"What?!"
"I'm sorry Mrs. Morgan." The doctor concluded.
Laura fell to the ground on her knees after hearing the condition of her daughter.
When the thought lingered through her mind that her daughter might die any second, she felt her breaths slowing down.
Daniel, failing to believe, quickly landed on his phone to make all possible calls.
Maybe someone could save his daughter!
He then received Hertwig's call.
"Daniel, Mr. Roth is in the city," Hertwig explained over the phone.
Daniel quickly calmed her wife down after seeing hope. If not for anyone, Roth Rogers could save their daughter. Someone who had saved thousands could save her as well.
Roth was their childhood friend. He was a physicist, a researcher, an engineer, and an aspiring doctor in the military. And with his biologist colleague, Sebastian, they were unmatched. They always found ways to save people, no matter what the situation.
Daniel was to collect all her reports over the counter before Roth arrived at the hospital.
Roth Rogers reached the hospital in the next couple of hours, where Daniel and Hertwig had finally collected Nancy's reports.
"Daniel!" Roth exclaimed before walking towards his friend down the hallway, putting his hand on his shoulder.
Daniel failed to utter a word after seeing his friend, who had been away from the city for months.
Arriving only at the news of Nancy's terrible wreck, Roth wasn't going back anytime soon, at least not before getting Nancy back on her feet.
They sat down on the metal chairs in the grim hospital outside the ICU. Laura had been sent home beforehand by Daniel.
Roth went through all of her reports carefully before making a phone call to Sebastian, his colleague.
"Sebastian, can you come over to my location? We need to discuss something." Roth asked over the phone.
"Alright. Give me 10." A deep, mystic voice was heard over the speaker of the phone.
Within the given 10 minutes, Sebastian arrived at the hospital.
He was given reports to check first.
"Impossible case. The brain stem almost got cut off completely. Temporal and frontal lobes are in the worst possible condition. Even with the riskiest surgery, she will-"
"Sebastian… The parent is right here. Be careful with your words." Roth cut his colleague off, trying to be thoughtful.
"I-It's fine… Just tell me you can save her." Daniel said with hopeless eyes.
Sebastian looked at Roth.
"You wouldn't call me unless you already have a solution," Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow.
Roth cleared his throat.
"What are you going to do?" Daniel asked, hopelessly.
"Computerize her," Roth muttered as he looked away, thinking no one would be willing to accept it.
Hertwig and Daniel gave him a surprised expression. Of course, he said something that hadn't been done.
"H-How?" Hertwig asked.
"I made a chip about two years ago. It is programmed to replace the brain. A human body with a computer brain... It's like a motherboard. In Nancy's case, if we can somehow find a way to fit it in her brain, then it'll be able to regulate and renew her dying neurons. It worked on fruit flies and rats. It is worth a shot." Roth explained, "Her memories will remain, along with her personality… If everything goes as planned, that is." He added. "We don't have any other choice as Sebastian said earlier."
"If we can take her to our lab and study her closely, I believe we can succeed," Sebastian added to convince Daniel.
Most parents wouldn't agree to it. They could never have their children become an experiment. But Daniel was desperate, and he had no choice.
Daniel nodded in hesitance. Although he didn't understand much, what he did understand was that they could save his daughter. What else could he ask for?
"What if it doesn't work?" Hertwig raised a question.
"May the odds be in our favor," Daniel murmured.
Roth and Sebastian asked the hospital to let them take care of the patient. They transported her to their lab with all the ICU equipment.
It was kept a secret from everyone else, even Laura. Only the 4 of them were to stay aware as a dangerous and unclear invention must not be made public.
Laura was told that her daughter was in safe hands and she was to stay at home. She believed that because she trusted Roth.
"Nancy will be alright," Amy said to Laura.
"Of course. There's no way she'd leave me before burning the whole house down." Laura said, although her eyes were moist.
"It's too lonely in college without her."
"Don't miss college, Amy. She'll be alright soon, and you would have to tell her all the things that happened in the college, right?"
"Of course! I would keep myself up-to-date for Nancy. I know she is a stubborn person. She wouldn't leave so easily."
"You're right. I was worrying over nothing. We just have to be patient."
On the other hand, not even a single second was to be wasted. Roth and Sebastian started to try to make the chip compatible with Nancy.
Sebastian was a mysterious man but he was a talented biologist who had always helped Roth. They both had met one another in the military.
They could do something together. They were confident.
The chip was never designed for Human beings to begin with, so making it compatible with Nancy was a challenge.
Roth would never make something public with the tendencies of people always trying to use technology the wrong way.
That is why he refrained from inventing such a thing for Humans, knowing things could go wrong.
"You never tell me the components of the chip, do you?" Sebastian said as he examined Nancy's DNA.
"Well, it's sort of a dangerous invention. Besides, I'm only using it to save my friend's daughter." Roth replied.
"She is an amazing girl. Too sad this happened to her. But the fact her face is untouched amazes me." Sebastian reminisced, knowing Nancy since she was little.
"And we won't have to cut her hair either. We can just insert the chip from the wound."
The wound where the sharp part had damaged her was a little above her nape. But it pierced too hard and deep, leaving her in a vegetative state on the spot before she was given anesthesia by the doctors.
"Weak point of the girl," Sebastian murmured in a low tone.
"Huh?"
"I mean, it is great that we won't have to cut her hair in a neurosurgery. That is unusual."
"Of course. But technology."
Technology has changed things, after all.
"Exactly. If this chip is made compatible with her, she will show me a promising future."
"What? She is not going to be told about the chip…"
"I'm bad at keeping secrets, Roth."
"That's why I haven't told you the components."
"I might need it to make this whole thing work."
"The information I gave you is enough."
"Might not be... That is what I meant. But still Roth, wouldn't she be the greatest invention?"
"What do you mean?"
Sebastian sighed, knowing arguing Roth would get them nowhere. For Sebastian, artificial intelligence was the future, and Nancy was the start. But Roth could never approve of that. Never.
The next morning, they succeeded. They had finally made the chip compatible with her body so that her immune system wouldn't try to disown it. With that being done, they shifted her back to the hospital, in the ICU, with a bunch of other neurosurgeons. The Morgan family, along with all their close friends, were told about the surgery. And so, the surgery finally started in the afternoon, exactly 24 hours after her accident.
Her pulse was extremely low, and her breathing wasn't voluntary. Her body had given up. With her brain stem gone, she had lost all connection to the rest of her body. The surgeons, along with both the scientists, were trying their best to insert the chip from her wound.
As soon as they carefully inserted the chip inside her, her pulse rose at an indescribable speed. Her breathing became better suddenly. The fascinating results of inserting the chip amazed everyone.
They sealed off her wound and ran a few scans to ensure proper functioning.
It was a success!