Find Me [Completed]

P14: Rewiring

[A/N: Lots of dialogue and computer gibberish in this chapter, sorry!

In this chapter we learn Tord's second biggest secret! The first will be revealed in a later chapter, but it's pretty predictable by this point ;3c ]

Tom sat atop what he could only assume was a metal table, judging by the smooth texture and cold surface. He wasn't at all listening to the conversation happening around him, instead retreating back into his mind in hopes of finally finding some damn peace.

Meanwhile, across the room from Tom, Tord and his head mechanic were looking over an array of blueprints and computer screens filled with a mixture of code, x-rays, and pictures of microchips. Tord was so focused on the items, that he almost didn't catch the mechanic speaking to him.

"We need to find a more permanent solution, Sir." The raven-haired man said, shuffling a few blueprints around on the desk he was sitting at. "Deleting Tom's corrupted memories each time this happens simply isn't doing the trick. We need to find the source of the corruption and fix that."

"And what do we need to do to figure that out, Reed?" Tord asked, looking over at the younger man.

"I'm fairly certain that the problem stems from one of the 23 bio-components near Tom's cerebellum." Reed said, pointing to several pictures of similar-looking microchips. "Many of them are connected to the neural implant port that Dr. Hagen used to implant Tom's memories during phase 4 of project firestone. I read in one of her logs that Tom had a habit of pulling out the wires, so I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of the bio-components sustained some physical damage."

"And that damage would cause memory corruption each time it's used, right?" Tord asked, raising an eyebrow. "How do we fix this?"

"First we have to locate the specific bio-component causing the problem, and then we'd have to replace it, Sir." Reed explained.

"And how long would that take?" Tord asked, rubbing his temple to try and rid himself of the headache he'd acquired.

"Of the 23 components, we still have the blueprints for 16 of them. The others were either lost or damaged over the years. My fingers are crossed that the damaged component is one of the 16." Reed said, quickly flipping through some of the blueprints on his desk. "To find the compromised component, the least invasive route would be running a SMART test on each component. It shouldn't take more than an few minutes, and I could start it now with your permission, Sir."

Tord let out a frustrated sigh. "Make it so, Reed." He answered with a nod.

Reed immediately went to work, compressing files and programs onto a flash drive, and writing a quick protocol to actually start the test he'd been talking about. Then, he got out of his swivel seat and made his way over to Tom, who was sitting on the medical examination table and hugging himself.

"Can you hear me, Tom?" Reed asked, going behind the shorter man. "I'm going to plug this USB into the port on the back of your neck. You might feel a pinch, but it shouldn't cause you any pain."

As Reed explained what he was doing, he plugged the flash drive into the port on the back of Tom's neck, which allowed for wires or a small flash drive to be inserted.

True to Reed's word, Tom didn't feel any pain from the drive, however, it could have been because of how zoned out he was.

Tord made his way over to where Tom was sitting, and his hand in his, intertwining their fingers as he did so. He watch the red flashing message on Tom's glasses.

"ERROR: UNSTABLE CONNECTION"

Tord had, of course, seen that specific error message numerous times. Most often when Tom was drunk off his ass, but also every time one of these "episodes" occurred.

Tord leaned his forehead against Tom's, and closed his eye.

He'd never admit it out loud, but it hurt Tord to see Tom like this. In all honesty, Tord blamed himself for the "episodes". It was his fault he couldn't perfectly recreate a human body; that he and his best team could only do so much without adding a few mechanical parts here and there.

Tom probably didn't even know that about 15% of his body was just very complex computers. Computers that worked seamlessly for the most part, but were still prone to errors and failing.

"Sir, are you listening?" Reed's voice pulled Tord from his thoughts.

Tord let go of Tom's hand and went to where Reed was now sitting back at the desk covered in blueprints and computers.

"No, I wasn't." Tord admitted. "Could you explain again?"

"I said that the test finished and 4 of the 23 components failed it. I already crossed referenced them with the 16 blueprints we have, and 3 have a match, however the blueprint for bio-component GLV381 is missing." Reed explained, pointing to lines of code on the computer screen.

"So that means you can fix or replace the first 3, but the fourth can't be fixed?" Tord asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That's correct, Sir." Reed confirmed Tord's suspicions.

"Faen!" Tord exclaimed, banging his fist down on the poor desk. "Can't you take the stupid thing out and reverse engineer it? I need Tom to be perfect."

"I could, Sir. However, reverse engineering a component as complex as GLV381 is could take weeks, maybe even months-" Reed tried to explain, but shut up when he notice his superior glaring at him.

"Do what you need to do, but you have 2 weeks to complete it. If you take longer then that, you'll have outlived your usefulness and I'll be forced to replace you. Is that understood, Specialist Reed?" Tord asked (well, more like demanded).

"Of course, Sir." Reed replied with a firm nod. "Doctor Smith and I can replace the first three components today, and then I'll immediately start on replicating the fourth. Tom would have to stay here for the two weeks, because his body won't be able to function with one of the bio-components missing."

Tord let out a sigh and looked over at Tom. If this was how he acted with four of his components damaged, then Tord didn't even want to see what he'd be like with one missing entirely. "Alright, Reed. Update me daily, and maybe I won't break a few of your ribs like last time." He ordered.

"Of course, Sir." Reed responded, and got straight to work while Tord left the room to get back to his other duties.

[A/N: I like doing these cookie things so:

Congrats to sansxtorie35 for getting the last chapter's question right! The answer was P39: Regret (Part 2).

First person who remembers when Reed was first introduced gets a cookie! (Hint: It was an early chapter of Glasses)]