Ch.321Side Story. Steam and Colony (4)

The Colonel regained consciousness with a groan, feeling a throbbing pain at the back of his head.

Wincing at the pain that felt as if someone had struck the back of his head with a blunt object—clearly the result of a contusion—the Colonel…

“…?!!”

Suddenly, he remembered why he was experiencing this headache. That is, he finally recalled what had happened before he lost consciousness.

‘That’s right, I was…’

His last memory was of being overwhelmed and slaughtered one-sidedly by those mechanical infantry that appeared suddenly, and then being ambushed by one of those mechanized soldiers before losing consciousness.

In other words, the Colonel was now likely being held prisoner by them.

‘What on earth were those things…?’

But more than such trivial matters, the Colonel was far more interested in the technology possessed by those he had considered mere colonial rebels (independence fighters)—technology that clearly seemed not of this world.

First, those mechanized cyborg infantry he had faced—while their external appearance resembled ordinary prosthetics using technology of this era, the Colonel, being a highly educated elite, could discern that the technology applied to them was extremely advanced.

Not only the weapons they held in their hands, which he could barely guess utilized some form of magic, but also the backpacks containing some kind of power source that supplied energy to their full-body prosthetics were clearly products of over-technology.

Moreover, recalling how their prosthetic hands and legs moved almost indistinguishably from real limbs, their precision component technology undoubtedly surpassed his own people’s capabilities.

And the worst nightmare the Colonel had directly encountered—the massive bipedal war machine that seemed straight out of pulp fiction about interdimensional invasions currently popular in the mainland—was the ultimate answer to these observations.

That enormous machine, which instinctively made one think there was no way to counter it, was so far beyond the technology of this era that it was completely beyond the Colonel’s ability to comprehend.

Anyway, as the Colonel was recalling these past events, he unconsciously opened his eyes and realized—for some reason—that he was firmly bound to something like a conveyor belt.

Moreover, he was in the middle of what appeared to be a massive artificial factory that felt like a dark and silent cave interior due to the limited light sources and low brightness.

“…W-what is this?!!”

Fortunately or unfortunately, he could still move his mouth, so the Colonel opened it in this alien and ominous landscape—

Clunk, whiiiiiirrrr—

“—Hey, stop!! I-I’m a Colonel of the United Kingdom of Britannia! My father is the head of the Spencer Ducal House! I have sufficient value as a prisoner!”

At that moment, with mechanical clanking sounds, the conveyor belt began to operate. Regardless of the Colonel’s panicked babbling, these massive machines steadily began to move.

And thus, the “modification” began.

Transported to a restraint that resembled an operating table, the Colonel was secured by mechanical arms hanging from the ceiling to expose his back, and an exoskeletal spinal cord for neural transmission—one of the first components to be implanted—began to be inserted into his spine.

“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■—!!!?!!”

The Colonel let out a terrible scream from the pain of literally having the flesh of his back cut open with blades and implanted, but since his cries meant nothing to the machines, the modification continued.

They implanted a mechanical exoskeletal spine into his backbone, crudely connected the nerves between the real spine and the exoskeleton, and then implanted a control device to input command codes where the “brainstem” should be.

By inserting machinery between the connection process of brain and body, they prioritized the commands entered into the machine over the individual’s will—essentially modifying a person into something no different from a robot while leaving their consciousness intact.

Anyway, as his flesh was being turned into something machine-like, the modification continued regardless of how much the Colonel suffered from the pain of his flesh being torn and bones being crushed.

The next procedure was modification of the body for securing a power source.

They forcibly pierced his flesh to drive nails into his back to implant connection circuits molded to his body shape, connected wires, and then attached a power backpack with a built-in rune-engine to his back.

Now, the mechanical arms turned toward the Colonel’s torso and the fragile(?) fleshy organs contained within.

First, the mechanical arms injected various drugs into the Colonel’s body to put him into a temporary state of suspended animation.

Since he would have to become virtually dead at least once during the procedure of modifying his entire torso and internal organs, this was done to prevent him from dying of shock or excessive bleeding by killing him once in this controlled manner.

Anyway, the moment the Colonel entered this state of suspended animation, dozens of mechanical arms equipped with scalpels and nippers descended from the ceiling, excised his entire chest up to his lower jaw, tore out his heart and lungs, and implanted artificial respiratory and cardiac systems in their place.

A mechanical lung that filters all kinds of toxins and facilitates breathing—with oxygen storage capability—and a mechanical heart that, at minimum, delicately regulates heartbeat according to the individual’s condition to enable the most efficient oxygen supply possible.

After implanting these where the original lungs and heart had been, the mechanical arms attached mechanical devices over them, and finally attached a mechanical respirator covering the entire hyoid bone to serve as both filter and gas mask.

In this process, they also excised the existing digestive organs and implanted new artificial organs that could receive nutrition through tubes, and as an added measure, they removed the lower jaw and embedded machinery there, depriving him of various abilities altogether.

Anyway, after completing the replacement of the respiratory system, they covered the chest with metal plate armor (shell), and now the remaining procedure was none other than the implantation of physical implants.

By performing simple mechanical procedures on the eyes to broaden the range of visual detection, they covered his entire face with a mask equipped with lenses that could block various external stimuli as needed.

With artificial ears that could control sensory input as needed, the preparation related to sensory organs was complete, and what remained was, needless to say, the replacement of limbs.

Whiiiiiiirrrrr…!!!

First, using an electric saw, they amputated at a point between the elbow and shoulder, then connected the nerves of a mechanical arm powered by the backpack on his back through delicate calibration.

These mechanical arms, reminiscent of steel ball-jointed doll limbs, were made by covering frames and internal mechanical devices with metal plate components, with the joints protected by specially calibrated metal parts for delicate movement.

The same modification was applied to the legs, where they cut out a section between the knee and pelvis and attached mechanically constructed legs in its place.

The legs, which had to support a body made heavy by all the mechanical modifications, were prosthetic legs developed with active use of what might be called power exoskeletons from some distant cyberpunk world.

Inside the artificial knees designed for load control were several cylinders and pistons, and the feet were shaped with two thick, short toes each at the front and back for stable activity in various environments.

Of course, limbs implanted this way could not move despite neural signals being transmitted through nerve-wires due to lack of power, so to compensate, they connected rubber hoses and wires extending from the backpack to supply power.

With this, the iron limbs were completed as new body parts that far exceeded the output of the original flesh and bone limbs they replaced.

Now, finally, the last procedure.

Dozens of mechanical arms brought exoskeletal parts to be forcibly implanted into the soft flesh, making them draw power from the backpack like the limbs and synchronize with the existing limbs to enhance the entire body.

Finally, by wrapping this enhanced exoskeleton with a stab/bulletproof coat made of metallic shells and red cloth—the Colonel as he had been was gone.

The Colonel who had been steeped in supremacist ideology and aristocracy, a hardcore social Darwinist and racist who praised “the white man’s burden.”

William Spencer, the Colonel who had gained fame by personally cutting off as many as 100 colonists’ heads in a day and used this notoriety to gain popularity on the radio, with plans to enter parliament—he no longer existed in this world.

Only the self-awareness of some vile imperialist, trapped in the brain of Colonial Liberation Infantry Unit No. 1 and screaming in terrible agony, remained in the world.