Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“Although cyberization has fallen from favour I feel it is important that the ARC had at least one specialised clinic to service our cybernetically enhanced inhabitants. Also given that cyber-limbs remain the only viable replacement for amputees, having the necessary facilities on site would greatly improve the turn over time for getting a injured employee back to their job after a accident.”

-Dr Brian Palmer, Archaeology Chief Medical Officer on proposed construction of Cybernetics clinic 2080.

Mid Arcology Medical wing

Jack took a lift to the Mid ARC hospital, the only medical station in the ARC large enough to justify having a specialized cybernetics lab. Although each sector had its own clinics and the Top, Middle and Lower ARC had their own hospitals, so few people opted for cybernetics that only the largest had been given the resources to run such a lab. He exited the lift and headed out along the wide, well lit corridor, past the clear screen mounted vistas and news feeds. He was always reminded of the class difference between Mid and Lower ARC when visiting this level. Here the corridors were wider and better cared for and the ambiance nicer, the people better off, with more expensive clothing and gadgets, from kid’s playing on the latest Smart-pads made by Arklight, to business men walking around in the wrap around interface shades, their eyes and hands twitching as they interacted with the HUD the devise projected inside of the shades. .

One day he planned on travelling to Top ARC just to see how the executives lived. Probably marble water features and actual stone and wood setting.

The medical facility took up 3 stories along the south wall, still only a fraction of the level’s size, but big enough to have several differing wards, operating theatres, crèches, consultation rooms, and everything else Jack would have found in a facility on earth. The corridors gleamed clean and well lit, with hydroponically sustained plants placed artfully along the corridor walls, as he moved through the entrance into the hospital. The foyer was a wide open area, one wall made up of the sloping glass of the outer ARC wall, showing the valley beyond. The space stretched three stories high, with the area closest to the wall open all the way up with seating and a coffee shop and gift-shop. The second and third floor where set back from the outer wall with glass walls looking over the seating area, creating a sense of openness and space.

A good number of people were milling around, some needing immediate medical help, others perhaps looking into getting elective procedures done before the slowdown the coming solar storm would cause in procedures. Jack melded into the back of the line for one of the reception desks, waiting for a pretty brunet receptionist to finish with a middle aged blond woman and young girl, the two adults discussing vaccinations.

“Oh my God!” The receptionist gushed ”I love the Primero, my boyfriend took me there for our anniversary, he had to book like two months in advance.” She looked down at the clear-screen and put on her professional voice again” Alright Mrs Tanner, so that’s a shot of Cyclopropin-3, Amacillin and Carboxin. Before you head to the dispensary could I just confirm how you will be paying, the cost will come to 500 Credits”

The mother looked slightly worried at the amount, her mouth tightening slightly.

“Um ....I was told that my work comp would cover it. I’m a Sous Chef in the Primero kitchen up ARC and my Manager said the company would pay for Artemis’s injections”.

“Oh, all right then” the receptionist replied pleasantly, looking down at her screen. ”Just let me check...OK that’s confirmed. The company will pick up the bill. If you and your daughter head along the corridor and up to the second level dispensary, your shots should be ready very shortly. Just let me finish the prescription files and I’ll send them across to you”. The mother nodded and gave a slight sigh of relief as the receptionist began typing on the clear-screen in front of her.

The little girl had been fidgeting slightly during the wait, obviously bored, when she turned and noticed Jack. She glanced away for a moment before looking at him out of the corner of her eyes; her pretty brown hair in bangs that complimenting her adorable features. On a whim Jack pulled a face at her causing her to look away for a moment, before she turned and stuck out her tongue. They spent the next half a minute carefully pulling increasingly odd faces at each other until the receptionist announced she was done and flicked a smart file to the mothers pad.

“Come on Art” the mother said, glancing at her daughter and catching the tail end of a particularly impressive combination of crossed eyes and blown out cheeks. She frowned and then jumped slightly as she saw Jack behind her, instinctively moving beside her child and ruining the moment. She took her daughters hand and quickly led her away, but the little girl turned and waved at Jack with a smile. Surprised, he gave a gentle wave back before turning to the bemused looking receptionist.

“Jack Hunt to see Dr Jeffrey please”.

“OK!” she replied, looking down at her clear screen” which department?”

“Cybernetics”

Jack caught a slight grimace on the woman’s face for a fleeting moment before she gave him a practiced smile.“He’s free at the moment if you want to head there now. I assume you know the way?”

Jack nodded and headed across the room to the staircase opposite, having to stop once as a toddler scampered by with a frazzled looking woman chasing him. Walking up the stairs he moved past more wall mounted clear screens advertising various medical treatments, from those formulated to correct existing medical complaints, from skin treatments and anti aging drugs promising to revitalize your appearance, to enzymatic supplements and targeted gene therapies to give you better digestion or more energy. Jack was familiar enough with the area to know that the majority had minor effects at most, although the enzyme supplements had been shown to have real benefits.

The second level had a series of seating areas overlooking the main floor, several occupied by lab coat wearing doctors and patients, presumably discussing their treatments or results. Jack moved along a side corridor heading deeper into the ARC, the cybernetics bay being tucked right at the back in the facility. Initially the walls on either side of the corridor were opaque glass, obscuring the rooms continence but giving the feel of light and space, but as he moved deeper the surroundings became more functional, plain plastic walls and doors, with signs announcing storage or laboratories.

The cybernetics suite was tucked tight at the back of the facility, its open double doors leading Jack into a large two story room that looked like a mix of medical lab and factory. The reception was small and functional, with glass walls looking out into the lab, with its a range of physiological testing equipment, from treadmills and exercise machines, to ECG’s and respiratory assessment equipment. Sat behind the desk was the receptionist, Tammy, an attractive looking girl with mocha skin and raven dark hair. She glanced up from the magazine she was reading on a large smart-pad and gave Jack a smile.

“Hey there handsome, what can I do for you today”

“Hi Miss Renaults, just seeing the Doc for a check-up on my DNI and ports. You need me to sign in”

“Please, and call me Tammy” she said with a grin, tapping her pad to change program before reaching over to hand it to him. He pressed his thumb on the pad to confirm his signing, glanced at her hand as he did and noticing a slight twitch.

“Is your new arm playing up?” he asked quietly, recognizing the twitch as a nerve feedback loop, a common issue with the neural sleeve connecting a bionics controls to the wearer’s nerve endings.

Tammy paled slightly and pulled her human looking bionic arm back, cradling it with her flesh and blood left arm.

“Is it that obvious?” she asked worriedly” I thought the new limb was more lifelike?”

“No, no. It’s really good, honestly” Jack apologized quickly, hands raised “I don’t think anyone would notice, it’s just I have a lot of ... experience with cybernetics and twitching usually means the nerve graft is a issue. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything”

Tammy sighed and seemed to relax, her shoulders falling slightly as she gave him a inquiring look.

“It’s OK. Ever since I changed module the index and middle finger have been a bit twitchy“. She looked down at her right arm, before turning it over and pulling up her sleeve. The “skin” of the artificial limb was almost a perfect match to her skin colouring, but it had a few flaws Jack recognized, namely that it was too perfect. Human skin tended to pick up wear and tear from everyday life, small scars, marks, freckles and the like. It was also exactly proportioned, every finger perfect, every curve precise, it’s very perfection made it stand out to his eye.

“Have you asked the Doc about it ?”

“He looked but he thinks it’s just a slight calibration error in my arm’s programming. It should fix itself as it adjusts to my bio readings.”

Jack nodded slightly in agreement. Many artificial limbs had integral computers to interpret nerve transitions, both for control and to send sensory feedback to the wearer. Many used complex algorithms and programming to tailor their control and feedback to the individual, but this could take time to adjust as the program learned about its user’s unique physiology.

“He’s probably right” Jack murmured, before a idea hit him “You could also ask him to look at the nerve input relays themselves. A lot of newer limbs use polyhezamine in the interface sheath as it has higher biocompatibility, but in rare cases it can cause irritation for a while. It might be worth looking into a different interface”.

Tammy looked as him with a frown.

“How do you know so much about this?”

Jack jerked slightly, realizing he’d let his mouth run away with him, his old life pushing through again.

“Just picked it up somewhere,“ he insisted weakly “must have read it when I was looking up my own implants “

“Riiiggghht” Tammy drawled, looking unconvinced as she rolled her sleeve back down. “Anyway you’re all signed in so you should head to Doctor Jeffrey before he wonders where you’ve got to “

“Ok” Jack said hastily, straightening up and walking through the door into the facility” Catch you later Tammy”

“Watch yourself” she called after him “The Doctor’s in a foul mood .... As usual” she muttered the last part.

He walked out into the main floor, past the bulky nanofabricators and mechanical tools and towards the medical suite at the end of the room. As he approached, the opaque double doors slid back to reveal Doctor Jeffrey. He was a tall, gaunt man, with light skin and a sharp angular face. He wore huge glasses, a personal eccentricity seeing how easy it was to get corrective eye surgery. This, coupled with his refusal to constrain his short spiky receding hair always reminded Jack of a pulp comic scientist, who should be cackling to himself over a experiment as test tubes steamed around him. Instead Jeffrey was considered and professional. And also one of the closes people to a friend Jack had in the ARC.

“Well hello stranger, it’s been a while.“Doc greeted him with a grin, gesturing for Jack to enter the room.

“Hey Doc, sorry again for cancelling movie night on Saturday, but work hectic at the moment” Every so often the two met up in the entertainment centre in the mid ARC and watched classic movies, but often on or other had to cancel due to work.

Jack moved past him into the medical bay, the 5 by 5 metre room dominated by the surgery chair in the middle. It looked like a dentist’s chair on steroids, padded metal to support the patient whilst instruments and tools sprung out around the seat like some metal Arachnid. The chair intimidated most people, but Jack had long since become used to its appearance. The rest of the room was lined with sealed cupboards, filled with implants and equipment, from hanging rows of replacement limbs and bionic eyes in a variety of styles, all the way down to internal implants such as Jacks wrist cannula ports.

“Alright Jack, you know the drill” Doc remarked as he walked over to tap on the clear-glass monitor of control station behind the chair “Down to your skivvies and into the seat”

Shedding all his clothes but his boxers Jack lowered himself into the reclining seat, shivering slightly as the cold metal and rubber touched his skin.

“Would it kill you to warm this first Doc”

“Don’t be a baby” Doc muttered, glancing up from his typing “Big bad exterminator hates a little cold”

“Just saying“ Jack muttered with a fake pout, causing Doc to laugh before back to the screen.

“Ok Jack, as it’s been a month since your last check up I’m going to run a full diagnostic on your DNI, and as that will take a 20 min or so I figure we might as well check on the ports and suit hard-points”

Jack winced slightly in anticipation. Running a diagnostic of a DNI involved checking the software controlling the cybernetic to neural interface. The feeling was unpleasant, like pins and needles in his brain, not true pain, as the brain lacked the ability but, as the DNI cycled its connections. Neurons could be triggered haphazardly, with unpleasant results.

“If I have to. You know these things were designed to be stable throughout their whole life cycle, and I’m barely two years into mine.”

“Stop whining Jack” Doc teased, walking over to him as the padded arms began extending from behind the chair to cover his chest, abdomen and thighs. Jeffrey moved the head support down onto Jack’s forehead before clicking the arms into place that would support his jaw, leaving his eyes, nose and mouth free.

“Ok Jack, turning you over in 3,2,1” The chair whined and straightened , gently stretching Jack out to lie flat, before rotating over to leave him staring at the floor. He could feel parts of the chair move to give the Doc access to his spine and hip ports, as well as the others on his back.

“Ok Jack, just going to insert the DNI Interface needle”

Jack winced as he felt sudden ache of his DNI activating, the brain cell connections interfacing with the matchbox sized wedge of metal and ceramics in the back of his skull, passing along the nanowires that were layered throughout his brain to interface. After a moment the sensation receded, and he could see the Doc’s feet moving around the chair.

“OK, I’m going to check your wrist cannulas first. If they’re still working all right I’ll give you the shot before I run the DNI diagnostic. That should take away the discomfort and make the next hour or so a bit more bearable”

“Thanks Doc” Jack replied with real feeling “I hate the Diagnostic”

“You want me to put a smart-screen for you to look at?”

“Yes please, this hanging upside down gig gets a bit tedious after a while.”

Jack felt Jeffrey’s inspect his wrist cannulas, looking for wear and tear or any irritation in the veins. The implant was coated in a biocompatible polymer to reduce the risk of the vessels collapsing or forming scar tissue, but it could degrade with time, requiring a replacement.

Apparently satisfied the Doc’s feet left Jacks vision, heading over to a cupboard and opening a drawer, followed with the sound of rustling plastic.

“Ok Jack I’m going to administer the shot now and trigger the diagnostic, before I start, what do you want me to put on the Pad? A film, one of your Sci-fi classics?”

“Actually Doc, could you link it to the suit camera so I could see the procedures?”

“Ooookayy..? I can do that” Doc replied slowly, his tone querulous before he joked” Why though, you don’t trust my work?”

“Nothing like that“ Jack assured him “ I’m just feeling pensive today and want to watch. Besides it’s pretty relaxing actually, I guess I enjoy the methodical way you work”

“Awe shucks, I’m gon’a blush!”

Jack laughed at the Doc’s tone before wincing slightly as he felt cool liquid being injected into his wrist. A slight numbness swiftly began to spread up his arm. The shot wasn’t a general anaesthetic, rather a mild opiate as the DNI diagnostic procedure was less painfully then unpleasant. As he felt his body relax a smart pad rotated down in front of his face, showing a high angles shot of him lying face down on the bench, the row’s of cream coloured ceramic ports running along his spine and limbs barely visible against his skin. Each was the side of a old 1 pence piece, about a cm and a half wide on the surface with a sealed over insert to allow his Exosuit to firmly anchor to his bones. The ports sat lightly on his skin but had tungsten alloy anchors that ran through their attached bones to secure them firmly. In theory his Exosuit could be worn without needing the anchors, or indeed his DNI, but the responsiveness would suffer greatly, and without the hard join from his body to the suit its manoeuvrability and comfort would suffer.

The automated arms of the chair began to clean the ports, removing any grease or contact material that could have infiltrated their seals. The arms also scanned the bone underneath to check for signs of the implant shifting or infection.

“Ok Jack, the Diagnostic is starting now, so just try and relax. I’ll shift an image of the scan over to your smart-screen. Give you a look of your brain in action.”

Jack tried to focus on watching the Clear-screen as the process began, Doc’s station assessing his DNI’s software, hardware and functionality. An image popped into the corner of the screen, showing a sagittal scan of his skull. The DNI was visible implanted into the back of his skull, sat between the cerebellum and his optical cortex appearing like a hollow rectangle about ten centimetres long. In the scan he could see the outer body of the DNI, with faint lines of its nano-wire connections branching out and into his brain. Inside the DNI casing sat the CPU core and biochip. The core was sealed against the environment of the brain, but the chip had access ports to allow intra-tissue fluid in but also had a few specialized connections to nearby capillaries, The CPU analysed and processed the information from the suit and disseminated it to his brain and vice versa, and required a fair amount of power. The Bio-chip generated this by oxidizing glucose from his body to produce energy, just like a regular cell.

The diagnostic began, feeling like the start a mild headache, before graduating into gentle flashes of colour or images passing through his mind as the DNI’s CPU core tested its connectivity to his optic nerve and visual cortex. Next it began to cycle through his senses, stimulating ghostly fingers along his limbs for touch and random sounds for his audio centres. After 10 minutes of ghostly sensations the Diagnostic finally finished with the hardware check and began preparing for the rough part, its software.

Running a software check on the CPU that nestled in the core of the DNI implant was more than just looking through lines of code for errors. The implant connected to areas all through the user’s brain, and as it ran through software it was prone to trigger these areas to check the integration. The hardware checks just created phantom sensations whilst the software could trigger memories, emotions or even limb movement, one of the reasons why the sedative cocktail Jack had been given contained powerful anti-convulsion drugs, just in case he started thrashing around. It was one of the reasons that the full brain DNI connections were so rarely used. Testing them wasn’t like someone scanning your brain for abnormalities or defragmenting a computer. Its links to the user’s brain meant that it felt like you were being fragmented as well, bits of your mind triggering randomly without conscious rhyme or reason.

By this point in the procedure however, the opiate cocktail had really started to kick in, and Jack’s mind was wandering in a haze of light and warmth. His thoughts drifted, almost disconnected from the physical sensations of his body. Flashes of his childhood, of university, or random movies and half remembered conversations drew his attention for a moment, before moving onto the next. He was aware of looking down at himself and for a moment he thought he was having a out of body experience, before he remembered the screen.

Trying to focus he saw from the time stamp that he was only 15 minutes into the procedure, but his attention was drawn to the Doc. He was pacing the room, talking animatedly on his smart-pad. From his expression he appeared angry. Absently Jacks tried to hear what was being said, but between the drugs and the noise of the chair’s mechanical arms whirring, he could barely make anything out. Another spike of visuals distracted him for a moment and he drifted into unconsciousness.

“Jack” a voice called gently, echoing in the darkness “Jack! It’s time to wake up now”.

He opened his eyes and flinched as the light seemed to stab right through his brain, he brought up his arms to press into his face, groaning as a migraine of breath-taking proportions burned into life behind his eyes.

“Fucking Christ, Doc, my head is killing me! You mess up the sedative mix?”

He heard movement beside him and the light creeping around the edges of his hands diminished.

“Ok Jack, sorry about that. I’ve turned down the lights now so you can open your eyes”

Jack cautiously moved his hands and peeked in the direction of Doc’s voice. The light still hurt but the pain was manageable and he could just about make up the blurry form of the Doc leaning over him”

“Ok Jack, I need you to try and relax. There was a bit of a problem with your DNI so I had to swap out its Core. Don’t worry the procedure went perfectly and you’ve only been out a few hours “

Jack struggled to marshal his thoughts, his brain feeling like it was stuffed with cotton wool and pins, soft and unformed one moments before a sudden stab of pain the next.

“What do you mean a problem? I thought my DNI had years left on its product life.” His voice became louder as his pain and anger grew “Also you should have asked me first!”

Doc’s blurry image shook its head, leaving strange after images “I couldn’t do that I’m afraid. Part of the old CPU’s connection to the DNI housing had come loose. Any sudden movement could have loosened it from its housing and shorted the chip. At best you’d drop into mild convulsions and need a full replacement. At worst...well, you can guess”

Removing a DNI was a major event, requiring complex brain surgery with a high chance of complications. Removing the DNI was delicate in itself, as the nano-wires had to be either left to degrade, leading to possible protein plaque build up to cause serious complications, or carefully removed, a process littered with a minefield of potential dangers.

Removing the Core, however, was far simpler, if still unpleasant. It was designed to uncouple from the DNI without the need for surgery, but would still trigger painful and unpleasant sensations. Jack was lucky that he was unconscious at the time. He ran his tongue around his mouth, realizing how dry it felt.

“Could I get some water?“ he croaked. The Doc moved out of his vision for a moment before returning with a plastic cup, helping Jack to sit as he drank.

Jack sighed in contentment at the cool drink, and realized his vision was clearing somewhat, although it was still a bit blurry. He frowned as something occurred to him.

“How come you had a spare core hanging around? I thought you had to order them in specially?”

The Doc looked uncomfortable, scratching the back of his head and looking away for a moment.

“Well...I may have managed to get a few spares from a old colleague to hold onto in case of emergency” He gave Jack a pointed look.“Jack, I’m not meant to have any so officially this op never happened. Could you keep it quiet for me?”

Jack nodded without thinking and grimaced as his headache glared, before chuckling ruefully.

“Ok I’ll keep stum for you, but only if you give me some of the good meds for this headache!”

“Ha! OK Jack. Unfortunately, I need to head off, a colleague needs me to look over something for him. You rest here for a bit and I’ll get Mr Renault to look out something to ease the discomfort. You should be fit for duty by tomorrow, but might have a few dizzy spells or mild fever as your new DNI CPU and brain adapt to each other”

Jack nodded and closed his eyes, listening to the Doc potter around for a few minutes before heading off, leaving him in the quiet of the lab. What seemed like a few moments later, he was woken by someone gently shaking his shoulder, and opened his eyes to see Tammy leaning over him.

“Wakey, Wakey, sleepy head, it’s time for me to close up for the day, so I’m afraid sleeping cutie needs to leave.”

Jack slowly sat up, his thoughts barely coherent.

“Ah sorry, this implant change really took it out off me!”

“That’s OK Hun, I know the feeling,“ she handed him a pack of meds, and explained the dosage to him carefully. He stood with a slight wobble and made his way out of the facility, giving Tammy a gentle waive as she finished the last of her filling before she closed up.

He had a few more bouts of dizziness as he walked along the corridor towards the lift.

“I hope these meds are good, “he muttered, “cause I need to sleep like a log tonight.“