I woke up from my small nap to wait out the last of the anesthetic and carefully sat up in the bed. This prompted a small alarm from beside the bed, one of the activity alarms the doctor used for moving patients.
Soon enough Dr Wood came in through the recovery room door and I turned around to see her concerned look fade into a smile before it settled into a concerned smile.
“Mal, you’re awake. You shouldn’t be moving around this early you know? You’ve had a lot of torso work done, and the arms are likely still settling in to their foundations. Do you have any major pains or itching?” Wood asked as she swept around the bed to stand next to me.
“I’m alright doc. Thanks. No pain or itching, my medical suite is reading good across the board as well outside of some tiny nutrient deficiencies but I skipped dinner so that’s hardly a concern. I’ll get some food down me and see if all goes alright.” I said as I resisted Wood’s soft nudges as she attempted to guide me back into bed.
“Hm. We already ran some nutrient gel through you and it processed fine so you should be good to go. Let us know if there’s any long term issues and keep an eye out on your readouts. How is the new lifeline?” Wood asked as she took out a small circular thing and pressed it on my heart.
“I don’t feel drowsy and I’m not in pain or panicking so I think it went in fine. You said you worked on the pressure all day so you’d know more than me. I haven’t tried the gyrostabs yet though, I’ll save those for another time.” I answered as I offered my chest for her to hear properly.
“Remember the reservoir is still filling up, will be for a few weeks, so don’t go expecting it to be good to go just yet. There pressure regulators that manage it should still be working perfectly for a good while but if you start feeling anything odd or your blood pressure starts to shift over a few days make sure to come back here.” Wood said as she finished listening, seemingly satisfied.
“Do I still have a heartbeat?” I asked as the question occurred to me.
“Nope. The pump uses a mixture of sixteen pressure differentials, all quite weak and all very closely monitored and used to offer redundancy, including an emergency battery. Your heartbeat has been replaced but a soft purring sound that runs constantly. You might still get the feeling of a heartbeat during adrenaline filled situations but they'll be phantom sensations. The purring sounds fine by the way, no odd noises or pitch difference.” Wood said as she took out another tool and shone a red light on different parts of my shoulders before checking something on her interface.
“I suppose I should ask about the arms, I can move them around and stuff without issue so I assume they are good to go?” I asked, bringing my arms in front of me.
“Good for feeding yourself and opening doors, sure. Don’t go punching anything just yet. You’ve healed very quickly but there’s still some deeper tissue healing left over in your torso that will tear wide if you put too much pressure on it. The bones for your torso went in fine as well, we had to cut down a cyberspine to fit your sensory suite but that’s not too unusual and we’ve got all the tools to do that well. The last natural bones you have are your legs.” Dr Wood said as she finished looking at my shoulders and tapped my knee.
“I think I’ll take my fleshy legs for a walk then. My head’s clear and my body feels fine so I think I’ll go talk to people and get myself back into normal life a bit now I’ve got arms again.” I said as I carefully raised myself to stand, I figured there would be a bit of stiffness or weakness but I felt fine.
“Alright, as long as you stay local that’s fine. I don’t want you leaving the street for a week at least alright? Doctor’s orders. I can’t keep you here when your vitals are fine but don’t do anything to mess yourself up for a bit.” Dr Wood said as she stepped away so I could head out.
I left the recovery room and then the clinic and leaned over the balcony railing to look around the street and get some fresh air. There wasn’t anyone around like, Marchand’s street was always empty and quiet apart from the odd operator walking in and they didn’t hang around outside.
Looking for Noe, I saw she wasn’t smoking on her railing so I called her from my interface. She picked up pretty quickly.
“Hey Noe, I just got out of the clinic. I’ve got arms again. You fancy hanging out a little bit?” I asked.
“That’s preem Mal! We’ll have a little party or something to celebrate. I need to finish these rounds though or my mom will shout at me for leaving the workshop a mess. I’ll come around yours in about an hour, maybe two?” She said with heavy mechanical sound in the background. Likely her ammo press.
“That’s all good to me. I need to go finally get Lla out of Marchand jail first so later on for the hang out is good.” I said with a frown. She really had been stuck in that apartment for a while on her own.
“Alright, see you later Mal.” Noe said, the mechanical sound repeating in the background.
“Bye.” I said before hanging up.
Next I made my way over to the lifter and rode it up one floor before swinging around and walking over to my gate and opening it, with my hands. It felt kind of weird being able to just open the door with ease but it was still good. I considered stopping in to my apartment and seeing mom but I needed to talk to Marchand first really, too much backed up business. So walked past down the hallway to Marchand’s door and buzzed it.
“Hello there Mal. Come on through, just going over some documents.” Marchand said through the intercom. The door buzzed and released it’s lock, I pushed through into Marchand’s apartment and through into her parlor to find her where she always was. The world was back to normal it seems.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
I sat down in the usual chair and placed my arms onto the armrests with an unusual amount of relief.
“I see you’ve been repaired. I’ve got some notes from the doctors and it seems that your immediate troubles as far as your health are behind you for now. Good work. Are you ready to handle some official business? You can take another day or two to recover if you need to.” Marchand offered as she sat there smoking away, same as ever.
“No, I’m here to get on with it. I don’t know what the priorities are really but I assume we should discuss Lla first, she’s been stuck in their apartment for a while now.” I said, enjoying using little hand gestures again while talking.
“Good judgment. Do your plans for her remain the same as they were or have you changed your mind?” She asked.
“I think the plan is still workable. Her being trapped away so long might ruin her enthusiasm for it but we’ve kept talking through messages without issue so I’m hoping she’s still open to the idea. If not then she’s in the wind and there’s not a lot I can so about it.” I said with a shake of my head.
“Hm. You’re thinking of her as a friend first and foremost. But she has run up costs to the organization that you now work for, your arms and other cyberware, the medical costs of those and your other injuries, use of Stefan in a combat situation and associated overwatch teams. None of much I do costs only a little.” Marchand said as she checked her cig cartridge again the light of the desk lamp before beginning to unscrew the cartridge.
“So I should pressure her into working for me? I don’t think that would make for a very good work relationship. We butted heads over how you hired me and I was the one to put myself in the firing line that forced me to make the choice. Even if you triggered the scale.” I said, trying not to sound bitter about it. I wasn’t angry about it anymore.
“Not necessarily, but she should understand the impact of her choices as much as you do yours. Especially before making another. She might have had choice removed from her by the end, by me, but before that she was free to choose and did so many times. I’ll leave it up to you in either case. It doesn’t really effect the organization in any meaningful way.” Marchand said as she finished unscrewing the cartridge and placing it on the desk beside her before smoothly pulling open a drawer and taking a new one and beginning to screw it on
“Alright, I’ll talk to her after this. What else do we need to talk about?” I asked, watching her.
“A couple of work things. First of all is the local gang situation, it’s calming down since the operator team that carried out the attacks on the primary armory of the drowners were tracked down and killed after their interrogation. Apparently the attack was part of a larger effort by a surface gang called the silver truths to establish a presence down here. Not the first time and not the last, but the problem is operators are going to be given the cold shoulder widely for a little while. You’ll want to keep yourself in check and prepared when you’re going around geared up for a job.” Marchand said as she finished screwing the cartridge on and pumped the coils a little before taking a long drag that she finished by blowing it out wide around the room. She saw me looking and grinned a little.
“Alright, I’ve never been too friendly with the gangs so I’m used to being on my toes. No need to worry about me on that front. Anything else?” I asked.
“Your mother has assumed some light secretarial duties for you, I’ve left her information relevant to you in regards to my organization and your place in it along with responsibilities and benefits in detail. You should take a look at some stage. I’ll also leave her information about your missions that I think are relevant for her to pass on or keep hold of for you. She’s also had your apartment expanded and improved, she’s likely told you by now though. I’ve had some basic operator maintenance equipment installed but anything more you can pick up yourself. As a welcoming gift to your mother somewhat joining the organization I gave her a much more secure and higher quality incarnation player with better medical support, she should be a lot safer both physically and mentally with that.” Marchand said as she enjoyed her fresh cig.
“Oh. Thank you, that’s unexpected but very nice of you Anna.” I said bemused slightly.
“If you’re wondering what your welcoming gift is, I’m having it delivered here still. Along with the rest of your wardrobe.” She said with a wave of her hand.
“Wardrobe?” I asked.
“You can hardly represent me when your wandering around in rags Mal. That might be fine for when you’re in the field but not when I need you at a corp headquarters or a social function or when important clients visit. Don’t worry, I had the doctors take your measurements so the clothes should fit fine and we’ll get new ones as you grow obviously. They are work expenses after all.” She said with a smile that crept higher and higher as she spoke.
“I have to wear corpo clothes? Really? I’m going to look like a gonk.” I said as I rubbed my face with my hand. It felt real despite neither surface being skin.
“We’ll have to have a little fashion show. Check the whole wardrobe. There’s some for parties, some for business meetings, official showings, standard work wear, combat work wear. Lots to go through, we’ll wait for the rest to arrive with your present though. Shouldn’t be took long.” Marchand said as she laughed into her cig a little.
“Urgh. Is there anything else? Do I need to give out fliers or something?” I asked, defeated.
“No. But you do need training still. I’d planned for it to be spread out a little so the introductions would lead you into my employment but now you’re already here and I’ve only just started with netrunning. No. You need a foundation in different fighting styles, tactical strategy, field maintenance, field medicine, logistics, social skills, social dynamics and engineering, corporate law and contract law, financial studies, driving and piloting as well as specialized training for bodyguards and extraction agents. Not to mention continuing and deepening your netrunning training which opens into a lot of different subjects in itself.” Marchand said as she held the cig in her mouth and listed off the subjects with her fingers.
“That sounds even more of a nightmare than corpo school. Why do I need all that? I’m sure some of it is useful but why do I need all of it? Why do I need financial studies?” I asked in horror.
“If I asked you whether it was worth jettisoning a cabin filled with biological samples worth upwards of sixty thousand pearls, what would you do? If you jettison the cabin you’ll save enough fuel to save yourself almost twenty thousand bonds while you bring the ship to the nearest station.” Marchand asked calmly.
“Uh… Yes?” I answered in total ignorance of what any of that meant.
“You just lost out on six hundred and twenty thousand aura in salable cargo and made an enemy of the biotechnology corporation that needed those samples to make it to their destination. In exchange for that you gained thirty thousand aura worth of fuel. That is why you need financial studies.” She finished with.
“Ouch. Alright. I get it.” I raised my hands in surrender grumpily.
“That should be about it for now. I had a job that was going to be your second before you made your choice in the works but with you already working for me it seems silly to send you on such a job now. Instead we’ll power through your introductory training over the next little while so you don’t fall short on the jobs that’ll actually make a name of you. I’ve released Lla from confinement, she’ll be at your home soon. Speak to you later Mal.” Marchand said before dismissing me with a finger and turning away to read something on her interface.
“Alright. See you later Anna.” I said before turning and heading out on the parlor.