Sacrifice:The Shenkar War by Seth Libby Read Free Book Online

chamber.
                  Liam removed his uniform and got into the chamber. He noticed that while the chamber stood upright, the inside allowed the occupant to recline slightly. Leaning against the chamber, he waited a few minutes before a scientist came up.
                  “ Comfortable, Mr. Brennan?” Without waiting for an answer, he started to attach medical leads to Liam’s chest. “These are for monitoring your heart rate, and these will monitor your brain pattern.” The latter two leads were attached to either side of his head at the temple. After a few minutes, the scientist appeared to have finished. Liam’s curiosity got the better of him.
                  “ What am I to expect? Will this be painful?”
                  “ Actually, I can’t really say. You people are the first to undergo this procedure. All I know is that I am to make sure you are prepped and then I am to monitor your vitals.”
                  “ You have to have some idea of what I am to undergo?”
                  At this, the scientist seemed a little uncomfortable as he looked to his left and right to make sure no one was around to overhear.
                  “ You will be sedated to a point close to death, at which time alien nanotechnology will be introduced directly into your cerebellum.” At this, he pointed to the base of Liam’s head where the skull met the neck. “Once introduced, the nanites will spread throughout as they integrate themselves with your body, becoming like a symbiont. They will enhance every part of your body: strength, sight, hearing, smell, reflexes . . . everything.” At this, he hesitated again as if afraid to speak what came next.
                  “ What is it? There is something you’re not telling me,” Liam demanded.
                  Hesitantly, the scientist looked around again, then whispered,               “Did they mention the negative effects at all to you?”
                  When Liam shook his head no, the scientist grimaced, then whispered again as he spoke.
                  “ With the integration of the technology, it enhances your every being, including the ability to learn at accelerated speeds. Where it would take a normal person several months to learn a skill, you can learn that in mere weeks. When this happens, you will lose all of your past and present memories . . . or so they say.” The scientist looked with pity at Liam.
                  “ Well, that sucks. I guess it isn’t so bad, though; there are memories I have that I would like to erase,” Liam said somberly. After a moment, he forced a smile, saying, “Well, at least everything will be new to me.”
                  “ Uh . . . yeah . . . I guess that’s a positive way to look at things,” said the scientist, although he didn’t sound like he believed it.
                  “ There’s another thing I’ve curious about. What makes us so special?”
                  “ Well, you and the rest of the, um, volunteers are all suffering from severe depression. You see, any normal person’s natural defenses would fight against the nanites, essentially creating a battleground within their body. In the end, the person’s natural defenses would end up killing him or her. You, however, want to die. This creates a certain state of mind--if you want to call it that. By being in this state of mind, your body just accepts the foreign intrusion and allows the integration of alien technology.”
                  After the scientist finished double-checking everything, he then had Liam lean back as he sealed up the enhancement chamber. Liam could hear the rush of air and almost immediately started to feel groggy. His last thought as he succumbed to sleep was of Leah and how he wished he would have told her that he loved her