“So, you’ve decided on the neural transmitters to start and for you Cory, you would like some additional capabilities in your eyes?” Chal summarised, reading from his screen.

“Yes,” I confirmed, looking around at my crew to make sure everyone agreed.

“Nothing more? No additional capabilities for the rest of you?”

“Not yet, thank you.”

“No olfactory upgrades? They go great with visual additional capabilities.”

“Just the neural transmitters for now.”

It was tempting. Some of the things he was offering seemed so cool. Obviously, we couldn’t resist the urge to get more mods for long. We’ve been to see him at least once a month for the last couple of years and every time Chal has something new and awesome for us to get.

“Maybe next time then. You do know that you won’t be able to use them flawlessly right away, don’t you? You need to learn and develop the ability.”

I nodded, staring at the neural transmitting device in Chal’s hand. It seemed so small and unassuming, just a little chip, but he assured us that as soon as it was in place the wires would release and work their way into our brains. I shuddered the first time he said that. The idea of something worming its way into my brain was nauseating. It still is now and I’ve had this transmitter and so many others for years.

“Wonderful, who wants to go first?”

I chewed on the inside of my lip, my heart beating quickly. We didn’t know for certain that this would work, we just had to trust that Cory’s doctor had sent us to the right place. I looked around the room, taking in the sterile and calm setting and made my decision.

“I will.”

My crew looked up at me with equal panic and relief.

“No, I’ll go first,” Cas said, clenching his hands.

“I’m the Captain of this crew. I should go first.”

“But what if it goes wrong?” Peggy asked quietly.

“I have a 99.87% success rate and a 100% survival rate.” Chal’s tone was blasé.

His utter belief in what he was doing gave me a small amount of confidence.

I nodded, “Cas, you’re the secondary pilot. If anything does go wrong, you can fly us home. I’m going first.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Cas clench his hands like he was trying to stop himself from arguing.

“Wonderful! If you will follow me through to the procedure room, we can get started.”

“Can we come too?” Cory asked, for the first time since we arrived he looked slightly panicked.

Chal eyed Cory for a second before glancing at the rest of us.

“You’ll need to get changed. All of you. Who knows what viruses and dirt are on those disgusting suits.”

I looked down at my suit, unable to see any dirt before shrugging at my crew.

“There are scrubs in the next room, you can all change there.”

We followed him silently into a much smaller room with a large glass window looking into what must be the procedure room, where several medBots waited to be told what to do. The room was big, about the same size as the room we’d just been in, and completely white as well but it also had stretchers and cabinets lining the walls and trolleys loaded with equipment and scattered around.

“Strip down completely and place your suits in the hole in the wall,” he said with revulsion, “before stepping into the chemical shower and follow the instructions in there. There are scrub suits in there you can change into. You’ll get your suits back… Not that you should want them.”

He stepped into one of the cubicles and closed the door behind him.

“He’s strange,” Peggy whispered.

Cas touched my arm softly.

“Do you trust him?”

I nodded, unsure why but I did.

“Okay, let’s do this then.”

I looked at the others. It made sense for Cas and me to shower first. If anything happened and we couldn’t get out, Gem would be able to defend to other two and Cory would be able to pilot the ship to get them home. Peggy and Cory can fight too, obviously, but Gem is the best among us. Was, I guess.

“Cas and I will go first. You three stay vigilant. If anything seems wrong, let us know immediately.”

I waited for Gem, Cory and Peggy to nod before walking into the cubicle. I quickly looked around for signs of hidden cameras or devices before stripping out of my suit and clothes underneath. A hole in the wall lit up which I assumed meant I was meant to put my suit in there so I did cautiously before climbing into the shower.

“Hello.” It said, startling me. “Please raise your arms as shown in the picture.”

A picture of a stick figure raising their arms appeared on the wall in front of me and I hurried to copy it.

“You will now be sprayed with a disinfectant for fourteen seconds. Please hold your breath and close your eyes until you are told otherwise.”

I quickly gulped in some air and squeezed my eyes shut. A hissing sound came from above and I fought the urge to look up at it. A gust of stinging air blew down at me and I started to count in my head. When I reach four seconds, the air was replaced with a sudden downpour of liquid which left me cold and almost caused me to gasp. I resisted, squeezing my mouth shut even harder and continued to count in my head. The liquid was replaced by another violent gust of air and I squeezed my eyes and mouth shut even tighter as my hair whipped against my face and my arms fought to stay up.

My chest begun to beg for air and I found myself longing to breathe just as the shower said, “You may open your eyes and resume breathing.”

I immediately took the biggest gasp I could but the acrid air burnt my lungs and I doubled over coughing. The door opened automatically and I stumbled out, still trying to catch my breath. Luckily, the air in the cubicle was much less acidic tasting although there was still the undertone of antiseptic.

“Please use the towel in front of you to remove any of the remaining disinfectant from your body.” The shower instructed as I coughed.

A panel in the wall opened to reveal a single white folded towel. Picking it up, I quickly rubbed my hair and body which was almost entirely dry anyway before placing it back in the hole in the wall which had lit up once more. The hole closed briefly then reopened revealing a comb, a hair net and light blue scrub suit. I changed quickly and dragged the comb through my hair before tucking it into the hairnet and stepping out of the cubicle to see my friends and Chal waiting silently. Looking around, I noticed Cas wasn’t out yet but judging from the retching coming from his cubicle, he wouldn’t be long.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Next person, go!” He said, gesturing dramatically.

Peggy hurried past me into the cubicle just as Cas emerged from his, his hair messy under the hairnet and his eyes watering.

“That was horrible.” He said, still coughing.

“Why?” Cory asked, sounding genuinely baffled.

Chal rolled his eyes before we could answer.

“It’s just a chemical shower. You’ll be used to it, they aren’t.”

“Ah, of course.”

Chal picked up a tablet from the table beside him and started reading intently. I watched as his eyes scanned back and forth, his expression growing steadily more sour.

“What are you looking at?” Cas asked curiously causing Chal to glare at him.

“I’m having your suits analysed.”

“Why?” I questioned this time.

“It’s not often I get my hands on juvenile Space Corps equipment, I like to see what they provide. Don’t worry, I’ll give them back. Probably in better condition than when I got them. I’ll make some small patches, reinforce the seams, make sure you’re actually safe out there. It’s irresponsible to allow you to go back out wearing those pieces of junk.”

I watched Chal intensely gaze at the screen. He seemed utterly absorbed and unhappy with what he was reading.

“What do you think?”

He snorted without looking up.

“It’s substandard. Fit for purpose but only just. I understand that the Council can’t afford to spend thousands on top of the range equipment for all of their crews but still. They could easily do better than this.”

“What do you mean?” Cas leaned in, looking at the tablet over Chal’s shoulder.

He sighed before turning the screen to us and explaining.

“You see this? This tech is easily fifty years old. We’ve advanced so far since then. The fabric is lacking, the smallest knock would tear right through it not to mention the UV protection is a joke and there is nothing in the boots!”

“What would be in the boots?” I asked, confused.

At that point, I’d never heard of anything other than the standard Council issue space suits and boots.

Chal smiled at me mischievously.

“Do you just want mods or do you want more? I can upgrade your suits, give you boots with inbuilt thrusters, all completely legal and traced to a legitimate source.”

Peggy came coughing out of the cubicle before I could answer.

“I forgot how much I hate those.” She spluttered, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Alright, last one. In you go.” Chal demands, gesturing distractedly in Gem’s direction before turning back to his screen just as Cory walked out of the cubicle looking completely normal.

I stared at him in confusion.

“What the nik?” Gem stopped mid-step.

“What?” Cory’s hands rose to straighten his scrubs self consciously.

“They all came out looking like they’d been caught in a sandstorm without a suit or something and you just stroll out looking perfect?” She questioned.

He blushed lightly.

“Well, I have to go through a chemical shower every day when I enter the medBay.”

“You do that every day?” Cas asked, in shock.

“Yeah, it’s standard practice for doctors and surgeons. By the way, I really loved the fully automatic system you use. That was great!” He complimented Chal.

I shook my hand in disbelief.

“Thank you, I designed the system myself. So?” Chal asked, turning to me.

I locked eyes with Cas.

“What do you have?”

Chal’s face broke into a wide, slightly scary smile. “Everything.”

I forced myself to take a deep breath and clenched my hands to stop them from shaking as icy fear rushed through my body. I could hear Chal and a medBot moving around quietly behind where I was lying side down on the plastic-covered operating table. The gentle metallic clink of tools being placed in the surgical tray filled me with dread.

I regretted offering to go first, it was terrifying. Maybe if I’d seen someone else have theirs fitted, I’d be less scared. Probably not. Seeing someone’s skull get drilled into for the first time was always horrifying, it was probably a good thing I didn’t watch someone else go first. It would have stopped me from wanting any mods ever. I’m glad we went straight for the neural transmitters, having your skull drilled into makes the more minor ones like our eye mods way less scary.

“I’m going to put this strap across your head to stop you from moving, okay? Don't worry, you shouldn’t feel a thing. If you do, just say something or raise your hand and I’ll stop immediately,” Chal said, stepping into my eye line.

“Okay.” My voice sounded strong despite the anxiety I was feeling.

The strap tightened across my forehead and I forced myself to take another deep breath as the panic built even higher. I gave an experimental wiggle of my head but it didn’t move. That didn’t make me feel any better. I wouldn’t be able to escape easily, that much was clear.

Cory walked to the other side of the table to see what Chal was doing and I felt my anxiety lessen slightly. I trusted him, Cory wouldn’t let anything bad happen.

“Aries, you’re going to feel a cold sensation on the back of your neck. Are you ready?” Chal said calmly.

“Yes.” I lied as I felt a cold liquid douse my neck and clenched my eyes shut.

It was starting. My stomach churned nauseatingly and for once I was glad I’d been too anxious to eat much.

I felt someone squeeze my hand and opened my eyes to see Cas’ hand wrapped around mine, his eyes fixed on my face.

“Can you feel that Aries?” Chal asked in that same soothing voice.

I waited for a second but felt nothing.

“No.” My voice was much less steady this time.

“Okay, we are ready to begin. Remember, if you need me to stop or feel anything, just say.”

My breathing hitched and I squeezed Cas hand tightly as my anxiety grew almost unbearable. I’d been awake during procedures before, like when they put my leg back into place, but this was different. They were operating on my brain.

“So, do you need to drill into the skull to place this?” I heard Cory ask and was glad the head strap stopped me from jerking my head away from them.

Thankfully, my heart had begun to pound so loudly I couldn’t hear the answer as my breathing started to come in gasps.

“Hey,” Cas said, dropping down to where my face was strapped.

I said nothing, just stared at him desperately as I tried to get my breathing back under control without any luck. The knowledge that my skull was being drilled into made me want to puke. It didn’t hurt but there was a weird buzzing sensation that I could feel all through my head. It felt like my eyes and teeth were vibrating and I hated it. My hands itched to pull the strap from my head and run far away from there.

“Do you remember that place we went for lunch a couple weeks ago where they had that giant cheese fountain?” He said over the noise of the drill, bringing his face close to mine.

“Uhuh,” I said tightly, unable to do anything other than focus on the vibrations at the back of my head.

“That was so good. What was your favourite dish there?”

“Um… I guess that Ghnah.”

“Oh, that was good. I preferred the Kl’osh. It was so spicy.”

“That was good.” I stared into his eyes, trying to ignore the invasive feeling in my head.

His thumb stroked my hand as he continued talking, his eyes fixed on mine but occasionally darting up to look at the others behind me.

“What was your favourite dessert?”

“Maybe that butter pudding?”

“That was good. Where do you want to travel next?”

I thought frantically. We had a huge list of places we wanted to go to but in that moment my mind was blank.

“Umm… I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to go to Sphoreia.”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“I want to see the rainforests there. They sound really beautiful. And the animals.”

“We should go there next then.”

We never did get a chance to go there. We were always too fixated on somewhere with good food and there was nothing anywhere near district Sivent-9 so we never got the chance to. A couple weeks ago, when we were stuck in our dorm, Cas promised we’d go but I don’t think we’ll ever be able to now. If you’re reading this and you have the chance, please go. For us.

A hand touched the strap on my forehead and I jumped, my hand spasming around Cas’.

“It’s okay! You’re done. The neural implant is in place and reporting strong results!” Chal said, holding his hand out to me and helping me sit up slowly.

A wave of nausea washed over me and I squeezed my eyes shut, leaning back and letting Cas catch me.

“Deep breaths, just give yourself a chance to adjust.”

I did as Chal said and opened my eyes again, the world feeling slightly more steady now.

“That wasn’t too bad. It was quicker than I thought it would be.” I said, gently moving my head about and feeling no pain.

He nodded. “It really doesn’t take long. The cut will heal in a couple of days, just be gentle with it until then and take the medication I give you.”

“What medication?” Cas asked quickly, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Just painkillers! I’m drilling into your skull, that’ll hurt if you don’t take care of it.” Chal pointed out.

I gripped the controls of the ship and thought hard.

Hello?

Nothing. No one responded.

Damnit.

Hello.

“This is really tough,” Cas said, his eyebrows creased together in concentration.

“It is.” I agreed.

Yeah. Cory agreed, his voice sounded straight into my head, much louder than I expected.

I gasped. “You did it!”

“What?” He said surprised.

“How did you do that?” Gem asked excitedly.

“I don’t know. I just kind of tried to think to you rather than to myself, if that makes sense?”

I tried again. Imagining my thought goingback to the crew.

Hello?

Still nothing.

“I can’t get the hang of this.” Gem complained dropping her head back against her seat in frustration.

“We’ve had them for like twenty minutes, none of us can. Give it time!” Cas called back laughing.

“Yeah, Chal said it could take us weeks or even months until we can use them properly,” Peggy added, her face screwed up in concentration.

“That’s so annoying. I just want to be able to use them now!”

Me too. Cas’ voice said loudly into my head.

I whipped my head around to look at him. His eyebrows were smushed together as he thought hard.

“Do it again.” I requested.

His eyes narrowed but I heard nothing.

“Damn it, I thought I had that down.” He laughed.

I narrowed my eyes and tried again, thinking so hard it hurt.

Hello.

I waited to see if anyone replied but no one replied.

Damn.