‘What?’
I lay back in the bed, my thoughts racing. ‘She had a handgun in a holster under her left arm.’
‘Who, Emily?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Your Emily?’
‘I... she’s not exactly my Emily anymore, is she?’ I closed my eyes, replaying those last moments. No doubt that’ll be added onto the dream tonight. Emily, pointing a gun at me, surrounded in fire... the click of the trigger as the hammer falls down and the bullet leaping towards me in slow motion, surrounded by a tiny explosion as it creeps towards me, with me unable to do anything in time...
Yeah. That’s definitely going to be in the dream now. Thanks, subconscious.
‘Anyway,’ Sammy tried to change the subject. ‘Let’s find out exactly what these new eyes can do, yeah?’
As it turned out, they could do quite a lot. Doctor McMannus had to leave for his rounds but left the tablet with Sammy. Fortunately, it had a user-friendly guide built into the eye controller, and eventually we ran through all of the options.
Colour 3D X-Ray
Low Level Light (Sammy said my eyes got freaky and the irises turned red on that one)
Infrared
Heat Vision.
And, mostly importantly for me, I could see again. Truth be told, I could actually see much better now than I did before; I had been told I was slightly short sighted before, and I didn’t like glasses, and the thought of contact lenses made me squeamish - I hated the idea of anything, even water, going in my eyes.
Kind of ironic, really.
We chatted for a while about my new visions, until Sammy blurted out ‘What colour underwear am I wearing?’
‘What?’
‘Underwear.’ He stood and slowly turned for me. ‘What colour underwear am I wearing?’
‘I don’t...’ My vision changed to X-Ray. ‘Did you do that?’
The skeleton cocked his skull. ‘What?’
‘Did you change my vision?’
‘No, why? Did it change?’
I stared at the skeleton, realising that I couldn’t read his facial expressions if he didn’t have a face. Suddenly, my vision changed back to normal. ‘Okay, seriously...’
‘What?’
‘Stop doing that!’
Sammy pointed out to the bedside table next to me. I turned to it, to see the tablet he had obviously left resting, unattended.
I was changing my vision by myself.
‘Wow. Cool!’ I looked around and willed my vision to go back to X-Ray. The room looked about the same, but there was, as before, a red meaty covered skeleton sat by my bed.
‘So...’ It repeated. ‘What colour underwear am I wearing?’
I looked and shrugged. ‘No idea. This is X-Ray vision, Sammy, not “remove one layer of clothing” vision.’
He shrugged, and I changed my vision back to normal. ‘Trick question anyway. I’m not wearing any.’
‘...Thanks.’
‘No problem.’ He grinned. ‘So, what about your legs?’
‘How do you mean?’
He pointed to the tablet, which I picked up and studied. ‘There’s a catalogue on there. I guess the doctor left it for you. It’s a prosthesis list for legs and arms.’
‘Huh.’
I found the right tab and started browsing for new legs. Because that’s what my life is, now.
The next day, Michael came back to see me, and he looked concerned. ‘I heard back from the police. There’s been a letter. Someone’s taking responsibility for the attack on the Foundation.’
‘So it was definitely an attack, then?’
He looked at me strangely. ‘Why else would the room explode?’ I shrugged and let him continue. ‘It’s a mercenary that’s been rumoured to be around Capehill for a while. Calls himself Nemesis.’
Sammy perked up. ‘Whose?’
‘What?’
‘Whose nemesis is he?’ Sammy looked between Michael and myself. ‘Like, is he the nemesis of everyone? Or just one person in particular?’ When we didn’t answer him, he continued. ‘A nemesis is, like, an arch-enemy, right? So whose arch-enemy is he?’
‘Next time he blows us up and tries to kill us, Sammy, I’ll ask him.’ Michael’s eyes narrowed as he stared at my best friend. Sammy looked back levelly.
‘People pick really stupid names for themselves.’ He explained. ‘They always pick these names that they think sound really cool and bad-ass, but really, make little to no sense.’ He put on a deep growl and American accent. ‘I am Nemesis!’ He flexed both arms down. ‘I shall destroy you all because I am the nemesis of...’ Sammy stopped as he noticed our expressions, and sat down in his chair, in a huff. ‘It’s a dumb name, is all I’m saying.’
‘What should we do?’
Michael made a show of considering his words. ‘Right now, we haven’t released any statements to say your condition, or where you are. Assuming Nemesis is after you... and, honestly, it makes sense. He could have killed me at any time before you arrived if I were the target... I think you should rest up, heal, and then, honestly? Get the hell out of Dodge. Just in case.’ He looked at my tablet and nodded. ‘Picking out new legs? Have you thought about any upgrades?’
‘Upgrades? What? No. I just want to be able to walk.’
‘That’s probably for the best.’ He made a show of examining me. ‘We can get you set up with top of the line artificial legs and a new arm in a secure facility back in England, away from Nemesis, and then you can go on with your life.’ He looked at me, sadly. ‘I’m so sorry I pushed for this to happen, and for you to come here. If I’d had known...’
England.
England was home. England always would be home to me, and although I know Sammy had wanted to come here, that was his dream, not mine. My dream was...
Oh.
Right.
‘Michael. It’s okay.’ I paused to gather my thoughts. ‘I mean, I got blinded, and I don’t have legs or a left arm-’
‘Totally ruining his love life.’ Sammy chipped in, earning a glare from me.
‘But,’ I continued, ‘I’ve experienced new things, I can see better than ever... I’m not leaving now.’ I thought about Emily. ‘There’s still so much left to do.’
‘Well... if you’re sure?’ Michael looked at me questioningly. I nodded once, firmly. ‘Well, then!’ He brightened. ‘Let’s make sure you’re moved to a secure...’ He trailed off, deep in thought.
‘Yes?’
‘Well, it’s just... we have partnership deals with a lot of the companies here, as you know. And access to the latest technologies.’
‘Like my eyes?’
‘Exactly like your eyes.’ He nodded, and pulled out his phone, tapping against the glass a few times. ‘I’m sharing some of our more... sensitive products with that tablet. Once you’re done, remember to delete the files.’
The tablet in my hand chimed softly once the transfer had completed. I didn’t look. I was too busy studying Michael.
‘By sensitive, you don’t mean... I mean, we’re not...’
‘What?’
‘Arms dealers?’
He smiled sheepishly. ‘It depends on how you define arms, really, doesn’t it?’
‘Michael...’
‘Arms... legs...’ He shrugged. ‘Anything that can be used to get people up on their feet. And then some.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Now, I need to get to a television interview. I’ll downplay your recovery; it might make you safer if people think you’ve got one foot in your grave.’ He winked, nodded to Sammy, and left.
‘One foot in the grave... one by the door... I’m not sure where your feet ended up, to be honest.’
‘Yeah. Thanks.’ I rolled my eyes at Sammy, who merely grinned. ‘What? What’s got you so happy?’
‘We’re not leaving, are we.’ Not a question.
‘Well, no. I want to recover, and... this place is starting to grow on me.’
‘You mean Emily’s here and you’re getting obses
sed with the thought of you two again.’ He put on a squeaky falsetto. ‘Oh, my love, my dear, my sweet, I just couldn’t live without you...’
‘That sounds nothing like her.’
‘Her?’ Sammy’s grin got wider. ‘That was supposed to be you!’ I sighed, not wanting to validate his words with a retort, and lifted the tablet to my new eyes. The glare from the screen overloaded my vision for a millisecond, and then my eyes adjusted to the brightness, allowing me to read normally. ‘Hmm. This is... yes.’ I over enthused what I was reading, to annoy Sammy. ‘Oh, yes, these Special Project legs look...’ I trailed off. They did look. They looked very much, indeed. If I was reading these right, I could...
Wow.
‘What? What’re you gaping at?’ Sammy’s voice squeaked. He leaned over the bedside, as I showed him the files Michael had transferred to me.
Tiles after tiles of military grade prosthetic legs and arms displayed themselves to us. The top three were listed as “Augmentation Level - SpecOps”.
JumpX
Phreakster5000
MilNet/A
‘Ohh-ho-ho!’ Sammy’s face couldn’t display a wider grin if he pulled the sides of his mouth apart more. ‘We are gonna have ourselves some fun, now!’
‘Huh?’
He tapped the JumpX icon. The legs, metallic and skeletal, enlarged and a short video showed a man jumping over houses. ‘Look! You could leap small buildings in a single... terrifying jump.’
‘Nope.’ I shook my head. ‘I just want to walk. Not do Olympic high jumps every time I need to step over a dog on the street.’
‘Ugh.’ Sammy rolled his eyes. ‘Fine. Whatever. What about...’ He dragged his finger to the left. ‘These? The Phreakster5000s?’ The video, seemingly a closed-circuit feed, showed a woman outpacing a motorcycle and then running up a building. ‘Not exactly the Fastest Man in the Cosmos, but still. You know. Alive.’
‘And every time I’m late for somewhere I’ll overshoot it and end up in China. What then?’
He paused, considering. ‘Bring me back some Crispy Chilli Beef?’
I shook my head. ‘Not happening. I just want to be able to walk. What about these?’ I slid my finger to the MilNet/As. The video showed a man walking down the street, walking past people. ‘These don’t seem too bad. They look mostly human, too.’
‘The JumpX’s were better looking.’
‘They looked like someone had cut a Terminator’s legs off and stuck them on a guy.’ I tapped the video closed and handed the tablet to Sammy. ‘These ones, on the other hand, are perfect. Just what I want.’
‘Okay, okay.’ He read the blurb, and then...
As I’ve said, I’ve known Sammy for a very long time. I know how to read him. I know every facial expression, every tic, and every nuance of his face. So I know when Sammy sees something he thinks is funny.
He had that expression just at that moment.
‘I’ll get those ordered now for you.’ He tapped a button quickly, and his evil little grin grew.
‘What?’
‘What?!’ He mimicked, trying to look innocent.
‘What’ve you just done?’
‘Nothing! I put the order in for the MilNet/As. Just as you asked.’
I studied him intently, but other than the too-innocent expression on his face, nothing was given away.
‘Sammy.’
‘Yeah?’
‘These are going to be my legs. My legs which I will hopefully have for the rest of my life. The replacement legs I got after someone blew up my brand-new building and blinded me.’
‘Yeah. I was there, Jay.’
‘So if you’ve seen that these legs detach via remote control, or something which will end up annoying the living hell out of me, I’d much rather know about it now so we can cancel the order and I’ll just get the basic ones.’
He shook his head. ‘There’s nothing bad about these legs, Jay. I promise.’
I stared.
‘Seriously. I promise. You’ll love them.’ He smiled warmly. ‘Now, let’s look at the arms!’
‘They can’t do the surgery here.’
‘Why?’
It had been three days since I’d picked out my replacement limbs. Whilst Sammy kept pushing for an arm that would shoot out laser beams, or exert a magnetic pull on nearby objects, I over-rode him (Hey. It’s my arm) and went for a basic, ordinary model. Four fingers, one thumb, full range of motion. It also had “1.5 Strength”, which I assumed meant that it would be 1.5 times stronger than an average human arm - I wasn’t above a little bit of superhero fantasy, myself. Michael had come to me the morning of the surgery (they work quick!), carrying with him a nondescript brown paper bag, wrapped over itself.
‘So, guys, there seems to be an issue with the synth-flesh vats. We can’t get the proper sort of synthetic skin here at the hospital. We’d need to go elsewhere.’
‘Like where?’ Sammy wanted to know.
‘Well,’ Michael brightened slightly. ‘The closest place with the correct vat would be in Cape Hill.’
‘But we’re in Capehill.’ I looked at Michael, confused.
‘Not Capehill the city, Jason. Cape Hill. As in...’
‘Oh!’ Sammy leapt up, clapping. ‘No way!’
‘Yes, way.’ Michael smiled, glad one of us had understood.
‘Cape Hill as in...?’
‘As in the training centre?!’ Sammy was bouncing around the room as if he had JumpX legs installed. ‘Like, where the Superheroes are based?’
‘Exactly that place.’ Michael moved to the window and opened the blinds. In the faint distance, surrounded by a low fog, was the unmistakable shape of the Enhanced/Powered Individual Centre.
Yes. I know the acronym. I refuse to use it.
‘So we’re going to go...’
‘We’re going to EPIC!’ Sammy completed for me, screaming like a little girl at a Starburst concert.
I refuse to use the acronym. Sammy, on the other hand...
Michael held his hands up in a placating gesture. ‘Whilst you’ll both be going to EPIC, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see anybody famous there. They tend to not go into the medical units unless they absolutely have to.’ He shrugged. ‘they play the part of super-humans very well and like to think they don’t get sick.’
‘So,’ I ignored all this talk about superheroes, impatient to get my mobility back. ‘How do we go about this? I’m guessing that if someone who tried to kill me sees me leaving the hospital, they may try to kill me again.’
Michael reached into his bag, and pulled out a garish, shiny golden... thing. Segmented, with a large red circle embedded in it, It looked like someone had found a gold watch, swapped the face out for a ruby, and then enlarged it.
‘This,’ he said proudly, ‘is the latest from Borleath. It’s a wearable forcefield projector, with an adaptable holographic camouflage overlay.’
‘What?’
‘You put this on,’ Michael continued, ‘and you could look like anyone. Just program the interface to what you want to look like, and it’ll do it. I’ve pre-programmed it so when you put it on, you’ll look like an elderly lady. We put you in a wheelchair, roll you out, and you’ll be at EPIC before you can blink.’ He looked at Sammy and winked. ‘And, of course, the suit is bullet-proof, knife proof, fireproof, and indistinguishable from a real person. You’ll be completely safe in case Nemesis decides to attack again.’
‘It’s like a belt you could get your power from!’ Sammy burbled. ‘It’s a Power Belt!’
‘I’m not calling it that.’ I snapped, taking the belt from Michael and affixing it to my waist. It beeped twice, and then tightened itself around me.
The red circle in the middle of the belt began to pulsate. I gingerly reached out and pressed it. I looked at the two men stood either side of my hospital bed: Michael had a knowing grin on his face, and Sammy looked in shock. ‘Well?’
‘Holy hell, dude!’ Sammy shrieked, and reached into his pocket t
o grab his phone. ‘This is nuts!’ He took a photo of me, and then turned his phone to show me. There, in the hospital bed, was a little old lady; neatly permed hair, glasses, a blue necklace and white dress.
‘That’s me?’ I pointed at the picture. Sammy nodded, his glee making his eyes sparkle. ‘I still sound like me...’
‘It’s a hologram, not a voice changer.’ Michael examined me. ‘Well. Not yet. That’s an idea, though...’ He pulled out his phone and made a note. Sammy was still grinning. ‘What?’ I asked, eyeing him.
‘It’s just cool. We both have new fun gadgets. You have new eyes and look like a little old lady, and I got the latest AwaTen step counter!’ He held out his arm, so I could see the garish neon orange of the AwaTen watch strap.
‘Yeah. That’s... uhh... cool.’ I shook my head. ‘So, how about we get me out of here and attached to my new limbs?’
Getting out of here was a surprisingly easy task. I was bundled into the wheelchair and pushed down the hallway. I had to use a blanket to cover the belt up, as it didn’t disguise itself. As Michael began to slowly push me out, I looked down at my feet, and-
‘Hey! I have feet!’
‘That’s right, grandma,’ Michael said soothingly. ‘You have feet.’
Not only did I have feet, but they moved and twitched like feet do. They weren’t rigidly still like I would have expected from a hologram... my left leg, in fact, seemed to be tapping nervously.
‘Now, keep quiet Grandma. Rest your voice.’ Michael’s voice had an edge of warning to it, as Sammy and he walked behind me.
‘Yeah.’ Sammy snickered. ‘You sound like a guy, Grandma.’ He ignored Michael’s glare. ‘A British guy, at that.’
As we edged out of the hospital and into a waiting Anson Foundation van, I thought it safe to speak again. ‘How are my feet doing that?’ I pointed at my ersatz right foot, which appeared to be scratching the back of the left ankle.
‘Oh, the hologram overlay is controlled by a simplistic AI algorithm, with a multi-function interface.’
‘Huh?’
The blank expression must have translated well from the overlay, as Michael smiled knowingly. ‘Danti-Tech.’
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