Living in the Fray

Chapter Three

Michael had managed to leave his friend Alex a message asking to meet up at a noodle bar not far from where Alex worked. He sat himself at one of the small tables outside adorned with a cheap parasol that rattled slightly whenever any vehicle drove past. At least it kept the mid-day sun off him which was getting a bit fierce this time of year. Michael sat and sipped at a bottle of beer as he decided to research the Osiris and its crew a bit more on his holo-watch terminal. He found a few reputable news articles and videos of Captain Krieger and Vice-Captain Ronson during the trial several years back when Doctor Bishop was brought up on grounds of illegal human experimentation and the Earth Military Alliance were also sued for gross misconduct of their soldiers. Videos and photos of the trial showed Krieger looking incredibly uncomfortable in a suit and Ronson desperately attempting to look like a designer fashion house model.

"Earth Military Alliance and twisted scientist embroiled in illegal human experimentation lawsuit. Captain Cassandra Krieger (27) and Lieutenant Chris Ronson (27) now formerly of the EMA pictured entering court on the first day of this landmark trial."

According to the articles, Krieger, Ronson and one or two others got the less shitty end of the stick as most of their surviving comrades who had also gone through the same experiments were in incredibly worse shape; many of the surviving few requiring wheelchairs or civilian grade prosthetics to even move as most had rejected the experimental military grade augments that were forced upon them. The articles detailed what had gone on, from Bishop installing many untested, highly experimental cybernetics to administering loads of volatile and dangerous nanomachine and drug treatments. Some of the Doctors assistants on the long voyage had well and truly blown the whistle on him stating that when his guinea pigs had come to from their cryosleep, they were lied to being told that they had run in to "complications" or "accidents" along the way and the necessary procedures had been done to ensure their lives. Doctor Bishop had somehow managed to get hold of some alien technologies that were being redeveloped back on earth for use in humans but he wanted to put his own spin on it as he apparently wasn't selected for the main development team.

So the good Doctor thought being one of the lead researchers on board the research vessel taking a bunch of scientists and military personnel to the new galaxy was a good chance to put his so-called genius to use and try his ideas out on some military grunts nobody would care about. His assistants however labelled him a tyrant and helped gather evidence against him along with testifying at the relatively short trial. That however didn't mean his assistants got off lightly as they were after all doing what the madman said, under threat of course.

Michael had read that pretty much all of the victims were made sterile, some were suffering PTSD because of the ordeal but all of them had suffered physically in some way. While the others had limbs amputated, Krieger and Ronson who had bonded surprisingly well with the experimental nanomachines and cybernetics had frequent malfunctions and were prone to fits and seizures. He saw images of their full body scans in online medical journals that were referenced in the articles; Krieger and Ronson were practically metal and carbon fibre on the inside, barely flesh and bone at all; the nanomachines had been programmed to alter them on a near genetic level from their skin, to muscle, right through to the marrow. According to the following medical studies it granted them better reflexes, increased speed and strength, some resistances and faster almost instant healing; when the nanomachines worked though. Images in the medical journals showed some of the cons that happened with Krieger and Ronson's nanomachines when they fritzed out; Ronson during some testing had near completely seized up like he had advanced arthritis and was seen hunched over in a wheelchair. Krieger however at one point had lost all of her fingernails and toenails and her hair had started falling out before the nanomachines had somehow managed to right themselves. But now as part of the compensation they received, the EMA had to provide frequent updates for the nanomachines that had been used on them to stop them from going haywire.