RP: Lazarus [Lazarus] - The long walk back

Sana soon carted Aiesu away, following behind Miles with a cheery expression.

This earned a somewhat strange reaction from the department locals: Seeing a familiar figure like Aiesu missing now not only her legs but also her arms and being carted to, of all places, an neurosurgery suite and by foreigners -- the nurse female and ... The doctor male?

There were eyes everywhere. All on Miles.

As Miles made his way into the surgical suite, he pushed the cart inside, and let Sana and Aiesu in as well, before he stepped out and looked to the staff that were eying him with such judgement. He made a rather loud sniffing sound, one of a clearly cocky thought process before he spoke quite audibly; "Anyone tell you people it ain't polite to stare at a Nepleslian male?" and with that statement, he went about adjusting the placement of his package within his pants, then turned, and walked right into the surgical suite, locking the door behind him.

Procedure in preparation was clear; Sana would prep the patient with proper monitoring equipment and preparation of the necessary tools, supplies, modules, and components... after all, she was quite familiar with what was needed to work upon a brain and a cybernetic body. Miles meanwhile went about checking the room for bugs and monitoring equipment which would let their work out of the bag; thankfully, there was just one audio-visual recording device, which Miles promptly unplugged. Then came gowning, scrubbing, and gloving up, and soon the Nepleslian scientist-doctor stepped out onto the surgical floor, and gave Sana a smile before securing his mask and stepping to the bed.

"Ice pick." Miles spoke, before releasing a chuckle; "I mean, let's mark the work site."

With that, Miles began the process of laying out the road map to his work upon Aiesu's pale skin. Then, once the map was laid, that was soon followed by putting scalpel to flesh, setting aside the covering of her skull. Then went the skull itself, and from there, Miles was wrist deep in his patient's cranium, and from there Miles performed like clockwork, with unerring precision suited to a professional.

From there, all it took was effort, patience, skill, and just getting the job done.

As Miles went about the rather involved process which was encasing the natural brain within a cybernetic shell, he spoke to Sana; "Don't be jealous my love. Her brain is nowhere near as pretty as your brain."

Sana watched over as Aiesu's body was taken apart in a number of different ways and then, as it as put back together.

Her eyes twinkled with what could only be described as a perverse pleasure.

"Huh... I'm surprised she doesn't just fall apart in your hands.. Children are so fragile, aren't they?"

There was a soft laugh from Miles as he worked, he had completed the brain case installation and had pieced her skull back together for the most part, though, it could still be easily taken apart; a key rule of any engineer 'Don't tighten the screws until you know you're done'

"Oh, she's a tough one. Remember, she's older than either of us... though, I suppose I'm here to cure her of being a child, aren't I?" As Miles spoke on the matter, he was working with a tiny incision near Aiesu's armpit, which had a series of small tubes leading into it. He was working via laparoscopy as he placed an implant between under developed glandular tissue and muscle tissue.

There became an awkward stare on Sana's part as a smile crawled unfairly across her lips over the one she was already nursing. Malcontent, she clicked her teeth as she watched again and again Miles' medical green wrapped hands dive like whales into the sea of one Aiesu Kalopsia's guts, disappearing beneath the surface for minutes at a time before surfacing for air with a thin coat of her person in runny red.

She noted in this time that the consistency of Lorath blood was very different from that of Nepleslian or even Yamataian blood: On contact with air, it turned syrupy and shifted in colour rather dramatically, explaining the cerise and purple coloration of the both simultaneously anorexic and overfed almost-corpse laid beneath Miles' busy hands.

"I'm not sure she'll appreciate this. And if she does, she won't tell us. You're fine with that?" Sana said, running her index finger along the L'manel's belly and circled her belly-button thoughtfully.

"Its a funny shape, don't you think?"

Implantation, that was the name of the game at that moment for Miles. Implants meant for his amusement were already handled, what was left were the ones needed to prevent any distinctive 'mishaps' in the future, ones which would stabilize Aiesu in the event of a catastrophic failure, and those which would constantly work to modify Aiesu's body chemistry to better promote healthy living, as opposed to the agony which she had been enduring for years. Miles was very specific about his work; making sure that the implanted devices would not conflict with her corrupted genetic code, but would only work upon a cellular chemistry level of interaction. What he was doing at that moment was simple; his job.

Even as he worked with such diligence, he paid mind to Sana, as he slipped a treatment implant in the space between stomach and liver. "She'll tell us if we pull the doll's string and make her talk." Miles replied, a macabre quality to his reply as he picked up a nanomachine applicator, designed for the purpose of producing supportive fibers within the abdominal cavity to support the medical implant, as he worked, he glanced at Aiesu's navel and chuckled; "It's odd because it was formed within an egg, and served as a transport mechanism for nutrients to the fetus while the egg was still soft-shelled and developing within her mother... I have noted though that the navel does tend to have a variety of appearance, much like the average Nepleslian's." his dialog was casual and factual as he ran through a checklist in his mind, and decided on going ahead with a concept, as he went about the utterly delicate task of creating an incision in Aiesu's bowel, which he was soon slipping a medical implant into. Inwardly, Miles was thankful for the wonders of modernized medicine, and the ability to quickly patch up his workspace once he was done working, it made repairing a bowel as easy as putting a bandage on a scratch, and it made surgery upon the GI tract entirely feasible.

From there, with the aid of the implanted devices, Miles' process of closing up Aiesu went swimmingly, as incisions sealed with a mingling of organic pico-jelly and nanomachines. All in all, it took some hours, but as Miles surveyed his work and conducted a series of diagnostics, he felt rather pleased with the product on the table, and more importantly, the diagnostic equipment was also pleased with his work as he looked to Sana and gave a smirk. "You know, even if she does not like the work, I don't think she's in much of a position to debate." Miles spoke, as he went about the process of syncing Aiesu's replacement limbs to their mounting anchors and the attached nerves connected to those mounting points.

"You can start waking her, going to need her to supply feedback on the limb installation... make sure to administer a non-opioid painkiller, she's going to be tender for a couple of hours until the nanomachines finish up."

It wouldn't be long before those cerise eyes would open again. First, they saw Sana, who sat watching something on some hand-held device. And then Miles.

She stretched before pausing. The sensation was unusual: she could feel her hands again. And then... Something else. Something almost perverse. Something... Long missed.

Carefully, aching everywhere, she lowered her head and stared down at the lower end of the bed. And there they were. Toes! Twinkling little toes, wrinkling and making shapes!

A sound of laughter and surprise tickled Miles' ears. Almost a giggle. It sounded like it came from anyone but her.

"What... Did you do?"

Stood beside Aiesu's bed, Miles watched the wakening, even as data streamed across his vision in a feat of augmented reality, indicating Aiesu's vitals and the calibration data for the cybernetic limbs, which were all within the range he wanted to see them. Though, that was the least of the things on his mind, what grasped him at that very moment was the sound he had never heard, a sound which brought a smile to his lips, then, a slight pang of guilt, a guilt of what ethics he had crying out at his questionable 'elective procedures', though, he did not let even the slightest bit of that guilt get in the way, it was a practiced trait really.

"Repair and replace mostly, least for your limbs." Miles explained, as he gently placed his hand upon her shoulder. "Don't try to sit up or move too much, we still have to calibrate your new equipment." he warned, before he continued any further in briefing Aiesu, and the words he would speak, would serve to separate him from being as low-down as a used airbike salesperson, but would likely elevate him to a person with ethics perhaps comparable to a Funky City meat market owner; no one ever asked where the meat came from, even though there were no cows or pigs to be slaughtered on Nepleslia.

"We also had to install some fail-safes into your body, mostly regulators for your vitals, as well as secondary supports for your damaged organs. Also needed to place some equipment to prevent any brain damage from future incidents, as well as improve cyber-ware compatibility." Miles knew he was a bit of a scumbag, leaving out details as to function and use of many of the new features which were tucked into her flesh. "Had to muck around in your skull a bit in the process, could not really avoid it, especially considering that eye I had to replace."

There was a secrecy in that moment, shared between himself and Sana, not only were they betrothed to each other, but they were also accomplices in medical malpractice, and what was referred to in the Matriarchy as 'Imposed mutilation and violation of a free individual's body and/or mind', shortened down, that was often deemed as simply; 'Heresy'.

Careful, Aiesu felt along her forehead beneath her hair. She could make out the tell tail signs of skull that had been rapidly reknit -- invisible, but obvious to the touch with some probing. She continued around, following the line of his incision about until the back of her skull.

Her gaze traced carefully over herself, trying to feel out the differences. She soon spotted a panel-gap in her thighs, and then her biceps. Carefully, she drew her knuckles to her ear and flexed her fingers like spider-legs, listening for the sounds they made.

"These are synthetic."

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"We were not able to re-incorporate your real arms due to the fact that they would simply be rejected again, like the attempts which were made with your legs." Miles stated, with a distinctive sound of annoyance, a sound which any other scientist would know as the sound of being frustrated with a defiant problem that exceeded the current bounds of science. "We were able to have a pair manufactured which would serve as a ninety-nine-percent accurate replacement for your originals. What constitutes 'repair' in this case were the terminating points on what remained of your limbs; we were able to salvage the nerve endings, and prevent any further tissue decay, much cleaner than the work which had been done on your legs, mind you, work we corrected while adding a mounting point for your new legs."

It was like letting someone know just what had been done to their car while it was loaned out, only to return the vehicle in a 'pimped out' state.

"Could you do me a favor and touch your nose? Once with each finger tip please." As Miles made the request, he placed his hand over her good eye. It would be a test of both motor control, and the new eye which he had installed.

She did as she was told, only to find she overshot slightly with her left hand. She held her arm out, flexing it slowly before laughing in a quiet defeated way before trying again and then with the other, getting it right this time.

"What's so funny?" Sana would ask, looking over her shoulder at the two.

"...My arms. They're longer than I remember them being" Aiesu said, wincing as she set her arms back down.

"Mmm... likely because of the coupling point." Miles spoke, as he let out a soft exhale that could be taken as amusement in the moment. As he let out that exhale, the data which streamed past his vision confirmed his words, and he was sure to remotely tweak the arm calibration in the process. "No worries, they'll work and feel just right in no time. Lorath motor neurological adaptation is quite impressive, I figure you'll be back to being able to run a five-minute-mile within the next few days."

Calibration data continued to stream in, and it prompted Miles' next words; "Aiesu, I think you can try to sit-up now, tell me if you have any balance concerns."

She did exactly that and within seconds, toppled to the floor with a clapped thud of pale skin. Sana stepped in, soon lifting her pale frame carefully then depositing Aiesu back on the bed with a patronising pat of the head.

"That could have gone better."

Miles' reaction was a split second too slow, as Aiesu crumpled to the floor. Though, once she was lifted back onto the bed, he sat upon a swiveling stool and rolled before the small framed Lmanel. As he sat there, his hands went to the access port on her right thigh, before he went about putting in calibration data. "Well, you know how it is with precision equipment. Run it once, watch the problems as they occur, then fix them for the next run."

"Damnit, I'm a programmer, not a..." she snapped. "cyberneticist".

It was jarring for her, seeing cables feeding into what she perceived as her body. Running in and out of her, doing things to her she wasn't even aware of. The lack of control was frightening.

"I specifically told you I didn't want a prosthesis."

"You were willing to work with the legs, so, the arms were just an extension of that." Miles replied, clearly indicating some of the liberties which he would let it be known that he took in regard to mending her. As he spoke, he finished working on both legs, before sliding away on the stool and holding his hands out, ready to catch her for the next round; "Try standing again."

"I'd... Rather just sleep, to tell you the truth" she uttered, skitting to sit at the edge of the bed. Tentatively, her toes came into contact with the ground. Almost immediately, she had to clutch at the sheets, turning about on the spot and falling flat on her backside, dragging the cloth off the bed.

Yet again, Sana propped her back up onto the bed.

"Whoa there." Miles spoke, grasping onto Aiesu as she crumpled to the ground, slowing her decent considerably, as he passed her off to Sana. "Seems like we'll have to give you some rehabilitation time. Considering you haven't walked on limbs you could feel and move in years, I'm not surprised you're having trouble standing... that's the hardest part you know, considering walking and running comes down to effectively controlling a falling motion."

"Now could you do me a favor and issue a command prompt to your headband, ping your home server perhaps?" of course, what Miles did not bother to indicate was that her precious crutch which kept her from reality was off of her head at that moment, and all she had was the hardware which he had installed into her skull.

"You're implying that wasn't the first thing I did when I woke up?" Aiesu stared flatly. She then looked aside for a moment before glancing back. "My headband is misbehaving. Did you do something to it? The signal-loss is ridiculous. I'm still trying to recalibrate it."

Miles reached over to a nearby tray, picking up a mirror before he held the reflective surface before Aiesu so she could see the matter for herself; the absence of her headband. "There still needs to be some calibration done, but I'm sure you're capable."

She took the mirror for herself, running her fingertips through her hair now, trying to feel for it.

"What... What did you actually do?"