Crazy = Genius

[Natalie Denisov]

The transport to Muir's hospital had been boring. The new chassis they'd mounted the system on wasn't as maneuverable as her... Ashlie's old body. She had to keep reminding herself that it was Ashlie's, not hers. The boxy structure resembled a small network rack mounted on treads with cameras mounted on it. The cameras were really only for navigation. She could mentally watch what she liked from an entertainment standpoint when she had time. She never had time. She contemplated the latest iteration of implant plans, sorting through the data she understood and trusting Doctor Zhou on the rest.

The middle-aged woman in scrubs and a lab coat, Doctor Zhou, watched her for a bit, before clearing her throat. "What do you think?"

"I think... the bandwidth throughput is insufficient to improve the transfer odds. The rest looks good though. I like the compact design." The vocalization over the speaker was a bit tinny and she adjusted the settings.

Doctor Zhou sighed, "We've asked Stark Industries if they have some new data transmission material, but they're pushing back, saying they don't have anything and even if they did, we already have their top-of-the-line publicly available material."

Natalie didn't have eyes to roll at the moment, but the thought of the gesture made her cameras rotate in a small circle. "So they have something and they're not ready to part with it." She pulled up the image of the new device on a screen. "What if we shaved off this housing? Replaced with with something more flexible." The image of the device altered to show the changes. "That would allow us to place more transmission material in the device."

"What if that flexible housing ruptures? You could end up with shards in your spinal column or worse."

"If I don't have more bandwidth, I might not make it at all. Not without wrecking my nervous system. Look, we're already talking about putting a tap next to the base of my brain. It's not as if there isn't already a ton of risk." She kept the intonation in the speaker purposely flat.

Doctor Zhou didn't look happy about it, but finally nodded. "Very well. I'll see what we can come up with. We'll review the data again as soon as we have something."

"Sounds good," Natalie said as Doctor Zhou got up and left. Natalie rolled over to the wall, a manipulator arm awkwardly plugging her batteries into the wall. Might as well make good use of the time.

[Natalie Denisov]

"Transfer test, Mark 7 prototype device," Doctor Zhou said into the recording device. "Go ahead whenever you're ready, Natalie."

Natalie took a mental breath. The other system was identical to her current one. Limit the variables. The only way to connect to it was the small device attached to the system. The device that, if this worked, would be implanted close to the base of her skull. The trick to her being able to go home. The thing that would solve so many problems. No. Can't think about it like that. This is a test. It might fail. Just execute the test.

She took another steadying moment and then reached out to make contact with the device. Grabbing it in her power, she focused on that slipping feeling that she'd learned to sense when she was transitioning from one system to another. Bandwidth good, nothing feeling wrong. She slid through the gap. Her presence was malleable in this form. Shape didn't matter, only the data. It took a moment before the preponderance of her presence dragged the rest of her through the device and into the new system. She took a moment to suffuse it, making sure she had a grip on it. "Test successful, Doctor. I think we have a winner," her voice said from the speaker of the new chassis.

Doctor Zhou smiled. Behind her, a couple of the observing junior techs high-fived. "We'll get to work building the final version and then we'll start talking about surgery."

"Sounds good," Natalie said, flexing the various things on the new chassis to make sure everything was still good.

[Natalie Denisov]

Being detached from your body while surgery is performed on it is the way to go. Admittedly it was a little weird, but there was no sign of pain in the body and she certainly wasn't feeling anything sitting in her server rack system. The surgery was long and involved as necessitated by something this delicate. She checked the specs of the device repeatedly, running the number because she didn't have anything to do other than pack up her data so that she could bring it along.

Much later, the surgeon closed up, bringing this step to a close. A few more days of waiting to make sure the healing had started and then would be the next big step. When you measure time in milliseconds, several days can be an eternity and Natalie was getting impatient. All she could really do was watch her body lie there. At least things were looking promising, Doctor Zhou told her every time she checked in on her.

Then came the big day and nervous didn't even begin to describe how she felt. What if it doesn't work? What if? What if? What if? She was in the operating room again. "Just in case we need to do something quickly," Doctor Zhou tried to reassure her. Everyone was in position and the cable was attached from the device to her current body. She reached out to feel the device with her power. She could sense the 'system' the device was attached to, alien though it felt from the other systems she'd manipulated. But it was just a system, she reminded herself. More complex, sure, but it was hers.

"Okay, going now," she said, gathering up her metaphorical bags and projecting herself into the device. Her body twitched as the nervous system responded to the new signals starting to flood into it. For a moment, she was confused, not sure what was happening. Then that slipping feeling took over and everything went black.

All the processes on the server rack went dark. All except one background process that kept on churning.

[Natalie Denisov]

Lights. Really bright lights right in her eyes. "Natalie?" Sound. Really distant sound. Or maybe just really soft? Those damn lights again, screwing with her ability to focus properly. "I'm seeing some response. I think she's in there. Natalie?"

"I'm here." That's what she tries to say, but it's more of a croaking now from physical disuse. She tries to move her limbs, but they feel sluggish and heavy. Has it been too long? How long had she been out?

Her eyes finally begin to focus and she can see the concerned faces of the medical staff looking down at her. Slowly, one of her hands curls into a fist and her thumb extends. Doctor Zhou caught the gesture and smiled, "There we go. Good."

Slowly the feeling starts to return to her extremities and the 'wiggle your toes, etc.' phase starts. After the twelfth time, Doctor Zhou seems somewhat satisfied. "Some atrophy, which is to be expected. You'll need to build back up, but it looks like we got you back in place. You're doing great, Natalie. Just focus on healing now."

Natalie gives her another thumbs up, still not up to using her voice yet. The doctor dims the lights and Natalie closes her eyes. The gentle hum of the data running through the hospital network lulls her to sleep.