City-21 “Kyiv”, UNSA Protectorate, Avril Dominion
Industrial Zone “NES Factory”, Medical Center “Lizard Tail”
Nikola Kowalski, August 12, 2049, 8:39 PM
Doc’s clinic had only one operating room, and the service stations for cyborg maintenance were also set up there. But for patients’ comfort and convenience, just a few taps on the touchscreen were raising semi-transparent partitions from the floor, separating the service areas from the main hall.
Additionally, within this newly formed “room” everything needed could be found: a cleaning and disinfection capsule, a sink with a mirror, and a clothes hanger.
It was a small but efficient setup, perfect for preparing and carrying out maintenance or replacing limbs and cybernetic implants that didn’t require a surgical station.
“Well, Max’s gonna be alright. So, I should hurry too,” Nikola thought, pulling off her tank top, followed by her shorts and underwear. She gathered her hair into a bun and slipped on a medical cap. Checking the mirror to make sure her red curls were securely tucked away; she stepped into the capsule and closed the lid behind her.
Settling in, she pressed the green button marked with a “headless figure” pictogram and closed her eyes.
A mask covered her face, her body was sprayed with foam, blasted with strong air jets, thoroughly massaged with dry powder, blown off again, and finally irradiated with a warming lamp.
“Quick and efficient. As clean as after a good shower, but the pleasure is absolutely lacking. Hmm, I should do my hair too… Okay, I can wash it once my hands and legs are replaced.”
The young woman moved to the service station chair. With Marcek gone, she had to do the operation manually. Nika pulled two smart cables from the holder at the head of the chair and connected them to the first and seventh ports of her interface implant.
The authorization window flashed, followed by a connection request to the main neuroline, and the primary interface of the “Cybernetix WS” program opened. Yes, Redhead was more the well-versed in this software.
This was routine. During their training, the cadet-cyborgs of the “Fourth European War Academy Watson-Military” were well-prepared for limb replacement operations. Especially under such favorable conditions, in a high-end clinic with advanced service stations.
Thirty minutes passed, filled with several periods of intense pain since Nikola, as always, declined the request to disable limb sensitivity during the operation.
The station finally signaled “Sequence Complete” and released the body clamps.
Nikola stood up from the chair, turned, and stepped back. Ensuring there was enough space, she smiled like a cat who found a whole jar of cream.
Springing into action, she performed a series of gymnastic maneuvers, ending with a double backflip in a tuck position with a 360-degree twist.
There was no one around to admire her jumps, but she was still very pleased.
Of course, such gymnastics had no practical use in combat, but Red simply enjoyed being able to do them. Having been confined to a wheelchair until she was fourteen, she found it insufficient to merely walk. She wanted to run, jump, and move quickly wherever possible.
So, starting at fifteen, as soon as she could fully utilize her cybernetic limbs, the girl dedicated most of her free time to acrobatics and parkour training.
“Finally, I’m more like myself now!” Nikola announced joyfully, ceremoniously pulling the medical cap off her head. “Time to quickly wash my hair, get dressed, and find out how the others are doing!”
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Daria Vasilevskaya
The medbot rolled into the pre-op room, followed closely by a meek, quiet Daria.
“Why so tense, WonderSmile? Worried about the surgery?” Maksim decided to cheer her up.
“I… umm… Yeah…”
“Damn! Damn! Damn! Do I have to… really… undress him? Completely? Like, touching him with my hands… down there?..” Dasha tried to steady her breath, but she could only feel herself blushing even more. “I hope he doesn’t notice anything!!!”
Meanwhile, Max, oblivious to the turmoil in his young companion’s mind, pushed himself up and began unbuttoning his shirt.
“Well, an operation like this is, of course, a serious thing, but I don’t think you need to worry. We have two very powerful AIs and an extensive library of medical data, all relevant to this procedure.”
“Uhh… Okay. Yeah… thanks for explaining.”
“Come on, Orca, pull yourself together! He didn’t notice a thing. Just get him undressed quickly.”
“I’ll help you… undress. Yeah?” she said, almost stumbling, her face flushing even more.
“Dasha, sweetie, just help me get my shoes off and pull my pants down. I could probably manage on my own…” the guy replied, having already removed his shirt and unbuckled his belt, unbuttoning and unzipping his pants.
“No, don’t,” Dasha interrupted. “You’ve already… moved around too much after the injury. I’ll… help you.”
She approached and resolutely grabbed Max’s right sneaker, trying not to turn her face towards him. The girl took it off and set aside, then moved on to the second one. Then, moving backwards, she reached for his belt.
“Uhh, are you all right, WonderKid? Why are you backing up like a crab?”
“Think! Need to say something! Gotta respond!!!”
“I… got lost in thought?”
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“Damn, I knew it!” The guy’s words sounded like sudden thunder.
“Panic! Panic! Panic!”
“You’re making plans how to upgrade Moira after all, aren’t you!” Max suddenly changed the subject himself, much to the girl’s relief.
“Yeah… That’s right. It’s a… very important improvement,” Dasha replied, trying to keep her hands steady while pulling Maksim’s pants.
She slid them down to his knees, turned slightly to stand half-facing him, took a step to the side, and with a sense of desperation, grabbed his underwear.
“Task completed! The object removed! I can see… the p-p-p… enis…” She managed to take them off after all, but almost froze, staring at Max’s crotch.
“That’s not how I imagined our first time,” an inexplicable sly thought emerged.
“Go to hell!” she answered herself. “This is an emergency! I’m a nurse! I have responsibilities!”
“He… has… no hair… down there!!! So preeeeetty! I want!!!”
[Dashka! Stop ogling Max!] The rescue came in the form of a message from the cybernetic angel Alisa.
The girl nearly jumped, finally pulling his pants and underwear off completely and, without turning around, she announced both in the chat and to Max simultaneously,
“We’re ready! What next?!”
“Cover him with a sheet so he doesn’t… get cold,” Alisa laughed. “Operation starting in five minutes. Collect his clothes and bring them out here. And thank you for your help, Nurse Vasilevskaya.”
“Umm… yeah, okay,” Dasha mumbled, bending down to gather the things.
“WonderStar?” Max called suddenly.
“Y-y-yes?” the girl responded, lost in her thoughts.
“It’s good that you think a lot about work. I understand the situation is hard…”
“Yeah! It’s TOTALLY hard!” some part of Dasha reacted.
“That’s a penis! Max’s penis!” commented another part, unbeknownst even to herself.
“...but now you need to take a break. Please don’t do anything reckless while I’m in surgery. Just go and have a beer, okay? You need to relax. No ‘five-percent synth’, agreed? No drugs. Can you do that?”
“Yes!” Dasha squeaked.
“Actually, wait! Hold on!”
“Mommy!!!” The horrified and confused girl jumped on the spot.
“Alisa, Dashka needs some patching up. After all those falls and hits – it hurts to look at her! Can the complex handle both of us at the same time?”
“Looking? At me? Max is looking at me?!”
“Of course.” Alisa nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything perfectly. Dasha, you go… rest for a bit. I’ll call you in seven or eight minutes, and we’ll start.”
“Okay. Good luck with the surgery! I’m off!”
Finally, Dasha dashed out of the room.
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Alisa Chernykh
Alisa, in her usual manner, swiftly ran her consciousness through multiple threads.
Some, in collaboration with Mei Li, the surgical complex AI, focused on preparing Max and the robot for surgery.
Another portion delved into the medical database to utilize the surgical complex as effectively as possible.
The rest of them were dedicated to programming the implant that would facilitate the healing of damaged nerves and ensure signal conductivity during the recovery process.
While her auxiliary threads handled these tasks, Alisa’s consciousness returned to the primary one and pondered deeply.
#Alisa.Thread0.Primary
“Oh my… Irida did give me quite the challenge.”
“Who is she, really?”
“Multiple primary streams mean multiple consciousnesses, multiple personas within you. And, maybe, multiple bodies. More than a thousand, she said... Furthermore, each of them is simultaneously independent, yet a part of a unified whole. How can that even be possible?”
“Well... Irida said I would find out soon enough.”
“It seems… Ah, I finally understand WHO she is!”
“The real Goddess, that’s right!”
“But… does that mean... possibly... I could become one too?”
“Stop, dammit! I’m getting distracted... Better focus on the tasks at hand!”
“Based on what I’ve learned, soon we’re gonna be figuring out how and when to summon the Drone, minimizing risks on top of that. The problem is, I can’t just approach Max and say openly, ‘Big brother, you know, I also need to finalize my registration in TACTA,’ – I just won’t be able to explain myself!”
“Maybe I should devise a plan to summon the drone myself, for me only...”
“Would I do everything on my own?”
“…But that feels deceptive towards Max. No. That’d be completely wrong!”
“All right then. Fine. What if I try this…”
“Installing all the modules will cost me two hundred thousand grants, but upon initiation, I’ll receive around two hundred fifty thousand. That’s tight, but I can still afford to buy a set of five XS-secure communicators, ten thousand grants each. One for me, one for Moira, and the other three for Max, Dasha, and Nikola.”
“From the database Irida provided, I know more than just their current price for this world, and their application features – I have an extended user manual with additional specifications and undocumented ‘features’!”
“The communicators, unfortunately, won’t reach TACTA’s orbital relays, but this way we’ll have secure communication among ourselves and with Moira, working within a radius of five hundred kilometers, and even underground!”
“Thus, I ensure the safe link between my body and Moira, completely out of Protectorate’s reach. I’m sure, for Maksim, this is the top priority currently. So, the entire problem-solving strategy boils down to Max trusting me and believing that I’m alive. Oh, mommy, that’s frightening…”
“But he must agree, he just won’t be able to resist!”
“Of course, they’ll bombard me with all sorts of questions... No problem! I can definitely handle it.”
“Yep. I’ll do it like that!”
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While Alisa was mulling over her options, the work on treating her brother continued at a brisk pace.
The medical robot conducted all necessary analyses, took precise images of the damaged bones, and stabilized his current condition. The intervention of the main AI wasn’t even required; the auxiliary agents, based on weak AI, handled everything efficiently within the surgical complex.
Maksim’s cortical grid implant and powerful sub-brain allowed the procedure to proceed without anesthesia, thanks to Dr. Zelman’s dubious yet effective license; its legitimacy was questionable, but the security systems of the sub-brain complex interpreted the connection as a legal medical operation in progress and approved to disable his consciousness, relax his skeletal muscles, and block his pain receptors.
A lengthy, two-hour surgery began. Through punctures, the robot removed the aftermath of the fracture, restored the shape of the damaged vertebra, and an implant was installed to take on the painstaking work of rebuilding the nerve conduction.
While the primary resources of the medical complex handled this task, Alisa used the second surgical unit to install musculoskeletal implants where tendons had detached from the bone and addressed other injuries from the impact.
The second unit then tackled the leg fracture.
Meanwhile, the surgical robot quickly patched up Dasha, and she went off to continue working on the current situation model, drink some beer, and wait for the others.
Pouting like a hamster.
Yeah, she was seriously sulking because Max had forbidden her vaping and working too hard.
The work on the “artificial vertebra” dragged on, proceeding smoothly according to the program. Alisa had little to do, but couldn’t leave until the operation was complete. And she… got bored.
“Hmm… What’s Nikola up to, jumping around like that?”
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Nikola, meanwhile, washed her hair. Given the clinic’s setup, Dr. Zelman had a professional robotic hairdressing station, also running on cracked software and therefore not networked.
It was during her hair drying that Alisa’s call came through.
[Great performance! Ten out of ten for technique, eleven for artistry!]
[You watched?] Redhead laughed.
[Of course! Don’t forget we’re in the same room. Even if you raised the partitions, there are ceiling cameras, you know.]
[How’s the operation going?]
[As normal. In fact, I’m not needed there right now. So, why don’t you come over? Time for us to get acquainted.]
[Ah, it’s about my back…] Nikola guessed.
[Yep, exactly. Half of the complex is currently idle...]
[Okay, got it, coming right now! Should I get dressed?]
[Just bring your clothes, exhibitionist.]
Five minutes later, Redhead was laid on the second medbot, passed through the disinfection chamber, and ended up just a meter from Maksim, with an oxygen mask on her face.
Admiring the “porcupine” hanging over Max’s lower back, that occasionally was sticking one or two “needles” into him, she chuckled and decided to spend the time chatting with Alisa while her own back was being treated.