We arrived at the medical center within hours
of completing the device. The doctor explained what he had done to the medical staff.
And as Selah was his daughter they decided to attempt the transfer. When the
new body was moved into the operating room the medical staff was amazed. One of
the nurses tried to take pictures with her cellphone. Dr. James quickly had the
photos deleted and the phone removed from the room. The surgery lasted for two hours. They had to remove her brain and spinal cord from her broken body and
integrate it into the new body. Luckily Dr. James had her genetic information
on hand via medical records. He was able to customize every aspect of the
device to where it would be a perfect match.
I
sat outside waiting for the news. After all an operating room was no place for
a mechanical engineer. Dr. James said he was afraid I would decide it needed
more bolts. And he didn't want me to have to see the procedure. He knew it
would be too much for me to handle. As I sat there waiting I realized
something. Today was the day we were supposed to be married. Instead I was
waiting to find out if she would even be alive tomorrow. Amazing how things can
change so quickly. The Doctor had remained adamant that we had to let go of the
anger and focus on making sure she was ok. I wish I could have been as big of a
man as he was. All I could think of was hunting that woman down and doing the
same to her. She had destroyed
everything I loved in one swift strike, my work and the woman of my dreams. The
woman who had given me back my dreams. How could I ever forgive that?
Finally
Dr. James came out and told me she was awake and wanted to see me. He said she
was weak and had to learn how to use her new body so don’t expect anything
major. It took everything in me to walk into that room without crying, but I
gathered myself up and went in. They had her setting up and she could look
around, but as her father has said she had little to no control of the rest of
her body. All I could think of was my other half was still alive. She looked
just as she did before, like nothing had changed. I walked over to her and held
her hand and that was when we all realized how much of a miracle her father had
performed. She could feel me holding her hand. She started crying the moment
she realized that. She was terrified she would have to live her life never
knowing the feeling of human contact again. Somehow in the heat of passion her
father had managed to figure out the one thing holding back the replacement
body prototypes, touch. Never before would you have been able to feel or taste.
Sensations he couldn’t figure out how to mimic, but out of love for his
daughter and desperation he figured it out. When she said she could feel me
touching her hand I quickly moved forward and gave her the biggest hug I could.
Dr. James had given her more than any of us thought he could. She was as close
to being in a real body as she could get.
After
a short time the doctors came in and said she needed to rest. Her nervous
system needed more time to heal and they had more work to do as far as
promoting new cell growth with the nerve connections. It would be weeks before
she would be able to leave the hospital. But at least we knew she could leave. Before
there was no hope. Dr. James explained to me that he had come up with several
upgrades he never thought of before. Her skin was organic and was connected to
a synthetic nervous and circulatory system. She didn’t have blood flowing threw
it but it was a special fluid that contained nanite technology. If you cut her
she would bleed, but the difference was her blood would fix the cut. She could
heal and she could feel and taste and experience all of the sensations the
world had to offer. In some ways better than us. It amazes me at what a single
man can do when his own child is at stake. Selah’s father had done what no one thought
possible. He had given his daughter a true chance at life.
The
recovery process took months, Selah was learning how to use her new body and
things were getting back to some sort of normal. The only problem she has was
getting used to the fact that an artificial body weighs a lot more than an
organic body. We had to get rid of every scale in the house. Apparently weighing
as much as two grown men is not something a young woman likes to see. As Selah
was recovering we started noticing that we were being followed. Someone was
taking great measures to record every second of her recovery and the abilities
of her new body. We figured it was new media as everyone was asking for
interviews and to be able to see her new body. Dr. James declined the request
and said he would be producing a new model for display. He was determined to not let her become a lab
rat or a “spokeswoman” for the new prosthetic bodies. He wanted her to be able
to live her life in peace.
The
biggest question I was being asked was about our wedding. We had not canceled it
but we put it off for a little while. Selah wanted to be able to walk down the aisle
to me herself without the wheel chair. So I was happy to postpone it and allow
her time to recover. All that mattered to me was she was still with me. As long
as I got to see her every day I was happy. The media attention however was
becoming a lot to handle. People were asking if she had super human strength,
how long she will live, can she get sick, and does she require maintenance. The
Dr. had worked to make sure her body would perform at the same levels as her
normal body would. No she would not get sick but she did have to go in for
monthly checkups and she was connected to a computer for a diagnostic report.
With this being the first body of its type in use Dr. James wanted to make sure
he kept records of everything and didn’t want to miss anything. He treated it
like a medical clinic she never went into the lab her met her at the hospital
and did it there as any normal patient would. He used the opportunity to train
the medical staff on how to do this as he was sure there would eventually be more
patients with these bodies. All Selah and I wanted was to finish repairing the
farm and enjoy our lives together. I wonder if we would have ever had that chance.
The
months kept going by slowly the media attention fell off and the doctor was
able to reveal his commercial models and draw the attention to them. The
cameras went away and the calls stopped, but still that black van was following
us. Still notating every move we made. At this point we got nervous, everyone
else had stopped following us but there they were behind us all the time. Always
watching every aspect of our lives. Dr. James started to wonder if Lemoy
Corporation had something to do with this. Soon enough we would have our
answer.
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