Samuel woke up in a hospital bed, as his eyes adapted to the light coming through the window, he saw a clear blue sky. His body was weak, many intravenous infusion connected to his harms. As he looked up to the monitors a green light flashed and an annoying AI voice reached his hears.
[Welcome captain Terrence, the doctor will see you in a moment]
Samuel tried to speak, but his voice was weak and his throat hurt. A doctor came into the room; he was a black and tall man past his forties, with a balding head and a pair of glasses; his body seemed quite muscular even under the lab coat.
"Captain Terrence, welcome back. You have been unconscious for almost two weeks, how do you feel?" Asked the doctor.
"Everything hurts" answered Samuel with a coarse and weak voice.
"Is the expected outcome, your team fought a hard battle using the capabilities of the exoskeleton technology to the full extent of its power, the side effects and cost on your neural system are heavy; but you are alive and the tests show that your body seems to be in relative good condition. Recovering consciousness is an excellent sign"
Samuel said something, but his voice was even weaker than before.
"Excuse me? Can you repeat?"
"Water, please"
"Oh! Sure" the doctor took a glass from a small cupboard next to the bed and filled it up in the bathroom.
"Slowly, take just small sips. If you try to gulp it down you will choke. Are you hungry?" the doctor instructed as he helped Samuel to drink with a straw.
"Not really, just thirsty" Samuel voice improved a little.
"I see, thats common with pilots" the doctor seemed disappointed.
"The rehab specialist will come soon, we must start the recovery process as soon as possible. We will bring some food for you, try to eat, even if you got no appetite"
"How are the others?" Asked Samuel.
"Captain Renard woke up yesterday, Captain Gonzales is still in coma; unfortunately he had some brain damage, it seems that part of the internal neural system of his machine was damaged and it ended malfunctioning and damaging his implants; however, his situation is stable, although we don't know if he will be able to pilot again"
"I see, thanks doc"
The doctor left, Samuel stayed in bed thinking until a nurse and a group of nurse assistants came. Samuel was so weak that they had to bath him in bed like if he was still in a coma. His muscles atrophied, his joints were stiff, moving was painful. The hospital personnel brought the food, some bland compote with proteins added, a male nurse assistant helped him, although in truth he basically forced Samuel to eat.
"That is enough. You been in a coma for a long time, is better to take it slow" said the nurse assistant after a few scoops.
"The rehabilitation specialist will come see you later" the nurse assistant left as Samuel fell asleep.
"Good afternoon Captain Terrence"
Samuel opened his eyes to a petite woman on her fifties, her curly hair, tanned dark skin and brown eyes went perfectly with her Latino accent.
"I am Margaret, the rehabilitation specialist, but please call me Marga. I will be in charge of the first days of the recovery process, first week we will work in bed, after that we will start to move around. I warn you, the most important part of recovery and building muscle, is eating, you have to eat!.. now, lets start"
For a woman of her size she was quite strong, she moved Samuel body around with mastery and moved his joints with ease while trying to force him to push against her strength.
"Let me know if it hurts too much, okay?" Marge asked as she continued the session.
"I am a pilot Ma'am, this is nothing"
"I know, but remember, in a normal body the pain is a warning, you are not in a exoskeleton right now, your body will tell you its limits"
Samuel kept doing the exercises.
"We will stop here for today. See you tomorrow and remember, you have to eat" the session ended half an hour later.
Samuel nodded, as soon as the doctor left, he felt tired and fell asleep. The nurse assistant woke him up hours later, the night had already fallen.
"Dinner is ready"
Samuel was forced to swallow a dense soup, the taste was good, but still the nurse assistant had to force him to swallow.
A week passed, Samuel life was just sleep, eat, do his rehabilitation exercises and sometimes talk to his father in a secured line. For the first time he managed to get up and go to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror as the gown fell off. His reflection was the shadow of a man; sunken eyes, an emaciated face, his ribs could be count, no muscle mass, just skin and bones.
"I understand now grandpa, but you were wrong"
Samuel dressed himself with the gown and slowly walked out of his room; it took him almost five minutes to walk down the corridor.
"I need to speak with captain Renard" Samuel said while breathing heavily.
The nurse at the counter smiled.
"Sure, she is in room twenty four, down the hallway"
Samuel looked down the hallway and sighed.
"Why so far?"
"We do it on purpose, that way you have to walk, is good exercise" the nurse answered.
There was an awkward moment as the two looked each other in the eyes, then Samuel turned and walked off. The trip down the corridor was exhausting, Samuel had to stop a few times just to catch his breath. Finally he made it and knocked on the room door.
"Come in!"
Samuel opened the door, Lena was lying on bed, she looked as bad as him or worst, her emaciated face made her look like if some random skin was glued over a skull.
"You look like shit" he greeted.
"Thanks, You too"
They both smiled. Samuel came into the room and sat on the bed. They stayed there in silence for a while, until Samuel spoke up.
"They say that Hector has brain damage, he might be unable to pilot in the future"
"Yeah, I know"
Then again, silence.
"How are you doing?"
"As good as I can, I guess. I have scheduled a PEG, as soon as I recover a bit, I will get the surgery done. I will make them pay, I swear I will make them pay" Lena answered.
"I been thinking, I need to do some changes to the Magnus, It has too many shortcomings, MARTA"
Samuel called, but the AI didn't answer.
"This base has some military experimental technology, they wont allow MARTA to operate freely down here yet"
"Down here?" Samuel asked confused looking at the sun outside the window.
"Oh, that? Is fake, is a screen projection, we are underground" Lena incorporated and took the small phone on the side table, she made a call to the nurse station.
"Yes, I'm captain Renard, could you please turn off the projection on my window? Thanks"
A few seconds later the squared Cristal turned black. Then, silence.
"So what you gonna do now?" Asked Samuel.
"Sam, there is a reason why I am getting the PEG. This base, they have some technology that is even more advance than our implants, they are experimental though... Still, I am going for an upgrade"
"Wait, you know that some of that tech goes horribly wrong, right?"
"I know, but I don't want to end up in one of those Tenct lumps one day"
"I know how you feel, but thats risky. My grandfather... I been thinking a lot about some of the things he said some time ago. Look at us."
Samuel put his hands up to his face.
"The more tech you put into your body, the weaker you become, you will die sooner than later"
"I don't care. I need that power and I need it now"
"You... you are afraid"
"I am" said Lena with tears in her eyes.
"You should think about it"
Lena denied with her head.
"I have to do it, we are too weak"
"Trust me, I understand, I was there, I am afraid too, but today I looked at myself in the mirror... During my training my captain sent me home one day, when I came back she told me she didn't sent me home for me to relax. She send me home so I remembered what I am fighting for; my dad, my home, my grandma, my family. The more I live, the more I can protect them. You wont last long with more tech into your body, if you wanna protect the ones you love, live as long as possible"
"I will take my chances"
Samuel tried to tell something else, but Lena interrupted him
"I am tired"
"Alright, see you later" Samuel left the room and walked back to his own.
Next day after his exercise routine he went back to Lena room, but it was empty. He went back to the nurse station and asked about her.
"Were is captain Renard?"
"She was transfered to another ward by her own request"
"Oh! I see... Thanks"
A disappointed Samuel walked back to his room.
Days came and went, Samuel asked to the doctors and nurses about his colleagues every day. Until one morning.
"I am sorry, but captain Renard passed away"
"What?!"
"As you know the captain offered herself voluntary for an experimental upgrade; during the implant activation there was some malfunction that turned deadly. I am sorry"
Samuel stood silent, the doctor walked out and left him be alone. Next day Samuel asked to see Hector, the doctor complied. It was heartbreaking, Hector was in a bed, his body with tubes in almost every extremity and orifice.
"Captain Gonzales situation seems to be improving, the image test show that the implants are growing and accelerating to some degree the recovery rate of the affected areas, according to our estimations he might wake up any day now" the doctor in charge of the intensive care unit told Samuel.
Samuel wanted to know more about Lena demise, however the information was classified, they would not give him any information unless he was part of the program.
"Hell no!" was Samuel answer to the proposal.
Samuel went back to his room and submerged himself on his recovery routine. One month later he was ready to be discharged, Hector was still in a coma.