A week later, an armored vehicle stopped in front of the Terrence household early in the morning, Samuel came out of the house, the soldiers saluted him and he tried his best to salute back. His backpack loaded with basic necessities like a few of his civilian clothes and other personal articles as instructed by the army. His father watched him get into the vehicle and go away.
A few hours later Samuel arrived to the headquarters of the local office of the exo-pilots army division. A routine check up was realized by a bunch of doctors. They did all kind of medical procedures on him, blood test, ultrasounds, full body magnetic resonance imaging, and lastly they put him naked into a metal box, only his head was left out while the intense light of the High Intensity Light Imaging machine did its thing. In regular hospitals this was made with the help of some of the many specialized AI, but here everything was made by human hands with as little AI and automation as possible.
Finally the day was over, Samuel was dressed in a hospital gown which some how managed to get loose in the back no matter how hard he tied it and showed his ass around. As he was taken to his room, he let his body fall in the bed while looking at the roof. A few minutes later, he was bored to tears. The army took his headphone away, since this was a military installation most of contact with the outside and use of AI or personal devices was prohibited. It was a weird experience for Samuel to use one of those old screen touch computers with no AI, no retinal projection and no connection to the web. He had to make do with the boring local army collection of movies, shows, videos and what not. One hour later, it was too much for him, so he got out of his room and went to the saloon in the ward. A room with a few sofas, tables and some old style card decks and board games.
"Can´t relax either homs?"
The voice came from the man that also passed the compatibility test a week prior.
"Yup" Answered Samuel.
The man got up and walked towards him offering his hand.
"I'm Hector Gonzales, nice to meet you" the man said in an Mexican accent.
"Samuel Terrence Selmar, nice to meet you too"
"Terrence? Like Magnus Terrence Carlsen?"
"Yeah, that one"
"Oh men! It is in your blood homie, orale. You know, I still got the first edition of the original Executioner back home, your old man is a legend."
"Thanks. How old are you?" It was obvious that Samuel didn't want to talk about his grandfather after the things that happened.
"I'm twenty four esse"
Samuel seemed a bit surprised by this.
"Yeah, I know, I'm a bit old, usually people get dreams of being a pilot earlier, but you know, my mamita, she didn't like soldiers and all this war stuff, she was old and a bit sick and I didn't want to worry her. But she died a few months ago"
"Sorry about your loss"
"Thanks. Anyway, a few weeks ago I found that old blood compatibility test I did many years ago in the school and remembered I had a chance to be a pilot, I had nothing better to do, the neighborhood is full of gangs and the situation was not good for me back in Mexico, I didn't want to end up like those fools in the hood, you know. So I decided to make my dream come true. I am gonna be a pilot like your grandfather"
"Wait, didn't you say that your mother was against it? How do you did the blood test?"
"I forged her signature, I was a handful when I was growing up"
They both laughed at that. A few minutes later a nurse came into the room.
"I'm sorry but you both must go back to your rooms and try to sleep. We can't give you any sedative as it could affect tomorrow procedure, but we can give you warm milk and some soothing tea though"
The two men followed the nurse and went back to their rooms. A few hours later they finally managed to fall asleep. Next morning the nurses shaved their heads and limbs, got them out of their rooms on stretchers. The two men gave thumbs up to one another as they were moved along the hallways. Finally Samuel was taken to a surgery room. The medical personnel moved him into the operating table and strapped him to it until he could not move at all, multiple sensors were stuck to his skin and a catheter went up his urethra, he looked at the many machines surrounding him and got obviously nervous.
"Mr. Terrence, I'm doctor Volder, me and my colleagues will perform this surgery and implant the piloting modules on your nerves. As you know, we can't use any kind of heavy anesthesia since that would affect the results of the readings from the implants, so, this is gonna hurt, like... a lot, try to remain calm, we will try to be as gentle and fast as possible."
"I know, I'm ready" Samuel answered, although his voice was shaky.
The doctor put the bite gag on Samuel mouth and the surgery began, four teams of surgeons where working at each of his limbs. The start was not so bad, after applying some cold spray on his skin, the surgeons cut a 2-3 cm wound. Samuel bit on the gag and tried to keep calm. After the doctors started dissecting his tissue he was grunting a little bit, once the installation of the implants started the pain increased, the damage affected the nerves directly. Samuel was sweating, his heart rate was increasing, his blood pressure was high, he could not avoid screaming. However, the doctors didn't stop. A few minutes later they were over and let him rest for a few minutes.
"Mr. Terrence, you have done really well. Your implants seem to be working properly. Now comes the hard part"
"Oh men!"
The operating table bend until Samuel was in a semi seated position, then, hell started. Like before, the doctors applied something cold to his skin and then made a small cut on the back side his neck, Samuel already knew what was coming, the neck implant was one of the most important ones. Samuel could hear doctor Volder directing the procedure.
"Implant in position. Ready to connect to the brachial plexus main nerves"
Samuel felt the needles go through his tissues until they hit the nerves, then the pain became unbearable as he bit on the gag and squealed.
"Connection completed. The signal is strong, terminals seem to be working properly. Time for the brain implant"
Samuel barely felt the touch of the scalpel in his skin, then the drilling started and with it the pain.
"Mr. Terrence, we have already made a hole in your skull, we will now get the biological implant into your brain, if you feel anything weird, let us know, you understood?"
One of the nurses took the gag off.
"Got it" said Samuel, tears and snot running down his face as the nurse tried to clean him up.
Samuel managed to see the implant as they brought it close, it was a thin white string with a small ball of less than a centimeter on its end. They were supposed to push that thing into his brain. Surprisingly that part wasn't painful at all, now, what came next did hurt a lot.
"Tunneling of biological implant completed, connecting to the secondary systems"
"How are the readings?"
"Everything is normal" answered one male nurse.
"Gentlemen is time. Mr. Terrence, the moment has come. This is gonna hurt, but after this, we are done. Initiate neural handshake"
Samuel screamed like a maniac while the doctors watched at his vitals and the lights, waves in the screens and beeping of the machines. He kept screaming for a good thirty seconds, he was about to pass out.
"He is passing out, activate the biological implant"
Like if he just woke up, Samuel eyes opened as he started screaming again, his muscles contracted as he tried to get free from the straps with as much strength as he could.
"Border line reached, neural synchronization completed. We are done"
"Give him some painkillers and sedatives, now."
The drugs went into his blood stream, Samuel relaxed as his consciousness faded away. He woke up a few hours later in the bed of that already known hospital room, a monitor over his head showed his vitals. A nurse was awaiting for him to wake up.
"Mr. Terrence, how are you feeling?"
"Like if someone boiled my arms, legs and head and then put a nail through my skull"
"We can increase the pain killers if you wish"
"Please do, I feel like I'm breaking apart. Is this normal?"
"Unfortunately yes. I will call the doctor now. He will answer your questions"
The nurse increased the speed of the intravenous infusion and used an analogical phone that was now on the night table to the right of the bed.
"Hi, Liam. Please tell doctor Volder that Mr. Terrence is awake. Yes, thanks"
A few minutes later the doctor came through the door.
"Mr. Terrence, how are you feeling?"
"Everything hurts"
"I know, that is a side effect of implanting the terminals needed to become a pilot, as you know the first activations are the worst, is a heavy load for the nervous system"
"Was like this for my grandfather?"
"No, it was a lot worse. The survival rate of the first generation was twenty percent at best. Now days, with the improvements in the technique, the technology and the compatibility and resistance test, only one of every hundred or so pilot candidate has some sort of complication"
"How did it go? Will I be a pilot?"
"I can guarantee it. Your first activation was a success. Now you must rest for at least ten days, after that, we will do your second activation"
"Will it hurt?"
"Yes, but a lot less than the first one, since the initial calibration is already done, we can use some pain killers. With subsequent activations your nervous system tolerance will increase and we can use more pain killers, you wont feel this levels of pain again until you interface with a complete Exoskeleton"
"How did Hector surgery went?"
"The team that performed the procedure said it was a success. He will also be piloting an Exo in no time"
"Good to know"
"We already informed your relatives about the good news. Captain Magnus asked for permission to visit. Since he is a retired pilot and knows the protocol; he might be allowed to visit you later, your father on the other hand, is classified as a security risk. I hope you understand"
"I do"
"Do you allow your grandfather to visit?"
"Yes"
"Very well, now try to rest, push the button if you need anything"
The doctor signaled to a red button on the bed rail next to Samuel right hand and then left the room.
While he was alone Samuel examined his wrist and ankles, it was hard and painful to move, the bandages were clean and no blood could be seen. His neck was immobilized, the contraption to protect the wound on his neck caused just a minimal discomfort. A few minutes later, Magnus was pushed through the door by a nurse, who then left leaving the two men alone. Magnus was not using his usual life support suit, instead the wheelchair the hospital lend, had a life support system to help him breath and regulate his vital functions that only covered his thorax. For the first time in years Samuel saw his grandfather legs and arms, saying he was a living skeleton fell short.
"How ya doing kiddo?"
"I'm fine grandpa"
"Bah! Bullshit, I know everything hurts"
"Got me"
"Well, trust me, it could be a lot worse"
"I know grandpa. How are dad and grandma?"
"Pissed off, but there is nothing they can do about it"
The way the old men spoke to his grandson was a lot different now. Felt more like a talk among coworkers than family. There was silence for a few minutes. Then the nurse came in.
"Sorry gentlemen, but the visits should be short, you need to rest Mr. Samuel"
"See you later Sammy"
"See ya grandpa"
Before the nurse managed to pass through the door Samuel spoke.
"Hey Grandpa, after all this hell, I am totally sure you didn't waste your life"
Magnus didn't answer, the nurse pushed the wheelchair and they left. Samuel eyes felt heavy and a few minutes later he dozed off.
Next day, he was moved out of the room in a wheelchair and was allowed to give a call to his dad using a computer terminal provided by the hospital.
"How are you son?"
"I'm fine dad"
"The surgery went well, I suppose"
"Yeah, no problems"
"When are you coming home?"
"Not anytime soon dad. My second activation is in nine days, after that there is a lot more stuff that needs to be done, so..."
"I will go see you as soon as the army allows me"
At this moment Williams was just a father worried about his son.
"Don't worry dad, I will be fine"
"I know son, I just... I'm sorry, I knew you wanted to be a pilot, but I just... your grandfather life was so harsh, I could not..."
"I know dad, but it was my decision. This is what I want to do, you did your best, you did well, but this is my choice"
"Love you son"
"I know dad, love you too"
The tension from previous days was gone, they were just father and son talking, they talked about many personal things, but per the rules of the military hospital they could not talk about anything classified as sensible information. A few minutes later, they hanged the call.