Brown leaned back in his chair and scratched the back of his head. An amused smile graced his lips, and his green-brown eyes twinkled.
"I'm impressed. Normally the people we get don't care about how we do it, they just want it done."
He leaned forward again, the smile slipping off to be replaced with a professional 'game' face. It was time to talk shop.
"Gene therapy isn't needed anymore. We can grow the polykeratin grafts for the wings using your own cells. As for the controls, it will take a bit to wire into your nervous system, but once that's done all you have to do is train in using them. Give it some time and you'll be able to move it like any other limb of your body.
"A whole new lobe in your brain isn't necessary. Using nano-surgury we can go in and make at least the basic connections within your already established motor areas. We have a lot of room to play with, considering most humans don't use a good percentage of their brain. Once the hookups are made, the only thing preventing you from being able to control your wings perfectly is unfamiliarity.
"It'll take time and practice to be able to use the wings effectively, but that's part of the package. Once the rehabilitation sessions are over, you should have at least a basic understanding of how to use them. As for subconscious control, "
Brown steepled his fingers together and peered over them at Unselie.
"That we'll have to see. Highly skilled and capable, SiN Tech is. Miracle workers, we arent. We have a fairly decent understanding of how to add new limbs and such to the human body and how to 'wire' them into the nervous system. Most of the brain though and how it really works is still quite a mystery. One that is understood to a degree, but hardly solved."
"So, you try to stay out of the sub cerebric sections, and veer away from genetics?" Unselie drops her feet to the floor and rests her elbows on her knees, glares at Brown acusingly. "Without changes to the genes, if the wings get damaged or torn off, I will have to come back to get them replaced, instead of just regrowing them as most insects would, and I definitly would not pass them on to my children."
"Expecting to pass these along, eh? Well then, that changes a few things."
He leaned forward and rested his chin at the apex of the arch his arms and hands made on his desk. "The surgery we were talking about before doesnt require you to come back to our operating tables with every little scratch. Only for major injuries would you have to return, precisely because the cells used to create the polykeratin grafts are your own. They would repair minor problems by themselves such as scratches and small tears. Your genes would be able to handle some regeneration without any modification to your actual DNA code.
"That being said, this new operation you're talking about is a bit more tricky. Yes, we can edit your DNA sequence to regrow the wings, and even pass them along to children. The primary reason we don't is because making the change is tricky. There is a chance that the edit won't stick, or that it will degrade down the line."
He shrugged and leaned back. "But, if you're willing to pay a bit more then it can be done."
He looked up at Unselie. "Being trickier then the 'normal' operation means it's a bit more expensive. Although you wouldn't be here in the first place unless you were used to expensive."
His eyes glanced down at the flayed marks on her arms for a moment and then they flicked back to her face. "Are there any other cosmetic modifications you would like while under? We can add marks, colors, tattoos, or remove birthmarks, unwanted hair..."
Unselie drew out her arms, gazed at the crosshatch of scars that covered her hands and arms with disturbing similarity to a lady's gloves, some old, fine white lines, others more angry, more recent. She looked back at Brown, eyes rather distant... Deep breath.
"Do you know what a Samura Labor Tag is?"
"Not by name, ma'am. If I may venture a guess, however, I would assume it's some kind of transponder that is burried under the skin to keep track of forced labor. Used by Samura, noteing the name."
He raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps you're trying to tell me that there is some foreign material inside your body we might need to remove?"
"Well, you won't have to worry about it much. Given all the work we'll be doing, it should be a simple matter to do a complete flush of your system for these nanites. Once you're under, we can find and remove these machines easy enough. Besides, we'll have to use our own nanites for part of the procedure." He noted Unselie's look of horror and shook his head, laughing.
"Don't worry, these won't stay in. They'll be around just long enough to insure your new genetic code is properly in place."
She raises an arm, frowning.
"they can be really violent, if attacked...Samura have no honor." She looks down, avoiding eye contact, ashamed. "I'd like not to bother them, if at all possible."
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