The admiral went to each patient, linking into them to initialize their implants. Then he moved on to the next. There was no time to initialize sleep teaching, he made a mental note to do so after. They not only needed to know how to use their implants, but they also had to know a bit more about military life.
He noted doctor La Plaz, Doctor Zane, and Nurse Joy were all betas, each would be useful later. The remarkable intelligence of La Plaz was now explained.
Once he had worked his way through the rest of the group he stopped at Helen Richards. She was smiling slightly in her sleep. Gently he brushed her hair away from her temple and put his right hand there. He felt his nanites make the connection. She stirred as if in discomfort but he knew it wasn't due to what he was doing. He initialized her implants and felt Sprite sign off on them. Then he felt her reboot the doctor's implants. When they finished her rank and status were there blinking on his HUD. He nodded and then turned. It was time for the next step.
Each of the patients were wheeled one by one to the cleared surgery suite. Doctor Chung and Doctor O'Reilly were on hand to oversee things. They would monitor the patient's vitals for now, that was about all they could understand or cope with for now.
Helen had insisted on being the first to go through the process. Ted Zane had tried to get her to let him go first, but she hadn't allowed it. Irons could see her logic, she wanted to not only lead her people but also recover quicker. But he also knew the risks, if they lost her it would be bad.
Irons set up to do the humans first, since there were more of them than the other species. In fact there were only two other species involved, a single member of each, the Veraxin Endocrinologist Dr. Gijis, and the Naga orthopedic surgeon doctor Ramius. Both were perfectly happy with going last.
He'd worked out the rank, Doctor Richards would serve as a first lieutenant since she was chief medical officer of the planet. Doctor Zane would serve as a second lieutenant, as would all the other doctors. The nursing staff would be ensigns, the one orderly would have enlisted implants. He was technically the easiest of the group, Irons was tempted to start on him first but decided against his better judgment to go with Doctor Richards. They needed doctors, not augmented orderlies who may someday be a doctor.
...*...*...*...*...
The main surgical suite was dark, cool, and quiet. Occasionally machinery could be heard, but it was a distant thing, easily tuned out. Spot lights were around the doctor, the suite had originally been set up as a theater but the admiral had firmly refused more of an audience than he already had on hand.
Each of the surgical staff were nervous, he could tell, their heart rates were elevated. He ignored that as well, focusing instead on the patient.
Helen was laying there as if on a massage table. Her left arm had an IV set up, they were already giving her saline and anti-inflammatory medication to go along with her sedative. Hopefully not too much.
On a table near each patient were the semi-processed materials for each of their implants. They glittered like gold and silver jewelry and wiring. “Are we ready?” Irons murmured. A blue holo of Helen Richards appeared in the air over his head. He glanced up at it, then down to her. The same image was there, overlaid on her body. He nodded.
“We will be using the first ident implant as a template admiral,” Sprite informed him as he felt nanites bunching up on his right hand. “Please have a seat, this will take a while. At least until we've figured out how to do it properly. I am so glad you decided to go with the humans first. We're using you as a template as well.”
“Some things just work out that way,” the admiral said, noting her curious nervous tone. “And you've got opening night jitters don't you?” he teased.
“Damn right I do!” she said. He snorted. He turned, feeling his body move on its own. Proteus laid the implants out on the doctor's body, over her patient gown. The doctor was face down, a breathing mask covered her face. Usually they would do the operation in a zero G field, unfortunately due to the time crunch they just couldn't afford to wait for the admiral to whip a few up.
“Let's do this,” the admiral said, feeling his own nerves draw taught. He glanced at the medics in their blue scrubs and nodded. Raising his right hand over Helen's back, he felt the AI redirect it to her right arm. Slowly, almost agonizingly slowly his hand moved downward to touch the inside of her wrist. He could see and feel his nanites flowing into her.
Doctor Ramius gasped as he noted tiny firefly icons swarm out of the admiral and into the patient. He turned to Doctor Chung. “The nanites,” the human surgeon said. Ramius flicked his tail in annoyance.
“I knew that,” he grumbled, returning attention to the scene unfolding in front of his eyes. For this to work he was taking a back seat, just an observer.
Nanites flowed into the implant woven into the epidermis above the thenar muscles in her right palm. There they replaced the basic wireless implant with a more powerful one. Then they traced up the median and ulnar nerves, replating the wiring as they went until they reached the right trapezius muscle. There they branched off for the first time.
One group followed the wiring down, along the intercostal nerves along the spine. There they encountered other groups and they made connections, weaving them into the patient's nervous system as if they'd been grown. Which, in a way, they were.
A second group branched out, making a run into the interior of the body where they branched further and further. Some ran wiring to the pair of batteries that had been grown into her abdomen above her liver, others formed new devices, thermal taps to power the implants, an electric energy collector along the spine, sensors in each of the major organs... the connections started to look like the nervous system of the patient.
As the AI's worked the piles of materials disappeared. The admiral's hand moved of it's on violation, slowly tracing its way up her arm to the back of her neck. As he passed over the arm the nanites there just finishing their tasks, they moved on to other tasks.
Queen nanites were constantly updated with new plans as they went along. They directed worker nanites in the process. Some workers formed chains to pass materials to the manipulator nanites at the point of contact. These nanites formed and shaped the materials into the required tech, seamlessly weaving them into the patient's body. Another set of workers were applying quick heal and anti-inflammatory medications to the connections, soothing their assault to acceptable levels.
Another strain of workers were fending off the patient's immune system. That was a vicious fight, but rather one sided since the nanites could mimic the body's cells, throwing the white blood cells into confusion. The nanites took up blockades at certain parts of the intravenous system, filtering out the white blood cells but allowing other cells to pass. When the work in that part of the body was finished the nanites dissolved the filter and moved on.
The first branch had been stalled, the branch going up along the intercostal nerve there would encounter the brain, Proteus was leaving those delicate connections for last.
The connections along the spine would serve as a bridge allowing the patient to connect her nervous system to a machine and control it. She would 'feel' sensations as if they were her own limbs, and also be able to move her own body and remote control the limbs or machinery of other devices.
Pockets were formed in tissue, this was something tricky Doctor Zane had been concerned about. The nanites grew devices within, in some cases they were chemical reservoirs, others were for electronics. When the supplementary devices were completed the nanites all seemed to collect themselves along the spine, completing the delicate connections there.
“Vitals are stable. Phase two?”
“We're almost finished phase two. We're about to enter Phase three,” Doctor Chung said, hands moving as if he was controlling the nanites. “Sensory connections I believe.”
“Yes,” the admiral said softly. As he said that nanites seemed to move out as if they exploded, following her nervous system into her inner a
nd outer brain.
The first connections to her body had been for touch and control, now he felt Proteus move on to more tricky avenues. The AI was starting with the simplest, sound. An auditory microphone was grown in a pocket in the doctor's mandible near her right ear. Wiring ran to her spine. The microphone was grown into her masteroid bone. It would pick up and would transmit sounds and vibrations her vocal cords made.
When those connections were made jacks were formed in both of her temples and at the base of her neck. Additional jacks formed in her right arm under her skin, but they would remain dormant for now.
Nanites moved material and wove auditory brain-stem implants, one for each ear. These would allow her to hear sounds through her implants. Proteus experimented slightly with the implants, throwing in enhancements to allow her to hear and filter out things easier. The admiral frowned but didn't urge the AI onward. Most likely the AI was stalling as Sprite worked on the next more critical steps.
Helen Richards wasn't a beta genie unfortunately, so she didn't have the links in her brain and on her nerves like a beta would have. It was unfortunate, but Doctor Zane did have such genes so it was hoped his surgery would go easier.
He could see the nanites clustering in along her optical nerves, a flick of his left hand changed the view and then zoomed in. Doctor Chung came closer, watching intently.
Slowly, but then with increasing speed the nanites began to form the intrinsic connections that would allow the doctor to not only see files and through the artificial eyes of a machine, but also allow her to see better than ever before, in most of the visible electromagnetic spectrum, and control such abilities. Most of the connections were merely following the earlier ident implant, but they were enhancing it, growing micron thin tendrils into her eyeballs with tiny sensors. If this didn't work she could be blind the admiral thought with a pang.
As the optical implants were finished the nanites turned to the brain stem and brain. Connections were made, first between the lobes of the brain and the implants, and then to the optical lobes. It looked like a mob of spiders were angrily weaving a web. The admiral knew that not only were the two AI connecting her various motor functions to the implant, they were also adding implants to her long term and short term memory which would allow her to process downloaded information faster.
Slowly the frenzy of nanites began to recede back into his hand. He checked her vitals, everything was stable. Slowly he let out a deep breath, then inhaled and did it again as the nanites retreated.
“So it's done?” Chung asked softly.
“We don't know how successful it is, but yes, I think she's finished. Not out of the woods though,” Irons replied as the last of the nanites retreated into his hand. He felt the bridges disconnect and he let go of the back of the woman's neck slowly.
“Just like that?” Chung asked.
“That's the basic implants doctor. Level three basic. We don't have time for anything higher.”
“Oh. So, she's a cyborg now?”
Irons turned to him as nurses moved in to take care of the doctor. They murmured softly as they moved her to gurney, flipping her onto her side. She looked peaceful. A nurse gently rolled her onto her back and then folded her arms across her chest. Another brushed her hair and then they switched her IV's to the stand attached to her gurney and pushed her out.
Irons watched this ballet and smiled a little in approval before returning his attention to the watching doctors. “Of course. You all are now remember?” he asked.
Chung blinked and then snorted explosively. Ramius flicked his tail and touched his antlers. “True,” Ramius replied sheepishly. “We had forgotten that.”
“Well don't. You'll have some additional abilities beyond normal, Proteus is throwing them in as he made the connections. But it will be up to you two to finish the job after all this is over.”
“Oh?”
“If the doctors want full implants I mean,” the admiral replied with a shrug. “I don't know. They really don't need super strong bones, enhanced strength, speed, the works.”
Chung looked at him in surprise then slowly smiled at Ramius. “Well it's an interesting idea,” he murmured.
“Two hours. Two and a half,” Irons said correcting himself. “Next?” he asked, looking expectantly to a nurse. She jolted as if he'd shocked her then moved to get another patient. Another nurse was already moving the next bag of implant materials to the waiting table.
“In Pyrax they used regen tanks and even stasis tubes to control and promote healing. Here you are going to have to watch them carefully. Especially for bleeds,” the admiral said, nodding to the two surgeons. “Proteus wove around the circulatory system as much as possible, but there's always a chance something may abraded a blood vessel with disastrous results,” he said.
“Ah.”
“And then of course there's tissue encapsulation, swelling, total rejection,” he sighed.
Chung grunted. “You aren't doing a lot to help your case Admiral,” he said.
Irons smiled. “Just laying it out. Next,” he said turning as the double doors opened and Doctor Zane was wheeled in.
...*...*...*...*...
The first crop of four were on the road to recovery when Doctor Chung called a break. He checked the vitals of each and insisted the admiral get some food and down time.
The admiral snorted, wryly pointing out that he hadn't been the one doing any of the work, he'd been a passenger as much as the two doctors. That had amused Ramius but Chung had still insisted on a break. “Besides! I’ve got to pee!” he said. That got a laugh.
The next group went well, Irons was focusing on the humans first. His last doctor was Doctor Chung himself before he moved to the nurses and trouble.
Chung had been a bit of a hard case, he had some plaque that had been dislodged during the implant procedure. Fortunately Proteus had noticed and taken care of the blockage when it hit the surgeons’ heart. It hadn't done any damage, but it had been a close call.
One nurse died when she went into a seizure after the treatment. All of the surgical staff were affected, all sobered by the sudden unexpected death, some of the staff about to go in for their own procedures were justifiably scared. All however thought that the reward was worth the risk. A quick postmortem discovered that the middle aged woman had been allergic to anti-inflammatory medications, something that had gone unnoticed. It was an unfortunate oversight.
The admiral delayed the follow up procedures until a check could be performed on the remaining volunteers. All were cleared of allergies so they moved on.
Weary, tired and ready to be finished, the admiral hadn't expected to lose another patient so close to finishing. He should have, he should have had his mental guard up he thought, but he hadn't. She was the last, and everyone was eager to get the work done. Nothing had gone wrong in the suite, nothing was assumed to be able to go wrong. They were wrong, horribly wrong.
Thing started to go south as the woman's heart fluttered and went into an asynchronous rhythm. The slowing heartbeat unnerved them. Irons redirected Proteus to the woman's heart to see what was wrong, pulling the nanites away from the other implants to diagnose and repair whatever was wrong. Apparently that was a mistake.
The second nurse died from multiple aneurisms before Proteus could track them down and help. She was brain dead in seconds. The admiral turned away, listening to a woman gasp and sob in anguish as the machines screamed.
“We're done here. No more,” he said, rubbing his eyes, feeling horrible. “Spirit of space,” he murmured, sinking into a chair, watching as they shut the machines off and covered the body.
“What happened?” Doctor Innes asked, looking bewildered. One moment everything was normal...”
“Aneurisms. I'm betting. Have an autopsy done. Proteus was repairing her heart when they went off. By the time the nanites got to her brain it was over she was gone.”
“Oh.”
Irons sighed as he got up. “Damn,” he mut
tered, leaving the room, kicking a can. “Damn, damn, damn.”
Chapter 18
One by one each of the sleepers woke over the next day. A few like Doctor La Plaz slept longer, the nurses joked that he didn't like to wake and loved his beauty sleep.
Irons nodded, looking at the sleepers. They were doing okay, all vital signs normal. He'd lost two nurses despite all the efforts of the surgical team, he was going to wait to tell Helen later.
Post mortem autopsies had concluded each had died from different causes. One had gone into shock and her heart had seized. As the medical team struggled to deal with that an unforeseen clot had worked its way through her brain, and before he could detect it the clot had clogged several veins feeding the autonomic portions of her brain. She'd gone brain dead just as the nanites arrived on the scene to fix the problem.
It was his fault, he knew it. Proteus had been stretched thin working on each of the cadets, it had been stretched even thinner trying to not only deal with the implants, but in trying to save the nurse.
It sucked, he knew it. Fortunately Proteus had a primitive personality core so hadn't turned morose over the deaths.
After breakfast he gently told Helen the news. Her face set. She didn't cry, but she did nod grimly. “I... I know you warned us,” she finally said.
“Yes well, this is hopefully the last time I'll have to do this myself. Now you have people who can do it.”
Helen nodded. “When do we learn the implants?” she asked, changing the subject. She'd look into notifying the families later, on her own.
“As soon as the swelling is under control and you have recovered. I'd give it another day. I'd like the sleep teaching to begin tonight as you recover, but that might cause more swelling.”
Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) Page 43