"Increase the stimulant levels!"
"His blood pressure is dropping rapidly, the blockage in the right artery won't budge!"
"Try increasing the signal strength!"
"It isn't working, I think the bone-mass is having a greater impact then we thought!"
"He's going critical!"
"Up the morphine dosage!"
"We can't, he's already maxed-out."
"We've lost him..."
"Damnit!" exclaimed Doctor Procter as he left the digital simulation room. This was the fifth test of the Panacea droids in three days, and still they couldn't get everything to mesh well. Whenever they did, the assembly always turned out to only work for that individual and only so long as that individual never changed.
Regrad would be arriving tomorrow, and he wanted positive reports. The Coalition had been pouring money into the project to relieve the Coalition medical system, and since Viren had reviewed the case there'd been chaos.
As a human, he found himself in a minority amongst the researchers the Coalition had put togther. The doctors who followed in his wake were of all races, and they gathered glumly to consider the results.
"The Antiparticle pulses did their jobs." said one doctor, looking on the bright side. "They certainly annihilated the target cancer area."
"Along with the entire lung." muttered another.
"And the one that crashed and exploded? It caused a six-droid pile up and clogged the vein." Proctor said "If we'd used a real person they would have been dead in a matter of minutes, not the months Cancer would grant them."
"We've got to think of something."
"I will." Proctor said, his voice less then enthused. "I mean, all we have to do is recalculate the AI for an entire army of droids, each one smaller then is visible to see. How hard could it be?"
The meeting broke up.
It was much later that night that Proctor found himself struggling to stay awake as he shifted through technical journal through technical journal. His only company, as usual, was a holographic assistant program he had acquired through the mysterious Azguardian Medical Association, although exactly who they were or where they came from was never really explained.
"The problem doesn't seem very difficult." his Holographic assisstant informed him. Proctor had taken to calling her Rita, namely since her faintly female voice was the closest thing he'd had to human interaction since he started the project. Aliens were fine, but every so often, you just needed someone you knew for a fact had the same type of organs as you.
"Well, I can't work it out. You can't fit an entire genome into a single droid a tenth the size of a blood-cell, and even if you could it's not like you could fit anything else."
"Maybe you're looking at this the wrong way."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well..." said Rita "I am afraid my AI was not designed to accomodate the ability to extrapolate and determine such ideas, but is there not some way you can gain the benefits of a genome structure without carrying one?"
Proctor thought about it. "Wait a minute..." he said "what am I thinking? There whole body is filled with DNA! We can cut out like half the crap and just have the droids pick it up as nessecary in the body! So long as we have the essentials, the rest can be picked up later. That'll leave plenty of room for proper commands. Get me the design team!"
They worked through the night, and most of the day. The Panacea droid was a tenth the size of a red blood cell in a human, and moved by a gentle repulsing method powered by excess bio-energy.
The main "weapons" it used were a number of anti-matter pulses, specially designed for their task. Each shot fired a number of sub-subatomic particles which, when split from the main particle would annihilate its' opposite particle and leave nothing behind. They were bountiful when bioenergy was being processed for the machine's use, and their attractivness to particles could be carefully calculated to ensure that only the target would be hit.
Finally, the most complicated part, was the scanner. Each one covered a large portion of the body, and could immeadietly detect maligant presences. Early research had had trouble with food, but that problem was resolved by respecifying the requirements by which the droids scanned for targets. Anything that did not match the genome of the being - updated regularly by scanning the DNA of the body - was attacked. Three automatic tests were set up to assure that the target was definetly not part of the body, and that was all that was nessecary.
Exhausted, the doctors and engineers managed to look proudly at their creation. They had just long enough to soak in the feeling of success before the Press made their way in.
Proctor panicked. Of course! Today was the day Regrad was coming to see their progress!
"Ah, Regrad" he managed "Surprised to see you so... early?"
Regrad looked surprised "It's two in the afternoon. Anyways, it's good to see you. I've been getting encouraging reports that you've all been hard at work lately, and I'm sure we'd like to see your progress. Is that it?" He then pointed at a computer screen, and on it was an image of the droid.
"Um... yes-"
"So its' finished?"
"Well, no-"
"You're not done?"
"Sort of-"
"So it's done?" This was not Regrad's usual demeanor, but what with the press and the significance of the accomplishment, his eagerness broke through his usual cautious personality.
Suddenly feeling the weight of expectations, Proctor nodded. "Completely finished."
"Right! Well, then, if you don't mind, I'd wish to be your first customer."
This comment caused a gasp of surprise, from no one more then the doctors. Proctor realized he had probably recieved a memo about this idea once, but had ignored it. "Um... ok?"
With looks of horror and fear upon their faces, the doctors managed to load an "Azguard Class" vaccine without revealing their shaky hands. One by one, they managed to find reasons why they couldn't be the one to actually inject it, until Proctor found it in his hands. With eyes tightly shut, he administered the shot. Everyone waited in silence.
There were a few moments, when everyone remained expectant. Regrad didn't move a muscle, until.
"Well I'll be" he said "That cured my indigestion." There was a ripple of laughter and some hearty applause from the press, as even the most impartial and stone-hearted reporter felt the distinct excitement that accompanied the success of this project.
Feeling as if the relief might literally roll off of him, Proctor managed to smile for the photops and hand-shakes that followed. As the doctors were allowed to go back to their work, and the hand-shaking and back-patting subsided, Proctor suddenly realized something.
"Hey guys, we just put ourselves out of a job." Even this got a roar of laughter, as upon consideration, it was a much greater thing for there to be no need for the job then preserving it.
"His blood pressure is dropping rapidly, the blockage in the right artery won't budge!"
"Try increasing the signal strength!"
"It isn't working, I think the bone-mass is having a greater impact then we thought!"
"He's going critical!"
"Up the morphine dosage!"
"We can't, he's already maxed-out."
"We've lost him..."
"Damnit!" exclaimed Doctor Procter as he left the digital simulation room. This was the fifth test of the Panacea droids in three days, and still they couldn't get everything to mesh well. Whenever they did, the assembly always turned out to only work for that individual and only so long as that individual never changed.
Regrad would be arriving tomorrow, and he wanted positive reports. The Coalition had been pouring money into the project to relieve the Coalition medical system, and since Viren had reviewed the case there'd been chaos.
As a human, he found himself in a minority amongst the researchers the Coalition had put togther. The doctors who followed in his wake were of all races, and they gathered glumly to consider the results.
"The Antiparticle pulses did their jobs." said one doctor, looking on the bright side. "They certainly annihilated the target cancer area."
"Along with the entire lung." muttered another.
"And the one that crashed and exploded? It caused a six-droid pile up and clogged the vein." Proctor said "If we'd used a real person they would have been dead in a matter of minutes, not the months Cancer would grant them."
"We've got to think of something."
"I will." Proctor said, his voice less then enthused. "I mean, all we have to do is recalculate the AI for an entire army of droids, each one smaller then is visible to see. How hard could it be?"
The meeting broke up.
It was much later that night that Proctor found himself struggling to stay awake as he shifted through technical journal through technical journal. His only company, as usual, was a holographic assistant program he had acquired through the mysterious Azguardian Medical Association, although exactly who they were or where they came from was never really explained.
"The problem doesn't seem very difficult." his Holographic assisstant informed him. Proctor had taken to calling her Rita, namely since her faintly female voice was the closest thing he'd had to human interaction since he started the project. Aliens were fine, but every so often, you just needed someone you knew for a fact had the same type of organs as you.
"Well, I can't work it out. You can't fit an entire genome into a single droid a tenth the size of a blood-cell, and even if you could it's not like you could fit anything else."
"Maybe you're looking at this the wrong way."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well..." said Rita "I am afraid my AI was not designed to accomodate the ability to extrapolate and determine such ideas, but is there not some way you can gain the benefits of a genome structure without carrying one?"
Proctor thought about it. "Wait a minute..." he said "what am I thinking? There whole body is filled with DNA! We can cut out like half the crap and just have the droids pick it up as nessecary in the body! So long as we have the essentials, the rest can be picked up later. That'll leave plenty of room for proper commands. Get me the design team!"
They worked through the night, and most of the day. The Panacea droid was a tenth the size of a red blood cell in a human, and moved by a gentle repulsing method powered by excess bio-energy.
The main "weapons" it used were a number of anti-matter pulses, specially designed for their task. Each shot fired a number of sub-subatomic particles which, when split from the main particle would annihilate its' opposite particle and leave nothing behind. They were bountiful when bioenergy was being processed for the machine's use, and their attractivness to particles could be carefully calculated to ensure that only the target would be hit.
Finally, the most complicated part, was the scanner. Each one covered a large portion of the body, and could immeadietly detect maligant presences. Early research had had trouble with food, but that problem was resolved by respecifying the requirements by which the droids scanned for targets. Anything that did not match the genome of the being - updated regularly by scanning the DNA of the body - was attacked. Three automatic tests were set up to assure that the target was definetly not part of the body, and that was all that was nessecary.
Exhausted, the doctors and engineers managed to look proudly at their creation. They had just long enough to soak in the feeling of success before the Press made their way in.
Proctor panicked. Of course! Today was the day Regrad was coming to see their progress!
"Ah, Regrad" he managed "Surprised to see you so... early?"
Regrad looked surprised "It's two in the afternoon. Anyways, it's good to see you. I've been getting encouraging reports that you've all been hard at work lately, and I'm sure we'd like to see your progress. Is that it?" He then pointed at a computer screen, and on it was an image of the droid.
"Um... yes-"
"So its' finished?"
"Well, no-"
"You're not done?"
"Sort of-"
"So it's done?" This was not Regrad's usual demeanor, but what with the press and the significance of the accomplishment, his eagerness broke through his usual cautious personality.
Suddenly feeling the weight of expectations, Proctor nodded. "Completely finished."
"Right! Well, then, if you don't mind, I'd wish to be your first customer."
This comment caused a gasp of surprise, from no one more then the doctors. Proctor realized he had probably recieved a memo about this idea once, but had ignored it. "Um... ok?"
With looks of horror and fear upon their faces, the doctors managed to load an "Azguard Class" vaccine without revealing their shaky hands. One by one, they managed to find reasons why they couldn't be the one to actually inject it, until Proctor found it in his hands. With eyes tightly shut, he administered the shot. Everyone waited in silence.
There were a few moments, when everyone remained expectant. Regrad didn't move a muscle, until.
"Well I'll be" he said "That cured my indigestion." There was a ripple of laughter and some hearty applause from the press, as even the most impartial and stone-hearted reporter felt the distinct excitement that accompanied the success of this project.
Feeling as if the relief might literally roll off of him, Proctor managed to smile for the photops and hand-shakes that followed. As the doctors were allowed to go back to their work, and the hand-shaking and back-patting subsided, Proctor suddenly realized something.
"Hey guys, we just put ourselves out of a job." Even this got a roar of laughter, as upon consideration, it was a much greater thing for there to be no need for the job then preserving it.