(Rewritten) Ch. 2 – Dr. Tynea and Sgt. Stabby

"Combat stress reaction (CSR) is an acute reaction that includes a range of behaviors resulting from the stress of battle that decrease the combatant's fighting efficiency. The most common symptoms are fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one's surroundings, and the inability to prioritize."

– Wikipedia article on Combat Stress Reaction, 2023

***

You require extensive medical attention. Luckily you appear to be losing very little blood, but your internal injuries are deadly. I'm certain you will not remain conscious in this situation very long. You gained an unusual amount of points over the beginnings of this incursion, plenty to recover.

Points. I was a samurai. And dying. I laughed. Or more exactly, I wheezed, trying to laugh. A bit of my brain I knew really well a long time ago, tried to make me feel good. Really good.

Most of my body didn't exist anymore, so it didn't work. I whined.

A fizzle went through the back of my brain and I woke up again.

I woke up? When did I sleep? My vision was red and black. Something was flashing, but it wouldn't hold still, so I couldn't read it.

To heal yourself, you require access to medical equipment from the Class I Medical Utilities catalog, fifty points. From it, you require first a double dose of Class I Nano-Regenerative Suite, forty points total. These will begin to reconstruct your internals. They will not act fast enough to allow you mobility, but we will address that immediately after. Do you accept these purchases?

This voice...was Tynea? Inside my head? Huh?

Acknowledge!

Other voices joined Tynea's. They were loud, and they shot stale fear through me. They reminded me of beatings. ADEN! ACKNOWLEDGE!

They made my shoulders draw in. I hated them.

BUDDY! ACKNOWLEDGE, PLEASE!

Oh, I knew that one, too. That one wasn't as bad as the others. That voice never hurt.

"Roger," I mumbled.

Good enough.

Class I Medical Utilities unlocked!Points reduced to... 633New Purchase: Class I Nano-Regenerative Suite, Box of TwoPoints reduced to... 593

An off-white plastic box appeared right next to my left hand. Somebody gasped nearby, but I already forgot they did.

The box was a little too big to pick up with one hand and I stared at it. The blinky thing kept blinking in my eye.

Aden, please open the box. You only need to lift the lid.

"Huh? Oh, okay. Yeah."

I reached for the box and everything went sideways.

Blood rushed into my head, and suddenly my thoughts were clean and I could read the blinky thing. It was complaining about blood pressure. The number on it jumped way up, and then started falling again. Quickly.

Oh. Blood pressure. Right.

I panicked and grappled with the lid for a moment. Then there was the old familiar fizz, the one that used to distract me from bad injuries. It went down my spine…but it couldn't reach anything. There wasn't anything down there for it to reach.

Nothing but pulp.

I yanked my mind away from that thought.

The material of the box felt much more stiff than it looked. Half of a quarter of a third of my thinking thing had expected a sort of flimsy cheap texture. But it had mass and weight. I giggled at it. There was blood in my giggle.

Heavy. Fingers weak. I let it fall and it stayed open.

Inside were two smallish rebreather things with attached tanks. I picked up the nearer one and looked at it. And looked at it.

It was a blob. What colors was it again?

Oh, red and black. No, wait, that's everything. Black at the edges. Or gray? Gray and black. Yeah.

There was something in my hands. It was warm. What was I doing?

Aden!

That voice again. Who? T… T……

Please inhale deeply from the red nozzle. The device shall release a cloud of nanobots that will travel throughout your body and begin to heal your injuries. Repeat with the second device.

Huh?

Fizz in my spine. It didn't find anything but pulp.

Oh, pulp!

My heart beat once. Really loud. I woke up again.

Aden, inhale! Red! Nozzle!

I did.

And choked on misty liquid current through my lungs. Lightning in my throat. But it cleared up before I could even twitch.

There was something in my hand.

Ah! Nanoregensuite something! Empty!

I dropped it and picked up the other thing, closed my eyes, missed my mouth, opened my eyes again to see, and sucked on mist.

Blotches on my skin faded in real time, and a knife in my spine stung me, and then immediately disappeared. Still couldn't sense my legs, though.

Pulp. I laughed.

Oh! I could breathe properly!

That's good. I laughed some more.

I started feeling a little more clear-headed.

The voice spoke again. Right. Tynea.

Very good. These will take several hours to repair you, however. It would be unsafe to remain immobile for that long in the middle of an incursion. The Class I Medical Utilities catalog offers several solutions.

Uh…

What?

Ah, aliens. Gotta move. Gotta Fight. Fizzle down my spine didn't reach anything. Pulp. Nothing to reach. I giggled.

"Sounds good," I said. Giggling. Still giggling. Couldn't stop and it drove me mad.

If you wish to regain full mobility immediately, I would recommend the Mark III Therapeutic Body-Sleeve. Essentially, this medical garment will wrap your body from the neck down and interface with your spinal column above your injuries. It replicates the entirety of your musculature with artificial muscles on the outside and possesses an exoskeleton that offers the stability your shattered bones cannot.

Words… So many words. I giggled.

Further, it comprehensively analyzes and tracks your medical condition. Usually that data would be used by other devices to manage your wounds, but we do not require those at this time as your injuries are internal and non-toxic. The Sleeve will apply pressure required to control the internal bleeding.

It took me a few moments to process all that. When I felt like I had a brain again, I said, "That also sounds good."

And giggled more. My fists clenched hard enough that my palms stung.

Then the knife in my back came back for a moment in a blinding white moment, and I stopped. The knife went away again, but I didn't feel giggly anymore.

So I thought about Tynea, instead. She did seem to try pretty hard to help me. Maybe I could trust her? Hadn't ever heard about samurai AI hurting their samurai. That would've been big news.

She spoke again, and her voice hummed through my head.

The Sleeve will cost you two hundred points. There are much cheaper options. They will only partially restore mobility, but leave you with substantially more points to face the remainder of this incursion.

I looked around myself and saw the rifle stuck in the model Three's skull. Then I looked at the spilled cartridges everywhere. I almost wanted to laugh so I could be angry at it again, but I didn't really feel it.

"Um. Maybe I've got a gun? And since I've rejoined my bullets, I've got those, too." Ha-ha-ha.

Very well.

New Purchase: Mark III Therapeutic Body-Sleeve, Custom BoxPoints reduced to... 392

A bright white box half my size appeared on my right side. There was no way I could lift the lid. So, I stared again.

Please touch the red circle at the center-front.

The lid blew off and away from me with a pneumatic hiss. I could see a folded suit thingy in there.

It suddenly yanked itself upright and split down the rear, from its neck down to between the butt cheeks. Even the leg panels opened up. It covered the hands, and had feet. The thing was a nondescript gray, gray artificial muscle sewn onto the outside covered by a fine lattice of equally gray, solid structure. Exoskeleton.

The muscles operated themselves and walked the garment over to stand in front of my feet. I shivered. My pulp jiggled. I almost fainted, but I kept looking at the thing.

"That's hella creepy. What the fuck?"

Please don't move, the Sleeve has to attach itself to you. It can be worn beneath standard clothes, but it does need to remove those you are currently wearing as they would interfere with its ability to support you.

Thin, finger-long blades popped out along all the open seams and began to vibrate so slightly I almost couldn't see the blurred edges. I wanted to crawl away. No way I could.

"Okay, seriously. You sure you aren't trying to murder me in elaborate ways?"

I apologize for the…visual. I did not mean to cause you distress. Would you prefer to abort?

I breathed in. Out. And in, again. And out.

Humor. Laugh it off. At least a little bit.

I tried, but I choked more than I laughed. Better than nothing.

Then I breathed again and said, "No, no. As weird as this is, I'd rather deal with Sgt. Stabby than murderous aliens right now."

The Walking Horror Jacket moved towards me, and sort of backwards-knelt on my legs. The knives barely touched my trousers before they fell apart. The blinking number dropped hard and everything went very fuzzy. I almost fainted. But I was already lying down, so I didn't. Instead, I got my first proper look at the state of my…legs. They weren't legs.

"Oh shit. Crap, fuck me. How the fuck is that legs?!" My eyes felt like they wanted to pop out of my face. My head went a little blank. I began sucking in air faster than I could breathe it out. More fizzing in my spine that only reached pulp.

A sound distracted me from nearby.

The little girl that had been standing just a few steps ahead of me collapsed onto her butt and started shaking. The mom blanched and went to hug her daughter so she wouldn't see.

Oh, right. People exist. And there were still the Antithesis corpses. But…no moving ones anywhere in sight. That was good. I wouldn't be able to move, right now. I'd die.

The little brother disappeared from the car's window. Good. Won't have to shoo him away.

I looked down again. At the pulp. You really could not tell that…that mess of meat and visible bone splinters wrapped in bloated skin was once two legs.

The Knife-Wielding Ripper Suit curled itself around my exposed legs, cut away the frayed and torn remainder of my shoes, and covered my feet, too. I saw how it gently reshaped the broken limbs into something more natural, and tightened to apply pressure against the bloat. As it kept stripping and bracing me, I started to feel a little less wan in general.

It looked like I should've been screaming from pain, but I couldn't feel anything. Like those legs weren't mine. Today was a real roller-coaster. I almost giggled, but kept it in. I was too awake for that. So, I just talked to Tynea.

"Um, hi, uh, Tynea?"

Yes, Tynea is my name. I'm sure you have many questions and I have guidance I wish to offer, but I'd suggest that right now the most important plan of action would be to arm yourself. The incursion remains active, and I suspect we'll see more model Threes any moment.

"Oh. Yeah."

I gathered my thoughts to formulate a question, and then turned to the mother. I wanted to ask her for stuff, but it took me a minute to put together proper sentences. Eventually, I managed though. She was amazingly patient, but that probably had a lot to do with the way she hugged her daughter. Anyway, I carefully and slowly put together my words.

"I'm sorry, but would you be so kind as to get me my gun? Please gather up a handful of the rounds that dropped with my case, as well." They were everywhere. Around the car. Under the car. I was lying on some, even. I was also very proud of my words. They were good words.

I was still lying on top of bullets. Meh. They could stay there.

"I don't know exactly when we'll see unfriendly visitors again, and I think we'd all prefer it if I could shoot them," I said.

She stumbled slightly as she tried to stand up, so she stayed down and just leaned over and stretched her bleeding arm out to grasp the rifle by the barrel. Luckily it was cool enough to touch, 'cause she didn't react.

…

I hadn't burned myself during the fall. Another miracle. I wanted to giggle, but I didn't.

The gun squelched when she drew its stock out from the alien brain. Yuck. I'd seen and heard worse.

Then she sort of awkwardly shuffled to me, gun in one hand, daughter in the other, and no way to properly manage either. The kid buried herself deeper into her mom's chest.

"Thank you," I said softly. I'd learned since those days. You can be kind to the non-fighters. So, I was kind to her.

My finger found the divot. The metal of the receiver was slightly warm. The burn on the tip of my index was gone. I blinked, then remembered. Nanites.

She looked behind me, at the alien corpse I'd jumped. Then down at my legs, and shuddered. And said quietly, "No, thank you. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I wouldn't even be asking that question if you hadn't…"

She gagged and couldn't quite get the words out. I figured she'd be well enough. That arm could use looking after, though, couldn't it? And looking after somebody else would be nice and distracting from the pulp that was still being shaped.

"Hey, um, Tynea? Got something for her injuries?"

Those don't look too bad. Perhaps one dose of Class I SymBiotica to fight off any infections and hasten natural healing for five points, an Electroactive Polymer Bandage for one point, as well as a box of five NutriBars at one point each for nutrition?

"Sounds great. And something for the daughter?" The little girl perked up at that. That filled me with a nicer kind of happiness and I giggled. This one didn't sound deranged.

Ah, there was a beautiful smile on her face. Yup. Everybody loves the cute ones. I ignored the pang of souldeep pain.

She appears uninjured. I believe she would be best served by something distracting and calming. Your Class I Medical Utilities catalog does contain items of interest, such as the Gel Pack, a substance she would consume slowly, a little like an ice cream, but healthy.

There was a new warmth in Tynea's voice as she answered me. Even AI weren't immune, huh?

"Yes, let's go with all of that."

New Purchase: Class I SymBioticaPoints reduced to... 387New Purchase: Electroactive Polymer BandagePoints reduced to... 386New Purchase: NutriBars, Box of FivePoints reduced to... 381New Purchase: Gel PackPoints reduced to... 380

A bunch of boxes appeared, right next to the lady from across the street. They all had large numbers from one through four on them, the third of which also stated '1 NutriBar/Day'.

I looked at the mother. "Number Four should have something healthy to enjoy for your daughter. The others are for you. Number One's to help with any infections and improve your healing, number Two is a bandage to keep the dirt out. And number Three has nutritious food to support the healing over the next few days."

She immediately opened up number Four to check the contents. There was a brightly colored capped tube in it. Below the cap some sort of gel wobbled around a little, like pudding. With a sniff and nibble to test it, she gave it to her daughter and smiled at me.

The girl spent a few moments enjoying the treat and then gathered some of the cartridges spread around and put them in a little pile right next to me. She smiled, shyly. Aww.

I chambered one, and my hands moved easily. Nice. It didn't look like I'd have a hard time shooting.

The mother put her daughter in the car, but stayed another moment to look at me. "Thank you again. I'm really not sure how to repay you."

I shook my head and waved her off. "It sort of didn't really cost me anything. A few dead aliens, and I'll have gained more points than I just paid for those four boxes."

She shook her head, too, and said, "Not those. Well, thanks for those, too, but I was talking about something else." She looked at my legs.

I didn't.

"Here, check out One and Two," I said instead, pointing at them.

Box One contained a soft green spray bottle.

Please tell her to spray that across all her wounds and the surrounding skin, until it's empty.

"Actually, please hold your arm out, I'll help with the spraying."

She grabbed the boxes and came closer. Sir Stab-A-Lot ceased moving and vibrating and beeped angrily. The woman drew back a little.

Ah. Doctor Knives proved he wouldn't hurt anyone, even if he was a bit…grumpy. I liked him a lot more, suddenly.

Apologies, I'll pause it. It'll need to finish wrapping you up before it can connect to your spine and mobilize you.

"Sorry, it's fine now. Let's see your arm," I said to the woman with as gentle a smile as I could muster. It was probably rather wobbly, considering the circumstances. Still, she stretched out her arm again, and I carefully took her hand in mine.

I took the spray, found the button to go, and coated every bite mark, laceration, and the skin around each. Another round and the bottle emptied itself.

"Alright, that's fine, let's bandage you up." She handed me number Two.

I removed the bandage from it and with a visual guide from Tynea, smoothly cushioned her arm. I was a bit distracted with keeping an eye out for any alien buggers possibly bugging us, but they weren't coming. Probably eating people in the shops…

"Okay. That should heal up in no time. Keep number Three with you. I'd suggest you get in your car now and escape outside the city. The incursion's centered just inside the edge of New Montreal, so if you move the other direction for a few miles, you'll be fine. I think you can come back in a few days, but maybe keep an eye on your feed, yeah?"

She nodded at that, smiled again, and got up. Sgt. Stab-Your-Face went back to work.

"Thanks, Aden."

…Now I kinda felt like a dick for never remembering my neighbors' names.

"I'd stick around to help you sort yourself out," she continued, "but I've gotta protect my kids. And something tells me you won't need me, Mr. Samurai, considering how you just took care of everything. But I'll idle the car until I see you get up and move. If one of those dog Antithesis shows up, I'll try to park on it. I don't know what to do about the bird things, though."

I shook my head, smiling. She was almost as cute as her daughter.

"That's kind, but I've got a gun," I said, patting it. "Pigeons are easy targets, but it'd be good if you left quickly. After all of this, I'd really hate to see you get run down by something unexpected. I've shot several model Threes off of roofs already. You're not safe until you're gone. I'll be able to move soon, too. Please go."

"Alright, if that's what I should do, that's what I'll do. See you, Aden."

"Good luck."

She joined her daughter in the car with a last glance in my direction. I watched as it lifted high enough to clear the buildings, and zoomed off.

I still couldn't remember her name.

So I am a samurai now. Huh.

Didn't quite know how to deal with that yet.

Gunfire told me that the world didn't care. But the divot's perfect shape told me the gun had survived the fall.

***