RK Series Racing; Stage 11 Camp; Part 4
Kevin led them into the End of the Line Inn, which presented itself as a very historical-looking (even for the era) main area with predominantly victorian styling. To the left was a lounge area, with small groups of armchairs surrounding small tables. The other side was an evening pub-styled corner, with a counter, a row of stools in front and a near-limitless choice of beverages behind the bartender.
Directly in front of them was the receptionist desk, behind which a rather short and stout blonde-haired lady was sat. On top of that desk was a small name placard reading “R. Wardell”, a desk lamp and not much else, with a massive array of little shelves for the various room keys behind her.
“Oh hello, Kevin! Showing the guests around, i see? Didn’t know a shapeshifter was among them, though.”, she said, friendly, but confused.
“Uhm yes, they apparently know each other or som…”, Kevin started before being interrupted by Constantin.
“Approved visitor. He’s helping one of us in need.”, Constantin explained, trying to cover Kevin in hopes of keeping the situation calm.
“Ah alright. On you go! The Queen’s Suite is waiting for you.”, she replied before returning to shuflling paperwork around.
They walk past the receptionist and into a hallway, which splits into a staircase on one side and a pair of elevators on the other. An elevator is called and arrives shortly after, staffed by an elevator operator stood next to the controls.
Kevin motioned for the group to enter before entering himself.
“Top floor. Queen’s Suite.” Kevin then ordered, followed by the elevator operator moving over a lever, setting the contraption into motion.
They find themselves in a small pre-room connected to the staircase on the other side and are led through a massive double-door into the actual suite. Within, a large common area presented itself, lined with large, comfortable sofas and armchairs facing a large window which offered a nice view across Queen’s Garden and all the competitor cars (sans Robert) neatly lined up below.
A fireplace was also present near the entry door on the opposite side where the window is, a pair of armchairs allowing a cozy evening atmosphere to read or relax in.
In three of the four corners, hull-height curtains sectioned off individual sleeping rooms, each with a slightly different color pattern, but fundamentally laid out the same. They all consisted of an almost laughably oversized ornamental bed, small bedside tables and a massive wardrobe on the opposing side. A sliding, wooden door led into small, individual washrooms with a sink able to have both hot and cold water, a high-tank toilet and a vertically tall, but otherwise small mirror above the sink for freshening oneself up.
The fourth corner was also of the sliding type and led into the main bathroom, complete with a large bathtub, another toilet and a giant mirror covering most of an entire wall’s surface.
Flooring was generally wooden parquet, covered in thick carpeting in some places, while the bath and washrooms were glazed in contrasting, bright tiles.
All of this was a continuation of the victorian-styled lobby, largely using dark shades of brown and green, sprinkled with golden or red accents in places.
“Welcome to Queen’s Suite.” Kevin proudly declared, as he briefly toured the team around the place to point out the important features.
Eventually, they find themselves in the common room.
“If you need me, you can call me via this here button near the entryway.”, Kevin remarked, pointing at what amounts to a telegraph line sender acting as a primitive bell system for the employees.
With the group (and Kayden) now alone in the Suite, Tim and Constantin called dibs for the far-corner sleeping rooms, leaving Valentin for the room directly opposing the bathroom.
As the other two humans disappeared into their respective rooms, Connor simply parked himself in a corner next to Tim’s curtain-based door substitute.
Valentin took a bit of a look around, but eventually decided to simply plop down onto the massive sofa in the middle of the common room to calm down a bit.
A few moments later and a deep sigh followed, before Valentin turned around to look over his shoulder to Kayden.
“You wanted something?”, he asked the tiger-shifter, who apparently was completely awestruck by the suite and it’s features.
Kayden stopped studying the room, looking over at Valentin and nodding. “Kaylie mentioned to me that your ankle still hasn’t improved. So, I’ve brought a few supplies along to try and help out. However…” Kayden paused for a moment, and Nova took the opportunity to make her presence known as Kayden settled into a chair, appearing in her smaller form on the table, the same size as she’d been when she was ‘squished’ by a deck of cards.
“Kayden has an idea, but we have to give you fair warning,” Nova said, “that it is experimental and comes with some risks. Now, to be fair, I’ve been running simulations based on known data, and I’m confident it will work, especially given what we know already. However, it might help if we’re on the same wavelength, so to speak. I know roughly your people’s level of technology, but I’m going to ask what you know about nanotechnology.”
Valentin pondered for quite a while about what he knew about technology on the microscopic scale.
“Uhm… the smallest piece of tech i am aware of is like individual transistors about 10 nanometers in size. And those amount to little more than electronic switches…” Valentin admitted, not entirely sure if works of science fiction were valid answers.
After that, Valentin more or less went silent, thinking about what kind of risks Nova was talking about.
Nova nodded. “Logical. Computer hardware has gone a long way, hasn’t it? To think that computers went from taking up a room to fitting in your pocket, all while massively increasing in capability, it’s impressive.”
Kayden looked over at Valentin, then said, “The reason Nova asked what you knew about nanotechnology is because the two of us believe the best way to mend your ankle is through the use of medical nanites.”
Nova then took over again with, “Our people tried genetic engineering a long time ago, and it was quite helpful, but the best thing we did to increase the quality of life in the end was to create medical nanites. Tiny, microscopic machines built to do small repairs on the body, precisely where and when that repair is needed.”
Kayden, being the physical one of the pair, said, “For us, it offers increased healing, a general resistance to disease, a better overall quality of life.”
“Admittedly, using these to fix your ankle is a little bit like shooting a fly with a plasma cannon,” Nova said. “However, as I said before, there are some risks. I’ve run simulations on what could happen, and while I’d like to say with confidence that this is risk free, well, that would be a lie. The odds, though, are greatly in your favor. Of the 32 million simulations I’ve run, 95% of the time, the nanites adapt to the new host and operate as expected. 4.9% of the time, the nanites fail to adapt and will just be flushed from your body. 0.1% of the time, the result was unexpected in that they adapted to the host and then failed to function. Now, to be fair, I was running with archived and fairly generic human genetic data, but given that the nanites are designed to adapt, and if failing to adapt, fail gracefully, and that out of the millions of real-world tests, there has never been a death caused by infusion, adaptation, or even the first repair stage, the data certainly says that you should be fine.”
Kayden looked over at Nova, and once she’d finished dumping data into the air, Kayden smirked and said, “The short version is, Nova has done a lot of simulations, compared it to real world data and known adaptations to hosts, and verified that the worst case scenario is that you’re pretty much no worse off than you already are.”
“However, we’re also aware that, because this is a technology that is new to you, and that it may cause some slight changes over time, we’ve programmed these nanites with a shutdown command. You call me up, any time you want,” Nova said, “and I’ll bounce a shutdown signal off of some satellites for you. The nanites go dormant and your body does the rest. Three days later, you’ll be completely nanite-free again. As long as you have cell reception, you have the option to say that, “you know what, these are not right for me,” and have them removed.”
“As for things you might need to know before making this decision,” Kayden said, “you’re probably going to be more hungry. When they’re making repairs, the nanites have to get resources to work with, and, let’s be perfectly honest, they’re always making repairs. Also, some people get a mild fever after infusion, which can last a few hours, maybe a day. I went through it. Malavera went through it. Kaylie didn’t, though. And, out of a squad of 15, I was the only one who got the fever. Also, they do have limits. You won’t be immortal, but you might live longer. They won’t keep you from dying, either, but you might find that wounds and injuries heal a bit quicker. And while they’ll keep you in your prime, age will eventually catch up with you.”
“On the other hand,” Nova said, “just think, no more food poisoning, a lot less illness, faster recovery from day-to-day injuries, no more infections. Granted, you will have to eat more. And it might move your temperature preferences a little colder in general, or make you sweat a little more.”
Valentin carefully listened to both Kayden and Nova explain how the nanites worked, the chances of them working and the ‘risks’ associated with them. In doing so, he slumped a bit further down into the couch, looking, almost staring out the big window at the station roof on the opposite side of the plaza.
Though the amount of information he was bombarded with at once was a bit much even for him, leading to him eventually lose track of their explanation, thus sinking into an increasing state of confusion.
“Uhm… you gotta slow this down a bit…”, Valentin said, gears turning in his mind trying to process the supplied information on top of the decision itself.
“So you’re suggesting using millions of tiny little Factorio construction robots to fix my ankle and whatever else might be fucked?”. Valentin continued, nervous about the chance to use ‘epic-420-space-age-meme-tech-bro stuff’.
Kayden looked over to Nova, who immediately picked up on what Valentin had said and gave an answer. “Something similar to that, yes,” Nova replied. “They gather resources and make repairs to anything that was damaged.”
Kayden then added, “Our people’s first trials with the nanites were used to see if they could cure cancer. When the people who were months from the end of their lives not only won the war against cancer, but managed to out-live the researchers who had performed the experiment, we started considering what else they could be used for. At first, it was treating hard to cure diseases and preventing death after illnesses or accidents put people in those positions. Then, it became part of preventing those diseases. It was only fairly recently in our people’s history that we started using them in the military, alongside an AI that can control their base programming.”
“Huh okay…”, Valentin mumbled, sinking back into his thoughts of weighing pros and cons regarding the nanites. A good 10 minutes must’ve passed before Constantin suddenly appears from his room, derailing Valentin’s train of thought.
Constantin took note of this, sped up his pace a bit and disappeared into the bathroom a few moments later.
“Sorry…”, he said, quietly as he went past the three others in the common room.
With Constantin now in the bathroom, the thinking continued until Constantin was set for the return trip.
In an attempt to not disturb Valentin again, he went round the back of the seating arrangement, taking great care to not make too much noise on the way back into his room. While it wasn’t hard to hear his every step on the hard wood floor, it still was enough to have Valentin remain unphased by his presence.
Eventually, Valentin has come to a conclusion, but one question remained…
“How will they be administered?”, he asked, looking over at Kayden and moving back into a more upright position in preparation for some kind of needle.
Kayden nodded as Valentin asked how they’d be administered, then opened the case and removed a slim metal cylinder. “Military standard field administration kit,” Kayden said, removing the safety cap. “Press this end to skin and push slightly, there will be a brief sting, and it’ll be done.”
Nova piped up, “It’s a bit like an EpiPen, just for injuries on the battlefield instead of allergic reactions.”
“Sounds sensible enough…”, Valentin replied, looking at the device. He knew what an Epi-Pen was and why it was used, though he never had to use one himself as his immediate circle of known people wasn’t in need of carrying them.
The room once again went silent, save for a big bravery-breath from Val.
“Let’s get this done then, shall we…”, Valentin mustered, still obviously cautious and hesitating, but also with an element of courage to it.
“If you’re ready,” Kayden said, gently grabbing Valentin’s left arm and carefully rolling up his sleeves. Once he was done with that, he placed the device up against Valentin’s arm, then pressed the button. Other than a quiet click, there wasn’t much of an indication that much of anything had happened on Kayden’s end, but Kayden understood that for Valentin, he was potentially running an emotional roller coaster at that point. Another quiet click announced the procedure was complete, and Kayden put the safety cap on the device again, twisted it into the lock position, and put it in the case in the “used” section. Afterward, he pulled out a small roll of sterile gauze from another pouch, then made a quick wrap of it around Valentin’s arm, just in case there was any bleeding.
With that done, Kayden looked over to Valentin and said, “I would advise having a large meal if you can. It’ll help with the process.”
Valentin simply let the procedure happen, though couldn’t prevent himself from tensing up in anticipation of the needle piercing his skin. However, once the device did it’s work, the actual pain that came along with it was rather underwhelming.
In that moment, his mind went ‘That was it?’, accompanied by his face reading the same with how he looked at the tiny little poke the device made.
Not long after, the device was packed up again.
“Anything specific or just whatever the house has?”, Valentin inquired, still intently looking at the now wrapped up, but otherwise exposed forearm.
“Protein, anything that’ll give you some energy, but whatever you want, realistically,” Kayden said.
Nova smiled. “That, and just take things easy for a few hours.”
“Well… whatever i want… or am used to ain’t easy if you are at the mercy of some cook in the kitchen a few floors below.” Valentin replied, half jokingly.
“Still, thank you for helping, even if we aren’t 100% sure on if it actually works…”, he added before cautiously making his way over to the telegraph-based calling button.
Once there, he simply held that line down for a second as if ringing a door bell and started waiting.
“Well, at least the cooks down below are guaranteed to be better than Kayden. If it weren’t for MRE’s, I think he’d have starved to death by now,” Nova quipped.
Kayden sighed. “Really, Nova? Really? I’m not that bad.”
“You set fire to a pan full of scrambled eggs,” Nova replied.
“I wouldn’t be much better, i guess…” Valentin replied from across the room. “My cooking skills don’t go much beyond a pot of bare pasta, so a burnt pot of scrambled eggs is a win in my book.”
At this point, someone knocked at the door shortly before carfeully opening it. In stepped Kevin, familiar form the panic-induced incident from earlier.
“How can i be of help?”, Kevin asked, his body language clearly indicating that he was afraid of disappointing his guests again.
“Uhm… how does dinner work at this place?”, Valentin inquired, taking a quick look back into the room.
“Did someone say dinner?”, Tim said as he rounded the corner to enter the common room. Meanwhile, Kevin procured a menu card from the inside pocket of his uniform, handing it over to Valentin.
The menu was laid out like any restaurant menu card, sorted by starters, main courses and desserts, albeit with a rather limited selection of all of them. On the back, a very extensive list of local beverages, sorted roughly by alcohol content, presented itself.
“Take all the time you need, i’ll wait outside for your choice. And that of your colleagues, if they wish to order as well.”, Kevin said, slipping back out of the room and closing the door.
With the menu card in hand, Valentin made his way over to the seating arrangement, followed shortly by Constantin and Tim, both interested in a nice and filling dinner.
“Well,” Kayden said, closing up his medical kit and getting up from the chair he was in, “I’m going to go find where the rest of my team has gone.”
“Hey, Kayden, you’re forgetting something,” Nova said. “Get my handheld out of your pocket so that I can print something out for Valentin.”
Kayden pulled the slim rectangle of sleek metal and glass out of his pocket, just moments before Nova printed out her own contact information onto a business card. Kayden retrieved it and handed it to Valentin as Nova added, “Those are the two ways you can easily get in touch with me. First one’s my phone number, second one’s my email address. I’d have handed you the card myself, but, well, Kayden was sitting on my chassis and, well… You remember the deck of cards.”
Shortly after, Nova’s holographic projection on the table vanished, and Kayden smiled. “If you need anything else, just let me know,” Kayden said. “I’ll see you in the next camp.” He put Nova’s handheld unit back into his pocket, then headed toward the elevator.
As Valentin got handed a slip of paper, he pulled out his own phone to copy the data into the contacts list.
“Was gonna say… Thanks again for maybe helping and have a good evening.”, Valentin said, watching Kayden disappear through the massive double-door.
Before Valentin could grab the menu card, Tim already snatched it out of his pocket. The ensuing distraction allowed Valentin to discretely roll his left sleeves back down
“I’m going first!”, he proclaimed, eagerly skimming the available dishes. Just the sight of a low-quality, monochrome print of what looked like a massive burger was enough for him to go for that.
Next up was Constantin, who didn’t fancy downing loads of greasy meat this time around went for something akin to to a plate of rice-based chili.
Valentin went rather cautious, choosing what looked most familiar to him, ending in what effectively was a local variant of grilled sandwiches.
With the order sorted, Constantin offered himself up in telling Kevin about the results.
He went over to the door, handing the menu back to Kevin, then showing what the three ordered.
“No beverages?”, he inquired, his head semi-poking into the room.
“Uhm… i guess water will do.”, Valentin started
“I’ll have some beer, if you have that.”, Tim added, followed by Constantin turning the menu card around to check.
“They do.”, he replied to Tim, before turning back to Kevin. “I’ll stick to water as well.”, he said to Kevin.
“Alright. I’ll get that sorted as quickly as i can.”, Kevin said and briskly turned around, heading down the stairs.
Constantin returned to the group, taking a seat with the others.
“So now we wait… Wanna play some cards?”, Tim suggested, plonking down the Rummy set onto the table in the center.
“Sure.”, Valentin replied, taking the stack of cars and shuffling them to prepare a game. Constantin didn’t really contest the suggestion either.
About an hour of pleasant, but not exactly eventful playing followed, until a knocking at the door was heard.
“I’ll go get that.”, Tim eagerly exclaimed, practically jumping out of his armchair to open the door, spotting Kevin on the other side.
“Your meal is ready in the restaurant area downstairs.”, Kevin replied as soon as he saw Tim, who turned around to face the others afterwards.
“Yo guys! Dinner’s ready!”, he said, prompting the other two to drop their respective cards and make their way over to the door as well.
Kevin led the way once more, where they took the elevator back to ground floor.
Once there, they were led through a doorway into what effectively was a small restaurant, once again a continuation of the victorian era styling from elsewhere in the Inn.
They were sat at a rather small table, with extensive arrays of cutlery and their desired beverages already present.
As soon as they were sat down, Kevin went off for a bit, before returning with what looked like an umbrella holder quietly nicked from the reception area. That holder was sat down next to Valentin for him to store his crutches.
“Have a nice meal.”, Kevin said, before leaving proper this time, which was met with a collective respectful nod.
Not even a minute later, three kitchen staff came around, each holding the meal that they chose from the available list, taking great care in the process of serving the meals.
“Thank you”, all three said, more or less well-mannered as the kitchen staff left the group to it.
Without much of a fuss, save for some friendly neighborhood chit-chat, dinner was had, followed by the kitchen staff meticulously clearing out the table again.
“I have to say, they know how to cook.”, Valentin said.
“It was absolutely delicious.”, Tim added, smiling ear-to-ear.
“If the veggie stuff is that good already, i kind of regret not having taken the meaty options…”, Constantin admitted, regretting his thought on minimizing chance of stomach problems due to improper preparation.
Nevertheless, they soon made their was back up again, this time without Kevin, being accompanied solely by the elevator employee on the way up to the top floor.
The remaining evening was very pleasant, with them continuing to play their card games for a while before they decide to take turns in the shared bathroom for a much needed bath.
After that, they spent the remaining evening in their respective rooms, resting, pondering about whatever before eventually falling asleep.
to be continued
Holy mother of…", he exclaims as he is being swung around. " 
What was that for!?"
