The Starlight Lancer

Chapter Sixty-Eight: A New Beginning

"We often find after the toughest times that we are reborn with new purpose and spirit. What we went through did not break us—we are still here."

—High Priest of Byzon Cahtroo Vaun after the Fourth Byzonian Holy War

The next day, Garrick and Eva stopped by to bring Zaina her new arm. High Scholar Fawndar had undersold their excitement. Eva squealed with glee upon laying eyes on Zaina. Her mentor, standing nearby, covered her ears and grumbled.

"Oh, it's so good to see you're all right! I was so worried about you at first, and then they said you'd need a new arm, and I thought—a new arm? I have original designs for every body part, and I mean every body part, so an arm's no problem at all, but then that led to more questions, like, uh, 'How did Zaina lose her arm,' and—well, you know. I'm happy to see you're okay."

"Thanks, Eva," Zaina said, though okay was a stretch.

"Of course," Eva continued, "I've also been very excited to show you the finished design—when I saw where your arm was cut, I thought, 'oh, that's awkward.' Right in the middle of the upper arm. But I've come up with a number of solutions. Problem is, due to Order restrictions on certain medical procedures on unconscious people—which, you know, I guess is a good thing—I had to wait until you were conscious to get this baby online."

Zaina was already confused. "Can we have a cup of gamba, and then talk about all of this?"

Eva's grin widened. They went inside, and Zaina sat by and relaxed as Eva made the machine sing, producing four perfect cups of gamba, and put one in everyone's hands. Zaina appreciated the burst of energy—she felt refreshed going into the more complicated technical talk.

Once the small talk was over, Zaina said, "So—the arm. Please, try to put it in simple terms."

"Right," Eva said, grabbing the handle atop a small box she'd brought inside with her. She opened the top and reached within, pulling out a microchip with a few wires attached.

"This is the first solution, and probably the most straightforward and reliable. It's a cybernetic implant that goes in your head—directly into your brain—and it'll link up directly to your arm. You'll be able to feel every sensation in the books, or even custom sensations, if you want. Of course, the downside to this solution is that it does require intensive brain surgery—but our android surgeons boast a very, very high success and survival rate, I mean like, upwards of 99.995 percent—so it's not the worst thing in the world."

Zaina grimaced. Brain surgery wasn't an enticing idea. "No thanks, I'd prefer not to let drones operate on my head—what else?"

Eva reached back into the box and pulled out a small, thin metal cylinder with a long extension at the center of either side. "So, here's option number two. This here's a magnet graft—it has two parts, you see, the graft and the magnet. The graft here gets welded onto your bone, and the magnet locks into place on top of it; then, right on the other side there, is the standard connector for prosthetics. It'll connect to and expand upon your existing nerve endings. Since this one can communicate with your brain, no need to drill a hole in your skull if you choose option number two."

Zaina's forehead scrunched up. "Welded onto my bone—is there an option that doesn't involve surgery?"

Garrick shook his head. "Not a one, I'm afraid. There has to be some sort of way to make your neural impulses connect to the prosthetic, so some sort of cybernetic surgery is necessary, I'm afraid."

Zaina sighed. She'd lost her planet, her friend, and now her arm, all to become a lancer—so be it. She nodded. "I'll take the second one. I'll be asleep for this, right?"