Something to Keep Up

She came back a few minutes later, holding a red, a bit over thing in her hand. It looked kinda like a suitcase. She opened it and in several dozen red flags popped up in Mark's brain. There were needles there, some creepy, tentacle like, purple tools, a saw with teeth instead of normal blade, basically a butcher’s kit. A very mean one at that.

“Hold up, what are you planning to do with it?”

She pulled out a needle that had some sort of fluid in it. There was no syringe however attached to it, just an expanding, four inches long needle. Mark didn't like those one but.

“Okay, so…" Kaliasi struggled to find words for a second." Well, I noticed the way the Tech speaks to you.”

“The Tech?” Mark asked, curious.

“Yes. For example the remains of the cuff that your hand basically absorbed by now. It doesn’t hurt anymore, right?”

Mark raised his hand and looked at it. At this point, it just looked like a bracelet with a screen on it and a few pulsating lights.

“No, not really. I think I got used to the pain already.” He responded. “What’s your point?”

“I’m getting to it, sheesh.” She pressed a button on the wall, and a chair next to his popped up from the floor. Kaliasi was now dangerously close with her needle. “That tells me one of two things. Either you have an extremely high tolerance for pain and you must have suffered a lot in your past to get to it... Or that you have very high compatibility with our technology. You also somehow could use the guards weapons, you managed to communicate with the shuttles computers as well as effortlessly connect to the mech in the landing bay. I think you are a very first tech savvy primitive that stepped out of boundaries of his homeworld. Now stay still, if I get it wrong I might just paralyze you forever.”

Mark wanted to say something in protest, but the needle was already piercing the skin on the back of his head. The pain was very short, but then it felt like he was dipping his head in a very thick fluid. He could see, he could breathe, just everything became very, very heavy.

“That’s the anesthesia. And some other stuff that’s supposed to reinforce your health.”

“Some oth-er stuff? Like what?” He asked. Talking was strange, like he had to **** **** out every word instead of freely speaking.

“Umm…” Kaliasi was really thinking hard to make up an answer. “I don’t… know.”

Mark wanted to turn his head towards her, but found out that he was paralyzed.

“Have you done this before?”

“No. But I watched vids.”

There was increasing panic on his head when she reached for something else in the suitcase. It looked like a coat button, black, rounded, but had four lights in the center of it. She pulled it out not with her hands, but with the small needles that extended from the tips of her fingers, most likely for hygiene reasons. At least, he hoped it was for hygiene.

“Now, relax. I want you to think of something cool, happy, something relaxing, okay?”

“Why? What’s going on?” Mark was surprised that whatever she injected into him did not paralyze his jaw or tongue.

“The implant might be difficult at first… To take in. In some cases mortal, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“What?!”

She didn’t answer, instead pressed the button against the back of his head. Three small, sharp claws came out of it, and searching for a safe place to pierce the skin. When they found it, they nested themselves deep into his skull, making sure that the implant couldn’t be easily removed or ripped out.

“Installation successful. Now… Happy thoughts. You'll be fine. I'm like 90 % sure of it.”

She smiled. And that's the last thing he remembered.