Project: M.E.C.H.A.

x x x x x

A dull pain shot through his body. He tried to wake up—but he couldn’t. The spark of agony that he felt vanished as quickly as it came. He tried to open his eyes and look at what they were doing to him. But he couldn’t. The young man knew they all hovered above him—with faceless faces hidden behind expressionless surgical masks.

He laid there on the operation table—motionless and immobile—unable to grasp the glimpse of consciousness that he desired.

x x x x x

“What is this MECHA Project?” The boy lifted his head sharply and stared at the doctor. His hands gripped the sheets on the hospital bed tighter.

“Who told you about that?” the doctor’s eyes darted over to the boy, but he quickly masked his shock behind a poker face.

“Why do you need to know? What difference does it make?” the boy retorted.

The older man stared at him for a bit before answering him. He knew the boy wasn’t going to give up.

“MECHA stands for Mechanically Enhanced Computer Human Anomaly. The project’s purpose is clearly stated in its name. To make humans computers, and even more, into what even they refer to as ‘anomalies’—strange, irregular, odd, peculiar, something that deviates from the norm—these machines created by manipulating the human body.

“They say that they can save people through this operation. I suppose that’s why you’re here.” The doctor glanced over at the girl lying helpless on the hospital bed. Even after immediate attention in the hospital room, they could only sustain her fragile body for two more days. He turned back and looked the boy in the eyes. “With the power of their operation, they can help those inflicted with terminal diseases. Those who were fated to die can now live a new life rather than having to prematurely depart from this world.”

“I’ve already heard all that!” the boy screamed desperately. “Tell me how they would do this!” A drop of sweat rolled down the side of his face as he knelt at the side of the bed. Kari lay on the white sheets in between the two of them. There was no time. Forty-eight hours. What could they do now?

“They would then achieve this by artificially granting life,” Dr. Izumi stated bitterly. “The MECHA Project takes the human body and integrates it with mechanical parts so that it enhances the body’s performance. Even the commands from the brain leading to all parts of the body will be replaced by electronic signals. The body is then no longer dependent on the physical brain itself. Brain failure and heart failure will no longer be fatal—everything is controlled by the new positronic brain.”

The doctor’s attitude was throwing him off. Why was his tone so …hostile?

“Then what’s wrong with this? Isn’t this way better than being held down by machines for the rest of your pitiful existence until you die?!” Takeru demanded, raising himself up to his full height. His hands released the wrinkled white sheets and reformed into fists at his sides; they were turning white from being held so tightly.

“Is it really? Then tell me why,” the doctor challenged him, “tell me why it is, that even though the MECHA Project can supposedly cure a terminal illness forever, and increase the human life span by five or ten times, and make the patient stronger and faster than anyone else, that it would be any better than spending the rest of your life wrapped in tubes and wires.”

The boy hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Didn’t all those things you just listed make it superior?”

“They’re just trying to sell it to us, Takeru. Of course everyone would want to live longer, better lives, wouldn’t they? It’s just human nature to want to live forever. On this world at least.” The doctor stared harder into the boy’s eyes.

“Technology,” the doctor stated after a moment. “Have you ever given computers a real thought, Takeru?”

“What do you mean, technology?” he replied slowly.

“I don’t know what your perception of the concept is, Matsuda Takeru. Your generation has grown up with very advanced technology in comparison to the rest of the world’s history.” He continued, “But sometimes, Takeru, do you ever think about all these things that you have access to? All these electronics powered by electricity and utterly dependent on humans. Without electricity, I doubt that any part of this building would be able to function. It would be no more useful than the broken, run down warehouses in the abandoned neighborhood merely a few minutes drive away. Without all the electricity that we generate every second of the day, all of this would be worthless. Can you see how reliant we are upon such things?”

Takeru stared at the older man. He was at a loss for words for the moment. The boy closed his slightly opened mouth.

“No? I thought not. Most people never do. This generation should have long gotten past any doubt against technology.”

“So, what does this have to do with the MECHA Project?”

“My doubt against the MECHA Project does not lie within my inherent distrust of the reliability of technology and electronics,” he stated. “My doubt against the MECHA Project lies within my ability to believe that machines have the ability to become humans.”

“Machines becoming humans? But I thought that you said that the MECHA Project basically makes humans into, well, mechanically super powered people?” Takeru asked.

“Robots: that is what they will become. Machines, no less. Mindless creatures, for all I care to know.” The doctor paused. “What this project proposes is that it take humans—living beings—and form them into half-machines. Do you know what message that sends to me, Takeru?” He turned again and stared the boy in the face.

“What, sir?” He asked hesitantly.

“If they are indeed now half-machine,” Dr. Izumi made a significant pause, “then that means that there is only enough room left for them to be half-human.”

The door to the patient’s room burst open, swinging its full 180o within half a second. Kari’s brother, Ty, stood there blocking the exit, bent over panting with his hand still on the door. “Kari! Takeru!” The young man had rushed to the hospital as quickly as humanely possible after he got Takeru’s urgent call about his sister.

Seemingly ignoring the abrupt interruption, the doctor made his way around the patient’s bed. Coming up to Takeru, he placed his hands on the young man’s shoulders.

“It does us no good to trifle with what the Creator has created, Mr. Matsuda.” The doctor pulled a card from his white coat pocket and placed it in Takeru’s hand, gripping it in a still handshake. “I’ll leave you with that, Matsuda Takeru.” He turned and was about to depart from the room before Ty stopped him and demanded to know what was going on. Their rushed conversation blended into the background and became almost nonexistent to Takeru as he began to lose himself in his thoughts.

The boy gripped the business card, crushing it. The MECHA Project. What could this mean for him? He could save Kari’s life, but in return, what would he have to give up? Takeru ran his other hand through his dark colored hair.

The MECHA Project.

It was improbable. It was untested. In many fictional stories they had dreamt of the possibility, of combining machines with humans to create an ultimate being. Was it true though? Could they really do this? Takeru didn’t know.

And he didn’t know. He didn’t know anything for sure. Nothing, except for the fact that if he didn’t do something—something soon—Kari would have to pay for it—with her life.

MECHA… Mechanically Enhanced Computer Human Anomaly…

Mechanically… enhanced… He didn’t want to dwell too much on the implications of those terms. “Computer Human” was too obvious. How much smarter or even stupider did they expect these MECHAs to become? To be controlled by a computer—a computer installed in your own body, no less—and then attempt still to be human at the same time even after this change. Takeru wondered if a person would still look the same physically after the procedure. He didn’t even want to think about the term “anomaly.”

But there was only one solution left for them to try.

“Ty!” Takeru yelled at his friend. “We have to do this. This is the only way we have left to save Kari!”

“What? What’re you talking about?” The young man had just finished his discussion with the doctor. The physician exited the room and left the young people to themselves. Ty turned his attention over to his friend. “Are you insane? Did you listen to anything Dr. Izumi said??”

“No, Ty, I’m not losing it. We have to let Kari become a MECHA. It’s the only way she’s going to last more than two days.” Takeru took a step toward the exit. “I’ll go make a call right now—” He was stopped by a tug on the edge of his dark-colored jacket.

“Don’t go…” he heard Kari whisper. “I don’t want to go through this, Takeru,” the girl breathed out. Obviously she had heard everything that just happened.

“Yah, Takeru. What if it doesn’t turn out so well? This is something we’ve never heard about before,” Ty backed up his sister’s concern.

“But… but,” he glanced back and forth between the two twins. “She’s about to die for goodness’ sakes! Maybe you can’t understand, Ty! You weren’t here when she needed you the most. You weren’t here when Dr. Izumi told me that she can’t live any longer!” The boy shouted, drowning out the other two’s objections. He started backing away from them, heading towards the door.

He had to go. He had to go in order to save her.

“I’ll show you then! I’ll show you that there’s nothing wrong!” Takeru turned and ran out the room, shoving Ty’s hand away when the boy tried to stop him.

“Takeru! Where’re you going?!” The taller boy shouted after him.

“If I don’t come back, then you’ll know that I was wrong.” Takeru glanced back with a mirthless smirk as he ran down the hallway of the hospital. He would make it back. He had to.

Operation. Surgery. MECHA. MECHAnization.

What did he expect? Would they numb him so that he couldn’t feel anything? or would the lights be too bright for him to see anything? Would they have him immobilized so that he couldn’t make a sound, even though inside, the searing agony tore through his body ruthlessly unlike anything he had ever experienced?

Lights. Faces without faces. Hands. Movement. All blurred. All gone by in a haze. He tried to awake. But they wouldn’t let him.

So much—shifting. So much—he would have done. But so much—was he confined.

When he arose from his dream, how much would he then remember? And when he awoke from this trap, how much then would he regret it? A MECHA. Maintaining only the ability to be half-human—and never being able to ever reverse that decision.

x x x x x

“Kari…”

“I don’t want to do it.”

“Kari, why not? Takeru’s already become one. Can’t you see? If this works like it’s worked on him, then you can still be alive even after what little is left of the time limit that Dr. Izumi gave you,” Ty tried to convince her.

“I know, I know that. But it doesn’t seem the same,” she whispered. The girl sitting on the hospital bed looked over at the boy was standing in the corner. He wasn’t looking at her. She couldn’t do this. Machines, and more machines, it was all the same. I’m sorry, Takeru. I just can’t seem to think of you in the same way anymore.

The young man with the slight build remained silent in his corner while listening to their conversation. He hadn’t meant for it to turn out this way. Kari. He was doing nothing but trying his hardest to save her.

And she had rejected him.

Why. Why did this happen? After all he had gone through to test this operation out for her, to make sure that she could take the risk. He had done it. But now it seemed as if it were for nothing. Did he really seem that different? He couldn’t tell the difference. Takeru had made sure to only show his new powers to Ty and only Ty. As a MECHA he had so much more physical strength—whether or not he intended to use it. It would frighten her—what he could do with merely a pinch of his fingers. He knew that she was sensitive.

And that she was fragile. Too fragile. How often had he practiced opening and closing his hand during the drive back? Would he have crushed her if he wasn’t careful enough?

Takeru walked from the dark corner over to the window where the curtains had been pulled open. It was relatively bright outside, bright enough for quarter past seven o’clock in the morning. He put his hands on the windowsill, leaning his weight on there and staring out past the glass.

“It’s too late, Kari,” he said to quietly. “I’ve already contacted them. They said that your appointment will begin at twelve noon today. If it takes three hours to drive there, then we only have less than two left before we set out.” The young man didn’t turn around to face her. “I’m sorry, Hikari,” he said quietly, calling the girl by her entire given name. “We have to do this.”

“Why, Takeru? Why? I thought you said that you would protect me.” Hikari didn’t turn her head to look at him either when she tried to counter him again.

“I am protecting you, Kari. This is so that you can live,” he replied solemnly.

“So that I can live? Is this how you want me to live the rest of my days, Matsuda Takeru?! As a half-human robot?” she asked him bitterly.

“Is that how you see me, Miss Ikeda Hikari?” The young man retorted, turning around to face her.

“Takeru…”