Hammer and Crucible by Cameron Cooper (easy books to read txt) 📗

that your intentions are not those of a good family member, which will force me to proceed accordingly. It was nice corporate doublespeak. I deleted the message.

When the meal arrived, I wondered if I could eat any of it. Farhan’s disapproval lingered, making my stomach roil. Then I caught a whiff of bacon.

I ate every single morsel, licked my fingers and wished there was more. I was on the verge of ordering a desert. Why the hell not? Then the jug of coffee registered, forcing me to my feet and into the en suite.

By the time I reemerged, I was exhausted. Sleep was tugging at me as if I had not slept for days. I barely stayed awake long enough to stumble over to the bed and climbed beneath the covers.

So soft… So warm…

My very last thought was that perhaps I would not dream this time, either, which made me very happy.

The next time I woke, I spotted an exercise leotard folded and sitting on the sofa.

I wanted to eat, but Dominica assured me my meal would taste far better once I exercised.

I was escorted to a gymnasium that included a full-sized swimming pool. The entire gym was completely empty. I had asked for privacy and they were abiding by the expensive agreement.

Dominica put me through a series of exercises which would have been impossible for the old woman who shuffled into the hospice, however many days ago it had been.

I wanted to laugh out loud as I felt my body respond to the demands with energy and strength. Just being able to touch my toes was enough to make me giggle.

I punched bags, and high kicked. Chin ups were no effort at all. I ran around the half-track, while Dominica timed me. It wasn’t quite my personal best but if I had really wanted to, I had the sensation I could have burned that old record easily.

On that same awakening, they put me through the inertia inoculation. Patients had to be awake for crush juice shots. The flex of muscles, a moving body, and a higher metabolism helped the nanobots build the crystalline structures inside the cells that made them crush proof. While the nanobots worked, my body twitched and heated in a way that reminded me of menopause, except every single inch of me grew warm, from the feet upwards.

When the heat rose up my neck, I realized with a touch of cold shock that the new implants must have already been installed, sometime while I slept. They wouldn’t administer crush juice before replacing the implants. That would force them to go through the process all over again, so the nanobots could incorporate the new implants into their scaffold-building.

I ate enormously and wished I could kiss the chef on the cheek in thanks for her talent. Before I could pull out my pad and check messages, sleepiness dropped over me.

“Damn it…” I breathed and staggered over to the bed. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” I added, hauled myself onto the bed…and passed out.

Overall, the course of rejuvenation took thirty-nine standard days, which I only got to count up later, when it was all over. I was pronounced “done” and Dominica escorted me to the foyer of the clinic. As before, no one else appeared. The machinery moved smoothly around us, giving me the absolute privacy I had requested.

“You look wonderful,” Dominica told me, before we stepped through the door into the public foyer beyond. “I hope you’re pleased?”

I thought about the crush juice which was circling my system, and would for nearly two more years, until I excreted the last of the expired nanobots. After that, as reinforced cells were replaced with normal cells, I would start to “feel” high-gee conditions more and more, until forced to take another course. “I am very pleased,” I assured her.

“You’re sure you don’t want to look in a mirror?” Dominica asked. This had bothered her immensely.

“I know what I look like at twenty-six,” I assured her. “This is not my first time.”

Dominica grinned, a very unprofessional expression full of mischief, that made her eyes light up. “You will look eventually,” she assured me. “You can thank us, then.” She opened the door. “Or recommend us to your friends, instead.”

The soft-sell was the single marketing push the clinic had given me, in all the time I was there.

“I’ll consider that,” I assured her, and meant it.

I stepped out into the real world, feeling light, strong and much taller than I had before, which wasn’t possible.

Juliyana was waiting. She smiled when she saw me…then her smile got wider. “Hot damn…” she breathed.

“Shut up.”

“Shit hot damn,” she said, circling me. “I feel like I should hit on you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not the most productive use of our time.”

Juliyana came to a stop in front of me. She raised her brow. “Okay, next?”

My stomach rumbled. “Food,” I declared. With a touch of regret I realized that whatever meal I ate next would not be close to the caliber of the meals I had been enjoying in the clinic. Although the clinic could afford to provide the best. By my count, I had eaten seven meals in thirty-nine days.

Juliyana nodded. “Stars, yes! What you want? My treat.”

“A big steak,” I said firmly. “Maybe even two.”

8

Juliyana had learned her way around the city while I was out for the count. She took me to a restaurant with a view of the starscape through steel glass windows, and honest-to-goodness tablecloths. I plucked at our tablecloth in disbelief.

“It’s retro,” Juliyana explained.

“It’s antique, is more like it. I’ve only ever seen such things in pictures.”

However, the food made up for any quirkiness in the decorations. So did the starscape beyond the window.

We both ate extremely well, to the point where I pushed back from the table and placed a hand on my belly. There was no soft paunch there, anymore, and a very full stomach lay just beneath the taut flesh.

We looked at