Page 26 of True As Steel
They put this together specifically for us.
Haelin was standing by the examination table with a Kirsian female.
“Ah, there you are!” she said in greeting to us before turning to the Narengi hostess-assassin who had brought us here. “Thank you, Yelena. You can leave us.”
Although the female complied, and in spite of her cordial expression, I could sense her reluctance. Without Jarog pointing out her true nature, I probably would have been none the wiser.
“Tamryn, Jarog, meet Claudia, our local surgeon,” Haelin said. “She has advanced degrees in xenobiology and cybernetics. She’s going to have a look at those brands on your faces.”
“Wonderful!” I exclaimed, my heart soaring. “I can’t wait to have that damn thing gone!”
“Well, I can’t promise anything,” Claudia said carefully. “First, I need to assess the nature of the brand. Emperor Shui may be a power-hungry bastard, but he’s not an idiot. He wouldn’t have made these easy to remove.”
“She is correct,” Jarog said in a somber tone. “I have already performed in-depth self-diagnostics. It will not be possible to remove this brand on my cheek without carving out half of my face.”
I stared at him, gutted. As far as I knew, the same process had been used on all of us. If Cyborgs, created to fully heal from essentially any non-lethal injury, couldn’t get rid of the scar, a normal individual like me didn’t stand a chance.
“I’m sorry, Tamryn,” Jarog said in a sympathetic tone. “Maybe the doctor can give us better news, but you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high.”
I swallowed hard and gave him a stiff nod.
“Well, there’s no point borrowing trouble,” Haelin said with a troubled expression. “Let Claudia do her thing, and we can take it from there.”
We started with me. Claudia made me lie down on the examination table before running a scan over my face. She then used a wand-like probe that hid the longest fucking needle in the world. The damn thing sank far too deep into my face. Frankly, I expected the needle to come right out inside my mouth or poke at my sinuses. But the surgeon was sticking me at an angle. The wand wirelessly transmitted the data to the monitor next to the table. Judging by Claudia’s face, the results didn’t bode well. She pulled out the needle a few times, shifting the angle at which she inserted it. By the time she called it quits, my face felt like it had just undergone a brutal liposuction.
She gestured for me to sit up. I complied and braced for what would follow.
“So… you want me to lay it on you gently or—”
“Just say it, doctor,” I interrupted. “I already know it’s going to be bad.”
Despite how much bitterness constricted my throat, I felt proud of the firmness of my voice.
“I can try to remove it, but any way I cut it, you will remain marked for the rest of your life,” Claudia said in a commiserating tone. “Your friend’s assessment was correct. The chemical and the process they used makes the brand act almost like a living organism with regenerative abilities. If you try to carve out the brand, some of the chemicals preventing the healing process will burrow deeper into the tissues to prevent it from being excised. We would quite literally have to carve out half of your face to take it all out, and even then, your face will still be scarred...”
“Well, can’t you devise some antidote or counter agent to neutralize it before operating?” I asked with a sliver of hope.
“That’s specifically the problem,” Claudia said in an apologetic tone. “Before performing the surgery, we would want to try to neutralize it as much as possible. But that chemical is meant to have a nasty reaction if you tamper with it. It will wreck your face. No amount of plastic surgery will fix it. You will retain a nasty scar.”
“So, I’m stuck walking around with that bastard’s brand like a fucking cow for the rest of my days?” I asked bitterly.
No sooner did the words leave my mouth than I felt guilty for snapping at the doctor. This wasn’t her fault.
“For the time being, I’m afraid there is no good solution,” the surgeon said in a gentle voice. “However, I can make you a very nice prosthetic. It will be seamless, and you will be able to wear it for a couple of weeks at a time before having to remove it to clean both the prosthetic and your skin, and then reapply it. It’s very easy and takes minutes. You won’t even notice the difference with your own skin.”
“But?” I asked, suspiciously. “There’s always a but. Like you said, Shui may be an ass, but he’s no fool. He wouldn’t make it that easy on us.”
“There is indeed a but,” Claudia said with a sigh.
“It won’t fool scanners, will it?” Jarog asked. Although he worded it as a question, it was in fact a statement.
“Correct,” the surgeon said with sympathy. “At least, not an advanced scanner, and especially not one that knows what to look for.”
“So, we’re fucked,” I mumbled.
“Not necessarily,” Haelin intervened. “On most planets, and especially on Xyva, people don’t scan others for that kind of stuff. We scan for concealed weapons. Even if the scanners pick up the chemical in your cheek, they will ignore it as not being a threat, because it isn’t. Plenty of the mercs and hunters have all kinds of fucked up toxins in their bodies, ranging from doing too many shitty drugs to lingering poisons from various injuries or encounters with lethal beasts.”
“I still wouldn’t let my guard down,” I said pensively. “The local population knows a couple of escape pods have landed here.”