Legends of Amacia The Caverias Rebellion
Chapter 46: Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy

Elle quickly surveyed the situation, deciding on what form of therapy to start with. “Well, let’s start with her new legs. It’s where we usually start with those who are crippled,” she suggested. “Jo, lean back against the side of the pool and support yourself with your arms, okay?”

“Right,” Josephine replied, leaning back and spreading her machine and organic arms out to either side on the pool deck, supporting herself.

“Now relax and try to let your torso and legs float,” Elle instructed.

When Josephine’s torso, hips, and new legs started to float, a smile crossed her lips. “I’ve never been able to float like this,” she admitted. “It feels strange, but pleasant.”

“Excellent,” Elle crowed. “It seems getting rid of those tentacles made you a bit more buoyant. Now, can you move the legs at all?”

“Not at the moment,” Josephine reported. “I can feel them okay, but I can’t seem to move them like you do.”

“Can you move any part of your legs?” Hanna asked. “How about your feet; can you move your toes or feet? Try them first. If you can move those, then the rest will follow.”

“I’ll try,” Josephine replied. Everyone watched her feet and toes closely. For a few moments, they remained motionless. Josephine growled in dismay, hissing, “Come on toes; move.” Suddenly, her foot and toes jerked almost as if something had shocked it into action. “Move, damned you,” she cursed.

“Saints be praised,” Arabella declared. “They’re moving.” Everyone continued to watch as first the big toe moved, and then the others in succession.

“Good, good,” Elle chimed. “You have some control over them then. Let’s help. Andrew, Hanna, you help move her left foot and leg while Arabella and I move this one. I suspect if we just get them to move, Josephine will gain better control over them.”

“Oh, I see,” Hanna answered, quickly moving around to the left with Andrew. “You want to give them a little manual stimulation to jumpstart her legs. Jo, can you tell if your voluntary nerve impulses are reaching your legs?”

“They are,” Josephine stated, “but the nano-machines are still learning to interpret them. This is a new configuration for them and I think they’re still configuring to accept the input. I’m convinced though that my reduced power levels are slowing the configuration. Manual stimulation may very well quicken the configuration. Try it and I’ll let you know if it’s working.”

“That would be helpful,” Elle stated. “Okay guys, let’s get to work. Arabella, you manipulate her feet and I’ll support and massage the leg. Hanna, Andrew...you do the same with that leg.”

“Right,” Hanna and Andrew chimed simultaneously, instantly going to work while Arabella and Elle did the same.

“Can you feel what we’re doing?” Elle asked, gently massaging Josephine’s right leg around the knee.

“Yes,” Josephine murmured. “And it feels divine too.”

“Is it helping stimulate your organic machine friends yet?” Hanna asked.

“Yeah,” Josephine replied. “I think the neural pathways are starting to establish now. Keep doing it.”

“We will,” Elle stated. After ten minutes of massage and manual manipulation of Josephine’s legs and feet, Elle stepped up the therapy. “Okay guys, let’s start moving the legs to make sure they get the proper range of motion. Lift the knee up and gently push it towards her chest. That’ll engage both her knee and hip joints. Then straighten it back out and repeat the process.”

“Got it,” Hanna chimed. She and Andrew started the new exercise on Josephine’s left leg while Arabella and Elle did it on the right.

After another ten minutes of motion therapy, Josephine suddenly blurted out, “I’m feeling something weird in my legs. They’re starting to tremble and spasm.”

“Okay,” Elle stated, immediately ceasing the motion therapy. “Hanna, Andrew; stop moving her leg and massage it. Arabella and I will do the same here. We need to keep the muscles from cramping.”

“Right,” Hanna and Andrew answered together. They instantly followed Elle and Arabella’s example, massaging Josephine’s leg from hip to toe. “How’re you doing, Jo,” Hanna asked, rubbing her calf muscle, feeling it trembling.

“I don’t know,” Josephine replied. “My legs are now tingling too. I think the nano-machines may be overstimulated.”

“Hmm,” Hanna murmured. “Possibly, but I’m not sure. I can feel your muscles trembling and jerking as I rub them. I’ve had this happen to me on occasion when my minerals get out of balance. Only when I relax those muscles and I equalize my mineral balance does it go away. You say your energy levels are down noticeably?”

“They are,” Josephine reported. “It took a great deal of power to restructure my appendages; more than I anticipated. The energy level is not down to critical levels yet, but they’re getting close. I think my nano-machines may be starving for power. I know pretty strange things happen to me when my power levels get low.”

“I suspect you’re right,” Hanna stated, feeling Josephine’s leg starting to relax. “Is there any way you can get a recharge?”

“I have the main energy coupling in the back of my head,” Josephine answered. “Remember, you helped unhook it when you extricated me from that infernal prison. That’s the quickest way to recharge, but I must be compatible with the energy source. The other way is for me to use my organics to recharge the system by eating something. That’s something that I haven’t done since Bolthor did this to me.”

“You haven’t eaten anything since your imprisonment?” Arabella asked in astonishment. “If that’s the case, then how did they keep your organic part alive?”

“The protein mix,” Josephine hissed venomously. “My organic core was kept alive by being intravenously fed a refined form of the protein mix created in the Kitchen from the bodies of the prisoners. I had no choice about what they fed me. But it did keep my organic core functioning.”

“That’s vile,” Arabella said with great disgust.

“It is,” Josephine agreed. “I hated it. I’m so happy I no longer have to survive on the processed bodies of people. But I’m not sure how my body would react to real food.”

“Did they remove your digestive tract when Bolthor condemned you?” Hanna asked, continuing to massage Josephine’s calf muscle and ankle.

“No,” Josephine stated, “But it’s been seriously altered by the cyberization process. They fused the organic nano-machines to all my major organs, particularly my heart, lungs, and digestive tract. They had to in order to keep me alive.”

“It seems we have our work cut out for us,” Hanna declared. “I’d say after we get you moving around, we’ll need to replace a way to keep your energy levels stable. We’re definitely going to need to see if you can eat normal food like the rest of us. I suspect if you can get your digestive tract back into shape so it processes food like it should, then you’ll not need to plug in every time your batteries get low.”

“I’d like that,” Josephine stated. “I long to eat real food, but I’m not sure if my body will tolerate it.”

“Then we’ll just have to replace out what you can tolerate,” Elle stated. “I’m sure between Hanna, Enoch, and Nemesis, we’ll be able to figure out something. How’re your legs feeling now? Are they still twitching?”

“No,” Josephine reported. “They’ve settled down now.”

“Try moving them,” Elle instructed. She, Arabella, Hanna, and Andrew let go of Josephine’s legs so she could move them.

Josephine looked down at her legs and slowly flexed them. “By the Elder Gods,” she breathed. “I can move them now, but I don’t have the strength to get up. I wish I had a charge port I could hook to right now. I want to get up and walk around.” Everyone noticed a growing weariness in her face and body.

“I know you do,” Hanna stated. “It’s too bad Nemesis isn’t around. I bet he has power to spare.”

“That I do,” Nemesis boomed out as he approached the therapy pool from the main entrance. He’d slipped in without anyone seeing. Quickly covering the distance to where Josephine and the others sat in the pool, he instantly noticed Josephine no longer had tentacles, but true legs. “Not to be nosy, but what happened to your lower appendages, Josephine?” he asked.

“I restructured them at Hanna’s suggestion,” Josephine replied with a weary smile. “Even though I knew I had complete control over the organic nano-machines in my body, it never occurred to me to take back my legs with them. But it was a heavy drain on my power reserves. My power levels are down enough where I don’t have strength enough to move around on my new legs. We were just talking about that when you appeared like a ghost. How do you do that?”

“It’s a gift,” Nemesis rumbled with a chuckle. “Mind if I scan you to see how low your power levels are? You do look wiped out.”

“Go ahead,” Josephine said softly with a sigh. “Gods, I’m so tired right now.”

“We know you are,” Hanna stated sympathetically. “I know it took a maximum effort to restructure those tentacles.”

“Hmmm,” Nemesis rumbled, squatting down next to Josephine on the pool deck. He scanned not just her power levels, but her new legs too. “You did an excellent job restructuring your appendages. The legs are constructed very well with a good dense bone core and powerful muscles. But I can see why you’re having trouble getting them to move. Your power levels are critically low. It’s starting to affect your internal functions. We need to get you a recharge immediately.”

“You don’t happen to know where we could do that, do you?” Hanna asked.

“I can do it,” Nemesis stated. “But I strongly suggest we take Josephine out of the water before doing it. I don’t want to chance any stray voltage getting into the water and electrocuting anyone.”

“I agree,” Josephine replied strongly. “I don’t want anything to happen to my new friends. Can you give me a lift, Nemesis?”

“No problem,” Nemesis rumbled. He moved behind Josephine and gently grabbed her under the machine arms, pulling her out of the water as he stood. Moving her back several paces, he sat her down on the pool deck. “Let me dry your power coupling before I connect to it,” he said softly, kneeling down behind Josephine. He pushed her long hair out of the way with his organic hand while changing his machine arm into a hot-air blower. In thirty seconds, Nemesis dried the coupling. “Okay, Josephine,” he murmured as his machine hand replaced the dryer. “Relax. This may pinch a bit.”

“Okay,” Josephine murmured, the weariness on her face growing by the minute. “Just hurry. My power levels are really falling now.”

“Don’t worry,” Nemesis reassured her. “We’ll fix this drain and you’ll be up before you know it.” Without warning her, Nemesis pushed the index and middle fingers of his machine hand into the power coupling at the base of Josephine’s skull. She flinched noticeable with a shriek. Her back arched as she sat up ramrod straight and her arms froze in an outstretched position. Tears started running down her cheek. “I know it hurts,” Nemesis cooed in her ear. “It can’t be helped. You let your power get too low. When it starts coming back up, the pain will diminish.”

A trembling sigh escaped Josephine’s lips as her body started to relax. “Yes,” she breathed. “You’re right. I can feel the pain subsiding as my power levels stabilize.”

Everyone watched Nemesis recharge Josephine from the edge of the pool. “How long will it take?” Arabella asked, leaning against the side of the pool with her arms lying on the deck.

“Between ten and fifteen minutes,” Nemesis reported. “It’s a good thing I decided to come check on her. If I’d come ten minutes later, she would have exhausted her internal power supply.”

“What would happen if she exhausted her power supply?” Andrew asked.

Nemesis looked Andrew dead in the eye with a grim expression. “She’d be dead,” Nemesis stated bluntly. “Cyborgs like us must keep our power levels up at all times. They literally keep us alive. If our power reserves are completely exhausted, we have nothing to keep the machinery going that keeps us alive. Most of us are designed to go into a safe mode shut down when our power levels drop to critical levels. It shuts down everything except our vital functions. But it’s only a stop-gap measure. If our power levels aren’t restored within four hours of the safe mode shutdown, then we have a catastrophic failure of our systems. We die. Josephine is lucky that we caught her power drain before it triggered her safe mode. Apparently, the restructuring of her appendages into functional legs serious tapped out her power reserves. You should have let me know you were going to do it. I could have brought an extra power supply to help her deal with it.”

“We didn’t know until it happened,” Hanna stated. “I guess it’s kind of my fault. I urged her to restore her legs as a way to undo at least part of what Bolthor did to her. I’m sorry I put you in such danger, Josephine. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course I do,” Josephine replied in a much stronger tone. “Fact is I didn’t realize it would sap me that much either. I sure am glad you decided to check on me when you did, Nemesis.”

“Think nothing of it,” Nemesis rumbled pleasantly. “Enoch and I decided the moment you came here to check on you every three hours because of your weakened state upon arrival. We wanted to assure you fully recovered, and to make sure there weren’t any unforeseen consequences of removing you from your prison. It seems we’ve discovered one. Without the main power lead, your power levels drain much quicker.”

“I noticed that,” Josephine stated. “Now that you’re boosting my power levels, I can now run a diagnostic on my system, which I’m doing right now. You’re correct in saying I have a higher level of power consumption. But it’s more than that. I see there’s a physical power drain in my hardware. It’s a slow, steady drain on my system that I cannot stop. When I exert myself like I did when I restructured my lower appendages, the power drain speeds up. We need to replace the offending hardware and repair it.”

“I agree,” Nemesis replied. “Since I’m connected to your system, would you like for me to help isolate the trouble area?”

“Yes,” Josephine said bluntly. “I’ve never really had to do a diagnostic on myself until now. The Cadre always did it. I remember you doing it on several occasions.”

“That I did,” Nemesis stated. “I spent many cycles studying your matrix and hardware, so I’m well acquainted with your systems, as is Horace. We may want to bring him in on this when we discover where the problem is.”

“Yeah,” Josephine murmured. “I’d like that. Of all the Cadre who had access to my system matrix and hardware, I liked Horace the best. He treated me with great respect when the others didn’t.”

“I know,” Nemesis rumbled softly as he sat down behind Josephine. “A diagnostic will take at bit longer to perform than your recharge. Is that okay?”

“Fine by me,” Josephine stated. “We need to replace out where my power is going. Take as long as you need.”

Speaking to those in the pool, Nemesis called out, “It’s going to take a while to run a diagnostic on Josephine, guys. I suggest you enjoy the pool while we sort this out. I’ll let you know if we need anything.”

“That’s fine,” Hanna chimed. “Helping Josephine was on the top of our to-do list anyway. Now that you’re here, we can get Selina moving on her physical therapy and I can get that swim I wanted.”

“That’s good,” Nemesis replied stoically. “Selina needs that therapy. Go ahead. I can handle Josephine.” A wry grin crossed Nemesis’ bear lips. “And Hanna; have some fun, damn it. You deserve it. That’s an order. You haven’t taken time to relax since the raid.”

“Yes, sir, Nemesis sir,” Hanna chimed, chuckling as she saluted him with her right hand. Everyone broke out laughing, including Nemesis. “Thanks for the candor, Nemesis,” Hanna declared. “I really needed to hear it. Sometimes, I forget to take time for myself.”

“You’re welcome,” Nemesis rumbled pleasantly. “Now just enjoy yourself.”

“I will,” Hanna chimed, turning to Selina. “Mind if I take a few laps, sis?”

“Be my guest,” Selina purred.

“Go on and take your swim, Hanna,” Elle insisted. “Arabella and I can work with Selina.”

“Right,” Arabella agreed. “We’ll call if we need anything.”

“Okay,” Hanna said pleasantly, pushing away from the pool’s edge. She turned to Andrew and said, “Looks like it’s just us, Andrew. Care to swim with me?”

“You bet,” Andrew answered, splashing Hanna playfully. “Tag, you’re it!” He took off swimming towards the far end of the pool.

“Oh, you’re on,” Hanna crowed, swimming after him as fast as she could.

Elle, Selina, and Arabella watched Hanna and Andrew play swim tag. “Hanna’s a bit overmatched,” Arabella observed, seeing Hanna having trouble catching Andrew. “Andrew is so big and he’s such a good swimmer. I’ve never seen anyone swim that fast.”

“That he is,” Elle stated. “Andrew is a very accomplished swimmer. He can even outswim Kida, and she’s superfast in the water.”

“I can believe it,” Selina purred. “I can also see Andrew is very comfortable in the water. It’s like the water is his natural element.”

“No arguments there,” Elle said pleasantly. “Now let’s get your legs moving, Selina. The water in these pools work best when you exercise. Arabella, let’s use the same exercise on Selina we used for Josephine, okay?”

“Okay,” Arabella answered with a smile. “Just relax, Selina, and let us do the work for you. Let us know if what we do hurts. I remember how your leg flashed when I moved it before dinner. We don’t want a repeat of that.”

“You’ll be the first to know,” Selina stated. “Believe me.” With that, Elle and Arabella started to move Selina’s legs gently to work the muscles, knees, and hips.

While Elle and Arabella manually exercised Selina’s crippled legs, they could hear splashing and laughter from Hanna and Andrew. Selina watched them as Elle and Arabella gently exercised her legs. “Look at that,” she told them. “They look like a couple of children at play.”

Elle glanced at Hanna and Andrew as they played, splashing one another playfully. “That they are,” Elle agreed, flexing Selina’s left leg. “It’s nice to see both of them just let down their guards, and just enjoy themselves. Andrew’s needed to do that for quite some time. He’s been rather moody lately.”

“I noticed that the first time I saw him,” Selina purred. “He takes things too seriously. It’s good to see him letting go and just being himself. And Hanna’s a lot like him. She’s way too serious at times and seldom lets her guard down enough to just relax and be herself. I’m actually relieved that she’s let her guard down enough to have some fun. She really needed it after what she did to rescue everyone from the Black Fortress. I just wish I could be there playing with her and Andrew. That game of tag looks fun.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Arabella chimed, gently flexing Selina’s right leg. “You’ll be playing tag before you know it.”

“I hope so,” Selina said softly.

“Okay Arabella,” Elle stated as she stopped moving Selina’s left leg. “Let’s get Selina out into the water so she can strengthen her arms.”

“Right,” Arabella replied, stopping her manipulation of Selina’s right leg. “What do I need to do?”

“Help support her as we move away from the side,” Elle instructed. Arabella nodded. Addressing Selina, Elle said, “I want you to float on your back and move your arms like you would if you were swimming. We’ll support you so you don’t sink. Okay?”

“Sure. I’ll try,” Selina replied, not resisting Elle or Arabella as they pulled her away from the side of the pool into open water.

“Relax, Selina,” Arabella cooed. “We won’t let down.” Selina relaxed further, letting her entire body go limp as Elle and Arabella floated her out into open water.

“This feels good,” Selina murmured as the water framed her face and her hair floated in the water with the rest of her. “It’s so relaxing. I feel like I’m floating in a zero-G chamber.” She could feel Elle and Arabella’s hands under her back and shoulders, supporting her.

“Good,” Elle chimed. “That’s what we need. Floating in a completely relaxed state allows the water to start working. We’ll let you float here for about ten minutes before we let you swim.”

“That sounds good,” Selina replied, purring softly. “My legs are starting to tingle slightly.”

“That’s a very good sign,” Arabella beamed. “It means the therapy is working.”

“Yes, it is,” Elle agreed. “Feel free to move your arms any time you want. As you see, movement while in the water promotes healing.”

“Maybe in a few minutes,” Selina murmured. “I just want to float here for now. This feeling of weightlessness is really nice.”

“Okay,” Elle answered. “Just let us know when you’re ready to move around some.”

“Got it,” Selina purred, closing her eyes to shut out distractions.