Who: Canaan and Mayuri What: Canaan gets eye implants. When: Today! Where: The SRDI Ratings/Warnings: PG-13, warnings for detailed medical stuff, no gore. Status: Complete!
It was an even shorter trip to the SRDI now that Canaan lived with Motoko, but it’d felt like forever anyway. Her dreams had kept her from getting a restful sleep the night before, and she’d elected not to take the other woman with her. There was no one to talk to on the ride there, and nothing to distract her.
She arrived at the building and managed to steel herself enough to step inside, then waved at the receptionist, “Uhm. I have an appointment. With Mr. Kurotsuchi?”
"Is your name Canaan?" the receptionist asked, because she had a digital photo from a security cam hung up behind her desk, and there was bright red writing on the bottom of it. The instructions were to send her in to see Dr. Kurotsuchi, immediately. And no way did she want to disobey a direct order such as that. She was already dialing up the number to inform him she was here. "Please go back through that door to your left and go into the first exam room. He'll be with you shortly."
She hit a button and the door popped open. The receptionist smiled one of those professional smiles, but inwardly glad she wasn't ever allowed back there and given only a rudimentary map of the public sections of the facility. Have fun with the crazy scientist, lady! Bye!
"Right, okay..." Canaan replied, with an arched brow. She muttered the receptionist's instructions to herself as she stepped through the door, trying to make sure she didn't get lost. Getting lost anywhere in this building was a bad idea. She didn't need to see the receptionist's green color to know that, though it reinforced the fact.
She rethought the whole idea on her way to the exam room, but had talked herself back into it by the time she got there. Canaan took a seat and tried not to let herself get too nervous.
Come now! She was only a light mint undertone! There was a fat bald guy with bulging eyeballs running around, who was currently much more green than she was.
Luckily, Mayuri had set aside some space for renovations into what was known as 'less disturbing exam and procedure areas'. In other words, they weren't on basement level 3 where the bad experiments happened, and everything was a chem bomb waiting to go off if interlopers so much as sneezed the wrong way or opened the wrong door.
A couple of minutes after Canaan sat down, Mayuri entered the room with a taller man behind him, carrying a small black box. The man had disheveled black hair, an unlit cigarette dangling out of one corner of his mouth, and two rows of metal spikes embedded in his forehead.
"Set it there, Akon," Mayuri said, gesturing to a nearby surgical stand. "And for the last time, get that death stick out of your mouth. There's no smoking."
"It's not lit," a very unenthused Akon pointed out.
"I'll light it and put it out on you. Just...go. Go. I can do this by myself. Inept...imbeciles...so hard to find good help."
After Akon left, Mayuri's mood improved, since this was his favorite time of the day, any day: Live test subjects!
"You look well, friend of my cousin," Mayuri said, grinning so both rows of gold teeth showed, which matched his eyes, and were all the more pronounced, thanks to all that black and white facepaint and blue hair. "Are you ready for your implants? I brought numbing agents, so that you will not feel a thing. Unless you wish to be sedated?" He tilted his head, giving him all the look of an Egyptian owl. "I believe the choice is yours? If you are not, we can likely discuss future measures, as we proceed."
She was glad that the guy with the spikes in his head wasn't going to be there for this. It was bad enough needing to have it done at all, but Canaan didn't need other people standing around and watching. She looked at Mayuri, then at the box the other man had brought in, and wrinkled her nose, "No sedation, thank you. Can you tell me what it is you're going to do to me before we start?"
It was probably for the best, although Akon was the one that sometimes was like 'I better foul up this project before it kills thousands of people who think it's candy, and maybe the boss will count it as a loss.' One has to kind of pick their poison at the SRDI. In some cases, that was in the literal and not figurative sense, considering some of the chemicals and pharmaceuticals they were playing with.
Mayuri opened the box and moved it closer, so it was easy to see two silvery contraptions that looked like squiggly wires. They were in a half sphere shape that were open into two halves, fragile in appearance, and with a larger loop around the center. There was also a thin, clear film, that was on one of the devices. Whatever that was for, would have to wait for an explanation from the mad scientist. Luckily, he likes explaining that stuff, because it's much like he's giving himself a pat on the back when he does, and it annoys him when people start daydreaming and do not listen.
"I will be attaching these inside of your eyelids, where they will clamp around your optic nerve, and hopefully provide enough feedback to negate some of what you are experiencing. However," Mayuri was saying, as he snapped a glove on around one hand, "this is a prototype. It isn't guaranteed to work all of the time or filter out everything, until we perfect it further."
Having gloved up, he moved in closer and held up a small spray bottle which he plucked up from the tray of instruments.
"We will numb your eyes, clamp your eyelids open, and I will slip the device around the back of your eyeballs. Then I will carefully clamp it shut, and we will be done. Enough to run some tests to make sure it is working correctly." Mayuri grinned, but that probably wasn't the most comforting thing to look upon. His smile was too wide, and his gums were as white as his face paint, given the amount of chemicals and poisons he's pumped himself full of. "It's quite simple, really. Do you have a ride home? I'm afraid you might need one, after the procedure. If not, I can have one of my assistants drive you home and they will be compensated for a cab ride."
The eye pieces hadn't been what she'd been expecting. She wasn't actually sure what she had been expecting. Something inside her brain, maybe. How was she supposed to connect Motoko's wires to her like that? She wrinkled her brows a bit, eyeing the things. The shape of them made sense now, at least.
"I have some questions. You're going to put those behind my eyes? Are my eyes going to rub against them, or will they be able to move normally? Is it going to hurt when they interfere with the optic nerve? And... These, will these be able to help me connect to Motoko, or do I need something different for that?"
After a pause she added, "I don't have a ride home, I came here by bus. If you think I'll be too disoriented to navigate my way back, I'd be okay with having you call a cab for me."
Oh no, the brain is phase two, the next step up. That will get even more invasive and involve a hole in her skull, so Mayuri's working the kinks out of that one with the lab rats. Unless Canaan wanted a hole drilled in her skull immediately and then Mayuri's eyes will light up and he will whip out a drill and trepan her like no tomorrow. You want bonus holes? Look no further than Mayuri Kurotsuchi. It makes it easier for sticking memory reading sensors directly into the brain. USEFUL THINGS ARE USEFUL.
"Although they do not look it," he explained, "they have been smoothed on one side so that it will be like wearing contact lenses. Since this is a trial, you will need to come back for adjustments or new versions, so they are not permanent. Also, this allows you to decide if you like the adjustments or not, and is less intrusive. They can be quickly removed. Something more invasive, can not."
He spritzed her eyes with the numbing agent, being careful not to gouge her with his one very long fingernail. Yes, that glove was custom made so it was covered up, thank you very much. Despite the gore, Mayuri's very sanitary.
"There are sensors and a relay around this ring, here. It will transmit the data to your optical nerve as well as interrupt and relay conflicting signals to your mind, so your sight is adjusted. This one, here," he motioned toward the one with the clear thin film on it, "is your read out display. It is a new material that is durable but infinitely thin, and it is all voice activated. Simply say 'display on' or 'display off' very clearly, and it will turn on and off, and you can transmit even a whispered message to Motoko, and she may digitally speak to you. It worked on one of the lab assistants, at least, after our trial runs on the primates."
He smiled and patted his hands together. "We will get you a cab while you are deciding if you like them in, and learning to use it. If you like that, then a more enhanced read out is possible, or brain surgery for more permanent implants are available. Are you ready to begin?"
She's also going to get a complimentary eyeball plushie afterward, but everyone who undergoes any surgical type procedures having to do with their eyes were getting one, as part of the SRDI's latest clinic promotion. Plus it was great for Halloween.
Canaan liked plushies. They had no color. She'd be super excited about that.
Grateful for the explanation about what everything did, she nodded her head, and tried to relax. Having her eyes held open while the scientist played around with them was unnerving, but she knew better than to start twitching around. It was best to lay there for the time being and focus on something else, "I appreciate the steps you've taken. Let's get this done."
Be happy it wasn't one of the poo pile or pee droplet plushies, because then she could imagine the colors they would be. With the eyeball one, it's an eye. There's not much more to say about that, because it wasn't something involving bodily fluids.
"Excellent. Remember, it is only a trial. If they are uncomfortable or if the feedback is too much, I can attempt to remotely adjust them here in the lab, but I can not do that from afar. Please be certain you are comfortable with them, before leaving."
He set to work, clamping her eyelids open a la A Clockwork Orange, before using another tool to pull the eyeball forward without popping it out of the socket, entirely. Then it was a simple matter of one-handedly clamping it down, and putting it back in place. He repeated the procedure with the other eye, making sure the film was over the front of that eye, before finishing up. Which included a nice spritzing of dry eye preventing drops, which she would be leaving with as part of her "Thanks for letting us fiddle with you" promotion package, including the plushie, and a few other eye care items.
It all comes in a black and white striped gift bag with a cartoon image of Dr. Kurotsuchi giving a thumbs up. It was the same image that had been used for his poison apple lollipops.
By the time her eyes were prised open and he was pulling them out of the socket, Canaan had really wished that she'd been sedated. But it was better to witness what the hell was going on than be at someone's complete mercy.
Kind of. It's not like she wasn't at his mercy, with her eyeballs all popped out like that. If she ran away right then, where the hell was she going to go with eyes like that?
It was over faster than she'd been expecting, which was good, because it still felt like it had taken forever. She wanted to blink her eyes 80 times or so when he was done, "This really feels... odd."
The icon on the gift bag was really kind of cute in a morbid way, though.
That was Mayuri Kurotsuchi: Kinda cute and quirky, but in a profoundly morbid way.
After pressing a button to turn the implants on, he sat back and held up the bag, oddly enough, balancing the little paper handle loops on his ultra long, blue fingernail.
"Would you like to use the lubricating eye drops also, or would you like to test it out on someone who is still amongst the living?" Mayuri was waiting for her to get a reading off him, but hoping that it was interrupting enough that she was able to see him in his full kabuki clown glory. Regular black and white, with blue hair and amber eyes, and nothing out of the ordinary. "What color am I, as we speak?"
Yes, what color is the death god/soul reaper, if he is any color at all?
"I don't think I'll be putting untested eyedrops in my eyes. These implants are risky enough." Canaan took the bag that was dangling off of his finger, and tried to focus on... anything at all. The numbing agent he'd sprayed her eyes with was still working, sort of, but it just made everything that much weirder. Even though he hadn't mentioned it, she was sure she was going to be in some kind of pain when her nerves caught up with her.
Until then though, she needed to focus on Mayuri. She blinked her eyes a few more times. Things flickered from greyscale to color and back. Her eyes started to glow red as her vision went into what she'd dubbed 'second sight', but it the flicker dimmed and it cut out too quickly for her to get anything that way.
She wasn't sure how she felt about that, "It's flickering in and out. You've got yellow eyes and blue hair. Then things go grey again and it's hard to tell your color."
"Oh no, the eyedrops are tested, but your implants on a living being are not. I'm not technically among the living," Mayuri clarified. He did look rather intent on knowing what she was seeing, given the change in her eye color. "How curious. Are you registering any colors? Is it uncomfortable?"
Yesssss. Tell Dr. Kurotsuchi where it hurts.
"You aren't technically living. When things go grey, so do you. You have no color. It doesn't change when my eyes go into... overdrive. But then something makes it flicker out. Colors return to normal and I see things as they are. The implants seem to be doing that, but it's not sustained. Can we adjust them?"
That was the idea, she hoped. To adjust them to make them more comfortable and also get them to work a little better.
"I realise these implants haven't been tested on a live subject until now. I was confused. I'll take the other eyedrops, then, yes. This is... not comfortable, but people get used to contact lenses and I think I can get used to this."
"We can, and also, I will send a message to your display." Mayuri turned and typed something in so a lit up 'hello' could be seen over everything she was looking at, in text that was small enough to read on one side of an eye, but wouldn't obscure or interfere with her view of everything else. It was bright enough to be read, but not overpowering enough to be obnoxious. The product of testing on animals and monitoring their brainwaves to see what they found pleasant and easy enough to get used to, other than their peers that were momentarily blindsided.
Every animal received tummy rubs and treats afterward, and the blindsided ones got extra eyedrops.
"If you see that, then I have toggled the on switch from this terminal with a remote command, and it is working. You should be linked to Motoko, and can recieve messages. You will notice your reply is dimmer in comparison, so you can see that it has picked up what you are saying. We can try that in a moment." He began typing, somehow managing to do so without breaking that fingernail. "We can make adjustments. First, you need a command to toggle the feedback portion, so it does not interfere with your work, and works when you want it to. What word would you like to use to turn it on and off?"
She was going to have a divine headache. Somewhere in the bag, were some mild painkillers. They too probably had a happy chibi logo on them. Product branding was everything!
It had to be a word she'd hardly ever use, but also one she'd be certain to remember. Canaan thought about that for a few seconds while taking in the word 'hello' that was displayed on her eyeball. That part was extremely useful, and working well enough for her.
Siam and Maria were right out, but it had to be something she'd remember, "Alphard. This display is nice. It doesn't feel like the word is in my way, but it lights up enough for me to notice it. That's working perfectly."
She was definitely working on one hell of a headache, though. The pills in the bag were a nice addition.
"Alphard, it is. An odd word, so it's suitable," Mayuri agreed. He typed it in to set it remotely. Then he turned toward her and squinted a little, looking at her eyes as close as he could without them bumping foreheads. " The words will fade after a few seconds, if there is no further input to scroll them down. You can move the window's text up and down by moving your eyes barely up and down, in response. Reading side to side has no impact on scrolling the text. It is also good that it doesn't show to someone looking at you, unless they are to get very close. Instead, it mimics a light reflection from the overhead lighting, which may come in useful."
He sat back, saying, "Try using the word to toggle it on and off, now. You may want to use it in small doses at first, as you will need to get used to it. If you notice any double-vision, dizziness, or headaches, notify me immediately."
Canaan nodded her head, mentally filing away all the usage instructions he was giving her. It was a lot to remember, but the way he was describing things sounded pretty intuitive to her. In fact, she scrolled her eyeball a bit up and down, to see if the word 'hello' shifted at all.
"Alright... Alphard." Canaan whispered, trying to test how high the volume of her voice needed to be for the implants to pick it up. The back and forth that her vision had been a few seconds before flicked off completely, the world returning to it's normally colorless state.
She actually sighed in relief for once, "That works. Let's try this..."
The look on her face intensified again and she began to squint a bit, forcing her eyes to go back into their other, more high-powered mode. They glowed red faintly, then the glow became more and more pronounced, until even her pupils were glowing. Things blurred and far-off blobs of color began to glow violently all around her. The word 'hello' on her display went orange and seemed to float in front of her eye a bit, "... that's a useful side effect..."
She definitely didn't even have to speak loudly to get anything to work. The sensors Mayuri had created were very sensitive, almost like they could pick up the slightest vibration of speech. It really was whisper soft.
"Excellent," he said, looking and sounding pleased, even as he closely studied her, watching her eyes change color. "The display should be functional while the filters are off. It is unfortunate that it will take quite a bit of time to adjust to, and we are working on more permanent solutions. Do think of it like contact lenses. Your eyes will be irritable until they adjust, and your brain must adjust to the feedback, when the implants are turned on. I would suggest laying down with a cold compress over your eyes, to keep any swelling down, should there be any."
Otherwise she's going to look like she has full grown tomatoes smashed under her eyelids, but given the frail nature of the device after several test trials, it shouldn't be as bad as that was on some of the test subjects.
"Oh, and one more thing?" Mayuri added, sounding a little too pleasant about issuing a warning. "Try not to get punched in the eyes, or else it may bend the framework. That might become uncomfortable."
"It becomes clearer to read when my eyes are in this mode. I think that will be useful." Canaan whispered the word 'Alphard' to turn the filters back on, then rubbed at the side of her head as they clicked on again. It was definitely going to take some getting used to while she adjusted to it.
But when the filtering switched on again, it seemed much more reliable. Colors returned to normal, and didn't flicker back out nearly as quickly, "It seems to be functioning better now. And I agree, it's probably best I don't get punched in the eye. How does the display work again? When I want to use it to converse with someone."
"Simply say display on or off, and it will toggle it on. Tch, that's right," he said, tapping a finger against his chin, as he thought outloud, "You need another word to turn off and on the speech recognition function. Silly me, but I only did it for the testing just now. It is on by default when you bring the display up, and it is set to Motoko's signal for now. Soon it may have a text function, which is currently in development, so you can dial numbers by saying them or asking for a call list to pop up. Regardless, for now, it will make it easier for the both of you to converse, even if you can't have overseas phonecalls. Think of it as a very tiny cellphone, and you may lose reception, since it has not yet been entirely perfected."
He turned toward the computer again, and looked ready to type. "Do you have another word you would like to toggle the the speaking function off and on again? I will set it right now."
"Right. Like a cell phone, but it only makes short range calls to Motoko. I think I understand."
Canaan nodded her head a bit, then thought about what she'd want to use to turn the speech part on and off. It felt like it'd work better for her if things stayed simple, so she asked, "Can you just set it to 'speech on' and 'speech off'? Then I know I can turn the display on and off and turn off the speach part separately."
"You catch on quickly," Mayuri told Canaan, like it was high praise, and he was pleased she understood the restrictions. He typed in the phrases and then nodded, as he turned back around. "You are all finished and feel free to try it out. Otherwise, do you have any further questions?"
"I don't right now, no. And I think I'll need to be home soon. The numbing agent you sprayed me with is starting to wear off, which means the swelling can't be too far behind."
Canaan checked herself over to make sure she had everything she'd come in with, and the bag that Mayuri had given her, "I owe you payment of some kind, don't I? I can definitely get you some corpses the next time I have a job."
"You can apply it as needed, but try to wean yourself off of it so that you can become adjusted. It might be advisable to try that, first, and deal with the swelling without being in complete discomfort."
He stood up as well, motioning toward the door.
"I sent a message to the receptionist while typing, to have a cab called for you. It should be here shortly, without little wait. As for the payment? Bodies. Living, dead, or somewhere between. They would be most useful, as is the development of these implants, which interests me enough to do this for free. If we can develop something stable, the medical uses would be extraordinarily useful. Now, if we are finished? I will bid you farewell and go back to my projects."
Which currently meant infecting several more rats with a quick replicating designer virus.
"I'll be certain to leave them alive enough to be of use to you. And to myself, I suppose, since I'm the one that benefits from the implants immediately." Canaan nodded, and started stepping towards the door, "Thank you."
"Corpse donations are always greatly appreciated." Mayuri opened the door and nodded once, to her. "If there are problems, do let me know. But you should grow accustomed to them, in good time. Goodbye, Canaan."
With that, he went back to the underground portions of the SRDI, to continue conducting his own private experiments.