Interlude: Journey Part 4
“FUCKING HELL 2034 WORST YEAR!!!!!1!!!11!!!!!!11!!! LITERALLY NO GOOD OPTIONS!!11!!!1!!1!!!!1!!!!!1!!1” - Anon, 3:57 UTC, 18th of March 2034 on the popular messaging board ‘6tan’.
Kevin Lu rubbed his brow, tiredness setting in from the late night. His steps were the only sound in the sterile white halls of the hospital. A nightly walk, humans were always meant to be active creatures, and though his body felt like collapsing the walk served its purpose, reinvigorating him enough to stay awake to pass the night.
The department he was currently in was a quiet one, after all, the hundreds and thousands of ‘patients’ here didn’t do much. Opening a random door, he was greeted by the sight of dozens of rows of tubes, each housing a single person. A helmet connected to breathing and feeding tubes kept them alive. Occasionally, it would send a nerve signal, making them jerk in the nanite fluid to ensure their bodies did not degenerate that poorly.
Every one of them was healthy and would likely remain so for decades with the support they were getting. They were, nicely put, passive income for the hospital to milk. Connected to life support and VR helmets they spent their entire lives in virtual worlds, living out whatever dream they wanted. All costs paid for by the government’s U.B.I.
It was a dream for many, but as Kevin Lu stared at the seemingly unending rows of people, he could not help but feel despair as his mind recalled a certain statistic.
That right now, twenty percent of people in Oceania lived like this, and this number has been rising for the past decade.
Not for the first time, Kevin Lu felt the slowly crushing realisation that he may be one of the last generations of doctors, people who actually bothered to educate themselves, understand how the world works. Eventually, even his job will become automated, the future of a world where man lay dreaming in billions of tubes while A.I. tended to their every need outside of it, once a pipe delusion a century ago seemed so very close.
They abolished homelessness, got rid of poverty and made the concept of hunger alien, and yet was this all they had to show for it? People quitting life the moment their high school education ended, the moment they started receiving their U.B.I. and sequestering themselves in different worlds. Never bothering to even attempt to progress and reach the same heights their species once did, for the simple reason they no longer needed to.
For the first time, he felt his heart clench, as he wondered if his own child would go this path. If one day he’ll be looking after a tube, only ever interacting with him through a virtual world.
A message pinged him at the edge of his vision, as he was called back to work.
The doctor activated an augment in his brain, melatonin blockers flooded his system and he was once again wide awake.
“...only so much time…” he muttered as he left to do his job.
----------------------------------------
“Two patients,” an assistant A.I. said next to him, “paramedic initial diagnosis is B199, unknown mass replicating nanite.”
“Skip to current diagnosis,” the doctor replied.
“Understood,” it replied in its robotic tone, “Dr Auburn diagnosed it as B212, Frasier R3C2-AP Nanobots used in Anti-Personnel Landmines by the former United States of America, currently in Stage 3.”
The doctor would’ve sworn if it wasn’t unprofessional, the Greens made the worst nano weapons.
“Load the details of the nanite in written form,” he replied, “location of operation?”
“Rouen University Hospital, current latency is 3.68ms to 6.24ms.”
Not the worst and the hospital was well equipped to deal with most things, but lag of just a few moments could cause death. “Kill code?”
“Not available,” the assistant returned, “the current patent holder of the nanite, Mcdothra Biomedicals claims that knowledge was lost during the Civil War.”
Figures, they wouldn’t have called him if it was that simple.
He reached his office and sat down in the pod already waiting for him, as it closed, a dozen new heads up displays opened.
“Dr Lu,” a figure in scrubs said. “We currently have the patients iced, you should be seeing their statuses right now.”
He nodded, eyes glancing over the various metrics, along with quickly scanning the details. Two males, one a kid that couldn’t have been older than his son, the other an enhanced. They were already very far gone, the enhanced was missing all his extremities but the child still looked relatively healthy, if not for the fact his entire nervous system was paralyzed. “You attempted a localised EMP burst for treatment?”
The other doctor nodded, “It failed,” she answered as another video popped up. A foot, detached, likely one from the soldier, was covered entirely in the nanites. ‘Begin initial test,’ her voice had said, as an EMP was used and there was a horrendous popping sound as the foot dissolved into sludge. “By the point of retrieval we were too late, the nanites had already passed into Stage Two by then.”
At that point deactivation meant self-destruction. “How much time do I have?”
“Preservation was successful,” the other doctor answered, a feed of both patients suspended in cryo appearing. “Nanite activity has lowered to 1.6%, we have time for the child but the nanites are reacting violently with enhanced's immune system, at best six hours.”
“Are the Sub-0-C1s available for use?”
Dr Auburn nodded.
“Not the worst situation then,” he muttered, those ones were one of the few models that can operate in cryo with complex control, “then let me-” Dr Lu paused as he looked at the second patient, the enhanced soldier.
He glanced back at the biometrics sent to him, “That one’s listed as genderless?”
The other doctor glanced at the biometrics on her side. “Yes,” she confirmed.
“Run a pupil scan,” he said as he prepared to connect to the nanites on his side.
She looked confused for a moment before doing as told, then surprise flicked on her face as the image returned back to him. Confirming his suspicions. Imprinted on their left eye was a line code that translated to this,
‘People’s Republic of China. 克隆人 V920008.’
“It's one of the Eunuch clones?”
“They,” he absentmindedly corrected, “don’t forget the Amendments, they are a person and we must treat them as such.”
Dr Auburn shook her head, “Sorry, just surprised, I thought they only had a lifespan of twenty years or so, I didn’t expect to ever see one, much less operate on one.”
They might have undergone telomere regeneration to stay alive this long, no, Dr Lu shook his head, that didn’t matter much here.
“We’ll begin on them,” Dr Lu said. “Assistant, pull up modification data for China’s Eunuch Units. Dr Auburn I have connected with the S0s, prepare the injection.”
She nodded, in the background of the patient's room, several delicate robotic arms moved as Dr Auburn manipulated them.
“Injection here, here and here,” Dr Lu said as he marked the spots on the body. Two locations in the head and neck, one in the left upper arm and another in the chest, into the lungs where the nanites were most dense.
Dr Auburn made the injection, and multiple feeds appeared in his vision.
He tsked in annoyance, the lungs and arms were lost. At the microscopic level, he could see the soldier’s own immune system fighting a war in slow motion, and they were unfortunately winning. Every modified phage that successfully ate a nanite almost immediately underwent apoptosis, except they were now carrying volatile nanite which let out a mild chemical acid upon death. Not that dangerous to the body on its own, but they signalled other nanites to increase reproduction, and as Lu watched the capillaries burst and melt away from literally millions of dying nanites, he remembered that quality did not always trump quantity.
The soldier's own modified and improved immune system made them extremely susceptible to these kinds of weapons. They had to operate on them first otherwise they would be dead before anyone knew it.
“His lower body is unsalvageable,” he declared, activating the self-destruct on his controlled nanites, before turning his attention to the ones in the neck region. Fewer here, “we need to focus on preserving the brain. Dr Auburn, can you begin amputation of infected locations?”
“On it,” she answered as she manipulated several robotic limbs.
“Remember to incinerate them,” he absentmindedly added as he surveyed the brain.
“I’m not new to this,” she curtly replied.
The brain was… it was salvageable, there were clusters of nanites mostly on the cranium, but a few stragglers were on the brain cells. “I’ll begin extraction.”
Here came the hardest part of his job. Dr Lu only directly controlled a large observer nanite capable of receiving his signals, every other one had to be programmed and commanded through the observer nanite. He put simple commands into the nanites onto the neck, attacking and disassembling the infectious nanites. Forming a small perimeter, those don’t need advanced commands, they just needed to reinforce the blood-brain barrier and stop more from entering the brain. Even if they lost the neck while they were at it, they just needed to prevent the brain from dying and they could regenerate the man completely from it.
It was the brain that was the problem. Regularly glancing at the R3C2-AP’s schematics, he went about reprogramming his own nanites for safe disassembly. Putting a chemical marker so that the neuroimmune system won’t target them. He couldn’t afford to be rough or suffer any distraction here, every cluster of brain cells lost was a memory gone, a learned skill forgotten. Basic human functions they could repair, but if he failed then the soldier would almost have had a factory reset done on them.
Dr Lu was one of the few people who could do this. Operate nanomachines with extremely sought after precision. Coupling macro and micromanaging with a beyond solid grasp of both practical and theoretical biomechanics and nanorobotics, in the entire Earth and Mars, there were less than eight thousand people capable of this.
Three clusters of nanites safely removed from the hippocampus, he grit his teeth as the last one self-destructed. What was lost there? The ability to form new memories?
Amygdala, of the six clusters separated on each part. Four were successfully and safely removed, the last two clusters damaged the left hemisphere.
His programming wasn’t succeeding, he felt his hands tighten as he had a deactivated nanite brought to the observer nanite and scanned it. Different, these nanites were visually the same as the R3C2-AP but had small, minor differences that made them more active in sub-zero temperatures.
He began reprogramming the S0s, different operations were required, but the blood-brain barrier was getting breached again, the S0s he left there weren’t enough. He divided his attention between programming each front, but it wasn’t enough.
The soldier’s heartbeat flatlined. Was it finally destroyed? Or did Auburn remove it? It didn’t matter, the blood flow to the soldier’s brain stopped and with it the tide of nanites. He was on a time limit now, but he can finally focus on safely preserving the brain.
Cingulate gyrus, all clusters successfully removed.
Temporal lobe, he gritted his teeth as the auditory complex was damaged, but otherwise, all clusters were removed.
Occipital lobe, all clusters removed.
Parietal lobe all clusters…
Frontal lobe…
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Cerebrospinal fluid cleared. He had his nanites make another two scans of the brain, but the cerebrum was completely cleared, the remains were being safely deconstructed by his own nanites
He had another set move down and began clearing the cerebellum.
Cerebellum cleared.
Onto the brain stem now, his teeth clenched as he saw the amount there, a field of black covering the world, but he could do it, he had to-
“Doctor,” a voice suddenly interrupted him, shaking him out of his concentration.
Dr Lu shook his head, “Sorry Auburn… I forgot you were there…”
She didn’t seem to react to this, “We can’t save the brain stem, I’ll begin removal. Just having the brain saved is enough.”
The doctor blinked away tiredness, concentration now slipping, “Yes… yes, I’ll leave that part to you then.”
She nodded, “Take a nap, you look horrible Lu.”
He nodded in return, “Yes… maybe I will.”
He moved the nanites to a safe spot and had them all safely self-destruct. The remains were relatively non-toxic and the body's own system can flush them out with no significant long term problems. Before disconnecting, the pod opened up back into his office. He kept a feed of Auburn's surgery up though, despite his promises he couldn’t sleep now, not yet.
He rubbed his brow, only noticing just how much sweat had accumulated, his clothes now wetly clung to him.
It was only when Dr Auburn finished her part, did he finally fall asleep.
----------------------------------------
“I’m afraid it won’t be so simple,” the doctor before Denise explained. “The surgery we did on Alex was a last resort measure.”
The Asian looking doctor on the screen added, “I took into account their enhanced status, they were most likely to survive even if a catastrophic mistake occurred, even then, Alex still suffered irreparable damage to many parts of their brain.” With a defeated look, Dr Lu said, “I’m afraid if we go for the same operation on your son, there is only a 40-50% chance he won’t come out the same person.”
Sarah’s hand tightened around her arm, “What are the other options?”
“We can store him in advanced cryo until a suitable and safe solution is found, but Rouen doesn’t have the infrastructure for it, he’ll have to be moved to a hospital somewhere else,” he looked hesitant for a moment, “I can recommend a hospital over here, but you’ll have to apply for citizenship.”
“We’ll have to speak with the Department of Immigration for that?”
He nodded.
“The nanovirus, tell us about it again.”
“Nanovirus is actually the incorrect term to describe a nanobot-” he paused, realising his audience, “Ahem, specifically it seems to be a modded variant of the R3C2-AP nanite, but the modifications are not enough that it greatly strays from its original purpose. Which is generally to not to kill,” he emphasized, “but to permanently cripple the infected by attacking their nerve cells. So that they are, to put it kindly, a constant drain of resources. It is, thankfully, not infectious.”
It was, as Denise understood, something meant to fulfil the original purpose of an Anti-Personnel Landmine in a war where someone could be regenerated from only a head and torso.
“People infected with it will slowly enter a vegetative state through three stages. The violent reaction it had with Alex’s body was due to their greatly enhanced immune system, which was successful enough that it killed a majority of the nanites initially, greatly speeding up the stages and causing a cascade of replication signals that led to Alex almost being killed by it.”
By good or bad luck, it meant Matt had more time.
“The stages are as follows: Stage One, the nanite propagates and replicates in the body, it is relatively harmless at this point, however, once it has propagated throughout the entire body, it progresses to stage two.”
“In Stage Two, the nanite detects that it has spread throughout the entire body by latching onto and piercing cells. Each detects certain DNA phenotypes, causing it to release certain chemical signals related to them. Once a nanite not attached to a cell has received a signal of each type, it activates and begins attacking the nervous system.”
A video appeared, showing the nanite replicating to two, the original latched onto and pierced a cell, before producing a coloured circle which attached to the second nanite.
He paused for a moment, “It is around here that the immune system begins to heavily intervene, but the nanites are designed to self-destruct upon getting phagocytosed or otherwise damaged. Leading to a chemical spill that damages the body and signals other nanites to increase replication, which caused the cascade that almost killed Alex. This is the stage Matt is currently in and why he is prescribed several immune suppressors, and most damaging, the nanites would be in his brain by now and have latched onto several brain cells.”
Denise listened intently, as if there was a single thing she could get, a miracle solution that could be gotten just by hearing harder.
“And in Stage 3…” he trailed off, sighing before saying, “he will technically not die, but so long as the nanites remain in his system, he’ll be unable to move a single muscle, meaning he’ll require constant life support just so his heart can keep beating. It is by this point, that the affliction is considered terminal.”
They were quiet, not a sound was made. The simple weight of the decision that lay before them. One, they put Matt into cryosleep for who knows how long until an actually safe cure or solution could be found or they gamble their son’s life and person.
There was a third option, but neither of them would choose St Annes.
“This is… a heavy decision,” he said, “regardless, both of them are best solved with the higher-tech support in Oceania. The probability of either option working would be greatly increased with better equipment. I would suggest at least getting in contact with the Department.” Dr Lu turned to the side of the screen, “Dr Auburn, I have another appointment, can you take the rest?”
“Yes I can Lu,” the female doctor replied.
He nodded, “Thank you,” before the screen closed.
There was only silence between the women, before Dr Auburn spoke up, “You may want to sleep on this. It is a hard decision.”
Denise mutely nodded.
“Refugees are always welcome here, you can stay for as long as you want… but your son will need a decision soon. We can keep him in cryo for long but we don’t have the right equipment to fully prevent brain damage.”
“We understand,” she quietly said as they left.
----------------------------------------
Sarah’s hand shook slightly as she read the papers.
“Installation of a brain chip and the signing of an NDA program stopping us from speaking about Europe?” she asked, almost in shock at the incredulity of it.
The official shook her head, “No, you misunderstand, you may still speak about it, in fact, we are recommending you go on several talk shows to speak of your simply harrowing experience. You don’t have to if it is too much, but it is, of course, recommended you share your experience.”
But no matter how she put it, the NDA would prevent them from speaking of certain aspects of the Metro Cities, the Perimeter and even SANs.
“And the brain chip?”
“A Somatic Implant is vital to modern life,” she answered, “without it and an AAD, that is, an Auxiliary Augment Device, you won’t be able to use most technology or obtain a job. They are vital for modern life in Oceania. It monitors your health and returns them in real-time so you can be made aware of any problems you have before they become problems.”
She shrugged, “I am sure I am coming off as authoritarian, however, I assure you that this is just fact. Everyone in Oceania has a Somatic Implant and their life has been made better for it. It may be some culture shock to you, but you simply must get with the times.”
Perhaps what was most unsettling for Sarah, was that the official did not seem to speak with malicious intent, no, she was acting as if Sarah was the crazy one here. She looked at her with pity, as if she’ll learn. It was like the time Sarah spoke to a flat-earther except she was the flat-earther and the official was Sarah, tired of explaining facts for the tenth time.
“I… I need to think about this,” she said as she stood.
The official nodded, “Take your time lady, I was already informed of your situation and have sped everything as much as possible, but…”
She let the sentence drift, but Sarah wasn’t an idiot. She was on a timeline. But at the very least, they had to explore other options, perhaps the Federation was better.
“I hope you find the solution you need, even if it isn’t with Oceania,” the official said as Sarah left.
“Thank you,” she replied and meant every word.
----------------------------------------
Sarah was rather puzzled, asking about the Federation didn’t bring her into an office like the last, but rather one that made her think of a CEO’s office. A large study with a mahogany desk situated in front of the window and before it was a pair of tasteful lounging couches with a coffee table in the middle. The young behind the desk smiled as she entered, putting away some papers, “Ah, welcome… Mrs O’Sullivan?” he glanced at her to confirm the paper was correct.
“Yes, and you?”
“Mr Reese, but please just call me John, take a seat,” he said, gesturing to a chair facing his desk.
Cautiously, she sat down, not too sure what to make of this, but John kept smiling. He poured some tea from a kettle into a cup, “Would you like some tea?”
She shook her head, “Not really.”
“Your loss,” he said as he took a small sip. “You must be wondering why you are here instead of with a government official,” he said. Not even bothering for an answer, he continued, “Well I’m here on behalf of the Carolina Republic to smooth over your process of immigration.”
“I am sure you’ve already received an offer from Oceania, which I must suggest you reject,” he shook his head, “Oceania is an authoritarian hellscape, it is no place to raise children.”
“I’ve heard rumours in the Metros, yes,” she replied.
John nodded, “I’m afraid most of them are true. You can’t take a shit in there without the government knowing, but don’t worry.” He shuffled some papers in front of her, “As you can see, I am with Guilliman Pharmaceuticals, which is a subsidiary company of Mcdothra Biomedicals, the company who has the…” he paused a bit, “hmmm… I suppose, owns the Frasier R3C2-AP Nanobots that have… unfortunately infected your son.” His face seemed greatly saddened by the fact.
Sorrowfully, he orated, “It is greatly unfortunate that the foolishness of our forefathers has led to harm to your son’s beautiful soul, however, we would like an opportunity to remedy this, and are willing to lend you the money and company resources to allow for your son Max’s full recovery.”
One of Sarah’s fingers twitched, “Lend?”
“Of course, we can’t be expected to give things away for free,” he replied, apparent sorrow on his face. “It is no way to run a business, that is why it’ll take the form of a loan, but don’t worry about the small stuff, Guilliman Pharmaceuticals is the most apt in the world for solving your son’s affliction.”
“Tell me more about the loan,” she cautiously asked, “and how you expect a pair of recently jobless individuals to pay it back. After all, giving things away is no way to run a business.”
The man seemed to beam, “Well it’s a rather simple matter, we are currently offering employment, we have many factories across the Americas that are largely automated but a human touch is needed to keep things smoothed and geared.”
“How much is the loan and what’s the interest?”
John shrugged, “Such small details can be fleshed out later-”
Sarah’s arm moved and grabbed the paper the man was trying to hide, bringing it to her face before taking a long, long look at it.
“Do you take me for an idiot?” she very, very quietly asked. “These terms are unpayable. The position you offer and the wages mathematically cannot pay it off. The interest grows faster than what could be earned.”
The man’s face was unchanged, “It is only an initial position, which you may bargain from, and even then that’s not accounting for the many raises and promotions which you may-”
Sarah slammed the papers onto the desk, “I’m done here.” She stood and began to leave.
“Wait a moment.”
She paused at the door, turning to the man who only looked smug, “I said before that we are the best option to treat your son.”
Sarah scoffed, “From what I’ve heard the Federation is severely behind Oceania in tech level, if they can’t do it then you expect me to think you can?”
“Ah but there’s the trick,” the man said, “we are the ones who made the product, of course, we are the ones most… ‘knowledgeable’ about its ins and outs.”
Sarah had a blissful moment, where she didn’t understand what the man was saying. Before she did and grit her teeth, “Are you saying that you have the deactivation codes for the nanites?”
The man smiled, “I am very specifically not saying that. I am however saying that we are best suited to save your son Max.”
“After all, don’t you want to speak to your-”
Sarah wasn’t listening, she walked up to the man, grabbed him by the collar and slammed his fucking face into the desk.
There was a satisfying crack as his nose broke.
“His name,” she spoke slowly, quietly and deliberately as she held his head down, “is Matt.”
Slowly, Sarah let go and headed for the door.
“Gurrgh,” the man groaned as he clutched his broken nose. “You’ll pay for that!” he screamed. “You know what just did you, stupid woman! We bought your fucking migration rights! You can’t get into the Federation without going through us!”
“Shove a dick up your nose, it might straighten it,” she coldly replied as she slammed the door behind her.
Sarah walked for a long time, fueled by more things than rage. It was only after a while did she slow and stop. The realisation of what she did slowly hitting her.
The American Federation was a bust if everything he said was true. That left Oceania and the People’s Republic, but there was no way they could go to Mars, so Oceania remained the only option. With a shaky hand, she brought out her phone.
She dialled Denise’s number and panicked for a moment when the call didn’t go through before she remembered she needed to swap services to above ground. This time, she picked up on the third ring.
“Denny-boo,” she quietly said into the phone.
“...Yes?” her wife asked.
“I may have ruined our chances with the Federation and… a one-hundred percent way to save Matt,” her voice broke as she admitted it.
There was only a quiet sigh, “Tell me about it when your back, but for now, I just want to know,”
“Was it worth it?”
She thought about it for a long moment, before replying, “Yes.”
“Then I’m not worried,” Sarah could hear the tired smile on the other end, “C’mon back. We haven’t eaten a proper meal for three days now…”