Rudy waited in anticipation in the reception area of his lab. Finally, a kindly-looking man arrived.

"Dr. Staton, nice to finally meet you." Rudy reached out and shook the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Dr. Wells," the grey-haired man replied. "You work for some powerful people and I have to say that the security around this place is intimidating to a plastic surgeon like myself."

Rudy laughed. "Well, I hope we can make you feel more comfortable, enough to come on board, perhaps?"

"Look, I have to be honest with you, Dr. Wells. Working for a top-secret government agency has never been on my radar as a career path. Nor would I imagine it being the career path of any other plastic surgeon. What I do would definitely interest Hollywood celebrities; but I can't for the life of me figure what your agency would want with a plastic surgeon."

"What were you told, Dr. Staton?" Rudy asked.

"Not much. Just that you were interested in my research on reconstructive microsurgery and had a patient that needed my services."

"Were you told anything about my field of study?"

"No, nothing."

"I see. Well, I'm bionicist, among other things."

"Bionics? I've never heard of that field."

"Bionics is the science of systems that function in a manner characteristic of or resembling living systems," Rudy explained. "You could say it's a very close cousin to cybernetics."

"Cybernetics?" Dr. Staton's mouth dropped open. "Are you creating a cyborg?"

Rudy nodded. "Yes. Now this will be a prototype, but if it is successful, it could open up unprecedented hope for thousands of victims of accidents."

"That's incredible. But you're talking about machines. What could you possibly want with a plastic surgeon?"

"Well, yes, we are talking about machines, but bionics takes it one step further. The limbs won't look like machines. They will look and function like a real arm or leg. There will be no way for a person looking at our cyborg to be able to tell the difference between his real arm and his artificial arm in the way it looks, feels, or functions."

Rudy opened the door to his lab. "Come on in. Let me show something."

Dr. Staton's eyes went wide when he saw the main prosthetics room.

Rudy walked over to a table and picked up a five-inch square of what looked like flexible plastic sheeting. He handed it to Dr. Staton. "Take a look at this."

Dr. Staton took it and looked at it closely. He couldn't hide his surprise. "Why this looks and feels exactly like human skin!"

Rudy chuckled. "It's called plastiskin."

Dr. Staton turned it over. The back was smooth and pale pink and looked like regular plastic. "This is thicker than normal skin."

"And stronger," added Rudy. "The bionic limbs will be covered with that skin and it will match his skin tone perfectly. Our problem is where the plastiskin meets his real skin at the connection points. And that's where you come in, Dr. Staton."

"You want me to hide the scars where his real skin meets the plastiskin?"

"Yes, and also he has regular scars on his body that will need to disappear."

"Regular scars I can do, but you're talking about joining living skin to plastic. I don't know if that is possible."

"It's possible," Rudy assured him. "But we need you to hide that it was done."

"I've never tried anything like that. I'm not sure I can do it."

"Would you be willing to try?"

"I think I'd like to see the patient first before I decide."

"Of course. Follow me."

Rudy took Dr. Staton to the hospital wing of the building. They entered Steve's room. Steve lay on the bed unconscious, hooked up to the electro-sleep machine.

"He's asleep," noted Dr. Staton. "Can you wake him up?"

"I thought for the physical exam it would be better that he be unconscious. That way you could examine him and talk freely."

"I see." Dr. Staton looked intently at Steve's face. "Wait. He looks familiar. I read about him in the paper. That's the astronaut who was in that experimental plane crash."

"Yes, this is Colonel Steve Austin," replied Rudy.

"But the newspaper said he walked away from that crash with only a few scrapes and bruises."

"Yes, well, we had to keep his true condition secret as you can see." Rudy then pulled the sheet off of Steve, revealing his naked form.

Dr. Staton gasped. "Both legs and an arm?" He looked at all the bandages on Steve's body. "This guy has been through hell."

"And he's not done with surgery. Next week he's getting five ribs replaced and there will be more surgeries after that."

"Mind if I take a closer look?"

"Go ahead."

Dr. Staton carefully pulled the large bandage off of Steve's right side, revealing a long jagged pink scar that was almost healed. He gently touched the scar. "This bandage can stay off."

Next, he gently pulled down on the bandage covering Steve's heart. "How long since his heart surgery?"

"It's been five weeks," replied Rudy.

Dr. Staton nodded then pressed the bandage back into place. Next he looked at the feeding tube. "How long are you planning on keeping the feeding tube in place?"

"That won't come out until after all surgery has been done. He'll be under quite a bit so we'll need to keep it in to make sure he gets proper nutrition."

"What about the eye?" Dr. Staton asked.

"It was badly damaged and will be replaced with a bionic eye."

Dr. Staton shook his head. "I don't envy what the Colonel will have to go through to become a cyborg. Now I can definitely help with all these scars. It's going to be a lot of work though. But I don't know if I can help with hiding the connection of the plastiskin to his real skin."

"If you can't do it, nobody can. You're his only hope of coming out of this looking normal and unscarred."

Dr. Staton rubbed his chin in thought. "Okay, I'll give it my best shot. I'll join your team."

"Wonderful! Welcome aboard, Doctor!"