Faithful encounter 2
The door closed, and Vero sensed that the room was moving downward. He patched the wound by ripping his clothes off and mending the missing arm. Those days in the slum had taught him some tricks.
The room came to a stop. The door slid open, revealing a white hallway. Old world architecture is distinct enough for one to recognize it anywhere, and this hallway is proof of that. Vero has never seen an old-world ruin this preserved. That's not saying much, considering he has only seen the Dumo tower, but this statement still holds true even from a veteran hunter's perspective. The hall was clean, and the walls looked like a mirror.
[Welcome to the underground facility.]
This time, Vero could hear the voice clearly. He inspects the wristband to find a flashing green light. A blue screen pops up and displays a pixel smile.
[Hello user, We detected that you have suffered a Type 4 injury. Please check-in at our medical facility to get your condition cured. ]
The voice sounds metallic and devoid of emotion. Vero is on high alert after the monster attack. He wouldn't trust the mysterious sound after gaining some composure back.
"What are you?"
[We are the A.I. manager of Dumo Tower. We have been tasked to manage all the facilities in this tower, serve off guesses and defend our property.]
"What's A.I.?"
"Why are you helping me earlier?"
[We recognize you as our guest through the wristband you're wearing and direct you to a safe place.]
"What is this place?"
[This place is an underground facility built to house refugees from the situation outside.]
"Can I leave this place?"
[Yes, you can leave this place by taking an elevator behind you, but from our observation, we advise you to take our medical program before venturing out. The guest won't last long in that state.]
What the A.I. says is true, even Vero can feel his body getting lighter every minute that passes. He didn't trust what the voice said or even half of the words meant. But this is his only option.
"Alright, I'll take the program of whatever it is."
[Thank you for taking our advice. The emergency robot will pick you up in 10 seconds.]
A rectangular robot came to win with a blue bed. It lifts Vero and carries him into the medical room. They place him in a pill-shaped pod that has a glass opening. Vero lay in it, astonished by what he was experiencing.
The bed he was lying down on was softer than anything he had ever touched, and the architecture of the room was out of this world. Although it is a little spooky with no people living in it. Along the way, Vero can see that this place is run solely by robots. They take care of cleaning and maintaining the rooms and hallway.
"What is this?"
[This is a healing pod that restores your body to its optimal condition.This includes missing limbs, cancer, or any other condition that is documented in the universal illness categories. Unless you have an augmentation that can not be cured through biological means, the pod can cure anything that's in U.I.C. You can even customize your preference if you want to leave your illness untouched.]
"I..is this safe?"
Vero begins to doubt the machine that he's in. The glass door slowly closes and the A.I. reassures him.
[The success rate of our latest procedure is 100% with a 0% mortality rate, out of 3223 subjects who use it. The last people who underwent this program 2699 years ago left us a 5-star review saying "It's like I have a new body!" so we can guarantee that this procedure is safe.]
Vero is too dumb to know what that A.I. says, but his choice is limited. After all, it sounds like it knew what it was doing, so he had some kind of trust in it.
[The procedure will begin in 3....2....1....]
Something enters into Vero's body. It felt like an ant was crawling inside, but a lot smaller. His body starts to have some reaction to it.
Pain is what Vero felt at that very moment.
"AGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"
He punches the glass slide, trying to get out, but to no avail. A normal slum kid's punch can 't simply break old-world technology glass. He screams so loudly that it can be heard through the pod. This normally wouldn't happen unless the scream surpasses the sound of a 20th century lawnmower.
[ERORR...ERORRRRRRRRRRR..... detecting a massive amount of toxic substance inside the guest's body. Adjusting the amount of nanite in the procedure and administering sedatives... We should be able to get your condition under control soon. ]
"Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Get me outttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The A.I. is accessing the situation while Vero screams louder. Contrary to what the A.I. says, Vero's pain got worse than before. and the sedative that the A.I. gives out seems to not be working. A green and purple liquid seeps out of the body. He felt like his insides got pulled out in this process.
"Get me out!!!!!!!!!!"
Bang! bang!
Vero bangs his head against the glass, trying to get out. The blood splattered all over the healing pod, making the A.I. panic. It's trying to fix this situation.
[....Requesting permission for the Chronus project... permission has been granted. Asking for the subject's permission.... ]
"HELP ME GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!"
[Sorry for the inconvenience caused by Global United paragraph 322 on consent.The subject is required to sign a contract. The terms are as follows: 1. We can take....]
"I Accept!!! NOw get me OUT!!!!!"
[Permission received. Beginning the procedure in 3...2...1]
A blue light flashes from the middle of the room, blinding Vero's eyes. The pain stops for a second and continues to assault him for one last time. Vero can't bear it anymore and passed out from intense pain.
//////////////////
Elsewhere, deep in the underground facility, the A.I. is conversing with something in a big room.
[....Was I successful?]
"Yes, you did a good job, but you failed to account for his body condition."
[We don't have the tools for a walk-through body scan. So that's unavoidable]
"Anyway, you still got him to accept the contract. That's good enough for now. "
[Are you sure he could do it?]
"If we chose the other guy, we would fail 90% of the time. This is our best chance."
[If you insist]...