[Activity] My Robot Doc

[Will Stanton]

The clean room had been prepped and prepared for Ashlie's impromptu procedure.

Will was busying himself prepping and setting up some new machinery, clearly repurposed from some of the equipment that had been lying around the labs. He had wired himself into a bank of computers; monitors on the wall showing what he was seeing as he scanned the room. A helmet and a pair of nanometal gloves sat beside them, status lights blinking next to them. As for Will himself, he was typing some final test commands into the manual keyboard, confirming that everything was clear.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I assume these capabilities do not come with the off-the-rack version of robotic assistants." Ashlie says, sounding impressed as she steps into the room wearing only a disposable paper apron. It'll have to be cleaned thoroughly now that she can no longer enter it without shedding skin cells and other biological debris, but that can wait.

[Will Stanton]

"Units such as this one are entirely customizable. Remote operation and telepresence is a commonly requested one, for sending units into dangerous or unhealthy situations and allowing for the human operator to function from a safe location. Typically, however, such units do not have as complex AIs; if you are going to operate it mostly as a drone, you do not need to worry about its decision making processes or analytical capabilities," Will nodded.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I can only hope this world can achieve something even approaching that within the next two decades. Technologically we could be there. Politically and sociologically? Not so much." she says as she lies down face-first on the table, a bit too matter-of-factly considering the procedure they're planning. Her body might be partially organic now, but she's certainly retained a certain clinical detachment.

[Will Stanton]

"It takes strong actions by leaders with vision to push us in that direction. Then again, in our home universe, edicts like the MRA never came to pass, so we are already on a different trajectory here," Will agreed.

"Would you like to use the telepresence helmet or gloves, or are you content with the monitor for now?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"The monitor should be sufficient for now. I'll let you know if I change my mind."

[Will Stanton]

"Then I shall apply the anesthetic now," Will nodded, proceeding to get to work.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Ashlie tenses slightly at the anesthetic injection but seems amused at the involuntary reaction more than anything. The first actual cut looks, well, odd. The blood welling from it is more like a colorless, slightly opaque viscous liquid and as a result the deeper tissues are more of a pale pink rather than the bright red of muscles. Meanwhile her blood doesn't really flow away from the cut but clings to it thanks to a high surface tension.

[Will Stanton]

"Observation: your biological systems are abnormal," Will observed. "I have been accused of the same many times before."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That much Beast could tell me after Lippincott shot me. The nanites have replaced many if not all functions of blood cells. Hopefully they won't interfere with the procedure."

At least for the time being they don't and Will's robotic precision lets him neatly cut between the various muscle groups extending from the spine and peel back the skin enough to reveal a couple thoracic vertebraes. Structurally they look as they should but the bones are pockmarked with dark spots of metal that seems to have seeped into the porous bone while the spinal discs are perfectly clear, revealing part of the spinal cord nestled inside, glinting under the operating lights like silvery metal. The nerves protruding out along the spine have the same metallic sheen and the blood vessels are pale, almost translucent to the point that faint shadows of movement from blood flow are visible.

"This feel very strange. Cold."

[Will Stanton]

"It as if these vertebrae were artificially printed, and grafted onto a biological matrix," Will noted. "Synthetic integration is at approximately 38% of the mass of the L4 and L5 vertebraes.

Have you noticed any lack of function in your quadriceps?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I have not. If the nanites have functionally replaced the blood I would not be surprised if they're converting bone mass to something more suited for maintaining their numbers. The data alone would be worth doing a bone biopsy for."

[Will Stanton]

"You believe this is progressive? That the nanites are actively converting your body?" Will asked. "Are you alright with that? I know your biological form is new."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"It depends on the end-state. This could be a necessary conversion to allow for their function or the beginning of a full conversion. All the more reason to enable more direct contact with them to run diagnostics."

[Will Stanton]

"A lack of control over one's own form is one of this unit's greatest concerns," Will admitted. "But we shall continue.

I believe we can attach the probe safely, but I am concerned the nanites may attempt to convert it, as well."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"If they do then I will have to be swift in parsing through their data. See if you can cut up to the cervical vertebrae. Between C2 and C3 should be where Natalie's old neural port is attached. If you can connect the probe to it as well as my spinal cord we should be able to perform a full data dump into an external computer."

[Will Stanton]

The monitors Will is hooked up to showed Ashlie precisely what he was seeing at the moment.

As Will continued making an incision, Ashlie could watch as his eyes recorded the procedure, scanning and attempting to identify the composition of the liquid that Ashlie called her blood, the composition of the metal seeping into the bone; the ratio of bone to metal, etcetera. The answers were not forthcoming; Ashlie being a particularly special snowflake here.

"This is going to be a bit of a tricky connection," Will announced, reaching the neural port. "I am beginning to attempt to connect the probe..."

[Ashlie Minamida]

'I would imagine soooooooo-oh-oh-oh-h-h-h-h." she trails off into an odd stammer of guttural noises as Will inserts the hair-thin wires of the probe into her spinal cord. Immediately the external connection lights up the system it is paired with, displaying huge amounts of data, some of which is actually readable.

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>> Adaptive Life-Support systems operating within perimeters
>> Loss of estimated 4% of Nanites
>> Nanite replenishment rate increased
>> Increase blood-flow to Lateral Internal Vital Element Reclamation
>> Marrow material need will be met in 28 seconds at current rate
>> Nanite dispersal efficiency at 38% estimated to increase at rate of 1.2% per week until Osseo-Metal integration complete

Most of the log messages are accompanied by huge amounts of data that corresponds to frequency, intensity and interval of electrical signals being both received and send by the nanites. Machine code for synapses and nerves.

[Will Stanton]

Will studied the system as the information started scrolling through it, trying to keep up with the rate of data the probe was collecting.

"Osseo-metal integration is a concerning statistical header," he mentioned, even as Ashlie tried to come to grips with the new probe connection. "It implies you will eventually have an entirely metal skeletal structure.

Other than that, you appear to be functioning within estimated needed parameters. As a unique case, your actual requirements can not be ascertained with exact specificity, and the parameters established by the life-support systems may be for their own objectives rather than yours, or the pair of yours as a symbiotic lifeform. But at the very least, nothing appears to be malfunctioning.

Except for your voice box. Are you quite alright, headmistress?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Yes, I'm fine, that just felt extremely strange and unpleasant despite the anesthesia. But now I know what an involuntary spasm feels like..." she says with a slightly hoarse throat. "See if you can get a small sample. An entirely metallic bone-structure with regular human musculature would be a rather unfortunate fate."

[Will Stanton]

"You shouldn't feel this, due to a the anesthesia. Then again, we have no idea what signals the nanoprobes are sending you," Will said, cheerfully.

He carefully maneuvered his tools in, chipping of a slight piece of vertebrae for a sample.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Will can see Ashlie's body tense up and her spin curve down when he chips off a partially converted vertebrae tip and she takes a sharp breath through her teeth.

"That. Was worse than getting shot." she lets her breath out again. At the tip of the bone Will can see Ashlie's blood condensing down and forming tiny little nanite tendrils reaching out and trying to form a scaffolding of sorts. On the screen more data scrolls past.

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>> Injury registered
>> Stimulating bone growth at injury site
>> Recreating scaffolding from blueprint data
>> Estimated Completion Time of Phase 1 response: 22 minutes
>> Estimated Completion Time of Osseo-Metallic regeneration: 9 days, 18 hours
>> Addition of resources through nutritional pathways required

[Will Stanton]

"Was it, really? As most of my forms generally do not have bones per se, that is fascinating information. We should catalogue what else hurts in relation to being shot at some later date.

'Phase 1 response' may indicate repairing the sample of bone. That is likely not a significant concern. Complete osseo-metallic regeneration may, however, be an issue, though it apparently requires you to intake nutrients to work. Presumably, high in iron and other minerals."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"They might be able to facilitate a certain amount of molecular conversion, but those would be the obvious requirements. This has been hugely informative already, let's see if we can take the opportunity to connect the probe to my higher brain functions. The spinal port connects to the brain stem just above C1. The probe should slot right underneath the port and push the connective filaments up into the spinal fluid and against the port connectors. By my calculations you have about a point two millimeter allowance to not miss and a point three tolerance to avoid puncturing the spinal column."

[Will Stanton]

Will's eyes whirred.

"That is bordering on the level of tolerance I can accurately hit. This next step therefore comes with a degree of risk. Are you comfortable with that?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I trust you." she says and takes a deep breath, holding it to keep as still as possible and bracing herself for the procedure.

[Will Stanton]

"Please stand by," Will said, as he began performing unlicensed and untrained brain surgery.

[Ashlie Minamida]

And what is the worst that could happen. Aside from meningitis, sepsis, complete paralysis or nanites crossing over into the brain of course.

On one of the screens imaging shows the thin metal slide through the medial corticospinal tracts, disappearing behind the shadows of the vertebrae for brief moments of uncertainty before becoming visible again through the gaps between metallic bone. Ashlie is growing increasingly pale and her muscles tense until she finally lifts one hand to indicate for Will to take a step back. And then she exhales in a retching cough.

"Must have... reached the myelencephalon." she manages between coughs. "Activate the probe and the electromagnetic charge should connect the filaments to the spinal port."

[Will Stanton]

"Activating probe in three...two...one," Will said, sending a jolt through the probe and Ashlie.

[Ashlie Minamida]

There's a brief twitch that shudders through the entirety of Ashlie's body before she goes limp again on the table. Her eyes are kind of glazed over and she's muttering to herself. Some of it is echoing what's showing on the screen from the probe read-out, but not all of it.

"Direct cerebral connection established. So much data... Slow down... Automatic Data Mesh limited to Nanite Swarm. I can't process all of this... Loading limited interface protocols."

[Will Stanton]

There's a brief twitch that shudders through the entirety of Ashlie's body before she goes limp again on the table. Her eyes are kind of glazed over and she's muttering to herself. Some of it is echoing what's showing on the screen from the probe read-out, but not all of it.

"Direct cerebral connection established. So much data... Slow down... Automatic Data Mesh limited to Nanite Swarm. I can't process all of this... Loading limited interface protocols."

"Your current neural pathways may not be sufficient to handle an uncapped data stream," Will observed.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Correct!" she says in... mild distress. "But it is working, I think the nanites are adjusting. I need to establish new protocols, now that the lines of communication are open."

"Extensive dorsal damage persisting! Micro-repair functions insufficient to repair compromised dermal casing!" she adds in a flat but insistent tone.

[Will Stanton]

"Describing an ongoing procedure as 'damage' is incorrect," Will replied to the flat tone. "Please update your operating parameters accordingly."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I will update definitions as soon as I can but currently they are not happy with the situation. Well, technically they don't care, they just assume an injury of this size to be an emergency."

[Will Stanton]

"Begging your pardon, headmistress, but I was speaking to the nanites," Will said, beginning to finish up.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"They're still me, just the more robotic parts; but duly noted."

[Will Stanton]

"I'm afraid it's difficult to have it both ways, headmistress," Will said, cheerfully. "You appear to be a symbiotic lifeform of some definition at this point; a fascinating turn in your development as an organic being."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"You're right, I can't think of them as a separate or even distinct entity. They're as much me as an immune system is part of most living things. The only difference is that their programming language is one I can understand rather than proteins and nucleic acid."

[Will Stanton]

"That would seem to bring with it many possible advantages," Will acknowledged. "As long as you do not go insane from micromanaging."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I will have to find a good balance. I had to throttle it to a minimum for now and I doubt I would want to take too active a role in managing an organic body. Automate and administrate."