Neurorevo military medical facility. January 7, 1000 Solar Era
Selena Muller led her husband, her sister Hikari and her brother-in-law, Tatsuya Watanabe into Athena’s room in the military hospital funded by Neurorevo within Pacific City, only to find Athena’s bed empty.
Athena’s mother did not always call herself Hikari-- she had chosen it after falling in love with Tatsuya Watanabe, who had much stronger ties in terms of Japanese ancestry. They both now resided in Singapore for the most part.
As for Athena-- her name was one amongst many languages given to her by her parents, and she had found herself… vibing with this name since young, having delved into ancient myths at that young curious age.
Hikari and Tatsuya Watanabe had immediately booked a flight to Pacific City once contacted by the Mullers. They had even seen the recorded scenes of the chaotic state of the Pacific City along with the Nexarm battle. These scenes were shared across the digital world, though part of the battle simply did not exist due to the electromagnetic pulse that disrupted electronics.
A nurse who came to fix up the room noticed their concerned faces and intuitively knew who they must be, and brightened up their mood with a wide smile.
“Your daughter has been quite stable and the doctor has deemed it safe for her to be stress tested. Once she passes that test, she’ll be free to leave.”
“Stress tested?!” An alarmed Selena balked.
In comparison, Athena’s parents, Hikari and Tatsuya Watanabe had relieved expressions.
“Sister,” Hikari had a small smile and seemed to be bubbling with mirth. “It’s standard protocol. Usually, only highly stable patients will be stress tested. It’s just to fully determine a patient’s physical and neuro stability.”
She was quite overjoyed that her sister, Selena, had such affection for her daughter. However, she had been a nurse, and she had married a doctor. She understood medical protocols much better than Selena.
“Follow me.” The nurse retained her full smile and waved for them to follow.
A few turns and corridors later, they began hearing the whirring noise of a treadmill and soon found themselves in a gym-like facility. Unlike your typical gym, the room had many technologies and tools used to detect a patient’s status. Some of these hovered in the air, many were simply mounted to the walls at different heights.
Athena herself was in jet-black skin-tight sports bra and yoga pants, with her copper hair tied into a ponytail behind her head.
She was currently jogging on a treadmill, and had a mask strapped over her head while controlling many neuro device modules that floated in the air behind her. There were also many sensors attached to areas around her chest and head.
“How’s her VO2 max and VO2 peak?” A female doctor dressed in a white coat asked.
“Compared to her previous assessments, she’s in fact improved slightly. All her other vitals are stable as well.” A different dressed woman replied. This other woman instead had a polo-shirt on with the word ‘physiotherapist’ on her chest.
“And her neurological response?”
“Hmmm.” Another medical professional on the side stepped in at this question. He was observing a three dimensional holographic screen in his hand.
“Currently, we are at nine motor and nine sensory channel activation, her previous stable state of neurological control. Brain function is fully stable. No signs of overload. My opinion is that we will need to test a tenth device of each to truly assess her brain’s response.”
“Let’s take baby steps. We will observe with one additional sensory device first. Then add the paired motor device.” The female doctor leading the team nodded.
“Athena. How are you feeling? If you feel tired, we can give you a break. Or are you prepared?”
Athena, unable to communicate coherently with that oxygen mask strapped over her mouth and nose, nodded her head. In such a situation, she would have normally communicated using a neuro device, but she was currently synced to testing modules that had minimal function, designed for stress testing the brain.
“Oh, just take off the mask for a second, for god’s sake.”
Athena visibly rolled her eyes at the doctor’s orders, but complied.
“Yes, I’m good to go. I agree to attempt the tenth neuro channel test. Could we please hurry up. I want to leave this place already.”
“Sorry, dear,” the leading doctor chuckled. “You know our protocols. We need to have clear consent from patients and all that, especially when it comes to … slightly pushing the boundaries.”
Tatsuya Watanabe, quietly observing on the side, couldn’t resist leaning over to his wife.
“She’s been sued before,” he whispered into his wife’s right ear, eliciting a snort, the result of his wife attempting to hold back a chortle.
At this point, another device on the ground rose into the air.
The male neurologist performed a widening motion with his arms, and the holographic image of Athena’s brain increased in size.
The man squinted as his eyes darted around the holographic image of Athena’s brain, looking at all the numbers and blinking colors that popped up in different parts of the brain image.
“Stable.”
“Athena. Any stress? If not, please activate the paired motor device.”
Athena nodded, and another device promptly rose into the air.
The male neurologist once again indicated that everything was stable.
“Athena. How’s your head?”
Athena replied with a nod accompanied by a slight frown. This was odd. Normally, she should be feeling a twinge in her head when operating ten of each type of device. A total of eighteen had always been her limit.
“Up for an eleventh?”
Athena nodded again and as the eleventh set of neuro devices lifted into the air, she finally felt a slight hard-to-describe discomfort in the head.
“Please maintain it for twenty seconds so we have enough data to assess the brain pattern,” inserted the male neurologist as he noticed something off on his holographic image.
Athena tolerated the slight discomfort and after twenty seconds, the neuro devices powered down one-by-one as the treadmill came to a stop.
The leading doctor glanced at Athena then her family members with a satisfied smile.
“Good news. She’s stable so she’ll be free to go. However, I need to discuss our findings with my team, so we will give you all an overview after lunch and then she will be discharged. Do enjoy your lunch.”
The medical team filed out and Athena gave her parents, aunt and uncle each a hug.
Initially, Tatsuya Watanabe had wanted to ‘catch-up’ with his daughter, only to realize that he had in fact only been separated from her for less than a week.
Unlike him, Hikari Watanabe quickly jumped into asking about her daughter’s stay at the hospital.
“Mom. The food is the standard factory mass-printed food, okay? It’s just like your average daily meal!” Athena sometimes found her mother overbearing in some ways, but also endearing.
As for her father, he seemed often at a loss for words. But she knew her father cared-- he regularly took leave of his work to attend many of her extracurricular performances when she was young. He didn’t always make every single one of them, but he would always compensate for a missed performance by specially taking her out on another day.
Their reunion was interrupted by a knock on the door.
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“Hello. Sorry to interrupt, but I’d--we’d like to meet Athena Watanabe.”
A handsome blonde and caucasian-featured man stood at the doorway. Behind him stood an african man with messy outward sprouting dark hair, a mediterranean man, and another in a robust military uniform.
‘This is Akachukwu Okoye, the leading engineer in Neurorevo, of Nigerian descent.” He waved at the mediterranean man. “President Varoufakis. You know of him. This is Admiral Petrov. EFSF.”
“Lastly, I am James MacLeod. Special Lieutenant of the new EFSF mobile Nexarm forces.”
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They had found an empty room in the facility's wing, and James MacLeod had taken great care, combing the room and then subsequently setting up neuro devices to sense any trying to spy upon them. Athena observed that James MacLeod could control approximately twenty-six devices-- an amazing feat by all current standards.
As for who was currently in the room? Athena’s parents had excused themselves-- they felt like a sore thumb sticking out among the group, and trusted Selena and John Muller to watch over Athena. Selena had already met Varoufakis and Petrov previously, and John was involved in a myriad of both scientific and political activities in Pacific City. He was certainly well-acquainted with Neurorevo’s leading engineer, Okoye.
James MacLeod spoke first.
“You already knew my intention the moment I spoke of my station. Quite obviously, I’m here to recruit you into the mobile Nexarm forces.”
“I… I don’t know.” Athena wasn’t sure how to react. Her parents had begrudgingly supported her joining the EFSF during peacetime. But now? As for herself, she was very much tempted to agree to such an offer. She had seen enough of the terrorists’ activities. There’s nothing quite like seeing human corpses bleeding to death on the ground, all because the terrorists wanted to steal a Nexarm. Athena had sensed that through her multiple neuro devices. She had sensed the pain and terror of her fellow Terrans in the Pacific City, many degrees stronger than one who did not use any neuro devices.
However, doubt also occupied her mind. Supposedly, she had a total of thirty-six neuro channels. Yet, so far, she could only tolerate eighteen. Did she deserve to be in this special unit?
“I also still have the mandatory six months training and the elective course that I have to study in Sol University,” She added.
“Well. We could have you complete the training within the mobile Nexarm unit. As for the course… I know you’ve already bought and studied the material beforehand. I know you’d pass if you took the exam today. As for protocols? Just sit through the classes and call it a day.”
“You.. spied on me?” Athena had always self-studied material prior to her courses. She never felt like she was living up to her thirty-six neuro channel potential, and one of her ways to compensate was to have early preparation in studies.
“Mmmm.” James MacLeod showed no signs of remorse on his face. “Look. I’m attempting to form a competent Nexarm special force. I need to know everything about my recruits. I know you have a habit of prior preparation for your studies.”
Athena could not refute that.
“Okay, let’s make this fair.” James MacLeod, noticing her distaste at the situation, offered information. “I, James MacLeod, of the normally hidden MacLeod family, am not supposed to participate in war. Against the wishes of my family members, I chose to break tradition and, well, here I am.”
“Why?” Athena was not fully aware of how the MacLeod family functioned. However, they are a famous family that was well-known for avoiding any sort of publicity.
“I believe my family’s negligence has led to the current situation. So here I am,” he straightforwardly stated.
Athena still fumed that this stranger had combed through her history. But the fact that he had willingly offered a bit of his own… Well. She fully understood the necessity of background checks.
“Enough!” Petrov was growing disgruntled. “Look, girl. Whether you join or not, that’s up to you. Now, let’s get to the important part. Okoye!”
President Varoufakis appeared fully content to observe on the side.
The Neurorevo head engineer Okoye tapped his neuro circlet, and a device activated that displayed a hologram of Nexarm combat simulation.
These Nexarms fought in an imaginary space in a dark and open void.
“Nexarms were initially designed to protect its pilot in dangerous construction and asteroid mining sites. So, I had to consider what combat might look like.” He had a rather thick but warm and friendly accent.
“Nexarms are more like a central control unit. The arms and legs can be detached. Multiple more can be attached if the pilot wants a spider-like or even centipedal form.”
“Obviously, us humans are used to moving around with four limbs, so I determined that as the most comfortable form for a pilot.”
“As for combat,” At this stage, Okoye glanced at Athena with a funny look. “I never really considered close quarters combat. I always imagined Nexarms as units in space, especially with their weight damaging infrastructure and all that…”
“Basically in space, I saw combat as such.” His fingers manipulated the hologram, and a simulation began. “Two Nexarm units would hide from each other as much as possible, reason being, if the center Nexarm unit is destroyed, all of its neuro devices would also stop functioning. Thus, battle should be a matter of two nexarms, constantly attempting to take out each other’s neuro devices to increase their own advantage.”
“At the same time, these pilots should be attempting to locate each other’s central pilot unit, not unlike searching for a sniper in traditional warfare. So, it’s much like a game of cat and mouse under continuous field bombardment from the neuro connected weapons.”
“Although the Nexarm has strong defenses, in theory, in space where there is little to no air or light particles, energy weapons such particle and laser beams, if synced and fired to land in the same time at a plate under amplification, should be able to quickly permanently or even damage a plate if the Nexarm central unit’s position gets locked in. After all, these laser systems will be close to invisible in the vastness that is space. With enough range, it would be hard for sensory units to detect and respond quickly.”
“Kinetic rounds, in space, would also be close-to-invisible. The firing sound effectively won’t be heard, and the lack of light means the round is difficult to be seen or detected through any EM waves.”
As Athena listened, she began understanding the theory behind the Nexarm’s designs.
“But you added close combat weapons?” she questioned.
“Well. Yes. There was always a possibility that two Nexarms might take out each other’s neuro weapons and have no choice but to resort to close range combat, was my thought.”
“That’s exactly why we’re here,” interjected Admiral Petrov. “Senior trainee. Your combat data has shown that this simulation, sound in theory, can be quite different in real combat. Tell us your thoughts at the time!”
“I…” Athena was rather surprised that she was being ‘consulted’. “Well. Perhaps… I mean, my combat was situated on Earth, so I had perfect vision of the kinetic rounds being fired at me. Although the sound only caught up later, multiple rounds are required to hit a plate in succession to damage it, so that too provided me with response time.”
“My opponents had comparable awareness, so I found it basically impossible to disable their units from range, and so I chose to engage in close quarters combat.”
“Oh,” Athena did not want to humiliate the engineer Okoye, but she felt it necessary to tell him this. “In close quarters, two short knives would be much more useful. My opponent had a greatsword and he was struggling to do much. Also, short knives would be far more useful to slip in through the plates of the Nexarm to damage the artificial musculature of the Nexarm’s body.”
“I…” Caught off guard, Okoye took a few seconds to recompose himself. “If I’m being honest, close quarters combat was the last consideration in my mind. I honestly just thought it’d be … cool to give them these weapons.”
At the start of this informal discussion, the room had been somewhat tense, but now, everyone relaxed. Some chortled and some had grins plastered on their faces. Even Petrov, reputed to be a fiery, reactive in an overly serious manner kind of man had a funny twitch at the corner of his lips.
“MacLeod.” His firm voice quieted down the room.
“Yes,” James MacLeod tipped his head. “It would seem that the use of a Nexarm depends very much on the interaction of the neuro devices and the surrounding environment. Whether certain strategies would be effective depends thoroughly on the pilot’s awareness. Certain environments allow a pilot to effectively sense their opponents moves and employ their own defenses appropriately. Every individual pilot might also have a different number of sensory devices that is a variable in that equation. Hmmm. With the many different neuro sensory devices, assessing this will be challenging…”
The group sunk into silence, each trying to imagine different scenarios in their minds. What if this was a battle in a desert storm? Underwater? On Mars? Within an orbital colony? In an asteroid field? On differently structured large asteroids? And what neuro sensory devices would have the most impact in each of these environments?
The lengthening silence was interrupted by a beeping noise from President Varoufakis’ neuro circlet. He tapped it with his finger, and a hologram popped up.
“Reporting. There are riots in Los Angeles over the price hikes in response to the developing situation in the Solar System. Many citizens are unhappy that they can no longer afford to purchase the incredibly fashionable and recently newly released neuro circlet designed by the idol Warhol.”
“Seriously?” Admiral Petrov exclaimed. “I grew up starving in an orbital space colony!”
President Varoufakis let out a sigh. “Petrov. If you grew up on Earth, you’d understand that Terrans haven’t starved for centuries upon centuries. It has long been the norm for all citizens to pursue such fashionable trends every six months or so…It is to be expected.”
“Regardless,” President Varoufakis glanced at all those in the meeting each in turn. “How to use a Nexarm effectively in combat is a complex problem. Do also remember that it needs to be integrated with our other combat capabilities. Let’s leave it at this.”
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Polaris Manor, Pacific City
Varoufakis glanced at the recipe sitting on a screen on the kitchen wall. He was trying to check the cooking time for the dish, Mediterranean salmon. Getting the spice right and tasteful had been a bit more challenging than he thought it’d be. Still, with the salmon simmering on the pan, he felt a sense of excitement that seemed to clear the clouds in his head.
“Sir. Is this really necessary?” An old yet fit man stood at the doorway to the kitchen. This was Varoufakis’ butler. “The printed food that we have is perfect. You could easily modify any taste parameters and the AI will control the machinery to churn out exactly what you desire. Ever since a few days ago, you’ve been… fooling around in this… archaic kitchen.”
Varoufakis took no offense against this old butler. This man had supported him through much of his life within politics. In some ways, he saw the butler akin to a godfather of sorts.
“Fred. Do you simply want to eat food printed by an AI? You know… I saw those riots today and Petrov was incredulous at the scene… Fred. I’m concerned. I wish to appreciate that I’m not starving. I want to love the food in front of me. You understand?”
“I do enjoy my daily meals.” Fred, the butler, only frowned, unsure of what Varoufakis meant.
Varoufakis wasn’t sure how to explain this feeling inside him. He could only continued preparing the simmering mediterranean salmon in the pan. Fred silently stood vigil over the man, accompanied by the sound of flickering flames, the sizzling of fish skin and the fragrance of rich spices.