Acheron Salvation (Federation Chronicles Book 2) by Ken Lozito

Author:Ken Lozito [Lozito, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Acoustical Books LLC
Published: 2021-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

System diagnostic running.

The words appeared amid the darkness of his thoughts. Where was he?

Veris initiation complete.

Cybernetic repair cycle has completed successfully.

Leuridium power core stable. Irreparable damaged sections have been removed.

Energy Storage System functioning nominally.

Personality Matrix Construct has passed all integrity checks. Integration optimal.

System startup complete.

Autonomous mode has been activated.

“Hello, Quinton,” Radek said.

Quinton opened his eyes. He saw the curve of an opaque ceraphome door less than a meter in front of him and heard Becker and the others speaking in the room beyond.

“What happened?” Quinton asked Radek sub-vocally.

“Over seventy percent of the cybernetic avatar had been damaged beyond the capacity of the onboard repair capabilities of the unit.”

“Seventy percent!”

Quinton looked down to see that he was in the avatar’s storage container aboard the Wayfarer. He raised his hands. They looked like his own hands but for the chrome-colored “skin” of the advanced composites that comprised his musculature. His full sensory interface was working, which meant he could see, smell, and feel. He rubbed his thumb and forefingers together, noticing the muscles in his arms moving in a perfect copy of true flesh and blood.

“Seventy point four eight zero one—”

“I get it,” Quinton snapped. His leuridium power core had been damaged by the jump drive.

His avatar provided the most protection in the chest area where his ESS was stored. The cybernetic avatar’s design was based on a human body and, much like evolution, had developed the skeletal framework of musculature to protect the most critical parts of a person—the brain, heart, and lungs. The avatar was similar.

He’d almost died. Really died, as in utter destruction to the point of never being able to come back. Death. Finality. Quinton felt a shiver sweep down his spine. He’d known it could happen, and he understood the risks when he’d gone into the jump drive chamber to fix the coils. He thought there was a good chance he would survive, but seventy percent damage to the avatar… It had been more than a mere close call. Death had torn open the door, and the only thing that prevented it from claiming him was the design of the avatar whose built-in safety protocols were part of the base system his PMC used.

Quinton blinked his eyes several times while he considered his mortality. If he’d died, would he have felt anything? He doubted his death would be like when a flesh-and-blood person died and a bunch of chemical reactions occurred in the brain as the body shut down. What would his last moments have been like? Would he experience all the thoughts and feelings as one’s life flashed before their eyes at the moment of death? This was the second time he’d almost died, and neither time had he experienced any of the things he’d expected to feel. He hadn’t thought about his life or anyone, remaining focused on what had to be done. It was a hollow and empty feeling, and it worried him. He didn’t like it. Maybe the engineers who designed PMCs had overlooked something.

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