- Where am I?
- He's awake, call for a doctor! - A nurse screamed, watching my condition the whole time. - Don't worry, you're in the hospital now. Everything's fine... everything's fine...
- The Hospital? - Andrei asked again. - W-what happened to me? I... I'm on Earth?
- That's right! - The doctor who entered the room fell out. - Lena, can you come out for a few minutes? There's something I need to talk to my patient about.
- Of course! - the nurse answered and ran out of the room in lightning speed, leaving on the table next to the bed the printed data from the devices that were connected to me. The doctor looked at them and smiled.
- I want to congratulate you, Mr Andrey Tenkaichi! You are on Earth, but most importantly, you will live! -
- In what way? I... I don't remember anything... W-what happened to me?
- Good question. The spaceship Hitomi 9, of which you were captain, crashed for some reason unknown at the moment," said the doctor coldly. - The entire crew died, except for one person - you! You are very lucky, Tenkaichi-san!
- I... m-my ship... my people... they...
- Do you remember?
- Yes, I think... an expedition to Mercury. M-my people... they're all...
- Well, well, calm down! I'm telling you all this now, because if you had seen your current state from the outside, you would have learned all this from me anyway.
- From the outside? Doctor, why... why can't I feel my right arm... and my right leg?
Doctor scratched his almost completely bald head.
- Here we go to the main thing. Because of the breakage and subsequent spontaneous combustion of the spaceship, half your body was so damaged that... God, I don't even want to remember! We, together with doctors and engineers from Japan, performed the most complicated operation to replace parts of your body and organs with... all-metal analogues. I must say that the result exceeded all my expectations!
- W-wait... you want to s-say...
- Right arm, right leg, ribs, right lung, neck, small intestine, reproductive organs and half face - we had to replace all of this with prostheses, tubes and bags...having packed everything into an iron shell and integrated the technology of neural communication with the brain into both limbs, Andrei Tenkaichi's revival surgery was completed.
- Is that... w-what's that anyway? I... I can't move... n-no can turn the head! Damn, it's t-so heavy...
- Well, well, don't burden yourself like that. Half your face, as I mentioned earlier, has been replaced with a stainless alloy! Naturally, it has become heavier. What's more, you won't be able to turn your head, just like you won't be able to move your new arm and leg for another couple of days...
- Why is that?
- Neural connections are still unstable. You'll have to wait. By the way, like I said, I have to show you your new look! Lena, find me some mirror!!!
After a couple of minutes, a nurse rushed into the room, barely holding a hinged square mirror. - Now, stand in front of the bed! - The doctor was in charge. - Good... - How was it? - the doctor asked, making sure that I can see my new appearance.
- What do you think?
- Wh-what...what have I become? W-what have I become? That's all... mine? Yes! I told you, it's your new body now! I... I've become an m-monster... I'd rather die.