Patricians: Power Politics (2 of 9)

Chapter 34: Lingering Wounds

Hundreds of beds lined the post-operation recovery room in the secret government facility. Men and women had their neural implants hooked up to the machines lining the wall. The beeps of heart rates echoed off one another. Dr. Young's program had been an amazing success, by all official accounts. Generals watching the first surgery were elated and discussed how these new soldiers would become the blueprint of the future U.S. Military. There had only been a few casualties in the surgical process, and each failure helped Dr. Young determine who the best candidates were.

Out of all the surgical procedures, the first two had managed to exceed all expectations. During recovery, each person's mind had been linked to a digital world created by Henry to facilitate the rapid training of the soldiers. In the digital world, time moved much quicker than in the real world. Days spent in sleep equalled months of real life training and carried none of the same dangers. Recruits could die and learn from their mistakes in the digital arena. Nurses walked the long row of beds, checking on patients' vitals.

Waking up first was Robert, who could feel the pain echoing through his body from the surgical procedure. It was difficult for the man to move at all, and he resigned himself to lying back in the bed. Looking around, Robert could see all the people who had undergone the surgical procedure. Stirring in the next bed was Richter, who was beginning to wake up, too. Groans came from the man moving in his sleep. Robert looked at the machines he was hooked up to and then down at his body. It was like seeing the reflection of a stranger in the mirror.

Every muscle had doubled in size and strained against his flesh. New lines raced across the flesh, defining the powerful muscles lurking below the soft tissue. When a nurse dropped her pen, the noise boomed in Robert's ear like thunder resonating from overhead. Everything seemed new and different. Every sense was heightened from the cybernetic implants. Looking around, Robert switched his vision modes without realizing it, causing a shift in perspective. Infrared, thermographic, and lowlight overlays changed everything. Robert was almost blinded when he switched to lowlight, but the system adapted to the light levels within a few seconds. The whole world seemed different now.

Pain from his movements shot through Richter, roused him from his sleep. Groans caused Robert to turn towards his friend. Trying to sit up in the bed, Richter discovered the same problem. Every inch of the man's body ached and made it impossible to sit up. Robert looked over at his friend and tried to calm him.

"Richter, just relax. You're okay, buddy. Lie back and try to stay calm." Robert was still fighting through the disorientation himself. Just before the men woke from their sleep, they had both been fighting on a battlefield. The memories seemed so real that when the two men woke, reality seemed like an illusion. Richter was still trying to separate reality from fantasy in his own mind when he turned to his friend.

"Weren't we just fighting in the Middle East a moment ago?" Doubt clung to every word. Richter looked down at his body and saw the vast changes that had occurred. Nothing seemed to make sense. Both worlds felt so real to Richter he couldn't separate reality from fiction.

Robert could see his friend struggling with the same questions he was and tried to console him. "I think the fighting was a digital simulation to train us. This must be the recovery room for the surgical procedure we underwent. I can see a few of the people from our company on the far side of the room."

Richter strained against the pain to lift his head up. Seeing friends from the company brought some peace to the man's troubled mind and showed that Robert was correct in his assessment of the situation. Struggling to understand the new memories filling his mind, Richter turned back to his friend.