Page 10 of The Restoration Program

“Are you mad at me for saving your life?”

Nicole scoffed, wiping her eyes. “Seems like that’s putting it generously.”

“Well damn, it’s better than not living at all!”

He’d scarcely raised his voice, but the volume made her duck her head again. Her breaths came in short gasps as she gripped the bars of the railing. He cursed under his breath regretfully, and the platform creaked. He reached his hand toward her, palm-up.

“Nicki,” he murmured. “I’m sorry.”

He gingerly moved the bed out of the way, resting his hand resting a short distance from her. Although it was plain to see he wanted her to approach, she couldn’t bring herself to budge. The acute detail of his fingers flexing in agitation was disturbing.

“I don’t understand how you can be so negative about this,” he said. “One second we had our entire life ahead of us, and then—” He choked off and gathered himself. “I thought I was alone. The moment they told me I could have you back, when I knew this wasreal… You know I had to sayyes, Nicki. These people are a godsend.”

Her heart was flayed by the fresh tears that filled his eyes, but she shook her head. “These peoplestuck me in a fake hospital room and wouldn’t let me out until I threatened to hurt myself!”

He winced. “They said that was meant to ease you into your new body. I told them you would be too stubborn for that, but they insisted.”

“How am I supposed to live like this? I can fit in yourhands, for chrissakes!”

“You haven’t been awake for more than a few minutes. Can’t you give it a little longer before you decide you hate it?” He sighed, eyeing her pleadingly. “Can… can you come closer, at least? You’re making me feel like a monster, babe. I’m not going to grab you, I swear. You can at least touch me, right?” He stretched his index finger out.

Nicole curled harder into herself. The initial shock may have worn off, but it still took every ounce of willpower to pull away from the railing. She held her breath the entire time, ready to flee if he so much as twitched wrong. Slowly, she sent out a shaking hand to rest on his fingertip.

“There you are,” he murmured. His thumb gingerly brushed over the back of her hand, nearly making her snatch it back.

She gaped at how his fingertips easily engulfed her hand. “This is crazy,” she breathed.

“Everything’s gonna be okay. I’ve talked with these people for hours, and they’re really here to help us. The Program takes care of everything for free. They’ll supply us with furniture and clothes your size. They’ll even install some kind of walkways in the apartment for you. They’re going to do everything they can to make sure you’re happy and healthy.”

She frowned at him, her vision still swimming from the ongoing contact. “Free? How on earth could something like this be free?”

“We’re one of their beta clients. Here, I’ll show you what they showed me.”

Nicole suppressed a sigh of relief when he let go of her hand. He fumbled around in his pockets and withdrew a square quad-fold paper, holding it up for her to see.

A sleek circular logo proclaiming the Restoration Program emblazoned the front. Inside, images of families embracing winked on the glossy paper. Nicole’s breath stayed lodged firmly in her throat. Every image featured a doll-sized person, giving her a blatant comparison for the scale of her new body.

“They have a fucking brochure,” she bit out.

“See?” he said, apparently immune to her wry laugh. “It breaks down the history of the procedure here. It even mentions how Organ Hosts were a stepping stone in all this synthetic printing stuff. A decade ago, even those things seemed impossible.”

“So, my new ancestors are lifeless husks that are harvested for organs?”

“Youare made from your own DNA, Nicki,” he insisted. “Organic 3D printing, see? Your consciousness was copied and transferred, and now you’re here.”

She glanced over the simple breakdown of the process, but it was a list of names on the brochure’s inner right panel that caught her eye.

Ian Harter - Cerebral Palsy - Successfully Restored.

Selene Gonzalez - Leukemia - Successfully Restored.

Willis Peseck - Colon Cancer - Successfully Restored.

Daiyu Zhang - Autoimmune Vasculitis- Successfully Restored.

Martin Collins - Pulmonary Embolism - Successfully Restored.

The list drew on in tiny font. There were nearly a hundred names.