Chapter 56: Delivery
After a week of waiting, more meets, and all manner of responsibilities thrust upon him, he found a spare moment to retire to the training hall with Pa-5. His nose wrinkled at the thought of doing something meaningless like returning to his residence early or resting in his office.
His predecessor was a man of action too, preferring to laugh off all the efforts of his subordinates to elicit a period of rest. "My body will get its rest when it's dust!" he'd say, disappearing into the training hall or another meet. If he stopped to consider his current situation, it may have struck him that he wasn't so different now.
It wasn't only a refusal to stop and take a breath. With how packed his schedule was on a normal day, he hardly had enough time to take breaks for a meal while at Ardiseg Hall, never mind checking on Pa-5, still undergoing basic physical therapy while waiting for the Seventh to finish her replacements.
He assigned Ni-6 to her side again, determined to not leave her alone with her thoughts if possible. Though, Ni-6 fell into the same situation as he; they were at the top of the First's pyramid, so why would Ni-6 have any more free space to do what he pleased with than him?
As a result, the two rarely saw Io's survivor. But the pattern broke today; he'd finished a meet with the Fifth and Sixth early--the main thanks for that was how both couldn't stand the other's presence--and made his rounds along the city walls with Eighth Headman in half as much time. He had reached his office, stumped with a lack of activity to occupy himself without warning when Pa-5 initiated a communication.
She spoke fast, and he had to strain his ears to catch the important words. As the grin grew on his face, he received a notification via his HUD--the Seventh finished and shipped her cybernetic replacements.
And now they were here. He helped her remove her "gravpack", open the storage containers they'd brought with them, and unseal the products. Though there were several options he could've requested the inclusion of in the final schematics, he disagreed with it.
What Pa-5 needed wasn't a miniaturized electric emplacement in her arm, or small anti-grav nodes installed in the legs--though he had asked for those. It was in her best interest to have the most accurate facsimiles of her old appendages as possible, to reduce the integration and reorientation timeline ahead of her.
Requesting as few modifications as he did assisted in downsizing the estimated time to complete the replacements, as well. If he'd compiled a longer list of capabilities, she might not have seen the finished products for months! And with the inevitable defense of the Last Light at the forefront of the Directory's consideration, he couldn't stand to have her lacking limbs with limited mobility for so long.
Together, they removed the replacements piece by piece. She lifted each, admiring the way their plated exteriors gleamed in the overhead lighting of the hall. "These are for me?" It pleased him to see emotion and interest ready for expression in tandem.
"Yes. Do you like them?" The replacement arm almost held a mirrored appearance to her surviving one. A dull gray stripe ran from the edge of what would be her new shoulder to the back of the palm, disappearing into the wrist joint along the way. The hand was large, but she had large hands, so it balanced out.
Her legs were more so exotic, compared to the mundane appearance of the arm. They bent in reverse at the knees, resembling pointed arrows. The inverted joints ended in capped plates to simulate the old anatomy, as well as protect vulnerable innards. The pair elicited a greater reaction. "I'm supposed to wear those?"
"Unless you want to wait another week."
"But they're…weird."
"I know." He scratched the back of his head and hefted one of the legs. Even with his physique, it was a struggle to keep it in the air with a single arm. "I asked for some modifications. The main one was the deviation to your natural anatomical structure."
Before she could ask the inevitable "why" in response, he hurried to explain. "By inverting the knees so that they face behind you, your new lower limbs can offer greater spring force, especially since we lean forward when we increase our speed to compensate for frontal balance. Since the modifications also provide convenient openings in the sides, heat shunting is easier with the larger splits between plates."
He stopped scratching his head. "Though I suppose that the power cores installed within would in all likelihood exhaust themselves before your cybernetics ever reach that stage of overheating."
She took his words in stride. Nodding, she leaned down to begin fitting the first leg. He moved before her to offer his arms, but she waved him off.
"Don't want my help?"
"I want to see how long it takes on my own." With her head bowed over in contemplation of the task, she didn't see his smile. They allowed a comfortable silence to settle, now and then broken by clicks as she secured the first's base to her stump. When she finished, she sat up, exhaling. "Eleven seconds."
"Do you have a goal?"
She hesitated. "Six?"
"Someone told me before that retaining realism doesn't hurt in times like these."
While moving the second leg into position, she cocked her brow at him. "Am I envisioning it too high?"
"Definitely. What would 'Aunt Eight' say?"
"She'd tell you only I can call her that, then call you 'boring man' again." He chuckled and the corner of her lip raised. "And she might step on your toes for good measure."
"Don't remind me." He covered his eyes and willed the pain of the past week down. After that particular meet, it were as if Ch-4's actions granted Eighth Headman inspiration. How dangerous that was, he didn't know, but it had to fit somewhere between fighting an Aud outside a suit and overdosing on liquid sun.
He couldn't pass her in fear of her trying to trip him or step on his toes. As of two days ago, if he saw her, he'd turn on his heel to find another route to his path or hide behind one of the physically grander employees by the side of her path. His toes throbbed at her mention.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone