‘I can’t believe you’re reading yet another useless book. Damnit man, have you got nothing better to do than wasting your time on…’ He picked up one of the books that laid scattered across the floor to see what it was about. ‘Astro-physics and the basics of voidfairing? Jabs, get a load of this guy, he thinks they’ll let his slumdwelling ass fly a spaceship someday.’
Jabs, who was laying on his bed with his back to the others, looked over his shoulder with an annoyed face. ‘Leave Voss alone, Wago. Him and Hiyo got the right idea. The Fifth’s library aboard the spaceport is a bonafide goldmine.’
Wago turned his head into Jabs’ direction and saw that he too was reading a book. They all were. Even Emil and Tick had traded in their usual games for books. The only ones not reading anything were him and Dane. Dane hadn’t done much since they released him from med bay. He slept most of the time and wasn’t of much use the few hours he was awake. Last night he and Voss had to carry Dane to dinner and practically had to feed him like a baby. Dane got hit hard by the explosion and the meds the doctors had given him were heavier than what the other recruits were given. Dane’s age also showed here. Accelerated healing protocols didn’t work as well on older people. It took more out of them; drained them of their energy. Wago had almost forgotten about Dane’s old age due to his great physical strength and stamina, but the crows feet around his eyes, and well earned wrinkles on his forehead, did betray his age. Dane had to be ninety years old at least.
Hiyo looked up from his book and joined in on the conversation. ‘The selection they have here is incredible, and we’ve been given almost complete, unrestricted access to it. It’s a luxury I could only dream off back on Fosfat, and I plan to use it to the fullest.’
‘Never cared much for books.’ Wago replied. ‘Never found one that was of any use to me.’
Jabs looked ready to fire off one of his quips, but Hiyo stopped him with a quick hand gesture. ‘I’m sure you’ll find something to your liking here. We’ve got books on politics, psychology, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, how to operate heavy machinery; hell, I even found a book that will teach you how to make improvised weaponry and explosives..’
Wago’s eyes widened. ‘Explosives you say?’
‘I’ve got it right here. Want to take a look?’. Hiyo outstretched his arm towards Wago, with the book in his hand. Wago eagerly grasped it from Hiyo’s hand and walked over to his bed to sit down and read. He looked like a kid who had just been given his first firecracker. Hiyo gave him a knowing smile, which Wago missed due to already being too engulfed in his book. ‘They truly have something for everyone in that library.’ Hiyo thought to himself.
A guard entered the barrack, followed by a clean looking Hoog who was wearing fresh overalls. The guard gave Hoog a nod and left again.
‘Well, well, well, I don’t remember you ever looking so sharp.’ Jabs remarked. ‘They even cut off that dirty hair of yours.’
Hoog didn’t laugh. He didn’t give much of a response at all. Hiyo jumped up and dashed over to Hoog. He offered him his arm and helped Hoog get to his bed. He pointed at a bucket close to Jabs’ bed. ‘Jabs, pass me that bucket. I have a sense we’re going to need it.’. Jabs got up and brought the bucket and a glass of water over. Hoog gladly accepted the water. He opened a small bag that he had on him and took out a few strips of pills. He popped three pills out of them, took a big gulp of water and swallowed the pills.
Finally he spoke. ‘I don’t feel too well. They went straight to washing and grooming me after they pulled me out of the stasis tank and then marched me straight down here. I’m still woozy from that tank and my shoulder feels like it’s wrapped in razor wire.’
‘Voss looked at Hoog with a skeptical face. ‘Your body isn’t supposed to hurt like that after they regrow a limb. You might want to get them to do an extra scan just to be sure.’
Hoog replied. ‘They didn’t regrow my arm. They gave me a bionic arm with strength and accuracy implants. Doctor said they also put a regulator thingy in my side, but I have no idea what that does.’
Voss’ mouth fell open. ‘They gave you bionic augmentations?! And they gave you a regulator!? No way! That’s highly advanced and expensive tech. There’s just no way they’d ever give that to a slum dweller like you.’
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
‘What’s a regulator? Tick asked. ‘I’ve heard of bionic limbs and implants, but what does a regulator do?’
‘I can’t blame you guys for not knowing what regulators are.’ Voss said. ‘They’re incredibly rare and still very new tech. They’ve only been around for about twenty years and as far as I know, even most high class citizens don’t know about them; and even if they do, they can’t access one anyhow. Regulators are a medical device that feed on the nutrients that your blood provides them with. Making them fully self sustainable.’
‘But what do they do?’ Hiyo asked Voss.
‘What don’t they do? They can secrete anything from pain killers to adrenaline to substances that help you heal faster. They can minimize bleeding and prevent infections. They can even give you electric shocks in case of cardiac arrests, or clean your blood in case of radiation poisoning. They’re designed to keep you going even in the gravest of circumstances.’
‘Wow, that does sound highly advanced and expensive. How do you even know about this, Voss?’ Wago asked him incredulously.
‘I can’t tell you. I already said too much.’ Voss felt stupid for sharing such knowledge so openly. He couldn’t afford the other recruits finding out about his past. Especially not when it could lead to more lashes or even worse. ‘I’m just flabbergasted that you’d be propped up with such expensive and sophisticated tech, is all.’
‘Yeah well, so am I.’ Hoog replied. ‘Trust me, the last thing I expected when I was on that floor, bleeding to death, was that I’d wake up with a bionic arm. I thought for sure that I was a goner. I have no clue what happened after I lost consciousness.’
‘Anyone got a spare battery pack?’ Wago asked jokingly. ‘I want to upgrade some of my limbs and become a cyborg like Hoog.’
‘Maybe if we ask nicely, they’ll give all of us some cool upgrades.’ Emil chimed in. ‘Turn ourselves into mechanical mechanics. Imagine the possibilities. I want an arm that I can attach a drill or laser cutter to. Would make our future work so much easier.’
Wago began to make janky movements, acting like he was some rusty robot. ‘I know, right? We’d be the most wanted mechanics of them all. Perhaps we could even leverage it into getting the best available jobs.’
Hiyo grunted. ‘You guys are missing the point’ He said deridingly. ‘The important thing here is that this is yet more confirmation that something big is afoot. There’s no way they’d give any of us augmentations like that unless the situation is dire. This isn’t going to make our lives easier. If anything, it’s going to make them harder.’
Emil looked unconvinced by Hiyo’s warnings. ‘Maybe you’re wrong, Hiyo. Maybe the augmentations are experimental and they just needed someone like us to be their guinea pig.’
Voss knew better than that. His dad had been part of the augmentations and enhancements department in Fosfat’s elite program. The whole department had gone up in flames together with his mother’s laboratory. None of the program’s greatest minds had made it out live. Fosfatian augmentation research had come to a standstill after that incident. They still used the same models that were developed twenty years ago. There was nothing experimental about them. He wasn’t going to share that information with the others though, he had already said too much.
Hiyo shook his head. ‘It’s not impossible, but I think it’s unlikely. If they were going to experiment, they’d make sure to have a batch of test subjects ready. Programs like that don’t rely on happenstance. They’d have to keep a team of medical staff on standby for weeks or even months, waiting for the right patient to experiment on. No, I don’t find that very likely at all. It’s much more likely that it has something to do with that scourge virus they warned us about. Perhaps it’s doing the rounds again and they need anyone they can get to make sure nobody foreign makes it to Fosfat’s surface.’
Jabs sighed. ‘Man, I’d hate to think that’s the case. Would be just our luck. We get a chance to escape the slums and go to space, only to get killed by some horror virus.’
‘It’s just a thesis though.’ Hiyo tried to assure them. ‘I know as much as you guys. It’s just that I don’t like what’s going on. We’re being rushed to the front of whatever is happening at any expense necessary. That’s not something they’d do if we were destined to go work on rusty space freighters delivering aluminum plates to Chari-2.’
Hiyo’s face looked concerned. Voss could tell this was something that had been on Hiyo’s mind since they were in recovery bay a week ago. Hiyo made some good points and the scenarios he described seemed plausible. Voss wasn’t too concerned though. He had learned from a young age not to worry about things he couldn’t influence. Especially not when there were more pressing matters at hand. He needed to make it through training so he could join the lieutenant’s crew. It was his best shot at getting his hands on what he needed to make his plans work. The others could worry about the galaxy being in flames.. Sure, the idea of entire planets being engulfed by a horrible plague wasn’t something he was excited about, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. There might be ways to take advantage of it though, and you should never let a good crisis go to waste. If it meant training would be over sooner, then that’d be just the kind of advantage he could use.
Hiyo’s words did make him think though. What if the lieutenant’s special mission revolved around the scourge? What if it revolved around an even greater threat that the recruits weren’t aware of yet? Now those were risks that did affect him personally. Those were risks he did have to worry about.