Chapter 33: Redux

Later in the day, Jeff sent a message calling Chris's team and the Equestrians to the surgery department in the medical wing.

Jeff greeted them upon arrival. "I brought you all here so that you can see what this company was originally created to do," he explained. "On the other side of that glass is the man who was seriously injured in the fight against the Patchwork Golem. His name is Larry Parker. His left leg had to be amputated, unfortunately. He would have died if not for the emergency care Fluttershy and Rarity gave him. What you are about to see is an example of the miracles humans can create when they work together for the common good."

Jeff led them to the window of the operating theater. On the other side, the man lay sedated on an operating table, a cloth over his groin and various machines hooked to his body. Powerful lights focused on the metal table from above. Doctors and medical technicians dressed in surgical scrubs, hats, booties, face masks, and latex gloves carefully attended the equipment and the still figure on the table.

"Patient is prepared, ready to commence surgery on your order, Mr. Peterson," the lead surgeon said after a few minutes, his voice coming through speakers in the viewing lounge.

"It's all yours, Doctor."

An attendant in scrubs nodded, and pulled the cover sheet back from the stump of the man's missing leg.

Fluttershy tensed and her eyes widened, but she kept watching.

Inside the clean room, the surgeon sat down in front of a surgical control console, and began touching the screens. A scanner lowered from the ceiling and surveyed the stump.

"It's locating nerves and blood vessels, surveying tissue damage, and investigating the position of the bones," the doctor said. "It's mostly automated."

The machine beeped and the scanner rested in place momentarily, lights pulsing softly.

"Now it's going to access Parker's QMI data and decide exactly what's missing."

A holographic overlay of the man's leg appeared in the empty space on the table, and the surgeon nodded in approval. He made some adjustments on the controls, then the scanner pulled back slightly, still focusing on the action area. Another set of arms and hoses moved into place. It looks like some kind of a weapon.

"This is the core of the machine," the doctor said, almost reverently. "The beam suspension reconstructive bioprinter." He pointed at portions of the machine as he spoke. "The BSRP uses transport lasers to apply matter and tissue to the patient, rebuilding them one microscopic piece at a time. We use multiple emitters and feed types to rapidly repair severe injuries involving loss of limbs."

The Equestrians watched in amazement, his unfamiliar words making little sense, but the process holding them spellbound nonetheless.

"This here is the synthetic bone feed. This component under here supplies artificial nerve and muscle tissue. None of these materials are alive, but they will behave almost exactly like real muscle tissue once they are connected to the controller computer." The doctor sat back down, and they could see he was smiling through his mask. "Now watch this."

He pressed a button on the panel in front of him, and with a hiss of compressed air, the machine came to life. The tip of the gun-like device split into an array of mechanical fingers, each with a beam firing from it to the patient's leg stump. They whirred and moved from position to position, never resting, their busy transport lasers pulsing through the air as they wove amongst each other at incredible speed.

"It's... oddly beautiful," Twilight said, entranced by the sparkling show.

As the lights intertwined and shifted, the leg stump grew and changed colors. Instead of the red of flesh, it was the pastel gray of synthetic bone and artificial tendon and the silver of flexible synthetic muscle, with multicolored nerves threading throughout.

The lasers increased their pace, becoming a humming buzz of flickering light. They moved smoothly towards the foot of the table, the new growth of synthetics extending as they worked. Within minutes, the sleeping patient had a new shining silver leg.

"Well what do you think?" the doctor said proudly as the brilliant pulsing lasers slowed to a stop and shut down.

"It's... a... a miracle," Celestia said. "Not even our magic could do something like this."

"Will it always be silver?" Rarity said. "Is it finished?"

"Not just yet," he replied. "There is one last thing to do." He stood and stepped to the table, placing a small black box onto the upper thigh of the patient on top of a bundle of fresh nerve wires.

"Computer control unit," he explained. He held a tablet over the box, making adjustments until a green light blinked on the device, then returned to the surgery console.

He worked the controls again, and another machine lowered from the ceiling, similar to the first, but with cryogenic vapors drifting up from it.

"Can't very well leave him looking all naked like that, now can we?"

The nozzle approached the edge of the man's human flesh and began whizzing back and forth. As it went, the man's flesh extended and grew.

"We rapid cloned a suspension of living skin cells in a vat when he entered the hospital," the doctor said. "They solidify into position almost immediately upon application, creating a fresh surface layer."

Finally the applicator nozzle reached the toes and stopped.

"Voila!"

The leg was perfect, hairless and new.

"It even has toenails," Rarity said, awed.

The doctor stood. "And that's it. This leg is fused directly to his body. He will be able to both move it normally and feel with it as well as his original leg, given some time to adapt. The connections are seamless. It will take some testing after he awakes to make sure the systems function correctly and the nerves are all connected properly, but I foresee no special difficulty. It was, as far as these things go, a fairly simple operation."

"How is it powered?" Marky asked.

"The same way your headsets are powered. The control unit I placed contains a battery and wireless receiver that will charge anywhere the headsets will. There is also a plug-in charger that can be placed nearby, say in a hotel room, to recharge the unit."

"Can he dance on it?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Of course. Probably not right away, it will take him some time to get used to it. Now, if you will excuse me, we must move the patient to the recovery ward."

As the medical technicians bustled about shutting down equipment, Marky turned to Jeff. "Does it... cost anything?" he wondered.

"Well, this is the newest technology we have," Jeff said. "We could easily charge well over a million dollars for that procedure."

All present gasped.

"Well now," Applejack piped up, "I don't know what that is in bits-"

"Or in cupcakes!" Pinkie Pie shrilled.

"-but it sounds like a hay of a lot."

Jeff held up a hand. "Before you all get the wrong idea, I am not a fan of taking exorbitant funds from the sick and needy. Like I said, this is one of the newest, most advanced experimental system we have, currently only functional in a few of our own facilities. We have for many years provided high-quality, low-cost alternatives to millions of customers worldwide. But without revenue, we would be unable to create the wonders you have just witnessed, or anything else we do here at ProteC."

"You make a good point," Marky admitted. "But how can he ever pay for that?"

"Pay for it?" Jeff seemed shocked by the very idea. "He is my employee, wounded during the course of his duties. I will without a doubt give him the best treatment I can provide. I would never charge a penny for that. It's a benefit of working for my company. To do anything less would be... well, a despicable act."

Fluttershy smiled. "You are a good friend, Jeff."

Jeff blushed, caught somewhat off guard. "I... It... Uh... Thank you."

"By the way," Chris commented in the slightly awkward silence. "The magic weapon mods will be ready for distribution tomorrow."

Jeff nodded. "Excellent. That will coincide well with the final preparations for Leviathan. Everypony, this means we have about two days before mission launch."

"We are ready at any time," Celestia said, with more confidence than she felt.