Tramp Wars: The Enemy

by Larry Roberts

  "Well I will have to make sure that does not happen then little lady but then the risks are not as bad as you seem to think. Though I can assure you that the implant he thinks he is getting is not half as good as the phantasy’s he has seen on vidio’s."

  “Hell Doctor. You don’t even understand why he wants the implants. It has little to do with super sight. Or the Video’s.” Tom spoke up. “It is mostly the verbal and physical abuse and restrictions he has had to put up with over the years for wearing those monsters.”

  ---------------

  Mark lay in the reclining surgery chair as the old man came in and sat next to Mark on a stool, crossing his arms staring at him for a few seconds then clearing his throat. Before he could say anything Mark burst out. “It needed fixed sir!”

  Taken back, a puzzled expression briefly crossed his face before smiling. “Yes it did son. Now tell me what is so wrong with your eyes that you need bionics? You did fine fixing that projector with what you have now.”

  “Can’t you see sir; I am wearing glasses!” Mark said sarcastically. Then catching himself he stammered on. “My, ship’s Chief Engineer, has Bionic eyes and it is amazing what he can do with them. I need something besides these retarded window panes. Bionics will not only get rid of these pieces of shit but will make me as good as he is.”

  “Ok?” The old man frowned before continuing. “Do you happen to have any idea what model of eye implants your chief has?” The worried expression deepened.

  “Sure do Doctor.” Pulling out a slide chip he held it out. “I have his medical records here sir.” Mark said proudly.

  “Ok…. The Chief is all for this and gave you his medical records?” Taking the slide chip he inserted it into a reader.

  “Well no. He told me not to be stupid. I had to hack his records.” The old man glanced disapprovingly back at Mark before continuing to scan the file as Mark stammered on. “I have watched and heard of so many amazing things he has done with those bionic eyes, I cannot believe anyone would not want them. And after most of my life with people thinking I was blind and stupid and retarded and unable to do anything on my own. Without help. Just because of these stupid glasses!” Mark looked down at his hands. “And now; that I am of age. I am going to get a set. Dump these glasses if it kills me.” The Doctor glanced at Mark with that statement. “Been saving up for years to pay for them!” Mark’s excitement made the old man shake his head sadly. “I do have enough to pay for them; I have your confirmation E-letter. You’re not going to back out are you? You can’t!” Mark dug into his pocket and pulled out a folded up printout and handed it to the old man who glanced at it more to be polite than need and tossed it on the counter.

  The old woman came in and sat on the other side of Mark’s chair placing an open case with two bionic implants sealed in plastic on the counter and then started unpacking surgical tools. “Yes young man we will take good care of you. Heaven help us if we let some hatchet job back around that new space port blind you for life. The eye stem nerves are very delicate and easy to damage or destroy entirely beyond repair. Not to mention one little slip into one of the main arteries could hemorrhage, killing you in minutes with no way to stop the bleeding without brain damage cutting into the brain itself making you an idiot.”

  “Yes I know. That is why I picked you Doctor. You have not had a failure claim in 2 years. While all the others on this planet have dozens each year. Which is still better than most of the planets we have been on over the last year. One planet had a failure rate of 50%. But then they were in the middle of some kind of police action at the time against some Gorillas.”

  “Well young man we are just getting over a very nasty war here that lasted almost 10 years.” The old man spat out. “Lasers leave little to replant even bionic eyes into resulting in high failure rates.” Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes for a second and then continued. “Luckily we had a Centurion Battleship come through here just before the start of the war that left some very advanced technology behind. It was the one thing this government did right, spending the money to help pay for all the medical equipment they could get their hands on from that ship. The equipment saved millions of lives.”

  “You actually saw a Centurion Battleship?” Mark was instantly interested. “I thought they were only legends. Oh you know where one of their basses are then. I thought they were all secret. That is if they even had any. But you did see a real ship?”

  “Yes son. It landed write outside there in the big center cradle of the old space port. The only cradle pit on the planet big enough to hold it at the time; barely. They had not finished the new port yet. It was making one last cruise across the empire’s outer systems in this sector, closing and stripping empire facilities before heading back towered the core worlds. And no, I have no idea where any of their basses were, Even in England. Maybe they told the Queen but no one was able to find it. The one thing that I remember best is that it looked so old and worn out. Hull patches looked like scabs and one of its turrets was cocked at a strange angle with one of the gun barrels half gone. It landed on 4 engines with a sixth engine missing completely and the fifth I learned later was cannibalized for parts. While I am no Trader, I got the impression they were selling off equipment for fuel credits.” Taking a helmet off a shelf, the old man smiled at Mark. “Let me show you what your Chief has been seeing since he got his implants.”

  Sliding the helmet over Marks head he inflated the inside pads, adjusted the chin straps and visor to center on his eyes. Finely the old man sat back and tapped some commands into the keyboard on the side of the helmet. “Ok give it a couple of seconds and then look around and tell me what you think.”

  Mark started moving his head from side to side and then up and down. Turning to look at the old man, his mouth frowned under the visor. “Everything is so grainy and when I move my head it streaks for a fraction.”

  “The control on the right temple of the helmet will zoom in and out." The Doctor said. "The one on the left controls the brightness. One good thing is you can see in the dark as long as you have any light at all. They used to call it starlight optics because all you needed was a little starlight to see.” Rolling his stool over to the door the old man hit the light switch. “Use the left temple control to increase the brightness to see in the dark.”

  “Wow that is so cool Doc.” Mark looked around in the dark until the lights were turned back on. “Gods Star! It hurts Doc! I can’t see anything know. Just solid white.”

  Use the control to dim the sensitivity until you can see again. On the Chiefs eye implants it is almost automatic but slow and he still has to tap his temple to adjust the fine tuning.” Getting up the old man walked to the door and out into the hall holding up an open book sheet. “Look at this book son and try reading it.”

  Mark turned to look out the door. “What the hell!... all I see is you I think and something that looks like a book but everything is so grainy that I am not sure.”

  “Use your right helmet control to zoom in. The automatic stabilizing system will keep the image steady as you zoom in as long as you don’t move your head to much and the book does not move.”

  “Hey wow man this is so cool I can zoom in to read the fine print from here. But the words have to be so big before I can read them with the big grains or should I say spots making up the picture.” The smile on his face slowly fell as he looked around the room. “Gods Star Doc! Everything is black and white and this grainy shit is getting old fast. Is this really what the Chief is seeing? This can‘t be true. You have to be lying to me!” Marks voice slowly lowered into a whisper of disgust. “But that makes sense now. All the strange things the Chief does. That poor sorry son of a bitch!” Shaking his head in disbelief as he sniffled. “How the hell does he even function, let alone make Engineering Chief. And I wanted to get my eyes cut out for this shit. How stupid can you get? Maybe they are right and he should retire.” He croaked as his throat and jaw muscles cramped up and his eyes clouded up as
his world collapsed around him with no hope for the future.

  The Doctor flicked the chin strap latch and jerked the helmet off of Mark’s head. “The only sorry son of a bitch is you boy. The man is blinded and almost killed saving the life of a child according to the doctor’s note in his file and he is still able to raise up to be Chief Engineering officer in spite of his handicap and you feel sorry for him. 10 minutes ago he was your Superman hero and now you want to put him in a retirement home. You disgust me boy. Get the hell out of my office.” Handing the Helmet to his wife.

  Mark wiped the tears from his eyes sniffling as he sat up in the chair. “Ya…” He tried to speak but could not and had to try again. “Your right Doc. I guess I had a larger than life image of the Chief ever since I can remember and finding out that I was wrong about exactly what his bionic eyes can really do is a bit of a shock.” Mark started to get up.

  “Hold up there young man. Now that you have gotten this nonsense out of your head, you still need your eyes fixed. Lay back down.” Said the old woman.

  “Sorry mam but I have Hopkins disease. Laser surgery on my cornea has a 90% failure rate and makes the usual drugs worthless as well as contact lenses. Mark looked up at the Doctor and then at his wife and froze. His wife was giving the doctor a look of disapproval. “Ok! What the hell is going on?” Turning back to face the Doctor. “What are you lying about? I have been putting up with people making excuses and being condescending and downright lying to me for 20 years when they thought I should not do something because of my HANDICAP and I damn well know when I am being sold a fucking bill of goods.” His almost shouting voice got Tom's and Jolleen's attention and they came through the door and down the hallway to peak around the edge of the door, concerned.

  The Doctor looked at his wife sadly shaking his head. “What you were seeing is what your Chief sees every time he opens his eyes.” His wife handed him the helmet. “But they are cheap temporary implants that are used on patients that are most likely to die or there has been too much time since the injury or the injury is to sever to be sure the implant socket will take or the patient is simply too broke to afford anything else at the time. Your Chief fell into most of the last 3 categories evidentially. I am shocked that in 20 years he has not had an upgrade.” Placing the helmet back on Marks head. “Let me show you what we had been implanting into military casualties for the last 5 years of the war.”

  Mark suddenly saw everything in color without his glasses in perfect clarity. Turning his head nothing blurred or streaked and when he touched his temples he could focus in on the fine print on the poster in the hall including the micro print on the edge telling who and where it was printed. Even the magazine sheet Tom had in his hand that he kept moving was sharp and clear with Mark able to zoom in to read the very fine print even without it being still. “Damn this is nice! Except I still don't have much peripheral vision but still damn good. No wait it will give me a fish eye view of everything in almost a 270 degree arc if I want it too. Though that would take some getting used to. But this is great.”

  “Yes it is isn’t it. The switches at the base of the helmet will switch it up and down the spectrum from infrared to micro waves. Though the implant switching is a lot more complicated requiring additional control implants and a larger power source placed usually at the back of the neck with an additional sensor and input plug to attach it to a combat suit. It has targeting sensors and radar and lidar and can see a fly shit a hundred yards away.” Mark spent a good half hour playing with the helmet. The Doctor went out of his way to let him but finely Mark put the helmet down. Putting on his thick black plastic glasses.

  “I have to have a set of these. Let's get started Doctor.”

  “Well Mr. Collins. You don’t have enough credits to purchase this grade of implants.” His wife glanced at him with raised eye brows but Mark missed it. “Let me show you what you can afford.” Tapping the helmet’s keys he placed it back on Marks head.

  Mark just sat there for a while and then said. “Ok well I can see just fine with a sharp clear picture. I have to look real hard to see any grains at all like a video and the telescopic is not bad and the microscope is fair and even the infra-red works fairly well but nothing compared to the military’s and if this is all I can afford, it will have to do.” Taking a deep breath. “Let's get started Doc.” Taking off the helmet.

  “Very well Mr. Collins. But I must tell you a few things. First; take a look at this picture please.” Pointing to a photo screen hanging on the wall he touched a control on the counter behind him and the pastoral seen changed to a man with red beady eyes and no pupils. “This is what you will look like with implants. If you are laughed at now just wait until you show up with these. Most kids are scared to death of them and most women won’t get near them. At least the Chief with the cheap ones; the pickups are small like real pupils and placed in what at least look like an eye ball. These have to be wide open to pick up all the light they can to help power them and provide the needed spectrum. Which is why the troops got the name Devil solders.”

  “Hey that is spaced. I want a set of those.” Said Tom from the open door. Jolleen slapped him across the side of the head.

  The Doctor looked at him in exasperation. “It also makes it hard to look into the eyes of a woman and get passionate with them."

  "Listen to him Mark. I am a girl just in case you have forgotten."

  The Doctor continued. "Second; there is a 10% chance the operation will be a failure on the average person leaving them completely blind in at least one eye but because of your handicap it goes up to 30% or even 50%. There is no way I can be sure it will even work until I can do more research. You have a high concentration of iron and other metals in your eyes that make great built in sunglasses and your eyes look bright deep blue but rapidly transfers laser heat into and killing the eye tissue around any surgery including reshaping your cornea. Which is why you can't have laser surgery on your eyes. Making grafting the implant to your optic nerve stems possibly difficult as well. I do not even know if it has even been tried before on anyone with your condition.” Letting that soak in for a few moments. “I am going to have to do some studying to find out if it can even be done safely.”

  The outside door bells chimed as someone entered the shop. Turning to look out the door and then the time on the wall, the Doctor waved for his wife to sit as she started to push things out of her way and said. “Stay put Martha I will get it. Excuse me I will be right back Mr. Collins. It must be my next appointment. I will reschedule it.” The Doctor left walking past Jolleen and Tom and out into the reception area leaving the door open. A woman walked up to the counter as her son wondered around the exhibits stopping to look at the star system displayed by the plate on the counter in the middle of the large room. Standing under the box that had lit up for Mark without the box seaming to notice the boy as he looked at the orbiting planets for a few seconds before going closer to examine the third planet and it's moon as they orbited the bright yellow star.

  “Wow. The blue green planet has little space stations and ships around it.” The boy said to his mother. “And there is a big domed city on the moon but the dome looks broke. What are all these craters on the blue green planet and the space stations look like they are broke in piece's too with the ships tumbling in orbit. I think your model is broke Mr.”

  “Sorry Mrs. Fielding but I am going to have to reschedule your appointment. An emergency has come up.” They talked for a few minutes as the boy walked around looking at the orbiting planets. Walking under the box several times with the box still ignoring him though that was normal since the box had never lit up for anyone else either before that day. The Doctor walked them to the door and turned the open sign to “Closed” as he shut and locked the door behind them with the bells still tinkling.

  Half way back to the counter and the door to the back room, he suddenly stopped as he noticed a flashing light out of the corner of his eye, turned to the box sitting on the sh
elf and stared at it. It stopped it's rapped attention getting flashing then flashed twice as he looked at it. “What the? Don’t tell me you want something after all these years?” The box flashed again twice. Perplexed he turned to look at the door at the back of the office. “The young man?” The box started flashing bright enough to light the office. Turning back he had to shield his eyes. “No. The boy does not want glasses. He wants those stupid implants when he has perfectly good eyes even if he needs glasses to see clearly.” The bright flashing stopped as the box glowed sickly yellow and then blue. Looking at the box the Doctor smiled. “Yes; my sentiments exactly.” Thinking for a few seconds. "You have never lit up for, let alone worked for anyone else I have tried you on. Will you work for this young man?" The box suddenly flash twice bright enough to make the Doctor Squint and after pausing flashed twice again. It kept repeating the bright double flash until the Doctor said. "Ok I will see what I can do." The box settled into a soft pink glow as the Doctor walked over to the shelf. He picked the box off the top shelf, blew the dust off the top and carried it into the back room stopping in the rest room to wash the accumulation of years' worth of dust off the top and sides making it sparkle in the light as it continued to glow a soft pink. As he washed it off he realized that the glow was pulsing at a rate he knew was designed to influence and relax the human mind. "Stop that. I don't need the tricks." The box went dark then slowly flashed twice. "That is better. I don't know why you picked this boy after 10 years but I can't promise anything. Then he seems to be the first one that truly needs you. How the hell did you know that?" The box flashed twice again. Jolleen and Tom both watched all this from the passageway with baffled expressions as the Doctor seemed not to even notice them as he talked to the box.

  Finally with the box sparkling, he entered the surgery room and placed the box down onto the counter next to Mark as he sat down. Mark glanced at the crystal box while his wife stared at it. “One more item. No one can make a perfect mechanical connection to biological nerves. There is always some degradation to some degree when you finely turn them on. Even with the best implants you may see no better than that first colorless grainy shit I first showed you when I finely turn them on. And no one knows why.” Looking at Marks baffled look. “The implants may be fuzzy when we are done so don’t expect to be able to see as well as the helmet is showing you. Remember these are for people that have lost their sight completely and anything that produces an image in a few hours is considered a success.