This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#Hospital – September 1, 2015
Jason has been placed in a hospital bed and examined in preparation for the surgery. He would currently be awaiting being fetched to the surgery room. (Halisi)
Jason lays in bed, staring down at his arm and a small, nearly unnoticeable scar on the inside of his elbow, the result of a dog bite when he was little that he just never got covered due to the nearly invisible nature of it. He sighed as he suddenly felt an intense connection to the inconsequential mark.
A human nurse enters the room. She smiles at Jason. "The doctor is ready. How are you feeling?" She says with a tilt of her head. (Halisi)
Jason forces it all down and puts on a lopsided smirk as the nurse enters. "Walking on sunshine." he says with a wink, "How about you? Need you people at your best. If I wake up with my leg replaced, I'm gonna be pissed." he jokes.
The nurse chuckles briefly. "I wouldn't worry... Dr. Halisi has done many cybernetic surgeries. She knows what she's doing." The nurse starts unfolding a wheelchair that was grabbed from under Jason's bed, and then turns it for him to be able to get in with ease. (Halisi)
Jason glances down at the wheelchair before beginning to climb out of the bed. "I take it this is my ride?" he asks as he transfers over to the chair, "Any idea how long this is going to take?"
The nurse starts wheeling Jason down the hall. "It will take time. It is a delicate process, binding the electronics to the nervous system, and making sure the synthetic muscle tissue isn't rejected..." (Halisi)
Jason gives a nod. "Time." he repeats, "So... Six hours? Eight hours? Ballpark it for me. I've got some important thumb wars planned out. A lot of money is riding on it."
The nurse smirks faintly as they approach the operation room. "You will need a week or so of regular practice to regain full motor control." (Halisi)
Jason is wheeled into the operation room, where Halisi and another nurse is waiting by a surgical table alongside a machine with several robotic tools, cutting and otherwise. "Afraid not... this is a traumatic procedure. The body needs time to recover and adjust." (Halisi)
Jason sighs, but gives a nod to Halisi as he spots her. "Doc." he greets, giving a look around the room, "So where are they? I'd-... uhh... like a quick little run down on how this is gonna go, if you don't mind. See what I'm going to be living with for the rest of my life..."
Jason glances over at the nurse and stands from the seat, taking a seat on the bed with his legs dangling off the side. He looks towards Halisi, awaiting her response.
Halisi nods, moving towards a table and picking up a gray arm, walking up to Jason to give him a closer look. It looks like a normal human arm, except for being without skin, and being gray. The texture is more plastic than metallic. The end that will attach to Jason's body has several tiny wires as well as some nasty looking support structure with screws that seem intended to bury into his
Jason looks it over and lets out a deep breath. He nods a couple times and reaches out to run a finger over the surface. "And what about..." he glances around at the others in the room before tilting his head awkwardly to the side, "...features? How 'functional' will it be?"
Halisi starts prepping the sedatives while talking. "Enhanced strength and durability, mainly. Haptic interface controls are built-in, of course. As we discussed, sensation will be limited to pressure. Motor control should be equal to before, with training it may be enhanced."
Halisi nods. "It is important that you do not attempt to handle anything delicate in the early parts of the adjustment process. So as to avoid any... accidents. The recovery will take several days during which you will need to train your arms regularly. It will take longer, however, for the pain to disappear. You will be monitored for any signs of infection or tissue rejection in the areas
Jason nods once more. With a loud sigh he reaches down and pats his groin with the palm of his hand. "Sorry buddy, I'll see you sometime soon. Promise." he says with a snicker. He lifts his arm and flexes his hand a few times, rotating the arm in place as he studies his own limb as if he's never seen it before. After a moment, he scoots back further on the bed and sets his hand on his lap.
"Well, let's get this over with. No drinking during surgery, Doc." he teases, although he constantly glances back towards his arm every few moments, and it's pretty obvious that his nerves are getting the better of him, despite his attempts at hiding it behind humor.
Halisi sighs, clearly not entirely comfortable with the whole things. "Are you sure about this, Jason?"
Jason furrows his brow as he lays back on the bed. "Absolutely, Doc. The arm-wrestling tour better watch out after this, cuz it might just be time for a career switch." He glances over at Halisi with his lopsided grin, but it quickly fades away and he takes a deep breath as he looks up at the ceiling.
Halisi seems about to protest him joking the question away, but shakes her head with another sigh and applies the sedation mask to Jason's mouth.
Jason lifts his arm up to get one last look at his childhood scar before taking a heavy, deep breath from the mask.
Jason would awaken to a small surgical recovery room, in a bed with monitoring equipment hooked up to him. Halisi is in the room, seated in a chair and having brought some paperless paperwork with her. She is no longer in surgical garb. Any attempt to move his arms would likely result in greatly exaggerated movements. The chest pain would be dulled by painkillers, but still present. Movement would make it worse. (Halisi)
Jason blinks open his eyes a few times before focusing on various parts of the room with no real rhyme or reason. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, wincing at the dry feeling in the back of his throat. He immediately begins the process of sitting up, causing a pain to throb through his upper body. He bites down hard, making the pain apparant. As a reflex, he reaches out towards
the railing on the bed to steady himself. Phantom-limb syndrome kicks in for a moment and, in his groggy state, it feels as though everything's normal for a split second before his new hand awkwardly clashes into the rail. The slight pressure it sends to his sensory system causes him to immediately panic a bit, taking large deep breaths as he searches the room with his eyes, resting them on
Halisi jumps out of her seat as Jason's arm bumps into the railing. She puts a hand out towards him in a calming gesture. "Woah, woah. Easy. Try to lay still." She says, moving closer.
Jason scoots back as he sits up, taking a few ragged breaths. His other hand shoots outward at a second attempt at grabbing a side rail with the same result. It only seems to upset him more. "What-.... I-..." He closes his eyes tightly and blinks a few times, looking quite confused for the moment.
You had the surgery. Remember? It was a success. You'll learn to control your new arms. It will just take some time. Try to stop moving them.
Jason nods distantly a few times, glancing over at his arm. The panicked look instantly returns and he takes a few deep breaths. "I-... Is it-... okay...?" he asks quietly.
Jason stares down at his left arm. He attempts to rotate his wrist. It slowly turns in a rigid, mechanical fashion without any of the fingers moving whatsoever. "It feels like-..." he glances over at Halisi, "...like it's not there... but..." he trails off.
Halisi carefully places a hand on the arm, as if to confirm its existence. "It's there. It may feel different, but it's there." She says with a nod.
Jason slowly lowers his awkwardly-extended arms as the pressure from Halisi's touch seems to calm him somewhat. "Are you sure it worked?" he asks, "It doesn't feel right..."
Halisi sighs faintly. "It worked. Adjusting is just going to take time. Hence the recovery period. It will be fine in time." She's doing a poor job of hiding her guilt behind a reassuring smile.
Jason attempts to bend his arm at the elbow. It, very stiffly and sharply, angles towards him, somewhat surprising him. The rest of his arm and hand remains motionless as he makes this action in a very inhuman, stiff manner. "How can I adjust to this!?" he asks, not sounding exactly angry, just suddenly saddened, "I didn't think it was going to be like this, Doc...." He slowly bends
Jason slowly lowers his arms back down to his side. "They're not mine." he says as he lookis right at Halisi, as if he's just realizing this for the first time, "How-..." he trails off, shaking his head. His eyes have begun to take on a glossy look as they water up.
Halisi slides her hand down Jason's arm to grasp his hand. She doesn't manage to meet his gaze anymore. "Try to think of what they'll enable you to do. You... will be powerful. And you will get used to them."
Jason nods slowly as a few tears manage to make their way out. "Whatever it takes..." he says with a short sniffle, "...If it helps bring her home..."
Jason thinks to grasp Halisi's hand, but a twinge of fear shoots through him that he just may in fact crush it. He merely allows his hand to sit limply. "Yeah..."
And with a little luck, we'll be able to end any chance of this nightmare ever coming back. We could destroy the artifact once and for all.
Jason bites his lower lip for a moment before looking over at the doctor. "I-... I guess I hadn't had a chance to sit down and update you yet, but-..." he shakes his head, "...that's not gonna be happening, Doc."
Jason shakes his head again, "I didn't have a choice." he says, "The only way they were going to give me her location was if I agreed to hand the artifact over to them." He tilts his head to the side, attempting to shrug, but he winces as a jolt of pain courses through him. "It's better than leaving it in the hands of a bunch of terrorists and-..." he raises his gaze to meet the doctor's,
"...what would we do with it? How would we handle it? I've thought a lot about this, Halisi. We tried to blow that fucker up back on that planet. Not even a scratch. We have no idea what sort of thing we're even dealing with. Maybe-... Maybe these people will know how to contain it..."
Halisi stands up from her chair with a stare. "What?! You're going to-... after everything-... you know what it does!" She yells out in an uncharacteristic display of hostility. She shakes her head a few times and then starts towards the exit. "I-... I have to go. A nurse will be with you." She says on her way out.
Jason follows the doctor with his eyes. "Halisi, wait! Stop!" he calls out. He reaches over with his new arm to grasp the railing. It takes him a few times to position his hand correctly, but he manages. One by one, his fingers close around the railing, much harder than he intended to. "What do you expect me to do!? What!?"
Halisi stops in the doorway, looking over her shoulder. She seems on the verge of tears. "You can't let anyone have that thing... you can't let anyone else become one of those... monsters."
Jason attempts to swing his legs over the side of the bed. A sharp pain surges through him and he groans audibly. He clenches his eyes shut as his hand still tightly holds the railing, like a machine that just hasn't been told to stop doing what it's doing. "Then tell me you have something. Anything that can help us out. If you think I'd pass up the opportunity to destroy that thing,
you're out of your mind. But we've seen what it does to people. Simply having it in our possession isn't enough. It changes people, Halisi. I-... I heard it. In my head! I can still remember what it felt like..." he spits out, growing more and more uncomfortable the more he talks about it, "If we can't destroy it, and we can't control it... What options do I have?"
Jason lets out a deep breath. "I can't do this on my own, Halisi... I'm trying to do what I can but-... this isn't something I can handle. So I'm trying to fix what I can. I can help Linda. That much I can do. If you, or anyone else, has a better alternative..." he sighs and shakes his head, "...I'm all ears."
Halisi shakes her head faintly. "I-... I need to... think. Someone will take care of you." She disappears from view.
Jason sighs loudly and looks up towards the ceiling, his hand still maintining its grip on the railing. He shifts a bit, causing him to jerk the bed around as he's forgotten he's still holding on to it. Another sharp pain shoots through his body and he cusses loudly.
It doesn't take long for the same nurse as before to arrive, adjusting Jason's medication and checking his values. (Halisi)
Jason managed to get his hand free of the railing at some point between Halisi leaving and the nurse arriving. He watches quietly as she does her thing.
Jason glances over at his things on the nearby table. He sighs and makes another go at grasping the railing. A loud creak sounds out as the plastic splits and cracks. Jason's eyes go wide and immediately jolt towards the door. He quickly reaches for his pillow to cover up the damage, but forgets that his hand is still wrapped around the plastic rail. A pain shoots up his chest as the arm
refuses to move, so he tugs harder, breaking the flimsy plastic completely. "Oh nooo...." he mouths softly as he eyes the piece of railing in his clenched fist. With his other hand, he slowly grabs the pillow, pinching the material between two fingers before gingerly setting it over the cracked railing. After taking a deep, relieved breath as if he just dodged a bullet, he slowly climbs to
his feet and hobbles across the room, towards his omni-tool. His movements are slow and pained, but once he reaches the table, he frowns and looks around. In the most obnoxious scream he can muster, he lets out a loud, "NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURSE!"
Halisi The asari nurse quickly enters the room, holding a bundle of bandages that she appears to have been carrying.
Jason lifts his arm up. It's a slow process that takes several seconds. All of which he remains awkwardly silent for. When his hand is finally out in front of him, he uncurles a single finger and points it down towards the omni-tool on the table. "I got a message, I think. I can't really check it like this.... Mind..." he looks off towards the side with a sigh, "...checking it for me?" His
eyes quickly dart back to the nurse as he realizes he still has the piece of plastic in his other hand, which is hanging freely at his side. His eyes switch between the nurse and the plastic railing, finally settling on the nurse as he forces a wide smile. The slow, methodical movement of his hand is quite obvious as he attempts to tuck it behind his back.
The nurse stares at Jason for the duration of the process before letting out an exasperated sigh, her shoulders dropping. She puts the bandages in the nearby chair and walks over to pick up the omni-tool, navigating to new messages. (Halisi)
There's two new messages. The first is from Ilyna. It says: "Jason, do you know more about when we're leaving? We also need to talk about who is going to take care of Li while I'm gone." The second is from C.Wolfe. It says: "Jason, I'm not going to argue with you. You have access to the extranet, look it up yourself for fuck's sake. There's only one 'N' in the word 'dinosaur'. Okay?"
The nurse starts reading aloud, without the slightest hint of enthusiasm. Or inflection, really. "From Ilyna. Jason, do you know more about when we're leaving? We also need to talk about who is going to take care of Li while I'm gone." She glances at Jason, not reading the second message right away. (Halisi)
Jason gives a nod. "Okay. Okay. Send her a response." he says, "Ummm... How about: I just got out of surgery on my arms. I can't really type right now so I'm making the nurse do it for me. Which she can't refuse because I'm a poor, wounded man who can't take care of himself." he stares pointedly at the nurse, "We'll be leaving sometime in the next week if everything goes well. You're more
than welcome to come visit with me here, otherwise I'll stop by as soon as I'm released so we can handle a babysitter for Li."
Ilyna enters the hospital with Li, and approaches the VI. She's dressed in her usual kind of modest dark-gray casual dress that's not hugging her figure very well.
Finishes typing and starts to read the second message. "One more. From C. Wolfe. I'm not going to argue with you. You have access to the extranet..." She starts. (Halisi)
Jason groans loudly. "Dinnosaur!" he says aloud before the woman can even finish, "Dinnosaur!" He prounounces it just as he spells it, Dinn-o-sore.
Puts the omni-tool down, taking a step towards the door with a slow nod. If recieving no other request she starts to leave, mumbling about humans. (Halisi)
Jason gives a sigh of relief once the nurse is out of sight. He lifts his other hand in front of his face, inspecting the broken plastic.
The hospital VI image starts to glitch out, spinning rapidly with limbs appearing and disappearing in various places. (Halisi)
Ilyna crouches down and places a hand on Li's shoulder, turning her away from the VI. "We'll ask a nurse instead," she says, looking around for one.
Jason slowly lifts his hand over the nearby bin and unclenches his fingers, one by one, until the plastic rail drops into the bin. He uses his foot to shake the bin a bit, hoping to obscure the plastic from the top. Excellent. Smooooth criminal. He slowly hobbles back over to his bed and retakes a seat on the side of it.
Ilyna stands up. "Let's check the hallways," she says, and looks around for any signs that indicates what's down each of the hallways.
There are some signs that look very temporary in nature put up. Over-reliance on the VI has reached its limit, it would seem. One that says "Surgical Recovery" points down the left side corridor. (Halisi)
Ilyna nods to herself. "I think I know where to go," she says, and starts towards the hallway, glancing at Li to make sure she's following.
Immediately upon entering the hallway they would encounter the asari nurse who has just recently exited Jason's room. She still looks very exasperated as she walks down the corridor in the opposite direction to them. (Halisi)
The nurse seems briefly surprised that Jason has an asari friend, but points a thumb over her shoulder at the nearby door. "In there." (Halisi)
Ilyna smiles. "Thank you," she says, approaching the door. She stops in the doorway, looking into the room.
Jason is sitting at the edge of his bed with the remote to his screen sitting across the palm of his hand. A single finger on his other hand is fully extended as he slowly attempts to precisely poke at the buttons on the remote with it, but his input time is taking too long so it keeps going to the wrong channel. He's paying no attention to the doorway. Everytime the channel changes, he
scowls and then gives it another go. There's always a moment of pride right before he runs out of time to input the last button and, back to a scowl.
Ilyna can't help but watch him fumble with the remote, curious about his new arms. She raises an eyebrow at seeing both of them cybernetic. "Jason?"
Jason glances over at the door upon hearing Li's giggle, straightening up like a deer that's just been spotted by a predator. "Oh-... Hey, you two!" he says with a lopsided smirk, "I just replied to your message-... errr, made the nurse reply to it." he slowly rotates his waist to his left rather than reaching over with his arm, and rotates his wrist, causing the remote to fall onto the
Ilyna nods. "We were out for a walk, and wasn't very far from here when I sent the message," she says. "Oh. I did notice that my translator didn't have trouble with it."
Li 's attention is drawn to the cybernetics by the stiffness of Jason's movement. She looks at them cautiously, staying by Ilyna. (Halisi)
Ilyna shrugs. "It seems to struggle with your messages for some reason," she says. "Anyway, how are you holding up? I thought you were only going to replace one of them?" She walks closer to him.
Jason looks a bit confused at the comment about Ilyna's translator. He tilts his head back with a simple, "Hm.." as if unsure why that may be. He gives a glance down at his new arms and nods as the asari mentions them. "I-... There was some nerve da-..." he sighs, instantly feeling guilty as he begins to spin his lie. He shakes his head, "No... That's not true. I just felt like... Like
maybe it was time for a change. Tired of us getting our asses kicked back and forth out there, Ilyna." he glances apologetically towards Ilyna, as though he fears he may have let her down, "...Just thought anything that may help us get a leg up was worth it..."
Ilyna sits down beside him on the bed. "But Jason," she says with a tilted head. "You have a team, and we're going to do all we can to see this through. You didn't have to...." She trails off. She reaches her arms out to offer to help Li up.
Li climbs onto the bed with Ilyna's help. She ends up staring at the nearest of Jason's arm with a hint of fear in her eyes. (Halisi)
Jason lowers his gaze to the bed. "I know, Ilyna... But we just keep coming back with fewer and fewer people. This is a small price to pay if it means keeping the rest of the team safe." He brings one arm around in front of him slowly. All the fingers close at once in an unnatural way, causing Jason to frown. "Halisi assures me that I'll get the hang of it..."
Ilyna places a hand on Li's shoulder furthest from her. "I've looked at the reports, Jason," she says. "I think we should be more critical about new recruits we bring with us on dangerous missions."
Ilyna frowns. "I've noticed that many that weren't coming home were new recruits," she says. "Has our client said we'll be splitting the team up during this mission?"
Jason glances over at Ilyna and raises an eyebrow, "We don't really have a client, per se... But it seemed like the recommendation was that we should probably try and remain undetected for as long as we can. Disguises will be provided, but it won't be enough for the whole team... So I suppose we may have to split things up. Why?"
Li remains silent. Her gaze is mostly focused on the cybernetics. It's unclear if she's listening to the conversation. (Halisi)
That's true, we must guard our way out. We shouldn't spread ourselves too thin, though, in case we need to make a get out quick.
Jason gives a nod. "Any specific reason you're asking? To be honest, unfortunately, even I don't have the full picture right now. Once I'm in good enough shape with these-..." he regards his arms with a nod, "I'll be holding a briefing for everyone. When that happens, hopefully we'll all be on the same page. We'll leave immediately after. What I can tell you is that the trip is going
Ilyna frowns. "It's just... that I didn't want to blame you for our losses," she says, "and find other ways to lower these risks... even if it's probably too late."
Jason gives a shake of his head. "No... No... You're right, it's just-... We need people out there with us. There's just no way to avoid that. Maybe once the office is back up, we can start running some training exercises. Get everyone on the same page." he sighs, and attempts to shrug, although he's not in particularly good control of his shoulders, "We can't exactly hire people and then
simply... not use them on jobs. Why bother hiring them to begin with in that case? I'd like to think that they know what they're capable of, but that's obviously not the case all the time..." he says, suddenly going quiet as he recalls all the recruits that have died.
Ilyna | "We can have them take positions in town which are currently filled by people that's worked for us--... the agency for a long time," she says. "I won't have Ehanis on any of these jobs before I know full and well what she's capable of, to name an example."
Jason gives another nod. "I already gave you my word that Ehanis won't be going with us. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave us with many options. I offered both Leah and Damien time off due to their injuries. Damien doesn't want it, but I can't exactly blame Leah. She just had her entire spine replaced... Jasper needs to stay to drop everyone off for their shifts. So that leaves Mendez,
Jattic, Damien, Renala, Steve, you, me, Kim, Phil, Halisi, and the two new recruits, Skythix and Pip." He glances over at Ilyna, hoping for her input, but he quickly adds, "I... don't think Phil should come..."
Li seems to listen as all the names are counted. looking between Jason and Ilyna. "What's happening?" (Halisi)
Ilyna sighs, not sure how to tell her this. "I... I'm going with Jason on a trip off-world, to protect him," she says. "I'll be back, I promise, but... you will be protecting someone while I'm gone. It's just five days."
Jason gives a smirk as Li speaks up. "It won't be for long. Promise. Five days." he reconfirms with a nod, "...Maybe a couple more at the most. But she'll be back home before you know it!"
Jason gives a resounding, "No!" just as Ilyna does. He clears his throat a bit and repeats himself, not quite as harshly this time. "Annnnd we'll bring back-..." he pauses, looking towards Ilyna as if she needs to bail him out cuz he has no idea how to finish the sentence, "....a toy for you? Do you like... dinnosaurs?" he asks, his panicked look wavering between Ilyna and Li.
Jason frowns. He looks quite disappointed. "You know. Dinnosaurs." he repeats before waving the question off. "Nevermind, I forgot, you probably don't know a whole lot about Earth. I'll get ya a big encyclopedia alllllllllllll about dinnosaurs for your datapad! It'll be great!" he says enthusiastically.
Li lights up with a smile. "Dinnosaurs!" She repeats with the same enthusiasm. She suddenly grows puzzled once more, however. "What's Earf?" (Halisi)
Jason blinks a few times. "Uhh.... Earf is-..." he shakes his head, "Earth is... where we come from. Humans. You know, people like you and me."
Sure ya do... kinda. Maybe your mom and dad came from Earth. Or their mom or dad. Somehow, somewhere, your from Earth.
Li goes quiet at the mention of her parents. She looks down at the bed, her eyes disappearing under her bangs. (Halisi)
Jason notices the reaction and his smile fades into a frown. "I-... uhh....... Dinnosaurs, though! We're gonna learn allllllllllllllll about dinnosaurs!" he says, attempting to recover.
Ilyna raises an eyebrow as Jason mentions parents, almost expecting this reaction. She pulls her a little closer. "So, who will she be protecting."
Jason chokes up a bit. "I-... I'm..." he seems about to apologize, but thinks better than dragging this line of conversation out any further, "Uhh... I don't know. Have you asked Ehanis? Seems like the most obvious choice, right? She could hang out at the Respite in the back office with her..."
Ilyna hums thoughtfully, then nods. "I'll talk to Ehanis about it," she says, getting off the bed and reaching out to help Li down. "Let's go home," she says to Li.
Jason gives Li a sad smile. "I still owe you some ice cream, Li. Last time didn't go so well, but I always follow through on my promises!" he nods, "Uhh... Soon. We'll get that ice cream soon."
Ilyna gives Jason a quick hug, not expecting him to return it. "I'll see you," she says with a small smile. "Send me a message when you're out, okay?"
Jason taps his head against the side of the asari's as some replacement attempt at affection, fearing if he uses his arms he may squeeze her into mush. "Yeah... right away. Take care of yourself, Ilyna. And her." he nods towards Li.
Ilyna nods. "I will," she says, letting go of the hug and starting towards the exit, glancing back to make sure Li's following.