OR lights glowed sterile white, casting sharp shadows on titanium and flesh.
From the observation deck, Sierra stood still—hands clasped, breath shallow—as the surgical suite hummed with quiet, coordinated precision. Her predictive AI dashboard pulsed with colored variables: muscle tension, voltage drift, microinflammatory response.
“Mesh seated," Dr. Lang said through the comms. “Beginning real-time sync."
Julian lay motionless beneath the robotic arms, the titanium mesh glinting under soft LEDs as it fused with the Phoenix-modified myocardium.
So much code. So much hope.
And all of it... human.
---
Three minutes in, a new alert blinked across Sierra's console.
**> Fibrillation spike. Ventricular misfire. Mesh latency variance: 0.7%**
Lang's voice crackled through. “Mesh is st
