The choices were difficult, but after considering the options quickly, you decided not to undergo bionic enhancement. You don’t like the idea of having your arms and legs chopped off to make way for mechanical substitutes. You are doing your best to remain human, and having four appendages removed seems to defeat that matter.
Even though having a bilingual device would be helpful in understanding your enemy, the cost is too high to pay. The second option will have to do. At least you’ll still be able to keep your arms and legs, but exactly what type of respiratory advancement does these Minbari have in mind. Second, what the hell is an external bodily defense? Are they going to equip you with venom or a shield? Only your imagination could tell, and at this moment, the possibilities seemed endless. The one transformation that does not please you all so well is the fact that you will have to loose your legs.
Nevertheless, after pressing the button, you don’t have much time to react as metal clamps anchor you to a bed-like structure of the laboratory. You reach down to fight the clamps when all of a sudden, a brilliant light washes over you and like a boned fish, and you go limp.
The Minbari helps lay you against the bed that ever so slowly tilts back to the position of a flat bed. As you observe the Minbari touching you, it finally dawns on you that you can’t feel any pain, only the slight pressure. As you try to speak, you can’t move your mouth, for your jaw like all the rest of you has subcome to paralyzation. As you look up, you finally have the time to look over the architecture of the Minbari vessel. Their interior is made of sheets of crystal glass that has been stained light shades of blue, green, red, orange, purple, and yellow.
Looking at the glass seems to be a mundane task, but soon another face enters your view as two more boneheaded freaks enter the room. Both of them look different then the male Minbari lab technician. Instead of a sharp, jagged crestbone, their crestbone is smooth and without sharp tips. Second, their faces are smoother and look almost feminine. The dead give away is the fact that both of them have a pair of C-Cup breast attached to their chest.
One of the female Minbari joins the lab technician while the other walks slowly up to your side.
She gently lifts your hand and holds it as one would hold the hand of a sick love one lying in a hospital bed. She positions herself in a manner that you will be able to see her smiling, warm face. She never leaves eye contact with yours as she softly speaks, “Rest well dear, it will be over soon.”
You can’t believe what you have heard…kindness…from your enemy! This makes no sense whatsoever. As the other two Minbari work diligently to begin the operation, you hear a noise from the ceiling and as you look up, a device with drills, a razors, and tubes descends from its hidden apartment to only about one inch from your face.
The other female Minbari, takes the device, and glides it down to your legs. You strain your eyes to see what is happening, but you can’t see everything. As the device begins to moan and click, you wonder what is going on. The Minbari looking over you sees you trying to see what is going on, and speaks something in Minbari. “Suv”.
You look at the kind female Minbari wonder what she said and soon the bed tilt’s your head upward so you can watch…like if you really wanted to. Just about the time the Minbari spoke, all three Minbari walk away from your bedside while the two physicians operate behind a console and the kind female Minbari stands against the crystal wall.
Looking at the device, since its right in plain sight, you notice that two robotic arms are growing out of its sides, to the width of your hips then they stop and another arm grows out of that arm and spans the length of your legs. Soon, five needles descend out of the robotic arms, spaced evenly, all aimed at the center of your legs. This is not what you had expected as the needles begin to descend slowly down to your legs until they pierce through your clothes and into your skin. Through your tissue, all you feel is the pressure then you feel a thud as the needle hit bone and stop descending.
The room is quiet until the device turns on another function and those needles, all ten of them begin releasing nano-technology that forms into poly-fibrose wires that begin to web themselves inside your legs, webbing inside your bones, inside your tissue and muscles, and even releasing nano-built skin cells for you epidermis. The overall sensation is that of having billions of worms squirming throughout your body. About five minutes go by and the squirming sensation goes away.
Just about at the same time that sensation fades away, the device pulls the needles out of your skin and immediately the puncher holes heal with nano-tech engineered skin cells and tissue. You can’t believe what you’ve just witness, is that all too bionic engineering? You feel like a fool, you were expecting to loose your legs and arms if you took option A, but you forgot one simple element…this is not earth-tech, this is alien-tech, so concepts and terminology may not apply to the same definition the Minbari have.
With your legs upgraded with bionics…if you could call them that…next was a transformation that has your major attention. Soon the kind female Minbari is back with you to be there to see you through this ordeal. See looks at you, then says something again in Minbari, “Duv”.
Once again, you don’t understand what she is saying…Minbari language is not the easiest to understand, but as the tilted headpiece resumes a horizontal status, the Minbari remains looking at you as the other female Minbari drags the device over to your groin. As the device stabilizes, you know that this can’t be the advance respiratory adjustment…it must be the external bodily defenses.
You are correct, the Minbari, being well taught in human anatomy knows that the blood vessel in the groin will carry blood to the whole body. This vessel, like the one in the neck is the interstate for all blood movement, and a great area to release a biologically engineered gene to create the next transformation. Like before, the female Minbari lowers the device, then attaches a vial of fluid to a syringe and then guides the device to inject the syringe’s fluid into your bloodstream.
Like before, you don’t feel a thing as the needle enters your body. As the device pushes the fluid into your body, you can feel its cold spread from your groin up to your chest, to your neck, down to your legs and toes. You wait to experience its effects, but nothing happens.
“The effect of this enhancement, will take awhile to undergo…you’ll be aware of this transformation in about one day from now.” says the male Minbari lab tech who oversees the operation.
“Don’t worry, we’ll have a safe and comfortable place for you to undergo this change when it comes to that time.” says the soft spoken, kind female Minbari whom has been kind to you.
You really want to speak, but the operation is not over as the other female technician drags the device just about your mouth. She looks down at you and says, “I don’t think you’re going to enjoy this part one bit, so you might want to close your eyes.”
Seeing needles, knives, drills, and other nasty tools above your mouth, you close your eyes tightly, but the overwhelming needing to know what is going on enables you to open your eyes once again only to see the female Minbari and male Minbari direct a flexible tube to your mouth.
With her fingers, she opens your mouth, and opens it wide enough so it stays open. Next, she lowers the tube with a silver tongue near your mouth. She shines a light into your mouth as the device is then pushed forcefully into your air passage. Suddenly a great fatigue washes over you and you pass out…
…When you awake, the device is gone, the male Minbari is no where to be seen, you look around and see the two female Minbari who assist in your operation. You notice that you can move and soon, you feel this horrible pain in your neck.
You lift a hand to touch your neck to see what is wrong…nothing…normal skin; you have just a simple sore throat. At least it’s only a sore throat, it could have been gills. The idea, being now fresh in your mind, you quickly exam your chest for gills…nope…no gills are found.
You look up at the two Minbari. “What happen?” you asked.
“You passed out during the operation.” Says the kind Minbari, the other Minbari says some words to her, turns and leaves out of the room. “At least it was a success.”
“Success?” remembering that you see no evidence of an advance respiratory system. “I see nothing.”
The Minbari smiles, “Of course not…we don’t condemn you with these advancements…if you find yourself in a situation where you need the advancement, then you’ll transform, until then, nothing happens.”
You pause to think, “What about the bionics?”
“That is the only thing you have now…but for good reasons…now we need to get you to your next appointment.” Answers the young Minbari as she gathers a few files and vials of fluid. As you look around the examination table, you see that a single edge razor has been left in plain sight. Seeing that you are still a prisoner of war, you pick up the razor and lightly stand on your feet.
Walking slowly over to the only Minbari who has ever shown you kindness, you have the chance to strike her down and escape the final transformation and get back to earth, or do you do nothing?
The Minbari looks at your hands, “What’s that in your hands?” she asks as she walks nearer to you.