Innerscape, Part 1, Induction

Becoming

In the teleoperating room, the eight member surgical team lay in a circle around an empty space, waiting for the signal to begin.

The bio suits they wore made them look like astronauts having a nap, however the suits were far more sophisticated than any EVA suit could ever hope to be. Not only would they support the team's bodies to minimize fatigue, they would also act as VR portals during the gruelling eight hour operation that lay ahead of them.

Lying at the 'head' end of the circle, Charles McGragh cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to begin. Initiating Stage 2... now."

In the sterile operating theatre twenty feet away, the multiple appendages of the surgical AI remained still, but the mirror foam on which the patient lay began to bubble as it slowly encased her body.

"Beginning induced hypothermia," the AI said.

* * *

Inside his VR faceplate, Kenneth Wu watched the readouts as Miira's core body temperature began to slowly drop. This was the crucial first step to ensuring her brain suffered no permanent trauma.

"Induced hypothermia stable at 32 °C," the voice of the AI intoned. "Continuing to cardiopulmonary bypass."

Miira's heart was quite strong, but her lungs were riddled with cancer and would have to be removed completely.

In normal circumstances her lungs would be replaced with bio-identical organs grown from her own cell tissue, but this had been done once already and the cancer had grown back. This time, she would be permanently connected to artificial lungs, to ensure the blood supply to her brain remained optimum for as long as possible.

While her heart was still, they would also perform a few minor repairs to make sure it too continued to function efficiently.

Two hours later Miira's heart and new, artificial lungs were ready to be switched back on, however the bypass remained in effect while the AI tackled the cancer that had metastized to her spine.

Moving with microscopic precision, the instruments of the surgical AI removed one vertebra at a time, spray painting each exposed section of her spinal cord with a solution of fast acting biocrete before moving on to the next section.

Seconds after being activated, the sheath of biocrete would begin protecting her nerves from damage.

Within two days, the sheath would be almost as thick, and ten times as strong, as the original vertebra protecting her spinal cord, but it would be inflexible.

The procedure to replace the spinal column was relatively simple, and could have been done before Miira entered Innerscape, but she had not wanted to be paralyzed while she was still conscious. Now it would not matter.

Four and a half hours into the surgery, the AI had repaired the worst of the damage caused by the cancers, but there were still two important organs that would have to be fixed if Miira was to have a relatively long and happy life in Innerscape : her failing kidneys would have to be removed, replaced by state-of-the-art dialysis machinery, and her bowel would have to be removed completely.