Chapter 276: For Silane

A small stream ran through a lush and vibrant forest, walking through it, one would hear the calls of birds and the stirrings of small woodland creatures. The forest was bustling with life, and there were even people who walked through, though their skins were made of stone.

Most importantly, these people, and all the other things in the forest,  would tower over any regular person, dwarfing them to such an extent that the person might not even be able tor realize they were standing next to a living being, mistaking it for a mountain or some other feature of the land.

Near the stream that bubbled its way through the forest, its branches draping their way down and over the water, was a large willow-like tree. 

If one were to peer very closely at the trunk, they might see a small hole, inside which, was not the expected small animal, or bird's nest. 

Instead, there was a person, of a regular size, but extremely small in relation to everything else in this world.

For the last few days, there had been the sound of incessant clanging and crashing coming from the hole, along with billowing smoke and steam that drifted out of smaller holes that the person within the hole had created.

Right now, he clutched in his hands an odd contraption, it was a thin piece of metal, about the thickness of a piece of paper. 

It was formed of many small circles of metal, joined by lengths of metal and thin wires, all of which came together in a round unit in the center, which was slightly thicker than the rest of the contraption.

[Is this really necessary?] Kothar asked Silane, as he stared down at the implant, of course, he didn't mind wearing the helmet that allowed Silane to communicate with the robotic arms elsewhere in the hideout, but this was different, this would become a permanent fixture.

[It isn't necessary, but it's far less intrusive than wearing that helmet of yours all the time, and this way, no matter what, I can communicate with all of the new external devices and sensors that we'll create.] Silane explained, trying to convince the reluctant Kothar.

[This is practically completely future proof. All this is doing is giving me back the capacity to send and receive signals that I had when I was a chip slotted into the side of your head, rather than being some sort of disembodied voice in your head.] Silane said with a sigh, as she thought back to the almost ridiculous amount of freedom that she had once had. 

When Kothar had been a Sentinel, especially as his authority had grown, Silane had been freely able to control entire fleets, enormous battleships, laboratories and even send orders to units of troops on Kothar's behalf.

Ever since she had awakened in this new and amazing world, she had almost felt crippled, like a person who had once run freely, and had suddenly woken up one day without their arms or legs, completely stranded.

And even beyond that, she couldn't investigate things of her own accord anymore, what independence that she had was completely gone, it was as though she had become a spectator in Kothar's life, rather than the partner that she had always been, and Kothar felt she was.

[Look, I know you want to keep any implants and augmentations to a minimum, but I have to say, doing this would really give me back my-] Silane started to explain to Kothar, but he interrupted her with a sigh.

[I know, I know. Of course I've known forever. You aren't yourself without the ability to do things your own way, being able to send out countless drones to investigate the surroundings, keeping sensors of all sorts in the air at all times, or even just storing information on an external device.] Kothar wasn't exactly interrupting her, rather, he was confirming the emotions and thoughts that he had been feeling from Silane ever since she had awoken in the wilderness of the foothills of the Fidour Mountains.

[Alright, then. Stop whining and let's get on with it.] Silane said, laughing a little. It seemed that Kothar's reluctance was merely a bit of discomfort, rather than any strong desire not to have the implant.

As much as Kothar didn't want to rush into altering his body, he understood how freeing the new implant would be for Silane.

Rather than Kothar having to shave his head, and wear the odd helmet he had crafted, whose electrodes would pick up on the small electrical impulses that Silane could direct, the new implant would do the work.

It would sit just under Kothar's scalp, and it had all the electrodes that the original helmet had and more, and using the Titanite meant that they could be both extremely thin and low profile, as well as being extremely strong.

Additionally, rather than a bulking transmitter/receiver unit with a large antenna, at the center of the implant, was a slightly thicker portion, which contained a tiny antenna, the circuits to translate the impulses into binary code that could be transmitted as well as the circuitry that would use the residual electrical impulses to power the whole contraption.

All of this was enclosed between two thin discs of Titanite, that were sandwiched securely together, holding everything in place.

The delicate nature of the implant, the fact that it was extremely thin, all of the tiny pieces for transmitting and receiving signals, as well as the tiny, tiny circuits, meant that even though the entire implant could be completed in one day by Kothar, that had not been the case.

Because he had to be so careful, Kothar had failed, over and over, even the slightest tensing of the wrong muscle in his hand ruining entire hours of work, and so had needed to build the components over and over, which had thankfully taken a few days, keeping his mind off the recent meeting with his father that had stressed him so much.

[So, should we begin?] Silane asked, as Kothar held the implant in both hands, staring down at it, deep in thought.