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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 18, 2015 1:11:46 GMT -8
They eased off Erel's pants with his help and isolated the area of attachment with a latex shield. The yellow buzz kept him relaxed. As Davenport injected anesthetic in multiple areas, Lennie Truman spoke to him about seemingly irrelevant information. 
Lennie-
"As I was saying, the new humanity experiences life itself through television. Programming is news, entertainment, education, and thought. The social contract is only ratified through electric impulses, through photons and fiberoptics, through radio. No modern TV station worth its salt is ignoring the new humanity and its requirements. So life sciences are paramount to engineering in the more traditional sense."
Mrs. Davenport went behind a curtain and returned with a leg-sized styrofoam case.
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Post by Dr. Jar on Oct 18, 2015 1:16:59 GMT -8
 Erel- "So you're engineering people for tv? Or tv for people? All this talk of the 'new humanity' is a little weird but humans have been evolving ever since we first evolved from apes..." He decided to keep to himself that they all sounded nuttier than a bucket of squirrels and that he may or may not have wanted to run and jump over the nearest fence or window to escape them as soon as he had his new prosthetic, which he hoped to any deity in this world or elsewhere, was not a giant grasshopper leg. |
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 18, 2015 1:25:41 GMT -8
What emerged from the styrofoam indeed looked very much like a cross between a skeletonized human leg and something from a giant insect. Spot on, imagination. And somehow, it didn't upset anyone's chill. Lennie kept on, as Davenport lowered it into position.
Lennie-
"The cycle of innovation is such that engineering both product and consumer is an apt description. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that the product and consumer engineer each other, and a good TV station merely facilitates this relationship. You will do well here, I can tell."
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Post by Dr. Jar on Oct 18, 2015 1:31:18 GMT -8
Erel- "It's a strange match..." He looks down at it, and waits for it to be fitted. "I suppose they do. Is that what you are aiming for? Are you from a composite news station of some kind?" |
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 18, 2015 1:51:42 GMT -8
The end of the leg was wrapped in ace bandage, and she unwound it to reveal an opening with a variety of organic and inorganic tubes and wires emerging, rubber-banded into several discrete but inscrutable categories. She pushed it gently against the anesthetized area, and he didn't feel any of it.
Davenport-
"I'll just touch the leads to the corresponding nerves and tissues."
Lennie-
"In a sense we're all composite entities now. We are innovating compared to, say, the textile industry, but no more than our competitors. I heard KTRO has retroviral aluminum penetration arrays already. The things they can do these days with a little imagination and elbow grease, am I right?"
Davenport pulled out one of the rubber bands, but Erel couldn't quite make out what she was doing there.
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Post by Dr. Jar on Oct 18, 2015 1:57:06 GMT -8
Erel- "... I suppose so. Do you think there's any chance something like that could get infected? It isn't attached is it?" He hoped it was like those prototypes in the magazines that just had to touch the flesh, but he could never be sure what would actually be involved. From the look of it, they were poking it right into his flesh. "...Do I get to test it? What's all this for?" |
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 18, 2015 2:04:26 GMT -8
Davenport could talk easily enough while working.
Davenport-
"Nothing that removal and a little medicine couldn't take care of. It'll just be about five more minutes..."
Lennie-
"You should be able to use it shortly after we're finished - whenever the anesthetic wears off."
True to their word, they finished, got his pants back on, and stood by him until sensation returned. It was an uncanny feeling, like back when he still had phantom limb feelings. But when he willed it to move... His thigh rose uneasily, like a natural limb waking up from a deep sleep.
Lennie-
"Niice. You're ready for work."
Davenport-
"Maybe even to dance. Save one for me, loverboy."
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Post by Dr. Jar on Oct 18, 2015 2:16:46 GMT -8
Erel- "Better than any real limb I've used. I'll save you any dance you like..." He tried to move it first, slowly flexing his knee, testing the flexibility and range of motion... then would try to get up. "...Ooh... How strange." |
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 18, 2015 2:22:40 GMT -8
The limb didn't have a perfect range of motion - it was stiff - but as he stood upon it, he could move naturally and easily.
Davenport-
"I'll hold you to that." She mimed a kiss at him.
Lennie-
"Let's show you the job then..."
The world was a yellow hum. It couldn't be seen, but it couldn't be denied. Nothing could upset a man now.
(we'll leave off here and cut to a later scene when the story resumes.)
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Post by Dr. Jar on Oct 18, 2015 8:53:55 GMT -8
Erel- Erel practiced walking with his new leg. Stiff was better than nothing.
What a day to be a cricket-man, he wondered.
He tried to do a little dance, even! What could make him feel blue? |
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