Clashing Obsessions

Prologue

A/N: I know the prologue is kind of short, chapters will be longer after this.

The patient lay unconscious on the table, several machines persistently beeping and buzzing in the background as if to brag about all the hard work they were doing, keeping her alive. Dr. Wendon set down a metal instrument and looked up across the table to his colleague, a hopeful hint of a proud smile gracing his lips at what they'd achieved.

"Good as new! She'll hardly be able to tell she was in an accident at all. Thank God for cybernetics, right?"

Dr. Lockhart, with her air of cold professionalism and a touch of annoyance, shot him a look.

"You want to thank someone, talk to the scientists who invented this. I assure you, God had nothing to do with it."

She knew Wendon wasn't actually attributing credit for scientific advancement to a higher power; he wasn't even religious, as far as she knew, not that she knew much about him. "Thank God" was just something people said, yet it always struck a nerve with Lockhart, for reasons Dr. Wendon could never seem to figure out.

However, he was too happy to be annoyed by Lockhart's icy glares and ignored the comment. God or no God, what they did for the young patient certainly constituted a miracle. Upon arrival into the emergency room earlier that week, she had been in critical condition, and her heart had stopped three times during her initial surgery. Her body was hopelessly broken from the crash, and despite the other doctors' best efforts, their old-fashioned technology just wasn't enough. Cybernetic restoration surgery was her only option.

With his conscious mind drifting away into what Lockhart would probably call one of his "philosophical musings", Wendon brushed a gloved finger against the girl's shoulder, tracing the seam between skin and metal, the border after which her body became robotic. Once again, the Cybernetic Medical Institute had cheated death.

Lockhart walked swiftly toward the door, taking off her gloves as she went and tossing them in the wastebasket.

"Take her off anesthesia and keep her under close observation until she wakes up. I want updates every 30 minutes, and if anything changes, page me. Immediately." She looked at Wendon. "The girl's a scientific breakthrough. Few people survive that kind of injuries, even with cybernetic restoration. We can't afford to lose her now."

Wendon sighed at her callousness and said, with a touch of sarcasm, "Don't worry, Doctor, I'll keep your medical achievement award alive."

* * *

Two hours later, with the doctor watching from the chair beside her bed, she opened her eyes. Wendon leaned forward.

"Miss Raven, you're—" He turned toward the hallway and called out to a nurse. "She's awake! Page Lockhart!" Trying to calm his excited voice, he turned back to the patient. "How are you feeling?" Only then did he remember the intubation. "Right, sorry... here..." He carefully removed the tube from her throat and she coughed, but continued breathing on her own.

"Where... am I...?" She asked, her voice hoarse.

"Miss, you're in the hospital. You were in an accident, do you remember?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes. Wendon could tell she was trying to recollect the events of the crash.

Just then, Dr. Lockhart appeared in the doorway.

"Welcome back, Miss Raven," she said, walking over to the bed. The doctor pulled a small flashlight out of her lab coat pocket and shined it in each of the patient's eyes. She blinked at the light, and her pupils responded as they were supposed to.

"Do you know where you are?" Lockhart asked, jotting something down on a digital clipboard.

"The hospital," she said weakly, and extended a hand toward Dr. Wendon. "That doctor just told me."

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Kalix."

"Your full name, please."

"Kalixieta Elizabeth Raven."

"Right, and can you remember what year it is?"

"2118."

"Good. And how old are you?"

"I'm 13 years old... almost 14."

"And your birthday is...?"

"June 16, 2103."

"OK, memory seems good." Lockhart said to herself, noting something in Kalix's chart. She checked some monitors by the bed and made a note of the numbers.

"What happened to me?" Kalix asked, slowly sitting up.

Wendon leaned over from his chair. "You were in a car accident, Miss. Your parents were driving and the hovercar was struck by another vehicle and run off the road."

"Your cognitive function is undamaged, so you'll likely start to regain your memories of the event with time," Lockhart added, eyes still on the clipboard.

"My parents... Are they OK?"

"Your mother was also injured in the crash, but she's expected to make a full recovery," Wendon told her. "But... I'm afraid your father didn't make it. I'm very sorry."

Kalix looked shocked for a second, and lifted her hand to her face as if to brush away tears, but she wasn't crying. Her eyes darted around the room. After a few moments, she asked if she could see her mother.

"She's at a different hospital and I'm afraid neither of you are stable enough to transport yet. Once your mother's been discharged, she can come visit you here."

A different hospital? Why? A confused look crossed her face, and Dr. Wendon realized what she was about to ask. He exchanged a look with Lockhart, who approached the bed and took over the explanation.

"Miss Raven, you're currently at the Tokyo Cybernetic Medical Institute. Your injuries were too severe to treat with conventional medicine, so you were transferred here for cybernetic restoration surgery."

Kalix closed her eyes for a second, clearly still processing the information she had just learned.

"I'm a cyborg?"

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Hi fellow sci-fi nerds :) This is my first story that I've posted publicly, so thanks so much for reading, and I hope you like it so far. I'll try to post updates every week, so keep checking back here. See you soon!

Note update: The story is now complete! I'm going to leave all my previous Author's Notes for memory's sake, but you can ignore anything about when I'll be posting updates, everything's here now :)

Thanks for reading,

– Tressa