With a welcoming hum the lights in the floor flickered to life, flooding the apartment with a white glow. Huffing, I drag my patient's limp form across the polished floor and into my 'living room' which is actually just the largest space in my apartment. The gleaming black walls and floors shine in the fuzzy white lighting and make my jade-colored markings stand out in contrast.

Gently I slide the Renegade to the floor, his head lolling to the side and dash over to the control panel on the wall. It comes to life, glowing brighter at my touch as I click a small teal light. As I turn back to the lifeless figure a previously invisible platform slowly rises from the floor. Coming to it's full height the glassy platform could either be used as a table, bed, desk, or anything else.

At the moment it was being used as an operating table.

With a grunt of exertion I lift the ivory figure off the ground, feeling a tight strain in my lower back, and pull him as carefully as I can onto the elevated surface. Concern twists in my chest when he let's out another antagonizing cry. Time was running out. After adjusting his arms and making sure he wouldn't roll off I slide my fingers through the air and a screen appears.

"Emergency code 5547." I say in a commanding voice." Install vitals monitor and coding stabilizer."

The screen is suddenly filled with multiple boxes. In the middle of teal screen is an outline of the Renegade. To his side are multiple columns describing his faint energy readings. I jerk away from the table for a moment and run over to a cupboard. Ripping the small doors open I pile all the silver tools into my thin arms and dash back over to my patient. I throw them onto the small space at the Renegade's feet and root through for the equipment I need. Taking two small squares I place them on either side of the wound. A small flash of light brightens my eyes as the sensors in them connect to his coding and a river of blue pixels pulses from their position like a computerized ripple.

I nod, satisfied. They would help stabilize the broken coding for a while. Give me a little extra time to work my magic. After setting up a small frame I gently raise up a the program's limp shoulder and disconnect his disk with a sharp click. Placing the thin, white piece of technology onto the frame I flinch and take an involuntary step back when light flashes up from its center.

Multiple squares displaying moving pictures of unrecognizable people and places rotate around the center in slow circles. "Memories." I recognize them as. My finger hovers over one of the images of an intense looking fight but I jerk it back and click a different option. "The memories could wait." I decided, barely resisting my bursting curiosity. After a moment the screen flickers and the remembrances fade to be replaced by a twisting vine of pixels. The Renegade's genetic coding. I groan seeing the spider web of complex DNA.

"Oh, Users, this was going to be complicated!"

I flick my fingers and the collection of small dots spins around. I spot the damage code, a small orange section of the DNA, deep inside the twisting vines of coding. Enlarging the image, I slide my fingers in between the zigzags of genetics and clasp the orange section underneath my fingertips. Stretching my fingers apart the image widens so that I am looking at a cloud of small orange circles. Repairing this was going to be a pain.

I begin inspecting each combination of damage code. With practiced ease I unraveled the strings of orange particles and then began combining them together, one at a time, to create one glowing sphere of fiery light. There were so many though. So much damage to be fixed.

Suddenly, a quiet crackling like the sound of crushing glass filled the air. With alarm I turned to see the coding around the wound begin to glow. Bright blue lines began to snake between the coding and with a sickening sound dozens of tiny pixels clattered to the table. The sound continued as more of the coding began to deteriorate. I cursed. His code was failing. I didn't have enough time. He would be derezzed.

"Nonononononononononononono! NO!" I cried.

I dove into my job with a new feverish desperation, throwing strands of different codes around." He will not die!" I chanted in my mind as my fingers flew through the hovering pieces of light. I heard more pixels collapse to the table but my eyes didn't trail from the DNA in front of me. "Done!" My mind screamed as I pushed the last string of damage code into the floating collection. With a heavy breath I flipped the flame-colored coding over my shoulder, not bothering to watch the fragments dissipate into the air. Ripping the white disk off the pedestal I skid over to the Renegade and lift his shoulder. Some pixels fall to the floor as I hastily click the disk back into place.

I fall back, breathing hard. Even though I was gulping the air I felt light-headed. Time became like elastic, seeming to stretch on for an unimaginably long time as I waited to see if I had succeeded or it was already too late. Then, like a miracle, the deep gash flashed a bright white and clacking filled the air again. But this time the noise signalled something good and not negative as the pixels began to repair themselves. I let out a relieved sigh as small cubes began to appear, covering over the wound.

With a weary breath I collapsed to the floor. "What a hell of a night." And the morning could only get more interesting.