Adrian come back from his thoughts when the door opened and a woman in a white coat walked inside. Doctor Mayer was in charge of the medical staff here on the station. Adrian knew that she was very busy and wondered why she was here. He went through series of test which took more than six hours to complete, he was there on Laura Reiss’s orders, though when he asked for the reason for the tests she told him only to wait and see. The doctor took a chair from the corner and carried it to his bed, she sat down and looked at him.
“Hello, young man, I see that you passed all of the required test, this is bit of an unusual request but I guess if Laura wants to try, we might as well. Do you understand the risks?” She said.
Adrian looked at her bewildered, she didn’t make any sense to him. “Risks? I don’t understand, I thought that these were just regular medical tests.”
Doctor Mayer opened her mouth in surprise, then swiftly closed it, her eyes narrowed. “She didn’t tell you?” She said, and then before Adrian had a chance to respond she continued. “Of course she didn’t, she probably told you that it was just a checkup.” She shook her head in a disapproving manner.
“I guess that it is up to me to bring you up to speed.” She sighed. “Tests you took, were to see if you could receive an implant, most people don’t know, but about 2% of people are not able to interact with implants, now the unusual part is that ordinarily we only give implants to people that have stopped growing, which for humans is around their twenty fourth year. Now you are only sixteen and are obviously still growing so any implant that was implanted would just need to be replaced in a year or so. That is, all but the implant we are going to put in you.”
Adrian quickly felt his excitement grow at the prospect of having his own implant, the past six hours already forgotten, he knew that most every adult had an implant, and that he would get his own when he was old enough, getting one early was unheard of, and he had studied everything he could find on implant technology. “Really? An implant?” he asked excitedly. “But how did you get around the growing part?”
Doctor Mayer smiled. “Well, it seems that Laura pulled some really big strings for you. She must’ve asked Professor Hyeon for a special permission, these implants are not yet released, she must have a lot of faith in you. They are a new generation and are a bit different than the older ones.”
“Different how?” He asked.
“Well for starters, the reason why we can implant it in you without the need to replace it constantly is because these implants are based on nanotechnology, meaning they have within themselves self-replicating nanites, so it can grow with you, they have all of the abilities of the previous generation implants, and as they are based on nanotech, we are able to upgrade them easily without the need to replace the implant. The nanites would eventually spread through your bloodstream and have multitudes of application, but with that much nanites there is a need for a way to control them, and that is where this implant differs greatly. You see, it has an Ai.” She said.
“An Ai? But isn’t that dangerous having a sentient computer in your brain? And how advance is it? I didn’t hear anything about Ai’s being developed.” Adrian asked.
“Oh, that’s because the project is top secret, and the Ai we plan to implement in these implants are fifth generation. We have done extensive testing on both the Ai and the implants, only thing that is left to be fixed are some minor bugs, and those can easily be fixed after the procedure. There is nothing for you to worry about.” She said.
“I’m about to have a procedure that will insert a sentient computer inside of my brain, I would say I have plenty to worry about.” Adrian retorted. Doctor Mayer paused for a second.
“Yes, I guess you do.” She sighed. “Well let me tell you a little about the Ai. First, this generation of Ai’s aren’t given any additional information prior to their activation, other than the knowledge of what they are and what their purpose is. They have full knowledge of how to control the nanites in a human system, they know what they are, what humans are, and their knowledge is on a level of a seven year old human child, but everything else they need to know they learn on their own. They are in a way like human children. After extensive research it was discovered that Ai that go through a growth period like human children, are both more intelligent, and more, well for the lack of better word, human, over time they develop their own personalities and quirks. They also have a few restrictions, they can’t interact with human brain in such a way as to take control or instruct the nanites to harm a human being, and it was also recorded during tests that the Ai’s didn’t mind that they were barred from human “systems” seeing it as a form of privacy on humans part, and showed no desire to try and bypass the restriction. They grow with their “partner” forming a close bond, they can interact through the implant with other electronic devices around them. There is really no danger, you will still be able to use the implant in the same way as the previous generations, the nanites in your system would be controlled by the Ai, and it will be able to modify their programing to suit your desires. The nanites would increase your immunity, when they replicate enough they will be able to carry additional oxygen through your blood stream, they will repair any injuries you attain, and much more. There is a manual, which I will transfer to your datapad if you decide to go through with the procedure. Now the only risks that you need to worry about is that since you are young, there is a chance that your body will reject the implant, and you would then need surgery to remove it, though the chance of that happening is very small.” She finished, and looked at Adrian expectantly. He thought about it for a minute, but in the end the prospect of having his own implant ahead of all others won out and he accepted.
“Great.” Doctor Mayer said, she reached in her coat and produced a ten centimeter metal case, she opened it and took out a glass vial with metallic liquid inside, she then reached in her other pocket and took out an injection gun, and she put the vial in the gun then turned her eyes to Adrian. “Ready?” She asked. Adrian frowned at the gun. “Wait, don’t you need to put me to sleep? I thought that implants need to be surgically inserted on the inside of the skull?” he asked confused.
Doctor Mayer let out a small laugh. “No, no, that was for the previous generations. I told you that these implants are constructed by nanites. This vial contains the nanites and the materials that will be needed to construct an implant, there is also the Ai core inside, once the nanites enter your blood they will travel to your brain and assemble the implant there, then they will enter a standby state until you let your Ai take control over them.” Adrian’s eyes widened and he looked down at the gun.
“There is no danger that it will damage my brain?” he asked hesitantly.
“None, the nanites have been extensively tested, you are not the first to get this implant, only the first outside of the project.” She assured him. Adrian took a deep breath and nodded for her to proceed. She placed the needle part of the gun at the vein in his arm, Adrian turned his head to the other side not wanting to watch, other than a small pinching sensation he didn’t feel a thing. The next thing he knew Doctor Mayer removed the needle and instructed him to hold a small gauze at the injection point.