Pathways of the mind - Nano 2016

Chapter 7 - Controller

A/N: This section covers parts of the previous chapters. It should be reasonably obvious which section are in the different chapters. If you find it hard to follow let me know and I can edit it to an extent.

The doctor was talking to both Risty's and Sten's parents, "Both have been stabilized. Both have some issues but Risty has the worst. Since she was in the front of the flyer when they were struck by the other driver she took the brunt of the damage. Ignoring the other injuries, the worst is what appears to be a spinal injury in her lower back. The spine wasn't completely severed so there is hope for recovering some functions. With Sten he is going to be out of it for a few days as his injuries start to heal. It would be best for him so he isn't dealing with the pain of his injuries."

Risty's father was holding his wife as they were listening, "Are there any treatments available to give her a better chance of recovering the use of her lower body?" Modern medicine could do wonders but the spine and brain were harder to heal.

"There is but it is very complex and requires a second person. I will give you a brief overview, we inject a medication into the severed part of the spine. It will cause the spine to regrow the connections. The problem with this is the connections aren't necessarily the old ones. Once regrown the patient is connected to a neural interface along with a second person. They both are sent into a virtual reality world which requires the patient to relearn now to walk, run, and everything else which might be impacted. The treatment is expensive. Both would be inserted into a whole-body simulator, connected to an AI interface which controls the VR. How long it will take and how much recovery we don't know. What also makes it a rarely used treatment is currently the second person needs to be known to the other and similar in age."

Her parents gasped though the cost they weren't worried about. The city was going to be at fault since the slideway was having maintenance done. An alert should have been set and the slideway taken out of service. It hadn't been done from what it was looking like. What they didn't know was where they could find someone who would be able to work as the second person.

The doctor asked if there were any more questions before standing up, "Think on it and I will have some tests run to see if this would be a usable treatment. It depends on just how much damage there is." He urged them out of the room and to go and see their children.

~~~

The four parents had asked to speak to the doctor again. There had been talking a great deal over the last few days and come to a decision. When the doctor walked into the room they looked at him, "We have talked and Sten's parents are willing to have him work as the second person if he will be suitable. He and Risty have pretty much grown up together. They are almost inseparable even though they have other friends. If he was awake I am sure he would demand to be allowed to try and help her."

The doctor considered what they were saying and started tapping a toe as he ran idea's through his head, "One question I have is what sort of relationship do they have. Just friends? Boyfriend and girlfriend?" With the VR it was full depth and if there were intense emotions involved it could cause problems.

Sten's mother smiled slightly, "Not that we know of. I think Sten actually leans towards guys though he hasn't said anything one way or the other. They are simply really good friends." She hadn't bothered to ask Sten and Sten hadn't bothered talking about it. There was the occasional casual 'she's cute' or 'he's good looking' but not much else.

"I will schedule some tests for Sten to see if he will work." He tapped some instructions into his tablet before turning back to them, "I have a small video which gives you a better overview of the process. Watch it and we will talk further." He started the video and left the room to it.