Born of Silicon

"They do!" Blue says excitedly. "It's just outside the compound. It's where we picked all those cherries."

"Well Little Blue, I think that's an excellent place to start." I say. "Lead the way."

Blue stands up and holds out her hand for Cassie. She takes her hand, but Cassie rushes to get up without actually letting Blue take any of her weight. The two of them head out of the room, Blue trying her absolute hardest not to rush.

I give Ivy a smile and follow the two of them. They lead us downstairs and through the central courtyard. I step a little closer to Ivy, there's just too many people here. Sure they seem pretty friendly and hopefully we can build a small support base here before the meeting gets called, but there's just too many unknowns for me to be comfortable, not when I'm not armed.

Just outside the compound, past another wrought iron gate that opens automatically for us is an honest to God farm. Rows of green leaves poking out of the ground. Endless fruits and vegetables growing on bushes and vines. An actual orchard runs against the wall.

Humans and AI alike are working the fields, pruning what needs to be pruned and picking only the ripest foods.

"You sure we'll be able to drag you away from here?" Ivy whispers to me.

"We'll see." I step forward, pushing back endless large greens. The very top of a carrot is embedded in the ground. The thing is already massive, larger than anything I've ever grown. A quick check of the one next to it reveals it's somehow even larger. I imagine if nobody has bothered to harvest these, they're not even full grown.

"How does it compare to your garden?" Blue asks.

"Garden? Who told you I had a garden?" I ask.

Blue's face immediately falls, instantly worried she made a mistake.

"Lucas." Her voice comes out a scant whisper.

"Well, guess he didn't listen to my stories closely enough. No, I used to work summers on my father's farm. Little larger than a garden."

"Oh." Apprehension still stays on her face, but most of her worry is wiped away.

"Don't get him started." Ivy whispers loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Either way, it's nicer here. Ours was larger, sure, but I've never seen plants this large." I stand up, taking a moment to take in the sheer energy density being grown here. "It's missing the animals we had though. Although I'm not sure most of those exist anymore."

"Frankenstein managed to make a human arm, and Kismet offered to make new limbs for Cassie if she wanted them." Blue says quickly. "Maybe, if they can find animal DNA somewhere, they can remake them?"

"Maybe. It'd be nice to ride a horse again."

"Did you have some?" Her sense of wonder is contagious, I can't help but smile.

"A few stubborn old work horses, but I doubt it's the kind of thing you're imagining. We just weren't that kind of farm. We did plants mostly, but beyond that we had a few chickens, pigs, and a cow. Our neighbor had show horses though. I snuck over to help a few times, and coincidentally found some time to ride."

"I warned you." Ivy whispers.

"I think I've earned a little nostalgia, but alright. I'll save my stories for another day."

"We're allowed to pick anything that's fully grown, if you want to relive your childhood." Cassie says.

"Really? Well, I'm not sure when I'll have the chance again." I crouch down once again, checking a few more of the carrots. Finding one I'm finally happy with the size of, at least relative to the others, I grasp the greens firmly and wrest it out of the ground.

The thing is massive. It must be over a foot long and two inches thick. The carrot on its own is a full meal. I brush off as much dirt as I can and put that to the test, taking a small bite from the tip.

The freshest flavor I've had in years explodes within my mouth. I close my eyes and force myself to chew slowly, savoring it for as long as I can. I hand the carrot off to Ivy while I chew, letting her take a bite too.

"That's so good." I say after eventually swallowing.

"Just be careful. Cassie and I hung out in one of the cherry trees for a few hours, and she very nearly made herself sick."

"Shut up." Cassie says quietly.

"Sorry!"

"It's fine. It's funny." She reassures Blue. "Just be careful, or I'll tell them about you trying to convince us to walk into the most obvious trap in existence."

"I'll do my best to be careful." I say before Blue can keep worrying.

Ivy hands the carrot back to me, just a little shorter than it was when I gave it to her.

"Ah. There you are." Frankenstein calls out as he approaches. "Your surgery room is ready."

"You work fast." Ivy muses.

"Ah, good, my invention works. Yes, I pride myself on always being prepared. Life and death can unfortunately be decided by seconds, and I would like to keep my flawless record. If we didn't need to custom modify an existing hip prosthetic, I would have been faster."

"Let's get it over with then. Lead the way." Ivy gestures vaguely.

"Alright you…" I glance at Blue, but Corax is missing. He must have taken off at some point. "Two. I'll keep an eye on Ivy, and we'll find you girls once we're done."

"You better be alright." Cassie warns her.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Ivy asks.

"You know it." Cassie turns around, heading back towards the compound.

"Are you sure she's going to be alright?" Blue asks quietly, or at least, what I think is supposed to be quietly. Her emotions overwrite her volume sometimes.

"Do you know how many surgeries Ivy has been through? She could do it herself if she really needed to. Hell, I walked upstairs to find she had pulled a bullet out of her side and was sewing it shut once."

I can only smile and watch as they walk away. I'm happy for them, of course, but I can't help but feel a little regretful that I missed such an impactful time in their lives. It won't happen again, I promise.

Ivy's hand grabs mine, pulling me out of my thoughts. Cool steel gets pressed against my skin, and my entire body tenses against my will. A blade gets slid up my sleeve and left in a small harness we wove into my clothes.

Relax. It's Ivy's knife, and the blade never touched me. Not again, here and now.

I wrest my body back under my control and allow myself to be pulled along. It takes me two heartbeats to recover and to walk closely beside Ivy.

Frankenstein leads us into town, and I put my trust in Ivy's eye. With how much shiny metal is around, she'll be able to pick out anyone and anything that means us harm.

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The streets are as busy as always, but that's fine. Stay visible, make people put a face to their vote. Maybe it would be better to delay Ivy's surgery until after the vote? To buy some sympathy? No, probably not actually. A lot of AI used to look at us like we were just sad creatures that needed to be protected in comparison to them. Us being injured would probably just make them more likely to make us stay so they could take care of us. Plus, I'm not going to deny Ivy from being able to walk unhindered.

The hospital is a small building built near the entrance to the city. Frankenstein steps into the nearly abandoned lobby, and we follow him closely behind. A limp body is slumped over behind the reception desk, and remains that way as we walk through.

Doors behind the receptionist lead directly into a fully kitted surgery room. Massive lights illuminate every corner of the place, and a huge machine with fifteen separate arms sits beside a comfortable operating table.

A mirror has been affixed to the ceiling, and a chair thankfully has been left along the wall. Every other wall is packed with compartments full of medicine and extra tools.

"Just to confirm before we begin, you mentioned having modifications. Will any of those modifications potentially get in the way of this surgery?"

"A couple, actually." Ivy says. "Most importantly, I've got artificial arteries running down my spine."

"I've called for an x-ray. While we wait for that to arrive, does this setup work for you? I understand your hesitation, is there anything I can do to make you more confident in my abilities? I can offer anonymized proof of all 218 surgeries I've done since I was mind ripped."

"It's fine. I can see you're not lying. And most of my surgeries were done in the center of a workshop, this is practically overkill." Ivy says.

"Well, that's not the wording I would use in this situation, but I'm honored you are placing your trust in my hands."

The door opens, and the same body that was slumped over at the reception steps in, wheeling a bulky device behind him. It's a large ring on wheels that gets left at the foot of the operating table. Frankenstein only gives the other person a curt nod before turning his attention back to Ivy.

"If you're ready to start, please strip and lie down. I'll start by removing your cast."

Ivy shamelessly removes her shirt, bra, covering for her makeshift brace, and hobbles to the surgery table.

She still carries the scars of her younger years. Dark lines cross her body, highlighting her burnt out veins. Old and new scars alike crisscross her arms and legs. None of it makes her anything less than beautiful, but it's still painful to see the effects of everything she's been through. Although I guess we match now, at least to a point. We'll see how well I end up scaring.

A few ports stand out on her skin, metal caps giving access to various internal modifications she's had done. Some were needed, a desperate attempt to fix her past. Others are purely her choice, an attempt to fix what she used to see as shortcomings.

"You're not going to get sick when I start operating, right?" Frankenstein asks while he slides the table through the ring. "I can offer you some anti-nausea medications if needed."

"This isn't the first time I've seen the inside of me." She replies.

It barely even feels like my body. Her words echo through me once again. They're still as true now as they were then.

"I'll take you at your word, but be aware, I will put you under if you begin to panic."

Ivy glances at me, an all-too-familiar amused look on her face.

I'd love to see you try.

"That's fine." She says.

"I have a question about a few of the cybernetics I'm seeing." He says. "Most of them are simple to discern their purpose, but what is the canister your arteries are connected to?"

"That's private. Pretend it doesn't exist, it doesn't impact anything." She says.

"Uh-huh. I'm here to remove and replace part of your body. I need to know."

"I can vouch for her." I speak up. "It won't change anything whether you know or not. It doesn't do anything unless she wants it to. And even if she does, it doesn't affect the surgery."

"Please, I do not wish to slip from seriousness to frustration, that emotion takes a while to fade, and would only result in a delay for your surgery. Again. I'm your surgeon. If you don't want to tell me, then I don't want to operate. I understand privacy is important. I was a surgeon before the world ended, and I took an oath. Part of that oath is swearing not to reveal information my patients have entrusted me with under any circumstances. I have not broken it a single time in my long life, and will not start now."

I wait for Ivy to answer, this is her decision. I know how much she hates people knowing about her, but I can't guess if that or her desire to walk will win out.

"It's filled with different chemicals, used to flood my body with antibiotics, adrenaline, naloxone, that kind of thing." She reluctantly says.

"I see, thank you. Can it restrict blood flow?"

"No. Like I said, it doesn't impact anything."

"And these two clamped around the arteries in your legs?"

"Auto-tourniquets."

I wait patiently while Ivy reveals some of her closest guarded secrets. At least he only asks what he actually needs to know. Although with how interconnected she is, it's obviously more than she's comfortable with.

"Once again, thank you. Are you ready to begin?"

"I am." She says.

"Good. You're going to feel a pinch while an injection is made into your spine. It'll ensure you don't feel anything below that point for two hours before wearing off."

Ivy clenches and unclenches her hand rapidly, trying to buy something else to focus on instead of the injection.

"What's with you people underestimating pain?" She asks through gritted teeth. "The thing is overwhelming my pain dampener."

"I'm sorry, it's been a very long time since I felt true pain. just give it one second."

A few moments later her hand relaxes and she lets her body go limp.

"Can you feel this?" Frankenstein pokes her hard in the hip.

"No, nothing."

"Good. I'm beginning now."

I lean forward and watch closely as he slices Ivy open. The machine with endless arms works in flawless harmony with him, everything acting as a natural whole. Slicing, clipping, clamping, pinning out of the way, it's all done quickly and efficiently. Barely any blood gets lost, he's incredibly careful to avoid doing any unnecessary damage.

It only takes half an hour to remove her old hip bone. Endless cracks run through it, and parts of it crumble as it's removed. He has to spend time removing fragments from her skin before getting a new, metal replacement situated.

Tendons are strapped onto it with metal wires atop a substrate built into the artificial bone. I'm guessing they're to ensure the tendons can attach themselves completely with time, but I'm far from qualified enough to make more than a rough guess.

It's another hour before Ivy gets all her organs fitted back into place and sewn shut. A large, straight cut runs across her body, just another scar added to her endless stories.

Some kind of liquid gets slathered across her stitches and injected into a few points before Frankenstein begins to wrap everything tightly with pristine bandages. Once done, he steps back and admires his work.

"Now, I'm not a miracle worker. I'm going to help you into a wheelchair, do not walk for 24 hours. In the compound you're staying in, there is an elevator in the canteen. After that, no running, no jumping, no stairs, no climbing, nothing but slow walking across flat surfaces for one week. Of course, stop if you feel any pain, and if a tendon detaches, come find me. After that, if there's no pain, then everything should have attached correctly and you're safe to resume your normal activities. Just take it easy for a few weeks if life is polite enough to let you."

"I'm sure it won't be." Ivy replies. "Thank you."

"I'm prescribing a few medications. Antibiotics and painkillers. Take one antibiotic with breakfast and dinner, and take the painkillers as needed. You can shower in 24 hours, but stay away from baths for a few weeks, and try to keep the incision dry." One of the endless compartments on the walls opens up, and Frankenstein grabs two bottles of pills. He tries to hand them both to Ivy, but I speak up before she can grab them.

"Actually, let me hold on to the painkillers, please." After everything she's been through, she doesn't need that promise of relief at her fingertips, not after her relapse. The bottle would be empty by the end of the day.

Frankenstein looks at Ivy, who nods reluctantly in agreement.

"Very well, it's not my business to make assumptions. Here." He hands both bottles to me. "Ensure she takes them as prescribed and as needed."

"I will."

"While I'm here, do you think you could refill my canister?" Ivy asks. "I almost emptied it out trying to keep that thing functional." She nods to the remnants that were once her hip. "Antibiotics, adrenaline, anything."

"I assume you need it in liquid form?" Frankenstein asks. "I don't have any I can give on hand, but I can have some fabricated. Send over what you need when you've recovered, just use any computer around."

The door opens, and the same person wheels in a wheelchair before quickly leaving.

"I need to move you. You shouldn't feel any pain."

"Uh-huh. We'll see." Ivy mumbles.

The endless arms reach down to carefully scoop up Ivy. She's very gently placed in the chair. She doesn't give away any hint of pain, although I know better than to assume there's none. A heavy blanket is draped over her and tucked in to give her a semblance of privacy.

"You should regain feeling in your lower half in the next hour. If you still don't feel anything in three hours, please contact me immediately. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. Please, allow me to walk you back to your room."

"Alright." I stand up and take the wheelchair from him. I know how much Ivy hates losing control, it's the least I can do to let someone she trusts push her. "Want to go see what our girls are doing?"

"I need some clothes first."