CHAPTER ONE: THE DAYS BEFORE EVERYTHING CHANGED: PART I
It was sunset.
The Abysus facility was a small, active compound where the scientists spent each passing day hastening to complete their grand experiment. All the while they were establishing a humane way to do so and before the deadline to renew their funding came. They often found themselves working late into the night theorizing new, human-free interfaces to interact with the developing nanotechnology still in its infancy; and they were far from achieving results with their relatively improbable idea, sure, but they believed that the development of nanites into a revolutionary cure to all of the world's problems was a worthwhile cause. But most days, their efforts were fruitless and their workplace remained silent as each researcher pursued their own ideas and theories.
However, this was not one of those days.
The lights of Abysus turned on automatically as dusk commenced and darkness descended upon the earth. At first there was a calm silence as was routine, but then sirens began to go off and panicked shouting accompanied flashing warning lights around every corner. Not long after, a group of scientists, one delivering something of a briefing over the phone in an urgent voice, rushed a boy on a stretcher from the site of the incident to an already over-saturated emergency room full of patients in the medical wing. His breathing was shallow, and his pulse was weakening by the second.
"He might still be with us! Get the electrocardiogram running!" Commanded doctor Rylander immediately after placing the boy on the operating table and attempting CPR. His assistants prepared and read a diagnosis rendered nearly incomprehensible over the pounding of their own heartbeats and the ensuing chaos of the facility, but some phrases were made out and action was subsequently taken by her personal team.
"It's a V-Fib! You know where the defibrillators are, get medication if initial shocks don't work!" One of the assistants responded while a handful of other able-bodied scientists around the room scampered about in a collaborative effort to save the child's life. While everyone was busy trying to remedy the situation, another pair of scientists with matching wedding rings rushed into the room.
"Doctor Salazar!" clamored another assistant who made the call to summon the pair at Rylander's order. Having arrived as per the instructions, the husband hung up his phone while the assistant guided Violeta and Rafael to the operating table.
"Both of the Doctors, even. I'm sorry to say this but your son was caught up in an experiment. He had a steady pulse moments ago but he's since been diagnosed with ventricular fibrillation."
"And he still isn't up?" Concern and panic crept into Violeta's usually calm and professional voice.
"Nothing's working! We've administered epinephrine and tried resuscitation between shocks but he isn't responding!" Rylander detailed, no longer delivering shocks and looking just as forlorn as Violeta who studied her son considered all possible options.
"Maybe this equipment is faulty, what if we directly struck his sternum?" She raised elbow ready to strike, but both her husband and the scientist held her back before she could bring it down.
"Violeta, none of us are trained to do a precordial thump, it won't do him any good!" Rylander argued, struggling to hold her back as she continued resisting against his restricting hold.
"I can't lose one of my boys. Especially not when he has so much life left!" She cried out with tears slowly forming in her eyes. In the many years Rafael had known his partner, he had never witnessed her even come close to the verge of tears save for occasions involving any of the three—correction, two children they had. A PhD wasn't needed to understand how much she's changed ever since becoming a mother, so as far as he knew losing even one of her sons would have devastated her.
"He's lost his pulse!" the first assistant declared as the electrocardiogram hooked up to the child flatlined entirely. Violeta felt like dropping dead at that very moment, managing to stand still due solely to her husband desperately latching on to her with a vice grip after Rylander backed away to give them space. As for Rafael, for a second—and no larger a unit of time than that—he experienced complete and total thoughtlessness, vulnerability, and loss. Was that what it felt like to be dead?
...Was that what his son was experiencing?
The moment that thought came across his mind, a righteous fury consumed every fiber of his being and his eyebrows furrowed as deep as they could while his hands clenched into fists and a terrifying scowl formed on his face.
"No hay tiempo por esto!" He audibly growled before shoving all of the other scientists away and tossing all of the drug administration equipment off the side of the table. With all of the obstacles cleared from his area, he prepared his son's arm for an intravenous injection and pulled a single needle from a drawer beneath the table. He looked at his wife with what could best be described as a neutral expression, his eyes still passionately ablaze but every other facial detail entirely stoic.
"¿Tienes los nanites en ti? Darle."
Violetta was caught off guard by Rafael's sudden action and urgent demand, but once she processed his words she could only muster the energy to look disappointed at her husband as she pulled out a small, dull canister which was swiped out of her hand and thoroughly studied by him.
"Eres increíble Rafael." She cynically chuckled with slightly misty eyes. "How could you be thinking of our experiment while our boy is dead?"
Rafael ignored his wife while filling the syringe with the solution. As it began to glow blue, Violetta's face morphed from disappointment, to bewilderment, and lastly desperation as she realized her husband's intention. He looked back up at her with an even more desperate demeanor, and without realizing it she meekly shook her head to the side as they both looked back at their son.
"We haven't tested them on humans-"
"¿Y qué tenemos qué perder, Violeta?" He interrupted. "Si queremos que Rex viva necesitamos que inyectarle los nanites. Es la única manera."
She looked down at their son, motionless, and slowly draining of all of the color and vigor she so hopelessly fell in love with ever since he was brought into this world. So after a moment of careful deliberation, her eyes met with her husband's and she slowly nodded with approval.
"Do it." She choked while fighting back tears. "I'll send the nanites instructions to initiate, make sure to inject it at the correct angle!"
She bolted to the nearest computer terminal and began constructing a concise but still elaborate chunk of code for the nanites to finally activate. Rafael was prepared to make quick work of the injection, but right as the needle met the surface of their child's skin, his hand began to tremble and his determination rapidly faltered. Rylander offered to do it himself, but Rafael interrupted him with a raised, trembling hand. This was his profession and he was the best at it, his son deserved no less—nor could he afford it for that matter. With a pained face, he looked up at a bright light above him and for the first time in his entire life recited a small prayer.
"Dios mio, lo siento si me he enojado con mi falta de fe. ¡Pero por favor! Desechar cualquier sentimiento que tengas de mi y salva a mi hijo, quien no ha hecho nada malo en su vida!" He repented with shaky breaths. "Por favor, take me instead. I will gladly take his place!"
He closed his eyes, breathed in, and with a single, cool motion, he precisely aimed his hand to inject the nanites into his son right as Violetta finished the program on the bright terminal. She pressed the return key, Rafael ceremoniously pulled out the syringe while she approached him, and then the pair held each other with the alarms having disengaged and all sound being absent from the room.
"C'mon Rexy, you can do it. Stay with us." Rylander murmured after a few seconds passed.
And even more agonizing seconds passed. And then a minute. But if felt like an eternity to the scientists whose last ditch-effort felt more and more like a fleeting solution the longer it took for the boy to get up. But then, right as it seemed all hope was lost and Rylander reached for a cloth to cover the cadaver, soft breathing was heard and the parents let out relieved tears of joy as they embraced their now living son. Rylander cheered, and the rest of the researchers stared in disbelief at the success of the operation, unsure how to even process the breakthrough just witnessed. However, the third scientist who escorted the child immediately acted upon this newfound knowledge and exited the room to make a phone call with a hushed voice.
"Ms. Babbage? For God's sake I—Listen, Jennifer! It's about the nanites. You need to let the Consortium know they work. Yeah, we have living, breathing proof of it!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This will be the last time I restart a big fanfic like this. My bad.