Mike sat down near Fran’s hospital bed.
MIKE: [calm and caring] Hi Miss Fran, I’m Mike, your assigned researcher.
FRAN: Ah, I see a steely is replacing me, I hope you read my works on the bloopmerk?
MIKE: Yes I have been. Is it true they are poisonous?
FRAN: Yes, they have spores that can kill a human quite quickly. Now with your, say upgrades, you’ll be able to enter their tank.
MIKE: Of course. I must ask, do you have an issue with my bionic body?
FRAN: [coughing fit] No, not you personally. Just the idea of my work being taken over by an immortal.
MIKE: I promise that I’ll be sure to treat it with great care. I really do want to find a cure.
FRAN: I don’t doubt you Mike, it’s just, I’m dying. I don’t have time to pretend I’m going to work with you. And I would’ve loved to join you. I’ve given up a lot to find a cure to Sian. And even after all that, I won’t even be the one to beat it.
MIKE: That’s not true, Miss Fran, your cure has a thirty nine percent success rate. And you identified more than fifty causes of Sian. That’s a lot, Miss.
FRAN: I don’t need a steely to console me. You may be immortal but I still got years on you for the time being. It just hurts to know I won’t be the one to find the cure, [cough] it’s selfish, yes. But I can’t shake the feeling. I feel as if I have wasted most of my life chasing after glory. Glory I was dumb enough to belive I could have.
MIKE: Well with my help maybe you can see the cure, befo-
FRAN: “Before”? No, we both know it will be years before a cure will be made. My “Before” is coming. And not just that, on the day of my death, three babies will join me via Sian, probably all living for less than a week.
MIKE: Uh maybe.
FRAN: Don’t worry Mike, just let a dying scientist say her piece. I asked you to be here so you could do one small thing for me.
MIKE: Okay, anything.
FRAN: I need to be remembered. I-I can’t let history just forget me. So please don’t let me die in her cruel eyes.
MIKE: I promise. Thank you Fran. I’m sorry I never got to be your assistant.