Rebirth [1]

A sudden force from behind jolted me- lost balance, my hand instinctively grabbed at the entrance door's jamb, saving myself from the fall; only caught a glimpse of the culprit who swiftly moved past me.

Not minding the mishap, I stepped down from the train.

Pushing through the crowd, I marched for Reynar Biotech's; stealing a moment to glance at the sky. It was hard to tell if it was evening or day without actually reading the watch. The sky's orange never changed.

'Morning,' I reminded myself.

Despite having access to hover-car, I preferred for the train today. Not sure why...

Spider droids patrolled the area, a dingy tea stall in the corner of my eye, air purification system seemed to be down— the place was dusty, distant shouts filled the street, skyborne complexes were glowing yellow under the sun's orange hue, some neon lights flickered before lighting up. Walking past a wall, a cat leaped onto my shoulder, purring, before swiftly jumping behind.

Old folks say that this rock was once known as the blue planet. 'Once' being before the shitshow called 'World War 3', a bad sequel to its predecessors.

I was good in engineering and chemistry, but equally as bad in history—couldn't confirm much about the 'blue planet' theory.

Anyway, Reynar BioTech facility.

I was somewhat familiar with Reynar biotech facility—three years ago I was trained there as a laboratory assistant, under the guidance of grandpa Hope.

Later, I took the mantle of my father and pursued computer science where I found my true talent.

As geeky as it all sounded, this was my life.

Stuck to the bed, unable to live like a normal child, developed me with habits of reading books. Most of my life was spent between reading, learning, and squirming during the fatal episodes of my blood condition.

Soon, I got closer to the place: sector D28.

Sentinel droids patrolled the sky, streets were windy, soil was soft, my foot stopped on the asphalt ground, right before the entrance to Reynar Biotech facility.

Shortly, a gaurd approached me from inside the area.

"Ah, you got to be... Noah Grey?" the guy barked, sizing me up with scrutiny, his voice all rough.

"That I am."

"You don't look much like what the reputation says," He smirked, scoffing.

"What, you expected a guy in a wheelchair?" I asked, deftly swiping my thumb across my temple wiping away the sweat only to see a black stain of grease on my thumb. 'When?'

Sighing, the guard began, "I am Hiroki-"

"I don't care, lead the way." I cut him short, not wanting to engage in unnecessary conversations.

He grumbled but did as he was told nonetheless.

I enjoyed female escorts more than their male counterparts. Definitely disappointed.

And so, I followed.

Following the security guard, I passed through a large metal gate, but my gloomy mood was soon fixed when I saw a beautiful woman approach me.

She was wearing a lab coat. Her hair was done in a bun, black. "Hello Noah, I'm Dr. Amodini. Assistant to Sir Hope. He sent me to get you," she said, introducing herself.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the security sentinel returning back to his post—didn't cared.

I smiled at Dr. Amodini and she returned the favor. "He's waiting for you inside the lab. Shall we go or...you...?"

"No no, I was planning to directly meet him. "I cut her to the chase. "Please guide."

Dr. Amodini smiled, waving at me, signaling to follow her back.

'I don't mind following your beautiful ass-back! i meant back! Jess...what a mis-slip...'

***

A small poem to explain what I saw—

Steel. Grey. Cold.

Wires. Glasses. Doors.

End of poem~

People donning white coats and dresses.

Unfamiliar machines and hovering white orbs--drones I guessed. This was the sight that greeted me on my way, following Dr. Amodini's beautiful as--back!

I meant back!

Damn it! This mis-slip just keeps happening all the time!

I shook my head, disappointed in myself.

Finally, we arrived at a pristine, all-white room, void of any belongings or objects, an empty tomb.

Telling me to stay there, Dr. Amodini took her leave. I tried to not look at her beautiful back as she left.

The white room was completely empty, like a blank piece of paper. There was nothing.

"Hmm..." I absorbed the scene.

'Oh?' I saw something.

I take back my previous statement and that there was not nothing in the room.

There was something— a white metallic table and a chair and a door at the far end, which suddenly opened only to reveal an old man.

"Ah, Noah. You are here!" His voice echoed.

The old man was stooped with age, his face etched with lines of experience and wisdom.

But there was a fire in his eyes, a glint of determination that belied his age of 78.

"Grandfather Hope," I greeted him with a nod.

He smiled. But his smile didn't quiet reach his eyes.

I redirected my attention to the otherwise hollow white void, I had to call a 'room'.

Remembering everything I saw while coming here I asked, "What exactly is this place? I have never seen this part of the establishment before?"

"A shelter for innovative thoughts. Come follow me," he gestured,"I have figured the cure."

His words hung in the air.

"Cure?" I reiterated.

"Yes, a cure. Back when your father entrusted me with the responsibility—to find a cure for you, I didn't think that cure could also be the antidote for this world."

The mention of my father stirred a wave of emotion within me, gratitude, sorrow...

"To save the world, huh?"

He motioned for me to follow his old wrinkly ass. I didn't mind. He was my grandfather after all.

Together, we went deeper into the building, each step resonating with the symphony of gears turning.

I was led to a section at the end of the hallway which was separated from the rest.

Right in front of us was a black wall, with an electrical compartment to the right and on the left...

When I shifted my gaze to the left side of the hallway, I came face to face with a colossal metallic door, adorned with a strange S-shaped mark. As I stared at the unfamiliar symbol, I felt a sudden weakness wash over me.

I judged that it was perhaps due to my blood condition.

But I refocused my attention back on grandfather.

Hope waved his hand mid air, and the wall infront diverged to reveal an extra compartment.

Inside, I saw a small room, filled with what looked like glass containers containing silvery dust floating in some translucent liquid.

He looked at me with a calculating expression. "These are nano machines. Something we can use to survive in this god forsaken world. "

'Nano machines?'—I thought, almost impressed.

Keyword 'almost'.

Nano machine-the concept did exists but we were 60 years too early for them to be developed for functional use. Did he already do it?

Hope placed a hand on my shoulder, "They will revolutionize medicine, energy production, communication. Something we need urgently."

"And they can cure_me?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Doubting my abilities, are we?" Hope asked with a smirk. "Get ready for the procedure."

.

.

.

***

'Procedure', huh... that was one way to say that my body would be covered in cold, slimy liquid from toe all the way up to my chest.

And that hundreds of small needles, extending into pipes—which were directly connected to the Nanite glass containments, will be injected all over my body- from my neck, legs, arms, ass and ballsacks....okay maybe not in the ballsacks.

And that the beautiful a...back of Dr. Amodini will be pointing at my face, as she works on a holographic monitor.

By the way, I was inside a vertical cylindrical glass contraption, with my limbs and body securely strapped inside. And I was naked.

Luckily for Dr Amodini and the other women here, they won't get to see my anaconda.

My nether regions were covered.

[Please close your eyes, the procedure is about to start.] The AI installed in the cylindrical machine warned.

I closed my eyes...slowly, taking in the last view of the beautiiiifuuull back of Dr Amodini.

Pffiissh!—Some weird gas was released into the claustrophobic cylindrical machine I was in and I started feeling dizzy.

The last thing I felt before losing my consciousness was the liquid flowing all the way up-to my head entering my nostrils and lungs.

The next moment, I was out.

***

Darkness—that was all I was seeing.

'What is this place?'

...

-"No..."

Hmm? Did I hear something?

No, more importantly, where am I?

...

-"Noa..."

What was that? I could hear something in this otherwise pitch-black space.

-"Noah!"

"Noah!"—Alerted by the voice, I jolted awake. "Hnfhaaaa!"—I took a deep breath and sat up abruptly, but felt 'something' beneath me.

As the view in front of me came into focus, I realized I was inside the same laboratory. But, instead of being hooked up to the contraption, I found myself sitting in a bed.

Pant! Pant! Pant!—I took a few deep breaths until my sense of reality slowly returned.

"Noah, are you alright?"—Someone placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Dr. Amodini, her black eyes peering into mine, my body still naked.

"Yeah... I think I'm okay. Sort of. What happened?" I asked.

Dr. Amodini handed me a bottle of water, advising me to hydrate myself.

"You passed out. Lost consciousness," Hope, my grandfather, responded, his attention fixed on typing something on a holographic monitor hovering above a box-like contraption device.

I looked downwards to find a thick cable resembling a massive electric data cable emerging from my lower back, specifically around my tailbone area. It was directly connected to the contraption my grandfather was typing into, while I still held onto the bottle of water.

Honestly, the sight of the wire plunging into my tailbone region felt so bizarre that it evoked a phobic sensation, almost as if my rational reasoning was urging me to flee in terror. I could almost sense the delicate lymph tissue and pulsating blood ...

"Relax, Noah. This is simply part of the procedure," Dr. Amodini reassured me, not shying away from my naked body.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"For four hours,"she replied.

I quickly gulped the entire water bottle.

Once my thirst was satisfied, I remained seated on the cold medical bed, still naked, except for my lower part.

Hope exclaimed, "It's done!"—TAP! He tapped a command on the holographic monitor, and—𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙨𝙨!

"Ouch!" I glanced down to see the tube that had been inserted into my back now being ejected.

'That's so strange,' I furrowed my brow.

[Serial number: 01Z-619. Activating the 1st generation of Nanomachines. Scanning the user's physical data...]

Suddenly, I began hearing a voice inside my FUCKING HEAD!

And accompanying the voice was an eerie light emanating from my body.

"WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" I stood up, feeling frightened.

"Noah, relax!" Hope approached me, offering comfort.

[Scanning complete. All vital's are okay. Condition healing... ]

"The hell is happening ! I can hear some voice in my head... It ..it feels weird! Like 'something' is inside of me!"I blurted, losing my resonality.

"Noah calm down! They are the Nanomachines!" Amodini tried to comfort me. "Relax!"

[Deploying Oxytocin to regulate emotional state.]

[Monitoring and regulating blood pressure.] The same voice rang in my head but I immediately found myself calming down... Almost like someone sucked the panicness out of me.

And after sometime I was explained of the whole situation.

"The nanobots runs under the autonomic system developed by your father. The system AI can talk to you inside your mind. Think of it as an assistant. It's...normal."

'Normal my ass!' I almost blurted

But I only nodded.

Grandpa explained that the nano technology was a collaboration between him and father. When he was still alive... A work of many years.

Result: an unparalleled tech with supreme digital prowess. The nanites were super advanced, way beyond anything of this era. They could even project augmented reality onto my eyes which...definitely sounded cool.

But I was ready to head home.

Learning about the nanobots could wait for another day. And it's not like I was going somewhere. I could do it whenever I wished.

***