A Robotic Heart

[theprawncracker]

Good stuff, Cait! It's all coming together very well. I like how you dealt with the pilot. Very impressive. Can't wait to see more!

 

[AnimatedC9000]

Chapter 21

The last time I was in the hospital, I was alone. Nobody knew that I existed and all the medical staff were treating me like a scientific wonder. Everyone else thought that I was dead. For a while, I had trouble doing daily activities because of my constant glitching until I met Lindbergh, who had been my best friend ever since.

I obviously didn’t know what to expect after I passed out like I did. Thinking about it now, I might’ve caused worry in the workers in the studio. Someone most likely called the hospital and had an ambulance come to take me to the operating room. Dr. Honeydew was probably alerted about the situation and came over to help the doctors prepare an operation to fix me up.

For the longest time, I could only see darkness and hear only silence. Gradually, though, I started to hear the faint sounds of beeping machinery and people talking amongst themselves. This continued to happen until one day when I decided to wearily open my eyes and take a look around.

The first thing my awakened eyeballs focused on was a blurry image of a white ceiling in the room. Sure enough, I had been taken to the hospital and was lying on my back in a bed. After my vision focused more, I could see even more of the room and the various medical equipment near my bedside. I was hooked to an IV, a heart monitor and an oxygen supplier. Foolishly, I tried to sit up, but I discovered that my whole body ached. Lying back down, I fumbled around for a remote of some sort that would adjust my bed so that I could sit up. After finding one, the top part of the bed slowly made its way forward until it stopped at a suitable position.

I rested my head against the pillow as I heard a gentle knock on the door, followed by a nurse poking her head in. "Good afternoon," she greeted with a smile as she headed over to my bed. "Thank goodness that you’re finally awake. How are you feeling?"

"Body aches all over," I managed to weakly moan out.

"That’s expected after what you’ve been through," the nurse explained, "although it may also have to do with the fact that you’ve been asleep for three days and haven’t moved your limbs around much. You’ll need to learn how to move around again for a few days before you can go home."

I slowly nodded, showing her that I was listening and understanding the situation.

"I know that it may be too early for this, but you have visitors waiting for you," the woman told me. "Shall I send them in?"

Visitors were something that I never had the first time I was in the hospital. (Lindbergh didn’t count, as he was there originally to fix the sink.) This was quite a refreshing change. "Sure," I croaked out, "send them in."

A few silent moments after the nurse headed out the door, three familiar faces filed into the room. One of them was a frog with a eleven-point collar who I had seen three days ago, another was a shaggy brown kiwi dressed in a jumpsuit who I had last seen four days ago, and the last was a melon-headed scientist who I hadn’t seen in the longest time.

A different nurse appeared behind them. She was clad in a white nurse uniform and wearing her hair up in a ponytail. After a quick trip to the sink to wash her hands, she approached my bedside with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Digit," the nurse greeted. "My name is Kelly and I'll be your nurse until 7 PM. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions in front of your visitors, or would you like them to leave the room first?"

I glanced over at the three that were already assembled at the other side of the bed. Kermit and Lindbergh were looking at me, concern apparent on the frog’s face. Bunsen made his way over to the nurse’s side with a clipboard.

"I don't mind at all," I replied with a semi-hoarse voice. "Besides, they've just arrived in here."

"Sure," Kelly said with a nod. Then, she shone a penlight in both of my eyes. "How are feeling right now?" she asked. "Do you have any pain, or sensations of heat?"

"Well, my body was aching a little earlier…" I told her. "As far as the subject of overheating goes, I'm not too sure. I seem to be pretty cool at the moment."

The nurse nodded again. "Mmhmm. Have you been seeing spots, bright lights --" a giggle escaped from her throat before she continued "-- other than the one I just shined in your eyes, naturally -- or blurry images?"

I only slightly remembered the Inner Tube project from a few days ago. "Monitors, strobe lights…" I recollected. "Yes, yes I have, actually. But that was a few days ago."

Kelly nodded before resting her hands on the bedrail. "Okay, so you're around flashy screens, then? What about since you've been here? Have you seen any strange lights since you woke up?"

"Well, besides the ceiling lights, my vision was slightly blurry when I first woke up," I recalled. "I managed to focus it eventually, though."

"Ah." The nurse then wrote something on a note card and showed it to me. "Could you please act out what it says on this card?" she asked.

After I read the card silently to myself (it read "Wiggle your left foot"), I did the action for a few moments. "... is my foot moving all right?" I asked Kelly. "I don't know if I can feel it. Just slightly, but still…"

She nodded, taking my hands in hers. "I'd like you to push against my hands as hard as you can," she requested.

"Okay…" Then I pushed against her hands as hard as I could. Oddly enough, I could only feels slight pressure.

"I'll be honest," Kelly spoke up as I was pushing, "this is the first time I've seen someone with such enhancements… when you pick up objects, can you normally tell temperature and texture?"

"I usually can," I told her. "I don't know what's wrong with that function of me at the moment, though... am I pushing hard enough?"

"Sure." The woman then went to my feet, a never-ending smile on her face. "Sorry if this tickles," she stated politely, "but I'm going to hold your feet and I need you to push against my hands."

"Got it." I counted to three silently and started to push with all my might against the nurse’s hands.

Kelly’s smile never left her face as she spoke. "Good, good! So, it just seems to be a slight bilateral weakness in your hands." She then turned to Bunsen, who was busily writing things down on the clipboard. "Dr. Honeydew, Dr. Goelz will need to know how much Digit's circuitry affects his motor control, if you don't mind."
"Not to worry, Miss Kelly," the scientist reassured her. "I was about to go visit Dr. Goelz while on my way to lunch, anyhow."

The woman smiled and turned back to me. "I don't want to take up a lot of your time, Digit," she told me. "I'm sure your visitors would like to have a private moment with you. Before I go, let me tell you first that you can't have anything to eat or drink. The doctor's order does allow you to swish some ice chips in your mouth for comfort, but you'll need to make sure you're sitting up so you don't risk choking, all right? And if you have to go to the bathroom, please press the call light for assistance." With the touch her hand to mine, she added, "Please don't try to stand by yourself. Do you have any questions before I go?"

I managed a smile of my own. "No, Kelly, I don‘t have any questions at all." Will I be okay? I asked in my mind.

The nurse gave me one last smile and departed from the room.

"And on that note," Bunsen began a few moments later, finally putting the pen in his pocket after finishing up the writing, "I must go speak with Dr. Goelz about Mr. Digit’s circuitry. Excuse me, gentlemen." With that, he left the room in search for the doctor.

After the scientist left, I looked over at the frog and the bird that were still in the room. They were glancing at each other nervously, each afraid to go first in speaking to me.
With a smirk, I decided to speak to them myself. "I’m so glad to see you guys here. I just hope that this doesn't dock my pay," I added, winking at Kermit.

The famous amphibian gave a smirk of his own before he replied. "That's okay. None of you were going to be paid anyway. I can't afford the taxes." The smirk turned into a smile as he patted me on the hand. "Of course you're what's important now. You have to get better… I don't think I can run the show without you."

"Well, it's true that you can't run a show without a team," I mused aloud. "Every member has their own strengths and-- wait, me?" I gave Kermit a confused stare. Could he really not run the new show without me? "I thought I was just hired as a keyboard player."

Kermit nodded. "I never hire for just the stated position," he stated. "During The Muppet Show, everyone had to have backstage skills as well as acting or singing skills. I don't always have the money to hire specific jobs. I have learned to be efficient when I hire."

I smiled as I fondly remembered watching the show years ago. "Of course. Efficiency is often a key element in any organization.," I noted. "Take a band, for instance. They have to do a lot of things just to get a gig. Advertising, transportation, hauling the equipment, setting up the equipment, working the equipment --"

"Don't forget about making sure that you're in tip-top shape," Lindbergh interrupted me. "That's a hard job within itself." He continued with a shrug. "I know I'm your best friend and all, but you need to tell me -- any of us, actually -- what you plan on doing before you wear yourself out like this."

"I apologize," I said to my friend, glancing away. "No one knows me better than you."

"Do you have experience with these kinds of things?" Kermit asked Lindbergh.

With a nod, my best friend launched into the story of how he and I met. Even though it had been over a decade ago, he still remembered the meeting with the most excellent of memory. I smiled to myself as I remembered when we met on my own time.

The frog nodded as the story was completed and asked Lindbergh thoughtfully, "Want a job?"

The kiwi widened his eyes in surprise and amazement. "Really? You want to hire me?"

"For right now, it'd just be helpful if you'd be Digit's assistant," Kermit explained. "I have a lot of complicated technological stuff in mind, and I can't have Digit wearing himself out all the time. I was thinking of Bunsen, but he's got his own priorities with Muppet Labs."

"Gee, it's an honor to be able to work with you, Mr. the Frog," my best friend told our new boss. "You can count me in!"

"Call me Kermit, Lindbergh," the frog said with a grin. "I never really understood why everyone kept starting my name with an article," he added before he paused. "An article is like the word ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘an’… you know, those kinds of words."

The brown bird’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Uh, yeah."

A chuckle escaped from the frog’s throat. "Sorry, old habits die hard."

"Right." Lindbergh then turned to me. "So, what happened to ya, Digit? Did you have a bad glitch?"

"To tell the truth, guys," I answered, "I hardly remember what happened. All I recall last is asking for the break room, and then the next thing I know, I’m here in the hospital."

Before any of us could speak again, a doctor with a brown beard and glasses walked into the room with a clipboard, shuffling through a few papers. "Good afternoon, Digit," the man greeted before nodding at my two visitors. "Good afternoon, folks." Turning back to me, he spoke. "I’m Dr. Goelz, and I have some good news. We've gone over all the tests and it doesn't appear that any of your biological systems were damaged permanently."

"That’s a relief," I sighed to myself.

"It appears that there was a problem with some of your cybernetic interfaces," Dr. Goelz continued. "In other words, the parts of the machines that help you couldn't communicate effectively with the biological nervous system anymore."

"It’s not that serious, is it doctor?" I asked.

"Actually, what we're going to do is replace a few connectors, a few bad circuits, and apply some biological scaffolding to help reconnect the nerves to the computer chips, and you should be fine in a week or so. Dr. Honeydew has gone to acquire the necessary parts and we have some experimental biological scaffolding here in our research division."

"Wow, science is amazing these days," Lindbergh commented.

"It truly is," the man agreed with a smile before adjusting his glasses. "Now, are there any questions from any of you?"

The three of us replied all at once. "I don’t think so." "Nah." "Well, you’re the expert. We’ll leave the operation up to you."

A chuckle came out of Dr. Goelz’s throat. "All right. I’ll see you again in the operating room, Digit, right before the anesthesia kicks in." With that, he left with the clipboard in his hands.

~~~

"… clamps…"

"… forceps…"

"… I need more light!"

Even though I was under the anesthesia medication, I could still hear snippets of the conversations during the operations. I tried to fall asleep, but my mind wouldn’t let me snooze that easily.

I could hear a sigh. "The corrosion seems a bit worse than the X-Ray showed …"

I forced myself to not sit up on the table. Was that bad?

"… dendrites attached…"

Then I heard the sound of beeping. "… chip function at maximum."

"… what the…?"

"He's starting to wake up. Increase anesthesia, please."

"… decayed neural pathway…"

The last thing I heard before I passed out completely was a sigh and "We’ll have to remove it."

 

[RedPiggy]

Yay!

Not that Digit's been hospitalized, of course. I'm not THAT bitter about him breaking up with me, am I? LOL...

No, seriously, that was very cool. I'm glad I make a quick ... or, should I say, "very brief" cameo, heheheh.

 

[The Count]

Hey Caitlyn... Thanks for keeping this story going. It's rully interesting how you connect everything that's happened with everything else that will happen. Also, very much liked the MC cameo in that last chapter. Dr. Goelz, hee, the latest in the MC fic tradition of having a character's perspective Muppeteer as a doctor. Want more of this, so please post it when you can.

 

[RedPiggy]

It's seriously a tradition to have puppeteers as the doctors? Really?

 

[The Count]

Well, sort of... There's Dr. Prell in Beth's Rowlf's Stories, and a Dr. Whitmire there too. I think a Dr. Henson was in Swamp Call or Sara's Sadie's Stories, unsure which of the two though.

 

[RedPiggy]

Ah, I didn't realize. I don't think I've ever used such cameos.

 

[AnimatedC9000]

Chapter 22

The next thing that I remember happening was waking up in the hospital again, this time in a recovery room. I could hardly make out anything at first because of my drowsiness, and I wanted to fall back asleep and dream. Alas, all attempts were not successful, and I thought that I might as well stare at the ceiling to pass the time.

As I lied there in the hospital bed, I listened around to all the sounds. There was the steady beeping of machinery, the soft talking of nurses and doctors, and… Well, basically, that was all I heard other than my thoughts.

Whenever I did eventually start to stir a little, I felt my body aching all over. The sensation was much worse than the last time. They must’ve operated on a lot of parts, including those decayed neural paths that they had to amputate. What were they, anyway? I mentally asked myself.

A small yawn found its way out of my throat. My internal clock told me that it was late and that I needed to go to sleep, but how could I? I was passed out for three days before the operation, and asleep for who knew how long thanks to the anesthesia.

Still, just thinking of sleep made me tired again. I shifted around a little in the bed, trying to find a more comfortable position before I closed my eyes again. It took a little while, but I finally managed to drift off to a quiet slumber.

~~~

When I awoke the next day, I was back in the hospital room that I was in previously. My body still ached from the surgery, but I found that I could move my hands around a little without them aching as much. I adjusted the bed with the remote and then rubbed my eyes to fully awake myself.

As I began to lowered my hands, something about them seemed to catch my eye. I didn’t understand it at first. They were the same color that they had been since the Seventies and everything about them was functioning just right… Raising my hands back up, I moved my fingers around to see--

Wait… the fingers…

Startled, I silently counted the fingers on my left hand. One, two, three, four… Where was the fifth one? Making sure that I wasn’t just imagining things, I went ahead and counted the fingers on my right hand. "One, two, three, four…" Four… fingers on each hand?

I examined my hands to make sure that I wasn’t seeing strange images and let out a yelp of surprise and shock. Cautiously, I wiggled around the eight fingers that I did see and gasped. Turning my hands so that my palms faced me, I counted all of the fingers again in my head and still came up with a grand total of eight.

What did this mean? Why did I only have eight fingers? Were the other two invisible, or…

I remembered that a man in the surgery room said something about removing decayed neural pathways. Only then did I realize that two of my fingers, one on each hand, had to be amputated in order for me to function properly. It was fine and all thinking about it now, but back then I was greatly concerned. I didn’t know how I could go through life with just eight, erm, digits.

Curiosity consumed me. How would this affect my everyday living? I picked up the remote at my bedside, testing out my grip. It seemed to be just fine. I also practiced with a cup of ice that was on a tray. This isn’t so bad, I thought to myself. I could actually get used to this. I mean, it’s not like it’ll affect my life in any major way or anything.

A gentle knock came upon my door and a nurse poked her head in. "Digit, you have a group of visitors here to see you. Should I send them in all at once, or do you want to visit with them one at a time?"

A smile came across my face. My friends had come to check up on me! What a nice surprise. "Sure, send them in," I told her.

Imagine my surprise to see that instead of my friends, six beautiful human women filed into the room, one right after another.

Naturally, I was greatly confused. Who were these people? Did I meet them at a party? Did I speak to them over the phone? Were they models? Were they off-duty nurses? Were they waitresses? … who were they and what were they doing in my hospital room?

"Hi, Digit," the females all greeted simultaneously.

And how did they know my name?

"… hello," I replied back to them, a quizzical expression on my face. "Um… what brings you ladies here today?"

"We were sent here to be your present," explained a brunette.

"Yes," a blonde agreed, "Leon sent us."

Of course. Out of all the people I knew, Leon had the biggest obsession with girls. Only he would’ve constructed a present like this.

What he failed to realize was that I wasn’t that comfortable around women that I hardly knew. Even when I was still human, I never had that much luck when it came to girls. I never even had a date to the prom. Heck, I didn’t even go to my high school prom, now that I think of it.

It’s like I told Lindbergh after the Hello, Dolly incident, "Nonsense, the day that I decide to go out on a date with a girl is the day that I learn to mambo."

Anyway, the women were flocking around my bed, cooing at me and giggling. I felt a little uncomfortable, as I wasn’t used to this sort of attention. "It’s fine, girls," I told them after ten minutes of this. "You don’t need to do this. I’ll be all right. I’ve decided that I’m willing to learn how to live with eight fingers. Besides, it could be quite fun."

"Oh, we hope so, cutie," a woman with black hair stated with a wink as the females started to leave the room. "Besides, it’s not like you play the piano or something."

As they left after that comment, realization hit. How would I be able to play the keyboards again after the surgery? I’d have to learn all over again. Oh, why couldn’t I have my original ten fingers back?

~~~

About a week after I had been sent home from the hospital, I found myself sitting in a chair in the living room, staring at my keyboards. I didn’t know if I could ever play again after what I had been through. Still, the only way to know was to try, so I wandered off over to them and decided to play.

"It’s not that easy being… grayish-green," I sang as I tried my best to play the notes right. "It’s not that easy… having only eight fingers." I kept on making mistakes and hitting wrong notes. "When I think it could be nicer being a normal skin color or have ten fingers again or something to that extent." Taking a breath, I continued. "It’s not that easy being grayish-green. Having to spend each day the color of diluted tea--"

"Yo Digit, you got a visitor at the door waiting for you," Clifford told me, stepping into the room. "Why don’t you come on and greet them?"

Letting out a sigh, I responded, "Sure, Clifford." I stepped away from the keyboards and made my way to the front door, which was already ajar ever so slightly. I turned the knob and opened the door, expecting it to be Kermit or someone.

What -- actually, who I saw in the doorway changed my life forever.

The visitor was a female with curly red hair and glasses. She was wearing a teal dress, trimmed at the neck with lace. A sincere smile was on her face; and the way the sun hit her made her give off an almost angelic glow.

"Hi, Mr. Digit!" she greeted cheerfully, the smile never leaving her face. "I just wanted to check up on you."

I could hardly believe that such a beautiful angel was actually speaking to me. "Hi…" I greeted her shyly. "Won't you... like to come in for a while?" I motioned to the inside of the house.

The female nodded, stepping inside. "Thank you." She took out a pencil and a clipboard on our way to the living room. "I hope you don't mind."

A smile of my own formed on my lips. "Oh, not at all."

The fair maiden sat down on the couch while I remained standing, wondering if I should sit beside her or not. "Mr. Kermit asked me to get some information," she explained to me. "Of course, if you don't wish to divulge certain personal attributes, feel free to say so. How are your hands functioning so far?"

Glancing down at my hands for a few brief seconds, I answered her. "My hands are functioning fine. Picking up objects and moving things around have been easier since the surgery. I'm still relearning how to play the keyboards, though. Kind of difficult to do with eight fingers, I've discovered…"

"I bet," the woman agreed with a nod. "Do you need any special services?"

"Oh, not at all," I replied. "I have all the help that I need. Kermit has told you about my glitching, hasn't he? Well, I have a friend in the maintenance business who's teaching me about my inner mechanisms so that I can repair myself when he isn't around. But other than that, I'm fine."

The red-haired beauty nodded. "That's a good idea," she noted. "If you don't mind, I'd like a checklist of any procedures you may require for myself. You know…" She started to twirl her pencil around thoughtlessly in her fingers. "How to turn you off if that's possible, how to turn you on…"

I felt my cheeks heat up a little as she finished up the statement. Did she really just say what I thought she said? No, Digit, get your mind out of there, my conscience scolded me. She didn’t mean to say it like that, so stop standing around like an idiot and answer her.

"Well, um, as far as that matter goes," I responded, trying very hard to mask my nervousness, "there's a certain button or switch on my control panel that has that function. Right…" I singled the button out with the pointing of a finger. "…here. The other switches are mainly for vocal issues, if something should come up with that."

Apparently the woman thought the same thing that I did and started to blush. "Mmhmm." She cleared her throat and spoke again, an air of nervousness present. "Uh, okay… well, um… I wasn't trying to say anything too forward… I just needed to know what buttons to push--" A gasp escaped her throat. "I mean… uh…" The redness on her face deepened. "I'm sorry, but do you have a bathroom?" she asked suddenly.

"Sure," I told her, "it's down the hall, first door to your right."

The female then scurried off to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. As I watched her walk away, I sat down on the opposite end of the couch and mentally complimented her on her gracefulness. She’s so beautiful and kind, I thought happily. I don’t even know her name, and yet she seems to make my circuitry feel complete. Heaven must’ve sent an angel to me…

My ears perked up at running water and a feminine voice scolding herself. This worried me greatly. How could such a marvelous woman talk about herself so negatively? I mentally asked with concern. If anything, she should be showered with praises. Oh, if only she knew how I felt about her right now…

She emerged a few moments later, straightening out her clothes and hair. "There, that's better." My angel turned to face me with a smile as I stood up. "I'm so happy to see you're feeling better, Mr. Digit, sir. We at Muppet Central can't wait to have you back on the team." Her cheeks became rosy as she continued to speak. "I'll be more than happy to, um, ahem, get you anything you need." The maiden then gave me a piece of paper. "My number's on there," she told me. "Call me if you need anything."

"… you don’t have to call me ‘Mr. Digit’, you know," I said to her softly with a smile. "Just Digit will do."

The beauty nodded and gave her own smile in return. "It’s been a pleasure talking to you, Digit," she told me as we reached the front door. Her hand turned the knob and she started to walk out the door, but not before telling me "Goodbye" in a very sweet tone of voice.

I closed the door behind her and sighed, a lovesick expression present on my face. There was no doubt about it: I was in love with a wonderful woman. No other person could take her place. We had only known each other for a short while, and yet she had stolen my heart away completely.

Realizing that I had yet to find out her name, I glanced down at the card that she gave me and searched for her name. "Vicki Gale," I read silently to myself. I held the card close to my heart.

Vicki. That was the name of my angel. Just thinking about her made me hear sweet sounds all around me. Oh, what could I say? This feeling was here to stay for sure.

 

[The Count]

Yay! Such a sweet chapter, at least the end part. *Amused by Leon's... Thoughtfulness. Rully hope Digit's able to learn how to play the keyboard again. There's some funny stuff during the visit by Mr. The Frog's new assistant, but it ended rully nicely. Thanks for the update.

 

[LamangoNumber2]

... *Punishes himself for not keeping up!* I was wondering if you'd include Digit's five to four fingers! And I can't wait for him to meet Gonzo for real. XD