Chapter 5

"We have one male 20 years of age and one female 17 years aged. The male has multiple injuries to his left forearm and some broken ribs on his right side." The outpost guards carried the injured man on the stretcher. After informing their commander they brought him to a medical tent. Inside was a man dressed in white with a long overcoat. "Is he going to be ok?" The female who had accompanied the man asked the guards. "We will take up to the fleet, we don't have the medical supplies down here to help him. We need to go now!" The medic ordered. Outside the tent was a shuttle to the fleet. The group boarded the shuttle; inside the shuttle was a hospital bed attached to the floor and individual seats for each person. "Strap in you don't want to be caught not strapped when we take off." The pilot told the newcomer. The guards helped the medic strap the injured man into the bed. A strap over his chest and legs each.

The shuttle left the outpost in a blast of light; the jets on each side of its square shape flung it into the atmosphere. Lilith could feel a strong pressure on her as the shuttle gained altitude. "Here it comes!" The young guard exclaimed. All of a sudden Lilith couldn't feel any pressure, almost less than ever before. She was weightless! "We have exited the atmosphere, you may now unfasten!" The pilot instructed. The guards began moving around the shuttle helping the medic. Lilith watched as they floated around the shuttle in awe. Behind her a window opened. A vast darkness could be seen with white specs in the distance. The darkness was a multitude of colors flooding the expanse. These white specs were getting larger, they started taking shape. Each spec in view was a different shape and size, there were hundreds. Lilith looked through the window watching the fleet come into view, the wonderous view made her forget about her father for the moment.

The shuttle headed for a large vessel towards the center of the cluster. It headed for the 'bottom' of the vessel and attached itself with a magnetic lock. "Ok, everyone stand back!" The medic ordered. Everyone backed away from side of the shuttle that had connected to the vessel. An enormous amount of air pressure was released from all sides. The door to the shuttle opened revealing the docking bay of the vessel. It was a large warehouse type room with multiple places for shuttles to connect and three separate hallways each leading a different direction. The team hurriedly detached the bed Hayes was on and headed down the left hallway. Above its entrance, medical wing could been read. The hallway was a grand white path, everyone down this hall was wearing white. "All personnel that belong to the medical wing are required to wear white." The young guard informed Lilith, watching her staring at each person they passed. Finally, they reached an operating room. "Ok, you take this young miss to the waiting room. Have her fill this out." The medic handed the young guard a portable screen.

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Inside an office at the top of the vessel. Greenery could be found throughout the room, in the center of the room was a wide desk. An old man with greying hair and dark eyes pondered over something in his hands. Suddenly, a man walked in to report. "Sir, we have two more from earth. One man, one woman. The man is Thomas Hayes, he's 18 and has a serious injury on is arm. He is currently in the operating room. The woman is Lilith Bazzel 16, she is uninjured but seems to be shaken up quite bad." The man finished his report. "Hayes huh, I remember that surname. Find out their specialties, we need find their place in the fleet." The man sitting in the office ordered. The man pulled out a picture frame it and looked at it for some time.

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Hayes slowly opened his eyes. He was in a small white room, in a bed. Next to the bed was a girl with bright brown hair slumped over half in the chair, half on the bed. Hayes went to pat her with his left hand but he felt an ache. He looked down and saw nothing, there was nothing there... "WHERE IS MY ARM!" Hayes screamed. Lilith was jumped from her slumber. As if on queue the medic came into the room. "Listen Thomas we need you to calm down. We had to amput-" "WHAT YOU TOOK OFF MY ARM?" Hayes was dizzy now his heart rate was increasing, the monitor began to give an alert. Hayes could feel himself losing consciousness. "OH GOD WHERE'S MY ARM!" Hayes panicked one last time.

A man entered the hospital room. "Lilith Bazzel?" He asked. "Yes, that's me." Lilith responded. "I have been ordered to take you to your aptitude testing. This will decide your place in the fleet. Everyone must be contribute. Do you understand?" "Yes, I understand." Lilith followed the man out of the room. "There are four main categories that you can be assigned, each with their own specific sub categories. The four categories are Military, Engineer, Guard and Medical. Today we will find out your main category." The man finished his brief explanation, they had arrived. Four hours would pass before she would return. When she returned she slumped back into her chair, she was exhausted. The test had taken everything of out of her.

Hayes awoke in the midst of Lilith's slumber, he saw her slumped over his bed. She had been here with him the whole time. He needed to be strong for both of them now. He looked down at where his arm used to be. Just then the medic from the shuttle came in to speak to Hayes. "Have you calmed down now?" Hayes nodded with a grim look on his face. "I have some options for you, we replace your arm with a cybernetic limb or we can leave it the way it is." Hayes looked again at his missing arm, then looked at Lilith sleeping. "Give me the cybernetic limb" Hayes responded. The medic had him sign his initials on the screen in his hands. "All set!" Seconds later a team of medics came in to take him to the operating room. Lilith awoke from her nap in a panic. "Where are you taking him? Is he ok?" Hayes responded with a grin. "I am fine Lilith. Get some rest I will be right back." The medical team took his bed and carted him away. Lilith watched as his bed disappeared down the white hallway.

The team arrived at a large room with giant double doors. A man was waiting in the room for them. "Thomas Hayes, you have opted for the cybernetic arm surgery. I must inform you that the brain muscle delay will put your arm at a lower response time. The response time will then be 70%." The medic from before whispered to Hayes. "I have a way to restore your response time to 100%. Are you interested?" Hayes looked at the medic. "I will help with the surgery, when they ask how bad the pain is always say no pain. Do you understand?" The man at the center of the room spoke again. "Thomas how is your pain so far?" "No pain."

"AHHHHH!" He could feel them twisting and turning their tools inside his arm. The cold metal pressed against his flesh, pulling, prodding. "Mr. Hayes what is your pain?" A voice asked. "No p-pain." Hayes struggled to respond. The team continued their operation. Hayes could hardly hold in his grunts of pain. "Halfway there, tell me when you can feel your fingers." Hayes could feel every inch of his stump being connected to something. Suddenly, through the pain he could feel the missing hand he had lost. He could feel his forearm again. The pain was excruciating, the team asked again. "Mr. Hayes what is your pain?" Hayes gritted his teeth. "NO pain!" The team continued for hours until each nerve had been properly placed in this cybernetic arm.

After the surgery the medic again whispered to Hayes. "The painkiller they give you numbs some of the nerves in the cybernetic arm. These nerves never recover. Therefore not using anything for the pain it gives your brain the proper connection for the nerves through stimulation." Hayes stared at him weakly. "I'm Dr. K by the way, come find me when you finally recover, I have something else for you if you are interested." Dr. K separated from the team taking Hayes back to his room, disappearing into the white cloud like hallways.

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Lilith was waiting inside the room unable to sleep when Hayes returned. His face had lost its color and his eyes had dark circles; it seems the surgery had taken a lot out of him. "The surgery was a success, he needs rest now to recover." The medic announced before leaving the two. She hugged Hayes, he weakly hugged her back, with both arms. Lilith notice this and pulled back, grabbing his left arm inspecting it. To Lilith it looked like his arm, nothing was different. "Does it hurt?" Lilith asked. "Not at all." Hayes forced a smile. Truthfully, Hayes was exhausted it had taken all of his strength to stay awake. Hayes laid his head back, falling into a deep sleep.