Chapter Two: Testing the Limits
Lincoln was busy studying for his SATs, so even if he had wanted to or been allowed to exercise intensely, he would probably have been too busy studying. Lisa continued to tutor him during his studies, as she had done for Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan and Lynn before Lincoln. Lisa suspected that most of the older siblings would not have done half as well as they did without her help. She was not too modest to admit that her comprehensive knowledge of the questions and answers to the past fifty years of SAT exams had been instrumental in them securing the scores they did.
Even still, Leni had only gotten a 902 on her SAT, which Lisa thought was actually pretty good considering Leni's limitations. She had improved dramatically over the years, but she still was hardly what most would consider intelligent. But that was okay. Because her goals in life were to be a fashion designer, which she excelled in and could focus extremely well on. And she had succeeded just six months ago in patenting her first fashion line of summer clothes.
Lori had done better on her SATs, having gotten a 1190 on her SATs. It was hardly stellar, but she was going to college focusing on their golf program rather than on her academics. She proved that she could get good enough scores to stay on the golf team and she actually did quite well in college, keeping up mid-to high Bs in her classes.
Luna's intention was never academics. She went to college, but she got an 1149 on her SATs. However, currently, the Moon Goats were doing quite well and had already produced several records. They mostly produced themselves, using , ViewTube, eTunes and their personal band website to raise the money they needed to continue producing. They did concerts and traveled sometimes and they were recognized when they went places. So ultimately, Luna's SAT scores were not instrumental in her career choice… Pardon the pun.
Luan did surprisingly well on her SATs, getting a 1240 on her test. She went to college for performance arts and was doing really well there, apparently. Lynn didn't do great on her SATs, getting only a 1030. But as she said, she wanted to be an Olympian, not a corporate stooge. And in fact, Lynn would be in the 2024 Summer Olympics in two years. While Lynn was extremely able physically, having already surpassed Usain Bolt's record, she was still training intensively to continue to surpass her own records. She competed in Triathlons all over the country and had already made a big name for herself.
Lincoln on the other hand, for right now fully intended to justify Lisa's belief in him that he could surpass all his elder siblings' SAT scores. He had less than a month left before the tests. He had registered to take them in June. He was nervous and while Lisa assured him that he was doing well and was well on his way to getting an extremely competitive score, he was still anxious about it. However, he noticed that his synapses were firing better than they ever had before. He could remember better than ever what he was studying. As the two-hour mark came, Lisa told him to put away his books and take the quiz.
He obeyed and closed his books, letting her put down the quiz. He looked over the questions, answering each of them to the best of his considerable abilities. This was a math quiz. He went through the questions. Lisa always made a quiz of 30 questions. Every two hours he took a quiz and once a week, he took a sample SAT test. And once a month, he took an actual SAT exam that had been administered in previous years. It was a grueling regimen, but Lisa paced it well and Lincoln and Lisa both felt like he could handle it, even if he wished he had a bit more free time.
Lincoln actually was going to ask Lisa if they could ease up on the studying. He had been doing really well and it was likely that he would do just as well on his actual exam once it came. Finally, after he finished the quiz, Lisa released him for the day.
"You know, Lisa. I appreciate all the help you're giving me. But is there any chance we could be a bit less intense about this. I already scored a 1500 on my last past SAT exam you gave me." Lincoln said.
"I may not get that good a score on the actual test. But I'm doing well." Lincoln said.
Lisa sighed, nodding.
"Yes. Perhaps I've gone a bit overboard in preparing you for the exams. I suppose that I see you as having the greatest potential after myself in the family. With an IQ of 144.8, you are exceptional intellectually. But you're also highly logical and your keen and tactical mind can't be discounted. No, you're hardly a genius. But I would like the opportunity to test your IQ again, now that you've had some time with the nanomachine organ. Its benefits on your physical abilities are obvious.
"But I believe that it may have some potential to benefit your mental clarity and acuity as well." Lisa said.
"But for now, you're done. Go… Do whatever you would normally do when you're not working." Lisa said. Lincoln left and called Jordan and Stella on conference call. They had been discussing their plans for college. Jordan wanted to go to college out of state. She had been looking at Marist as a good choice. She had been invited on a soccer scholarship and wanted to go to be a high school history teacher.
Stella, who was extremely skilled with computers wanted to stay close to home and was considering colleges in Ohio and Michigan for Programming and Computer Engineering. She was even considering going for PhDs in those fields. Lincoln was probably going to go to Columbus University for its art and creative writing programs. He was looking to improve his skill in both designing and writing comics. Already, he made good money from his Full Deck comics, which were still big sellers. He was sometimes recognized even as the original designer of the story.
"Hey, Linc… How's it going? Looking forward to Prom?" Stella asked cheerfully. Lincoln nodded.
"Yeah. Leni designed my suit for me. I can't wait to take you ladies to the dance." Lincoln said. Jordan chuckled. She remembered when it became common knowledge that Lincoln was dating both her and Stella. They were two of the most popular girls in school and the fact that Lincoln was dating both of them spread like wildfire. Chandler especially seemed miffed that 'such a nerd' was able to bag both of them and wasn't shy about expressing his contempt for Lincoln.
Though Chandler was never exactly shy about being rude to Lincoln and his friends, this just gave him another reason. It had calmed down a bit when he realized that nobody else was that level of agro about it. Jordan was sure that him taking both of them to prom though would reignite Chandler's anger about the issue. Lincoln sighed. He'd gotten incredibly lucky. He had two girlfriends who loved him and who were both okay with him dating both of them.
"Can we see the suit?" Jordan asked. Lincoln nodded.
He went upstairs and pulled it out of the closet, putting it on the bed and taking pics of it with his phone and sending them to the girls.
"Have you gotten your prom dresses ready yet?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah. I'm excited to show it to you. But I think I'm going to keep it a surprise until prom night." Jordan said. Lincoln chuckled. He liked surprises, and he was sure this would be a great one.
"Not yet." Stella said. She was still having a bit of a disagreement with her father, who thought her prom dress should be more modest than she was planning it to be. She was hardly going in a lace bikini. Yes, it didn't have sleeves and yes, it dipped down a bit, showing off her cleavage. But it was hardly the dress of an exhibitionist. She was staying pretty firm in wearing it. But it remained to be seen what would happen from here. Lincoln nodded.
"Well, hopefully your dad will come around about it. I'm sure whatever you wear, you'll look great." Lincoln said. Stella doubted that he would. He would never like her dress. And the odds that her mother, who did like the dress, would be able to convince him that it was alright were slim. He didn't even like the fact that Stella was in a poly relationship. He was a pretty traditional person. He loved Stella and wanted her to be happy. But he sometimes ended up going back to his 'traditional values', which didn't include poly relationships or wearing revealing clothes.
But maybe he would at least allow her to wear the dress that she'd had made for the prom. Whatever happened though, Lincoln knew that she'd look great.
"I gotta go. I'm studying for the SATs right now." Stella said. Her parents expected her to get a good grade on it. And she expected that as well. If she wanted to get into a good college, she would need a good grade. She had the opportunity to go to Michigan State. But there were other universities in Michigan, Ohio and the other surrounding states.
Some of them had pretty high standards. She was also considering MIT, given that she was going for computer things. That would put both his girlfriends pretty far away from him. But he was happy that they were going for their dreams like this. Jordan being a teacher was interesting. He'd never expected that she wanted that. He figured he learned something new about his girls each day.
"I actually gotta go too." Jordan said.
"Gotta go work out." She said.
"Actually, I have an offer for you girls. Lisa finally managed to create bionic organs. Rick and Morty stuff, right?" Lincoln chuckled. Jordan raised an eyebrow.
"And she wants us to be implanted with them as well?" Stella asked, curious about the idea. Lincoln hesitated for a long moment.
"She's open to anyone who's willing to test them out. I'm the first human to have them put in me. But she needs more people than just me.
"She's analyzed each of our siblings to determine how well they would benefit from bionic organs and how likely they would be to want them." Lincoln said.
"But I'm sure she would give them to you two as well if you wanted them." Lincoln said. Stella hesitated. She wasn't sure how her father would react to her getting her organs replaced. She loved her father. But she was 18 now. She had turned 18 just a month ago. So in her mind, she had the right to do what she wanted with her body. But she still didn't want to upset him.
And what would be more upsetting than finding out your daughter not only got machines put in her chest and stomach in place of organs, but did it behind his back?
"I'll think about it." Stella said uncertainly. She didn't know what she would do. Jordan seemed interested in the idea though.
"What exactly does it involve?" Jordan asked.
"Well… I was put to sleep. And from what I understand, Lisa cut open my chest and stomach. She said she started with my heart and then moved to my lungs and then the other organs. Then she replaced my eyes, inner ears and put something in my nose." Lincoln said.
"Whatever she did, my senses can't even be compared to what they were. Then, she… Added something called UDOM to my bones. She called it UDOM, but it stands for Ultra-Dense Organic Matter. She compared it to Wolverine's Adamantium. I didn't think Lisa even knew enough about Marvel.
"Anywho, I was really sore and dizzy and felt really heavy when I woke up. But I healed quickly and was walking pretty normally within an hour or two. She's been insisting that I take it slow, working back up to my old exercise regimen. She wants to make sure that the organs are working the way they're supposed to. She said she tested them on primates before she implanted them in me. But there are enough differences even between the most similar primate to us and us that it requires time and testing to be sure that it works the same way." Lincoln said. Jordan nodded. Lincoln liked being able to FaceTime.
"But how do you feel now?" Stella asked, wanting to understand how it was affecting him.
"Well… I'm feeling good. I have much more energy. My ability to exercise lets me go for longer. The nanomachine organ prevents my muscles from tiring like they used to. They still will after a while. But as I'm exercising right now, I haven't gotten to that point. I can keep doing sit-ups, pull-ups, pushups and so on till the cows come home as Liam would say and I'm still not sore." Lincoln shrugged.
"I can hold my breath for much longer." Lincoln said.
Lisa submerged him in a tank and had him hold his breath until he could no longer. When he absolutely couldn't hold it anymore, he tapped the tank. Fortunately, even once he ran out of his ability to hold his breath, the nanomachines acted as backup and they recycled the oxygen in his blood, giving him time to come up above water and breathe. Lisa said the failsafe was supposed to support the human's ability to stay conscious for as long as they'd been holding their breath at least. But it shouldn't be relied on too much since the body wasn't designed to go without fresh air.
"I don't have a pulse anymore. My body temperature is about a degree and a half higher than normal because of the bionic organs. I can eat less and my organs metabolize it far more efficiently. I can go longer without sleep because my organs and nanomachines run repairs to prevent exhaustion even. Though again, it's not recommended that I test these functions too much. I have more energy than I used to. I'm gonna be doing a run that Lisa laid out for me to do. I'd like to be doing my five mile plus runs. But I understand why Lisa's only having me do two mines right now." Lincoln said.
Jordan was silent. Lincoln really laid it out well. He'd really explained it comprehensively. She was glad that he was being so forthright. Not that he wasn't always with them. But she was concerned that he might clam up a bit about the specifics in case some of them were a bit grotesque.
"And you haven't gotten sick? Like because of foreign objects inside you?" Jordan asked. Jordan wasn't a doctor, but she understood a bit about rejection and how the body sometimes rejected transplants or blood transfusions because the body saw them as invasive and tried to eliminate them.
"Nope. Not yet anyway. It's been almost six days." Lincoln said.
"Lisa said that because of the nanomachines working their regeneration to fully heal me after the surgery and the transplant, it's likely that my body will be able to avoid rejection entirely." Lincoln said. Jordan chuckled. Lincoln seemed to have memorized everything Lisa said. He always had a good memory. But was this part of his transplants as well? Had the nanomachines enhanced him mentally as well?
"I'll come talk to Lisa about the organs." Jordan said.
She wasn't ready to make a decision yet. But she'd talk to Lisa about them, let her explain the issue fully. Jordan was 18 now. She'd turned 18 in April. So she could make her own medical decisions.
"Lisa." Lincoln breathed. Lisa looked up.
"When can you set up to talk to Jordan about implanting organs into her?" Lincoln asked. Lisa thought for a moment, looking at her schedule.
"I have some time tomorrow at 3." Lisa said.
"Is tomorrow at 3 okay for you?" Lincoln asked. Jordan nodded.
"Okay. 3 pm is fine." Lincoln said. Lisa wrote in the time. From 3-4, she would be with Jordan. They would have to set up another time to actually do the surgery if she wanted it. But they could at least have a talk about the potential for surgery.
"Alrighty." Jordan said.
"I have to get going as well." Jordan said. She was about to go out to kickboxing.
Lincoln nodded. The three hung up. Lisa went over to Lincoln.
"Alright. Are you ready to test your new abilities? We'll start with two miles and then we'll assess how you're doing." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded, getting his running clothes on, coming down and going out with Lisa. She transmitted the course to his phone. He looked at the course. He sat down on the floor, doing some stretching before going out for his run. He had always been told by Lynn to stretch before the main event so you don't cramp up.
He was a pretty fast runner. Not as fast as Lynn. But then, who was? Lynn ran faster than any Olympic runner had recorded so far. But Lincoln could top out around 22 miles an hour. He rarely went faster than 15 when he was running cross-country. But he still could pick up the speed when he needed to in order to outpace someone. He went at a hearty speed as he started running. He went down the driveway and went right on the road, sighing in relief as he felt the wind in his face. While he did still love video games, Magic the Gathering, Pathfinder and comic books, he liked exercising too.
There was a certain freedom in running and even in lifting weights. He took a left, heading up a hill that Lisa had said that a few hills would be on the course she plotted out to test Lincoln's endurance. He easily took the hill continuing the course. All too soon, he made it to the end of the course.
"Alright, Lise… I'm done with the course. Can I keep going?" Lincoln asked, calling Lisa. Lisa monitored his vitals through her phone. It wasn't as accurate as doing it in person. But it was still quite accurate. She nodded.
"Very well. Add on another two miles." Lisa said, sending a continuation of the course. Lincoln ultimately ran four miles before heading back to the house. Lisa intercepted him when he came in. She had him sit down and she connected her computer with his organs, running diagnostic scans on their activity over the run. She nodded, downloading the information and printing it.
"Here. Look it over if you like." Lisa said.
"So far, your organs are working as well as expected.
"Tomorrow, we'll do another run and extend the run. We'll continue to make the runs more difficult to test your abilities. For now, I would like to do some weightlifting." Lisa said, taking Lincoln down to the basement, introducing him to the highly advanced weight room. She showed him how to log in and set up his profile. Each time he went down, he could scan his fingerprint and his profile would update after each workout. It would modify the weight levels and speeds on the treadmill and the resistance on the bike and so on. It would make sure that he was challenged, but that he wasn't hurting himself.
"Okay." Lincoln said. Lisa set up the computers and had Lincoln begin his profile. He put in his thumbprint and got his picture taken. The picture did a scan of him, determining approximately his physical ability. He then started on the machines. As he worked out, they specialized and he felt them get heavier and lighter until they settled on a particular weight. He went through each of the machines, finding that his strength had increased slightly. It wasn't superhuman yet. But he was able to lift more weight than he had been before. He smiled as he finished the circuit.
Lisa nodded.
"Good. It seems the organs are doing what they're meant to do. I recommend against going full tilt just yet. Still work yourself up to it. But you can do more rigorous exercise from now on." Lisa said happily.
"Jordan is thinking of getting the bionic organs implanted in her as well." Lincoln said. Lisa nodded.
"I know. I'll be speaking to her tomorrow when she comes over. I will ask her exactly how much she wants. I can implant everything from the body operating organs to eyes and ears as well." Lisa said.
She was also close to making bionic arms and legs. They would have ten times the strength of organic arms and legs, but would also displace the strain from said extra weight to ensure that neither the limbs nor the body got damaged. She was also continuing to work on the bionic organs. She had told Lincoln that the eyes didn't shoot lasers yet. But she wanted to make them able to do so. The odds that would ever come up for Lincoln, needing to shoot lasers was slim to none. Though he may have some use for lasers. They could help him make his boffing weapons. He was a skillful crafter.
He made highly intricate boffing weapons that sold for good money. Lincoln didn't need the money. He had all the money he needed from his Full Deck comics. But he put the money to good use, saving it to buy presents for his siblings for birthdays and holidays. He sighed, going upstairs to take a shower after his workout before heading back to his room and resting for a bit, reading some comics.