[Bonus chapter] System diagnostics

[**Technoria**

**Subcity**

**Research District**]

Cassandra had somehow managed to sneak Kevin past the security personnel stationed outside the labs. She had taken him straight to the Research and Development department, located on the lowest level.

Four floors below the subway system, the R&D department was an obscure place, rarely visited by lab technicians. Only the supervisors of different departments came in to check in on Cassandra from time to time.

Cassandra's lab was as big as Dr. Stacey's, but there were no lab technicians or interns here. The ones who assisted her with her research were advanced assistant robots. She had designed them herself and was always happy to have them around.

Kevin's exoskeleton had been so badly damaged that Cassandra couldn't fix it alone. Even if she could repair the dents and cracks, she could do very little to fix the internal damage. In the end, she was left with no other option but to call Dr. Stacey.

Though at first Dr. Stacey had been furious with Cassandra for helping Kevin sneak outside, she gradually simmered down and focused on the task at hand. Kevin was in such bad shape that it would take several hours to patch him up.

For now, they had placed Kevin inside a prototype Advanced Mechanical Recuperation Pod (AMRP) and put him under general anesthesia. The AMRP was designed to detect malfunctions in the helper bots such as the cleaners and the servers, and identify the cause. This pod could handle basic external repairs automatically but required human input for internal problems.

Dr. Stacey finished reading the basic diagnostic report and turned to Cassandra. "It took us over 4 hours just to fix the minor dents on his exoskeleton. But the damage here is far more extensive. Three of his internal power cables have snapped, and over 500 sensory receptors have been severely damaged. You know what that means."

"We'll need to open him up," Cassandra sighed.

"Yeah, we have to unscrew all the bolts, disengage the internal clips and take off his metal plates. If anything goes wrong, he'll end up losing multiple motor functions."

"Come on, don't scare me, Stace!" Cassandra exclaimed. "Nothing's gonna go wrong. We will take it nice and steady."

"None of this would've happened if you hadn't allowed Kevin to go to the surface! He could've just died out there."

"Don't say that!" Cassandra's voice cracked as she tried to hold back her tears. "I never wanted this to happen to him. I sent him out during the Silent Hours. He shouldn't have run into any machines."

"Cassy, we haven't been to the surface in over four months. Did it never occur to you that things might have changed?"

"I was stupid. This is all on me. I'm sorry, Stace. I should never have helped him sneak outside. I was God damn foolish." Cassandra folded her hands and begged, "Please help me fix him."

"We should take him to the Hardware lab," Dr. Stacey replied.

Cassandra shook her head. "If your husband finds out about this, he's not gonna spare Kevin. We have to keep this a secret for now. No one can know what happened."

Dr. Stacey saw that Cassandra had a valid point. Her husband wasn't the forgiving kind, and this exoskeleton was his favorite creation. He never wanted Kevin to have this, and now if he found out about Kevin's midnight escapade, he'd be in deep trouble.

She eventually agreed to keep things under wraps and help Cassandra with the repairs.

"Activate 3D display of subject and bring up the control panels," Cassandra instructed her lab's AI assistant.

A full-scale holographic projection of Kevin's body appeared before them. It was 100% accurate and could be manipulated as per requirements.

Cassandra put on a pair of holo-control gloves and approached the hologram. Kevin looked almost like an XL11 robot without his external covering of artificial skin.

The hologram allowed both researchers to assess all external damage and check every part of Kevin's body without actually tampering with his exoskeleton.

"I need a quick scan. Give me a detailed report," Cassandra said.

// Scanning new subject...

Type: Cyborg.

Status: Damaged.

Right Arm: 200 sensory receptors damaged.

Left Arm: Artificial flexors partially damaged

Waist: 110 sensory receptors damaged.

Right Leg: Power connections fully compromised.

Left Leg: Power connections partially compromised.

No chipset damage detected.

No circuit damage detected.

Cooling system functional.

Visual clarity: 100%.

Auditory clarity: 100%.

Current exoskeleton integrity: 70%.

Weapon systems: online.

Defense systems: online.

Tracking systems: online.

Current power level: 35% //

"It's just the internal power cables." Dr. Stacey breathed a sigh of relief. "We can repair the sensors and flexors later. Right now, we need to reconnect the cables."

Cassandra nodded in agreement and used her gloved fingers to manipulate the holographic display of Kevin's body. She gently tapped on its legs to remove the external metal casing. It gave her a clear view of his internal mechanisms. She quickly noticed that three power cables had snapped in half and a fourth one had popped out of its socket.

"We'll have to replace these cables. These can't be fixed," Cassandra declared, bending down to get a better look.

"I'll take off the metal casings around his legs, you attach the cables," Dr. Stacey instructed.

They walked over to the AMRP and consulted one last time, before opening the pod. Kevin still lay asleep inside it. As the glass lid was lifted, the researchers set to work. Dr. Stacey carefully disassembled Kevin's legs, while Cassandra extracted all the pieces of the torn cables. Her assistant bots disposed of the damaged cables and handed her brand new ones they had fetched from her accessories locker.

After a grueling 2 hours of hard work, they were finally able to restore all power connections and re-assemble Kevin's legs.

Next, Cassandra guided her assistant bots and helped them extract all of Kevin's damaged sensory receptors. A few more hours later, they finished installing new artificial receptors, and then the pod took care of the flexors, repairing them within a few minutes.

When they were done, Cassandra brought up the scanning interface again. Kevin's exoskeleton integrity was now displayed at 100%, and there were no more malfunction alerts.

Half an hour later, the effects of the anesthetic gas faded, and Kevin re-opened his eyes. Though he could see everything clearly, he felt a bit dizzy. He was about to step outside the pod when the intercom on the door buzzed aloud.

Cassandra slowly walked to the door, putting on her best fake smile. As she pressed the little green button, the LED screen showed that Suzy was standing outside.

"Dr. Cassandra, is mom there? Kevin's not in his room, and I can't even reach him on the comms. I need your help!"