3 – Candy Apple Red

Addie stood beside the surgical table, watching Tony. He was shirtless, and while he had his back turned, climbing atop the bed, she couldn't help watching how the muscles shifted under his lean, scarred flesh. She'd seen his back before, but something about the conversation he'd had with the doctor about removing the remaining parts of his right arm had her seeing him differently.

His body was a reflection of thousands of hours of hard work, a tapestry that told the story of his life, and she couldn't imagine he was taking the loss of a limb as glibly as he was letting on. She supposed it wasn't a new realization to him, though. He'd been mentally preparing for this day since he'd woken up in the Blast with half his arm chopped off. He wasn't new to cybernetics; he'd known that a full replacement was in the cards for him.

"Hey, you passing out already? They haven't even cut me open yet."

Addie blinked rapidly, shifting her gaze to Tony's face. "No! I was just thinking." She moved close to the table, ducking under the looming surgical arms so she could take his mechanical hand. "You're really not nervous?"

The door behind her swung open, and Katz reappeared, pushing a white plasteel cart bearing a bulky object wrapped in black plastic packaging. "There's my new arm," Tony said, neatly dodging her question.

"Is my patient all set? I'd offer you a sheet, but you've got your pants on and you don't look cold."

Tony waved his left hand. "Nah, I'm good, doc. Let's get this over with."

"Eager, hmm? I don't blame you." As the doctor wheeled the cart closer, she added, "Ember, you'll have to move away from the table. I'm going to administer a sedative to Shepherd."

Addie clutched Tony's hand tighter, leaning close to give him a quick kiss. He kissed her back, but his eyes were amused. "It's just an arm," he murmured.

"I don't care. I'll be right here."

"I know."

Reluctantly, Addie released his hand and stepped away from the table, moving to a pair of plastic chairs near the wall. Katz watched her for a moment, amusement in her eyes, then turned back to Tony. "Okay, Mister. Count down from twenty for me, will you?"

Tony inhaled deeply, and Addie could see him willing the tension out of his muscles. Then he started to count, "Twenty…nineteen…eighteen…" One of the spider-like mechanical arms whirred and darted forward, gripping Tony's left wrist. At the same time, another smoothly slid into position, driving a needle and IV line into his vein with robotic precision. "Sixteen…fifteen…" Addie watched as a clear fluid pumped through the line. "Thirteen…twelve…ele…elv…" Tony's voice faded to a whisper, and then he was out.

"Now, I'm going to start the procedure to remove his arm. The autosurgeon will crimp and cauterize as it goes, but it still might get rather gruesome. If you want to watch him, I'd advise keeping focused on his face or, you know, the parts of his body not being worked on."

"Okay." Addie watched the doctor as she unwrapped Tony's new arm. At first, she thought it was coated with something because of the way it gleamed under the white overhead lights. Then, as more and more was uncovered, she realized it was covered with a glossy red enamel. Or at least what looked like enamel. "Is that arm red?"

Katz nodded, bending it at the elbow and holding up the elegant wrist and hand. "Beautiful, isn't it? It's covered with a nanomolecular, self-repairing enamel. The spec sheet calls it 'candy apple red.' It's part of the sensory-active shell upgrade."

"Um, does T—Shepherd know it's red?" The doctor wasn't wrong; the arm was gorgeous, but it didn't seem like Tony's style. He was always buying clothes that were muted in color or just plain black. The arm was bright red where the light hit it, fading to almost a deep maroon in the shadows. And it was glossy. More than that, it was elegant—shaped like a perfect human limb with well-toned muscles, though the shell was clearly not soft.

"Well, maybe not. I don't think it was on the sales listing. Do you think he won't like it?" Katz frowned, turning the arm's wrist left and right, studying the perfect fingers.

"I don't know," Addie replied, glancing nervously at Tony's sleeping form. "He can feel things all over it? Is it as hard as it looks?"

Katz smiled, beckoning her over. "Come and feel it."

Addie stood and walked over to her. She stretched out her fingers and pressed them against the arm's biceps. The surface gave a little, or at least it felt that way. "Weird…"

"I know, right? It's a micro-haptic field. It conveys a very accurate sensation of touch all over the arm and allows his fingers to manipulate tiny objects even more accurately than human flesh. It's a massive upgrade over that old industrial model he's sporting."

"Is the color something he could change?"

"Of course! I mean, he'd have to replace the shell, which would cost him a cool 50k from the factory, but it's always an option."

Addie turned to look at Tony, staring at the black, beat-up metallic arm lying on the surgical table beside him. It was bulky, and even the fingers looked clumsy, especially compared to the ones on the new arm. He deserved something better, and the arm looked good, even if it wasn't exactly Tony's usual style. "Okay, Doc, put it on him."

"Good call."

Addie moved back to the chair while Katz continued to prep the arm and its installation materials—packs of synth-skin, synthetic tendons, and even muscle tissue. Addie knew this because Katz kept up a running commentary as she worked, "…and that's so the autosurgeon can weave the arm's muscle fibers into Shepherd's. This is something that many chop-docs would likely skip. A person wouldn't notice a problem right away, but after repeated strain, they'd wind up with all sorts of aches and pains."

Addie listened, nodding if the doctor looked her way to let her know she was interested. Meanwhile, Tony slept, and the autosurgeon began to prep him. It swabbed his entire left side with some sort of yellow-brown liquid that left him stained. It shifted his body and traced surgical lines around his shoulder. After a while, Katz leaned close and said, "Looks right. Approved." She turned to Addie, adding, "About to start. Seriously, I wouldn't watch this part." As she spoke, as if to emphasize her words, the autosurgeon whirred and several arms moved close to Tony's shoulder, one equipped with a scalpel, another with a laser, and a third with tiny, grasping fingers.

Addie shifted her gaze to Tony's face, serene in slumber, and nodded. "Okay."

"Commence," Katz said, and the autosurgeon whirred into motion.

The cutting part only took the mechanical limbs of the autosurgeon about ten minutes. When it lifted Tony's arm away, Addie glanced at the half-mechanical, half-flesh limb and was surprised that it didn't really gross her out. The lack of blood probably helped; Katz hadn't been lying about the autosurgeon's thoroughness when it came to clamping off bleeders as it went—on both sides, apparently.

The surgeon set the arm on another cart that Katz wheeled off, and then it picked up the new one and placed it beside Tony on the bed. Without pause, it began making its thousands of tiny attachments, merging artificial bones, vessels, nerves, arteries, muscles, tendons, and ligaments with Tony's human ones.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Katz walked over while it worked, smiling. "It's going very well. Does he have some kind of nanite suite? His blood pressure's steadier than mine when I'm sleeping."

Addie smiled and dodged the question. "He's very disciplined."

"Huh. I'd say so. He, and possibly you, will be glad to know that the arm will be a perfect fit with only a couple of minor adjustments. It was almost like it was made for a person exactly his size."

"Possibly me?"

Katz shrugged. "I mean, you seem to care about him. You're clearly close, judging by that goodnight kiss you gave him."

Addie tilted her head. "Are you fishing for something, Doctor?"

Katz looked a little alarmed by Addie's bluntness. She cleared her throat and shifted her feet. "Um, not exactly, though I'll confess my curiosity. I wasn't lying earlier when I said I wished I had someone I could count on as a partner, and it seems you and Shepherd are partners in more than one sense of the word. Is that fair to say? I mean, his handshake with my clinic AI indicated that he's an SOA operative. Are you also?"

Addie looked at Tony, ensuring his face still looked peaceful. She subvocalized, "JJ, can you connect to Nora?"

"Yes," he replied. "She's reporting that all is well with Tony."

Addie looked at Katz again. "Yes, I'm his partner in that regard, too."

"You know, I have an open job on the SOA boards. I've had a couple of operatives inquire about it, but I've turned them down. You see, it's a sensitive matter, and I don't want to hire some former banger gorillas, which seems to be the bulk of the offerings when it comes to SOA agents in the Blast."

"Oh? Did you specify the kind of operative you're looking for? You can select the various roles and even limit them to certain tiers."

"Yes! My listing went unanswered for three months before I loosened up on the requirements, and since then, I've had nothing but, as I said, gorillas, apply."

"Have you tried going through a fixer? Shepherd doesn't like to use the SOA boards, so maybe…" Addie shrugged.

Katz nodded, frowning. "I've thought of that, but you know I'm not from the Blast, and I'm not the most social person. I've made maybe three friends since I moved here, and those people aren't exactly the type to know fixers."

"You install cybernetics! You run a clinic! Surely some of your clients could point you in the right direction."

Katz was clutching her hands before her by then, and she began to wring them, nodding and licking her lips. "I've irritated you, haven't I? I'm sorry. Anyway, it's not your problem. I'm sure the job isn't something you'd be interested in, anyway."

Suddenly, Addie felt very dense. Katz was trying to see if she and Tony were interested in the job! Hastily, she said, "Well, I didn't say that. What kind of job is it? You said it was sensitive, yeah?"

"It's my daughter. I've been trying to get her a visa to join me here, but the corpos are dragging their feet. I want to try…other avenues."

Again, Addie tilted her head at the doctor, trying to figure her out. "Why the heck do you want to move your daughter to the Blast? Why did you come here? It's not really a popular destination…"

Katz, with a visible effort, stopped wringing her hands and folded her arms over her chest. "It's… Well, it's my ex-husband. I changed my name when I moved here to get away from him. My daughter is grown, from a previous marriage, and he never bothered her before, but she's begun to receive anonymous threats. Someone chased her the other day when she was walking home from work, and I know it's him!"

"You think he's messing with her to get to you?"

"I know it. He knows she's in contact with me. I'm sure he's trying to draw me out, to get me to reach out to him so he knows where or who I am."

"And your daughter is cool with moving to the Blast?"

"Yes! She knows I can give her a good job; she used to work at my clinic in District Nine."

"She's not married?"

Katz shook her head. "She's not like that. She's aro. She keeps to herself, but she's very sweet to me. I miss her dearly."

"So, you're looking for someone to go to District Nine, pick her up, and smuggle her to the Blast?" Addie chuckled, shaking her head. "No wonder no one's taking your job, and I can understand why you'd reject some former banger muscle who said they could do it."

"I know. It's a big ask."

"It's just that you need people with metro visas, and you need people willing to risk those visas if they get caught." Addie sighed heavily, shaking her head. "I'll talk about it with Shepherd, but I won't make any promises." As she mentioned him, Addie looked at Tony, confirming that he was still resting peacefully while the autosurgeon continued its business.

Katz followed her gaze. "I appreciate that, Ember. The surgeon says it's fifty-one percent done with the attachment. Do you want something to drink? A snack?"

Addie almost said yes, but then she remembered she was responsible for Tony and that, though she liked Katz, she couldn't trust her yet. She wouldn't risk being drugged while Tony was helpless on her surgical table. "No, thank you."

Katz nodded and walked back to the autosurgeon's control panel. While the doctor monitored Tony's progress, Addie subvocalized, "JJ, can you find the SOA job listing Katz was telling me about? I want to know how much she's offering."

"I believe I found it," he replied shortly. "It's a job offered by a private individual listed as 'S Katz.' The job is described as a high-value target retrieval and transport with a contract value of thirty-two thousand Sol-bits."

"Pretty good payday for the Blast," Addie replied. "No wonder she's getting unqualified operators knocking on her door."

"Do you intend to take the job?"

Addie shook her head. "I'd like to help her, but I want to see what Tony says. To me, it seems really risky, but maybe he knows more about smuggling people than I do." Addie leaned back in her chair, her feet stretched out and crossed at the ankles, as she waited for Tony's surgery to finish. She hadn't thought of it earlier, but she realized she could have Nora share his vitals with her, so she did, and a big window opened on her AUI showing his perfectly steady heart rate at 58 beats per minute, and his blood pressure at 110 over 65.

It also displayed his nanites' activity level, and they were in the red, apparently hard at work reducing inflammation and speeding cellular regrowth around the autosurgeon's grafts. Considering Katz had given him that nanite-enriched regeneration drink, Addie was surprised Tony's Dust-powered nanites were working so hard. She supposed it went to show how much better they were.

"JJ, what's my heart rate right now?"

"You don't have a medical nanite battery that monitors your vitals, but I can measure your pulse easily enough. Let's see… 74 beats per minute."

"Why is Tony's so low?"

"Nora reports that 58 is close to his average resting heart rate. It's a reflection of the fitness of his cardiovascular system."

"Is 74 bad?"

"No, Addie. That's a normal rate for someone with your level of fitness."

"Huh." Addie leaned back, folding her arms as she tried to zone out a little and let the time pass more quickly. Almost without thinking, she began to pull Dust from her reactor, drawing it out and molding it into patterns, practicing the drills that Pyroshi had given her. She'd gotten much faster with the first few patterns, so much so that she could almost snap the Dust into them without any lag between. It wasn't until the eleventh or twelfth pattern that she had to slow down and concentrate a little. Even so, none of them were difficult until she got past number thirty, and then the drills had her weave different types of patterns together.

She was just finishing up the first one like that when Katz interrupted her concentration. "The surgeon is wrapping things up. You can come over. It's just cleaning him up a little."

Addie sprang to her feet and approached the table. Sure enough, only one spidery mechanical arm was active, gently sponging away a foamy white solution from Tony's shoulder and side. As it cleaned him, she got a good look at how the glossy red arm and shoulder had merged with his flesh, and Addie could hardly believe it. There was a faint black seam between the cherry-red housing and his skin, but other than that, the only evidence of any surgery was a faint, puffy redness to his flesh.

"He heals faster than anyone I've ever worked on. Either he's gifted by God, or he's got nanites in addition to the ones I had him drink."

Addie looked at Katz and shrugged. "You'll have to ask him."

"Heh, fair enough."

"Is that his skin or synth-skin?" Addie gently traced her fingers over the slightly puffy skin near the seam.

"It's his. The synth-skin is under the housing. It's black. That's the tiny seam you see there. It's already grown into his skin, so there won't be any bleeding or fluid leaking. It's a really elegant design for an arm that isn't housed in synth-skin. You know, like the natural-looking ones."

Addie nodded, tracing her fingers over the tiny seam and along the cherry-red shoulder. It looked like a perfect fit—proportional to Tony's other shoulder—but it felt weird, almost like skin, the way it grabbed at her fingertips. Her eyes told her it should be slick, like a polished car fender, but her fingers grabbed at it. "That's the um, haptic field I'm feeling?"

"Yep. Shepherd would feel your fingers there just as anyone with a natural arm would. The beauty of it is that his PAI can dial up the sensation or dial it down, and any pain sensation is purely optional."

Addie smiled. "Yeah, that's shiny." She smiled at the pun she'd made with the slang term. When she glanced at Katz, she saw an answering smile.

"Hey," Tony murmured groggily, "I can feel you tickling my arm."

Encouraged, Addie stroked her fingers from his shoulder down to his wrist. "How about that?"

"Yeah," he replied, blinking his silver eye while the amber LEDs came to life in his other one. "Feels nice."

"If you think it feels nice, wait until you see how it looks," she replied with a giggle and a guilty glance at Katz.

The doctor raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Yeah. It's a beauty, Shepherd, and it was a perfect fit."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.