Omicron Kappa - Peloponnese Edge Nebula
03/03/825 AS
Since the initial meeting between the Canaan Project and their newest member the mood has become increasingly lively. While the conversations in the earlier phases of the introduction were kind of a question and answer game it slowly evolved to an involved discussion between the crew of the Arcadia and Sanako Fujinomiya over a few drinks. Anyway, that was the time a Core pilot wanted to kill me for bumping into him. Alex Carter finished his story, which was met with a few chuckles, giggles and a heartly laugh from Bacchus Beleth.
As the first meeting turned into a cheerful get together went on James directed the conversation back to business. So about the cybernetic enhancements. If you need some more time I fully understand that, but just to let you know we could go and do the cybernetic enhancements right now if you feel up for it. What do you say?
Sanako have now been sitting in the red plush 'armchair', if it could be put that way - and holding in her hands another 'Virgin Pina Colada' - the first drink she ever took onboard of Arcadia; these days she mostly spent onboard - looking around the ship, getting used to the surroundings and fixing minor flaws she'd be able to find and fix with barely any instruments at hand and marking a major ones for future repairs - those, however, wasn't present at all, someone, apparently, were looking over the ship quite well.
Fujinomiya looked like she was 'spacing out', mostly focused on her minds - she got what she wanted, she is a part of Canaan now, that satisfies her completely - she already found few interesting samples aboard, however, James never allowed her to take it to her room and look into; apparently, he had his own reasons for this.
James' voice was what brought her back to reality.
Y-yes? Sorry, i was spacing out a bit...
She mumbled, feeling slightly awkward.
Let us waste no time about it. It's not like selling your sould to devil or something, so i see nothing bad about it. Or, maybe, it is going to hurt, or something? Well, not really scared, i have made my way there not to just turn and run because of 'pain'.
I am ready, James.
Everybody rose from their seats and the room started to re-arrange itself, like Sanako had seen it a couple of times before during her stay on the Arcadia. The bar, as well as the dining area were pushed into the ground and two more modules cycled in from the top. The bar was replaced with a greenhouse module, which then was replaced with a storage area with different supplies for cybernetic enhancements. The dining area was replaced with Nikkis room, then a hallway module and finally an operating table. Geez Nikki, you really gotta clean up your room some time. Bacchus remarked after it was cycled through. Nikki didn't reply, blatantly ignoring him.
After the final module setteled in place James turned towards Sanako. I need you to lay down on the operating table. As I told you this won't be pleasant. We need your nervous system to be fully operational and you to be awake during the procedure. If the pain should get too unbarable we can interrupt the modification for a few minutes before continuing. James paused. I know all of this seems a little scary and maybe even barbaric, but trust me the procedure has improved a lot over time. With our current technological standards we shortened the procedure by a couple of days and most test subjects don't even have to have their brain re-adjusted because they loose sanity during the operation. Stay strong. With those words James and Bacchus walked over to the storage area to prepare everything while waiting for Sanako to make her way to the operating table.
After listening carefully to James, Sanako smiled for a brief second, not showing any expression on modules replacement - compared to the first time she have observed the whole process. However, what she remembered at this point were a words of a men - some warrior, probably - related to the pain and how would one endure it.
Pain - is a question of resolve.
She spoke this aloud, so everyone probably would hear, and chuckled, standing up and walking by to the operating table and laying down on it; she wasn't going to allow anyone to see fear in her eyes, Sanako was not afraid of the changes she volunteered for and which she picked herself.
James, Bacchus - you may commence whenever you're ready. Don't worry about me too much,
just accomplish what we've came here for.
Sanako spoke, her voice could sound unusually expresionless - or, rather - calm for everyone present, but, at the same moment they should be the ones who are familiar with her amount of resolve and self-confidence better than anyone.
Bacchus and James now flanked the operating table, their faces obscured to Sanako by the bright, cold light shining from above. Don't take this personal, but we will have to strap you down to minimize movement during the operation. Bacchus explained while he started to fasten the straps on her left side. James quietly mirrored the procedure on the opposite side.
During the remaining first day Sanako was injected with nanites in multiple places of her body with needles slightly larger than ones used for blood transfusions. The places she was injected included both of the arteries on her neck, the veins in her elbow joint, below her left breast (closest to her heart) between her toes, as well as multiple other places where visible and non-visible veins ran through her body. After the first few hours Nate took over for Bacchus, as this task required not much more than a steady hand. As the first day was coming to an end, Sanakos body was showing first signs of rejection to the nanites. Finally James made a small vertical incision at the top of her neck, placing the main receiver for the nanites right on her brainstem.
The second day consisted mostly of James and Bacchus adjusting the locations of the nanites. The sensation of small machines moving around Sanakos bloodstream was not a pleasant one, as her body kept fighting what it assumed to be unwanted foreign objects. More and more nanites made their way to her brain and she could feel the wireless connection to the Canaan network growing stronger. It was like there were additional neural connections forming to an extension of her own mind, that allowed her to take in and store much more information than humanly possible.
On the third day James made some finer adjustments to the enzymes and hormones Sanakos brain was emitting and making controlling them more accessible to the brain itself. While Sanako instinctively tried to release large doses of adrenaline to break free from the operating table at first, those primal urges were blocked until Sanako was able to controll them conciously. Step by step she got used to all the new sensations and abilities and naturally learned how to use them, like when she slowly gained control over her motor functions when she was a child.
As the fourth day dawned Nikki joined James to start work on Sanakos fingers, while James moved on to her eyes. On every finger Nikki made three vertical incisions right down to her bone, quickly moving on to make more incisions along her arms, slowly working her way up to her brainstem. All of the sinews and a large part of the nervous system were removed and replaced with long strings, the consisted of plastic, some sort of metal, as well as fibers capable of data transmission. As soon as the artificial nervous system was connected, all of the pain she felt in her arms and hands from the incisions suddenly ceased. Her eyes widened in surprise, which James - who was currently working on said eyes - replied to with a smile.
James had started the modification of her eyes by cutting open her eyeballs, fully removing the lenses and replacing them with cybernetic ones. He then proceeded to remove the eyeballs, one after another, from her eyesockets in order to access her optical nerves. String after string he replaced the nerves with optic fibers and fibers capable of data transmission and proceeded to route then through her eyeball, to connect them to the new lenses.
At dawn of the fifth day, James finally loosened the straps around Sanakos wrists and ankles, which allowed her to sit up for the first time in days. James continued to pack up most of the material, while Sanako was slowly recovering from the surreal experience. As James was finished putting all of the equipment back in storage he returned to the operating table and stood before Sanako. I hope you're not feeling too disheveled. I will now connect your brain fully to the Canaan network. Try to sit upright, focus on my face or something else around here as to not loose balance and don't forget to breathe.
Suddenly Sanakos brain was flooded with a tsunami of information that almost made her loose conciousness. As she was currently looking at James who stood in front of her, a second flood of information came, carrying all of the saved information about Captain James El Harady. As she looked around the room it was as if the whole ship has become transparent and through the walls Sanako could see all of the different modules the Arcadia consisted of. Closing her eyes, the flood of information suddenly stopped. After a few moments she understood that this was a direct reaction of her conciousness that tried shielding itself from all the noise and information and she understood that she was still fully in control of her brain. So, how does it feel? Different than you expected? James inquired.
If you even can call such sensations as 'usual'. However, there are certainly some notable difference between how it was before and how it is now; in general -
eyes now can provide me with better details of objects on a way larger distance, not to mention the data transferring and processing is now significantly faster than it was before.
Almost the same is about the fingers - simple touch gives much more information about the object, i think i should be even capable of finding some smallest flaws in mechanisms i will work with. So, i can tell that i have obtained what i've been hoping for. Will have to undergo hearing modification later on, too. But now, as it is finished - care to make me another Virgin Pina Colada? I am getting used to it.
Sanako exhaled slightly, taking her usual place at the plush chair she have often been occupying during her stay on Arcadia and ehich she treated as the most comfortsble of all the furniture present in the room; at some point she felt like a child with a couple of new super-interesting toys, and she was yet to test out their full capabilities.
I wonder if i will be able to beat paperwork filling Sirius record with those new, awesome fingers.
Sanako smiled, then chuckled, pretty certain that beating it and establishing another was out of the question if she'd really want to do this.
While Sanako did hold up pretty well during the operation, it sure took a toll on her body. The nanites were good at boosting cell division and healing damaged tissue, but it didn't happen instantaneous. Her supressing the pain worked brilliantly, but it also made her feel numb. Give your body some rest. I'll check back with you in a few hours. And with that James stepped into the module bordering the one with Sanakos favorite seat. As the module moved up Jamed dissapeared with it, leaving behind the dining area.
Even after James left, Sanako still knew where he was. In fact she knew where everything was on the ship. there was information about the contents of every module, their purposes, which actions have been performed in them last - no wonder the Canaan Project was so close, there were close to no secrets. Of course there was classified or inaccessible information, but most of it could be accessed by everyone.
As Sanako sat, sortet her thoughts and recovered, hours passed. Her downtime was ended when one of the testing modules was beginning to move next to the one Sanako was in. It was Alex in a slightly charred welding apron, carrying a friendly but nervous smile. Captain El Harady asked me to show you a few things in the lab and teach you how to use your new motor functions even more effectively. Sanako stood up and Alex moved aside to allow her easier access to the module, which was cluttered with shelves full of scrap pieces of different machines and computers. N-now what's something you always wanted to build, but just didn't have the steady hands or percision for?
Sanako answered shortly, quickly unbuttoned her coat, pulling out a medium-sized holopad she laid down her knees.
Swiftly running with her fingers through through the sections and sub-sections of the data storage, she finally reached it's depths, where wre only one folder, that had multiple layers of data protection over itself; when Fujinomiya finished breaching through all the defences she personally implemented some time ago was now unnecessary - she found a person trustworthy enough to share her secrets with.
Here. I've been looking to perform this for quite some time, it also gives me an excuse for earlier, when i have told you that i don't care about my health complications.
I have rendered this project impossible until i have become a part of Canaan; the sole reason why i implied it impossible - i had no decent knowledge in neurobiology, aside from some basic concepts.
The hologram floating one meter above the holopad screen featured a schematic of what appeared to be a common 'robot', however, far more advanced in terms of almost everything, including the looks, that have completely rensembled one of a human, with certain exclusions - hydraulic hinges on where her limbs were connected to it's body.
With a long, dark violet hair, childish looks and petite (some might as well call her 'vertically challenged')
First step will require a prescense and knowledge of expert in neurobiology or artificial intelligence,
since we are going to gather and convert my memories and personality and transfer it into the body we will build meanwhile. With my current augmentions i should have enough to construct her by my old schematics and concepts.
Alex who was watching Sanako in silence looked serious. The slight insecurity that was ever present with him was still there, but by far not as noticable as usually. After she finished her explanation Alex finally spoke up.
What you are proposing is entirely possible. The problem is a different one however. First of all you didn't disclose your plans from the beginning and made us use resources on you that we could have used otherwise. If you just asked us to build that body for us we could have built it for you. Which brings us to the second problem. You see everything that makes you who you are is a mixture of information and chemicals your body dispenses - or experiences to be exact. Your mind will stay the same up to the point of being transfered into that new shell, but as soon as you're in there you're not capable of experiencing things the same way as you used to - for better and for worse. The chamicals your brain dispenses that make you feel things can only be replicated to an extend, and therefore new experiences you make will not seem as rich as they used to. In other words you would be incapable of feeling things by youself, because all of it will just be a simulation. I wouldn't be opposed to helping you with your plans if I didn't have to watch it happen already.
A man once came to us with a plan similar to yours in mind. He was old and knew that he didn't have much time left. He asked us to help him to transfer his conciousness into a new body - a fully synthetic one. After the procedure was complete he was overwhelmed with the possibilities his new body provided to him, but also underwhelmed with how 'flat' and 'emotionless' everything seemed. Slightly disappointed he thanked us and left. Only a few days later we got news that the man willingly caused the reactor of his ship to combust while he was still on board. Our work has driven him to suicide and I don't want this to repeat. After Alex finished he sighed and looked at Sanako with a pleeding expression, wordlessly asking her to understand.
Cybernetic enhancements are not just straight upgrades. The larger the part of your body is that gets replaced the harder it is to get back to your pre-modification self. I myself had huge troubles readjusting after I was modified and the only thing I gave up were my hands. Captain El Harady had his whole brain replaced, as well as an undisclosed amount of other body parts and it took him decades to re-adjust to the chemical imbalance. He's still not who he was before the operation.
Now this is what I would feel comfortable with offering to you: modify your own body to beat your sickness with your wonderful intellect and modify the parts of your body that allow you to excell at the field your specialize in, but don't try to create the perfect body. A body is just as good as the mind inside of it. I will help you with what you need to accomplish your goals in every way I can, not just because Captain El Harady asked me to do it, but because I care for your well-being. If you still choose to go through with your plans I am not going to stop you. I just wanted to tell you about the consequences and what I would be willing to assist you with. He smiled softly and waited for Sanako to take all of the information in. Alex hoped she would understand his concerns and change her mind. He cared for her just as deeply as he did for Bacchus, or Nate and Nikki. Come to think of it that was a little strange, since he had only known her for such a short time. Maybe it was something about living her whole life up to this point with this condition she had little hope of overcoming prior to joining the Canaan Project, or maybe it was admiration of the confidence she showed throughout all of this. Right now he just knew that he wanted to stop her from making a decision that could impact her whole life for the worse.
Sanako was preparing for a long lines of arguing and explaining her position; she's been planning to build it with her own hands, no matter what, no matter if she has to spend everything up to her last credit for the sake of obtaining everything necessary for the project;
if only it was about merely acquiring 'a perfect body' covering all her flaws, starting with health ones and finishing with some personal complexes about her appearance, that she presented as non-existent for the society.
It was about building one herself, and for herself.
She carefully watched Alex making her 'Virgin Pina Colada' and passing it to her with a slight nod.
Dear Alex. A kind soul that cares about me like we have a titan-proof friendship for a century now.
Your concern's heart-warming, and i am truly grateful to you. However. There are still reasons that are making me arguing with you.
First. This is merely about 'obtaining' a 'perfect body' to use, to cure my imperfection and bolster my abilities even further than that what our Project has to offer. It is for my personal self-satisfaction; i am addicted not as much as to technology advanced samples as to the process of working with them, in any means.
I am devoted to what i am doing.
I am confident about what i am doing.
I am a human, i have my dreams.
And i am chasing after one of them.
Second. I have never implied i am yet confident that i will use Schwi - it's the way i call the concept - for my own purposes; while i have never got closer to solving the question of data - memories - extraction and transmission - i knew how everything else should work and look like.
I have studied the question at most points - aside from those i have looked into and barely understood anything due to the lack of special knowledge.
Third. Once again, i am both surprised and amused with how you are concerned about it me; but comparing me to some random person seeking to expirience air in his chest getting pressurized by vacuum...
Better than anyone else you know - this is not about me.
And neither it is due to his inability to handle himself in the enviroment of new sensations; i don't imply i am prepared, but i am basically different: he was running from something. I am making a huge step ahead.
But... I will this time listen to your concerns: 'Schwi' will be built, and all the preparstions will anyway be done, however, we will not jump right into mind transfer before we actually study the question better.
If i find enough arguments 'againts' - then i might overlook the necessity of my plans, but that's very, very unlikeky.
We 'can' and we still 'will' give it a try. Do not worry about the resources supplementing - i will make sure we will have everything 'Schwi' needs to be born.
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