"Awaken Brain!" the old man cackled. He was ecstatic to finally be working with this brain. He had kept it in storage for a long time. It was, after all, not every day that a brain fell from the sky! And, during his most recent trip out into the Scrapyard (had it really been two whole years?), this brain had done just that. He had saved it, kept it just barely alive, while he worked on the technique to bring it back fully.

No, he had not experimented on this brain. He knew that such a gift must have a magnificent karma, and that such gifts were not to be wasted on failures! So, for the past two years, he had worked to perfect the technique.

That was the same trip he found what was called the Berzerker body. He had intended for this brain to occupy that body, but his late subject Zapan had been in much more need of it. So, now that he had rebuilt the brain, he would make a body that matched the brain's needs. Simple, efficient, and brilliant.

Zapan had become his trial run. The new nano-robots worked perfectly. Brain reconstruction was now complete in the old brain. Soon, it too would go to find its Karma.

"Tell me brain, what do you want? What is your innermost desire?" he asked.

"I... I want..."

"TELL ME!" the old man commanded, "What does your SOUL cry out for?"

"I hafta go to Zalem!" the brain yelled.

"Zalem...?" the old man asked, shocked. He reached up and brushed his hand over the brand he had gotten on Zalem... the brand of a citizen. He knew what it meant... he lacked even what this piece of metal and neurons possessed... the brain he had been born with.

"Zalem...it's calling to me!" the brain cried, "I hafta get up to Zalem, no matter what! I belong on Zalem!"

"But... I can not build a body that can go to Zalem." the old man said, horrified. He had failed! The brain had a karma he couldn't fulfill. There was no way to get the brain to Zalem... not and continue his research. This couldn't be happening...

"Is there nothing else?" the old man asked, desperate.

"No! Nothing at...waitaminnit. Yeah... something else... Gally..."

The old man put his hands to his face and slowly removed his glasses. Looking at the brain with his own eyes, he sighed.

"Gally is dead." he said, "Zapan killed her."

"No!" the brain wailed. Slowly, leaving his glasses on a desk, the old man walked over to the computer that was keeping the brain fed with oxygen, nutrients, and water. He flipped a few switches, then cut the power to the voice box as a bit of feedback distorted an inarticulate sob of anguish. The old man turned away, unable to watch the long cherished brain die.

"I have failed my patient..." the old man whispered. "May it find Zalem in the next lifetime..."