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When Hikaru is found, she is less than human—a mess of scraps and neural recordings protected by a ship’s safe box. Her rescuers piece her back together, create a body with which she can speak her story. They call her Hikaru 127 for the times she has died before.
“Who destroyed you?” they ask, fearing war has come.
The body is quiet, but the mind races. They track her thoughts in a hundred screens. They see her self-immolation. “Please, no more,” she says through new flesh she does not want.
The Hikaru Project is canceled, and they begin another.