Zero (Mech. Chronicles Book 1), page 2
Jack pushed against the door to test it, and sure enough, it was locked. The air smelled of farts and raw sewage. A wrapper rustled around beneath his feet, but there wasn’t enough room in the pod for him to bend over to pick it up. It looked like a food wrapper of some kind.
He watched as all of the terminally ill were ushered to their pods. He couldn’t see Stacey. If he had seen her it might’ve made him feel better about his predicament. For all he knew, the trip could take anywhere from a few weeks to several years. Any more than a few weeks outside of stasis would lead to his death from cancer, so the trip was probably at least that long, or else why put them under in the first place?
But years in stasis would be equally dangerous. The corporation had better have advanced stasis technology too. To get them to a star system he’d never even heard of could take thousands or millions of years using current technology, and that long in stasis was a frightening proposition.
Why hadn’t he asked the doctor about the duration of the trip before now? Maybe he’d avoided asking because stasis was his only option and he didn’t want it to be a poor one. He didn’t know. He usually wasn’t so careless.
He yelled out when something sharp punctured his neck. A syringe. He tried to claw at it, but his arms were already going dead. He felt sluggish. His breathing slowed and he slumped against the wall. The back wall moved forward and held him up. A headrest pushed down on his head from above, holding it still. He felt the side walls cinch against him. Then his thoughts went out like a light.
IV
✨
Doctor Henshaw
HE WAS LYING on a gurney when his eyes fluttered open. The bright light was obnoxious, so he closed his eyes again as tight as he could. Someone laid a hand on his chest and said something, but the words were all jumbled together, impossible to decipher. He drifted away lazily.
He woke up with a start. His heart was racing and he was already sitting bolt upright. He looked around the room. It was small, white, and it was empty except for him and his gurney. The only door was closed. There was something ominous about that door being closed.
Only then did his memories come flooding back. He had been revived from his journey across the stars. He was a bonafide space traveler now.
The kindly face of an old man swam into view. He asked, “How do you feel?”
“I’m starting to feel better.”
“I’m Doctor Henshaw. Do you know how long you were out?”
“No.”
“You were in stasis for a little over eight hundred years.”
“Oh shit!” He wanted to ask about his dad, but he was dead already if he’d been asleep for that long. He wanted to ask about the state of the Earth, but couldn’t formulate the appropriate question. It had been 2229 when he left, so now it was the new millennium; the notion made him queasy. He wanted to ask if they’d already removed his cancer.
Instead he asked, “How is that girl Stacey doing? Did she make it too?”
Doctor Henshaw looked at him quizzically. No doubt he’d expected a more thoughtful question. “I don’t know who you’re talking about, but if she came here with you, she’s fine.”
He tried to sit up, but Henshaw put a hand on his chest. “You need to relax. We still need to get you prepped for the operation.” Henshaw was weak, but Jack lay back down.
“I thought you’d cured us already.”
“You’re still recovering from stasis. We’ll get to work on your cancer once we’re sure all of the chemicals are out of your system.”
“Is this Epigog 31? I can’t wait to see it.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to see the planet. We’re in orbit around one of its moons.”
“Then why did you wake me? I was supposed to stay in stasis until I got to the machine that’ll cure me. What’s going on?”
“The machine you speak of is here, on board this space station. It’s a delicate piece of equipment that works optimally in low to zero gravity, so we can’t use it on Epigog. Don’t worry, you’ll see it soon. Then you’ll get to see the mother planet.”
He had no idea what Henshaw was talking about, but his mind was too foggy to dwell on it.
Henshaw continued: “If you ever get back up here, you’ll have to tell me about it. I’ve heard so many wonderful stories about the surface, but I always have time to hear one more.”
Jack stared at him, trying to figure out if he was kidding. He wasn’t. “Why have you never been to the surface?”
“Oh, I’ve been in space too long.”
His bones must’ve been too brittle or his heart too weak from zero-G’s. But that couldn’t be right. There was some kind of artificial gravity in the space station. Or at least there was in the part of it they were in. He could feel it.
Henshaw must’ve seen the confusion on his face. He said, “I have no immune system. My body hasn’t been subjected to the same illnesses and contagions that affect others living near one another. If my white blood cells ever had to get into a fight against a foreign contaminant they’d just roll over and give up. If I went to Epigog 31 I’d need to wear a space suit to survive. Weird, huh?”
Jack wanted to tell him how awful he thought it was that he’d never get the chance to breathe natural air or see a sunset over a mountain or swim in an ocean, but he thought it might upset him so he kept his mouth shut.
“How long have you been here?”
Henshaw ignored the question. He acted like he had work to do, but Jack suspected he just didn’t want to talk about it.
Henshaw said, “I’m going to administer a sedative to help you sleep. You should be fully recovered from stasis by the time you wake up. I’ll check in on you from time to time and then we can talk some more.”
Jack felt a tightening in his veins, then his eyelids felt like they were made of lead . . .
✨
He was pretty groggy when he woke up the next time. His head hurt and he felt light and discombobulated. The sedative must’ve still been coursing through his veins.
His eyes opened mechanically, like they were being forced open by an invisible hand. He was in a different room than the last one, this one darker, with weird contraptions lining the walls all around him. His body was being held in a standing position, his head stuck in some kind of brace; he couldn’t pivot it up or down. For a second he wondered if he was back in stasis, but that was stupid, because he was awake.
He couldn’t feel his toes, and when he tried to wriggle them he found he couldn’t. Worried that he was paralyzed, he moved his fingers. The sound of a dozen miniature electric drills came to his ears. He didn’t know what that meant, but he was relieved to feel his fingers moving.
He tried to loosen whatever restraints had him fastened so tight to his upright moorings, but they held despite his struggles.
He cried out for help, but the voice was odd. It was his voice, just more strangled and monotone than he was used to.
He started to panic. He heard another voice cry out in the darkened room, from very far away. He turned his head as much as he could, but the darkness was too pervasive to make out who or what had made the sound.
He heard a soft click and then his eyes slammed shut like a vise. He had only a second to ponder what had happened. A moment later his brain followed suit and shut down like an appliance.
V
✨
Mech
HE AWOKE in a brightly lit room, all alone. This room was small, like a hospital room, with gadgets and medical crap all over the place. He was still anchored in an upright position, but he felt a little better about it this time. Maybe that was because he was getting used to it, or, more likely, because the lights were up.
He heard a pneumatic door slide away and soft footfalls approach. Doctor Henshaw’s kindly old face swam in front of his view. “How do you feel?”
He said, “I feel like we already had this conversation,” but his voice had that odd quality to it like before.
Henshaw said sadly, “You must be confused. I need to debrief you before I can let you down from there, okay?”
Jack nodded lazily. He had no clue what he was talking about.
“Your body is being treated as we speak, in the other room.”
Jack had to take a moment to make sure he’d heard him correctly. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m right here.”
“Your mind is here, Jack. Your body is undergoing treatment elsewhere.”
He wriggled his fingers again. Sure enough, he felt them move. “Bullshit. I can feel my body. I just can’t see it because you’ve got me latched in tight as a drum.”
“That’s not your body, son.”
Angrily he blurted out, “Then whose body would you have me believe I’m inside?”
“Not who. What.”
“What?”
“I’ve uploaded your consciousness into a robotic unit. You can control it with just your thoughts. It has already been calibrated to your unique thought patterns. We call them mechs.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, let me down.”
“I’ll release your head restraints so you may see for yourself that I’m speaking the truth.”
Henshaw reached behind him and yanked on a cord. His head felt suddenly lighter. He was able to move it around now. Immediately he looked down, and to his horror he saw mechanical legs, feet, and a metal torso. He shook his head out of sheer confusion. The body was bulky, like it belonged to a giant.
Henshaw said, “Turn your head.”
Jack was staring off into space, disbelievingly. His mind wasn’t ready for any of this.
“Do it. Try it for me.”
He turned his head because it was far easier to take directions than it was to try and unscramble the myriad confusing thoughts riffling through his tired mind.
To his surprise, his head kept turning. He had to make a conscious decision to make it stop once it had made a full panoramic circuit of the room. It spun all the way around, like an owl’s head, except he didn’t need to spin it back. He knew he could’ve let it spin and spin like a helicopter rotor.
Doctor Henshaw clapped like a child.
Jack wanted to smack him in his kindly, eager face just to make himself feel better.
“Why did you do this to me?”
“You belong to the corporation, mind and body and soul. Why let your mind fester inside a body that’s undergoing treatment when they can evict your mind and put it to work?”
“Because that’s the sane thing to do. How long does the damn treatment take?”
“In your case, it’ll take a while.”
“How long?”
“Maybe ten months, but if there are complications it could take as long as two years. So get used to your new body. You’re not going anywhere any time soon.”
“I didn’t agree to any of this crap! Put me back in my own body. Screw the procedure.”
“Many patients say the same thing. It cost a fortune to ship your dying ass out here. No one’s going to just fly you back to Earth because you suddenly have a change of heart. If you want out, we’ll stop all treatment and allow you to live out your final days on this space station.”
Jack shook his head angrily. At least he thought he was conveying anger through his robotic features. He wasn’t really sure.
Henshaw said, “This is part of the deal. When your body is cured, you’re free to go. It’s actually a good deal if you think about it. The corporation could have enslaved you for life and you would have probably signed on the dotted line anyway. In this way, you just have to do their bidding until your body is ready.”
Jack nodded absently. He was right. He had considered giving his entire life away in exchange for an extension. “What do you think they’ll make me do?”
“I’m just the technician, son. That’s way above my pay grade.”
“I thought you were a doctor.”
“I’m both. But a mere doctor doesn’t have the skills I do to extract and repurpose consciousness. I consider myself a technician first and foremost.”
“Can I get down from here? If I’m going to be stuck in this robot, I’d at least like to test it out.” He was amazed by how quickly he had attuned to his new predicament. But that was his nature. He wasn’t exactly happy with the situation, but what choice did he have?
“Sure. Make it quick, though. The reprogramming session starts soon and you can’t miss it.”
“What the hell is that?” It sounded bad enough to unnerve him. He didn’t like the sound of “reprogramming.”
“Son, your world is about to expand exponentially. Your understanding of our place in the cosmos is about to grow tenfold. Reprogramming is just an academic way of saying you need to be educated in the worst way.”
Now Jack was even more nervous.
Henshaw reached behind him and a moment later Jack’s body dropped a couple of inches, his immense metal feet hitting the floor with a loud clang.
He took a tentative step forward and heard those weird little sounds again, like a dozen miniscule power tools being used nearby.
The sounds irritated Henshaw. “This damn thing is too new to be making God-awful noises like that. Give me a minute.”
Jack stood still as Henshaw injected lubrication all over his metal body at various points, paying particular attention to his knees and hands. He then got to work with a set of tiny screwdrivers, tightening here and loosening there. Within a few minutes, he said, “Give it a shot.”
He took another step forward, but silently this time, besides the thud the footfall made. He flexed his fingers noiselessly too.
Henshaw smiled and said, “Wander around. If anything feels strange to you, let me know. I had some problems with the gyroscopes a couple of times, so let me know how your balance feels, okay?”
Jack walked back and forth from one end of the room to the next. He spun around quickly and paid close attention to his balance. The gyroscopes were working fine.
Finally, Henshaw said, “Time to get you to the session. Everyone else is waiting for you.” As an aside, he said, “Hey, that girl Stacey is there too. She’s a cute little thing. Now I know why you were so interested to find out about her.”
If Jack wasn’t a robotic mech he might have blushed. But the embarrassment was fleeting, replaced by a steely dread that would’ve seeped into his bones if he had any.
He had to live the next several months to two years as an appliance, albeit a pretty cool-looking one. He didn’t know how to process such bizarre information, so he just followed Henshaw’s lead and pushed his concerns to the darkest, most hidden recesses of his mind. He walked out from the little hospital room/mechanic shop and stomped along after the doctor.
As they walked, he said, “I thought you said I’d be going to Epigog 31. Am I still going to go there?” He was starting to think everything he’d been told was a lie. He knew there was little he could do about it, but he wanted the doctor to be clear.
“That’s where your training will take place. As soon as we deem you fit to move on to the next stage, you’ll be taking a shuttle down to the surface.”
“How will you know if I’m fit to move on to that stage?”
“You’ll see. There’s always one who can’t take it.”
That was an ominous thing to say, but it had him excited to see what was next.
Around the corner, and at the end of the corridor, they halted at a doorway. Henshaw looked back at him, smiled, and then he opened it.
✨
Inside the large room was a sight right out of a horror movie. There were about two dozen massive robots in there. Jack jumped backwards with fright until he realized he was one of them. In fact, they all looked identical to him, besides a single variation in color. Some of them were silver and black, like him, while the other half were silver and blue.
For the first time, he got to see Henshaw standing next to one, and he realized just how big they all were in comparison to flesh and blood people. They were massive, with feet the size of shoe boxes and hands as big as toilet seats.
The mechs were all standing, facing the front of the room. Each one of them turned and watched as Henshaw waved Jack to a spot where he was expected to stand. He wanted to ask around and see how everyone was doing, but he got the sense they were all equally as mortified as he was, and therefore in no mood to make small talk.
Henshaw walked to the front of the room and addressed them all. “A representative of the corporation you all now work for will be with us shortly to debrief you.”
Jack nodded, as did most of the other mechs, but one solitary voice cried out in a monotone: “I can’t do this. I just can’t. Someone has to get me out of this thing. I’m freaking out in here.”
Henshaw shook his head sadly and pulled out a contraption. He scrolled around with his finger on a screen none of them could see, and then, right in the middle of his freak-out, the mech stopped and his head hung low.
Henshaw said, “He isn’t the first and he won’t be the last. He will be reconditioned. He won’t like how that feels, and neither will any of the rest of you should you decide you just can’t handle your new situation. I hope the rest of this group deals with this with a bit more composure. You are all super soldiers. Act like it.”
A few heads nodded, but Jack was flabbergasted. What exactly did Henshaw mean when he said “reconditioned?” Had all of them already been conditioned for this before they were woken up?
