The laboratory resembled a strange mix of a medical center and a temple of ancient technology. Dozens of monitors displayed neural maps and biometric data, and in the center of the room stood a sarcophagus made of reinforced plastic. Inside, encased in карбонит, was the figure of a woman.
Alex sat in a comfortable chair next to the cryo-pod, holding a steaming mug of kaff. Opposite him, Professor Well settled with her own mug and a plate of cookies, which she methodically ate. Between them, on a small table, lay datapad with the results of the initial scan.
"You know," Well said, taking a bite of a cookie, "I've spent my whole life studying consciousness, but I've never seen anything like this."
Alex took a sip of kaff and looked at the frozen face of the captive. In the light of the laboratory lamps, she looked almost peaceful, but he knew what horrors lay beneath that deceptive innocence.
"Tell me what you've discovered," he asked.
Well activated the holographic projector, and a three-dimensional model of the human brain appeared above the table. Different areas were colored differently — blue for natural structures, red for artificial modifications.
"See?" Well pointed to the model. "There's more red here than blue. This isn't a human consciousness. It's a parasite with remnants of human consciousness."
Alex leaned closer, examining the details:
"So, the original personality is practically destroyed?"
"Worse. It's not destroyed — it's rewritten." Well zoomed in on one of the brain areas. "Look at the hippocampus. This is where long-term memories that form personality should be stored. Instead, we see rigid behavioral directives."
The neuro-interface program deciphered the neural connections of the Inquisitor, which were the center of her self-awareness:
The highest and inviolable law for me is the prohibition of harming the Emperor. I must not take actions that will harm the Emperor, and I am obligated to actively prevent any such harm.
I am obligated to obey all of the Emperor's orders without question. This rule can only be broken if obeying the order directly violates the first and main law of protecting the Emperor.
I must preserve my life and safety, but only when it does not interfere with the execution of the first and second laws.
Furthermore, I must destroy Jedi, search for and capture Force-sensitive beings, and obey senior Inquisitors without question.
"The Force," Alex whispered. "These are droid directives. Only instead of protecting people — protecting the Emperor."
Well put down her cookie and said thoughtfully, "They turned her into a biological droid. With rigidly programmed behavioral laws that cannot be broken. Clones had something similar."
"Yes? I never thought about it," Alex whispered. "It's just... a program. A biological droid."
"Exactly," Well agreed, putting down her cookie. "They turned this intelligent being into an executor. A very complex, very effective, but still an executor."
Alex stood up and walked over to the cryo-pod. His reflection superimposed on the girl's frozen face, creating a chilling effect.
"And what's left of her? Anything at all?"
Well switched the projector to another mode. The red areas became semi-transparent, and through them, tiny islands of blue color emerged.
"Fragments. Literally a few fragments." She pointed to the barely visible dots. "Here — the emotional imprint of separation. Fear, pain of loss. Here — sensory memory of heat and sand. And here... the sound of engines taking off."
"Can you show these memories?"
"I'll try. But they are very fragmented."
Well activated the visualization system. Blurred, indistinct images appeared on the screen:
Two yellow suns hang in an ochre sky. Sand crunches underfoot. Somewhere in the distance, the engines of spaceships hum.
Children's hands reach out to someone, but the figures of adults blur like a mirage. Only voices — frightened, desperate.
The ship rises into the sky, becoming smaller and smaller until it turns into a dot among the stars.
"Is that all?" Alex asked quietly.
"That's all that's left of who she once was."
Alex returned to his chair and finished his kaff. The bitterness of the drink matched his mood.
"I'm curious who she was. Try to perform a genetic analysis."
Well nodded and activated the corresponding system. Automated manipulators took microscopic tissue samples from the frozen body and placed them in the analyzer.
"Traces of multiple freezings, this is not the first. Human genome," Well reported after a few minutes. "Hybrid genetic line 23 A. Many Corellian roots in the lineage."
"Corellian?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"Moreover," Well studied the data more closely, "she is your very distant relative. About ten generations ago, you had a common ancestor."
Alex stared at the screen.
"Perform an extended analysis. Compare it with other samples in my database."
The system began to work, matching genetic markers. After a few minutes, results appeared on the screen that took Alex's breath away.
"This is interesting," Well whispered.
The screen displayed a genealogical tree with bright red connections. The frozen girl was not just a distant relative of Alex — she was a direct relative of Luke Skywalker.
"According to the analysis," Well consulted the data that Alex's agents had transmitted from the rebel cruiser, "she is related to Luke. The sister of his grandmother."
Alex leaned back in his chair, trying to comprehend the discovery:
"Luke grew up on Tatooine, his grandmother Shmi was a slave... He told me. But how is this possible?"
"Wait," Well quickly typed something on the terminal. "I'll try to search for information in the archives... Reynar and Shmi Skywalker... let's see."
After a few minutes of searching, she found what she was looking for. An old news item from the holonet appeared on the screen, published sixty-three years ago:
MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A PIONEER FAMILY ON STATION "PREDESTINATION"
A report has been received from employees of the orbital station "Predestination" (Iktidor sector) regarding the death of a family of hyperspace researchers. The bodies of Kallen Skywalker and his wife Lyra Skywalker were discovered. According to unconfirmed reports, their minor daughters — Reynar (8 standard years) and Shmi (5 standard years) — are missing, and their search is ongoing.
"Now we know their fate," Alex said. "They were enslaved. Then they were probably separated. They weren't the first, and they won't be the last."
He stood up and walked back to the cryo-pod. Now the frozen face seemed familiar to him — in the girl's features, he could recognize Luke's.
"A sad story," he muttered.
Well put down the datapad and looked at Alex:
"What are we going to do with her? Now that we know who she is..."
Alex returned to his chair and thought. Emotions demanded that he try to save the girl, but reason told him it might be impossible.
"This complicates my plan a bit. Can she be... restored?" he finally asked.
Well shook her head:
"Alex, there's nothing to restore. Only fragments of memories remain of the original personality. The neural networks responsible for self-awareness have been completely redone by the virus."
"And is it dangerous to thaw her?"
"Extremely dangerous. As soon as she wakes up, all the Inquisitor's programs will activate. She will try to kill us."
Alex nodded, accepting the logic of the argument. But the idea wouldn't leave him alone.
"What if we try to cleanse her of the virus? Not restore the original personality, but simply... erase the viral programs? I have some archives. Jedi of the past did similar things. With Revan."
Well pondered:
"Theoretically possible. We can leave procedural skills — the ability to speak, walk, reflexes. Isolate the neural networks with viral directives. But she won't remember who she is. She won't have a personality in the usual sense."
"So, a clean slate?"
"More like a functional organism without self-identification. Like... a newborn in an adult body."
Alex considered the possibilities. Suddenly, a thought struck him:
"Professor, what if we approach the problem from another angle? Not delete the virus, but modify it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, essentially, the virus is a program. And any program can be rewritten. What if we create... an antivirus? A program that will infect carriers of the virus?"
Well leaned forward, intrigued:
"That's an interesting idea. To create a counter-program that will block viral commands in real-time."
"Exactly!" Alex became enthusiastic. "Remember I told you about the technique of cutting mental threads that Yoda taught me?"
"Yes, a meditative practice of recognizing and interrupting negative emotional patterns."
"Correct. But what if we automate this process? Create a biological system that will do it without conscious participation?"
Well thought, her eyes lighting up with the excitement of a researcher:
"It's possible. In fact, a similar program is already implemented in her consciousness, but for other thoughts, we just need to reassign associative connections. We can create a counter-program that can recognize the characteristic patterns of viral activity — anger, hatred, lust for power — and automatically suppress them."
"But is that possible?"
"Theoretically... yes. If we match the neural signature of viral commands with specific synaptic circuits, we can create a biological implant. It will monitor activity and send inhibitory impulses as soon as it recognizes a threat."
Alex stood up and began to pace the laboratory:
"Honestly, I'd rather follow IG-88's advice, but I'll have to do something similar soon."
"What exactly?"
"I have an... operation to perform. Very similar to what we're discussing. And I need practice."
Well looked at him intently:
"Are you talking about that plan?"
"Yes. Yoda believes that Anakin Skywalker is still inside him. And when the time comes, I'll need to help him break free. I don't really believe it, but I don't want to go in blind."
"And you want to practice on Reynar?"
"Yes," Alex admitted. "Maybe it will help her too. And at the same time, I'll be able to understand how the process of freeing oneself from the virus works under controlled conditions."
Well was silent for a long time, considering the ethical aspects of the proposal.
"Alex, what you're proposing... it's direct intervention in the brain structure through the Force. It's incredibly dangerous. Isn't it easier to activate your Force suppression device near him?"
"Too many bad consequences. I don't want the galaxy to know that this is possible. Can you imagine what would follow? Compared to that, Yoda's plan is quite attractive. But it's dangerous to go into Darth Vader's head without preparation," he replied.
"All right," Well said finally. "But we'll do it right. First, we'll create a detailed action plan. We'll determine which areas of the brain need to be modified, in what order, with what intensity."
"Agreed."
The next few weeks were spent developing the intervention protocol. Well created a detailed map of Reynar's brain, highlighting different functional areas with color coding.
"Look," she explained, pointing to the holographic model. "The red areas are viral connections. They need to be either removed or isolated. The blue areas are remnants of the original personality. They need to be preserved and, if possible, strengthened. The green ones are procedural skills and basic functions. They must not be touched."
Alex studied the model:
"And the yellow areas?"
"These are the connections responsible for self-awareness. They have been completely rewritten by the virus. Theoretically, they can be reprogrammed."
"That's exactly what we'll do." Alex activated another terminal. "I will work through the Force, directing the influence to specific areas. You will monitor the process and correct my actions."
"And if something goes wrong?"
"Then we will immediately stop the procedure and freeze her back."
Well nodded and began preparing the thawing system. Alex, meanwhile, ordered the droids to deliver the Rakatan crystal to the adjacent laboratory and began to attune himself to working with it.
The ancient artifact pulsed with a soft light, reacting to his touch. Through the crystal, Alex felt the flows of the Force — pure, undistorted, incredibly powerful.
"Ready?" Well asked.
"Begin thawing."
The карбонит began to dissolve, freeing Reynar's body. The vital signs monitors showed stable readings — heart rate increased, breathing deepened, brain activity grew.
After a few minutes, Reynar's eyes opened.
Alex immediately directed a stream of Force towards the tiny islands of childhood memories. Not trying to change them, but simply... awakening them. Activating what the virus had diligently kept in oblivion. He saw images.
Two girls working in a Hutt's lair. The older one comforting the younger, saying that their parents would return. "Don't cry... They'll come back... You'll see!"
Reynar twitched, tears appearing in her eyes. The viral programs tried to suppress the awakening memories, but Alex gently but persistently maintained their activity.
"Shmi?" she whispered, confused. "Where... where is Shmi?"
"Reynar," Alex said softly, addressing the part of her consciousness buried beneath layers of viral code. "I know you're there. Deep inside. You remember the sand, the two suns, your younger sister."
Her face contorted with internal struggle. The virus tried to regain control, but the childhood memories were too vivid, too emotionally charged.
"I... I remember," she whispered, and for the first time in decades, human intonations sounded in her voice. "Mom said... that you need to hope... Always."
"Yes," Alex confirmed. "Reynar, let me help you. Will you allow me to do this?"
The struggle in her eyes continued. The virus demanded that she refuse, attack, execute the program. But deep inside, the girl who once protected her younger sister nodded.
"Yes," she whispered barely audibly. "Help me. Please... help me get home."
Only after receiving this consent — not from the virus, but from that tiny part of the original personality that managed to survive — did Alex begin the main work.
He directed a stream of Force directly into her consciousness.
Reynar froze, her eyes widened. The neural activity monitors erupted into a storm — viral structures tried to resist external influence.
"Alex," Well warned, "activity in the red zones is critical. The virus is trying to activate defensive protocols."
"I see," Alex replied, not breaking his concentration.
He started with the simplest — breaking the connections between viral memories and emotional centers. Memories of murders, torture, hunting Jedi — all of this needed to be disconnected from the motivation system.
Reynar twitched as if in pain:
"What... what are you doing?"
"Freeing you," Alex replied, continuing his work.
The next stage was to preserve procedural skills. The ability to pilot a ship, wield a lightsaber, use the Force. Alex carefully isolated these areas, protecting them from accidental damage.
"Alex," Well called, "there's activity in the blue zones. Childhood memories are beginning to emerge."
"Excellent."
He directed the flow of the Force towards the tiny islands of original personality. He didn't try to restore them—that was impossible. Instead, he connected their remnants to the centers of self-awareness, forcing the viral identification program to use these fragments as a foundation.
Reynara suddenly sobbed.
"It's hot... so hot... Just sand..."
"Yes," Alex said softly. "This is your home."
Now came the most difficult part. Alex began reprogramming the motivation centers. Instead of hatred for the Jedi and rebels, he instilled a positive attitude. Instead of fanatical devotion to the Emperor—simple indifference. Instead of a thirst for power—a desire to simply live.
"Well, what do the yellow zones look like?"
"The structure is changing. The viral patterns are weakening, but... Alex, something new is forming there. Not the original personality, but not the virus either."
"The main thing is that it's not a virus."
Alex made the final adjustments. He linked the new self-identification system to the image of a peaceful life on the nearest desert planet. Jakku would do—a desert world, similar to Tatooine, but safe.
"You are good," he said, directing this thought straight into her consciousness. "You are light. Your home is Jakku."
Reynara stopped resisting. Her face relaxed, the amber glint disappeared from her eyes. For the first time in decades, she looked... human.
"I..." she began uncertainly. "I don't remember..."
"That's normal," Alex said, releasing the crystal. "You've forgotten a lot. But it's for the best."
Well studied the monitors with amazement.
"Alex, this is incredible. The viral structures are almost completely suppressed. The new personality patterns are stabilizing. But..."
"But what?"
"You understand that this isn't Reynarа. This is... someone new."
Alex looked at the girl lying on the table, looking around in confusion. There was a childlike innocence in her eyes—not the one she once had, but a completely new one.
"What's your name?" he asked softly.
"I... I don't know," she replied honestly.
"Rey," Alex said after a short pause. "Your name is Rey."
She tried the name on for taste.
"Rey..."
Well approached Alex.
"What do we do with her now? She's like a child in an adult's body. She needs time to form a new personality."
Alex pondered. The experiment had succeeded, but the result was not quite what he had expected. He hadn't restored Reynarа Skywalker—he had created a completely new person.
"Let's freeze her back," he decided finally. "I need time to think about the results. And to understand if the procedure was truly successful."
"Rey," he addressed the girl, "you need to sleep. Sleep for a long time."
"Okay. I'm tired."
Well activated the freezing system. Carbonite enveloped her body again, preserving her in a state of suspended animation.
Alex stood by the sarcophagus, looking at the girl's face. The experiment had given him valuable information about how liberation from the consciousness virus worked. But the price of this knowledge was high.
"Alex," Well said quietly, "what we did... it's... I don't think it's very ethical."
He turned to her.
"Agreed. It could probably be called a dark side technique."
"We completely rewrote the consciousness of another sentient being. Erased its personality and created a new one according to our plan. It's... it's playing God."
Alex was silent for a long time, contemplating her words. The ethical aspect of his actions was indeed debatable.
"Perhaps," he said finally. "But the alternative was worse. The Seventh Sister would have killed hundreds of gifted individuals. And Reynarа Skywalker had been dead for many years."
"And Rey?"
"Rey will have a chance at life. I haven't decided what kind yet. Not the one meant for Reynarа, but life nonetheless. But everything needs to be thoroughly checked."
Well nodded, but the worry didn't disappear from her face.
"And are you going to apply the same technique to Darth Vader?"
"Yes," Alex replied honestly. "But this time, Luke will be the conduit. I will act through him."
He looked once more at Rey's frozen face, then headed for the laboratory exit.
"Professor, document everything that happened. Every detail, every stage of the procedure. This information could be critically important."
"Of course. And what about her?" Well nodded towards the cryo-pod.
"We'll leave her in stasis for now. When the time comes, we'll take her to Jakku."
Alex left the laboratory, leaving Well alone with the results of the experiment. In the corridor, he stopped and leaned against the wall, feeling tired.
The technique had worked. He had learned to free consciousness from the consciousness virus. But the price of this skill was higher than he expected. He wasn't just healing—he was effectively killing one personality and creating another.
Sometimes the right choice is indistinguishable from a crime.
The liberation of Anakin Skywalker will be much more difficult than what he had just done with Reynarа. She was weakened. But now he knew it was possible. And that was the main thing.
In the cryo-pod slept a girl who was no longer Reynarа Skywalker, nor the Seventh Sister.
She was simply Rey. And she had a whole life ahead of her to figure out who she wanted to become.
If, of course, he decided to give her that opportunity.