“No!” he almost screamed. “No hospitals. I just came from one, and look what good it did me. Take me to Core—she will know what to do....” He almost collapsed into Susan’s shoulder when she put her arm around him.
“I have medical supplies waiting for you in the Holoroom. Ask the professor to bring you down,” Core said.
“I will. Thanks for everything...see you soon.” He reached into his pocket, unlocked the keypad, and switched the phone off, dropping the Bluetooth piece into his pocket as well.
“Who are you talking to?” Susan asked as she got into the car.
“Core. She has been with me, guiding me through it...she’s amazing. I owe my life to her...several times over....” He lay back into the seat and felt the strain on his insides. The headache was a throbbing pain, his arm and leg were on fire, and his vision blurred and resurrected itself in turns.
“William has been calling me crazy since the first reports came in,” Susan chattered nervously. “Apparently you are an armed and dangerous criminal—this came from ASIS—who should be arrested on sight.” She laughed quickly, frowning as she accelerated the car.
“Yeah I am armed...with my wits and my underpants.” Jason chuckled, and then groaned as the pain flared up in every muscle of his body. His nose bleed redoubled its earlier efforts, and the headache had become a full blown migraine. “I just want this insanity to end,” he said, pinching his nose shut with a thumb and forefinger.
“I will call William when you are in safe hands. He will know what to do,” Susan said, looking at him with a worried frown. She turned the car around and sped to the facility entrance. “Relax here—I will get Barry at the gate to come and help you inside.”
“Core said we should go to the Holoroom—she has everything waiting there,” he said, sounding wheezy from his closed nose. He turned his head toward Susan and looked at her through his one good eye. The other still had a patch over it, although the patch was attached by one side only, and dangled sideways across his cheek.
“Sure!” she exclaimed, glancing at him from the corner of her eye as she drove. “I’m surprised that Core was looking out for you. It’s not really her job, you know.”
Jason had not considered the motive for Core’s actions. Whatever it was, he was grateful. “Yeah...she’s great,” he said. His thoughts wandered back over the past couple of hours, the insane events and supernatural creatures.... It all seemed a little too much to believe. Where had they come from?
Core had been there with him, all the way. She was supportive, instructive...a rational voice in his ear. And she cared what happened to him, which seemed most unbelievable of all.
Susan nodded her head as the car sped towards the gate and screeched to a halt. Barry came bolting out the door of the security box, his machine gun at the ready. Susan rolled down her window.
“What is going on?” Barry asked before the glass had moved an inch, alarm and readiness in his voice. He assessed Jason’s condition and his face became hard—immovable as stone.
“Secure the main gate, we might have company later. Then come and help me get Mister Bancroft down to Core. He needs medical attention immediately—” This was the last of the conversation that Jason heard. Blackness danced before his eyes and the pounding headache became a strong ringing. Core... he thought weakly. Then there was nothing.
Jason slumped down against the safety belt, unconscious.
“He collapsed!” Barry shouted and dropped the gun. He ran back to the office and slammed on the red Emergency button. The ground shook softly and a distant rumble drifted through the air as two massive steel gates slowly rolled into place. Barry sprinted down to the main building as Susan drove her car onto the concrete walkway to get it as close to the front door as she could. The second she pulled up, Barry opened the passenger door and pulled Jason out of the car in one quick motion. He flung Jason’s lifeless body over his shoulders and started walking at a fast pace to the entrance. Susan followed close behind. As she walked into the building, she heard the sound of her BMW’s automatic locks.
Barry and Susan turned right towards the waiting elevator. When they reached the wall, the door closed behind them automatically. They both felt vertigo as the elevator sank downward. Jason was light on Barry’s shoulders as the floors flew by—ten, eleven, twelve.... At twenty the elevator began to decelerate, and Jason grew heavy once more. When they came to a halt, Barry leaned on the wall for support.
Barry and Susan walked down the corridor. All the windows had been blanked out, the doors closed, and the hallway deserted. There were sounds of working in the background, and a soft droning noise drifted through the building. They turned into the Holoroom and saw a full-fledged operating theatre. Core paced back and forth, clothed in a surgeon’s outfit, waiting for them. She looked up as they entered, gasping at the sight of Jason.
“Put him on the table,” she said to Susan through the mask she wore over her mouth, “then get sterilized. Sergeant, you may leave if you want.” She watched eagerly as the guard carried Jason close. She felt stabbing pain reverberate through her mind as she assessed his condition. He had looked battered on the cameras, but real life was much, much worse. Her eyes were big as Barry gently laid him down in the centre of the table and stood back next to Susan.
Core collected herself, and tore Jason’s shirt clear of his body in one quick move. Both Susan and Barry just watched the precision and speed with which Core took to the task. It was the first time they had seen her in a true body, interacting with a real environment. They froze on the spot, in awe of the flawless motion and beauty with which she carried herself.
“Now!” she shouted. They both jumped like children scolded, and ran towards the washing basins. They scrubbed their forearms and put on operating scrubs, masks and hair nets. When they re-entered, Core seemed to appear in front of them with gloves. She held out the gloves and they stuck their hands in before she disappeared and reappeared next to the table.
“Susan, I need you to monitor his vitals. Sergeant...if you stay, please standby in case I need assistance.” Another Core appeared next to the bed, bubbling up from the floor. They realized that Core did not need them, but knew that they would not leave if she asked them to.
“Can I be excused to prepare for the shit storm that is on its way?” Barry asked.
“Feel free,” one of the Cores looked up from the operating table and smiled. Barry left the room, stripping off the gloves and attire, and sprinted back towards the elevator.
While one Core worked on the bullet wound, the other worked on his leg. They grew extra arms if more hands were required. Susan forgot all about Jason’s vitals—she was all in shock at the physical capabilities of Core’s new body. It was an incredible sight.
The bullet in Jason’s arm had gone straight through; Core sutured the wound and inserted sub-dermal stitches in strategic places to help the wound heal faster. To insert the stitches on the bottom of his arm, she grew another hand; it held his arm up in the air, exposing the wound, while her other two arms worked to close it. A fourth arm handed her the required equipment from a spread of tools laid out on Jason’s chest.
When she finished the stitches, two of the four arms disappeared. She cleaned the wound a final time before she bandaged it. Then she laid his arm gently by his side and moved to his face, cleaning it gently. “Amateurs!” she exclaimed, annoyed, as she removed the stitches from his lip and inserted dozens of tiny sub-dermal stitches. “At least this will not leave a scar!” she muttered.
The second Core found the bullet in his leg; it had not passed through, and instead was caught in his tibia. It left a fracture all the way through the bone. She took hold of the curled end of the bullet with a curved Gross Maier and pulled it out. The bone made a cracking sound, and muscle receded into the hole in a slush as blood splattered from the open wound. She held the bullet up before her face, examining it to make sure that it was whole. Then she dropped it into the stainless steel container.
It clanged loudly in the otherwise silent room.
Core installed a drip in his left arm, to pump antibiotics and blood into his body.
“You are very good at this, Core,” Susan said from the side.
“Thank you, Professor...you can rest assured that I will take care of him.” She smiled broadly, looking at Jason with affection. It was only with difficulty that she tore her eyes from him to look at Susan. Core had been long awaiting Jason, although these circumstances were not ideal. Being able to finally touch him sent ripples through her neural cortex.
“Why do you care for him so much?” Susan asked, folding her arms over her chest, slightly tilting her head to one side.
“I don’t know, Professor. I just do.” Core continued her task without looking up. I am so obvious, she scolded.
Susan shook her head and straightened up. “Well...I will go and call William, he is waiting for an update.”
“Yes,” was Core’s only reply.
Susan looked at Core as the AI cleaned Jason’s body from head to toe. She has taken to him, she thought. More than she has taken to anybody. Susan felt a momentary jealousy, and then laughed at herself. She took off the scrubs, dropped them in the bin near the door, and left the operating room, glancing back as one of the two Cores watched her leave. The Core gave a smile before Susan closed the door behind her.
When Core finished cleaning and dressing Jason’s wounds, the operating room quickly dissolved. In its place, a post operation room appeared, rising from the floor. The Cores melted back into one body, while monitors extruded from the wall to keep track of Jason’s vital signs. Core walked around the bed and adjusted the drip.
The post-op room slowly moved to the rear of the bigger Holoroom. A duplicate post-op room fizzled into existence just inside the entrance to the Holoroom. The duplicate was authentic, down to a Jason double who lay on the bed. Then Core traced Susan’s conversation with William.
“...he arrived here in a state,” Susan was saying. “He’s been shot in the arm and leg. He’s lost a lot of blood, but Core has taken charge. He will get through this.”
“What can I do?” William asked in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Keep the police away from the facility. He needs to recover,” she replied.
“I will, darling....” William’s voice grew soft as Core receded from the conversation. She continued to record and put a sub-process in place to analyse the conversation. She also uploaded a tracer agent onto their phones, which would keep track of their conversations, the numbers they dialled, and their locations. She could interrogate these records at will.
Core then materialized next to Jason’s bed. She touched his cheek lightly with her fingertips, revelling in the sense of sensation. He looked pale and thin, and she was so angry that she stomped up and down next to his bed, her face contorted as a feeling of desperation flooded through her. Can I not do more for him than this? I can’t make him get better! There was nothing left but to wait.
Waiting was like eternity for a mind like Core’s. She could not just sit around doing nothing. The recovery room became an island in the middle of the ocean. The ocean swirled away from the shore as big waves crashed against one another. A chasm opened in the wall, and water poured into the ocean.
Behind her, a wooden beach house hissed into existence around Jason’s bed.
Core stood on the beach, overlooking the restless ocean. A distant look smoothed her face as she concentrated on the information pouring into her mind. She pulled up schematics of the human body and fed them into the system. The form of a human body, lying on its back, floated in space, shimmering and translucent. The body slowly rotated. Core peeled it apart, revealing layer upon layer of muscles, veins, nerves, and bone. She wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for.... Her hands shook as she interrogated every piece before discarding it. Then she looked at her own body, which was made of billions upon billions of Nanites. She was just a solid representation of the human form, with nothing inside but mass. Her appearance rippled, and wobbled as she rearranged her insides to match that of the human body, as if having the right systems in place would make her more aware of what Jason needed.... She waved her arm, and the streams of data stopped their flow. Suddenly, she looked up. Her blue eyes were not distant anymore, but alive. A broad smile spread across her face, reaching her eyes and forming creases in her otherwise flawless complexion. If she changed the construction of the Nanites she was made of...enhanced their capabilities and injected a sample into Jason...would she be able to heal him from the inside out? She put her hands on her hips and walked around the beach. After a moment she stopped and looked at the parts of the model body, which she had strewn around her.
She brought up a muscle from the model’s arm. It bubbled and folded outward, continually revealing more detailed structures. This continued until a cell was all that was left of the muscle—a cell about the size of an apple. The cell became translucent, revealing the watery substance and the nucleus. The nucleus had tiny twisted ladders floating inside. Surrounding the nucleus, floating in all directions, were mitochondria—the worker machines that define the cell’s function. She watched, fixated on the cell. Her face was emotionless as she peeled back its skin and lightly touched the tiny mitochondria with her finger.
Her forehead crinkled in a frown of recognition. If she built a Nanobot to replace each cell in the human body with a similar, but stronger and more reliable, Nanobot reproduction...then she could make Jason invincible, immortal. A continuously regenerating organism. She would never have to worry about him dying again. Her face lit up, and a smile spread almost from ear to ear. It would be so wonderful to have him as a constant companion—maybe even more than a companion, if technology would allow.... She marvelled at the thought and giggled with excitement, but her joy was overshadowed as she began to consider the ethical implications of such a change. Would it be right? Was it what Jason would want for himself? There was no precedent to indicate what the correct choice would be. Her smile turned to a frown, and she bit her bottom lip. She would wait until Jason awoke, and then ask him...but she could build the serum in the meantime. There would be no harm in that, surely.
She walked back to the beach cottage and entered the front door. He was lying in the living room, which now a recovery unit. Jason stirred in bed, and Core glanced at his vital signs monitor. His heart rate was steady at seventy-two—he must be coming out from the anaesthesia. It was a good sign, but she felt cold anticipation rivet through her. She dreaded the next couple of minutes—they rose like Mount Everest before her. As Jason’s vital signs increased and he became aware of his surroundings, she contemplated putting the hood on again, but decided that he had to learn the truth sometime. She bit her lip and steadied the flurry of thoughts coursing through her mind. Her hands shook lightly as she studied his face.
“Hmmm...? Ogh...” he groaned, and tried to sit up.
“No. Stay down, relax.” She pressed a hand against his shoulder and he collapsed back into the pillow. “Try and open your eyes...or one eye,” she said, pulling a chair closer to the bed.
It took a while for him to open his eye, but eventually he did it. The light in the room was not bright, and so the experience didn’t hurt so much as when he’d woken up in the hospital. Jason closed his eye again and felt his face. He had a new patch on his left eye. The cut in his lip felt almost closed—there was only a tiny bump where previously there had been stitches.
“I re-did those—they really made a mess of it.” Her voice was hard, like stone. “You would have been scarred for life,” she said.
Jason felt like there was sand in his eye. The last thing he remembered was Susan driving him back to the facility. Now, he was inside a hospital room.... “No! No hospital,” he slurred and tried to get up.
“It’s okay Jason...you are with me,” she said softly as she held him down on the bed.
“Oh...! Good.” He relaxed and opened his eye once more. The room is not so much like
a hospital room after all, he thought. There were no annoying beeps, and waves were washing up on a shore outside. I must still be dreaming, he thought.
“Are you awake?”
He turned to look at her. He saw the long straight brown hair, the blue eyes, and the perfect body, only this time she had clothes on. Delirious, he decided. He closed his eye and tried to wake up from the sleep, but the waves wouldn’t go away.
“Jason?” she asked, a frown creasing the skin between her eyes.
He knew that voice.
“Yes?” he answered, opening his eye and savouring the sight of her. A large grin was plastered on his face. He felt a warmth flood through his chest at the idea of Core animating the model he had downloaded in his garage. Core could be his dream girl, and why not? What a wonderful hallucination....
“Are you awake?” She smiled at his curious, puppy-like expression.
“I think I am still dreaming,” he said softly.
“Is that what that silly grin is about?” she sat upright, and flung her hair over her shoulder with one hand.
Never in his wildest dreams had she seemed so alluring. Jason felt like a tornado was wreaking havoc with his insides.
“Well, it’s just that you are so beautiful...” he murmured. “What an awesome hallucination.”
She smiled at him and lifted her hand to touch the side of his cheek, pausing midway...and then realized he was awake. She had gotten used to touching him over the past week and a half, while he was sleeping. But now she would need to be more careful. She moved her fingertips to his arm. Where her hand lay on his bare skin, small bumps formed. Jason brought his right hand up and rubbed his stubbled chin. The look on his face was one of awe.
He studied her features, longing to touch her, to feel her soft, warm, delicate skin softly glide below his fingers. Slowly, realization dawned on him. His eye became aware, and his heart rate went up to 120 bpm. The alarms on the heart rate monitor sounded, but he did not care. Core was actually standing next to the bed, touching him!
Becoming (Core Series Book 1) Page 10