Going Cyber

This story is loosely based on the favorite “Cortana 2.” I know Carlie is no longer with DeviantArt, but she’ll stay in my stories.

Carlie had never heard of PLS.  Honesty, she’d never even known she had it.  She’d spent her first two decades in the 22nd century being a regular girl, doing many crafts and things, then she suddenly started collapsing.  Her legs gave out at odd times, never holding her up for long.  It got worse, but then the doctors told her she had this.

Eventually, she learned that eventually, her legs would be useless.  She dreamed of always being able to walk, to run, to dance.  Even being able to jump would be lost to her.

That’s why she was here, in her Hoverchair.  This clinic gave her hope as she found it online.  It promised it would restore what she would soon lose.

The clinician sat across from her, telling her what would happen.  They would construct what was basically a new lower half for her.  From her waist down would be entirely technological.

He described how they would slice her in half at her waist, support her above her new lower half and bond her to it.  Her digestive system would act as fuel for the new legs, using nanotechnology to turn the food from her intestines into electrical power.  The byproducts would still need to be cast out, and the system would allow her to accomplish that in the familiar way.

And the added benefits would work as well.  The new legs, connected entirely to her nervous system, would also have a semi-biological unit that would allow her to experience sexual pleasure whenever she made the choice to have it.  Plus, if she swam, an electrolysis unit built into the new legs would mean that she would have oxygen supplied to her lungs that could allow her to swim further and longer with no need to come up for air.

A week later, she returned.  The legs were ready.  The clinician helped her out of the chair, lying her on a table and warned her that, with this, she’d have some unusual sensations.  Carlie didn’t care.  She could feel that her current legs were already losing sensation.

He held the laser scalpel over her, pointing it at the side of her waist.  With one last request for compliance, he turned it on.

As it touched her skin, it didn’t burn.  That seemed strange to Carlie.  The laser, she knew, was supposed to be up to 400C.  But she felt it going at her, across her, into her.  She could feel it cutting her.

There was no anesthesia, no cool compress, just the sensation of being cut.  And it felt so good.  That also seemed strange  — how it felt good.  Still, as he finished quickly, she could feel it.  Her legs and hips were no longer attached to her, but she could still feel them.  With a little effort, she lifted a knee. “How is this possible?”

The clinician began attaching her to a hoist, placing the padding and the mechanisms around her shoulders. “There’s an energy field surrounding all of us.  Being able to tap into it allows this to happen.  You’ll find a patch of skin across where I just cut.  A similar biotechnical patch is across your new legs, and that’s where the melding will happen.”

He operated the mechanism, and Carlie found her upper half lifted into the air.  She looked underneath her, seeing what appeared to be a kind of stability ring.  In the middle, she saw what looked like hips and, on top, as stated, what looked like actual skin.  Her upper half was lined up and lowered.

It was a strange sensation, feeling herself attaching to this new lower half.  The energy suddenly snapped on, filling her upper body.  The sensation threatened to overwhelm her as she was fully released. “Give it a minute to adjust, Carlie.”

She nodded.  She thought she’d hear mechanisms running, but she felt it.  No sound, but she could feel it coming online.  The clinician looked at the readout, smiled, then walked over and unfastened the stability ring. “Go ahead, try it out.”

With one step, then another, Carlie stepped from the ring.  Afraid she might stumble, she kept her arms up, walking slowly as she gained confidence.  She walked over to the clinician and wrapped her arms around him, thanking him.

As she left, leaving the chair behind, she realized she still felt that sensation of being cut in half.  The feeling remained with her as she started exploring her new reality.  It always felt so wonderful knowing that she had a full life ahead of her.  A life where she’d always feel that, even though she was in one piece, she was cut in half.