Shedding the Demon

by Bill Denise

  “Sure,” he replied, “everyone seems to carry one.”

  “But have you used one before?”

  “Oh no, never have.”

  She proceeded to show him the basics of screen manipulation, and guided him through a few of its basic setup functions. Most importantly, she gave him a crash course on research. Once he learned how to ask it his questions, and he saw how much information came back, he was hooked.

  His appetite for information was voracious, and he barely noticed the shift change and then the subsequent dearth of activity in the next mid-shift. Finally, he realized he was exhausted. His screen told him it was 23:45, but that meant nothing to him in relation to his normal sleep cycle. He decided that it didn’t matter, he would go by his body instead of the clock.

  Using one of his new skills, he asked the screen to show him to his room, I mean cabin, he thought, trying to pick up the shipboard jargon.

  Once in his room, he pulled out the bed, stripped and laid down. He was asleep in no time, despite the overwhelming excitement of the long, long day. That night he dreamed of Andrea.

  The next day he was up early feeling anxious and excited since they would be arriving at their destination. He stopped by the kitchen—mess deck—he corrected himself, before settling back into the chair with his screen. The day passed quickly as he learned about everything from farming to interstellar travel.

  During a shift change that evening, ship time, when the room was filled with crew members, the colonel appeared before him dressed in regular casual clothes.

  “Whoa, Colonel,” he said involuntarily. He hadn’t realized before just how cute she would be out of uniform.

  “Thanks, I think, and you can call me Joann when I’m not in uniform.” She sounded and acted differently as a civilian.

  “Join me in the mess, and we can talk some more,” she said, leading him back to the mess deck.

  Once they were settled at a table, she told her story. “The military rank is honorary. I’m actually a bioelectrical engineer. I took the position with SecForce because it paid well. Much to the dismay of my friends and family.”

  They sat across from each other and talked about many different things, allowing the conversation to meander pleasantly from subject to subject. After a long, casual meal, Joann got down to business.

  “Demon, we will be arriving sometime tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be delivering you to Dr. Avelina Baksa to begin the procedure. I’m going to try and stick around as long as possible because I’m interested in this project, and because I want to weasel my way onto Dr. Baksa’s team if possible.”

  “Why do you want to be on her team?” Damon asked.

  “Well, there are a number of reasons, but most of all I just want to work with the doctor. She is THE premier mind of our times, and association with her would launch my career in ways I can’t even imagine.” She paused to finish off her coffee. “Besides, now I’m interested in seeing how you turn out.”

  Damon wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but he definitely enjoyed the company of Joann the civilian. They continued to talk well into the night, and Damon had no idea what time it was when he went back to his room.

  **** ****

  Dr. Baksa paced across the entrance to the pad, awaiting the arrival of her volunteer. She sat down, but was up and pacing again in less than a minute.

  Renard was there, talking quietly with Jeffrey, Of course, she thought, irritated for no good reason. Somehow Renard had kept the rest of the Council in the dark about the arrival, and possibly even the existence, of their volunteer.

  Finally, she felt the subtle sloshing in her stomach as the wormhole energy from the Kline drive ran through her body, signaling the arrival of the shuttle. She faced the door, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

  The man that entered was shocking in size. She estimated his height at nearly two meters, and his shoulders were proportionally broad with well-defined musculature. He seemed to fill the doorway as he entered. Behind him came a smaller woman, although judging size next to him was difficult, and Avelina had no attention to spare on others. The giant stopped just inside the doorway and his gaze flicked around the room apparently assessing the situation. He looked down at the other woman as she stepped in front of him to approach Avelina.

  Dragging her attention away from the volunteer, Avelina realized that woman was addressing her.

  “Dr. Baksa, it is my distinct pleasure to meet you. I’ve been following your work since . . .”

  Avelina made non-committal acknowledgment sounds and brushed past the woman to approach the man.

  “Kyndra’s promise,” she said with an awe-filled voice, reaching up to place her hand on his arm, “you’re magnificent.”

  “Avelina! Don’t be vulgar!” Renard replied loudly as he approached.

  The man was blushing, which was incongruent with his size and stature, and he tried to break the nervous atmosphere with, “Um, thank you?”

  Embarrassed, Avelina removed her hand quickly and turned toward Renard. “Reverend, please forgive me; Kyndra forgive me,” and she made the ritual motion followed by a small curtsy toward Renard. Then she turned toward the woman and said, “Please forgive me for my rudeness, Dr . . . ?”

  “Tashus, Dr. Joann Tashus, I’m sure you haven’t heard of me—”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize the name,” before Joann could reply, Avelina turned to Damon.

  “And you, my wonderful man, what is your name?”

  Still flustered, Damon could only answer simply, “Demon.”

  Slightly surprised, Avelina forged ahead, “Welcome to the program, Demon.”

  “Ha!” Renard exclaimed, surprising everyone. “Jeffrey, we finally have a good name for this Human Implantation whatever—the Demon Program!”

  **** ****

  The next few weeks were filled with briefings, meetings, testing, and physical conditioning. Damon had little trouble with it all, despite the frantic pace. The only real problem came when Dr. Baksa tried to explain the surgical procedures in detail and Damon started to get nauseous. After that, medical details were quietly omitted from the training.

  Damon was glad to see that Joann was added to the staff at the lab, but only after a few heated discussions between Renard and Dr. Baksa. Damon himself had spoken on her behalf, but it was clear that he was the test subject, not a member of the development team, and no one cared for his opinion.

  He thought the information was interesting though overwhelming, and he found himself longing for the procedures to begin. He knew that he would be asleep for nearly six weeks while weapons and D-SAP armor were implanted. Dr. Baksa tried to explain the D-SAP scales, but the material science was too much for him to grasp. He was satisfied with her summary, however: it’s hard but flexible, and nearly indestructible.

  Indestructible, he rolled the word around in his thoughts, it sounded too good to be true. Could be a trap, his training told him, but he dismissed it. He had come to trust Dr. Baksa, although he did not like her obeisance to Reverend Trueblood. In fact, he didn’t like the reverend or his sidekick, but they rarely came to the lab these days. He’d learned that Reverend Trueblood was the leader of the Council, and the Council ruled the Consensus, which was the name of the empire of the star systems. He learned about Kyndra Dickson in that context and how she had formed the Consensus. Despite her effort, Dr. Baksa could not convince Damon of Kyndra’s deity. She played an ancient video for him where he saw Kyndra Dickson making her most famous speech. However, he only remembered a single line:

  “Empire, Republic, Federation, and even Democracy have been so misused throughout human history that a whole new term is needed to describe what we have created; today we begin the Consensus.”

  Damon was impressed by the speech and by her accomplishments. He still had trouble believing that there were so many star systems with so many planets, and so many people! Sometimes he missed the simple life of the Family, but now he could not believe how insignific
ant it was compared to the Human Empire—a term disliked by the Kyndrists.

  He learned about wormholes, interstellar travel, wormhole energy (related to, but actually different from the wormholes themselves), Debar reactors, and Kline drives. His mind would begin to spin when he realized how much of the world he had never experienced. No wonder no one ever tracked down the Family when they used electricity, it was essentially free using a Debar reactor and wormhole energy! His world had grown exponentially in the last few weeks, and he was still coming to grips with it. Sometimes he had the overwhelming desire to find Andrea and show her all these wonderful things, while other times he wanted to go back home and forget it all.

  Throughout the time he spent in the lab, he felt alone. The feeling was ironic, since he was always surrounded by technicians or trainers of one type or another. However, the only people who really spoke to him as a person were Dr. Baksa and Joann. Reverend Trueblood wouldn’t speak to him at all, but would talk about him as if he was not there, something that annoyed Damon to no end. He decided that he would instruct Mr. Trueblood on the finer points of etiquette if ever given the chance.

  Finally, the day arrived when the procedures would begin. He was nervous, of course, but after learning so much about his enhanced abilities, he couldn’t wait to actually receive them. Dr. Baksa greeted him in the morning, clearly excited, and Joann hovered behind her, looking a little scared. Over the past few weeks he wished that he could have gotten to know Joann better, but under the circumstances, idle banter was the best they could manage. He thought back to her transformation on the ship when she first changed to civilian clothes. Once out of the uniform, she became a completely different person.

  Before, she had a severity to her speech and actions that fit her rank, and few questioned her when she spoke. After she stepped out of the uniform, Damon felt that she became her real self. It was as if she played a character while dressed as the colonel, but was free to be herself outside of that role. In the lab setting, she spent more time in the background, sometimes relegated to minor roles. She was rarely consulted, but she seemed to give satisfactory answers in those cases, at least as far as he could tell.

  He found the new Joann very intriguing, and fervently wished, again, that he could get to know her better. She was not beautiful, but she was attractive and cute. Her facial features and light brown eyes were not truly noteworthy, but very expressive, and her entire countenance shined when she laughed. She was shorter and thinner than Andrea, and she lacked the lean muscular limbs that Damon used to admire during training. Nonetheless, she made him think of Andrea, which often made him a little sad and homesick.

  He laid down on a gurney that the technicians had placed before him while they prepared IV’s, various injections, and an anesthesia mask.

  “See you on the other side,” he said to the room but looked directly into Joann’s eyes as the first needle was injected into his arm

  “Promise?”

  “It’s a date,” he tried to smile but was already falling asleep.

  **** ****

  Damon awoke feeling normal, but unable to move. After a moment of panic, he remembered that they had warned him he would be immobilized. Slowly he became aware of aches and pains all over his body, but nothing severe. He felt weak and tired, as if he had the flu. It was frightening being unable to move, but he quelled the rising panic with an effort of will.

  He could hear people moving around him, and soon they entered into his field of vision.

  “Ah, I’m so glad you’re awake,” a slightly familiar face said to him, smiling. “Let me get the doctor, and then we can begin to bring your systems online.”

  He disappeared and the activity level in the room ramped up noticeably. Excited voices were coming and going all around him.

  Once the core team had gathered, Dr. Baksa led the start-up of his new and improved body. Joann was in the background, but he couldn’t see her often.

  “First, we will bring up your motor control skills so you can begin to move. But Demon, please be careful, it will take you a while to get used to your weight and strength. For now, move slowly and deliberately until you’ve had time in training.”

  Suddenly, he felt released from the sensory deprivation, and he had awareness of his limbs. It all felt very natural, although somehow more intense. That could just be a compensation for the previous deprivation, he thought as he flexed his fingers and moved his toes. With Dr. Baksa’s guidance, he slowly moved into a sitting position. He looked at his hands expecting to see the armor and scales, but could not discern anything special. The color of his skin had changed and looked almost gray now, but other than that it looked like skin.

  “Huh,” he said out loud in mild surprise, “I guess I expected to be metallic.”

  “Oh no,” Dr. Baksa said, “one of our main goals was to make it almost unnoticeable. The gray color is unusual for a skin tone, but not liable to draw too much attention.”

  Damon was surprised at how easy it was to move. He had imagined he would feel heavy and ponderous, but in reality he hadn’t noticed anything unusual in his movements. He reached upwards to stretch his arms and everyone flinched away from him.

  “What?” he asked slightly irritated.

  “Um,” Dr. Baksa looked around quickly, spotted a coffee mug and picked it up. “Here,” she said, holding it out to him, “take it.”

  Perplexed, Damon reached out to grab the mug and it shattered in his hand. Everyone ducked and covered their faces to protect themselves from flying ceramic bits.

  “Oh,” was all he could say.

  “That’s why we are a little hesitant to get too close,” Dr. Baksa said. “Please, do be careful. Once we get all of your systems online you will be able to adjust the boost to ensure you can control your strength.”

  “What?” Damon said, feeling stupid.

  Everyone in the room snickered and Dr. Baksa said, “Don’t worry, we’ll get there.”

  The next few weeks were very strange indeed. Damon had to learn basic functions like how to control his strength, along with walking, eating, and grasping. Many of his basic motor functions had become frightening. Casual contact with everyday items, especially doors, walls, and furniture, became something he had to concentrate on to do properly. Every day there was a repair crew in the lab replacing something that he had broken. Finally he reached a point where he could almost function in the outside world. His gray-tinged skin would garner some attention, but if he pulled doors off their hinges and accidentally knocked down brick walls, people would surely notice.

  Dr. Baksa took the lead in his training, and she was fearless even when close to him. Her nonchalant attitude calmed his nerves and helped him learn quickly. Joann was still there, still in the background, and he always enjoyed catching her eye to elicit a quick smile from her.

  Power for the armor and weapons came from a small power plant embedded deep in his core. It generated only a limited amount of power, so Damon relied mostly on battery storage for the heavy electrical needs. Power management would be one of the biggest challenges he would face.

  “We wanted to put in a Debar reactor, but we haven’t overcome the challenges of making it small enough,” Dr. Baksa told him during training. “Then, of course, there are the complications with mounting a wormhole inside a person’s body, but I think we’ll have it soon.”

  Implanted weapons were still locked out and he wondered what they would feel like when brought online. There were thin fairings protruding from under his wrists, but they were inert, and he was not sure how he would use them. He was told that gun muzzles would rise out of the back of his wrists on command once they felt he was ready to move into weapons training. Strangest of all were the four humps rising from his upper back to just slightly above his shoulders that would eventually be used to launch grenades, rockets, and small missiles.

  Another thing that surprised him was his new weight. Previously he had always weighed in around 105 kg, but his new b
ody dwarfed that number and tipped the scales around 260 kg when loaded with ordinance. This additional mass caused all kinds of problems when trying to maneuver, adding yet another thing to the long list of items he had to re-learn.

  “Are you ready for the Heads-Up Display, Demon?” Dr. Baksa asked him.

  “Yes I am—been ready a long time,” he replied. He looked around for Joann but did not see her.

  “Good. There are many different functions for your HUD, so once again, we will be doing extensive training. The good news is that you won’t have to remember everything, the information will be easily accessible from your control system.

  “We’ll start with only the basic functions,” and she tapped a couple commands on her screen.

  Icons appeared in Damon’s vision, superimposed on his regular eyesight, appearing to him as if they floating in front of his face. Dr. Baksa introduced some of the basic functions and how to configure them for comfortable use. He could call up detailed information on almost any item or person that he looked at, simply by issuing a quick mental command. When he looked at Dr. Baksa and requested biographical info, the HUD put a subtle glowing outline around her in his sight, and a small box of text opened next to her. The text contained her name, address, public account code, place of work, current title, and other personal details.

  “You can also use the HUD in conjunction with your communications module to contact someone in your field of view, simply with the direct connect command.”

  Damon looked around the room and found Joann, called up the bio on her, and placed a call to her public account code. She didn’t answer, but he left a message requesting a time and place to pay up with the date he owed her. He was able to do it all mentally and quickly. He marveled at the technology, and he made sure to file away her number in his control system’s hard memory.

  The weeks went by quickly with so many interesting things to learn and practice. He had access to a gymnasium that was reinforced to allow for his weight and strength. Even so, he had to be careful not to break things. He discovered that his new body was fast, very fast, although he could not test the top speed in a confined area. It was also nimble, strong, and coordinated.