Peace Warrior by Steven L. Hawk Page A

with Senior Scientist Tane Rolan’s recent work on cell regeneration, everyone in the room felt this was their best, if not their only, chance. So far, all was going well, but that could change in an instant. Tane had learned that very hard lesson from previous experiments. Still, he was cautiously optimistic.
    Unlike their previous attempts, the man before them now was different. His body, or what was left of it when they found him, had frozen upon his death and had somehow managed to remain frozen for several hundred years. The minimal degree of cell degeneration had given them hope and he, like the others around him, clung to that hope now. They were captured by the sight of their work and they watched, alert for any sign of life or movement.
    But he did nothing. Other than open his eyes, the man in the nature-cage did not move.
    The man’s body, or what was left of it, had been found still frozen by a group of Urop’n geologists studying the possibility of mining the bottom of remote northern lakes. Fortunately, one of the geologists knew of Tane’s experiments with cryogenics and human tissue research, and he had the man’s remains packed in ice and transferred to the senior scientist’s custody.
    Tane’s initial reaction upon receiving the man’s frozen cadaver was so matter of fact that it startled him to think of the incident in retrospect. He had submitted the remains to his lab for study, certain that the remnants of the body were not what they were looking for. Fortunately, he had a good team behind him. One of his more alert subordinates ran tests that indicated that the man had not been dead prior to his being frozen and suggested that the broken body might not be a waste of their efforts.
    Tane validated the worker’s results and, reaching the same conclusion, felt a rush of excitement. He cursed himself (mildly of course) for almost allowing the find to casually slip through his fingers. He applauded the alertness of the junior scientist and totally immersed himself in his new project.
    A detailed analysis of the mutilated figure’s body, teeth, eyes and clothes revealed the most amazing characteristic of the discovery. The man appeared to have been a warrior. That long-dead breed of human who fought and killed for Culture, money or sometimes – Peace forbid – because they enjoyed it. He desperately hoped that the man was not of the latter variety. He dreaded the thought of raising the broken man back into life just to have to destroy him later should he turn uncontrollably violent or aggressive.
    The scientist spent every waking hour with the man as the experiment progressed. He oversaw all aspects of the project and conducted all of the more complicated procedures personally, often to the chagrin of his co-workers and subordinates. He was a man obsessed with his work and, in a world grown fat with underachievers, he found success. The control of the subject’s body temperature was finely regulated and closely supervised as frozen cells tissues were sampled, replicated and grown. Growth led to new skin and bone, which were manipulated into the growth of new limbs.
    These new appendages were similar to the old. They were cloned from the originals and constructed by the scientist and his team to be as good as, or better, than the originals. Three vertebrae, eight ribs and the right clavicle, all broken for centuries, were repaired. Most of the man’s internal organs were re-grown and replaced. Numerous cuts and abrasions to the face and torso were easily repaired.
    The man’s skull was unmarred and, for that miracle, the scientist was downright jubilant. The knowledge, training and experiences contained in the man’s brain were priceless, the Holy Grail for which they searched.
    The rebuilding process had taken the team more than two years to complete and, when finished, Tane held his handiwork in awe. From a battered shell of a six hundred year old frozen soldier they had shaped a human, whole