Author's Notes: This week's Elsanna week has a Sci-fi theme for day 6. It seemed like the perfect time to post this update!

Dearest Godfather,

Thank you for checking up on me so soon. I assure you that I am safe. In fact, I wasn't even in Cambridge at the time of the attack. People have been assuring me that this kind of incident is exceedingly rare... however I cannot shake this feeling of impending doom. I pray it is irrational.

I know I've expressed this endlessly before - but it has been hard making the transition. Everyone here is so different, some people are so strong they can lift thousands of kilograms. Others can peer into my soul. It seems insane but I swear that they can even read my mind. That awful man who infuriated me back at the station isn't as rare as I'd hoped.

I've been called things you wouldn't believe. I've been attacked, beaten and robbed on multiple occasions. Most of them run away when the ice storm starts. My curse has been a saving grace, ironically enough. Still, it became so bad that I had to build heated jumpsuits just so I could hide from prying eyes. Refuge is scarce when one out of every 6 or so people have infrared vision.

It's terrifying, the fear pervasive and inescapable. There were nights where I wished for nothing more than death's sweet kiss. Nights where I've wailed into my pillow for longer than I care to remember.

I almost gave up. I came within inches of total concession.

But an incredible ray of sunshine burst her way into my life. I met a young cyborg named Anna. She loves so openly and so deeply it's difficult to believe. I finally have a shoulder to cry on, someone who will hold me when I cannot hold myself. I never thought I'd ever find someone who would distract me from my work, but alas here I am. She's bold and flirtatious… yet through some miracle I never fumble or feel awkward with her. I feel so light, so free. I no longer yearn for death's kiss - I have Anna's.

I apologize for the rambling. I've never had a girlfriend before. There's so much to talk about.

Anyways, as I was saying before - I was at Anna's house in Newton when the attack happened. She refused to let me stay anywhere else, so I spent the night with her. I even felt safe!

I love her so much. And I miss you and everyone at the station just as much. Please give them my regards.

Oh and more good news! I think I may finally have this cryokinesis under control! I managed to craft a stable construct for once!

Love, Elsa.

In her typical meticulous manner, Elsa pored over every line she had written. Multiple checks ensured that her every thought and intention dutifully survived the translation. When she was finally satisfied with the message, she gave it one last read for good measure, and sent it on its way.

Popping and sizzling sounds hissed into existence, fueled by the searing pan underneath. Within, the fluid volume of half-cooked eggs began to solidify into delicious chunks. Anna absent-mindedly stirred the mixture, her attention decidedly elsewhere. Smitten by adoration she lost herself in the sweet, immaculate features of Elsa's face.

'I could get used to this.'

Elsa perked up, realizing that something was amiss. Her nose twitched sporadically as she craned her neck around to follow the nascent scent.

"Anna… something's burning." she stated flatly.

"Whoops! Oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-stupid." Anna chattered, flustered by her spat of incompetence. Frantically, she scraped out the the eggs in an effort to salvage them. Most were unburned, but about an eight had to be discarded.

"Sorry about that, I was a little distracted…"

"Oh? By what?" Elsa queried.

With a click and a clatter, the plate in Anna's hands slid to onto the table in front of Elsa. Anna tenderly planted a kiss on Elsa's forehead. "Oh, you know, just this gorgeous girl sitting in my kitchen."

A pang of infatuation, both pleasant and fuzzy, coddled Elsa's heart as she gazed back at Anna's adorable face. Subconsciously, it fueled the heartfelt smile upon her face.

'There's that eye-glow again. Maybe it has to do with happiness?'

"Given all the other humanoids in the room… Relatively speaking, I'm not cute at all."

Vacantly staring off into the distance, Anna took a short moment to process Elsa's meaning. When it hit her, she huffed and retorted: "Absolutely not, and I will not hear such nonsense!"

Just then, as though drawn to the revelry, a familiar face appeared in the doorway.

"Hello ladies. Nice to see you."

"Kristoff!" Anna squealed, dashing to greet him.

Elsa smiled. She was coming to seriously enjoy Kristoff's company, even if she did have to twist his arm every now and again.

"Hello again mister Kristoff," Elsa replied, her inflection having only a hint of familiarity.

Kristoff shot his hand up into the air, index finger outstretched, ready to remind Elsa that she needn't be so formal. Of course, he'd recently lost count of how many times that exact same conversation had occurred before, so he dropped it.

"Are you coming with us to CyberDynamics today?" Anna inquired.

"I am. I just finished an ice sculpture for a client, so I've got some time off, and I wanted to make sure my two best friends don't get themselves into too much trouble."

"Trouble? Us?" Elsa remarked. "Never."

The newly arrived Kristoff gladly took a seat to Elsa's right. He shifted abit, trying to find the most comfortably spot.

"So Anna, what's for breakfast?" He prodded, leaning forward and beaming smugness towards her.

"Oh no you don't!" Anna countered, resting the backs of her wrists on her hips. "If you wanted something you should've said so before you got here!"

Giggling at the silliness before her, Elsa admired the sight of Anna's playful dominance. Anna's angelic form was practically glowing with the early morning's low rays splashing across her. She caught a glimpse of Kristoff turning towards her, and leaned closer, on her elbow, to listen.

"Maybe I'll just sneak a bite while she's distracted by you. Elsa, help me out here would you?"

"No way, I'm not getting involved in tha- hahaha!"

Elsa doubled over at the sight of a salvo of carrots pelting Kristoff square in the chest. Lifelessly, they fell to the table.

"You like carrots, don't you Kristoff?" Anna quipped.

Kristoff groaned, rolling his eyes and grabbing the nearest carrot. He munched on it rudely, smacking his lips and glaring back at her.

Even the most inquisitive of investigators will begin to feel as though they're banging their heads against a wall, given enough failures. And so it was with Elsa, who had nearly worn through her resolve. She stared at her computer, as though her frustration could burn a hole through it. Unscathed, the results of her most recent search continued to taunt her.

Birth Records Search:

First Name: Elsa

Last Name: undefined

City: undefined

Country: undefined

Continent: North America

Date: 10 - 12 - 2,024

Results: 25,342

…. Page 1 of 507

"Ugh, this is hopeless.", she lamented, slamming her head back into the headrest. The restraining harness tugged at her, digging sharply into her chest. She was in no mood to care.

"I'm sorry sweetie." Anna replied, looking at Elsa with glimmering, sympathetic eyes. "I know you'll figure it out eventually. You're so smart. I love that about you."

"It's no use - I wasn't born with Kai's last name, and apparently I've never 'officially' taken my godparents' last name. Searching for 'Elsa Sanders' gets me nothing, and taking the name out gets over twenty five thousand results."

"And I take it he won't tell you what your birth name is?" Kristoff interjected from the back seat.

Elsa's face hardened as old, festering anger gripped her. While better judgment did cool her temperament, she still wasn't able to keep all of it from bleeding into her voice.

"Nope. Nothing. He just tells me to listen to the recording again."

"The recording?" Anna asked.

"Yes. My parents made a voice recording that implored me to never come looking for them. 'For my own protection', it said." Elsa dropped her computer into her lap and balled her fists, flickers of anger beginning to reappear.

"They even used a voice modulator. The distortion was so high I couldn't tell which one of them was my father and which was my mother."

Quivering, pulsating pangs of angst left Elsa's stomach feeling sick and queasy. The fight left her, and the air filled with meager, pitiful whimpers while hot tears scorched down her face.

"Apparently being a genius runs in the family." Anna affirmed, gently caressing Elsa's shoulder.

Just like that - the wicked wrath withered away, dying at the hands of faith. Anna's gentle countenance stared back at her, eyes full of love. Every remnant of doubt washed away under her loving touch. How could she do this so easily?

'She's right! I can do it!'

Blissfully enraptured and with new found confidence, Elsa moved her head down to the hand on her shoulder and snuggled against it. She gratefully placed tender kisses upon Anna's soft skin, and admired the woman before her.

"You're too kind Anna."

An exasperated groan cut through the intimate air. "Ugh, if this gets any cuter I'm going to throw up."

Without skipping a beat, nor taking her eyes off of her sweetheart, Anna replied: "Better get a bag, because there's no end in sight."

Already waist-deep within the world of contemplation, Elsa edged closer to a breakthrough. 'Of course!' Her inner voice screamed in a moment of clarity. 'They had to send me off to the station. Look through the launch records!'

Before Elsa could put her revelation to work, the car glided to a stop. Desperate to not lose the discovery, she quickly tapped a reminder into her computer and stuffed it into her handbag.

The cool, metal door handle sucked heat away from her hand. Outside was that intense, foreboding world full of uncertainty. Where allies were scarce and the future was in flux. But that isn't what the immediate view indicated. The sky was bright and blue, and all the passerby were more engaged in themselves than eachother. And yet, despite this, her hand was quivering on the handle.

'You're not alone. Anna's here and there have to be others like her.'

The exhale that followed cooled her nerves, bringing clarity and focus.

In the expanse of concrete and steel stood CyberDynamics headquarters. Every nuance of the building spoke of refinement, consistency, and elegance. Polished steel spires radiated outwards from the main tower, giving the facility a sharp, bold appearance. Tempered glass walls reflected most of the incoming light, beaming the city right back at itself in a glimmering light.

In the plaza before the building, Elsa noticed a towering statue rendition of the ancient mythical titan, Atlas. Curiously enough, this one was different from all the others she'd seen. Unlike traditional depictions, this Atlas stood tall and erect, holding the planet high above his head in the palm of one hand - daring the universe to do challenge his strength. As she stared at it, Elsa felt herself gently carried to a state somewhere between inspiration and contemplation. The inscription by the statue's feet cemented the feeling.

'Through ingenuity and patience, the mightiest of burdens shall become insignificant.'

While mulling about the virtues of patience and ingenuity, the gentle tug of a familiar softness pulled Elsa by the hand towards the front doors. Guided onwards by Anna's encouragement, she found her way into the building where yet another philosophical display lie in wait.

Craning her neck upwards, Elsa got a full view of thick, rectangular pillars covered in displays. Images of the company's various accomplishments and projects adorned them. The sight of a young male sitting in a chair engulfed by cables sent shivers up her spine. Across the room, the picture of a professional-looking woman wearing a neural-scanning headband and striking exactly the same pose as a nearby robot called up far less terrifying emotions.

Nearby, a couple of people, engineers by Elsa's guess, sat on a sleek looking bench. She didn't mean to eavesdrop but a rather sensitive topic arrested her attention quite intensely.

"Can you believe the attack on LightComm that happened?"

"No! The last time there was aug-natural conflict was decades ago! What if it gets worse?"

"We've come a long way since then, I think it'll get sorted out peacefully. If someone will just get that awful Westergard guy to quit fearmongering."

"Ugh, let's talk about something else."

The confidence instilled by the overheard conversation faded quickly, as Elsa squirmed under the gaze of the receptionist. Something wasn't quite right, she was sure of it. Her intuition couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was afoot, Anna would be hurt and it would all be her fault. She shouldn't have come.

'If only I could say no to her.'

"Welcome to CyberDynamics, how can I help you?"

Anna spoke up in her ever cheerful tone. "Can I speak with Doctor Lancaster? Something came up with my father's geolocator and I'm pretty sure Ashley can help."

Sharp, scathing contempt came forth.

"Yes... but Dr. Lancaster is in a sec-3 zone, so that… thing can't go with you… No offense ma'am, it's a security issue."

Elsa sunk down into Anna's side, instinctively clinging to her arm. She was shocked to discover a deep, droning buzz emanating from her companion. 'Anna's…. angry?'

Practically snarling, Anna fought to retain what little composure she had: "Excuse me miss, but my girlfriend is not just some thing, and I'm pretty sure there are laws against discrimination due to one's augment status."

"Sorry sweetheart, but company policy is clear. If you really want to push the issue, I guess we could speak to legal..."

Elsa quickly found herself not just clinging to Anna, but desperately trying to restrain her. Between the extraordinary might of Anna's frame and the possibility of debilitating shock, Elsa started sweating profusely, digging her heels into the ground. Silently, she prayed that something… anything, would distract her indignant girlfriend.

Just as she felt her grip starting to loosen under shards of ice, Elsa got her wish. The debacle was interrupted by a smooth, calm voice:

"I was called here by a Kristoff Bjorgman?"

For a moment, everyone stood transfixed at the good doctor with fortuitous timing. Dr. Ashley Lancaster stood before them, head cocked sideways in confusion. Short, pin-straight black hair adorned a face that seemed neither masculine nor feminine. Emerald green eyes with mechanical irises took in the scene.

Something was different about this person. Elsa couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Ashley's face was smooth, no facial hair and just a dash of subcutaneous fat. And yet the doctor's body wasn't curvaceous, no hourglass shape to speak of. Vocal frequencies gave nothing away either, they weren't discernibly masculine or feminine. She was burning with curiosity, but opted to say nothing, unsure of how to raise the topic delicately.

Kristoff lurched and awkwardly responded: "Yes! Actually, my friend Anna needed to speak with you. She um… got a little distracted by the secretary so I looked up your infolink code on the main desk."

Kristoff motioned over to Anna to finish his introduction and nearly died of embarrassment. All present were treated to the glorious view of Anna fallen flat on her posterior. She sheepishly clambered to her feet, grumbling inaudible complaints. Kristoff caught a glimpse of a tiny pool of ice evaporating underneath her and shot a curious look at Elsa. She recoiled upon realizing he'd seen it.

Raising one eyebrow in curious contemplation, Ashley eventually addressed Anna. "I see you haven't changed one bit, Anna. Why don't the three of you follow me to my office, where we can discuss this further?"

"Absolutely! Lead the way!" Anna cheered, grasping Elsa's hand and skipping off to follow the doctor to the office. Kristoff, with the last remnants of embarrassment falling away, followed the troupe dutifully.

The young doctor's demeanor changed the instant the door had closed. Smooth talking and feigned confidence were replaced with trembling hands and intermittent facial tics. All other eyes in the room were transfixed, waiting for an explanation. Briskly, ne approached Anna, grabbing her by the arm and practically dragging her away from a confused Elsa and Kristoff. As soon as the two were out of earshot, Dr. Lancaster whispered:

"Who are these people? How do I know they can be trusted?"

Sensing Ashley's anxiety, and driven by empathy, Anna gingerly placed her hand on nir shoulder, and assured nir that both of her companions were trustworthy.

"Elsa's my girlfriend. I rescued her from a group of violent bigots on the day I met her. I don't think she has anyone else on Earth she can really trust. As for Kristoff… well, he keeps me from accidentally walking into trouble."

Ashley softened a little. "But not from falling into it, apparently."

"Oh hush, you." Anna conceded, gently nudging the doctor with her elbow. Satisfied that Ashley had been placated, she turned to Elsa and Kristoff to gather their attention.

"Elsa, Kristoff. This is Doctor Ashley Lancaster. Ne's been helping my parents rescue the people who've been getting kidnapped lately."

"Speaking of that… Anna, where's your father? I haven't heard from him in the longest time."

Ever one to wear her heart on her sleeve, Anna's shoulders dropped and she sighed deeply, quaking a bit on the exhale. This wasn't going to be easy, but Ashley deserved to know the truth. Sputtering, and offering couple of false-starts, Anna was finally able to spit out the truth.

"I'm not sure. He's been gone for months now. I think… well, with what he'd been doing…"

Crestfallen silence, steeped in both reverence and despair, descended upon the room.

Elsa was the first to speak up.

"I managed to find some network traces of his geolocator signal. It wasn't much, as a great deal of the data had been lost, but I was able to track it here. That's how we knew to come to you."

Lifelessly, Ashley shuffled over to nir desk, dropping into the chair unceremoniously. Pinching the bridge of nir nose and closing nir eyes, Ashley droned: "You might want to sit down… this is going to be a brain-bender."

Dutifully, Elsa strode over to a nearby chair, neatly collecting it and carrying it over to Ashley's desk. Anna, dragged her seat gracelessly to Elsa's side. Kristoff simply leaned against the wall.

From the top-down, the desk looked much like a shark tooth, having both a cusp for the primary user and a protrusion for guests. Along the dorsal line, a series of miniscule photo-projectors lit up in unison. In the luminous haze of photons, the image of a regional map coalesced.

"A freighter full of people in stasis was intercepted at this location…"

With a swirling motion, a locational reticle came into existence on the map, indicating where the righteous heist had occurred.

"... and re-routed here, thanks to some contacts we have. I gave them all a medical examination and found some pretty disturbing things."

"Like what?" Kristoff asked.

The map shifted into a series of floating rectangles, each one the outline of a particular patient. One in particular began to glow brightly. The remainder of the data shifted out of bounds while the entirety of the patient's profile swarmed into view.

"This is patient 41… when I began my inspection the first thing I noticed was the hackjob in installing the MedulNode. Apparently, it had been mounted, and the nerve bundles had been routed into place, but at the interface site there was an overuse of synthetic neuroglia to compensate for…"

"Doctor? I hate to interrupt, but what's a MedulNode?"

Dr. Lancaster's eyebrows shot up in curiosity, mouth slightly agape.

"New to bionics?"

"Indeed. I'm unfamiliar with the term. It's an implant of some kind, clearly."

"Right. The MedulNode is basically an implant manager. It's mounted to the skull near the medulla, and the spinal nerves are all routed through it. On top of that, it's got a series of expansion ports all over. It's usually the first augment a person gets."

Anna nudged Elsa to draw her attention. She then turned away, pulling her twin locks back to reveal a sleek metal implant. It hugged the shape of her head closely, and the material at the dermal interface point started soft and got harder the further it got from the skin.

"That's it, right here!" Anna indicated with an outstretched index finger.

"Anyways… back to the examination. The excess neuroglia was clearly an attempt at patching around a degenerative lipid condition which weakened the nerve splice. Barring some major breakthrough, I'd say this patient is incompatible with a medullary implant. In fact, all of the patients were in a similar condition - in stasis to put some kind of botched augment job on hold."

The implications of this revelation hit Elsa like orbital debris. 'These people are being kidnapped and modified against their will… with implants that don't even work.' In her mind there were only two possibilities: they were either being sent for processing… or disposal.

"They were probably being transferred to a place where the incompatibility could be managed or repaired. Did the transport vessel have a destination listed in the log?"

Through some nearly impossible cynicism, Ashley's demeanor succumbed even further to defeat. Upper lip curled contemptuously, Ne threw an expression steeped in hopelessness and disgust to nowhere in particular.

"Yeah… they were headed to Evotech ARL... Fuck, I can't even sleep anymore. I've stolen whatever they're up to, and they're going to want it back. On the other hand this is clearly illegal. Not only were these people were kidnapped, the implants aren't even quasi-solvent."

With the CyberDynamics takeover happening so soon, there would be no way to shield Ashley from whatever retribution Evotech meted out. Anna stubbornly tried to force it out of her mind, whereas Elsa continued to fret over the revelation.

Kristoff piped up, ever one to state the obvious. "Sounds like you really kicked a hornet's nest doc. Might want to start looking into personal security."

Ashley groaned, massaging an already agitated temple. "... It gets worse. Anna, remember when your father dragged you in here about 6 months ago and demanded I install some updates to your MedulNode?"

"I do! That's when I first met you!" Anna replied with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, given the foreboding tone of the conversation. The fortitude of Ashley's somber exterior cracked, albeit imperceptibly, under Anna's persistent charm. Something almost resembling a smile emerged, if only briefly. Struck by contemplation, Anna folded her arms and defocused her eyes. "He wouldn't tell me what it was for though. I'm still not sure what it does."

"That's what scares the hell out of me… I don't either. However, each one of these rescued patients has something nearly identical. The changes are all proprietary CyberDynamics technology from our most classified project. As you know I'm a senior neurologist… and I'm barely even involved."

Everyone in the room took turns exchanging nervous glances. Elsa incessantly wrung her hands, her knuckles phasing between pale and rosy hues. Anna stared at the floor, occasionally forcing a smile and trying to look upwards.

Just like when she first stepped out into the desert all those months ago, the sense of being overwhelmingly small and singularly helpless loomed over Elsa. Cold, crushing despair urged her to curl into a ball and hide. Anna, as though inexplicably linked to her, immediately responded by pulling her distressed girlfriend into a reassuring embrace.

If her parents both really did fall at the hands of a shadowy figure, Anna knew that continuing down this path could endanger her newfound flame. Throbbing and thrashing in place, her mechanical heart threatened to tear itself apart. Injustice clawed in one direction, desire to continue her parent's legacy in another. But the strongest of all these titanic forces was the desire to protect Elsa. This innocent, perfect angel had fallen from the stars, and needed her more than ever.

"I'm sorry Ashley… but I don't think I can get dragged into this just yet. Soon, I think, but there's… someon- erm, something I need to take care of first. But I totally appreciate all the information you're giving me."

Hearing this, Dr. Lancaster retrieved a small datacard and slid it across the desk to Anna where it whirled to a stop.

"On this datacard you'll find all of my conversations with both of your parents. You probably won't get much from it. But I do know that Dr. Albert Mueller at Evotech might know more. He wrote the spec sheet for the upgrades I gave you. Oh and whatever you do, don't ask him about it AT Evotech. No doubt the place is bugged like hell."

Elsa's face scrunched awkwardly as she tried to take Ashley's meaning. Surely, bugs were undesirable in such a location, unless there was entomological research going on… Cursing to herself silently, she decided to ask for more information.

"Forgive me… but why would insects be living in the building? And what relevance does that have to speaking with Dr. Mueller?"

Elsa's blatant faux-pas hooked into Anna's heart and dragged it out of the depths of dismay. She giggled, facing Elsa and explaining that 'bug' is a slang term for a surveillance device.

Finally having at least a lead, and having more than her fair share of bad news, Anna stood and poised herself to leave. Elsa, in-tune with Anna's mind, instinctively picked up on this and joined her.

"Anna… your parents did important work. I know you're not sure if it's for you but we could really use your help. In the mean time though, I've got some patients to un-augment. Not to mention a rather disturbing report for upper management."

Back in Anna's car, the trio sat in a mostly catatonic state. The crushing enormity of the meeting left everyone mute and contemplative. Elsa found herself lost several abstractions deep in perturbing hypotheses of conspiracy and malevolence. Time dissolved into oblivion around her.

Anxiously running her fingers across her forehead and into her hair, Anna announced: "This is too much. I've gotta go do something fun or I'll explode."

"I would like a distraction as well." Elsa added.

"What did you have in mind, Anna?" Kristoff asked.

With a titillated smirk, Anna watched as the car's steering handles slid out from under the dash. Kristoff groaned and smashed his hand into his face upon hearing the car's computer announce the activation of manual driving mode.

"Elsa… you're finally gonna get to see one of my favorite places!"