Faith blinked and was fully awake she sat straight up and looked around not believing it when she saw her work bay surrounding her.

“Sarah am I out of the simulation?” She demanded wanting it confirmed and not wanting it to be some cruel trick.

“Yes Faith you really are out of the simulation.”

Screaming in joy Faith jumped out of the medical bed, not paying attention to just high or how far she had jumped, and danced around the bay still screaming.

It took over ten minutes for Faith to calm down but she still two stepped around unable to completely controlled her glee.

“Faith I need to give you an update.”

The way the AI sounded gave Faith pause and stopped her dancing.

“That sounds ominous.”

“Not ominous just concerning.”

“Well if that is not concerning.”

“When the simulation AI initiated the medical procedure.” Sarah began ignoring Faith’s comment. “The mainframe the medical bed was connected through the FTL comms activated deeply buried commands in the program that I am absorbing. It took over the nanites and created cybernetic implants inside you.”

“I’m guessing it was not just a simple neurological implant?” Faith asked dreading the answer.

“Correct. Along with the neurological implant several carbon fiber meshes were laid down. The first carbon mesh layer covers your bones, effectively making your skeletal structure almost impossible to break, the second layer carbon fiber mesh spreads throughout your musculature structure operating as artificial muscles and nerves system, in effect you have a separate and distinct musculature and nervous system, lastly a carbon mesh is just under your skin and is effectively an unpowered armored suit.”

Faith took a moment to digest the full impact of the information Sarah had just given her. To distract herself she asked Sarah a question.

“Can the mainframe hijack the nanites again?”

“No. The activation of the program was at the core of the program I absorbed and allowed me to completely scan and incorporate the code into my own code structure. In effect there is no program anymore.”

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“Because you completely absorbed it into yourself.” Faith finished the explanation glad that the program was no longer a problem hanging over her head which brought up another question.

“Why do I not see a hud in my vision form the implant?”

“I have been suppressing the activation of the cybernetic implants. This does bring up a suggestion I have for you.”

Faith was founding the AI more and more human like sounding generally hesitant to bring up whatever the suggestion was.

“You can till me. I promise I will listen to any suggestion from you.”

“Thank you Faith. My suggestion is to wait on the activation until you reenter the simulation.”

“You want me to return to the simulation!” Faith yelped trying and failing to kept the upset at the thought of reentering the simulation she had been trapped in for over three years out of her voice.

“Yes for several reasons. One I have no information on how the cybernetic implants work, all relevant information is highly classified and impossible to access. The second reason is for you to train safely with the implants activated. I project if you try to train on the station you will hurt yourself and others learning how to operate the cybernetic implants. The third reason is that I have full control of the medical bed and mainframe and have found out how to safely end the simulation.”

It was not until the last reason that Faith started thinking seriously about going back into the simulation. Even the second reason about hurting herself or others did not sway her for she would have just commanded Sarah to never activate the implants. She would have chosen to forgo the benefits of the implants if it meant being trapped again in the simulation.

“How do you end the simulation.”

Sarah paused and seemed not to want to answer which just made Faith more curious about the answer.

“You could have ended the simulation by failing the SCS training or saying end military training simulation.”

Faith’s jaw dropped and a mind blanked. It was several moments before she could think and when she did, she started cursing, using every curse world learned form the dick, and wanted badly to knock her head into the bulkhead repeatedly for being so stupid.

Almost all computers could be voice activated and commanded and the simulation was just another computer. Even spending a year buried in the senior engineering course had not clued Faith in such a simple command.

“I seriously want to punch something right now.” Faith muttered.

“Another reason to reenter the simulation.”

“Not helping Sarah!”

Faith paced back and forth shaking her arms out and trying to calm down from the information Sarah had just given her and the knowledge that she would soon be returning to her prison.

“Damit.” Faith muttered several times as she continued to pace her work bay and hideaway.

“Are you a hundred percent sure you can pull me out?” Faith finally asked Sarah.

“Yes Faith. I have complete access to the medical bed, the mainframe at Sedisca and the nanites inside you. There is no possible way to trap you again.” Sarah reassured her.

Faith exhaled and rolled her shoulders, straightening up Faith become the fearsome SCS operator that she had been trained brutally to be.

“Let’s do this.” Faith said turning this into just another military mission and training operation.

Walking, more like stalking, towards the hated medical bed Faith did not pause and laid down. Sarah did not need instructions and rightly did not ask Faith if she was sure. Sarah activated the medical bed and Faith drafted off.