A Visitor to the Future - 129 - Preparing for Launch
When designing the house I was living in with Sarkona, we'd made a list of rooms that we wanted to try and anticipate our needs. That had included a study for me where I could write, and a workshop for Sarkona. But not a Bio-dev workshop - no, instead it was full of car parts for their main hobby. I eventually realized that had been an allowance made on my behalf - when we'd been building the place I was still in the process of shaking off my own anxieties about my repaired body, and hadn't been the most receptive towards Bio-development. As a result, where Sarkona had set up their Bio-dev work was in a communal lab in central Spain, barely twenty minutes away by drone-craft. It was long since time that I paid my friend's place of work a visit - though my motivation wasn't entirely selfless, as they'd offered to give me a full medical check before our trip to the stars.
"I'm confident that we're not going to find anything wrong," said Sarkona as we walked through the corridors of the lab, "Not to show off, but the work I did on your body is some of the finest I've done as a Bio-dev - not to mention I was monitoring your medical implants very closely for the first few months on Earth."
I'd almost forgotten about the medical implants - come to think of it, I'd never gotten around to having my neural link removed either. I hadn't used it since the end of the Resiliency tournament. Sarkona interrupted my chain of thought as we reached the sealed door of their lab.
"Here's the entrance," explained Sarkona, "Though this isn't a fully sterile environment - if we were doing anything intrusive I'd take you to one, but I'd be super surprised if that were necessary."
"You're that confident?" I asked, nervous. My medical history hadn't exactly been full of good news.
Sarkona smiled, "I'm that confident."
The door opened to reveal a small, clean workspace. If any part of me had expected bodyparts in jars, scalpels or beeping machines, it was going to be sorely disappointed. A grey worktop with drawers and with three stools occupied one corner beneath a large window which showed the bright midday sun outside. In the center of the room was a reclining chair not unlike the ones you might see at the dentist. The remaining feature of the room was a pod-like capsule - I'd been inside one when I'd first awoken.
Sarkona followed my gaze around the room as my eyes settled on the pod, "We won't be using the bio-gel today. Take a seat on the chair - we'll be using resonance scanning and your medical implants. Maybe some x-rays too."
"X-rays?" I said, the familiarity of the term suprising me in a world of tiny robots and genetic miracles, "I'm suprised Bio-devs still use them!"
Nodding, Sarkona explained as they moved one of the stools closer to the chair, "There's been a lot of work on the fidelity and focus of x-rays over the years. There was a period of about three hundred years where they weren't used as frequently, but given we can now easily fix any of the side-effects from overuse - well, it made them useful once more. When it comes to non-invasive inspection, they're still one of the best tools we have for analyzing skeletal damage - again, not that I'm expecting to find any."
Sarkona finished moving the stool and sat on its cushioned surface, looking towards me. A look of realization came across their face. "Oh," they said, "I'm sorry - I've been on auto-pilot here. This is my workplace, so all of this I just take for granted - I haven't switched gears properly. I should talk you through all of this, especially considering that you kept your eyes closed the entire time Tungsten was installing your neural link. Right - what you're going to do is lay down on the chair here. I'll interface with your implants to check your biochemistry and gene integrity, and use the resonance scanner to check everything else. That scanner will lower down from the ceiling when you're seated, and I'll review the results using my neural link. What we're doing today will take about ten minutes. Does that sound okay?"
I nodded, lying down on the offered seat, sinking into the plush surface as it tilted back. The chair supported and slightly absorbed every part of the back of my body, including my arms and legs. It was very comfortable.
"The chair, this room, and the scanner itself are lined with sensors," explained Sarkona, "Which we use to detect the resonance waves from the scanner. For check-ups like this, that's good enough - we don't have to immerse you in bio-gel. The scanner will now work its way over your body - you might feel a slight vibration as it does so, or feel the need to flinch - if you do, don't resist it - that's normal. We can also talk as normal as the scan completes."
The resonance scanner emerged from a small hatch on the ceiling. I'd been expecting some sort of telescoping tentacle, but no, it was a head-sized and bulbous white flying drone. The device it carried had a dark grey mesh and complicated-looking innards, with a small, green laser pointer which showed the area of my body it was currently scanning.
"Will I need to close my eyes?" I asked, as the scan of my forehead began.
"No, the pointer will turn off as it passes over that area," answered Sarkona.
My nerves at the unfamiliar experience began to fade a little, but I still didn't feel much like talking while drone was so close to my head. It was only as it reached my chest that I began to feel comfortable with the process.
"Sorry," I said to Sarkona, having realized that we hadn't spoken in several minutes, "This isn't exactly the most comfortable process for me."
"I guessed - I do have access to your stress reactions and heart rate right now! Don't worry, I think you're doing great. You'll be very glad to know that I haven't picked up anything wrong so far. We can talk after."
The rest of the scan completed without incident, and the drone delicately moved back to its home in the ceiling. The chair straightened up, and Sarkona's sunny disposition greeted me, "Great news - you're in fantastic shape. There are only two minor health issues that I need to talk with you about. Here."
Sarkona made a hand gesture and the wall about the worktop lit up with a projection. There were two areas highlighted on a two-dimensional outline of my body - one on the top of my head, and the other on my right foot.
"So, first of all, the foot - there's a tiny break in your right little toe - probably happened about six months ago. If you'd said something at the time I could have fixed it for you but considering you're practically healed I don't think this is something we need to address now. Do you mind if I ask why you didn't say anything?"
I blinked, trying to cast my mind back six months. Right, I'd hit my toe on the edge of my bed. It had hurt for a few weeks but had been fine after that. "I honestly didn't think to. I thought that I'd just bruised it. You could have fixed it?"
Sarkona laughed, "You really are cut from a different cloth to most people these days! Even if you hadn't broken it I could have helped the bruising to heal faster. Please - do let me or another bio-dev know if you're in discomfort."
"Right, noted," I said. It seemed that in the Consortium there wasn't such a thing as an injury too minor to treat, "What about the other thing?"
Sarkona stood and pointed to my head area on the projection. "I don't want you to worry, so I'll start by saying that we can fix this today. You've got a very minor case of skin cancer, right at the crown of your head. Almost certainly caused by sun exposure. I'll administer a flagging agent and you'll be as good as new."
Despite Sarkona's careful priming, it had still been a shock. But a small spray to the affected area later, and it was no longer anything I needed to worry about. I also asked Sarkona whether there was anything I could do to prevent it in the future. Sarkona simply said that there wasn't any point - they'd simply administer another flagging agent if it happened again.
"You have no idea what people in the 21st century would have done for something like this," I said, "Wars might have been fought over it."
Sarkona gave me a curious look, "I'll try to remember that," they said, "But apart from those two minor issues, you're in perfect condition. You're in great shape - good to see you're exercising as much as you are. Your eating habits seem good, too. Big thumbs up from me, keep it up!"
I was slightly incredulous that it was possible to eat poorly in the Consortium, considering that most food available was both healthy and tasty. The Consortium would even count calories for you if you asked.
"There is only one more thing that I wanted to talk to you about," said Sarkona, "Which is spacefaring modifications. We're going to be spending a good few months in space soon. As you're aware, I myself have low-gravity modifications - so does Antonia. I would highly recommend that you look into getting these done before we leave."
"What sort of issues could I have if I don't?" I asked.
Sarkona stood and walked up to the projection again, enlarging my head area, "It depends on how long we're going to be out there. As you're aware, the trip there via charter will take five months - much quicker than a cycler, but that means we'll probably be gone from Earth for a year and a half at the very least. In the short-term of that, motion sickness and nausea are very common - I think that was something you struggled with even in our short trips in low-gravity on the Promise of Sol, so I'd say that's practically guaranteed for you. Medium to long-term, you'll experience loss of bone and muscle density, increased skull pressure leading to damage to the eyeballs from fluid pressures, and potential circulatory system issues."
"Oh," I said, "I suddenly have a newfound respect for what the astronauts of my own time went through."
"Cut from a different cloth to even you, I'd say," joked Sarkona, "But seriously, if you were to get these it'd make the trip a lot more bearable."
"Doesn't Gatecrash's ship have a gravity ring?" I asked.
"Yes," replied Sarkona, "But over the first few weeks we'll be transitioning from 1G - Earth Gravity, to 0.37G - Mars gravity. And all the habitats around Mars, including Eru Ilúvatar - use the point-three-seven standard. Plus I really want to visit the Abnormals on the way out there - they live in a 0G environment."
"I hadn't thought about that," I admitted. Mars was often depicted as fairly Earth-like in twenty-first century media, but Sarkona was right, it was a smaller world. "If I did get the modifications, how easy would it be to get them removed later?"
Sarkona pulled up some estimates on the projections, taking the time to think over their answer before replying, "They don't typically get removed once you have them done, as they're also useful in 1G environments. But it could be done fairly easily. And Nat, I feel like I really need to stress this - these aren't world-changing modifications. I might be a little stronger, a little more resilient than you because of my Bio-dev work, but I am still very much a typical human, if that makes sense. Most spacefaring citizens of Sol have modifications like these, or else they'd all have to live in 1G spin gravity."
"I'll think about it," I said, "Thanks for talking me through that."
"My pleasure - the Bio-dev would take less than a day to do, so don't feel like you need to rush."
"I suppose I should probably ask - what else haven't I thought about for the trip? What's does spending months at a time in space feel like?"
Sarkona moved to sit back down next to me again, "Well, you won't have the freedom that you've had on Earth to go wherever you want - a ship is a much smaller sort of space, and charters are smaller than cyclers too. So be wary of that. But you'll have good company while we're up there. It's pretty common to arrange group activities to make the trip more fun - we could also hold lessons for each other. I will be bringing a virtual reality setup along, though."
"Has anyone ever gotten really stir-crazy before?" I asked, "Like - being cooped up on the ship really got to them?"
"Oh, yes. Thankfully we can always fall back on cryocontainment if that's a significant issue." Sarkona cocked their head, "Should I be worried?"
I laughed, "No - I don't think so - having a few months to catch up on my writing seems good to me."
"Good to know. But otherwise we'll be bringing a basic Bio-dev setup with us, plus a standard nutrition installation. Gatecrash will remove them when we get to Mars. We'll have all the luxuries we had on the Promise of Sol, just less space."
"Including a Contact wall?" I asked, remembering the zero-gravity game.
Sarkona's face lit up, "Good idea, I'll add it to the list! We'll have plenty of time to practice."