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VDL South Shenanigans


Lynneth

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"She killed him."

"Yes."

"...How?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but apparently she got him into ranting and turning his back to her. Then she suprise-attacked the man, suffocating him, crushing his windpipe and then breaking his neck. That killed him."

"So she was strong enough to kill him, really?"

"As I said. He's dead, we have it on tape. The security camera saw it all."

"Damn. How'd she get so strong?"

"No idea. She doesn't have any opportunities to train. There's nothing in her room for that."

"Is a camera in her room?"

"Yes, but it's broken."

"What?! They're supposed to work for ages without problems."

"I know that. But it's still broken, somehow. We didn't have the time to replace it yet, but I'm thinking she deliberately damaged it."

"But they're supposed to be impossible to see."

"Apparently not. No idea how."

"Monitor her with two Amber Guards. I want her under constant surveillance."

"understood. Do you want to know anything else?"

"Actually, yes. Does she receive some gene therapy or something similar?"

"Hm...I'm not sure. I'd have to check."

"Okay, do that. Then give me a report."

The other one nodded, quickly leaving to do his work.

___________________

Some days passed. The report was written and read, the guards posted in her room. After two more days, Leclerc visited her. This time, she was restrained with metal cuffs.

"Why hello there, my dear."

". . ."

You may notice I'm not the same man as last time. Should be obvious, considering you killed him. Anyways, do you know why I'm here?"

". . ."

"Come on, you can answer me.I've read all reports. Unlike the other Gentleman, I know about your strengthened bone-structure, for example."

"Mhm."

"I also know why you always wear a cap. You don't want people do see what you have on your head."

"Mhm!"

"Yes, yes. In fact, I'm the one you can thank for them."

"Wha-...?"

"I'm the lead scientist and director of this facility. I lead a similar facility in Canada, where I acquired most of my current knowledge."

"!"

"I know everything about most of the subjects within this building. Including you."

She tried curling up, though that was a bit hard with her hands cuffed on her back. She turned away from Leclerc.

"Now, now. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I want to help you."

"H...how?"

"By getting you out of this part of the facility. You have a potential. Random chance that you have it, but it's there."

She turned her head to him. "What...kind of potential?"

"Ah, you'll find out soon enough. If you cooperate with me."

"Mhm..."

Again, she looked away from Leclerc, down to the floor this time.

"Don't worry. Take your time."

He stood up and left, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts.

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[b]Deutschdemokratische Nachrichtenagentur[/b] (ddna; German Democratic News Agency)

[b]Vienna[/b]

"You think we're dead.
We're not. Things have just been relatively quiet, and not much had to be reported.

We are proud to announce that the German Democratic Space Station - the GDSS [i]Kanzler Bismarck[/i] - has been completed. It will be used as the basis for missions to the moon and into the solar system, utilized as refueling and science station.
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/spacestation5.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_spacestation5.jpg[/img][/url]
This is a great step forward towards a better future, not only for us, but for all of Man.

Unfortunately, bad news have reached us as well.
We have received information from an anonymous source that there have been some horrific genetic experiments within the Ultor Complex in the alps. Apparently, tests are being preformed on live subjects that have been bred somehow for this purpose. Ultor corp. has announced that it will look into these accusations and let governmental specialists into the mountain-complex to see if the allegation are true. More on this as info becomes available.

Thank you for listening."

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[b]Deutschdemokratische Nachrichtenagentur[/b] (ddna; German Democratic News Agency)

[b]Vienna[/b]

"Ladies and gentlemen,
as you know, the GDSS [i]Kanzler Bismarck[/i] was completed some months ago.
What may've been unknown is that it includes a shipyard, where space vessels can be built. In fact, one such ship is being built right now."
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Bayern/GDR/Spess-1.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Bayern/GDR/th_Spess-1.png[/img][/url]

"The GDSV [i]Explorer[/i]. A revolutionary ship, capable of reaching Mars within [url="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/10/06/trips-to-mars-in-39-days/"]40 days[/url] instead of 200, the timespan which conventional propulsion systems need. These same conventional systems would need at least 5 years to reach Jupiter, the mighty gas giant of our solar system. The [i]Explorer[/i] can, thanks to the revolutionary [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VASIMR"]VASIMR[/url] drive, travel this same distance within a mere 6 months.
Aside from the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vasimr.png"]Vasimr[/url] propulsion, which will be the ship's core and main means of propulsion, it will also have a number of normal [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster"]ion[/url] thrusters for maneuvering. In addition, there is a hangar in which a shuttle as well as a number of probes will be stored, so that other worlds can be explored without endangering the entire ship. It also has a small railgun, useful for launching compact payloads such as mini-probes on long orbits.
Thermal radiators - retractable, so that they can be protected during more dangerous phases of the mission - will enable a sophisticated magnetic field generator to be activated (two, to be exact), generating a magnetic field similar to Earth's, but of course a lot weaker, to protect the crew from harmful radiation. The superconductors used for this are newly invented according to the Ministry of Science, having left testing only a month ago.
The habitation modules will be rotating around the ship's main axis, providing a comfortable artificial gravity of 0.7 G, meaning 70% of earth's gravity at sea level.
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Bayern/GDR/Explorer-1.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Bayern/GDR/th_Explorer-1.png[/img][/url]

Without the space elevator and the launch loop, this project would be impossible, its price in the hundreds of billions, perhaps even trillions. However, using these two incredible constructions of man, the price of building this can be lowered to a mere 387 billion. It will take a long time to build, but nothing in the world will be as great as the GDSV [i]Explorer[/i]."

Edited by Lynneth
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[quote name='Fizzydog' date='13 February 2010 - 12:23 AM' timestamp='1266017025' post='2178291']
"NTR is contributing to the project. 100,000 will be donated at random times. NTR knows that if this works, not only you, but all countries of the world will be able to expand."- Yiroshi.


OOC: Is that thing even possible to make?
[/quote]
"While we thank you for the offer, this is a purely German Democratic project."

OOC: Verily so. I talked with someone who knows an incredible amount about hard-sf and modern technology concerning this.

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[quote name='Vince Sixx' date='13 February 2010 - 01:18 AM' timestamp='1266020331' post='2178373']
The Distopya World Wide project offers to help this in construction with monetary funds.
[/quote]
"As we told the NTR, the ship is a GDR-project. Further ships may be international, but the first, the [i]Explorer[/i], will be solely Germa-funded."

Edited by Lynneth
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[quote name='Fizzydog' date='12 February 2010 - 04:40 PM' timestamp='1266021648' post='2178401']
"Well fine."

OOC: Well, SOMEone doesn't like help.
[/quote]
OOC: Fizzy, don't take it personally. Even if I, a friend, offered help, he wouldn't take it. Some nations do prefer to do certain things on their own, even in RL.

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[b]Deutschdemokratische Nachrichtenagentur[/b] (ddna; German Democratic News Agency)

[b]Vienna[/b]

"In a rather unexpected move, the government has decided to relocate its primary seat, moving to the outskirts of Vienna.
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/1250471794533.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_1250471794533.jpg[/img][/url]

According to officialy, this is to lessen the chance and danger of a nuclear strike on Vienna itself. According to the latest predictions, a 2 Megaton warhead would heavily damage vast parts of the city, killing hundreds of thousands and injuring millions by either radiation or debris from the initial detonation, in additon leaving the city hardly habitable for decades and perhaps centuries to come. Such a strike would be devastating to the nation and be met with a full counterstrike against the offending nation while as much of the civilian population as possible would be relocated to underground bunkers for their safety.
Currently, to increase safety, the government is planning to construct several large bunkers in the mountains for industrial facilities, safe against even nuclear strikes. These would be able to house tens of thousands each, securing at least parts of the nation's industrial capacity for possible rebuilding.
It is of course everyone's hope that these factories and the associated contingency plan will never have to be used. However, it's there, so perhaps we can sleep a little better in a world where national leaders can resort to nuclear strikes without more than a few condemning words from their allies."

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[quote name='JEDCJT' date='16 February 2010 - 05:42 PM' timestamp='1266338534' post='2185708']
"If you're concerned about nuclear strikes, why bother making Vienna such a huge city in the first place? It does look like a huge target, if you ask me."
[/quote]
"So we should restrict the natural growth of ourcapital and second-largest city just because some idiot decided he can nuke other nations with impunity?
Yeah, right. We will not restrict how our people wish to expand this nation's cities. We'll give them regulations for EMP-proof electronics, earthquake-secure buildings et cetera. But we will not stop them from building."

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*Semi-classified*

The Chairman had watched the movements of the Dragon Cult within not only the GDR, but also throughout the world, getting whatever information he could off the Internet and various other sources, as well as simply requesting information from affected nations via their embassies in the GDR.
What he uncovered with his persistence unsettled him the slightest bit. He decided to take action before the cultists took root.

From then on, all airports were advised to let no immigrants in who had served the Cult before; Withholding such information was made grounds for expulsion back to their home country. And soon after this, the extensive network of which each citizen was part via a [url="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Pip-Boy_3000"]national networking[/url] device on their (usually left) arm. This was used to find the locations of all suspected cultists.
Two days later, the [color="#FFA500"]Amber Guard[/color] stormed and raided more than 40 households, taking almost 180 people into custody, including most of the original cultists. The raids were declared a matter of national security and thus not objected to the usual transparent workings of the government. They were declared a partial success, even though there still were cultists somewhere.

In the meantime, a prison camp was being built solely for the cultists. It would roughly have the same conditions as all others, but only cultists would be allowed in there, to prevent prisoners being converted somehow.

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When the amber guard stormed the compounds of the cultist, there was no resistance. They even offered to help the guard arrest themselves! Perhaps some of the strangest scenes there might be at what should be considered an oppressive act. In absolute compliance they went to the storage place made for them.

Couple of the most recent converts.. more like those just recently beginning to attend.. put up minor fights because they realize they're giving up their freedom and they haven't quite bought into the idea of obedience to the Dreamer's plan yet. The central cultists would offer to help calm these folk as they resisted if permitted.

Edited by Maelstrom Vortex
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Few people in the GDR would consider this an oppressive act, especially not after it had been declared a matter of national security (and later integrity). A short statement from the Chairman would clear up that this cult was a suicidal one and was attempting to bring its suicidal and anti-existential tendencies into the nation. It was an act to prevent further spread of the Dragon cult and would likely be very successful. The people of the GDR were not the most individualist ones in the world, but nobody would like having to commit suicide just because some crazy "dreamer" demands it. They could think for themselves.

The more recent converts would be separated from the 'older' ones, to slowly be reintroduced into society if they could be turned back into functioning members of the same. The latter, who had been cultists for a longer time were simply brought into the prison camps and subject to reeducation and, indeed, partial brainwashing. Unfortunately for them, little to nothing of this would reach the public.

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And while the cult was reduced to less than 20 people, unlikely to grow due to recent actions by the Chairman, a military parade was being staged in the capital, Vienna.
It was for no reason but to show some of the military hardware the GDR possessed to the world, and no rise of Defcon could be noticed, because there was none. It was a show of strength for the sake of showing it.
But surely, many would try to interpret a million things into this.


[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/MilitaryBuildup.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_MilitaryBuildup.jpg[/img][/url]

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[b]*Goddamn classified*[/b]

Another day or two had passed. Laura was left alone, other than the two guards watching her. She spent that time (uncuffed) in a corner, curled up.
Meanwhile, Leclerc checked her files again,especially the genetic modifications done to her after arrival.

*Access file: Laura Sieger
[indent] . . .
. . .[/indent]
*Please provide your login
[indent] +Name: Fjclerc
+Password: *****************
+Fingerprint[/indent][indent][indent] . . .
. . .
. . .
OK[/indent][/indent][indent] +Eyescan[/indent][indent][indent] . . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
OK[/indent][/indent]
*Access granted
*Welcome, Dr. Leclerc.
*Ultor Systems Managing System wishes you a successful working day.
*Accessing files: Subj. 03AF-9Z5A-3LS, Laura Sieger
*Please specify
[indent] +Access project data[/indent][indent][indent] . . .
. . .[/indent][/indent]
*LSieger - Modifications
[indent] +00001 (Std.)
+00035
+00036
+00039
+00121
+00122
+00123
+00512[/indent]
*Open?
[indent] Y; 00035-00039; Span 1D, 2M, 1Y

#We have decided to replace the subject's ears with feline ones. She will also receive simple, nigh unnoticable
feline whiskers and a feline tail, prehensile. The changes will be introduced 2 days after the other modifications.
Current predictions place success rate at 89%.
#2 Months after start: 00001 worked well, as usual. She's growing the other modifications at a greatly
accelerated speed. Ears are quite visible, tail works well. Whiskers have not appeared yet, they may show up
later, but that is unlikely. None of the common side-effects are found as of now.
#1 year after start: She is fully developed, looking mostly as predicted. No whiskers have appeared. Otherwise
healthy,despite all the trauma from the procedure. Above average intelligence. 00035 and 00036 are fully
developed.
#No further entries for specified durations. [/indent]
*Access History
[indent] +Latest entry: Yesterday, 13:41[/indent]
*Open
[indent] -Latest entry: Yesterday, 13:41
Leclerc said he wanted to visit Laura again in the next days, but he didn't say when. The technicians finally
responded and said they'd repair the camera in two days. [/indent]
*Go to Details
[indent] -Name [indent]Sieger, Laura[/indent] Age [indent]19 yrs[/indent] Ment. age [indent]25 yrs[/indent] Species [indent]prim Human
sec ---
tert ---[/indent] Gender [indent]F[/indent] Blood Group [indent]AB[/indent] Rhesus factor [indent]R[sub]1[/sub]r (positive)[/indent] Skin [indent]White[/indent] Eyes [indent]Brown[/indent] Hair [indent]Nat. Red[/indent] Height [indent]1.72 m[/indent] Weight [indent]68 kg[/indent] Status [indent]Alive[/indent][/indent]
*Go to Description
[indent] Please scroll down[/indent]
[indent] Laura Sieger is a 19 year-old girl that has been part of our project for roughly 5 years.She currently has no relatives or
loved ones. Her blood type is AB, her skin is white, her eyes brown and her hair is naturally red. Her rhesus factor is
R1r (positive). She is 1.72 meters tall and weights 68 kilograms. 4 years ago she was the very first subject to receive a
lobotomic surgery to merge parts of her brain with artificial devices. At the same time, she was undergoing heavy
genetic treatment. She has the following mutations: More effective white blood corpuscles (00121); more effective
coagulation when in contact with air (00122); stronger bones (00123); better vision (00512); ears, tail, whiskers of a cat
(00035-36, 00039), the latter not having appeared; inducing compatibility with the changes we to do our subjects (00001),
which is standard. She is one of two subjects to survive the initial lobotomy, though the initial devices have been
replaced with more advanced ones roughly a year ago. She is now capable of interfacing with any computer that has a
compatible USB port. As the newer connectors have internal firewalls and are EMP-proofed as well as incapable of
transmitting anything but information - thus not transmitting emotions or feelings, such as pain - she is theoretically
capable of infiltrating any modern computer system, be it a Mac, Windows, Linux or any other OS, provided it has USB
compatibility. All known programming languages have been included. It is feasible but expensive to augment her further,
such as modifying her arms or legs, giving her a stronger heart or other such things. All in all, she would be a reasonable
candidate for a specops or infiltrator program. With the newly arranged ears, she can hear much better, the strengthened
bones enable her to survive dangerous situations more easily. The changes with her blood make her more resilient
against sicknesses, close wounds more efficiently, etc. Please consult Dr. Alt for details about her personality.[/indent]

Edited by Lynneth
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The first day of her new life was calm,with practically nothing happening. It was almost boringly normal. She enjoyed it for as long as possible, until she got tired and went to sleep.
The second day started with her getting a tour through a school-like facility within the Ultor Complex, which employees used for further mental and physical training. She was informed that she would be getting a high-quality education in the mornings and military training in the evenings. It would be a very hard life, with little free time.

However, aside from being utterly [i]draining[/i], the education and training were not very eventful. She learned well and quickly picked up many things, something that fascinated her. In her "previous" life, it had never been this easy and she suspected that someone had tampered a bit with her brain to achieve this. And while there indeed was such an entry in her files, she would never see that particular bit.

Soon, the days would turn into weeks, weeks into months. Before she knew it, a year had passed and she'd In addition, most of the training was finished by then and her previously scrawny and rather weak body now looked strong, but not ridiculously so. Some may even dare to say "sexy" when asked to describe her new body. However, she usually wore relatively concealing clothing and thus made it hard for any perverted personnel to ogle. Even when training, her clothes were unusually heavy, resulting in her taking long showers afterwards in her small residence. Crafty as she was, all cameras in her rooms were disabled by now. Leclerc (and the techs) hadn't even attempted replacing them, knowing they'd just get disabled again.

Then, approximately 500 days after getting out of the small cell and into her new life, she was brought into an operation theatre. It made her nervous, but she knew it was necessary, this being the first of likely numerous operations.
The goal was to augment her entire body in some way, such as strengthening her skeleton or muscles further. The procedures to do this were incredibly invasive and needed hours of preparation before and days to weeks afterwards for recovery. Each time this needed to be done, and she never got used to it. The procedure always was horrible in some way even though she got sedatives to help her sleep through it. Unfortunately, she somehow always felt exactly what was done. Every cut, every piece of metal put into her. Without her doctor and counselor, she might've been driven mad.

Over the course of the following year, numerous augmentations were tried, but not all were successful and some were rejected by Laura's body. Some that worked were strengthening - though not entirely replacing - her bones, making her muscles stronger and more durable, or heightening her reflexes slightly. Thanks to these and others, she now was capable of things only dedicated athletes were supposed to be capable of doing. Nothing truly superhuman and still well within the restrictions of the human body. Despite this, people watching her would likely assume her capabilities to be above those of humans, mostly because of the simple fact that athletes often were specialised in a specific discipline. Getting these abilities was excruciating but actually having them was incredible to the now 20 year-old girl. Running as fast as the world-record holder over 100 meters for as long as athletes running 8,000 meters was simply incredible. Her lungs were one of the body parts partially replaced with something more powerful though somewhat more maintenance was required. It still was little, enough so she could go for several years without them getting checked. However, after a certain timespan, breathing would get harder with every day...
Life was good. Better than before, at least, the operations aside.

Then she was introduced to the M-98 Witwe ("Widow") anti-materiel rifle. With a weight of 32 kilograms, it was half as heavy as she before her augmentations and training. At 2.015 meters length it was a good 30 centimeters longer than she was tall. When she first fired a shot, the recoil almost dislocated her right shoulder. Without the stronger bones and tissue, she would've had to stop training right then and there to get the shoulder treated. Luckily, this wasn't necessary and she could fire a few more shots before having to pause.
Just because her shoulder still was in place didn't mean that firing the gun didn't hurt at all. In fact, after emptying one magazine - 5 shots - it hurt like hell, and she asked for ice as well as relief of training for the rest of this and the next day. Her request was granted and she was able to recuperate...only to try and use the Witwe again before she was given a DSR 50 sniper rifle for training and building her tolerance for these heavy anti-infantry weapons. The .50 was a lot more forgiving and she could easily use it for all day. However, she'd "fallen" for the M-98 and its sheer power.
But, unfortunately, she would require further augmenting to fire it in true safety. Laura asked for this to be done, despite all fears of the needed operation. It was decided to try and strengthen her muscles using carbon nanotubes. Whether her body would accept them was questionable, but the scientists were hopeful. They'd created hybrid-animals and entirely new species with their genetic program, so they surely could do something simple as adding the world's most powerful material in tensile strength to her body, couldn't they?
Of course they could.

Only, they encountered unexpected complications during and after the intervention. Depending on the success of the following measures, she would either be able to continue living as before, or she'd be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of her sorry life.

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*Classified*

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZLpWrJGgk"]A robotic surgery[/url]
"2 to the right. Careful."
An electric hum, faint and barely audible.
"Careful."
"I already stopped."
"Barely."
"I know."
"Now..."
"4 left. Cutting."
"3 up. 2 forward. Cutting."
"8 left. 2-5 back. 0-5 back. Needle no.2. Injecting."
"5 left. 3 left. 6 up. 4 left. Sawing. Cutting...Careful. Not too slow."
"Needle no.4. 5 left. 2 down. Injecting half. 4 up. 8 back. 7 right. Injecting rest."
"2 left. 1 forward. Sewing."

The room was dimly lit, in a brown light. Most of it, anyways, with small but powerful LED lights illuminating the surgery area on the patient. The right shoulder, to be precise. The instruments were eight robotic arms, four in operation by one surgeon, thus requiring two of them. There were four nurses in the room, both them and the surgeons in sterile clothing, from head to toe.
The surgery was an important one, with the entire shoulder and part of the lungs being messed up, damage going from halfway down the upper arm to the area covered by the shoulderblade and partially into the spine. Somewhere, someone had seriously $%&@ed up in the process of augmenting the girl, and these two men were busy fixing the damage. The two men on the surgery robots were a Markus Zeppelin Lang, one of the best surgeons Germany had ever produced, and a Fjodor Aleksandrovich Leclerc, genius in the field of genetic technology and almost-polymath in medicine, but also borderline insane.
The patient was a Laura Sieger, prototype commando and by now a trained markswoman. A recent intervention had somehow triggered an unexpected response in her system, bringing the girl into a coma, forcing radical measures.

"2 right. Injecting. Moving to spine to continue there."
"Understood. Shoulder almost finished, will do the rest. Moving to arm afterwards."
""Estimated time?"
"2 hours minimum."
"Geez. We've been working for what, 6 hours already?"
"Doesn't matter, Lang. We need to finish this properly."
"Fine, fine. Still exhausting."
"Of course. Will need a lot of rest afterwards. You, too."
"Working on spine now. No more talking."

From the on, the only thing audible was the whirr of electrical motors and the nurses occasionally changing the components of the robotic arms, if needed. It was a hard procedure, taxing on both the two doctors, as well as the unconscious patient. Once awake, she would, like often before, possibly be able to recall every cut, incision, injection and movement that had been made during these many hours. Lang and Leclerc would meanwhile have to rest for a day or two before getting back to their usual standard...Little, if compared to what the girl would experience.
But there were worse things. Much worse.

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Classified*

By now, almost 36 hours had passed since the end of the initial procedure. It wasn't expected to work immediately, like some kind of wonder medicine. In fact, both Leclerc and Lang were sure that further interventions were required to fix this botched job done on her. In the operation on the day before yesterday, they'd repaired and fixed a great number of crucial mistakes done on her shoulder and right half of the spine, but there were many more needing to be worked on.

"Who the [i]hell[/i] was responsible for this?!"
"Don't ask me, Leclerc. I'm usually too busy saving people from life-threatening cancer and !@#$ like that to be sabotaging your silly experiments."
"I know, I know! I'm raging at the monitor if you didn't notice, trying to find the man overseeing the first operations."
"I assume you'll relieve him of his duty?"
"Oh no, that's a far too nice fate. I'm going to make him suffer. He almost cost the project a subject worth tens of millions, if not hundreds. Stupidity like that, be it accidental or deliberate, will be dealt with harshly."
"Almost sounds like you care for the girl."
"What if, Markus? What if I do care about her? It would still be a great loss for the project, only with the added side effect that I'll be more stressed emotionally."
"Which isn't a good side effect."
"Indeed. There. Thomas Voll."
"I know that name. The man's incredibly incompetent in action, but a good administrator."
"But no genius, I assume?"
"No genius. Thus, ending our work relationship with him as employee wouldn't be too great a loss. Quite manageable, in fact."
"He won't be missed, anyways."
"He has family, doesn't he?"
"So? It doesn't matter. He risked too much and will continue doing so unless he's taken care of. He is a liability. In a sense, I'm doing his wife a
"And how will you do that?"
"An accident, of course. He'll have one and nobody will be any smarter."
"If you say so." Lang shrugged. "The next operation's scheduled to start soon. We should prepare now."
"Of course."
The director of the facility got up, followed shortly by the master-surgeon. The operation today wouldn't last for as long as the first, but it would still take several hours to complete. This time, they would mostly work on her spine to remove outdated technology and absolutely botched connections between it and the mechanical components.

______________________________

"A wonder she could move."
"Decay inevitable. Sub-par work done."
"Voll has been punished?"
"Being done in this very moment. Parts of spine to be removed without anaesthetic before execution."
"Ouch. Christ."
"Perhaps exaggerated, reactionist. Too late to change now."
"True."
Leclerc was currently working on the girl's upper spine, carefully removing mechanical components while Lang attacked new ones, using a special "glue" to connect nerved to the electronics. It would take about 2-5 days, depending on the location and compatibility, for organic and non-organic components to fully interface. Somehow, it had been done shoddily the first time.
"Hard to detach. Badly done."
"It's supposed to move little."
"Removing with tools not supposed to be hard. Removal without, using impact of ripping? Yes, very hard. But not for us, with tools."
"Mhm. Likely that he used too much gel. Hardened and prevented proper communication between nerves and electronics."
"Possible. We'll fix it, anyways."
"Of course."
"Possibility of all augments being like this?"
"High."
"Unfortunate."
Lots of work."
"Easy,luckily. Only takes time."
"A lot."

While they'd been talking, their hands continued the operation almost on their own, guiding the robotic arms with incredible precision. It was almost frightening, watching the two chat in these short sentences while they operated on the girl, almost casually fixing mistakes that would be fatal to most. The nurses, while experienced, were slightly unnerved.
After a total of 5 hours, they were done...for the time being. The next intervention was scheduled for Thursday, two days from now.

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[b]Deutschdemokratische Nachrichtenagentur[/b] (ddna; German Democratic News Agency)

[b]Vienna[/b]

"Construction of the GDSV [i]Explorer[/i] is going just as per schedule."
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Bayern/GDR/Spess-1.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Bayern/GDR/th_Spess-1.png[/img][/url]

"Several crucial parts, such as the habitation modules and the ion thrusters have been completed already, while construction on many other parts of the ship is ongoing. The [i]Explorer[/i] will be the first vessel built completely in space, with components being brought into orbit by the Space Elevator and the Launch loop, far above most satellites into a geostationary orbit. There, at the location of the GDSS [i]Kanzler Bismarck[/i], the components are being turned into the large vessel.
Not only will the [i]Explorer[/i] be the first vessel built in space, but also the fastest and largest, capable of reaching much higher speeds over distances than common rocket thrusters. It will eventually reach a length of 207 meters, thus being right between the Münchberg class destroyer and the Regensburg class cruiser, at 152 and 266 meters length, respectively."

___________________

Time passes, but we often don't notice this aside from getting tired. For sleeping people, this is even more obvious, many having no idea about how long they've slept. That may be part of why man began to split the day into more managable units.
But even then, sleeping people had [i]some[/i] kind of sense about the approximate duration of their sleep. Comatose people, on the other hand, had no such mechanism and thus, when waking up - if they ever did do so - years could've passed and they wouldn't know it without being told about it. A decade or two could've passed and they wouldn't know.

Several weeks had passed since the first intervention on Laura's shoulder. In that time, almost all outdated technology had been replaced with current high-tech, while any defective piece had been repaired.

"How is she, what do you think?"
"Much better than a month ago. But even if she wakes up soon, she'll have to stay in bed for at least another month."
"She's not going to like that."
"I know. But it's necessary, just like anything else."
"When do you think will she wake up?"
"No idea. It could be tomorrow, it could be in ten years. All we can do is wait."
"Wait...Goddamn, I hate waiting."
"I don't like it either. In the worst case, she could just become a vegetable and we'll have to take her off life support."
"Millions down the drain...And one of our most promising subjects."
"A big setback."
The other one nodded. He sighed.
"Let's get back to normal work for the time being. We can't do anything for her right now."
"Okay."

They looked at the girl, bound to all kinds of medical equipment, some so advanced in design that it wasn't available even in the GDR, only in this complex.
They turned, and left. Left her alone with the plush animal set besides her. A gift, from a man who'd thought that he didn't care about anything in the world, only to find that there was something, someone he cared about.
A someone rescued from the verge of death, but still dangerously close to the chasm.

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[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4QunenBEXI"]Flashbacks[/url]


"Come on, you don't want to look weak, do you?"
"I...uh...no!"
A small, red-haired girl standing in front of a taller, brown-haired boy. From their appearance, homeless and possibly orphans.
____________________

"$%&@ off, you !@#$%^&!"
The same redhead, kicking the boy out of their shared shelter. He looked at her, angry. "You'll regret that!"
____________________

"Told you so."
Several boys, between 12 and 15, around a beaten and battered red-head. She is bleeding from several places and her arms look broken.
____________________

"We'll give you a nice, new home. Better, away from all this."
"Really..?"
"Really."
A tall man hugging the same redhead. The children from earlier are on the ground, at least one with fatal gun-wounds. The man and the girl enter a helicopter.
____________________

"This isn't what he promised me..."
Huddled up in a corner, crying. A scar on the right temple, reminder of the time before Ultor.
____________________

"We're going to make you better!"
"No, please, no! Let go..!"
Struggling against the binds, a man with a strange scientific or medical contraption in his hand walks closer.
____________________

"What...did they [i]do[/i] to me...?"
Touching the newly grown tissue on top of her head, feeling where bone was in the past but is no more. Understanding that the brain may have been deformed as well. Panic.
Pounding against the walls and door. Until the hands bleed.
Bone becomes visible.
Exhaustion. Sleep.
____________________

Apathy. Trauma.
Realisation it couldn't possibly get worse.
____________________

A new, unknown operation room. A strange robotic mechanism above her head. Apathy.
Smiling nurse comes in. Smiling. Bad.
Staring at her. Getting the procedure explained by a loudspeaker.
Realisation.
It can get worse. It just did get worse. Much worse.
She wants to scream, but hears no sound come out. A whirr from above.
A sound at the back of her mind. Is the nurse screaming? She cannot turn her head anymore. The instruments connect with her head. Pain oh god no please stop it hurts make it stop make it stop make it stop i want to scream why can't i scream help please oh god [...]
Struggle, the binds tear into her flesh. She screams, but cannot hear herself. Panic. Adrenaline.
Dark.
____________________

Headache. Oh god. Please, no. Make it so this didn't happen.
Did they really do...something to my brain?
Hesitating, she moves her right to the back of her neck, then up towards her head. It feels a bit wet.
"Oh god," she says. Her hand reaches something cold, metallic.
Fear. Resurgence of pain.
Ohgodnopleasegodwhatdididotodeservethisithurts [b]DARK[/b]
____________________

"Then why don't you reply?"
". . ."
____________________

She felt her hands around his neck. He struggled. He died. She broke his neck.
She sat down.
____________________

"You have a potential. Random chance that you have it, but it's there."
Moving muscles. Her head turns to the man. He is old, easily seventy. He looks tired.
"What...kind of potential?"
____________________

Training. Education.
Hard, but rewarding.
____________________

Gun training.
Interesting, but nothing good.
____________________

Augmenting her body. The first in almost two years.
Nervous.
____________________

Running, fast, for a long time.
Thrilling. Incredible. Hard to describe.
____________________

Taking the Witwe for the first time.
Firing it. Adrenaline. Incredible.
"I love this gun."
Another shot. The shoulder hurts. Doesn't matter. Again, again and again.
Too much. Rest.
____________________

. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
What day is it...?
Sounds. Darkness. Lights, moving.
Where am I...?
It...it's my birthday. Today is my birthday.
A picture flashes. The old man. He's there. Waiting.
. . . Caring?
Nobody ever...
Must wake up.
Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up wake up wake up wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup[i]wakeupwakeup[/i][b]wakeupwakeup[/b][i][b]wakeupwakeup[/b][/i]WAKEUPWAKEUP
"WAKE UUUUUUUP"

Eyes. Open. Sitting. Hospital bed. Machines. Keeping alive.
Breathing hard. Sweating.
Old man. Sitting there. Staring. Mouth open.
Nurses. Standing, staring.
Old man is standing. Hugs head. Am awake.
He is smiling. I close my eyes. Something wet drops onto my head.
He is happy. I am happy.
I fall asleep. Smiling.

Edited by Lynneth
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