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.”“Sod the fucking laws!” I yelled.“We’re talking about the life of my daughter, for Chrissake.”He stared at his clasped hands, his expression set.I went on, “If this were your daughter, in this situation, what would you do? All it would take is a quick cut.Replace the implant with a genuine one.”He was shaking his head, tears tracking down his cheeks.“For Chrissake,” I hissed.“We’re alone.No one would see.”“Dan, I’d need to do paperwork, make a requisition order for an implant.They’re all numbered, accounted for.If one went missing.”I stared at him.I am not proud of what I said then, but I was driven by desperation.“You could replace the genuine implant with this fake,” I said, gesturing towards Lucy.He stared at me in shock, and only then did I realise what I’d asked him to do.He stood up quickly and strode to the window, staring out into the night.I sat by the bed, gripping Lucy’s hot hand and quietly sobbing.Minutes passed like seconds.“Mr.Chester?”The interruption was unwelcome.A small, Asian WPC stood by the door.A constable, who appeared about half my age, accompanied her.“What the hell?” I began.“Mr.Chester, it’s about your wife, Marianne Chester.”“What?” I said, my stomach turning.“If you’d care to step this way.”In a daze I left my seat and accompanied the police officers into the corridor.They escorted me to a side room, where we could be alone.I sat down, and the WPC sat opposite me.The juvenile constable remained by the door, avoiding my eyes.“Mr.Chester,” the woman said, “I’m sorry to inform you that your wife was found dead a little under one hour ago.A neighbour noticed the front door open.I’m sorry.It appears that she took her own life.”I stared at her.“What?” I said, though I had heard her clearly enough.I’ve since learned that police officers are prepared to repeat bad news to people in shock.Patiently, kindly, she told me again.Marianne was dead.What she had done to my daughter, what she had done to me, had been too much of a burden to bear.She had taken her own life.I understood the words, but not the actuality of what she had done.I nodded, stood, and crossed the corridor.I returned to Lucy’s room.Khalid was still there, seated beside the bed, clutching my daughter’s hand and quietly crying.I sat down and told him what had happened.* * * *One of the joys of being a father is not only the wonder of the moment, the love one feels for one’s child every minute of every day, but contemplation of the future.How long had I spent daydreaming about the girl Lucy would be at the age of thirteen, and then at eighteen, on the verge of womanhood? I saw myself with her when she was twenty, and thirty, sharing her life, loving her.Such pre-emptive ‘memories’, as it were, are one of the delights of fatherhood.* * * *One hour later, Lucy died.I was holding her hand, listening to her stertorous breathing and to the regular pulse of the cardiogram.Then her breathing hiccuped, rattled, and a second later the cardiogram flatlined, maintaining an even, continuous note.I looked across at Khalid, and he nodded.I reached out and touched the implant at her temple, the implant which Khalid had installed thirty minutes ago when, as Lucy’s sole remaining parent, I had signed the consent form.The implant purred beneath my fingertips, restoring my daughter to life.Presently a ferryman arrived and, between us, we lifted Lucy into the container, which we do not call coffins.Before she was taken away, I kissed her forehead and told her that I would be there to welcome her back in six months.I did not want a farewell ceremony; she would leave for the Kéthani starship tonight.Later, I left the hospital and drove to Hockton, where I called in at the police station and read the note that Marianne had left.It was sealed in a cellophane folder, and I could not take it away with me.Dan, I read, Please forgive me.You will never understand.I know I have done the right thing by saving Lucy from the Kéthani, even though what I have done to you is unforgivable.Also, what I am about to do to myself.It’s enough to know that Lucy is saved, even if I am damned by my actions.Marianne.I left the police station and drove onto the moors overlooking the towering obelisk of the Onward Station.It rose in the moonlight like a pinnacle of ice, promising eternity
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