The Heart of a Cyborg

Vera was awake. Dr. Voist and his robotic team were carefully tightening rotator valves on each side of her nape. “Okay Vera, slowly turn your head, left to right”, said Dr. Voist’s first recruit. Vera had a mesh of ruminations fluttering back and forth. Was this still her mind? What was really hers anymore? This filled her senses as the eager body of scientists were tentatively giving their instructions.

“Vera.” A stern voice said. “It’s time to cooperate.” This was the voice of Dr. Fraund. With his soft, yet assertive command, Vera came back to Earth.

“She’s been in a trance for the past two months.” Interjected Dr. Voist. His terse tone filled Vera with dread.

“Give her time to adjust, John. This kind of transformation can do a lot to the human psyche. Remember what she is and has been for the past 34 years. It’s going to require patience.” Assured Dr. Fraund.

“We don’t have time, William! Sergeant Baas is expected to report first thing on Monday to the Pentagon for immediate assignment. She has barely passed her cognitive tests and her motor skills are still questionable. If we don’t deliver her, it will be my head!”

In the midst of their rhubarb, Vera was preoccupied with the flashing of memories skyrocketing across her mind.

On August 25, 2051, all nations of Earth declared war with Agnosia, an alien realm from what the earthen populous could only just determine originated from the distant star of Mana, 125 light-years from Earth. Communication began subtly, through brief and vague radio signals, first received in the year 2036. By 2042, the U.S. Space Force was able to encrypt short messages with a stark Morse code. Friendly at first, the conversations with Agnosia that followed seemed like innocent curiosity.

Humans, social creatures as they are, were too eager to share their living habits; what they ate, where they slept, how they bred, the media they consumed, and how it all fed into their thirst for growth and dominance of the world around them.

The aliens shared practical habits of their world that all played into a mess of Agnostic civilizations that were 500 million years ahead of human life. Earth dwellers were hesitant at first to become familiar with what could be a threat to all existence on Earth, but soon became overwhelmed by their greed. They craved Agnosia’s spiritual knowledge and to understand their technological advances.

By 2045, Agnosia and Earth began to swap knick-knacks and keepsakes, through Agnostic means of quantum telecommunication and transportation across the cosmos. A lot of respect and trust was built while swapping cultural icons, and relics that told of political dissonance and spiritual remedies. Simple things that could be cultural signifiers, in their desire to understand each other.

Like many tall tales from the great sci-fi authors of the 20th Century, it was apparent that Earth was playing with fire.

On July 3, 2051, Agnosia came to Earth. Two figures appeared at the Russian Space Center. Spellbound by what was before them, a group of scientists were shouting in excitement and shock. What from was reported, it quickly became a moment of silence as a high pitch ring blared across the aerospace landing deck. The last piece of security footage recovered only showed an unspeakable light crushing through the void and its disappearance replaced by a gruesome pool of liquid. Nothing else was left in its trace.

Many tests were performed on the remnants left behind. DNA revealed an entanglement of human remains amidst a liquified molasses of machines.

Sergeant Baas followed her father at the U.S. Space Force command center. Her father, Rupert Baas was a respected chief sergeant and served in the force for more than 50 years. In her father’s footsteps, Vera attained rank from the first years she was able to fly. By the time the war with Agnosia began, she was commanding a fleet of 200 airmen when she was shot down.

Found in the rubble somewhere outside of San Francisco, top restorative scientists of the U.S. Space Force were able to recover selective vital organs and her exoskeleton, but from there, there was only one way to save Sergeant Vera Baas. CRT, cyborg regenerative transformation, began underway, taking top leaders in cyborg transformative technology to complete the process in two years.

That morning, Vera did as Voist’s robotic team instructed. Tentatively, she went through the motions, exercising and testing her host. She couldn’t come to accept this yet as hers. However, pulling past her emotional inclinations, she forced herself back to duty. She was needed at space command, now.

“Vera, we’re going to test your finer motor skills and dexterity, ensuring you’re ready to operate a Challenger III,” said Voist, now a bit calmer. Cautiously, he placed a 30-millimeter steel ball in one hand, a small, heart-shaped locket in the other.

“What I want you to do is simple, carefully wrap your hands and fingers, one at a time, around each object and try not to crush them.”

At his request, she felt her heart valves pumping, the intense flow of liquid through her artificial veins was a thrill to receive, as she navigated through her anxiety. In an effort to remain calm, she took a breath and concentrated.

Focusing on the steel ball, she formulated a calculated grip around its perimeter. Scrupulously, she poised one robotic finger after the next across the form. Completing her exercise, she released the grip. The ball was intact, but to her dismay, Vera found a cracked sliver reaching five millimeters down its core.

“Okay, we’ll need a bit more practice…” mused Dr. Voist. “But go ahead and try this on the locket.”

Vera felt her heart surge more fiercely than before. More purposefully now, Vera centered herself, putting all her effort into the locket. With rigorous effect, she placed one decimal after the next around the locket. “One, two, three….”, she counted, “fouuur, five….”.

Wrapping the last finger over the locket, she released her grip. On opening her hand, the locket was left there, as perfect as it was before. In a huge moment of relief, Vera unbound her tension and without further thought, let out a cry.

To her overpowering joy, she felt a tear trickle down her cheek.