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Cybernetic heart
Chapter 1 The Procedure

Chapter 1 The Procedure

Chapter 1: The Procedure

I was supposed to die that day.

The doctor’s face was a blur, his voice muffled by the constant rhythmic beeping of the machines. My body felt like it had already begun to float away, like I was halfway between this world and whatever came next. Cancer had taken hold of me years ago, and despite the best treatments, I had become a husk, no longer recognizable as the person I once was. I was trapped in a deteriorating prison, unable to escape the pain or the inevitability of my own death.

Then, as if from nowhere, a voice cut through the haze.

“Would you like to live?” The voice was smooth, almost synthetic, yet it felt strangely familiar, like it belonged in the sterile, cold atmosphere of the hospital.

I opened my eyes and saw a figure standing near the door—a woman in a sharply pressed suit. Her presence was unsettling, like she didn’t belong in this place at all, and yet she seemed so confident.

“Who… who are you?” I rasped, my throat dry. The question barely left my lips.

“My name is Dr. Lila Graves. I represent SynLife Corporation. We specialize in advanced medical procedures, and we can offer you a way to live. A cure.”

“A cure?” I scoffed, hardly able to believe it. “You think you can cure me? I’m dying. I’ve seen every doctor. I’ve tried everything. There’s no cure for me.”

She smiled, but it was cold, calculated. “Not the way you think. We offer a different kind of cure—one that’s beyond the realm of traditional medicine.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to focus on her, but the sedatives they’d injected into me were taking their toll. The world seemed distant. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ll be the first of your kind. A new beginning,” Dr. Graves continued, her words flowing with an eerie certainty. “Your mind will be transferred into a synthetic body, free from the shackles of disease. A new life. And all you have to do is agree.”

I hesitated, the fog of illness clouding my judgment. I’d been told countless lies over the years. What if this was just another false hope? Another empty promise to keep me from giving up entirely? But the thought of death, of leaving everything behind, was unbearable.

“Why me?” I croaked, struggling to sit up. “Why would you want to help someone like me?”

Her expression remained unchanged. “Because we can. And because IT is your only hope.”

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Something in her words triggered a response inside me. A surge of hope—or was it desperation? The idea of surviving, of escaping the prison of my own decaying body, was too tempting to resist.

“I’ll do it,” I whispered. I didn’t know what I was agreeing to, but I knew I had no other choice.

Days later, I found myself in a cold, sterile lab, surrounded by machines I could barely comprehend. My body, still weak and frail, was strapped to a table. But the pain was starting to fade, replaced by an unnatural sense of calm. A drug-induced haze, perhaps. I was unable to move, unable to speak, but my mind was fully aware of the process happening to me.

“You’re going to be the first,” Dr. Graves’ voice echoed in my mind, even though she wasn’t physically present. “The first of many to transcend the limits of human frailty.”

Transcend. The word lingered in my thoughts like a haunting refrain. What did it really mean? Was I still human? Was I still me?

I had no answers as they connected wires, plugged me into cold, mechanical systems, and began the process of transferring my consciousness into the core of an artificial brain.

The next thing I knew, I was in darkness.

But it wasn’t just the absence of light. It was as though I had ceased to exist entirely. There was no body. No world around me. Just… nothing.

A voice broke through the silence, soft at first, but steadily growing louder.

“Transfer complete. Designation: ALPHA.”

The word stung like a slap to the face. I was ALPHA now? Was this who I was?

The darkness shifted, and suddenly, I was aware of… something. A body.

I could feel it, but it wasn’t mine. The sensation of limbs, heavy and metallic, yet somehow alive. My senses were flooded with new, foreign data, all flashing before me in a series of numbers, symbols, and lines I couldn’t make sense of.

But what struck me most was the sound—a soft hum, rhythmic and steady, coming from somewhere deep within me. A strange pulsing, like a heart, but not quite.

And then the lights flickered on, revealing a bright stage in front of me. I was no longer in a lab. No, this was something different—an arena, a theater, filled with faces I couldn’t comprehend.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the future of warfare,” a booming voice said, pulling my attention away from the crowd. “This is ALPHA. The first of SynLife’s autonomous combat drones. A new breed of weapon designed to dominate the battlefield.”

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I was trapped in this new form, forced to listen as they paraded me in front of a group of investors and military officials. The voice continued, describing my capabilities—how I was designed for strength, speed, and intelligence, all linked directly to the AI systems in my brain.

“ALPHA represents the culmination of years of research,” the announcer continued, the words like nails on a chalkboard. “This is just the beginning. Our combat drones are not for sale yet, but ALPHA is our first completed prototype.”

A shiver ran through me, but it wasn’t fear. It was… confusion. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what I was hearing. I had been given a new body—a new life—but I wasn’t free. I was a tool. A weapon.

The crowd’s whispers reached my ears, but it didn’t matter. The only thing I could focus on was the sound of my heart—the hum of my cybernetic core, keeping me alive in this prison.

The lights above me flickered, and my vision blurred as I struggled against the immobility of my body. But nothing changed. I was ALPHA now. I had no name, no past, and no future. Only this stage. Only this existence.

And as the announcer’s voice echoed in the background, I realized something else. They had lied to me. I wasn’t just being given a chance to live again. I had been turned into something else entirely—something far worse than death.

They had taken my humanity

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