“Ahhhhh! It burns!” Arron’s scream rang out throughout the sterile room.
He woke up in a cold sweat, his muscles cramping from his recurring nightmare where relived the experience of being burned alive by the large explosion.
It had been over a week since the explosion and in that week he had been operated on several times by Doc-Octy and his minions.
He, and several of the other officers caught in the explosion, had been airlifted out and rushed back to the M1 HQ to get immediate care. Some of the M1 officers gasped their last breaths on the flight back, unable to keep going no matter how much Liquid Ethylene and other medicines were pumped into them.
They were each a gruesome sight to see, all of their exposed skin had been charred black. Their uniforms and armor had burnt and melted together with their skin. It was quite troublesome to have to surgically remove the melted armor that had bonded with their bodies.
After the armor had been separated from their bodies the shrapnel inside their bodies was located and removed. The charred skin was removed only after they patched up all the internal wounds.
Those who had managed to survive this long process were placed in vats of high-concentration cell regeneration pools where they were fully emerged. Their jaws had been clamped shut and only had oxygen tubes shoved up their noses to allow them to breathe.
Arron had only been pulled out of his vat yesterday and was still hooked up to several medical-ivs that were pumping nutrients into his body to help with his recovery.
Looking at him now with his rosy pink skin which was as smooth as a newborn’s, you would never think that only a short time ago it had been charred into an unrecognizable mess.
His face had been reconstructed by Doc-Octy as best as he could. But there was still a noticeable difference from before.
All of this was a minor issue, and with time, it could be fixed. The real issue…
Arron tried to use his right arm to push himself up into a sitting position. But nothing happened.
“Ah… that’s right… it’s gone,” muttered Arron.
Even though his mind was playing tricks on him causing him to still feel a phantom arm, there was no arm, not even a stump left to respond to its commands.
[Arf!] said a worried Chewy who was laying on the ground near Arron keeping a close watch on him.
“I’m fine,” said Arron as he reached out with his left hand and pat Chewy.
Chewy’s body showed visible signs of scorch marks. According to what Kix said it was thanks to her that he was alive. She had blocked the brunt of the blast that hit him by using her body and had also dragged him out of the burning crater so that he could be MedEvac.
Looking up from Chewy Arron saw a snoring Doc-Octy who was sitting in a cushioned hover-chair in front of a holo-tv that was set to a low volume.
“It has been a week since the special M1 officers blew up a large section of rental warehouses causing a low estimated 10-15 million credits in damage, not including the cost of the loss of items,” said Kommy as he robotically read the words off of the floating teleprompter.
“Not only did they cause such a mess, but they are also still refusing to take responsibility and fix the issue. They are trying to push all the blame onto someone else,” said Fela.
Arron’s already sour mood worsened as he listened to the two reporters who did not mention anything about the bomber, the reason they had gone there in the first place, or the M1 officers who had been severely wounded or killed in the explosion.
“Urghth!” Doc-Octy let out an odd grunt and woke up.
As he yawned and scratched his head, he noticed both Chewy and Arron staring at him.
“Ah, you’re awake,” said Doc Octy between several yawns. “Good, now we can get on with fixing you up the rest of the way and shipping you out in no time!”
The way that was worded made Arron feel like a factory item that was to be packed up and sent away.
“I already took your measurements for your right arm and gathered a few options for you to choose from. Obviously, I left out the more unreasonable options.”
“Such as?”
“Biologically regrown limbs. I know your budget and you can’t afford to spend 100k credits on growing and surgically attaching it to your shoulder.”
“What, I have to pay for this?”
“Well, I do have a free option for you but…” Doc Octy looked away before saying. “It’s just a basic civilian model D mechanical implant.”
Arron’s forehead scrunched in unhappiness at hearing that. The civilian model D implant was the worst mechanical implant that even the poorest SCS D rank civilian would turn their nose up at. It was an outdated mass-produced model made out of scrap parts from factories and old recycled para-steel. It had gained its infamy near the tail end of the Troubles and a few years after as those who had lost hands, feet, or limbs were in the several tens of thousands and were quickly equipped with it.
The model D was beyond flimsy and could barely pick up, hold, or push anything without getting damaged.
“And the other options?”
“For 5k the model C,” said Doc-Octy pointing to a floating metal tray that held a bionic implant that looked similar to the model d but was slightly bulkier and made out of fresh para-steel. There was no metal covering over the mechanical parts allowing Arron to see the inner parts.
“For 30k the Model B,” a large brutish and bulky metal arm that looked like it belonged to a large muscled bodybuilder. Part of its bulkiness was due to the metal that encased the entire arm.
“…and this for 10k,” said Doc-Octy pointing to a third tray where a slim bionic arm was fully encased with a smooth and shiny silver para-steel. Out of the four options it looked to be the one that resembled an actual arm and could go unnoticed underneath clothing.
Arron was amazed at the advancements of bionic implants through several generations that were right in front of him, and this did not include the new Model A implants or even the military-grade versions which were far more advanced than any civilian version.
“Why is the last one so cheap?” asked Arron. “By the looks of it, it should be far more expensive.”
“It’s a new-ish prototype, it has had a few issues and a few minor mishaps, but they have all been ironed out through rigorous testing. You are looking at the 23rd iteration. The best version so far. If it passes live testing it will be modified with special weapon add-ons based on what the Nippon military orders. Of course, this one is bare-bones and does not have any such add-ons,” said Doc-Octy. He had emphasized the two words ‘live testing’ while directly staring into Arron’s eyes.
“I see, so that’s why it’s cheaper than the other models,” said Arron.
“The office of reason researchers would not give the prototype out for free even to M1’s ERF units to test. The only reason it is this cheap is they need someone to test it and there are not enough people with a missing arm that are qualified to do the testing. Since there are already a few experimental parts attached to you and you are also a member of the ERF, you fit all the requirements.”
Before Arron could say anything Doc-Octy held up a hand. “Don’t worry about the cost! I know you are probably tight on credits right now, but the Chief has already talked with the bean counters and set aside 1000 credits from your next ten months of hazard pay.”
Arron let out a sigh as his “Choice” between the several models had already been made for him.
Seeing that Arron did not offer up any protests Doc-Octy continued his sales pitch, “If you would like, you can get a synthetic skin to cover the arm. It will cost maybe 5-6k extra since the office of reason will be the one to do it, because only they are allowed to modify the active prototype.”
“Pass,” was all Arron said.
“Alright, let me do a few last-minute tune-ups. Then we can get it fit, programmed, and linked to your NerViz,” said Doc-Octy as he kicked the ground causing the hover chair to float over to Arron where he began to retake several measurements just to make sure that everything was correct.
The metal tray that had the prototype laying on it floated over to Doc-Octy, who turned around and extended one of his 8 thin metal arms from his back and plugged it into a small socket of the prototype.
A stream of data was transferred to the prototype causing a holographic window to pop up with the message: [Are you sure about these measurements? The restructuring process can only be performed once and will be unable to revert the changes.]
Doc-octy’s hand slammed the holographic [Accept] button and the mechanical arm began to visibly change as it shifted and transformed into the right size to fit Arron.
While the changes were happening to the mechanical implant, Doc-Octy pulled a large metal socket off the tray and placed the cushioned portion over Arron’s empty right shoulder. Several of Doc-octy’s thin mechanical arms extended out of his back and began to tighten the socket while he held it in place. Arron could feel the pressure on his shoulder as it got tighter and tighter.
“This won’t be the most secure as we are only using a socket,” said Doc-Octy as he grabbed the prototype and began fitting and securing it to the socket. “In the future, if you want we can do a more permanent surgery to firmly attach it to your shoulder. I suggest you wait a few months as your body needs time to rest and recuperate from all the damage it went through and the multiple surgeries.”
Doc-Octy spent a few more minutes making sure the bionic implant was secure and the connection to Arron’s NerViz had no errors.
“When the office of reason heard that you lost your old NerViz Cloud chip along with your right arm they decided to put a new experimental NerViz Cloud chip inside at no extra cost. To be honest they were a bit too happy to do it…”
Doc-Octy manually moved Arron’s new right arm making sure that there were no mechanical issues before slapping Arron on the shoulder and saying, “Sit up and test it out.”
Arron did as he was told, and to his surprise when his mind told his arm to move, it did. It was a far smoother process than what he had read about for the other models. Usually, they had a minor lag time between the mind’s command and enacting the command.
“Good,” was all doc Octy said as his eyes zoomed in and out while inspecting the arm as Arron moved it in every way possible. His movements looked as if it was his real arm.
“You are all set to go. If you have any problems let me know as I will be in charge of maintenance during the prototype testing,” said Doc-Octy, his multiple thin metal arms once again folding into his back.
Arron nodded his understanding to Doc-Octy who was still watching him. He felt that he was in no shape to leave right now, but he could not stay here forever, so he stood up and left the room with Chewy.
As he was walking down the small hallway of the HQ’s medical wing, several moans and roars could be heard coming from those that were still recovering.
Arron tried blocking the disturbing noises out by checking the messages he had missed while recovering.
There were a few from his parents and one from Kix that read [Urgent- Call me as soon as you can.]
With such a message being left he did not hesitate and called Kix who immediately picked up and began talking.
“I know you probably just woke up, but a lot has changed over the last week due to the large number of casualties we took. Both of us have been temporarily taken off of our main responsibility in the ERF and placed on a secret mission that is under the control of The Office of Reason. You should take care of everything you need as we will be unable to leave or contact anyone outside of the mission. I’m already stuck here.”
“Where?”
“Sector one. I can only explain everything in person when you get here. The field agent from the Office of Reason is not too happy having to wait for you, so I would not take too long as he probably already has word that you are up and about.”
“What’s going on? All of this is just… to out there. I just got tuned up and released from the medical wing. I don’t even feel 75% healed.”
“Like I said, I can only tell you everything when we are face to face. You better take care of everything quickly before the Office of Reason decides to send some people to pick you up and escort you here.”
