FA+
Shop
1430
Views
Views
9
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Story / General Furry Art
Species Pangolin
Size 120 x 92
File Size 55.1 kB
Report this content
More from Walt46
Listed in Folders
Fitting
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2022 by Walter Reimer
A sequel to Perception
Prompt: connector
As hospital rooms went, it was pretty plush, reminding her of a room in a good hotel if one overlooked the various fittings in the walls for oxygen and the like. Framed art prints of mountains and forests dotted the walls, and the food was a great deal better than what she’d had at the hospital when she’d lost her leg.
Marybeth stretched and muted the ceaseless yammering of the news commentator on the television before the pangolin femme reached for her breakfast tray. “Come in,” she said around a mouthful of toast as someone knocked on the door.
“You decent?” her boyfriend Henry asked, the pangolin nosing around the door as it opened. He held two cups bearing the logo of her favorite coffeeshop in his paws.
Marybeth snorted. “Of course I am. Coffee. Now. Give.” He laughed at her and made a show of extending the cup to her as if he was afraid she’d hurt him. She laughed and took the cup, and smirked as he pointedly counted his fingers. “Ahh, that’s good,” she said after taking a sip. “Thanks, love.”
“No problem, honey.” He took a sip of his own drink after he sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you?”
“Well, according to this – “ and she raised her left arm to show him the sensor strapped to her wrist like a watch “ – I’m doing great. The nurse came in earlier to take my IV out,” and she nodded at the bandage on her right elbow, “and you’re just in time – they say that they’re bringing it in after breakfast this morning.”
“Great.” He nodded at the empty place under the blanket, where her right leg used to be. “That feeling okay?”
“Yeah. I was under for the operation, and these Colibri doctors know their stuff. Doesn’t hurt, but I had some really weird dreams.”
“Can I see it?” Marybeth nodded, and Henry reached and drew back the blanket to reveal the chrome interface that had been grafted onto the stump. “Wow. Dreams, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“What about?”
The pangolin chuckled. “Like I was watching my monitor at work when something’s wrong and IT’s taken over control of the system. You know, watching the cursor flit around, stuff being typed, windows opening and closing. Before the surgery, the doctor told me that it would happen.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. The neural interface is getting set up.”
“Uh huh,” Henry said, looking at the collection of sockets and ports in the otherwise smooth metal plate.
They both turned at another knock on the door. “Miss Anand?”
“Come in, please,” Marybeth said.
Two male felines walked in, both wearing white scrub uniforms that had the Colibri logo, a stylized hummingbird, embroidered on the shirt pockets. One was carrying a tray with a cloth covering an object.
Marybeth gulped.
“Good morning,” the feline carrying the tray said. He had deep gray fur, cheerful blue eyes and a bare ghost of a German accent underlying his words. “I’m Florian. My partner Jack and I are here to do the install.”
“Hi,” Jack said. His fur had an orange tabby pattern.
“’Install?’” Henry asked.
“Oh yes,” and Florian placed the tray on a table before whisking the cloth away with a theatrical flourish. “Ta da,” he said with a grin, causing Marybeth to chuckle.
Her new leg rested on the tray, a Colibri NIP-9. She’d been involved in every moment of its creation; endless rounds of measurements and tests over the past few months to make sure that it would be the best possible fit for her. To see it there on the tray, a gleaming sculpture in chrome and black, finally drove it home to her that this was really happening.
She wouldn’t be bound to her crutches any longer.
She wouldn’t have to use a wheelchair.
She felt her eyes welling up, and she smiled as Henry offered her a tissue. Managing to get her voice clear of the lump in her throat she asked, “Is it all ready?”
“Absolutely,” Jack said. He pointed at a few other items on the tray. “We even have going-away presents for you. This is the unit’s induction charger,” and he pointed at a flat plate with a power cord attached to it. “It’s also used to update the leg as needed, and of course it’ll tell us how you’re adjusting to it. This,” and he held up a 4mm Allen wrench, “is the key.”
“Shall we begin?” Florian asked.
Marybeth felt her muzzle crease in a grin. “Yes, please!” she said enthusiastically, causing the others in the room to chuckle.
“Okay.” Florian lifted the leg and gave it to Jack, who scooted past Henry. “Now, it goes on this,” and the orange tabby lined up the protrusions on the top of the limb with the ports on the interface plate. He pushed, and there was a series of clicks as the leg was attached.
“Do you want to switch it on?” Jack asked, holding out the key to Marybeth.
The pangolin femme took the Allen wrench and rolled partly to the left, reaching behind with the tool to find the small hole behind the leg’s knee joint.
It slotted home, and she twisted it to the left.
There was a click.
She gasped as a series of words appeared in midair as the interface fed directly into her visual cortex: Colibri NIP-9 mod 2a v3.2.4. Mechanism online, interfacing. Power at 100%, updating.
Marybeth gasped again, looking at Henry and the two orderlies before staring at the limb as the toes flexed and the knee bent. Again, words appeared: Unit initialized, range of motion test complete. The display in front of her vanished.
“H-Henry?”
He was at her side in an instant, looking down and smiling at her. “Yeah, Marybeth?”
“I . . . I need another t-tissue.”
He gave her the box.
Florian had been watching the leg go through its motions, and he nodded. “Would you care to get up and try it, Miss Anand?”
Marybeth nodded as she blew her nose, and the others backed away a step to watch as she sat up in bed. She was wearing a pajama shirt and a pair of panties, so modesty wasn’t an issue. She stared at her new leg as she swung her hips to her left.
She’d been allowed to lay her paws on it before the operation, and it weighed about five kilos. Now, part of her, it felt . . .
It felt normal.
Like it was part of her.
Marybeth gulped and placed her feet on the floor, and she gasped again. She could feel the cool tile under her real foot, but the sensors in the prosthetic felt the same thing.
Henry came around the bed to face her. To his credit (one of the reasons she loved him), he didn’t try to help her up, but stood by in case she lost her balance. His smile was encouraging.
She leaned forward, placing her weight on both feet and placing her left paw on the bed as she slowly stood up. The artificial knee joint made no sound as it took her weight without any trouble. Marybeth looked down at it, and then at Jack and Florian. “Thank you.”
The two felines grinned at each other and Jack said, “Don’t thank us yet. How does it feel?”
“It feels great. The floor – I can feel it.”
“Good,” Florian said.
Marybeth shifted her weight, her tail moving to counterbalance as she took a step.
And another.
Another.
She walked the length of the room, the NIP-9 moving as naturally as her left leg, her real leg, was moving.
When she stopped facing her boyfriend and the two orderlies, Jack nudged Florian with an elbow. “That smile’s why I love my job.”
Florian cleared his throat. “Yes. How does it feel?”
Marybeth groped for a word and finally managed found one. “Great.”
He nodded. “Good. We have a few treadmill tests to do, but you’ll be discharged today.” He grinned. “Just in time for dinner and dancing, eh?”
She glanced at Henry, and they both grinned. “Thank you,” Henry said, “thank you both.”
The two orderlies left then, leaving the two pangolins alone with a small bag that contained instructions, the leg’s charger, and the Allen wrench. Marybeth was still walking around, looking down at the leg as she put it through its paces, and Henry remarked, “So we can leave these here when you get discharged.”
“Huh? What?”
“These,” and he held up her crutches.
Her scaled tail twitched back and forth. “No, I’ll be keeping them.”
“Oh? Why?”
“It just hit me,” Marybeth replied. “My life changed when that drunk driver hit me. Now it’s changed again. Those are the bridge between them,” and Henry looked at the crutches in his paws before glancing up at her. “I want to keep them as a reminder, and besides,” she said with a smile, “I might still need them.”
“You think so?”
“Sure. I’ll have to take this thing off to charge the battery, and I’m damned if I’ll just sit around like a lump.”
“But a damned beautiful lump.”
“Oh, you.” He kissed her then, tossing the crutches aside as she hugged him, her new leg gleaming in the stray beam of sunlight peeking through the room’s curtains.
end
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2022 by Walter Reimer
A sequel to Perception
Prompt: connector
As hospital rooms went, it was pretty plush, reminding her of a room in a good hotel if one overlooked the various fittings in the walls for oxygen and the like. Framed art prints of mountains and forests dotted the walls, and the food was a great deal better than what she’d had at the hospital when she’d lost her leg.
Marybeth stretched and muted the ceaseless yammering of the news commentator on the television before the pangolin femme reached for her breakfast tray. “Come in,” she said around a mouthful of toast as someone knocked on the door.
“You decent?” her boyfriend Henry asked, the pangolin nosing around the door as it opened. He held two cups bearing the logo of her favorite coffeeshop in his paws.
Marybeth snorted. “Of course I am. Coffee. Now. Give.” He laughed at her and made a show of extending the cup to her as if he was afraid she’d hurt him. She laughed and took the cup, and smirked as he pointedly counted his fingers. “Ahh, that’s good,” she said after taking a sip. “Thanks, love.”
“No problem, honey.” He took a sip of his own drink after he sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you?”
“Well, according to this – “ and she raised her left arm to show him the sensor strapped to her wrist like a watch “ – I’m doing great. The nurse came in earlier to take my IV out,” and she nodded at the bandage on her right elbow, “and you’re just in time – they say that they’re bringing it in after breakfast this morning.”
“Great.” He nodded at the empty place under the blanket, where her right leg used to be. “That feeling okay?”
“Yeah. I was under for the operation, and these Colibri doctors know their stuff. Doesn’t hurt, but I had some really weird dreams.”
“Can I see it?” Marybeth nodded, and Henry reached and drew back the blanket to reveal the chrome interface that had been grafted onto the stump. “Wow. Dreams, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“What about?”
The pangolin chuckled. “Like I was watching my monitor at work when something’s wrong and IT’s taken over control of the system. You know, watching the cursor flit around, stuff being typed, windows opening and closing. Before the surgery, the doctor told me that it would happen.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. The neural interface is getting set up.”
“Uh huh,” Henry said, looking at the collection of sockets and ports in the otherwise smooth metal plate.
They both turned at another knock on the door. “Miss Anand?”
“Come in, please,” Marybeth said.
Two male felines walked in, both wearing white scrub uniforms that had the Colibri logo, a stylized hummingbird, embroidered on the shirt pockets. One was carrying a tray with a cloth covering an object.
Marybeth gulped.
“Good morning,” the feline carrying the tray said. He had deep gray fur, cheerful blue eyes and a bare ghost of a German accent underlying his words. “I’m Florian. My partner Jack and I are here to do the install.”
“Hi,” Jack said. His fur had an orange tabby pattern.
“’Install?’” Henry asked.
“Oh yes,” and Florian placed the tray on a table before whisking the cloth away with a theatrical flourish. “Ta da,” he said with a grin, causing Marybeth to chuckle.
Her new leg rested on the tray, a Colibri NIP-9. She’d been involved in every moment of its creation; endless rounds of measurements and tests over the past few months to make sure that it would be the best possible fit for her. To see it there on the tray, a gleaming sculpture in chrome and black, finally drove it home to her that this was really happening.
She wouldn’t be bound to her crutches any longer.
She wouldn’t have to use a wheelchair.
She felt her eyes welling up, and she smiled as Henry offered her a tissue. Managing to get her voice clear of the lump in her throat she asked, “Is it all ready?”
“Absolutely,” Jack said. He pointed at a few other items on the tray. “We even have going-away presents for you. This is the unit’s induction charger,” and he pointed at a flat plate with a power cord attached to it. “It’s also used to update the leg as needed, and of course it’ll tell us how you’re adjusting to it. This,” and he held up a 4mm Allen wrench, “is the key.”
“Shall we begin?” Florian asked.
Marybeth felt her muzzle crease in a grin. “Yes, please!” she said enthusiastically, causing the others in the room to chuckle.
“Okay.” Florian lifted the leg and gave it to Jack, who scooted past Henry. “Now, it goes on this,” and the orange tabby lined up the protrusions on the top of the limb with the ports on the interface plate. He pushed, and there was a series of clicks as the leg was attached.
“Do you want to switch it on?” Jack asked, holding out the key to Marybeth.
The pangolin femme took the Allen wrench and rolled partly to the left, reaching behind with the tool to find the small hole behind the leg’s knee joint.
It slotted home, and she twisted it to the left.
There was a click.
She gasped as a series of words appeared in midair as the interface fed directly into her visual cortex: Colibri NIP-9 mod 2a v3.2.4. Mechanism online, interfacing. Power at 100%, updating.
Marybeth gasped again, looking at Henry and the two orderlies before staring at the limb as the toes flexed and the knee bent. Again, words appeared: Unit initialized, range of motion test complete. The display in front of her vanished.
“H-Henry?”
He was at her side in an instant, looking down and smiling at her. “Yeah, Marybeth?”
“I . . . I need another t-tissue.”
He gave her the box.
Florian had been watching the leg go through its motions, and he nodded. “Would you care to get up and try it, Miss Anand?”
Marybeth nodded as she blew her nose, and the others backed away a step to watch as she sat up in bed. She was wearing a pajama shirt and a pair of panties, so modesty wasn’t an issue. She stared at her new leg as she swung her hips to her left.
She’d been allowed to lay her paws on it before the operation, and it weighed about five kilos. Now, part of her, it felt . . .
It felt normal.
Like it was part of her.
Marybeth gulped and placed her feet on the floor, and she gasped again. She could feel the cool tile under her real foot, but the sensors in the prosthetic felt the same thing.
Henry came around the bed to face her. To his credit (one of the reasons she loved him), he didn’t try to help her up, but stood by in case she lost her balance. His smile was encouraging.
She leaned forward, placing her weight on both feet and placing her left paw on the bed as she slowly stood up. The artificial knee joint made no sound as it took her weight without any trouble. Marybeth looked down at it, and then at Jack and Florian. “Thank you.”
The two felines grinned at each other and Jack said, “Don’t thank us yet. How does it feel?”
“It feels great. The floor – I can feel it.”
“Good,” Florian said.
Marybeth shifted her weight, her tail moving to counterbalance as she took a step.
And another.
Another.
She walked the length of the room, the NIP-9 moving as naturally as her left leg, her real leg, was moving.
When she stopped facing her boyfriend and the two orderlies, Jack nudged Florian with an elbow. “That smile’s why I love my job.”
Florian cleared his throat. “Yes. How does it feel?”
Marybeth groped for a word and finally managed found one. “Great.”
He nodded. “Good. We have a few treadmill tests to do, but you’ll be discharged today.” He grinned. “Just in time for dinner and dancing, eh?”
She glanced at Henry, and they both grinned. “Thank you,” Henry said, “thank you both.”
The two orderlies left then, leaving the two pangolins alone with a small bag that contained instructions, the leg’s charger, and the Allen wrench. Marybeth was still walking around, looking down at the leg as she put it through its paces, and Henry remarked, “So we can leave these here when you get discharged.”
“Huh? What?”
“These,” and he held up her crutches.
Her scaled tail twitched back and forth. “No, I’ll be keeping them.”
“Oh? Why?”
“It just hit me,” Marybeth replied. “My life changed when that drunk driver hit me. Now it’s changed again. Those are the bridge between them,” and Henry looked at the crutches in his paws before glancing up at her. “I want to keep them as a reminder, and besides,” she said with a smile, “I might still need them.”
“You think so?”
“Sure. I’ll have to take this thing off to charge the battery, and I’m damned if I’ll just sit around like a lump.”
“But a damned beautiful lump.”
“Oh, you.” He kissed her then, tossing the crutches aside as she hugged him, her new leg gleaming in the stray beam of sunlight peeking through the room’s curtains.
end
Category Story / General Furry Art
Species Pangolin
Size 120 x 92px
File Size 55.1 kB
Listed in Folders
Gah! Put those away before you hurt someone!
I might continue it, if inspiration strikes. Let me explain how this story came about:
Vixyy dropped the prompt late in the afternoon, so I was thinking about it during my chat session after dinner. I mean, 'connector' can also mean juncture, bridge, etc.
(To be honest, I was sorely tempted to post a link to Schoolhouse Rock's "Conjunction Junction," but cooler heads prevailed.)
One of the topics discussed were anthro deer and what they might wear. I linked to the drawing in my gallery's Historical Furries folder of Franklin Moosevelt - and then I thought: [connector - junction - bridge - interface - paraplegic - amputee - let's do a sequel to Perception]. After that, all I had to do was write it.
I might continue it, if inspiration strikes. Let me explain how this story came about:
Vixyy dropped the prompt late in the afternoon, so I was thinking about it during my chat session after dinner. I mean, 'connector' can also mean juncture, bridge, etc.
(To be honest, I was sorely tempted to post a link to Schoolhouse Rock's "Conjunction Junction," but cooler heads prevailed.)
One of the topics discussed were anthro deer and what they might wear. I linked to the drawing in my gallery's Historical Furries folder of Franklin Moosevelt - and then I thought: [connector - junction - bridge - interface - paraplegic - amputee - let's do a sequel to Perception]. After that, all I had to do was write it.
Snickers and returns to normal. The story is important in more than one way. First, I am as I said, an Amputee myself. No violent motorcycle accident, just diabetes. I am completely healed up, so I am only dealing with not having all my limbs. (a fellow amputee has suggested getting 25% off t-shirts) I hang out at a place called FurryMuck, which I am sure you have heard about. in a room thee owned by a someone choosing to be a Female Pangolin. so it;s important in that way. Its also fun to think about, a really advanced leg. especially as you have described, an actual biomechnical interfzce.
Comments