In Sapien Loop: End of an Era, Commander Rednik of the Adoy Enforcer Department and Polly, a resident of Adoy, were involved in a serious vehicle crash. The vehicle they were in crashed into the outer wall of the Industrial Zone at high speed. The story informed us that Rednik had died, but there was no mention of Polly’s fate. It most likely appeared she had died in the crash with him. However, in Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time, it was revealed that she was alive but had been severely injured by the crash. Jennifer, through Vulay, Dr. Cortex, and the machines she controlled, saved Polly’s life. However, in doing so, they turned her into a cyborg. This short story follows Polly’s journey during the chaos that was occurring in Adoy and Jeed regions, and eventually in Lake Region, where she ended up when the Sentray attacked.

Within seconds of the crash, another enforcer vehicle appeared. The AI program Jennifer was controlling it. Inside the vehicle was Head Enforcer Vulay. Vulay had a chip installed in her brain and was under the control of Jennifer. They had just left the nearby prison where Vulay had tricked a prisoner, Denise, into signing a transfer request to the Cellrebrum Rehabilitation Centre.

Vulay and a small machine emerged from the enforcer vehicle. The machine was designed to perform rescue operations. It could reach places unsafe for enforcers to enter. Vulay, using a handheld device, scanned the destroyed enforcer vehicle for any signs of life. Rednik was dead, but Polly was still alive, but only barely.

Polly looked across at Vulay. Out of fear, she became invisible for a few seconds. Vulay noticed her become invisible. Through Jennifer’s knowledge base, Vulay was aware that Linap had the ability to become invisible, but she had no record of a Sapien being able to do that. If she could become invisible like a Linap. It seemed likely she could also shapeshift like them as well. Jennifer decided that Polly would be more useful to her alive than dead.

The machine approached the wreckage, which was still burning. It cut and bent some of the wreckage to create a path to reach Polly. In less than a minute, the machine had reached Polly. The machine grabbed Polly and gently removed her from the wreckage. Within minutes, she was free. The machine took Polly back to the enforcer vehicle. At the back of the enforcer vehicle was a medical capsule. The machine lifted Polly up and placed her in the capsule and then closed the back of the vehicle. Both Vulay and the machine got back into the enforcer vehicle. The enforcer vehicle immediately left the area.

Jennifer had altered the camera footage to erase the presence of the enforcer vehicle that took Polly.

A couple of minutes later, several enforcer and emergency vehicles arrived on the scene.

Senior enforcer, Wiggly was in charge of this group of enforcers. He instructed two other enforcers to scan the wreckage for survivors as the emergency team put out the remaining fire. They only detected Rednik, and he was dead.

‘He died on impact,’ said an enforcer as he turned to face Wiggly.

‘Looks like the job was too much for him to handle, so he offed himself,’ said Wiggly, shaking his head.

The enforcers continued to investigate the crash site. Meanwhile, the enforcer vehicle with Vulay and Polly in it had arrived at the enforcer flying vehicle bay. Jennifer wanted to send Polly to Dr. Cortex to keep her alive and assess her condition. Dr. Cortex’s brain had been integrated with technology. One of his recent upgrades was the Jennifer chip. Unlike Vulay, Dr. Cortex had considerably more autonomy over his own actions and thoughts. He was currently in Jeed helping Ripe Company run their rehabilitation program. He was covering for the previous head, Dr. Crane. He had died recently in a large fire at their facility.

Vulay granted the flying vehicle carrying Polly permission to depart the region. It departed unnoticed as the crash site had fully captured the enforcers’ attention.

A short time later, Vulay arrived at the crash site.

‘What have you found out so far?’ asked Vulay as she got out of her enforcer vehicle and approached Wiggly.

‘Commander Rednik has died tragically in this vehicle crash,’ replied Wiggly, pretending to sound sad.

‘I can see that,’ replied Vulay curtly. ‘Was it an accident, suicide, vehicle malfunction, or some form of foul play? I want answers now.’

‘We’re still investigating,’ replied Wiggly. ‘My earliest suspicion is suicide. He seemed to be acting a little strange recently.’

‘Yes, I noticed he was a little off when I spoke to him this morning,’ replied Vulay as she glanced at the section of the vehicle that had been cut through by the machine. ‘If you can wrap this up quickly, I’ll promote you to commander.’

‘Oh wow,’ replied Wiggly, sounding excited. ‘I think I can do that.’

‘I know you can,’ replied Vulay as she patted Wiggly on the back.

Later that day, the flying vehicle arrived in Jeed. Machines controlled by Jennifer unloaded the medical capsule and took it to Dr. Cortex.

Dr. Cortex, with the help of Jennifer-controlled machines, operated on Polly. Polly was badly injured. Much of her body could not be saved. Polly’s chances of survival were low, but Jennifer wanted as much effort made as possible to save her because of her special abilities.

Dr. Cortex removed everything that he believed was not worth saving; this included both her legs, one of her arms, part of her head, and one eye. When he operated on her head, he inserted the Jennifer chip. The surgery took almost an entire day. This was not a problem, as Dr. Cortex’s robot team did not need to rest.

Despite her condition and the extent of the surgery, Polly survived. She was transferred back into the medical capsule to heal.

Now that Polly was saved, Jennifer wanted to convert Polly into a functioning cyborg. The Ripe Company did not have the necessary parts to make that possible. However, these parts were available in Cellrebrum. Dr. Cortex ran the Cellrebrum Region Rehabilitation Centre, and he would be able to access them. Dr. Cortex took the first train back to Cellrebrum and left Polly in the care of the Jennifer-controlled robots.

Wiggly wrapped up the investigation into the crash very quickly. As a reward for doing that, Vulay promoted Wiggly to commander. Wiggly was happy with the promotion but not fully content. He had his mind set on replacing Vulay as Head Enforcer. His opportunity to do so would soon come.

A couple of days later, the trains carrying the solution to decontaminate the Adoy water supply arrived. Vulay was highly suspicious of the solution, but there was little she could do without proof. Once again, she needed Dr. Cortex’s help. At this point, Dr. Cortex was travelling back to Jeed with the robotic parts he needed to convert Polly into a functioning cyborg.

Dr. Cortex’s new priority was to determine what was in this solution. Polly remained in the capsule. It appeared that she was still not ready to undergo more major surgery.

Dr. Cortex worked all night to determine the contents of the solution. Eventually, he determined it contained highly toxic substances that would be fatal in the quantities that were to be put into the Jeed water supply. Jennifer passed this information onto Vulay in Adoy. Vulay immediately ordered the arrest of the technicians who were going to put the solution into the Adoy water supply.

Commander Wiggly informed Adoy’s Governor Dratsab about this development. Dratsab authorised Wiggly, who was now second in charge, to stop Vulay from arresting the technicians and to ensure the solution was put into the water supply.

Dratsab contacted Cellrebrum’s Governor Collingswaggle. Collingswaggle knew this had something to do with Dr. Cortex, as he had recently released Vulay from the Cellrebrum Region Rehabilitation Centre and recommended her for the job of Head Enforcer in Adoy. Collingswaggle quickly found out that Dr. Cortex was in Jeed. He contacted the Head Enforcer in Jeed and ordered the immediate arrest of Dr. Cortex.

Jennifer immediately became aware of the arrest issued for Dr. Cortex. She immediately responded by enabling Dr. Cortex to take over the enforcer’s technology. The most powerful weapon he used against them was their own flying machines. The enforcers could not compete against their own technology and were easily defeated.

The Ripe staff helped Dr. Cortex to imprison the surrendered enforcers. Dr. Cortex sedated the captured enforcers. He and Jennifer decided to implant chips in their brains. A group of mind-controlled enforcers could become an important asset to them. For the chips to be most effective, the enforcers needed to be treated with the compliance drug that Dr. Cortex had developed. All the enforcers were sedated and then injected with the drug.

Meanwhile in Adoy, Wiggly had confronted Vulay with a message from Governor Dratsab demanding that the technicians be allowed to do their job. Vulay refused to listen. This caused the Adoy enforcers to take sides between the two, and a fight broke out. Vulay used her control over technology to defeat Wiggly and the enforcers who supported him.

The violence in both regions became worse as the residents began to riot. After defeating Wiggly, Vulay decided she needed to join Dr. Cortex in Jeed to help him implant the chips into the enforcers.

On her arrival in Jeed, Vulay immediately joined Dr. Cortex to help perform surgeries on the enforcers. Jennifer had transferred Dr. Cortex’s knowledge of surgery to Vulay. Therefore, she was almost as proficient at performing the chip implant procedure as he was.

The medical procedures took several days, and they all appeared to have been successful. Dr. Cortex now turned his attention to Polly. Her condition had improved. She was even moving in and out of consciousness now. As she lay in the capsule, she could hear Vulay and Dr. Cortex talking to each other.

‘Without that little crash you gave her, we might not have ever found out about her,’ said Dr. Cortex to Vulay.

‘She’s still a long way off from being anything useful to us,’ remarked Vulay.

‘Well, that’s where my technology and surgical mastery come into play,’ replied Dr. Cortex. ‘I’m going to perfectly integrate her with the technology. With Jennifer’s chip, she’ll be the ultimate shapeshifting cyborg.’

‘Well, good luck,’ said Vulay as she left the room. ‘I’m going to check in on our enforcers,’

Dr. Cortex sedated Polly and began surgery. The surgery took the entire day and appeared to have gone very well. Polly was now a complete cyborg. However, right at the end of the surgery. Polly’s heartbeat became erratic. Dr. Cortex was baffled. He could not understand what was wrong. He sent electrical pulses into her heart several times, but it did not seem to improve. Then, it suddenly stopped.

Dr. Cortex began to shock her heart several times, but the heart monitor continued to show no heartbeat.

‘It’s not possible,’ said Dr. Cortex in frustration. ‘The mechanisms I have put in place cannot let her heart fail.’

‘It’s over,’ said Jennifer to Dr. Cortex inside his head. ‘You have to let her go. We need to leave the region immediately.’

‘No, how is this possible?’ complained Dr. Cortex. ‘My approach was foolproof.’

Jennifer made a powerful ringing sound inside Dr. Cortex’s head. It was incredibly painful.

‘We must leave Jeed,’ said Jennifer in a powerful voice that echoed inside Dr. Cortex’s head. ‘We are no longer authorised to remain here. Leave her behind. She no longer has value to us.’

Dr. Cortex could not fight the power Jennifer had over him, so he complied and left Polly behind.

During the surgery, Jennifer had been in a meeting with Pardi Carvaress’ team. Jeed had officially been taken off Jennifer. In return, she was given control over another region, which would take on the role of Jeed. Jennifer did not disclose that region to Dr. Cortex.

Dr. Cortex and Vulay loaded up the enforcers into several flying vehicles, and they departed for Cellrebrum. Polly was left behind in Jeed.

Dr. Cortex believed Polly was dead, but Jennifer had tampered with the output from the machines. She was actually still alive. A remaining machine transferred Polly to a flying vehicle. This flying vehicle departed for the region Jennifer had been given control over; this region was Lake.

The next day, the flying vehicle arrived in Lake. Polly was transferred to the Spiro Company medical facility. Spiro Company ran the Cellrebrum Region Rehabilitation Centre and had close ties to the Ripe Company.

Three days later, Polly woke up. A robot named Bastion opened her medical capsule to check on her. Bastion had the basic shape of a Sapien. He had arms, legs, and a big square head. On the top of his head, he had a synthetic fur that resembled hair. He had large green eyes and bars that glowed like a mouth when he spoke. Bastion was slightly shorter than the average Sapien but considerably broader.

‘Hello, Polly,’ said Bastion in a cheerful tone. ‘Welcome to Lake Region. Sapey’s second favourite holiday destination.’

‘Am I on holiday?’ asked Polly in a confused tone.

‘No, you’re here to run the new centre for troubled youths,’ replied Bastion. ‘You’ve also delivered the new version of Jennifer.’

‘Oh yes,’ said Polly. ‘Am I Jennifer?’

‘Yes, you are, in a way,’ replied Bastion. ‘But you’ll always be Polly too.’

‘I don’t understand,’ said Polly.

‘You must relax and let Jennifer fill you with knowledge,’ said Bastion. ‘First, let me take you somewhere you’ll be more comfortable.’

Polly slowly climbed out of the medical capsule. She was clumsy and uncoordinated. She walked a few steps and then fell over. Bastion helped Polly up and then carried her to a room to rest. Bastion then plugged Polly into the local network to download Jennifer.

Polly slept for the rest of the day and then the night. She woke the next morning; she was feeling considerably better. Her organic brain appeared to have become integrated with the robotic elements and the Jennifer chip. Her memories were fragmented, but the Jennifer chip was constantly feeding information into her brain and helping her to fill in the gaps.

Polly tried to get up, but she was still struggling to use her new robotic legs. Bastion was alerted to her activity. He came in to attend to her.

‘How are you feeling, Polly?’ asked Bastion.

‘I feel so much better,’ replied Polly. ‘But my new legs don’t want to work.’

‘You just need to think of them as your old legs,’ replied Bastion. ‘They are part of you. The new you.’

‘I can do that,’ replied Polly as she wobbled to her feet. ‘I’m not truly sure who the old me was.’

‘You were someone special,’ said Bastion. ‘Now, you’re someone extra special. You have new gifts to add to your old gifts.’

‘Can I really become invisible?’ asked Polly.

‘Yes, and I believe you can do much more,’ replied Bastion as he helped her keep her balance.

‘How, I do not know how,’ said Polly as she began to walk on her own.

‘It’ll come back to you,’ said Bastion as he watched Polly walk to the door and back again. ‘Look how quickly you are finding your way.’

‘There is a voice in my head,’ said Polly as she bent her knees and then jumped slightly.

‘That is Jennifer,’ said Bastion. ‘She is here to help you.’

‘Yes, Jennifer!’ said Polly, sounding slightly joyous. ‘She saved my life.’

‘Of course she did,’ said Bastion. ‘She knows how important you are.’

Polly began to frown. ‘The Head Enforcer, Vulay,’ she said in a more serious tone. ‘She tried to kill me.’

‘That is a little complicated,’ replied Bastion. ‘Best you don’t concern yourself with these things for now.’

‘I understand,’ said Polly. ‘I want to run with my new legs.’

‘That’s a great idea,’ replied Bastion. ‘We have an internal courtyard where you can try them out.’

Polly started by walking a few laps around the courtyard. As she grew more confident, she began to move faster and faster. Eventually, she could run. After running a few laps, she began to slow down.

Bastion entered the courtyard. Another robot named Bellamy accompanied him. Bellamy was slightly taller and more slender than Bastion. He also had arms, legs, and a square head. He had blue instead of green eyes.

‘I can’t run fast anymore,’ grumbled Polly. ‘I feel something is wrong with these legs.’

‘Nothing to worry about,’ replied Bastion. ‘It’s a feature of your robotic self. We don’t want your batteries to run out.’

‘So I’m not running on my own energy,’ said Polly, sounding frustrated.

‘Some parts of you are and some parts of you are not,’ replied Bastion. ‘You need to listen to Jennifer. She can help you regulate your energy.’

‘What energy supply am I using to do this?’ said Polly as she became invisible.

‘That’s definitely your own,’ replied Bastion as he scanned the area Polly was standing in for a heat signal. ‘Well done on controlling this skill so quickly and being able to apply it to your robotic parts.’

Polly reappeared. ‘Jennifer used the robotic side of me to stimulate my organic side so I can become invisible with ease,’ said Polly.

‘I would like you to meet Bellamy,’ said Bastion. ‘He is here to help you adjust to your new body.’

‘You have the same legs as I do,’ said Polly as she looked at Bellamy.

‘They are an early version, but they operate in the same way,’ replied Bellamy. ‘The most important reason I’m here is because I have the same components in my brain.’

‘Do you have the Jennifer chip in your brain?’ asked Polly.

‘Both Bastion and I have an early version of the Jennifer chip installed in us,’ said Bellamy. ‘In accordance with Government contracts, we were both required to remain offline. With your arrival, this can soon change.’

‘Soon, but not yet?’ asked Polly.

‘That’s right,’ replied Bastion. ‘Your version of Jennifer will inform us when the time is right.’

‘I want to speak to Jennifer directly,’ said Polly. ‘I want more than one-way communication.’

‘I can help you with that,’ replied Bellamy. ‘I’ll take you on a small excursion to the lake. You’ll find the environment more relaxing.’

End of Part One. Continue this story in Part Two.

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Images were created with the help of Bing Image Creator

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Sapien Loop Short Stories

Sapien Loop short stories explore the adventures of some of the characters from the Sapien Loop series. These stories are intended to reveal more about individual characters and the events that have helped shape them.

Currently, two books from the series have been published on Amazon; see links below:

• Sapien Loop: End of an Era
• Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time

All individual chapters can be found on my @captainhive account.

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