Doctor Zorran Ordaris, jokingly called Doctor Zorders since his internship by peers and pundits alike for the wordplay value, was a gifted and reknowned expert in the field of Cybernetics. Dr. Z got involved in the field's golden age, holding dual degrees as both an MD and Cybernetics Engineer, and helping to push the fields boundaries with many improvements and enhancements working both alone and as part of design teams for a variety of megacorps. He was kept on retainer by several facilities, was on the board of several others, regularly published in trade magazines, and was frequently consulted by other doctors and engineers for his design acumen -- particularly in his specialty of HMI (Human / Machine Interface).
His professional success was matched by personal success, as his rates and fees ensured he was very financially stable, had several very nice homes, hot cars, and a string of sexy arm candy escorts. He had it all, including enough money to afford early BioWare treatments to extend his life, diminish his need for sleep, and the best cosmetic care to keep him looking thirty-or-fourty-something despite having six decades under his belt.
Then he had a stroke that immobilized the right side of his body and it all came crashing down.
The severity of his paralysis and nerve damage was beyond conventional medical correction. All of the meat doctors he consulted agreed; therapy might help a little but he was basically beyond organic correction. Finding such an answer to be unacceptible, Dr. Z logically and obviously turned towards his own field of cybernetics to address the situation. However, due to the extreme nature of his nerve damage just replacing an arm or leg wouldn't do the trick; his entire spine and nervous system needed to get replaced. Problem: in such situations standard practice is to replace the entire body, leaving only the brain. Attempting such a massive and assymetrical Human / Machine Interface such as replacing one side of a body and leaving the other side intact is universally regarded as doomed to failure. The flesh side is simply too fragile and prone to infection, and there is no benefit to be gained from such a configuration. But Dr. Z was adamant; his left side works perfectly fine, why should he scrap it and go full-conversion? Ridiculous.
Unable to find any other doctor willing to do the work, he remained undaunted. He became a veritable hermit for months; working day and night he designed specification after specification, built up simulations, developed and ran test case after test case, discovered and overcame one problem after another. Finally, after over year of hard work he had arrived at a design that made his dream possible, melding a standard reenforced skeleton with a 100% custom half-chasis. Several organs needed complete removal, repositioning, or replacement. Nearly continuous auto-administering of anti-inflammatory drugs would be necessary along the merge line. A large chunk of brain matter would need to be replaced with the necessary processors and special purpose slaving units. And a dozen other challenges besides. However, his laborious simulations and tests proved that it was doable. The design was...beautiful...elegant...perfect.
Of course, when he published the design everyone else was of the opinion that it was foolishly impractical at best and flat out insane at worst. Dr. Z still couldn't get anyone to agree to perform the surgery on him. Undaunted even still, he did the unthinkable. Greatly liquidating his personal wealth to bankroll his obsession, he bought the best computer driven operating lathes available and built out a full service fully automated surgery theatre in his last remaining home. He spent several more months of work programming the machinery in his new personal state of the art cybernetics lab and finally, content that he could do no better, he put his affairs in order and laid himself on the operating table, put himself on life support, and finally induced a medical coma. Completely helpless and unawares Dr. Z entrusted his transformation to the commands and procedures he had encoded into the lathes.
When he resumed consciousness months later he was transformed. His skeletal structure had been replaced, his internal organs had been rearranged or replaced, and his entire right side was fully cybernetic while his left side remained flesh. His design worked! He had acheived a nearly flawless symetrical Human / Machine Interface running almost exactly down the center line of his body, with only a couple of minor detours to one side or the other where necessary for stability or to retain key portions of anatomy such as a full set of lips and nose. He could move freely; gyroscopes compensators and servos ensured normal balance despite the mass differences. He had acheived what everyone else in the industry said was either impractical or couldn't be done!
After spending a few weeks to adapt to his new state, Dr. Z triumphantly revealed himself to colleagues at a key industry symposium, striding into the banquet hall in a grand style. He expected accolades and recognition of his famed skills, followed by a return to his successful practice and consulting. Instead he was met with shocked and horrified stares, indignation, and petty objections over having programmed lathes to conduct completely automated operations...on HIMSELF no less. There was furor, there was outrage, there was fear that his automation techniques would put cyberdocs out of work. In short order Dr. Z found himself villified and blackballed by his entire industry. Whereas before he was regarded as a innovator and leader in his field now he was portrayed as a lunatic inethical extremist. He was a pariah.
Unable to practice his trade in reputable venues any longer, it wasn't long before Dr. Z was approached by interested parties who wanted to engage his services for more custom, personalized work. He soon found himself occasionally employed to ply his trade on the shady side, working on Runners, criminals, mercenaries, and other hard men and women of less than reputable natures. He took many opportunities, for those who could afford it, to design completely custom parts and he developed a reputation as the man to see if you needed some out of the ordinary cyber.
However, the work is spotty and the pay erratic, and the people dangerous. Needing more income to keep his lab up to date and his own cybernetics tuned to the max, and always one to push the envelope, Dr. Z eventually found himself taking part in the occasional Run himself. Using his general medical skills as a medic, his cybernetics mastery to keep any borged out teammates in trim, and his own enhancements when necessary in a more physical role he is quite capable. Surprisingly he finds the work engaging, though mostly for the opportunities it affords him to observe and measure the performance of his cybernetics in field conditions and use that information to inform continual enhancements. He gets most of his work from a young upstart Freelance Fixer named Xander. |
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