Isaac’s renown grew substantially over the next few years. As ersaTzLabs became the market leader for prosthesis, Isaac became their poster boy. He did not relish the attention, nor the crowds of strangers, nor being observed like an animal in a zoo, but the payoff was that the publicity, and subsequent increase in customers, allowed ersaTz to develop newer, better technologies, and Isaac was always given first refusal on any advances they made.
Humans had tried for decades to robotically replicate human bipedal locomotion. Robotics teams and technology giants the world over had gone through myriad designs and theories, trying to find the one that would allow a mechanical being to walk and run with the ease of a human. While it takes a human several years to develop the ability, once learned, they can do it effortlessly, without conscious thought, achieving balance and error-correction as an automatic reflex. The make-up of organic life, the combination of muscle and bone, allows for a broad range of movement, the flexibility of which was incredibly difficult to replicate with mechanical joints and servos. No matter how complex the array of sockets and gears, nothing seemed to give the freedom of movement of biological limbs, so the results were often robots that comically toppled over on any surface that wasn’t completely smooth and level.
With Isaac as a willing test subject, ersaTz managed to develop a type of robust, malleable silicon, that would change its shape in response to electrical impulses. This mirrored the operation of human muscle sufficiently that, when combined with a titanium bone structure, they were able to achieve a passable replication of human movement. Though the limbs did not have anything close to the sensitivity of touch that human skin and bones provide, the sensors that ersaTz had pioneered for Isaac’s replacement eyes, were adapted to interpret pressure and heat, and so with the right neural interface, the human brain could, in theory, receive enough information and haptic feedback, to be able to control the limbs, and respond to external stimuli in a way that was similar to the interaction between human brains and limbs.
It had been some years since Isaac had been able to walk much more than the few steps around his apartment, or out to his transport pod, so when he received an invite for a consultation on bionic legs, he jumped at the chance - metaphorically if not physically. The consultant, Dr. Niobe, was someone he had not yet met, his original contact having long since retired, and she herself had the sprightly enthusiasm Isaac recognised as one who had had fragile human organs replaced with the fruits of ersaTz’s labour.
“The procedure carries some risk, as does all surgery”, she told him, “but I see that you’re no stranger to that”, referring to Isaac’s eyes, which detected a brief flash of heat around her cheeks as she said it. She was nervous, as though more weighed on the outcome of the operation than Isaac’s health and the reputation of her employer, as though she had something personally invested in the result.
“I’m comfortable with the risks”, Isaac reassured her, “Are you?”
Realising he had picked up on her apprehension, her cheeks flushed a little more - Isaac felt he would have noticed it this time even with his inferior human eyes.
“I was part of the team who developed the silicon musculature that we’ll be using, so I have some vested interest in its success”, she paused, as though unsure whether to stop there.
“Go on”, Isaac prompted.
“My son was crippled in the transporter accident that also robbed us of his father”, a sentence she was clearly used to saying, to the extent that it was almost robotic, but when she continued, it was with trepidation, as though admitting for the first time, “If your body is able to accept the implants, there is hope for my son to walk again”. She seemed embarrassed - the implication of her statement was clear.
“I have no objection to being a guinea pig”, Isaac told her, her face flushing further at the realisation he had heard the words she hadn’t said, “And if you do a good job on me, I’ll return the favour and help fund your son’s work”. Dr. Niobe didn’t respond; at least not verbally, but gave Isaac the smallest hint of a smile, letting him know that he had correctly surmised the other hurdle she was worried about having to jump for her son’s health. The technology, and the procedure itself, were prohibitively expensive, even for someone on a doctor’s salary. Isaac never had to pay for his augmentations because of the great debt ersaTzLabs owed him for their success, but he knew first hand the difference their work could make, and he was happy to offer the same opportunities he had enjoyed, to someone else in need.
More than that though, this was an opportunity for him - to reassure himself that despite his gradual transformation towards his dream of fully replacing his delicate human form, he still retained his humanity - was still capable of the things that truly made him human, like empathy, and compassion.
The initial results of the operation were frustratingly varied, and Isaac found himself, for the first time, at odds with his new upgrades. His body had accepted the implants with no issue, thanks to their in-built sensors that allowed ersaTz doctors to check for any attempts by the body to reject the implants, and respond with appropriate doses of prednisone. All the tests showed that the silicon musculature was working as expected, the neural interface was sending the correct data to Isaac’s brain, so that he could in a sense feel his new legs, though the sensation was like nothing he had felt before, and he struggled, with no frame of reference, to describe the sensations to his doctors. He could respond, and send instructions back to his legs, that would make them move, but it was as though his brain and legs were speaking different languages, and the resulting attempts at communication were like a pidgin - the basic meaning got across, but it was simplified, and compromised, and didn’t allow for concepts beyond the basic and mundane.
So he could move his legs, but it took great mental effort to get them to do what he wanted, and the more he tried and was frustrated, the more difficult it became, as the annoyance seemed to hinder the communication between brain and legs. He could just about manage walking, but his shambling gait was no better than had been his decrepit human limbs, and took about five times the mental effort to achieve.
Isaac was dismayed. Because of his success with the other implants, he had been expecting to have the same revelation with the new limbs, and finding that they were so woefully inadequate, and had actually made his life more difficult, came as quite a blow. Sat on a bench in the park, his mood not even raised by the unusually good weather, Isaac watched as a mother and toddler wandered slowly past him, and he chuckled to himself, on seeing the way the child struggled to maintain balance, and the fierce concentration that went into such basic perambulation. He thought of Dr. Niobe, and how overjoyed she would be that the procedure had worked, and how disappointed her son would be on finding that the legs technically worked, but he would have to completely re-learn to walk.
As that thought settled, and Isaac imagined his young counterpart frustratedly trying to learn something he had for so long taken for granted, he stopped, and then was suddenly full of renewed fervour and optimism. The problem wasn’t that the legs didn’t work right. It was just that they worked in a way he wasn’t used to. He had thought that once they were in place he would simply be able to walk as he always had. But he was like the toddler, he was learning something entirely new and unfamiliar to him. He had been so frustrated at it not working immediately, that he had convinced himself that it had all been a fool’s errand, and that had in turn affected his ability to learn. If he simply changed his outlook, and viewed it as something new to learn, and accepted that it would take time and practice, then maybe he could master it. Just as the wobbling toddler would. Just as Dr. Niobe’s son would.
He stood, almost without thinking about it, and took a few tentative steps, marvelling at his ability to control his limbs at all, rather than castigating himself for his inability, and his stupid decision to accept the replacements in the first place. The difference was pronounced, and he resolved to walk, and keep walking until he mastered it.
_ _ _
Some months later, as he ran through a dense forest, revelling in every step, marvelling at the ease with which his brain and legs harmoniously adapted to rough, uneven ground, and the gyroscopic dynamo generators in his legs constantly recharged them so the never tired like his old human ones, Isaac was genuinely, truly amazed by the sights now available to him. With his augmentations he could go anywhere, see anything. He felt free, in a way he never had before. He realised he would finally get to see all facets of life as he ran to, and through, places he's only dreamed of before. It occurred to him that if he continued to replace his failing human body, with superior mechanical parts, that he would eventually outlive all of the things he was just now getting to fully appreciate. For the first time he realised that his transformation is both blessing and curse, and determined to see as much of it as his gradually transforming body would allow.
