looked at the model of his patient's brain. He watched, slowly, cell by cell as a lobe in her brain was slowly becoming dead.
He turned to the window at his right with the unconscious cyborg lying on the bed. Steel plating peeked around her jaw and was quite prominent in her upper neck. Half of her left arm gleamed. Her left hip bulged slightly under her skin. More cyborg parts. Despite her being a cyborg however, she was quite pretty. She had slightly curled raven black hair and a rich skin tone. She seemed like she was sleeping peacefully, but Stein's portscreen told the reality that it was empty.
The sleep was like a coma. Dreamless and empty of feeling. Her face was stone cold and blank. Her lips were light toned. No blood was making her face darker. She could blush, unlike most cyborgs.
Stein couldn't stand it. After The Cyborg Protection Act had been removed and the new ruler of Luna. He...just couldn't stand working with them. He was okay with the people themselves, but looking and flesh meeting metal and lacks of basic things like tears and blush. The removal of the CPA meant he had to work with cyborgs like normal people. But they weren't. They were mechanical and robotic.
He watched her chest rise and fall over and over again. The rhythm was even and slow. A monitor to his left read that she was about to wake up.
Her eyes flashed open as she looked around.
"What? Huh? Oh. Right. I'm here." Her tone was dry and blunt. She looked around and sat up. She propped herself up with the palms of her hands and sighed. "Don't say it. I know what's going on. My brain just keeps rotting, and I keep getting less human. A suspended animation tank is out. It's just my emotions. It wouldn't do anyone any good at all." She looked at the one-way window, knowing her mirror was a gateway of vision.
Stein was startled by her assessment of the present situation. The accuracy was scary and the cynical way she talked about it was absolutely terrifying.
She looked into the mirror in stony silence. Her face was blank and untroubled. It was horribly unnerving.
Stein tried to speak but his words came out in a stuttering waterfall. He tried to think. To find a away to explain. She was so much different. Not just because of the mechanical tempering but the death of her tone. She could not be consoled. Her emotions, loves, hates, opinions and everything that made her herself was dissolving like mist in the morning sunshine. Muted and untroubled,like, like an android. An android.
He pulled out his portscreen and scrolled through the recent newsfeeds. He couldn't be patient. He punched in keywords.
Android. Human. Emotion. He found it. He read through it quickly. Scrolled throughout absorbing the information. He spoke into the intercom.
"There may be something we can do." The woman stood straighter. Her full attention was on his words. This was one of the few moments in which human feelings showed through. Stein wasn't sure if this was a good solution, but he needed to propose it now before she lost all emotion. He cleared his throat. "I'll need a moment to take care of some research." She nodded, her eyes were riveted to the mirror. Like everything she needed was in it.
Stein went through the feeds again. Trying to find a reliable source. He scrolled through science articles, interviews, and other reports. After a span of time that seemed like a year, spoke, "I think I might have a solution."
Gāng Steel stared coldly at her reflection in the one-way mirror. The cyborg inside it glared back. Lately she had been feeling, cold, empty. All she did was sit in this hospital. Let doctors stab needles. Hook up monitors that beeped and vibrated. Checking things. Like white blood cell count. Or heart rate. Breathing rate. Brain activity. Yes it was all about brain activity. She caught on to it very early. When doctors and nurses were only just letting it slip into pricked ears.
Everyday. Everyday she felt her emotions slipping away. Little by little her thoughts melded and shtick until they were boiled down to just simple facts. She knew that soon she could not think for herself at all. By now it must be only her cyborg mainframe that keep her this sentient.
She understood why she couldn't have a suspended animation tank. Those were illegal to be used keep someone alive just because you thought they shouldn't die. Her brain would have just kept rotting. They were only allowed to speed up healing. Or slow down death enough to save a life.
But now, she had hope. It fluttered in her chest like a bird. It became a flame. Bright and warm and welcome in her coldness. This man, who was no in charge of her well fare, had an idea. It felt good to have this feeling of, of feeling. The sensation of emotion and opinion. It normally seemed to distant, to unreachable, but now here it was, tight in her grasp. She held on to it firmly. She held on to it with iron clasp. She wasn't going to let it go. She still wanted to feel. She wanted to feel hope. The hope that she could feel again. That she, her brain, could be fixed. Hope.
The intercom in which the doctors spoke to her through was silent. Steel tried to understand what he could be doing. Understand his thoughts and what his idea was. She felt that flame of hope slipping away. She wouldn't let it leave her. Turning to feel that empathy for such a distant man, it was to much. Her brain couldn't take it it in. Understand. Create.