Burns walked into the waiting room, stumbling a little, as if his feet didnt find halt on the clinically clean floor.
He seemed not to be really aware of his surroundings, reaching out for a seat when he eventually found one.
After a little time a calm, reassuring voice called his name:
„Mr. Burns in room four please“
Room 4 was a treatment room, white painted but one of these rooms that have a subtone that makes you feel displaced, impalpable, but still present.
He looked around, seeing a collection of tools that could as well be part of a torture chamber.
Nothing of this made him feel any better but he had to be here, he had no choice any more.
When he was a little boy, back on Leeds, his parents always told him to stay away from production facilities and their waste. He did as he was told, but as it turned out, one cant escape this damage, caused by generations, that easily.
With 20 years, a grey curtain began to worsen his eyesight.
First he thought it were the sins of his youth, experimenting with drugs and drinking too much,
returning to him.
But his doctor found that he had a desease caused by the omnipresent pollution in the air, worsening his eyesight over the time.
His family, simple workers, couldnt afford a cure, so he learned to live with it, as far as possible.
Till he was sentenced to three years in jail.
In jail the conditions were not as bad as people said out there, but the twilight caused by small windows and the monotonie of prison life did their part to worsen his condition.
When his debts to community were paid, he found himself without work, loosing more of his eyesight every year and without any hope for recovery.
So he did what desperate men do. He went to war. But not for wars sake.
The Core offered him the medicine he desperately needed, a secure income and a future. All the things he desired.
But even the medicine couldnt cure his disease. It helped him for some time, but after a few months the positive effects ceased.
As he was a pilot, therefore dependent on beeing fast and reactive, he would be useless as soon as he lost his eyesight.
When he was about to fall into dispair he saw a silver lining. The Core offered augmentations to its people. For free.
When he heard of it, he couldnt think of anything else but to see again. Not only shadows, but all there is in its eternal beauty.
He made an appointment, not shure what to expect, but with highest hopes.
Finally the doctor entered the room, An elderly man, with gray hair and beard, an apearance that made one trust him. His voice was calm, but not as deep as one would expect from such a man.
„Mr. Burns. We have had a look on your case and we are sure we can give you back your full eyesight.
But you have to be aware, this procedure will require us to remove your original eyes. This is a step that cant be reverted.“
Burns remained calm, not showing what he thought.
„I`m aware. There will be no need for a reversion.“
The doctor walked away, soon coming back with a bunch of papers.
„I need you to sign these, when we are done with the formalitys we can start with the procedure. We will remove your eyes and replace them with an ARES-class implant.
This implant will not only restore your eyesight, but enhance it to be superior to that of a human eye. You will react faster to what you see, as well as process visual informations faster,
Dont be surprised if you feel a bit sick first. That ceases after some hours.“
The doctor smiled slightly.
„Follow me. Lay down on this table.“
Burns did as he was told, feeling a knot in his stomach, but still certain to do the right thing, he layd down on the cold steel table.
A nurse fixed his body to the table and put a mask on his head.
„Now have a deep breath. Count to ten“
Burns counts in his head;
one
two
three cut
The next thing he sees is the wall left to him, still in the white room.
But theres a difference.
He could see the fibers of the paint, which was shining white and clean.
He could see the plant in a corner of the room, its leafes and the vains on them.
He turns his head, feeling very sick of all the impressions, then seeing the doctor, his hairs, every single one of them. He cant really comprehend how sharp everything is. Like the world was cut with a scalpel.
Then a monstrous pain hits his head. Everything turned black again.
The next days he slowly got used to his new eyes. They arent beautiful, or just looking like human eyes, but he never felt so good since six years. He can now see the yellow star of Delta, the endless sand deserts of Nauru and the colourful clounds of space dust all in its full beauty.
Finally. After six years he was healed. Finally he left his old life behind him. The life behind the grey curtain.
