by Anna Lewis
“Are you eating well?” asked the general.
“I am, sir. They are feeding me three times a day. Sometimes the nurse brings me snacks,” replied Trevor.
The general nodded, mouthing the word, “good.”
“And you, sir?” asked the hero.
“I am fine,” said General Sanders. “You worry about yourself, son. We’ll see you again on the field.”
Trevor nodded, understanding that his service was far from over. He would have to return to the carnage of the war even though it had cost him a brother, an arm, and a leg. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for his country, but he still felt a sense of betrayal when it came to his body. What was he supposed to do with these mechanical parts? Would he be stared at or accepted? How would he ever date again? Part of him felt lucky for being single seeing as many partners of soldiers tended to leave them after intense damage. It was a depressing and heavy truth of those who fought in war, and those who had dedicated lovers were considered blessed.
If only Trevor could have found someone, perhaps he would have more to live for besides revenge at this point. His brother was no more and there was no family left for him on the planet. Maybe he would move off-planet. There was a colony on Mars that was beginning to thrive that needed more workers. After the technology revolution, Earth had started branching out to different parts of the solar system as soon as scientists allowed, filling space with pollution and corporate ideas, eventually coming into contact with aliens, too. But here on Earth, they still fought the war of the ages. It was always a battle between nations wanting territory instead of trying to come together. They were too stubborn to concede. No one wanted to be the first to suggest a collective world order, and no one dared to push for it. Trevor wondered if he would ever see the day.
“Will you be doing physical therapy?” asked General Sanders, breaking Trevor of his thoughts.
“I start today, sir. It should help me manage my new parts. I admit this feels rather weird. I can tell there’s something there, but it doesn’t feel the same. It almost feels...cold,” replied Trevor. “I’m still not sure how I feel about it.”
“I’m sure you’ll be alright. You’re our best officer. We can’t afford to lose you,” said the general.
“Absolutely, sir. I look forward to being out there with you again,” he said.
A crash echoed through the sky and rattled the window, causing a few things to fall off the counter. It was likely another bomb. The hospital was just outside the warzone which meant they felt everything that was thrown out into the trenches.
“Aye, son. We’ll see you soon. Get some rest,” said General Sanders.
“Send your wife my best,” said Trevor.
Standing, the general nodded with thanks and left the officer to his own thoughts as he waited for his food. It was around lunch, though the sky outside would indicate otherwise. The wind brought with it debris and all manner of smoke from the war zone which could make it difficult to determine the time of day by just sitting outside. Many convalescents enjoyed sitting in the garden if the sun was out, but that rarely occurred due to the cloud and smoke coverage. Still, it was lovely to be outside with the bugs in the grass, and many nurses opted to have physical therapy in the garden.
As Trevor became engrossed with his memories, a nurse walked in with a plate of food for him, who introduced herself as Becky. She informed him that Dr. Clark would be in shortly for therapy and that he should eat his fill to gain his strength. Trevor stared at the tray in front of him, wondering if the meat was actual meat or a substitute protein engineered to look like meat. Uninterested, he picked at the slop and rolled his eyes, craving the juicy cheeseburgers he loved eating in his youth at his hometown diner. After imagining that the food before him was the amazing meal he’d had there, he ate it slowly and swallowed with some effort, his left arm barely substituting his usual right-handed nature.
Lena arrived as he was eating and greeted him, waiting patiently for him to finish before wheeling him over to the physical therapy room. Trevor wasn’t sure how it would feel to walk on a cybernetic leg. It was one thing to have a prosthetic, but it was an entirely different deal to be using something part mechanical. As he understood, it served additional purposes as well, that Lena outlined as she set him in front of the walking area. He looked around the empty room and then stared at the two parallel bars in front of him. This was going to be a long day.
Chapter 4
The first physical therapy session was a disaster, Trevor falling over every time he attempted to put weight on his cybernetic leg. Once he was able to get his balance, walking became the next chore as he wasn’t used to applying pressure to something that weighed more than the other leg.
“Why couldn’t have you evened it out a bit?” he complained to Lena who rolled her eyes.
“It’s a work in progress. Try putting your foot forward,” she replied.
“I did. It won’t move,” he whined.
“You don’t even have to think about it. Just will your body forward,” she instructed.
As Trevor formulated another snappy response, his left foot lunged forward and took him nearly halfway across the room, knocking his body into a line of chairs. Lena couldn’t help but chuckle at the display before running over to help him up. The cybernetic arm was beeping, alerting her of a malfunction somewhere. She opened a slot and looked at the wires. From her pocket, she procured a small screwdriver that she inserted in the space.
“Well, glad I caught that,” she said while he stood from the ground.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you could have blown us to bits,” she responded.
Eyes wide, Trevor groaned and claimed she was going to kill them both, to which she responded that they would be fine. He took a few steps forward, realized he was walking and started to jump for joy which catapulted him up into the ceiling. A chorus of giggles filled the room as Trevor jumped down, landing on both feet and then teetering over.
“It’s going to take a lot of control,” she said between panting laughter. “And I meant to warn you about the strength of them.”
“Why didn’t you?!” he asked incredulously.
“It just didn’t cross my mind until now,” she replied.
“You’ve been incredibly useful, you know,” said Trevor with a smirk. “I wonder how you would do on the field.”
“Probably better than you, if I had your equipment,” she snapped.
The hero gave her an inquisitive look, his eyebrow rising high over his eye.
“That’s what she said,” he commented, tumbling over into a fit of laughter as he watched the shock cross her face.
“You’re such a pain,” she said, walking across the room to fetch his chart. “But at least you’re making progress.”
“Oh, come on! You walked into that one,” said Trevor while his arm clinked against the tile. “Admit it. You thought it was hilarious.”
Lena rolled her eyes and set the chart down, walking back over to help the officer off the ground. For a moment, they stared at each other, caught up in the swirl of stars within their eyes and exploring the universe hiding within. Trevor noted that he had never noticed the pigment of blue decorating the inside of the gray circles and admired them until Lena cleared her throat.
“Commander Noble?” she spoke softly. “Are you alright?”
“Absolutely,” he replied. “Fine.”
Nodding, Lena led him back to a chair so he could rest and handed him a cup of water. Trevor reached out with his cybernetic hand and then reconsidered the decision, reaching for the cup with his left instead.
“Are my limbs affected by water?” he asked between sips.
Lena considered the question, thinking back to the initial trials and tests. The conclusion was that most cybernetic limbs were submersible and could even be used as propellers, but one of their trial cyborgs had suffered severe electrical shock due to a short circuit. Water had made it worse.
“It depends,” she replied.
“I don’t like that response,” said Trevor while staring into his cup. “I want to be able to swim again.”
Lena lowered her eyes, empathetic to his situation. While she couldn’t fully understand how he felt, she could still extend sympathy to his desires. It would be a while before they would be able to run a full trial and she feared they would lose him as a result of testing in water, but it was all part of the process.
“This is still new technology, Mr. Noble,” said Lena. “And we’ll be running trials on what you would be able to do. Until then, let’s keep away from water.”
Trevor nodded, his throat swelling with anxiety about potentially being zapped. He wasn’t positive whether he could trust this doctor or whether anything would be alright in the future, but he had gone through a week of therapy and there was still no way to tell what would happen. After downing the water, he said he wanted to try again and had Lena help him to the center of the room, where he raised his arm to fulfill the exercises outlined to him. Lena suggested pushing his arm forward with his palm open to utilize the ray feature.
“I can shoot with this thing?!” he cried. “Oh, boy!”
As he raised his arm, the ball of energy he had seen the first day appeared in his palm and hummed with excitement, preparing to be fired.
“Hit the chairs, Trevor,” she said, shaking her head once she realized she had addressed him informally. “Aim for that chair across the room.”
The willpower to send forth a beam was mildly challenging as he had never needed to use his mind with such determination. It caused him a brief moment of dizziness and he used the bars to prop himself up, cursing as black dots formed in his line of vision. The energy it had taken to do that was exhausting. How would he ever get the hang of this if he lost consciousness with every bolt?
“I don’t understand,” he said, his eyes struggling to keep open. “Why is it so taxing?”
Lena caught him before he hit the ground, regretting the heaviness of the material they used for the limbs, and helped him over to his chair.
“You’re directing mental energy to controlling your limbs which means it’s going to use up some strength,” she explained. “It gets easier as you become accustomed to doing these things.”
“This sucks,” he said as she wheeled him to his room. “I just want to be normal.”
Lena couldn’t think of a response as she took him back to his room, feeling some remorse for putting him in this situation. The success of their country was more important than his normalcy, but that was something Lena didn’t quite agree with. Though it brought her joy to bring him back, she felt shame for bringing him into a situation he had not consented to. Was it right to toy with his life, to make him a project? Feeling torn, she helped him into bed and wished him well, saying she would return later.
“Rest, Commander Noble,” she said while shutting the door.
On the other side, she heard, “You, too, Lena.”
Chapter 5
When Lena had left, Trevor felt a mixture of emotions. Why had she held his gaze like that?
The television emitted a number of colors that displayed updates on the war and he followed it with intensity, feeling guilty for not being well enough to return and defend his comrades. He raised his hand to swipe through different news channels in order to get a better picture of what was happening. A number of reports detailed the amount of damage taken by the Western Alliance. His pride was hurt watching men being removed from the warzone, bodies piling along the sides of the area waiting to be returned to their homes in boxes. If he hadn’t been so desperate to get revenge, then he wouldn’t be in this mess. He would still be with his men out on the field where they needed him instead of lying in bed trying to get a hold of his own body. What a mess.
On the other side of the hall was Lena who was sprawled on the cot in the supply closet. Her alarm had been ringing for ten minutes, but her mind was in a distant land where war didn’t exist and her services were no longer needed. Trevor appeared suddenly, his cybernetic hand raising to touch her face. As her eyes popped open, she realized she was late for her round of check-ups and jumped from the uncomfortable cot that was impressed with the shape of her body. The white coat she always wore was hanging up nearby and she pulled it on, urging her body to move faster through the groggy haze of her mind. It took such effort that she nearly fainted, realizing she needed a full night’s sleep if she wanted to function properly. That would have to wait.
Laughter echoed from down the hall as Lena exited the closet, walking over to the desk to ask the nurse if they’d received any alerts from the surrounding rooms. The nurse replied that they hadn’t and then handed Lena the digital paperwork for her rounds. She stopped in a few rooms to check on her other patients, noting that one of them was getting an infection and needed a round of antibiotics. While approaching Trevor’s room, her heart picked up a bit and she thought about the previous week when they had made eye contact in the physical therapy room. There was no doubt an attraction had formed between the two. She was unsure whether that had happened due to his dependence on her, or to her intense care for his recovery, or both.
It also didn’t help that he was incredibly handsome, his short black hair unlike the other officers in the Navy and his face holding such humor for someone who had witnessed a slew of horrors. She often remembered the first time she had seen his face, and how different it looked now, when it was full of life.
She considered all of these factors as she entered the room, a smile widening her face as Trevor looked away from the television.
“How are you doing today, Commander Noble?” she asked as she grabbed his digital chart. “I see you’re walking to the bathroom on your own. That’s great.”
“I’m doing alright,” he replied. “And please, call me Trevor.”
Lena smiled at his insistence and nodded, trying not to take pleasure in such a simple request. After looking through his documents and charts on the touch screen, she set the touch pad down and walked over to do a vitals check, holding her fingers over the lymph nodes in his neck.
“How do your limbs feel?” she asked, pressing the tissue around his arm that was fused with the cybernetic attachment.
“They’re starting to feel more normal,” he said while studying the nape of her neck.
As she leaned over him, loins were ablaze with the desire for physical affection. Months had gone by without such a luxury and he found his pelvis aching in the wake of Lena’s touch, her fingers running down the length of his torso to check how the adjustment was going with his new leg.
“I’m glad to hear it,” she commented while checking the buttons along the cybernetic limb. “It won’t be long until you adjust completely.”
Trevor hesitated to ask the question that had been forming in his mind, wondering how it would sound coming from his mouth as she touched his side. As her hands slid up to his shoulder, he took her wrist gently and looked deep into her frightened eyes.
“Do you feel that?” asked Trevor, peering down into her very depths.
“What?” she asked, afraid to look away.
Carefully, Trevor placed Lena’s open palm over his chest, the rapid thumping greeting her skin.
“That,” he responded. “It happens every time I’m with you.”
“Trevor, I can’t--”
His lips intercepted what she was about to say, taking her by pleasant surprise and sending a wave of heat into her own pelvis. An alarm rang in her mind about how this was completely unprofessional, how they were breaching the boundaries of the doctor-patient relationship and it could potentially lead to trouble. She pulled away when she realized the alarm was her phone alarm. She blushed.
“Trevor,” she whispered while silencing her phone. “I’ve never done anything like that with a patient before.”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but I know what I’m feeling. I want you,” he said sweetly, brushing the brown
hair from her face and tucking it behind her ears.
Lena bit her bottom lip, noticing the bulge beneath the sheets growing as he admired her figure. She looked between him and the blinds of the window while debating what to do next. Here goes nothing, she thought while walking over to shut them. I hope this is real.
“Computer, close the blinds,” she said, watching as the digital window obeyed her command.
Turning, she began undoing the buttons of her blouse as Trevor removed his shirt, skin prickling with anticipation for her touch. In one swift motion, the sheets disappeared from the hospital bed and she was sitting up on top of his hot rod as he held her hips in place, fingers digging into her delicate skin.
Lips collided and hands massaged over skin, giggling intermittently as the bed squeaked beneath their writhing bodies. Lena pressed her soft pears into his chest and ran her fingers through his hair as he pumped hard into her delicate flower garden. Electricity tingled between them, the stainless steel arm surprisingly warm to the touch. As Trevor embraced her body, he rolled his hips upwards in a frenzy, plowing deep to make room for his release. A low moan escaped her lips while she bounced and she hugged him harder, feeling the primal tug within her pelvis grow stronger.
Both were grinding hard into the other, the lack of touch that each had felt over the past few months evident as they attempted to stifle their cries in the necks of the other. Trevor growled into the curve of her collarbone, nipping lightly at the pale skin presenting itself to him. While his lips devoured her skin, Lena leaned her head back in a joyous display of achievement, her hips rocking the bed away from the wall. He held her up as she rode him into a state of bliss, his cybernetic hand covering her mouth to stifle the cry of pleasure. Moments later, his face contorted as he erupted and filled her to the brim with his creamy release, shivering with delight underneath her beautiful form.