Prrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooductivity, whee!
Replacements
PG for mild language
Non-profit fanfiction
Dedicated: syvia, who only requested it a year ago T_T
Notes: OW my BRAIN. Inventing cybernetics hurts my skull XD. Oh, and no, he doesn't have the Sarah necklace yet. Best I can figure, he'll have picked that up during the aftermath of the accident, maybe getting it from the car once it's been dredged from the lake. Not that I'd spend time figuring that out or anything.
It was night-time when I woke up. I felt slightly numb all over, and given that the feeling was easing, I guessed I'd been sedated. After taking in the extensive taupe of the ceiling, I tilted my head to the right. No flowers or table to put them on. Shiny metal door, not a dent or peeling chip of paint anywhere. I wasn't in the hospital.
There were footsteps in the corridor outside, two sets if my hearing was right. One set I could pick out as a canner's once it got close enough, but the similarity was getting too uncomfortable. The first canners whirred and clunked like gas engines, and last time I was awake they still had heavy metallic footsteps. This one treaded lightly, like a bastardised human.
I didn't get to see the canner, but didn't need to when the door opened. One old man's face made the whole situation a hell of a lot clearer.
"You're a very lucky man, Detective Spooner," Dr Lanning said. "It's good to see you awake."
Christ. Christ. I wasn't dreaming. "How long was I out?"
"They brought you in four nights ago. You were unconscious then, I don't know how long you were in the hospital beforehand." I tried to sit up, a bolt of pain seeming to shoot everywhere in my chest.
"I wouldn't move," Lanning said. "The implants haven't settled in yet."
"Yeah, thanks for the warning," I hissed before jerking, suddenly registering what the doctor had said. "Implants? What implants?"
"Your left arm was completely crushed in the accident and your chest suffered severe injuries. Your chances of survival were less than fifty-fifty." Lanning lifted a hand to his chin, seemed to be resting his hand more than his jaw given the angle. "I've never had to handle such extensive repairs before. The research should prove useful."
I looked at my left arm, flexed the fingers. It hurt like hell, but they did feel heavier. "You replaced the bones?"
Dr Lanning walked around the table to stand at my left side, seemed to read something on the side of the table before he looked back up at me. "Your left arm, shoulder, lung and two ribs had to be replaced entirely. The material should be durable enough for extensive use, and as you can tell, is realistic enough to convince an untrained eye."
I wasn't entirely sure what to say but I knew I felt cold, my gut twisting, and it wasn't just from the discomfort of the room. "My whole arm."
"Yes," replied the doctor, walking out of my eye line for a moment before returning with a knife, drawing it across my arm. It was a weird experience - I could feel the pressure, even as it cut deep, but could not feel any pain. "As yet there is no way for us to restore feeling completely. Nervous work has proved... difficult, at best." He took a spray can from his pocket, sprayed it across the cut he had inflicted. It sealed up immediately so you couldn't have told the difference, even if you knew where to look. "But if you suffer any surface damage to the limb, we will supply you with a few cans of this. If you break the limb, just call me." He smiled slightly then, added, "But as I've yet to see a robot break its arm, I'll doubt you'll be able to do yourself that much damage."
"Why does it still hurt?"
"That's the problem with our research into the system," Lanning replied. "Even a basic nervous system to control operations takes time to connect fully with the initial nerves. The formation of so many new connections in an already taxed system at a rapid speed causes pain and occasional numbness or malfunction, a little like a localised nervous breakdown."
"Damn. Damn it. Have I got any visitors?"
"Your wife came earlier, but your grandmother is still here. We gave up trying to keep her from sleeping in the building when she pointed out we didn't have visiting hours specified. Shall I get her?"
"Please." I kept remembering flashes of the accident and didn't want to, not on my own, not without Gigi.
The minute she walked in I would have leapt off the table and scooped her up if I could, I'd never been so relieved to see someone before, and was thankful the doctor left her alone with me. "How's my boy doing?"
"I'm part-robot and the canner picked me over a little girl, Gigi. How the hell am I supposed to feel?"
"Don't blaspheme honey," she replied, picking up my right arm and hugging it seeing as the rest of me was in no fit state. "That robot brought me back my baby. It's very sad that the little girl died, but I'm glad you're alive. Have you thanked the good doctor yet?"
God, I was going to be stuck thanking all these people for saving my life, when they knew - all of them would know - if anything was right with the world it would be the little girl lying here or better still, lying in a proper hospital with everything intact. It was wrong. "I don't want to. I don't want to be half robot," I said, hating how childish my voice sounded.
"That's hard luck," Gigi said, sterner this time as she petted my hair. "You're going to finish getting better, and you're going to get on with things because you can't change what happened."
I couldn't argue with her yet. I was tired, I was sore, and I was just too ready to give up.
Hell, at least I had sweet potato pie to look forward to on getting home.
- The End
PG for mild language
Non-profit fanfiction
Dedicated: syvia, who only requested it a year ago T_T
Notes: OW my BRAIN. Inventing cybernetics hurts my skull XD. Oh, and no, he doesn't have the Sarah necklace yet. Best I can figure, he'll have picked that up during the aftermath of the accident, maybe getting it from the car once it's been dredged from the lake. Not that I'd spend time figuring that out or anything.
It was night-time when I woke up. I felt slightly numb all over, and given that the feeling was easing, I guessed I'd been sedated. After taking in the extensive taupe of the ceiling, I tilted my head to the right. No flowers or table to put them on. Shiny metal door, not a dent or peeling chip of paint anywhere. I wasn't in the hospital.
There were footsteps in the corridor outside, two sets if my hearing was right. One set I could pick out as a canner's once it got close enough, but the similarity was getting too uncomfortable. The first canners whirred and clunked like gas engines, and last time I was awake they still had heavy metallic footsteps. This one treaded lightly, like a bastardised human.
I didn't get to see the canner, but didn't need to when the door opened. One old man's face made the whole situation a hell of a lot clearer.
"You're a very lucky man, Detective Spooner," Dr Lanning said. "It's good to see you awake."
Christ. Christ. I wasn't dreaming. "How long was I out?"
"They brought you in four nights ago. You were unconscious then, I don't know how long you were in the hospital beforehand." I tried to sit up, a bolt of pain seeming to shoot everywhere in my chest.
"I wouldn't move," Lanning said. "The implants haven't settled in yet."
"Yeah, thanks for the warning," I hissed before jerking, suddenly registering what the doctor had said. "Implants? What implants?"
"Your left arm was completely crushed in the accident and your chest suffered severe injuries. Your chances of survival were less than fifty-fifty." Lanning lifted a hand to his chin, seemed to be resting his hand more than his jaw given the angle. "I've never had to handle such extensive repairs before. The research should prove useful."
I looked at my left arm, flexed the fingers. It hurt like hell, but they did feel heavier. "You replaced the bones?"
Dr Lanning walked around the table to stand at my left side, seemed to read something on the side of the table before he looked back up at me. "Your left arm, shoulder, lung and two ribs had to be replaced entirely. The material should be durable enough for extensive use, and as you can tell, is realistic enough to convince an untrained eye."
I wasn't entirely sure what to say but I knew I felt cold, my gut twisting, and it wasn't just from the discomfort of the room. "My whole arm."
"Yes," replied the doctor, walking out of my eye line for a moment before returning with a knife, drawing it across my arm. It was a weird experience - I could feel the pressure, even as it cut deep, but could not feel any pain. "As yet there is no way for us to restore feeling completely. Nervous work has proved... difficult, at best." He took a spray can from his pocket, sprayed it across the cut he had inflicted. It sealed up immediately so you couldn't have told the difference, even if you knew where to look. "But if you suffer any surface damage to the limb, we will supply you with a few cans of this. If you break the limb, just call me." He smiled slightly then, added, "But as I've yet to see a robot break its arm, I'll doubt you'll be able to do yourself that much damage."
"Why does it still hurt?"
"That's the problem with our research into the system," Lanning replied. "Even a basic nervous system to control operations takes time to connect fully with the initial nerves. The formation of so many new connections in an already taxed system at a rapid speed causes pain and occasional numbness or malfunction, a little like a localised nervous breakdown."
"Damn. Damn it. Have I got any visitors?"
"Your wife came earlier, but your grandmother is still here. We gave up trying to keep her from sleeping in the building when she pointed out we didn't have visiting hours specified. Shall I get her?"
"Please." I kept remembering flashes of the accident and didn't want to, not on my own, not without Gigi.
The minute she walked in I would have leapt off the table and scooped her up if I could, I'd never been so relieved to see someone before, and was thankful the doctor left her alone with me. "How's my boy doing?"
"I'm part-robot and the canner picked me over a little girl, Gigi. How the hell am I supposed to feel?"
"Don't blaspheme honey," she replied, picking up my right arm and hugging it seeing as the rest of me was in no fit state. "That robot brought me back my baby. It's very sad that the little girl died, but I'm glad you're alive. Have you thanked the good doctor yet?"
God, I was going to be stuck thanking all these people for saving my life, when they knew - all of them would know - if anything was right with the world it would be the little girl lying here or better still, lying in a proper hospital with everything intact. It was wrong. "I don't want to. I don't want to be half robot," I said, hating how childish my voice sounded.
"That's hard luck," Gigi said, sterner this time as she petted my hair. "You're going to finish getting better, and you're going to get on with things because you can't change what happened."
I couldn't argue with her yet. I was tired, I was sore, and I was just too ready to give up.
Hell, at least I had sweet potato pie to look forward to on getting home.
- The End