Like a man reborn

When Kevin had calmed down sufficiently, Suzy swiped a couple of fingers in the air to activate the gesture sensor and open the chamber door.

Outside the chamber was a sprawling laboratory with three rows of lab personnel sitting at holo-desks, constantly analyzing data and performing minute adjustments. The senior scientists were reclining in their aurospheres—spacious floating glass spheres fitted with ambient temperature and light control.

"This is the main data collection and analysis lab. It's where they do the coding, monitor vitals, and debug the system in case anything goes wrong. These people are the brains behind the interface. They helped me sync your brain to the virtual interface," Suzy explained, giving him a small tour of the lab.

When Kevin had seen enough, she headed for the next door, which opened with a retinal scan. It led to a wide corridor, branching out into two paths farther down. On their left was a rectangular room with a massive glass window, and on their right, a locked metal door.

Suzy pointed to her left and explained, "That's the simulation lab. It can simulate any environment on the planet, complete with all its natural flora and fauna within 50 seconds. We mostly use it for observing weather patterns and learning more about the mutated species."

"What's the room on our right?" Kevin asked.

"Oh, that's the main server room. It may look small, but beyond that door is a 5D space pocket which is larger than a football field."

"That's crazy. I never knew 5D pockets actually existed."

"Well, it wasn't easy to build. Luckily, dad's a real genius."

As Suzy and Kevin stepped into the T-shaped intersection, a couple of automated vacuum cleaners fitted with LED screens at the top crossed their paths, beeping intermittently. They were equipped with two microfiber dust cloths attached to rollers on either side and had a frontal tray for rubbish collection.

"What are those?" Kevin asked, in amazement.

He had seen vacuum cleaners cleaning automatically without any human intervention before, but these ones were not just vacuuming the floor, but dusting the walls as well. They were so versatile that they were also mopping up all spilled liquids and automatically picking up plastic wrappers.

Suzy smiled and replied, "Those are the V-54 cleaning bots. They can dust, mop, vacuum, sanitize and even pick up and sort litter based on its recyclability."

**Would you like to partake of some refreshments?

Check out today's healthy, gluten-free menu. **

Kevin turned to his left on hearing the robotic voice, and spotted a robotic torso, with extendable segmented arms holding a tray full of unique dishes. It was hovering mid-air, displaying the names of the items it was carrying on its curved visor.

"We're good," Suzy said, gesturing the robot to move along.

"Wait, I wanna try something," Kevin intervened. "How about an omelet?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Suzy sighed.

"Why not?"

"See for yourself." Suzy swiped her index finger across the menu, and clicked on the picture of the omelet.

**Low-fat omelet purchased.

15 credits deducted.

Enjoy your meal! **

The robot handed the plate containing the omelet to Kevin and moved away.

"I haven't eaten in 6 months. Even this low-fat omelet looks tasty to me." Kevin greedily took a big bite of the omelet without even bothering to use the cutlery. He repeatedly tried to gulp it down, but something just wouldn't let him swallow it.

Suzy watched him struggle for a while and then finally broke it to him. "You don't have a food pipe or a stomach.''

Kevin immediately spit out the food. "So I can't even eat? What kind of hell—"

"You can't eat right now, because you are connected to an experimental mainframe. It's a prototype with limited functionality. Dad's been working on something a lot more advanced, something which can replicate almost all the functions of the human body without compromising its durability."

"I sure hope it's ready soon! This feels like I'm trapped in a bloody nightmare!"

After seeing Kevin's reaction, Suzy didn't even want to imagine how he'd react if she told him about all the other bodily functions he couldn't perform with this exoskeleton.

She kept the conversation short and quietly led him down the left path. It led to a small storage room on one side and a double-windowed lab on the other side.

"This is the primary hardware modification lab. It's where your exoskeleton's framework was designed," Suzy said, darting her eyes to her right.

"So, you wanna run a few more tests on the hardware?" Kevin asked.

Suzy shook her head. "The tests can wait. Your exoskeleton isn't even finished yet. Dad's gonna tweak it a bit to make sure that it actually feels like a human body."

That was finally some good news for Kevin. Ever since he'd woken up inside that glass chamber, he'd been feeling just like a damn machine. He followed Suzy inside the lab as she opened the doorway with a passcode. Though they had been best friends for almost 5 years now, he had never met her dad even once, owing to his busy schedule.

The hardware lab was a lot smaller than the first lab he'd just come through. On the left, there was a large fabricator for designing new parts and on the right, a glass desk with a paper-thin monitor. At the farthest end of the room, there was a cylindrical glass chamber illuminated with neon blue lights.

Suzy's dad, a gray-haired man in his late forties, wearing rimless spectacles and a spotless gray lab coat was sitting in front of the monitor, on a levitating black sphere, which looked a lot like an oversized pearl.

"Dad, Kevin is here," Suzy announced.

The man in the gray lab coat slowly turned around and walked up to greet Kevin. He swiped his left palm from top to bottom and obtained a reading of all the basic stats, before speaking to him.

"Your vitals are all normal, and it seems your peripherals are working fine too. Welcome to the hardware lab. It's not much, but I think I have everything I need to get you in proper shape."

"Dad, you're meeting him for the first time," Suzy said, with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Oh, you know I don't like formalities!" he sighed and prepared to turn away, but Suzy arrested his gaze with hers. After a few seconds of awkwardly staring at her, he eventually gave up and turned to Kevin. "I am Dr. Zhao Wang, the chief supervisor of this underground research facility. Pleased to meet you."

Kevin extended his arm for a handshake, but Dr. Zhao turned away without showing any more courtesy. He walked up to his monitor and pressed a few buttons on his holographic console, before gesturing Kevin to follow him to the cylindrical glass chamber.

"Please enter the chamber. I need to modify your exoskeleton and give you a human face, otherwise you'll just stick out like a sore thumb."

Kevin reluctantly followed the doctor, but paused in front of the cylindrical chamber. "Wouldn't it have been better to modify the exoskeleton before putting my brain inside it?"

"No, it wouldn't have," Dr. Zhao replied promptly. "Your sensations, feelings and emotions are all linked to your brain. To better program your artificial facial muscles, I need to know how you naturally smile, laugh, cry, frown, etc. Now please step inside and let me make you at least partially human again."

Just hearing that he could be human again made Kevin forget all about his fears. He quietly entered the chamber and as instructed by the doctor and lay down on the stainless steel table inside.

Dr. Zhao locked the door and returned to his monitor. Bringing up the holo interface, he spoke out his instructions. "Subject: Cyborg 691. Run total system diagnostics. Analyze exoskeleton and prepare for advanced skin grafting."

As soon as the doctor pressed the confirm button, a circular scanning machine whirred up over Kevin's head, and the enclosed chamber lit up with bright blue lights.

The stainless steel table was lifted by a hydraulic piston and 3 robotic arms converged on Kevin. There was an arm equipped with a 3D injector, another fitted with a laser welding tool and another equipped with a miniature spray hose.

The scanner flashed a stream of green lasers over Kevin's body, scanning every part of his mechanical exoskeleton. In just a few seconds, a 3D image of Kevin's external framework was on Dr. Zhao's screen. He dragged it on to the holo display and made some minor adjustments, before initiating the grafting process.

The 3D injector worked in tandem with the laser and quickly covered Kevin's metallic exoskeleton with a layer of silicone gel. Once the gel had solidified a bit, an experimental alloy was injected into it to mimic the natural growing and ageing of the human skin.

After that the miniature hose spray-painted his whole body to match the texture and color of his actual human skin.

An hour later, the whole metallic exoskeleton was hidden under pale white skin. Kevin looked a lot like a normal human now, except for his face and metal plated chest.

"Artificial skin grafting is complete. Now comes the difficult part: facial reconstruction," Dr. Zhao declared, taking off his glasses and wiping the sweat from his face.

"Could you give me... a different face?" Kevin requested.

"What?"

"I mean you can create any face you want, so I thought it would be nice to try a different face."

"Mr. Kevin, does this look like some kind of joke to you?" Dr. Zhao asked with a note of irritation in his voice.

"Kev, you're not creating a gaming avatar," Suzy sniped.

"I'm not asking for much! I'm just saying it would be nice to have a different face for a change," Kevin replied. "Perhaps—"

"Fine, I'll make some changes!" Dr. Zhao cut him off before he could go on. Scanning an old picture of Kevin, he made some slight edits and then spoke aloud, "Begin facial reconstruction."

The scanner immediately projected a 3D model, made up of a crisscross of laser lines, over Kevin's metallic skull. Dr. Zhao guided the 3D injector with meticulous precision, carefully shaping Kevin's face.

Reconstructing a human face from scratch had its own set of challenges, but Dr. Zhao was an expert in reconstructive surgery. It took him just over an hour to finish creating the face, and then he laid the final touch by printing the wavy black strands of hair and adding tear dispersal feature to Kevin's bionic eyes.

One could still tell at a glance that Kevin was a cyborg due to his bionic eyes and exoskeletal structure, but he no longer stuck out like a sore thumb. Most people would still be hesitant to approach him, but he wouldn't strike fear in their hearts anymore.

Once the procedure was over, Kevin was lowered to the ground and the table straightened up, forcing him into a sitting position. Suzy swiped right with a couple of fingers and immediately a mirror screen popped up before Kevin.

Kevin jumped down from the table and walked up to the mirror. He was relieved to see his new face. He no longer looked like a hunk of metal, but an actual living, breathing, human.

As he was staring at his reflection, his right bionic eye twitched and a lonely teardrop rolled down his cheek. He touched his right cheek and felt the soft warmth of human skin.

"Thank you, Dr. Zhao," he whispered softly, flicking his tears away.

Suzy almost teared up seeing Kevin like this, but somehow stifled her feelings. Clearing her throat she called out to him. "Come on, Kev, we still need to outfit you with weapons and defense systems." Taking a look at her wristband communicator, she replied to a message and then addressed Kevin again. "Mom's waiting in the armament lab. We should get going."

Kevin looked away from the mirror and stepped outside. He was about to walk up to Suzy when he suddenly remembered something important. "Can I... can I eat now?" he asked.

Dr. Zhao looked at him surprised. Raising his left eyebrow, he scoffed, "You're an advanced cyborg. You don't have any internal organs, except your brain. You don't need to eat or drink or even exercise. All your human needs are irrelevant now!"