City-21 “Kyiv”, UNSA Protectorate, Avril Dominion

Industrial Zone “NES Factory”, Medical Center “Lizard Tail”

Maksim Chernykh’s team, August 12, 2049, 7:29 PM

The first light panel on the ceiling flickered to life, igniting a cascade of illumination that raced across the room. Within seconds, the grandeur of a state-of-the-art operating theater was revealed to Nikola.

Her gaze was immediately drawn to a specialized isolation box positioned at the center, designed to protect the surgical array from any external disturbances. So, no outer factors could interfere with the precise operation of this complex. It boasted vibration dampening, support of controlled atmospheric conditions, as well as precision light spectrum management.

“Wow, impressive! The robot surgeon was already spectacular before... I wonder what Doc has installed now to call it ‘smart’? His setup was already among the top models of the last generation, both hardware and software.”

“Alright, let’s dig in. What’s next? Oh, the familiar machines, yes!” Nikola spun around, eyeing a couple of professional service stations for cyborg maintenance along the left wall.

“The right one, as I recall, is more for cyber-diagnosis, and the other can install and configure just about anything. Ah... It would be so great to find new back paws! And I know for sure, Doc had plenty of them. Well, oczywiście (Polish: Of course), he must have taken the most valuable items– but he might have left behind just anything! Too bad I can’t call him up and ask. Though he’d probably just start wheedling for money,” Nikola mused with a smile, logging the primary findings into her report.

“Okay, I’m finished here.”

The operating room had three doors. She had entered through the first one; another led to a corridor heading to the rehabilitation wards, and the second to a workshop through a decontamination chamber; a small but crucial detail. Deciding there was nothing to gain from the wards – just rooms where one could live – Red headed to the workshop. Moreover, the storage was located nearby, as well as the kitchen with the promised food.

She dashed through the now deactivated “cleaning” area into a large room and flicked the switch.

“Well, I haven’t been here before. Though I bet it was more stocked just yesterday…” she noted, scanning the barren tables and equipment installation spots.

Nearly all serious machinery, including 3D printers, their materials, and assembly robots, had been dismantled and removed by the clinic staff. What remained was the cheapest and heaviest: a workbench with a manipulator and tool connectors.

“Ugh, greedy bugger, stripped it down to the bone, It's as empty as during the war...” Nikola thought, eyeing the empty shelves and a couple of large cabinets.

At that moment, the mediaglyph blinked, signaling the discovery of a new network. Since Nikola’s sub-brain signature was preset, catching the invitation and connecting was no problem.

Chat windows popped open, unrestricted by P2P communication.

“There we go, that’s more like it!” Maksim was the first to chime in, activating his ‘first-person’ camera. “I’ve finished with the engineering section; how’s it going on your end?”

“The workshop’s empty. Zelman took everything to the bare walls. Literally, nothing left but an empty workbench and basic tools,” reported Redhead, switching her mode to eye-view. “I’m heading to the storage next, might find some second-hand stuff left, and then gonna check the kitchen and start unloading.”

“And I’m currently dissecting the local computers,” Dasha was already enveloped in vapor clouds as she delved into virtual reality, exploring the local system. “Nothing useful in the administrative network, just the simplest of programs. The surgical robot’s AI and its databases are indeed offline, as Zelman promised.”

Having said that, the girl wriggled in her chair and proudly added, “By the way, I know how we can find out what’s happening during the curfew... yeah!”

“Really? Seriously?” both Maksim and Nikola asked in unison.

“Yep, hee-hee-hee,” Dasha laughed, puffing on her vape. “Turns out, Doc’s clinic is subscribed to the Premium VOD package from ‘Kyivstar’. And it’s not just full of kitty documentaries and porn; it includes all four major Kyiv news channels. Well, they are now already streaming Protes’ news, propaganda and all-round brainwashing for lemmings... The best part is, no external network connection required, thus no one can track us... And who’s the genius now? My Ravens are already trickling in, and when Moira wakes up... oh boy! I will… I will… I will not be able to vape a ‘five’ then... Ugh… But still, I’m damn good! Yeah!”

“Ha-ha, that’s smart, really! So, now Protectorate is feeding us info about their plans!” Nikola laughed and added, pointing at the massive wall-mounted television. “And here I thought that Doc was only using it for ads of the clinic and promo videos about new limbs.”

“You’re not just good, you’re a Wonder,” Maksim agreed with a warm tone. “That’s why I call you ‘WonderKid’.”

Pleased with herself, Dasha hummed contentedly with closed eyes.

“Speaking of good news,” Max noted, “the engineering bay is in top form! We’re getting a steady energy supply from The Factory. Moira might be quite a power eater, but we’ve got enough juice here for two of her. Everything’s rigged through an uninterruptible power supply system. We’ve got industrial backup generators fully fueled, with enough power to last five days at 80% load. I’m heading back to you, Dasha. Let’s get to work on Alisa.”

“Okay.” The girl left the clinic’s empty local network alone and came out of virtual.

“And Nika, please, check in the workshop before you leave,” Maxim asked, “what kind of sockets and power cables are there?”

“Standard stuff,” she reported, giving him a quick tour via her cam feed. “Protected lines and looks like plenty of power capacity according to the markings.”

“Perfect. That’s exactly what we need. Let’s set up here.”

“Max, I didn’t take the cooling unit, as you advised,” Dasha mentioned. “I suppose, we’ll need some tweaking.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Maxim responded succinctly. “Don’t worry.”

“There are heat dissipation buses here,” Nikola said, lifting a protective cover to reveal a hefty connector. “Looks like it was previously set up for assembly systems…”

“Yep, we can adapt that,” the guy nodded approvingly. “Excellent. So, we’re bringing Moira there.”

“Fajnie! (Polish: Cool) I'll keep exploring then!” Red darted out into the main corridor and headed toward the storage rooms.

While Daria’s platform moved towards the workshop, Nika raced down the corridor and veered left into a familiar room where she’d made countless cups of coffee in the past.

“Oh, wow! They left everything in the little kitchen!” Like a vibrant redhead storm, she buzzed around the room, checking everything from the dishwasher to the vent hood over the stove. After turning the coffee maker on and off and confirming the water filter worked, she declared,

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Operational, indeed. Well, guys, I can cook. And no one has died from my food, so far… Means, we only need ingredients now! Hm-hm, gotta check the fridge…”

Then she whispered as if to herself, “Since our captain is so hungry, poor thing. He is even hoarding all the snacks, the miser. Tee-hee-hee…”

“Red, I’m about to go over there and spank you!” Maksim’s voice crackled through, as he’d heard every word clearly.

“Well… I might just like that…” Nikola grinned, twirling in front of a small mirror by the kitchen exit, making sure her playful defiance – including her face and… the lower part – was visible in the chat.

The guy, who was at that moment helping unload Moira’s working blocks with a manipulator along the cooling bus, just snorted in response. Meanwhile, Dasha, who was receiving and connecting them as they were being installed, turned away and let out a discreet, sad sigh.

Nika approached the keypad hanging opposite the entrance.

# 5577-Enter

The small machine chirped and flashed a green LED. Part of the wall slid aside, revealing a vast nook harboring four large refrigerators.

Nikola, driven by curiosity, pulled open a handle and peered inside.

“Food located! Hey Max, you hungry? What about you, Dasha?” she called out with a broad grin.

“ ‘Course I am,” the guy responded instantly.

“I… I’ll eat later. After everything’s done.”

“There’s a bunch of pre-packaged meals here, not just raw stuff,” Redhead noted as she scanned the shelves. “Right! I’ll grab some snack sausages for you guys. Max, you can start celebrating – there’s a couple packs of beer here...though one’s been opened. Only eleven cans left now.”

“I do love beer, but that’s for later. We’re about to boot up Alisa and prep for the operation.”

“Okey-dokey.” Nikola chuckled, “But I’m having one, though. Right now. To relieve stress.”

She yanked out a can and slammed the fridge door shut.

CLICK!

GULP.

GULP.

AHHH!…

Popping open the can, she took a few hearty swigs, squinting in pleasure.

“Chilled... delicious! Doesn’t change the crap happening today… but makes it a bit more bearable.”

Taking the can with her and leaving the rest of the refrigerators unchecked for now, Red returned to the corridor – next on her list were the storage rooms. The first of them, filled with parts and finished goods, intrigued her the most.

The lock, thanks to Doc, was already opened, and the door slid aside with a quiet hiss. The cellar lights flickered on. Shelves, shelves, racks, boxes... all unfortunately stood empty now. But near the back, Nikola was greeted with a really pleasant surprise.

“Well-well, what have we got here? Looks like the Doc actually couldn’t haul everything away!” she exclaimed, eyeing a whole section of racks filled with used cybernetic kits.

“Too bad, of course, it’s all second-hand. But honestly, But honestly, thanks to Zelman for not being picky. Let’s look at these babies... Hmm? No way, is that combat-tuned?!”

Nika carefully pulled out a meter-and-a-half box labeled ‘BST-Cybform B-5/11’ and opened it.

“Holy shit! Looks like I hit the jackpot,” she whistled, staring at two cyber-legs secured in their mounts.

“Huh, maybe Doc took pity on me and left my favorite goodies? But then again… This is DOC I’m talking about! He wouldn’t just give things away. I’d rather believe that he couldn’t stuff it all in his vehicles... Alright, what do we have here?”

“The ‘Watson’ series, same as the ones I currently have, even the same color. Well, nothing strange about it – it’s the most common model actually! Everyone contracted to the military gets these. At first glance, they look like the MB series.”

“Hmm... Those distinctive scuffs. Hints at ‘Combat specs’? Would be nice! These models are favored in underground fights for their ease of tuning for combat and maintainability. And definitely, the internals have been hacked – otherwise, Doc wouldn’t have kept them.”

“Okay, where’s the maintenance tag from the latest diagnostics?”

“Here we go…”

# Series and model: CL-MB-6.3 “Viper”.

# Modifications:

# Jump boosters replaced with IJB4 “Marco EC-IV”.

## Central power bus replaced with Zelver-28/014.

# Overall condition:

# No damages.

# Structural wear – less than 1%.

# Fuel cells – 96% charged.

“Vipers, hmm…” Nikola scowled slightly. “Kind of an okay model. Had the series eight this morning; those are far superior…”

Her displeasure was abruptly cut off by a slapping sound – Nika had slapped her own forehead slightly.

“Are you kidding me? ‘Kind of okay’, huh? Wake up, kurwa mać! (Polish: Fuck) A complete set of WHOLE legs and you’re turning up your nose? Someone’s got greedy here! So, hooray, that is! Who did Max thanks in such cases? Some… Her Holy Brightness, I guess… So. I’m very thankful. Absolutely thankful, ‘cause this is quite a find! Whoever you are, thanks for the new, excellent back paws… yeah!”

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Max and Dasha were nearly done connecting the power for all of Moira’s units – a particularly complex task given their number.

Indeed, setting it all up in the workshop was the right call! It proved to be the only chance to provide at least minimal cooling without frying the wiring.

Daria had spent the last ten minutes crawling on all fours strright on the computer cases – the heat-dissipating bus was too short, and despite the units being tightly packed, there still wasn’t enough space for two remaining blocks.

They really had to “tweak” and get highly creative – extending cable splices and dragging them several meters to neighboring section where an extra bus was available.

They used Dr. Zelman’s cable systems for the connections – when Dasha was hastily collecting Moira back at the university, she hadn’t taken any power buses and cables. Fortunately, the workshop was overflowing with such basic components – nobody bothered to take those cheap things.

Maksim wheeled over to the last socket and flicked the switch.

“Done.”

“Me too,” the girl replied, jumping off the platform. “I’ve connected the heat sink to the quantum core. And the power too. We should reach operational temperature in a couple of minutes. Ready to boot up soon. Yeah…”

“You think it’ll hold?” Max asked, eyeing the thick, flexible pipes leading from the platform where the Core remained to the wall sockets.

“I dunno.” Vasilevskaya pulled a chair closer and climbed in, sitting cross-legged. “I’ll tweak the configs before booting, try to compensate for the unreliable cooling and minimize heat output.”

Tilting her head forward, she picked up a bundle of smart cables and asked, “Hey, Maxie, could you plug me in?”

“Sure thing, WonderKid. Right away,” he approached and methodically connected all eight cables.

After snapping the locks in place, he brushed her hair back and gently stroked Dasha’s head. “Fly, fly, little one.”

Dasha's heart clenched at that, but as always, she tried not to show it. She tried very hard...

“I'm ready,” she replied, surprised at the slight raspiness in her own voice. “We just need to check on Alisa.”

“I’m on it.”

The android's body was seated in a chair and securely fastened, so there was no need to move far.

Max quickly checked all the connectors along the neck and down the spine – two rows of sixteen sockets each. This whole “bundle of wires” was connected directly to the interface housing, so they could boot up both of Moira’s and Alisa quite swiftly.

“All set. Hooked up in a two-by-sixteen layout, all cables in place.”

Max knew that Dasha would hear him, even as she tapped away in the virtual conference:

[Perfect. I need another fifteen minutes; I’m finishing the update setup. Then, we take off.]

With some free time on his hands, Maksim decided to check on Nikola and see how she was doing.

[Hey, Red, how’s it going? I see you’re getting new paws?]

“Well, not without it,” the girl grinned. “You know, wires dangling between my legs kind of bug me. Feels like the wrong gender.”

“Funny,” Max chuckled. “Anyway, bring that stuff to the OR. We’ll head there once we’re done.”

“Uh-huh... There’s a cyber diagnostic there...” Nikola pondered, polishing off her beer and began unpacking the cyber-legs. “I’ll take them to the diag-stand. Oh, wait, gonna dig around here a bit more. Might find some better arms. Mine are pretty beat up.”

“That bad?”

“Well… I opened the diagnostic report, looked at the damage diagrams, said ‘oh, fuck this!’ and closed the utility. Those freaking dogs’ bones turned out to have ridiculously strong… hard as fuck, actually.”

Redhead set the box with “paws” down and climbed the rack.

“Well, they might still be patched up. If the brains inside aren’t damaged. Shame there are no tools,” Max supported her. “Anyway, we’ll make a run to the Factory first thing tomorrow; likely we’ll find the needed stuff there.”

“As for electronics, it’s fine,” Nika replied, sorting through boxes. “But yeah, there are definitely mechanical issues. Good thing it’s not too serious. The radial ulnar syn-muscle on the left arm is damaged by twenty percent, several power lines burned out in the hand flexors under load. The right shoulder frame is deformed, causing damage to the deltoid. Looks like that’s all.”

“Got it. The frame and power can be fixed with the hardware we have. But I can’t do anything about the muscles without a proper workstation. Though, they must be standardized by form factor, right? Maybe Doc has some extra arms lying around here, so we could scavenge them?”

“Heh, that’s exactly what I’m looking for,” Nikola moved to the next rack and pulled a box from the lower shelf. “Oh look at this, Max!”

“CA-MB-6.1 Burst,” the guy read out loud. “Your model?”

“Yup.” she nodded happily. “Even better. I’ve got the MB series too, but 5.4. Burst is a very nice refinement of the concept! I’ve been wanting to get them for some time already.”

Setting the box on the floor, she clicked open the locks and flipped the lid.

“Yippee! Here they are!”

“They look a bit worn…”

“Well, how about the ones I have on?” Nikola stretched out her arms and rotated the palms in front of her eyes. “See?”

…

After some more fiddling, while the cyborg hauled her finds to the operating room, Maksim awaited the signal that Dasha had returned from the virtual realm.

“Our redheaded friend is all set,” Max commented. “So, WonderStar, ready to wake my little sister?”

She didn’t say a word. Just nodded, gave a thumbs up, and clicked on the mediaglyph to “start the sequence tasks.”