1Well, this is the last chapter before the part I lost. I'm rewriting two or three chapters, something I don't like much. That'll teach me to neglect my backups! My faithful computer Hercules fried after years of services. So I will not update as rapidly. Except for chapter 9, I 'finished' it yesterday. I don't think it's as good as the lost version, After those 2 or 3, I have another bunch already written.

I have only 2 reviews by the same person (thanks, Diahard! :-)) but I have faithful traffic, so thanks for reading my story. Even though I write for fun, the point is still to have readers!

8- Dawn

If he thought it hurt before, he was now reevaluating his scale. It had been a week since he had first woken up after this new surgery, and they insisted on putting him on his "legs" once a day. He knew from past experience that this was necessary, and they were awfully nice and properly desolate, but damn! Did it hurt!

At the Garrison hospital they hadn't been so kind, and in spite of the genuine concern of the Arisian personnel, the memories were too keen. He remembered how the Garrison had made his stay there a study in legal torture. He tried to keep a straight face, like he had then, but still those involuntary whimpers would come. Once a prince, and now he sounded like a beaten puppy. This was so humiliating!

"Tsk!" Said the nurse. "I told you a thousand times to say it straight out when it gets too much. We can't evaluate your need when you try to be a big boy. All Right, it's enough for today."

The two male nurses put him back on his bed. The big one had a reproachful gleam in his eyes. He got out and was back in minutes with those pink pills. Lotor took them rather gratefully this time.

They never left him alone. When his two helpers left, Marble came to his post. The drule noted that they had changed the noisy chair for something much more comfortable. Maybe the small spy would fall asleep and he would have his chance... He couldn't walk on his own, though. And they had carefully removed anything he could have used. Even the glasses were made of something white that bent under a slight pressure. He would have to wait.

In spite of himself, the first signs of curiosity made their way in his brain. What would he see with his new eye? Could this artificial flesh really respond to touch? He had blasted Hunk with questions, and the pilot had gladly obliged, explaining how it worked, how the new arm was capable of a range of moves identical to a real one. For the face they had used this new "artificial flesh." It was in bundles of fibres like real muscle. The implant was much more fragile then real flesh, and it could not efficiently heal itself. Any serious bruise would mean a surgery. That was why they hadn't made the arm that way. It was classic, made of metal and wires.

Lotor wondered if it could move like a real arm, and if that new facial implant would really be sensitive to touch. They were supposed to test his nervous network tomorrow. He felt longing for the first time since his attempt.

He realized that he'd fallen asleep only when his eyes opened and he saw the dawn peek through the trees. He smiled. One never saw the sun rise at castle Doom. It was a rare sight for him. He couldn't help but be moved by the lining of golden light that fringed every single branch. When he looked to see who was the spy on duty, he saw Dr. Hausmann in the chair. The diminutive doctor had obviously been waiting for him to wake up. He had his two helpers as well. The doctor literally jumped up in glee.

"Now we get to see the results! Stay still!"

He removed the bandages. They had replaced them several times before, but the drule had never been awake then. He could feel every subtle difference as the layers thinned, and it was a shock when fresh air touched his face. He could feel the very air as it moved, the tiny eddies and currents caressing his artificial skin. It was... embarrassingly pleasant.

"Well, do you feel anything?"

"Everything," he said in an awed voice. "I can feel the very air..."

"Does it hurt?"

"Mmm," began Lotor with a blush, "not really. Actually it's... ah, rather nice."

"Ah, I see," said Hausmann knowingly. "Maybe a little too nice?"

Lotor nodded and the doctor smirked.

"It was a possibility, but admit it's much better then nothing."

The prince looked rather alarmed and swallowed hard. He brought his hand to his face and touched it. By the seven gates! His light touch sent waves of intense pleasure and he blushed even more. Haussmann seemed to think this was quite funny, and Lotor glared at him. You'd think the human had done that on purpose!

"There was no way to determine just how your nerves would colonize the artificial flesh. We knew how it reacted in labs, nervous cells really love this stuff... We had to wait and see, but I hypothesized such an eventuality, and I'm prepared for it. You had a rather unpleasant looking half mask, so we made another one. It will block some sensitivity, and we can adjust that."

The doctor had a way to start talking and never stop, so while he continued, Lotor asked the nurse for a mirror. What new kind of monster was he, the question had burned his mind, and now this human was babbling about how it'd be neat to be able to adjust his nervous response at will. The nurse smiled knowingly, he knew Hausmann quite well! He handed Lotor a mirror and the prince could contemplate his ruined face for the first time since he left Doom. Hunk had told him a little what to expect. The artificial compound was black. It filled and contoured the wound, hugging closely to his real skin, and had grown over it in a fringe of dark chaotic lace. They had sculpted it quite well, but the mate, sombre patch didn't return much light, and it looked rather as if half his face had been swallowed in nothingness. It was not ugly, so much as it was strange. He saw his new eye as well, and was relieved it looked exactly like his other, a gold orb with a slit pupil that dutifully followed his real one.

Still, Lotor had never gotten over having lost the beauty that had been part of his power. He was utterly overwhelmed. He wished those humans could just get out! He looked with intensity at his new self, a remote part of him impressed at how his new cyber implant imitated to perfection and in absolute synchronicity the contracting muscles around his real eye. Only the real one truly leaked tears, though. The mirror fell. The surprise and joy of having feeling restored, the mixed jumble of amazement and fear at his appearance, the crushing fact that he was going to have to wear a half mask again, all of that just poured out and he sobbed, humiliation adding itself to the rest.

Haussmann felt a little embarrassed; he had carefully studied every possibility, including the one that the cyberflesh would work too well, but he had neglected emotional response. He had so wanted to see how it had turned out! He had been as exited as a kid, wanting to try the new arm as well, fascinated as ever by the real nerves reaching out to the electronic ones. He decided the arm could wait. Besides the hand wasn't ready. He sent the nurses out and showed Lotor the half mask, a rather practical item with no frills, made with cunningly overlapped dark gray plates. It would "stick" to his cyberflesh. Without a word, he just placed it on and the mask molded itself on Lotor's face. Then, still not speaking, Haussmann passed a finger lightly on the drule's cheek. He hoped it would work as well as he thought. The prince felt the touch exactly as it would have been on his real skin, just a little more intense, perhaps, but close enough to have him completely overcome by startled joy. In spite of himself he gasped. Haussmann smiled and left. Sometimes words were unnecessary.

Fidget immediately came in to resume his vigil on the chair, intrigued that a drule could actually cry himself to sleep.