Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four - Eyes Out

  BirbNote: I don't usually put author's notes here, but... a few readers of the advanced chapters on Patreon mentioned feeling a bit squicked by this chapter. There's some detailed explanations of (fictional) surgical operations in this one. If that gets to you, feel free to skip, you won't be missing too much that's plot-relevant!

  "Hello, Miss X."

  I nodded to the man who'd spoken. It was one of the doctors. Middle-aged man in scrubs and with a pristine white lab-coat on. The only logo on him, and in the entire room, was a small Orchid Lux logo on the lapel of his coat. "Hey," I said.

  "Is this your first operation with us?" he asked.

  "Uh, yeah," I replied.

  "Fantastic. Don't you worry, this will be over in no time, and I promise that it will be painless," he said. I couldn't see much of his face through the mask he wore, but I had the impression that he was smiling as he directed me to the seat that I'd be on for the operation.

  It was a pretty typical hospital seat, with a hydraulic base and lots of ways to be shifted around and moved. More like a dentist's chair than a seat, really.

  The doctor wasn't alone. There was a second woman in similar clothes nearby, and a pair of nurses, one real, the other more of a... android? Or no, that was just someone with extensive cyberization. The last person in the room was just in scrubs and was standing to one side.

  "We're going to have to ask that you remove your top," the nurse said. "Are you comfortable with that?"

  "Sure," I said.

  I mean, I wasn't, but this was an operation, wasn't it?

  She helped me remove my shirt, then my bra, and then I was directed to sit down and... wait, was this a heated seat? Damn, I was pretty sure it was real leather, too.

  The seat rose up, and I found myself blinking up at some lights fixed to the ceiling. The nurse came up to my side, and soon I had cuffs around both biceps and a small device over my right wrist.

  "Just monitors," the nurse said as she fixed everything into place. She returned with a spray. "This will be cold," she said.

  And then I winced as she sprayed down my front, from my collarbone, down my arm and all the way to my left wrist. It smelled like some sort of disinfectant, which I supposed was exactly what that was.

  The doctors moved a few things around, and I tried to settle into place. The cybernetic nurse approached with a small cup with water and a tray with a small handful of pills. I was instructed to take all of them, and either swallow them, or chew on them. Then the seat shifted further back and I found myself waiting.

  "Alright, we're ready here. I just have a few questions before we begin," the doctor said. "My notes indicate that you're a... D-ranker?"

  "Yes," I said. "You had notes?"

  "The readout from our monitors indicate it," he said.

  "Oh," I replied. There was a machine nearby with an EKG and a bunch of other numbers on display, so that tracked. "Anyway, yeah, D-ranker."

  "Any active or passive spells?"

  "No," I said.

  "Good. We're going to cast four spells on you. One of these will numb you, another will reduce the sensitivity of your nerves--slightly different, another will blind you temporarily, and the last will make you rather drowsy. You might fall asleep."

  "Uh, that's normal?"

  "It is, don't worry. Before that, let's get you oxygenated."

  I had a mask fit over my mouth, then the guy in scrubs from the corner moved up and pressed a hand against my upper arm. A moment later I felt a spell wash through me. That felt like Sooth Minor Pain, only way more complex and with more of a kick to it.

  No clue what the next spell was, or the one after. The last was cast through a small device, and I instantly felt woozy and tired, but not entirely out of it.

  "Okay. If we're ready... good. Procedure start." Some music came on, soft, classical, just loud enough to be heard over the shift of clothes and the clink of tools.

  The next few minutes were a weird blur, and not just because my vision darkened and then blinked away. I found myself focusing on my breathing even as the minutes crawled by. It was... soothing?

  I was pretty sure some of those drugs were drugs. The floatiness didn't stop me from noticing when they cut into my skin near my collarbone. I felt something wiggle inside of me, moving into my chest, then down. The bio-monitor? I supposed it made sense to start with that.

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  They cut me more, a long slice from my collar, then down to my armpit, and finally along the inside of my arm, all the way to my wrist.

  Wild. I should have been freaking out a little, I think, but I wasn't.

  Then, while one doctor was doing something to my wrist, my head was tilted back and I felt a clipper shaving some of the hair near my ears before something cold was applied there.

  I felt and heard the incision there. It was loud, weird, and after a few minutes, nauseating.

  Still, I managed not to freak out even as my hearing went out entirely on that side.

  Then they moved onto the other, even as the doctor working on my wrist finished and I felt another set of spells work through me. Those felt like something Dharti might have cast.

  The other ear was next. Another cut, another movement, and then I was blind and deaf.

  I... really didn't like that. Not at all. It was hard not to freak out, but the weird floatiness made it more bearable.

  My head was moved back into position, and then tilted further back. I felt my eyelids be pried open, then something cool and metallic dug into and around the back of my eyes. I felt my eye being pulled out of my socket and could smell a faint, burning odour that I really hoped wasn't my eye juices being cooked.

  That part was the least pleasant.

  And then I was hit by another set of spells, and the drowsiness was much stronger. Strong enough that I slipped back into a light sleep.

  I awoke with a shock, and the first thing I realized was that I could hear once again.

  "Alright, Miss X? Can you hear me?"

  "Yeah," I said, my voice muffled by the mask.

  "Perfect, we're going to give you a series of auditory tests, then we're going to run tests on your new eyes. Let's start with some directional hearing."

  I was run through a set of tests. Noises coming from different directions, at different pitches and tones. Some of them felt insanely faint, like someone whispering two doors over, but I was able to make them out anyway. Others were loud. The doctor even warned the others about the loudest of these.

  Apparently, I passed the tests.

  I could tell that the ears were working, mostly because I could hear so much more than before. The faint rustle of cloth, the small sniffles and shuffles of the people around me. It wasn't stuff I couldn't hear, of course, but it was louder, clearer. Like washing out my ears after they were badly clogged, or pulling out earplugs and suddenly listening.

  Then my vision slowly faded back, assisted by another spell, this one cast from a small metal rod.

  "There you go," the doctor said. "We're going to start by running through a simple eye exam, then we're going to test the compatibility between your visual cyberware and the rest of your cybernetics, to make sure that everything is in order. Are you ready?"

  "Yeah," I said.

  My vision was... nicer? Maybe? I wasn't like I could see a million times better. I had 20-20 vision before, and I was pretty sure it wasn't that different.

  Still, the tests were interesting. Reading tiny letters, following cues. The most interesting was when they shut the lights and... I could still see. Not perfectly, but it was like I had stood in the dark for twenty minutes already. My dark vision came on in a blink.

  Flashing a powerful light in my face did nothing. I could see the inside of the flashlight and the bulb, and also the world around it, as if the glare were entirely missing.

  Then they started connecting things, inputs coming in from a computer in the corner. The bio-mod came online, and suddenly I had a running EKG in the corner of my vision that I could blink away. Audio-visual cues, and all the rest of the usual stuff that came with augmented visual displays. The time in one corner--yikes, it was nearly midnight?--and a heap more information that I'd have to go through and curate.

  The most interesting was the magical readout on my bio-monitor.

  Magic

  201 - D-29

  Capacitance:

  N/A - Insufficient time for baseline

  "Alright. One last spell to purge your system, then I would advise a moment spent in our facilities. You're going to be given a few pills. Take one in the morning on awakening, and one in the evening. Please don't skip these, they're to prevent any issues. Of course, if there are any issues, abnormalities, or if you have any questions, please contact Orchid Lux immediately. Your satisfaction and health is important to us."

  ***