Chapter One: A New Type of Person
"If I may borrow a bit of your time… Lily, could Lincoln and I have the room to ourselves for a little bit?" Lisa asked. Lily stuck her tongue out at Lisa and walked out of the room, going downstairs to watch television.
"Elder Brother. You are already quite athletic. Despite your preference for comic books and video games and RPGs, you've taken on a more athletic lifestyle." Lisa said, flicking a switch on the wall, which didn't seem to do anything. She smiled.
"Noise cancellation unit. It scrambles sound waves going out of the room so that nothing we say in here can be heard in the hallway or any of the neighboring rooms." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded.
"You work out with Lynn fairly regularly, you're on the track and cross-country teams. I don't pretend to know why you chose to take on those sports, but more power to you." She said.
"Well, it was that, or have mom pick out a sport like football for me again." Lincoln shrugged. Lisa chuckled, nodding. She remembered when Lincoln switched off with Lynn.
Lincoln was 17 now. He'd be taking his SATs soon and was busy most of the time studying for them. It was hard to know exactly what would be on the SATs each year. But it was always difficult and it always was almost impossible to cheat. This, however, Lisa suspected would help Lincoln improve his chances without technically cheating.
"I would appreciate your cooperation with a project that I've undertaken that requires test subjects to properly examine its benefits on the human body as well as any potential drawbacks.
"Think of yourself as the first member of an entirely new subspecies of humanity. Imbued with superpowers! Able to perform that which only the finest Olympic athletes could at one point, able to exceed the limitations of the human body through science!" Lisa said eagerly. Lincoln realized he was leaning in in excitement. Lisa smirked.
"I see I have your attention. No, these are not superpowers in the traditional sense. I'm not going to inject you with radioactive material or some wonky elixir that imbues you with superhuman physical abilities.
"You're not going to be able to shoot webbing out of your hands or lasers out of your eyes… Yet. Keep in mind that you are not Wolverine or Cyclops. You won't have unlimited regeneration or the ability to shoot lasers or grow bone claws." Lisa said, being a bit repetitive.
"You won't be able to regrow limbs either… Again, yet. However, with my… Enhancements, you will gain certain benefits that you will discover in time." The nine-year-old said.
She went back to her closet and typed in some commands to her computer, at which point a hydraulic hiss sounded from inside and a glass case rose out of the floor
"Bionic organs. Not the stuff of science-fiction anymore. I've outlined the benefits of bionic organs in this pamphlet." Lisa said, pulling out what looked like a small book. Lincoln looked at it, seeing that each organ had its own chapter and the 'pamphlet' filled at least 60 pages if not more.
"At this point, I have not made bionic versions of the reproductive organs. Due to their necessary complexity and sensitivity, they would be dangerous to remove and nearly impossible with my current level of ability to replicate. I'm a scientist, not a wizard, though some call me one." Lisa said. Lincoln read through the booklet, looking at how the organs worked individually and how they worked and enhanced the body as a group. The heart and lungs worked together in ways that neither could do alone. The eyes and the ears worked together in ways that neither could alone and so on.
There was even a chapter on an organ that had no parallel to 'natural' organs that simply held, sent out and recycled nanomachines. As a result, he would no longer need to get his weekly injection of nanomachines to maintain their effect. She even had a chapter on the bones. She wasn't replacing his bones with bionic versions. That would just be silly.
Instead, she had produced an organic paste that she called UDOM or Ultra-Dense Organic Matter that could be fused to the bones in a manner similar to Wolverine's Adamantium, though according to the chapter, it would not be as strong as pure metal, though it would be purely organic and thus not be rejected by the user's body as an alien material. He took over an hour reading the book, finally putting it down.
"This is interesting. What are the dangers of having these implanted?" Lincoln asked. Lisa nodded.
"I'm glad you asked. There are potential dangers, namely that you would be the first human subject to have them as replacements for your organs. As a result, I would insist that you undergo tests with me to ensure that they work as I intend them to. I've implanted them in primates who needed things like heart replacements and whatnot.
"There was even a primate that I used these on that I replaced all their organs. However, I have not used them on any humans yet. So being the first of our species to have them is a potential danger in itself. There are the natural drawbacks of the enhanced potential that you'll have and the potential for abuse of those abilities. But that rests entirely on you as to whether you'll take unfair advantage." Lisa said.
"As for potential physical complications, the wearisome concerns about the need for regular checkups of the organs to make sure they're functioning properly, the chance for physical rejection." Lisa said.
"The chance that the organs themselves could fail. Thus far, of the primate recipients, none of them have rejected the organs or had them fail on them. And in fact, their lives have been enhanced by the organs rather than limited." Lisa said.
"It's ultimately up to you whether you'll do it and if you do, how far you'll dive in." Lisa said. Lincoln paused for a long moment, his fingers going into a triangle shape, showing that he was thinking.
There were dangers to this operation. He knew that Lisa was sometimes a bit of a mad scientist, even now that she was nine, almost ten as she would tell anyone who listened long enough. But she still had some tendencies to go a bit crazy with science. But the temptation of having the potential for enhanced physical abilities was strong as well. Lincoln continued thinking. It was hard to resist the chance to be a literal superpowered human. And he was sure that Lisa would take good care of him afterwards. He sighed, relenting to the realization that he simply couldn't pass up this chance.
"I'll do it. All of it." Lincoln said. Lisa nodded.
"Excellent." Lisa said. She could begin with him immediately. She had him come down with her to the bunker under the front lawn, which she'd expanded dramatically to include a laboratory which could be sterilized with the push of a button. She had tanks of a liquid in it that sterilized more than ten times better than any germ killer currently on the market. It also was non-toxic to humans, though that didn't mean it was a good idea to drink it as she would tell Leni when she came by.
-0-
The Louds actually lived in a new home now. They'd moved across town a few years back when Lincoln was thirteen to a new, nicer and larger home. Lynn's Table was doing well and had even expanded to a second location. Rita had finished her novel and it was selling well. She was even writing a sequel to it. They were still in the same school district, so the kids didn't need to be uprooted from their lives. They just lived in a new home. Lisa had built a new bunker under the new lawn and had expanded it significantly to allow for her to get more use out of it.
"Okay, Elder Brother… Lie down on the table and I will put you under. The operation should only take between twenty to thirty minutes. You'll be legally dead for approximately two minutes while I put in your new heart. But after that, you'll be fine." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded, stripping down to his underwear and letting Lisa examine him with a pair of goggles. She had created the goggles to examine heart rate and multiple other biological signs. They had X-Ray capabilities without the use of radiation. They could read biological signs that allowed them to act as lie detector goggles as well.
She'd sold them to multiple organizations, including the FBI and other police agencies. And that was the least of her inventions that she'd managed to patent and sell. Lincoln shivered on the cold metal table. The room was surgically clean. It had been perfectly sterilized. So there was almost no chance of infection within this room. She took out an injector gun and loaded a cartridge into it that had a sleeper agent in it. He would be asleep for about an hour after this and thus would feel nothing.
He felt himself drifting off. As soon as his vitals showed that he was fully under, Lisa began, lowering the table to a level that was comfortable for her, she opened up his chest, beginning with his heart, replacing that, as that was the most important organ. She next put in his lungs, stomach, kidneys, pancreas, intestines liver and the others. Then she put in the nanomachine organ, connecting it in a way that would allow it to send nanomachines to any location in the body.
She then went up and replaced his eyes and inner ears. The operation was going well. Now, all that was left were the bones. She washed off her hands and put on new gloves, going to a small tank of white fluid, having the needles go into his bones at various places and loaded the fluid into the bones, lacing them with the ultra-dense material. That would allow his bones to support his new superhuman potential. Already, Lisa had been running a sort of experiment on him from the time he was 13. She gave him biweekly injections of nanomachines which enhanced his healing.
The enhanced healing allowed him to work out harder and for longer without his muscles tiring as quickly. She admitted that it wasn't a perfect system, namely because it required biweekly applications of the material that allowed it. But she said she was working on a new program that would allow a single application for permanent enhancement. This must have been that.
The machines finally turned off and Lisa cleaned up, going about her work until Lincoln woke up. He woke up sooner than she expected him to, showing that the nanomachines were in fact working properly. The nanomachines, Lisa hoped would prevent infection or rejection of any of the new enhancements. She wasn't sure, and she had anti-rejection medications available in the event that they didn't work as she hypothesized they would. Lincoln moaned lightly, stretching. He could see that there were wounds on his chest and his arms felt sore and his body felt heavy.
But the wounds on his chest seemed already to be healing quite well, faster than they would have even with the nanomachine treatment. Lisa smiled.
"Get up slowly. I do not wish for you to have any accidents. Your body is likely between 15-20% heavier than it was before the operation as a combined result of the bionic organs and the UDOM in your bones. I would like for you to walk around to accustom yourself to the new feeling. But please do not overdo it. You've lost quite a bit of blood from the operation and as I said, you're heavier now." Lisa said.
Lincoln nodded, slowly sitting up, gasping at the dizzy feeling that overcame him. He stayed sitting, but bent his head forward, holding it in his hands, closing his eyes to let his world come into focus. Slowly, things stopped spinning and he began slowly to stand up. The dizzy feeling returned, though not as badly. It seemed his organs were working well, because Lisa checked him with her goggles and saw that his nanomachines were circulating through his body and repairing the damage, replicating the blood inside him so that he would no longer experience the vertigo he was currently.
He took a few tentative steps, staggering slightly as he walked around the room, his body simultaneously overly sensitive and numb.
"I feel… Weird… I feel too much and not enough." Lincoln said. Lisa took notes on that.
"We'll continue to monitor you. If you continue to feel that way, I'll take another look at you. But for now, let us hope that it's simply the result of the unfamiliar organs." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded.
This went on for over an hour. He continued to walk around the laboratory, starting to walk more surely, stretching and looking around, seeing that he could see far more clearly and even in more and brighter colors than he had in the past. His ears could focus in on even the slightest sound and could hear sounds that he assumed could not have been heard by his old ears. As he walked around more, finally climbing out of the laboratory, he gasped. The smells, the sounds, the sights. They were simultaneously the same, but different.
"You may notice drastically enhanced senses. Your eyes have the bionic equivalent of ten color cones in them. You will also have the ability to see much better in decreased light and yes, even in darkness. I'll go over all your new abilities as we work on fully controlling them. But for now, I'll permit you to walk around… Within the house to test them out yourself." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded and checked out the house. The smells in the house. It was clean, but he could sense smells that he never picked up before. He could hear Lola chatting on the phone under her breath with a man interested in featuring her.
She was likely going to be in a children's clothing line commercial. The man had seen her in her latest beauty pageant and wanted to invite her to try out for the commercial. Lola was expanding her repertoire. She'd been in some small time local commercials at first. But just last year, she'd played a part in a commercial for gum. Lola didn't chew gum, but she'd taken the commercial since it would get her name out there and she'd be able to work her way up to bigger and more important commercials and hopefully someday be a movie star. She was only twelve now.
But she was already building a good amount of money. Rita had insisted that they keep it deposited in an account for her that she couldn't touch unless absolutely necessary. She still got some money from it sometimes when she wanted or needed something. But it had to be approved by Rita and Lynn before she could get the money. Lincoln walked up the stairs, then down. Then back up again. The stairs never tired him. He was just getting the feeling back in his body and it felt good to feel normal. He went to his room and checked out his chest and stomach again. The wounds were healing quickly.
There was a slight scar where she had cut him open, but he touched it and while it felt sore still to the touch, it wasn't the burning sensation it had been before. As he came back down, Lisa stopped him and had him sit down.
"How are you feeling on a scale of 1-10, 1 being terrible and 10 being perfect, better than ever." Lisa said. Lincoln thought for a moment.
"8." Lincoln said.
"Any pain or discomfort?" Lisa asked.
"No, well… When I touch my chest, maybe a 1 or a 2. But nothing serious." Lincoln said.
"Shortness of breath, nausea, rapid heartbeat, or dizziness?" Lisa asked.
"No." Lincoln said. He was still feeling a bit heavier than normal, he explained.
"That will go away in time. Within a few days, you won't even notice it most likely and within a month or two, it won't even slow you down." Lisa said.
Lincoln nodded.
"Good. Now, I would like it if you would abstain from unnecessarily heavy labor over the next few days. I would appreciate you abstaining from sexual intercourse as well. However, onanistic activity is fine." Lisa said. Lincoln would be going to prom soon. He'd arranged for a bit of a flex, mostly to piss off Chandler, by bringing both Girl Jordan and Stella to the prom.
Lincoln was in a poly relationship with Stella and Jordan, both of whom were okay with and even happy with the arrangement. Neither felt neglected by Lincoln. He was surprised at first. He'd started dating Stella when he was fifteen. Then he fell for Jordan. Stella had surprised him by saying that she was alright with him dating Jordan as well. He wasn't complaining though.
"How heavy is 'unnecessarily heavy'?" Lincoln asked Lisa. Lisa looked at him.
"You'll need to use your own judgement on that one. But let's just say that running a full triathlon would be out of the question. Walking up and down stairs, doing a basic workout to keep yourself going would be okay. Though lifting as much weight as you're physically able would be pushing it. I want you to be moderate in your physical exertion over the next few days while I monitor you and assure myself as well as you that the organs are working as they're intended and then slowly over the next few weeks, we'll increase your physical activity to see how you do at varying levels." Lisa said.
Lincoln actually felt touched that she wasn't just throwing him into the deep end to run her experiments as quickly as possible. He could tell she cared about his health and wellbeing.
"Why did you choose me for your bionic organ experiments?" Lincoln asked. Lisa sighed.
"Well, I offered them to Lynn, but she says that until the Olympics are over, she can't spare a month to slowly work her way up to full physical exertion. Lori, while she may benefit from the organs is likewise busy with golfing to spare the time.
"Leni's lifestyle doesn't really suggest that she would benefit physically from the organs, though there are benefits other than enhanced physical capabilities, such as potentially extended lifespan, resistance to pathogens and poison and so on." Lisa said.
"Luna, I plan to offer them to her. The lungs and voice box will permit her to sing even better than she already does. Yes, I know that seems hard to believe. But it is possible." Lisa said.
"And Luan, I've offered them to her and she has not accepted or declined just yet. I think she's quite busy with Maggie and Benny expanding her quaintly named 'Funny Business' to really put much attention on bionic organs, though I feel they would benefit her. And I'm not ready to offer them to our younger siblings just yet. They're too young to consent and they're too young to fully benefit from them and I would not feel right doing such a major and invasive surgery on them. Mother and Father, I've considered offering it to them. They might benefit from them.
"While they have adopted a more active lifestyle of late, being of middle age, they are slowing down physically and I feel that the bionic organs in addition to the nanomachine organ would give them the ability to be active like a much younger person. And I would also like to offer them to Pop Pop, who similarly would benefit and would likely live longer as a result." Lisa said, rambling slightly.
"You've mentioned living longer a few times. How much longer?" Lincoln asked.
"Well, it's hard to give you an exact number. But it could be anywhere as little as 10% longer or as much as 35-40% longer. The nanomachines' ability to affect low-level regeneration within the human body and the organs' far more efficient and effective activity simultaneously allow the person to age slower and be much healthier, even if they don't significantly change their lifestyle. For instance, fast food would still be unhealthy, but your bionic stomach and intestines allow for a much more efficient digestion and metabolism. You'll need to eat less in general and gain greater benefit from the food you do eat.
"So while I advise that you continue to eat healthy food, eating unhealthy food will be less detrimental as a combined result of your enhanced metabolism and digestion and your biomachine organ. You may age slower as a result, though again, I would like you to permit me to examine you regularly so that I can determine just how much slower." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded.
"Of course you can examine me." Lincoln said. He didn't like the idea of taking so long off his exercise routine. But it was ultimately safer to observe Lisa's requests and slow down a bit.
"Can I tell anyone about my bionic organs?" Lincoln asked.
"You can tell anyone you want. But I can almost guarantee that few would understand what you're talking about and some may even disbelieve you. Despite most of Royal Woods being aware of my prodigious genius, many still have difficulty understanding just how prolific I really am." Lisa said. That was hardly even a flex for her. It was true. She had already tested into MENSA and the Mega Society, being shown to have an IQ of 213. Most of what qualified her though were her inventions.
She had already developed and patented treatments for cancers that were far more effective and less invasive than any that came before them and didn't require radiation. Her invention of nanomachines to the level that she had created them were positively incredible. They were diverse in their ability to heal from cancer to enhancing physical capabilities to affecting low-level regeneration. She'd patented cures and vaccines for diseases that had to date escaped scientists' ability to cure. She'd developed cures for Prion diseases and even a treatment which showed promise in prompting the body to fight off HIV.
Just last year, the first person who had AIDS had been pronounced cured due to Lisa's efforts. There was still a ways to go, and due to the high mutation rate of HIV, each case had to be approached in a slightly different way. But Lisa's research had earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in science. She was renowned the world over for her work and despite being only nine, she could count herself amongst the greatest scientists in all of history. Fortunately, unlike five years ago, Lisa was not as impulsive or as arrogant with her science and didn't jump into things half-cocked like when she was 4 and 5.
So overall, despite now having to slow down for a while, Lincoln was sure that he would be fine. He had Lisa looking after him while he adjusted to his new organs and his new capabilities. Lisa fully intended to test the limits of his capabilities as well. She did. But for now, she didn't want to overstress his body while he healed and while she was unsure of the limits of his abilities.
"You should be ready now." Lisa said.
"This is pretty cool. I'm like the Million-Dollar Man." Lincoln said. Lisa scoffed at his assertion.
"Please. Your body, with all the bionic and UDOM implants I gave you, is easily worth fifty times that. The heart, lungs and stomach alone are probably worth a million dollars, given that they would be entirely unavailable had I myself not invented them. Together, I could estimate that I could fetch over fifty million for a full body's worth of organs as well as the UDOM and the instructions as to how to use them." Lisa said. Lincoln did always admire Lisa's confidence and pride in her scientific advances.
He wasn't sure she was being accurate in estimating her organs to be worth fifty million altogether. However, given that nobody else in the world had the scientific knowledge or intelligence to have made the organs, she could probably ask whatever she wanted for them. He hoped she wouldn't ask that much of people who genuinely needed the organs or those who were helping to test them out. But the point remained that she could if she wanted to.
