Hot searing pain. That is all Cameron felt as Marco went to work on his body. Fire shot through his arm as the doctor took a small high-powered drill and slowly drove it into the meat of his forearm. The smell of singed flesh and fresh blood filled the air and Cameron thought he was going to break his teeth with how hard he was squeezing them. His body jerky at the metal restraints, unconsciously trying to shrink away from whatever was causing it so much discomfort. Then the doctor hit the bone and Cameron couldn’t take it in silence anymore.
“Gah! Fuck!” He cried, tears streaming down his face as the ceiling above him spun in his vision. The burning smell was stronger now, and it felt like his bone itself was vibrating rapidly, trailing up his body and causing his teeth to chatter through shouts of anguish.
“That’s it my boy,” Marco said, his calm, warm tone unchanging from how it had been before the ordeal started. If anything, he sounded almost bored as he mutilated Cameron’s arm. “Just let it all out.”
The drilling stopped, and Cameron gasped, feeling a slight reprieve as he alternated between groaning in agony and sobbing while gasping for breath. It wasn’t to last, however, as with a slight hum and crackling arc of blue plasma, Marco began to cauterize the wound. Cameron’s screams increased in intensity and octave, blood vessels popping in the back of his throat as he felt his eyes start to roll back, a black cone forming in his periphery.
“Logan…” Marco said, “If you would be so kind,” Cameron could barely hear him, his voice sounding like a distant echo as his mind reached its limit, swiftly lulling him into unconsciousness.
Smack
A firm hand struck Cameron’s face, pulling him back to the waking world, and the hellish pain that came with it. He was staring up at Logan, his features tight and calloused, save for the eyes that shined with an unspoken pain and sympathy.
“Stay awake, Kid,” He said softly, speaking in between Cameron’s screaming gasps.
“Fuck you!” Cameron shouted, spittle and blood flying up from his lips as his pain was now accented with a white hot fury.
“That’s it…” Logan continued, “Scream at me to your heart's content. Focus that anger on me. But don’t you dare pass out.”
Cameron had stopped speaking now, looking into Logan’s eyes with a violent glare, his body shaking and twitching, his screams reduced to a manic, low growling. There was a scraping sound, followed by a tugging sensation on his arm, as Marco shaved the outer rim of the incision. Then, he reached somewhere outside of Cameron’s vision and pulled out a small iron thimble-like piece of metal.
“Inserting thread,” Marco said, and Cameron felt a sharp, frozen sensation seeping deep into the muscle and bone of his forearm numbing the area. Compared to the horrific trauma he’d endured so far, this was nearly enough to make him coo with delight. Another tease of relief before Marco spoke again.
“Beginning flash bonding,” As quick as the cold set in, it rapidly morphed into a searing heat, causing Cameron to lurch, his growls growling louder. It felt like his arm had been dipped in lava, melting into molten slag. The scent of cooked meat filled his nostrils as a high-pitched whine met his ears, increasing further in volume by the second, until, with a bright flash of light, the pain lessened, dropping from a sharp agony filled heat, into a gentle tender throb.
Cameron felt like he could breathe for the first time in forever. He sucked in air, blinking and looking around, trying to stay conscious.
“Is… is it over?” He asked in a soft, raspy voice.
Logan grimaced looking away for a moment before looking back down at Cameron, “Not exactly, kid.”
“One thread down,” Marco said, as if he’d been signaled. “Beginning threading procedure on the right bicep now.”
Before Cameron could register what had been said, he was screaming once again.
***
Cameron had been lied to. The procedure had not finished in four hours. In fact, they were nearing the sixth hour of this hellish torture when Marco finally spoke with something other than a calm impassiveness.
“Alright, preparing for Synaptic Uplink installation now. Nearly done my boy . How are you faring down there?”
There wasn’t a verbal response, as Cameron had lost the will to speak hours ago. Instead, he made a low droning groan that barely reached the surgeons ears. He had remained conscious as ordered, just barely, but damn it he had pulled through, partially through sheer will, and partially through the sting of Logan’s heavy palms. And how was he rewarded for his effort? He had been flipped over on the movable table like a pig on a spit, facing the bloodstained floor, suspended by the restraints that still bound him, his eyes possessing barely a flicker of their usual fire as he watched a thin line of his drool seep into the pores of the concrete.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Logan, who had dropped to the floor to keep Cameron company looked up at him, his own eyes hollow and exhausted. Drained physically, mentally, and emotionally as he snapped his fingers in the kid’s face. A slow, delayed blink in response caused Logan to sigh, looking up at Marco and give a curt nod.
“Go ahead, doc. Let’s see what happens.”
“Understood, beginning Uplink procedure.”
Cameron felt the drill pierce his skin. He felt his muscles burn and blacken under the heat of a torch. He felt… everything. But he couldn’t scream. His body didn’t have the strength to. Instead the sounds that emanated from his tightly clenched lips were the strained, choking, quiet grunts of a wounded animal. His body lurched and arched as much as it could bear to do, barely moving a muscle. Even is eyes, though wide and bloodshot, slowly started to dim, his once brilliant pools of oceanic sapphires dulling into a smoky gray.
He could feel the cool metal of the divot inserted into his neck, quickly heating as it fused to his body, but… something else was added as well. Another piece of metal, so surmised because of the small clinks and clangs it made against his threads was inserted as far back in as it could go into the Uplink module, clicking into place with a loud snap.
“That should do it.” Marco said with a weary sigh. Cameron heard a button click before the table slowly rotated back around, and he was staring at the surgeon’s elderly smiling face once again.
“Can you hear me boy?” He said, raising his voice in volume as if Cameron were deaf.
“Blink if you can hear me.”
He blinked. Marco nodded, his smile growing wider.
“Good. Then the procedure was a success. Congratulations young man. You survived a surgery with a forty percent mortality rate. You may count yourself among the very, very few. Be proud.”
Cameron blinked again and Marco nodded, clapping his hands together, before turning his back to him as he rifled through a series of drawers. With an exclamation of triumph, he turned back around, holding what looked to be a small metal lid, with wiring dangling from the underside of it.
“This, is what is known as an Uplink Primer.” He said, pressing a button on the side of the table, raising Cameron up vertically as he spoke, “Now that your hardware has been installed, you will need to be registered. This device, using a central database of both Earthgov and Free-Space birth repositories, will record your basic information, as well as any additional pilot information that is of note. It will then report that information to another database containing the records of all active and deceased threaded pilots. Think of this as your… operational passport. This is how people will know you, it will be how prospective employers may verify who you are, and it will be how you can track your accomplishments, pilot rating, and other such accolades.
Cameron heard the words that came out of the doctors mouth, but he didn’t really understand what they meant. Sensing that very sentiment, Marco sucked his teeth and nodded.
“Right. Still a lot to take I’m afraid… Just be aware that this will cause a… biological reset, if you will. Once you wake up, everything will be much clearer I assure you.”
Cameron’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion but the doctor simply smiled and walked out of his vision, moving to be behind him, and leaving him there to look at Logan. The man was smiling wider than Cameron had ever seen, and he could have sworn he was a tad misty-eyed.
“Good job, Kid,” He said softly, “I’ll see you when you wake up.”
Before Cameron could question the thought, a high-pitched whir had caused his body to slump, his once tense and rigid muscles going limp as his consciousness turned out like a light. The only saving grace, was a translucent blue screen that appeared in the center of blackness, white script running across invisible lines in real time.
Beginning Pilot Registration Sequence.
Name: [REDACTED] AKA: Cam Ket
Pilot Registration Number: 1128212
Pilot Rank: Alpha
Co-Pilot: N/A
Company: N/A
Unit Type: N/A
Registration Accepted. Welcome Pilot.