Chapter 74: Doctor Philipps
Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Valterion System; Nua; Alburgh; Valterion Mansion
The night goes by quickly, and I’m sleeping like a baby. The bed is nice, and I think Mom stayed by my side until I was asleep. Quite funny, considering I’m already twenty-one years old and closing in on twenty-two. Or am I? I can finally ask for my real birthday!
I stand up with a big yawn, and the house automatically opens up the blinds, letting the daylight in. It’s very bright outside… “Uhh, what’s the time?” I mutter in the open air and am very surprised when a voice answers.
“Good morning, Miss Valterion, it’s ten thirty in the morning. Your parents are waiting for you with breakfast. I can notify them if you want to take a shower first.”
Holy smokes, I didn’t expect that. Does the house have an AI? “Uhh, yeah, I’d like a shower… Also, how can I call you?”
“I’m Clara, nice to meet you. Go on, just step through the door, the shower is waiting. Everything you need will come to you.”
“Okay, thanks, Clara. You can just call me Sara if you want.” I’m still a bit tired, so I don’t question her and step through the door I didn’t even see the night before. Inside is just like she said a bathroom with a gigantic shower to the right. I drop my clothes in the waste basket and step under the shower head. The water begins to rain automatically, and the temperature is already perfect. I let out a sigh. I could stay here all day! Projections of hard light around me keep the water from splashing everywhere and before I can ask Clara, a bottle of shampoo is already floating before me, and the water cuts off. Magitech? Must be.
I continue showering and tell Clara that I’m finished a short while later. The water cuts off again, and warmth envelopes me. Suddenly, I’m dry and a new set of clothes is ready for me. For the first time in I don’t know how many years, I put on clothes without a shipsuit beneath! Just some dark leggings with a grey skirt that ends just above my knees and a dark purple tee with geometric forms on it. Perfect, Clara has taste! Not that I have that many things in my bag, but still. In the end, I put on my trusted sneakers and leave my room. A notification on my interface tells me that Clara would like to connect to it, and I accept. After that, small arrows in my vision lead me to the dining room where my parents are already waiting with steaming coffee and pancakes.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Dad greets me with a grin. Mom whacks the back of his head and I snort a “Morning” back.
We sit down around the table and enjoy the food while talking lazily. Finally, Mom takes a deep breath. “Are you ready to meet with Doc Philipps?”
I nod. “Yeah, I am. But I think, we should take Maja with us, she might have some insights… I had a bad reaction when we implanted my Utility core.”
“Like what? And why would she have insights? She isn’t a Mage from what I felt.”
“Because she is her AI, Dan.” Mom grins and Dad looks confused for a moment.
He points at my ear. “But what is this then?”
“That’s S-57, my backup,” I reply. “And about the reaction… I was unconscious for a week afterward…”
“WHAT???” Both my parents ask. “That’s not normal at all,” Mom adds.
“Yeah, I figured, so that’s why I want Maja with us.”
“Okay, that makes sense then… Arnold, can you call her over?” He must have made so silently because we return to eating without a reply from Dad’s AI. Maja arrives some fifteen minutes later, just when we finish with breakfast.
Clara announces her presence and I hurry to the front door to greet her. “Hey Sara, what’s the matter? Arnold just told me to come over without any details… Lazy dude that one.”
“Oh, we’re going to visit a doctor and finally take a look at my core,” I tell her happily and she is all smiles.
“Great, maybe I finally find out what went wrong back then… When do we leave?”
My parents arrive at the doorstep as well and Dad calls out. “Right about now. Do you want a shuttle or should we just teleport? Doctor Philipps has his practice in one of the towers.”
“I’d like the shuttle, please.” A bit more time to calm my nerves won’t hurt and I’d like to enjoy the view. Dad nods and mumbles under his breath, probably talking to Arnold.
Five minutes later, a shuttle sets down on the landing pad. This time it’s a normal one and we step in. After we sit down, it takes off. “Mom, Dad, there is one thing I wanted to ask you.” They look back at me with raised eyebrows. Well, that sounded more ominous than I intended.
“When is my birthday? The guys at the orphanage just used my arrival date and I hated it.”
Mom is all smiles. “Oh dear, that must have been hard. You were born on the seventh of August, twenty-two years ago.”
Wait, I’m already twenty-two? Holy smokes the orphanage guys made me half a year younger than I am! It’s currently November, so I’ve already been twenty-two for quite some time. “I missed my twenty-second birthday…”
Mom hugs me. “Don’t worry you’ve still plenty of birthdays to celebrate. In case you haven’t noticed, Song Medical can make your life much, much longer.”
I snort. “How could I miss this… You guys are ancient!”
Dad holds his hand to his heart. “By our own daughter… straight where it hurts.” He exclaims in mock outrage.
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The shuttle is now much closer to the towers, and I notice that there are different levels filled with people and stores, just like in Duros. That concept seems to be universally applicable. Our shuttle heads for a platform at medium height and sets down. We leave the shuttle and follow the walkways toward a nearby tower. Luckily, there aren’t many people around on this level, or our small group would have attracted way more attention. It’s not normal that you have the Duke and Duchess just walking along in town after all. The few people who are there look at us with wide eyes and a few even take pictures. Mom and Dad just smile and wave.
Then we enter the tower, and they lead me to an unremarkable door. The label says Doctor August Philipps. Dad just opens it and steps through. I guess Arnold has announced our arrival.
A blonde nurse greets us and confirms my suspicions. Doctor Philipps is already waiting for me. She leads us to an office and behind a desk sits an older man wearing glasses and a serious expression. Dad shakes his hand. “Hello, August, thanks for making that appointment at such short notice.”
He has a bit of a whiney voice when he replies. “No problem Mr. Valterion.” He looks at me. “I take it this is the patient in question?”
Dad nods. “Yes, that’s Sara, she recently arrived here, and we discovered some discrepancies with her magic, so we’d like you to take a look at her please.”
Huh, he didn’t say that I’m his daughter! I wonder why? “Good, good, I’ll prepare the examination table.” He looks at me, then points to a door to my right. “You can change in there, then just continue through the next door. I’ll be waiting for you.”
I nod and start leaving. He’s a bit strange… a non-nonsense attitude and all, but I still kinda like him I have to say. Let’s see if I can get him to talk a bit more… I mean he’s about to cut me open, I think.
I quickly change into some disposable hospital clothes, which have something like a flip cover at my navel. I try it a few times and am pleasantly surprised. A small part can be opened up to expose the region of my belly where my cores are, without exposing anything else. I guess this is also used to implant cores into a person. Quite convenient.
When I step through the door, I’m surprised for a second time. It’s not because of the room, it’s just your normal surgery table in the middle with those robotic arms that help the doctor during the procedure. No, what surprises me is the Doctor. He is suddenly all smiles, and his voice is now soft and soothing. “Alright, Sara, welcome.” He looks at my half-closed belly cover and smiles even more. “I take it you’ve already tried out your clothes?”
I nod.
“Perfect, then we can start. Lie down on the table, please and I’ll tell you everything I’m going to do. You can say stop at any moment and if you need anything just tell me. Your parents and friend are waiting outside by the way.”
I do as he said and lie down. “Uhh, could you call in Maja, I think she could help if you have any questions.”
“I’d rather not… Those surgeries around magical cores are private affairs normally. But I can connect to her through this,” he taps his glasses, “if she has an interface or a tablet with her.”
That has me chuckling. “She hasn’t, but she’s my AI, so connecting with her shouldn’t be a problem. I asked because she was the one to implant my Utility core and there were some complications. Also, why do you wear glasses instead of an interface?”
Doctor Philipps eyes widen slightly while I talk. “Fascinating, an AI with her own body… That’s scarce nowadays. I guess I could call her in then, her insights might help if she already worked on your core. As for my glasses, well that’s simple, I like them, and I also like the fact that it shuts me out from all electronics when I put them away. It grounds me.”
A knock on the door has me looking up, and shortly after Maja enters. “Hey there,” I wave, and she stands at the other side of the table, opposite the Doctor. The man in question claps his hands and looks back at me.
“Alright, now we can start. First of all, I would like to cast a spell on you to remove your sensation of pain in your abdominal region. Then I’d like to cast another spell to paralyze that same area to keep you from twitching. You still can move your hands and all if you want. Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I agree, and he continues to do exactly that. I feel the magic being cast and then entering my belly, then I feel nothing at all anymore from that region. Maja grabs my hand and gives me a reassuring press. “Wow, that’s very strange. I feel like I’m cut in half,” I chuckle and the Doctor smiles as well.
“Perfect, that means everything worked out. Tell me, do you feel this?” I see him touching my belly with a tool, but don’t feel a thing. I shake my head. “Good, then let’s continue. Next, I’ll use a laser cutter and cut your belly. The following spell will redirect the blood flow, so you won’t bleed out and we still can see your cores without issues.”
Maja winces. “That would have made things so much easier!”
Doctor Philipps chuckles and focuses on something only he can see in his glasses. Then one of the robotic arms starts moving and hovers over my belly. I see a quick flash of laser light but still don’t feel a thing. The Doctor casts another spell, probably the blood-stopping one, and then he speaks again. “Alright, now that we have access to your cores, I’m going to examine them. You might feel this a bit, depending on how sensitive you are to magic. Just tell me if it’s uncomfortable.” I give him a thumbs-up in acknowledgment.
He moves closer and takes a look. Maja joins him and I look at both of them expectantly. “Fascinating…” the Doctor mumbles.
“What is it?”
“Your core… It emits power in the Junior range, but it looks much, much denser. There is something… Let me check.”
He steps back and grabs another device. It’s just a square black box. He holds it closer to my belly and it suddenly starts beeping. Doctor Philipps gasps. “Unbelievable!”
He starts pacing back and forth, mumbling obscenities under his breath. Whatever this black box showed him, must have unsettled him deeply. I clear my throat.
He looks back at me and clears his throat. “Right, sorry… It’s just that this surprised me,” he indicates the box. I raise an eyebrow, feeling slightly annoyed.
“It’s an Artifact detector. Capital A, do you know what that means?”
Artifact? Holy shit, didn’t Conor say those things are rare as hell? My eyes fly wide open.
The Doctor chuckles slightly. “I see you do… If this particular Artifact wouldn’t limit your power, it would have been an extraordinary find. So it’s just cruel. I’m going to try to remove it. It’s deeply connected with your core, so this might feel uncomfortable. I can also knock you out if you prefer this?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m seeing this through, go ahead.” I grit my teeth and the doctor nods. This time he takes the tools in his own hands instead of using the robotic arms. He gets to work.
At first, I don’t feel a thing, then there is this slight picking sensation. It gets more and more intense, and I start to grimace. Maja grabs my hand and reassures me. I look at her in thanks. “You got this,” she mouths silently, not wanting to disturb the Doctor.
Suddenly, the pain starts, and I do my best not to scream. Doctor Philipps looks up in concern, but I just nod at him to continue. My muscles lock up from the pain and I think if Maja’s hand was flesh and blood, I would have broken it.
Suddenly, the Doctor shouts in triumph and holds up a silver-metallic-looking piece of metal. It’s completely inconspicuous. I see Maja and the Doctor talk excitedly through teary eyes. Then I feel a surge of power, unlike anything I’ve felt before. It’s like the floodgates opened and they just never stop.
Suddenly the pain starts again, way more intense than before. I can’t help myself and scream. Just before I black out, I see the wide eyes of the Doctor and I swear, I hear him say “Impossible.” Then everything is dark.
When I wake again, I’m lying in a different bed, but the white walls still scream hospital or something. The pain is gone, but the all-powerful feeling of magic inside me remains. I blink and see blurry forms around my bed. A few blinks later, I identify Mom, Dad, and Maja who are in a heated discussion with Doctor Philipps.
They haven’t noticed yet that I’m awake and I start to catch on their conversation.
“Impossible,” Mom states.
“Possible,” Doctor Philipps answers. “She’s kind of an Archmage now.”
WHAT?