Expiry

"With the artificial extension you've had... it's impossible to tell. You'll probably lose function of more and more body parts as the end is approaching..."
"I see..."
"Your eyes have already given up, haven't they?"
"...yeah. I've gotten my scanners directly hooked up into my perception center, instead of my eyes getting the picture, so I still know where things in a limited range around me are... even if I can't see, as such, and I can't distinguish details very well... I don't need to see to do my job, anyway. I memorized where everything on my workstation was years ago." Pallette lifted her head. "So far, noone else has noticed. What gave me away?"
"I've been a doctor for longer than you have been a Navigator. We just... notice those kinds of things."
"Oh."
"Of course, the fact that you were looking straight into that lamp without so much as blinking helped."
"...oh."
"Why did you not come to me when it happened? It could have been possible to repair or replace them."
"I felt... that would be deluding myself. I'm approaching the day when I'll cease functioning entirely, and so I'll accept the steps on the way there..."
"I will look over your data again, but I doubt I'll find anything. If your body is reset, you will only be what you were when you were first activated. I can back up your knowledge, but not your emotions, your feelings... in short, it would probably be possible to save your person, but not your personality. No matter what... you'd become someone entirely different if you were brought back in any way."
"My body... but not my soul." Pallette shook her head. "No way. When I... expire, that'll be the end of me." She stood up and started walking out the door. "Thanks for everything. I still have some things I need to finish before I leave... can't leave things hanging."

Lifesavor sat down at his desk with Pallette's folder. As a doctor, it was somewhat frustrating to him that he couldn't do anything more... anything more than observe as she died, a little more every day. Already when Pallette had first come to the Maverickhunters and went through the checkups to see that she was all clear and ran no risk of carrying a Maverick infection, he had discovered something in her system... while he would make no comments on the justification of it for the task Pallette had originally been created for, it would be a major disadvantage for work at the Hunters, especially for someone as promising as Pallette. Pallette herself did not even seem aware that she had had it. But what he hadn't found at the time was something much deeper in her system, something that only became apparent what it actually was when it started to take effect.

The eyes, he knew, would be only the beginning... and eventually, her power cell would shut down. He had done all he could, but at least his continuous work with her had kept an eight year old girl from being orphaned...

---

---

"I must admit... back when you joined us, and I checked you to make sure you were clean, I discovered and removed something I never told you about."

"...and that was?"

"Your system had been set to work on a five year cycle, much of your data being slated to be reset every five years. Since you weren't aware of it, and since it would impede any job you would do for the Hunters, I removed it. Since it's a small and unnoticeable change, I didn't say anything."

"But it has something to do with what's happening to me now?"

"Somewhat. What I failed to find was something much deeper rooted into your system, something I wouldn't have been able - will not be able - to remove without having access to your system in a way I'm never going to have without a complete reboot of your data."

"So... what is it, then?"

"...your expiry date."

"My..."

"It's not something I search for in reploids, as it is exceedingly rare for reploids to have them. A majority of the robots in the era before the Maverick wars were programmed with expiry dates, but the practice essentially stopped after the earliest generation of reploids... which you're not a part of. Apparently, you were meant to work for ten cycles... you've been active for fifty years now, haven't you?"

"Forty-nine years, eight months, three weeks and five days. So..."

"It's your system starting to deprecate in preparation, I believe... something that would not have happen had you still been on a five-year cycle."

"Is there... anything that can be done?"

"Luckily, there is. It's a slightly unorthodox process, and I can't say for how much longer I can make it... but yes, I can make you function past your expiry date."

Pallette breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness..."

"I might be able to give you one year, three years, five years... you're going to have to come visit me more often."

"Every extra year is important... I'm not scared of dying, but... the thought of leaving Maria at this age..." Her voice was quivering.

"I understand. So, I'm going to start preparing for your operation. If everything goes well, we should be able to start the treatment next week. I wanted to tell you all this in private, so that you yourself could decide who to tell and how to tell them about it."

"I appreciate it. So, is there anything else I need to do to prepare?"

"No, not much. Just don't overexert yourself, as stressing your system might cause more problems now. You might want to cut down on your work hours."

"I see. Well then, thank you." Pallette stood up.

"I'll call you here when everything is ready. Take care."

"I will." With those words, Pallette left sickbay, deep in thought. Lifesavor 

With a five year cycle, the intention had seemingly been to have her work for ten cycles, as her expiry date had been set to fifty years after activation. Lifesavor had done what he could, and continuous work and multiple visits from Pallette every week had allowed him to give her seven more years... but he was out of tricks now. Her body had already started shutting down. The eyes, he knew, would be only the beginning... and eventually, her power cell would shut down.