. Soft round features with skin that was almost too pale. An impossible deep red hair that looked to natural to be a dye job. She looked human but....just a little off, too flawless in a way he couldn't explain. 

 “Al, what the hell am I looking at? I thought you said you guys working on a synthetic brain? What does she have to do with it?” He asked peeling his eyes away from the woman and to Al who was looking at her like she was some sort of prized piece of art. 

 “She is a fully synthetic being.” Al said simply. “The brain was just one aspect. We had been working on full limb replacements. Whole body replacements if needed. This is the results. Sarah's brain data was loaded into her synthetic mind.” 

 Dex blinked a few times from him to the woman back to him and then walked out of the room. He couldn't.... He just couldn't. He braced himself against a wall with one hand and downed his coffee with the other. He was surprised he didn't drop it. 

 “Sarah's vision was to be able to make copies of conciseness, to make a full digital copy of the brain. In a way we have achieved that.” Al said from behind him. “I know it's a lot to take in-” 

 “Does that thing have Sarah's memories?” Dex snapped turning towards him. “Is that barbie doll thing made of Sarah's memories?” He couldn't imagine the idea of Sarah's memories being put in someone-something's body. If it had all of Sarah's memories did it mean it was Sarah? 

 Al shook his head. “No, like I said the memories didn't stick. Something else happened. While her memories didn't take. The process of the brain did, her brain waves, activity, everything else did. A complete blank slate with all the working processes of a human mind.” Al waited letting it sink in. 

 Dex still didn't understand. It didn't have Sarah's memories but it had all the workings of a human brain. Wait, wait, wait. Did he mean.... “Did you inadvertently create Artificial intelligence? Is that what your telling me?” 

 Al winced. “Artificial would be a poor way of putting it. She is a synthetic intelligence. Something completely knew. She has all the faculties, all the abilities, a complete replica of Sarah's brain minus the memories.” 

 Dex felt his mind go completely blank. Call it what he will, Al was talking artificial intelligence. He had manufactured a life an existence. “You created life. Not in the biblical sense. You seriously manufactured a existence. Memories or not. Your telling me that thing in there is a living, breathing, feeling human being.” 

 Al nodded vigorously with a smile. “Yes! She is in a sort of deep sleep. We haven't woken her up but yes. For all intents and purposes she is a living thing, a manufactured human being as you put it. This is where you come in Dexter. We want her to live with you. We want you to form memories with her, teach her how to live. We want you to look after her.” 

 Eddy blinked a few times. “You want me to do fucking what now?”