Hammer's War 1: Forging the Hammer (6 page)

“
Wow that is quite the story. I guess I owe you my life then.”  He said in shock at hearing the tale of how he ended up in a bed nearly tied up in tubes.

“So do you remember anything before wak
ing up here?”  Doctor Hammer asked as he shined a light in his eye.

“Sorry Doc
, I don’t.  I don’t even remember my own name,” he paused long enough to realize that he could only see out of one eye.  “Hey, how come I can only see out of one eye?”  

“Oh that, your right was completely destroyed, so I replaced it with an implant of my own design,” he stopped examining him and grabbed a keyboard.  “Here let me bring it online,” he tapped a few keys.  “There it should be working now.  Is that better?”

He saw nothing at first then there was a flash of static followed by an image.  Within seconds, everything looked fine to him, “Yeah, much better thank you.”

Doctor Hammer continued to examine him, “Hey Doc, why can’t I remember who I am?”

Doctor Hammer stopped again, “Hum, I expected that you might have some memory loss due to the massive brain trauma you suffered.  Frankly, I’m surprised you can even talk.”  He tested his reflexes with a small rubber mallet, “So, Mr. no name, this could be a problem.  I tried running your DNA through all the databases I could find.  I even had Eve run it through a few of the government ones.”

He smiled with
his eyes, “Ones that I’m not supposed to know about, and I got no results.  You have no records son, no identity, and no family to find.  As far as records are concerned, you’re a ghost.  That is a really good trick to pull off these days, when your DNA is filed in at least six different databases upon birth.”  Doctor Hammer pulled a monitor close so his patient could see his DNA profile and the words no match on the screen. 

“
I don’t understand how can that be?”  He asked baffled.

“
Honestly, I have no idea. You’re just full of mysteries, my boy.”  He gave a thoughtful nod, tapping the palms of his hands against his legs as he leaned in, “Well, I guess we need to figure out something to call you other than ‘Hey You’ or ‘Mr. Patient’.”

He gave it some thought
, but after a few minutes, he remained stumped, “Sorry Doc, I can’t think of anything and seeing as you saved my life, maybe you could come up with something to call me for now or until we find out my real name.”

Doctor Hammer
looked thoughtfully at the young man before him, moving a hand to his chin, “Oh I have no idea, and I’m not sure where to even begin to think of one.”

At this
Eve chimed in, “You big fibber, I know the name you would like to use.”

“
Quiet you!”  He said pointing at Eve’s image, which had just popped up next to them.

“
Oh come on!  If you don’t give him a name, I’ll call you sweetie for a month straight,” she threatened. 

Doctor Hammer’s little wrinkled face became bright red,
torn between the heat of anger and embarrassment.  “Fine, I thought if I ever had a son I would have named him Thaddeus.  There, are you happy Eve?”

“Yes boss,” She blew him a kiss and vanished before he could say anything more.

“Black mailed by my own A.I., how about that?”  Doctor Hammer said, floored by his own creation.

“Thaddeus
huh?  I like it.  Well then, Thaddeus it is,” and with that Marcus died and Thaddeus was born.

Doctor Hammer nodded in contentment,
“Okay, with that settled, I’ll see about having all these tubes removed and then we can get you some food.”

“Thank you Doctor
.  I mean it, really I‘m not sure how or if I can ever repay you.”  Thaddeus said, a tear welling in his eye.

“Not to worry son, you already have.
”  He said with a smile on his wrinkly face.

Thad cocked his head towards Dr
. Hammer “How so?”

“Well you were pretty bad off
when I brought you in, and I couldn’t fix a lot of your problems without some, well let’s call them… new procedures.”

Thaddeus laughed, “Experimental
, don’t you mean?  Don’t worry about it, Doc.  If I was as bad off as you say I was, then I’m just glad for everything you did, even if I grow a third eye or something.”  He stopped himself as he thought about it for a second and then asked hesitantly, “I’m not going to grow a third eye or anything am I?”

Now it was Doctor Hammer’s turn to laugh, “No, you
won’t, but I have given you quite a few upgrades.  So when you’re up to it, I’ve prepared a full file on you including everything I’ve done to you so you can go through it.”

“One last question Doc
, who is Archie?  And why does he have a head shaped like a vibrator?”

Hammer smiled, “
So, you heard that conversation.  That is very interesting.  Archie is really A.R.C.H., it stands for Autonomous Robotic Companion and Helper.  He is my robot assistant and he has a very pointy-head.  I like to call him Archie.  It sounds better.  Oh and also, I am giving serious thought to changing his head shape.  I can’t be going around with a robot that looks like he is a walking sex toy for a giant.” 

“Oh
,” was all that Thad could manage.

“Try to get some rest.  I’
ll check in on you in a while,” Doctor Hammer left the room.  The newly named Thaddeus felt weak from all the activity.  He fell back into his stack of pillows, trying to take it all in, and wondering what his life had been like before, and what his future would bring.

A
couple days and a few meals later Thad was feeling better, his strength had fully returned to him.  He was sitting on his bed going through the file Doctor Hammer had prepared for him.  Looking at the pictures of how he looked when they first brought him in, he was shocked that he survived at all.  It looked like he had been run over by a space train and for good measure backed over a few times by a truck.  Doctor Hammer had done a great job with flash cloning the damaged organs.  After studying the before pictures he wondered if the plastic surgery had changed his face much, but then he remembered it didn’t matter because he could not remember what he looked like before.

“Eve tells me that you are up and doing some reading,” Doctor Hammer’s voice came from the door
way.

Thad looked up from the
tablet to see the doctor standing in the open doorway.  “Yes I thought I would see what you did to me.  I’m surprised you did such a good job.  I’ve seen people die from far less trauma.”  He paused for a second, shocked at what he’d just said.  “Although, I can’t seem to remember where… You know Doc, the worst thing about all this is not being able to remember anything about myself or my life before.”

“Well
, maybe that’s a good thing.  You never know.  Maybe your life before this one wasn’t a very good one and perhaps the universe is giving you a second chance…a fresh start, a clean slate if you will.  Few people get a shot at a second chance, you know,” he said as he came over to the side of Thad’s bed.

“
Maybe so, hey I was just getting to the stuff you said was experimental.”

“Ah, yes
.  I guess I can walk you through it.  You see, your right eye was completely destroyed.  I could have flash cloned you another one.  However, I have been working on improved eyes for children born without working eyes.  I thought you would be a great test case.”  He showed Thad the schematics on the monitor, “You see I have replaced the normal lens and cornea with a Nano CCD and lens.  This will give you much sharper vision and the ability to zoom.  Once you are ready, I will bring other modes online.”

“What other modes?”

“Modes like infrared, thermal, as well as x- ray.”

“Wow, I will have super vision”?

“Yes, however, I wanted to make sure your brain was well enough to handle the input as well as being able to control the implant, so I think it is best to leave it off-line for now.  I am really happy with the way you are progressing and I think we can turn it on soon.”

Like a kid in a candy store Thad seemed to be really excited to find out what other enhancements Doctor Hammer had done for him
.  “So what other nifty things did you try out on me?”

He
punched up the next item on the screen, “Well most of your bones were so badly smashed that repairing them would be next to impossible. Again, I could have cloned you new ones, but I have a new formula that I wanted to try out.”  Doctor Hammer held up one of his arms to show it to him, “It seems to have worked better than I ever thought.  You see I re-grew your bones with a new carbon fiber base instead of calcium.  They are about fifty percent lighter than calcium bones and stronger than steel.”

He let go of his arm, “
Now you are going to have to be careful.  It is going to take some time to get used to the new bones.  They are stronger and lighter than you are accustomed to.  Your speed will be enhanced quite a bit and your flesh will fail long before your bones do.  So if you go hitting anything you could tear the flesh off your bones before you break them.”

“So watch out how hard I hit things
, got it,” Thad said as he held up his hand to look it over.

“The same implant that controls your new vision also has a wireless transmitter that will let you communicate with almost any type of computer or communications device in existence
.  Once we turn it on you must be careful about how much you use it.”

“Why?  It’s not going to overheat and melt my brain is it?
”  Thad was a little worried now.

Hammer hushed his voice, “No, nothing like that
.  It is because I think Eve has taken a shine to you.  Once you let her into your head it will be next to impossible to get her out again.”

Thad laughed, “So what you are saying is that she can literally talk my head off?”

“Not quite, but close enough.  The last thing I tested on you is a new cell based Nano protein that self-replicates at extreme speed.  This will allow you to heal at exponential rates.

“What do you mean by exponential?”

“May I?”  He asked as he took one of Thad’s hands.  He set it palm up on a tray.  He picked up a scalpel and he cut him deeply across the hand.

“Ouch
!” Thad flinched a little. 

Then before their
eyes, they watched as the bleeding stopped and the skin closed up in front of them, the whole process taking no more than a few seconds.  “Wow Doc, that is amazing!”

“Ye
s I know!”

“Doc is there anything I need to worry about?
”  Thad asked.

“Well there are
always things to worry about. However, I’m fairly sure you shouldn’t suffer any major side effects.  I’m pretty good at what I do.”  He said with an air of smugness about him. Eve popped up in the middle of the room making puking sounds as she held her throat.

“Oh, that is enough out of you!”
He said, but that did not stop her. Eve was laughing wildly.  “I think I made a mistake when I gave her a personality,” Doctor Hammer shook his head.

“I heard that sweetie
,” she waved her finger at him.

“Ah
, I give up,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders.  

Thad was back to full heath within days.  He found that following a daily routine seemed to bring him some comfort.  Working through a number of martial arts forms before embarking on a ten-mile run made him felt more normal.  Until his memory returned, if it ever did, he found himself clinging on to anything that felt normal.

Thad had just
returned from one of his early morning runs before the heat of the day made it impossible to be outside for more than a few minutes.  He found Doctor Hammer at the breakfast nook drinking coffee and listing to news reports while reading stock reports on a tablet.

“Hey Doc
, I have been thinking, and I have two questions that I can’t seem to work out,” Thad said as he entered the kitchen.

“What can I answer for you?
”  He asked in return, glancing up from the tablet.

“It’s about the Nano protein.  F
irst, how is it that it healed me, but I still have no memories?  And second if it heals me will I age normally?”  Thad asked.

“If you don’t mind I will answer the second part first
as it is far easier to answer,” Hammer paused and took a sip of his coffee.  “Yes you will age at a normal rate.  The Nano bots have a sundown protocol in their programming that will let you age and eventually die.  You will just have a much longer life span and will be healthy until the sundown protocol turns off the bots.”  Again, he stopped and drank more coffee.  “The other issue is harder to explain, but I will try to break it down as simply as I can.  You see the Nano’s can only rebuild the cells in your body, including your brain cells, based on your DNA, but DNA doesn’t map out the connections of those brain cells.  We have to give your brain some time to rewire those connections, if they can be rewired at all.”

“Ah,” Thad replied.

Doctor Hammer changed the subject, “Thaddeus have you given any more thought to my offer?”  He had offered him money, as well as to set him up on any planet he wanted.  Now Doctor Hammer wanted to know what he had decided.

“I have, and I’m just not sure what I would do with m
yself, even with money. I wouldn’t know where to go or what to do.”  Thad said as he plopped down in the seat across from the doctor.

“Well th
en I have another offer for you.  Stay here.  Live with me and be my assistant, lord knows I need one.” He set his tablet down and looked Thad in the eyes trying to read his reaction.

“I thought
Archie was your assistant?”  Thad said as he poured some orange juice into a glass.

“Well
, he is and a fairly decent one, however I have found that he is somewhat limited,” Doctor Hammer
picked up his coffee and took a sip.

“How
so?” Thad asked.

Doc
tor Hammer set his coffee down, “He does everything he is told, which one might think is an admiral quality in an assistant.  Which it is, don’t get me wrong.  However, he never thinks outside the box and never challenges me.”

“So
basically you want someone to argue with you?”  Thad taunted him.

Doc
tor Hammer chuckled, “Something like that.  I want someone who has no problem telling me the truth even when I don’t want to hear it.”

It was
Thad’s turn to chuckle, “It would be my pleasure to stay with you and help you with your work, and I promise to always tell you the truth, even if you don’t want to hear it.  I think I will start now. You know that shirt really doesn’t match those shorts.”  He pointed to the
oversized Hawaiian type shirt the doctor was wearing.

Eve had been
eavesdropping and popped up on the table top, “You know I have been trying to tell him that for months, but he never listens to me.”

Doctor
Hammer rolled his eyes, “That is more than enough out of you nosey Nellie.”  He switched off his tablet then pointed a finger at Thad, “As for you, you better get out of here before I change my mind!” 

Thad ran
from the table laughing madly as he went.  Doctor Hammer shook his head, trying to hide the smile forming on his wrinkled face. 

After a few
weeks, Thaddeus found he had quite the aptitude for the work and really enjoyed it as well.  As the days went by he spent time assisting Doctor Hammer, learning from the brilliant physician and scientist and absorbing himself in the Doctor’s experiments.  He would watch Doctor Hammer experiment with new drugs that he created from his beloved plants.  Sometimes there were unexpected results, like the time he came running to the lab to investigate a loud crashing sound.  When Thad entered the lab, he found Doctor Hammer fighting for his life.  A long thick green vine had wrapped around Hammer’s neck and was thrashing him around the lab.  Thad tried to pry it lose, but ended up tangled up in several more vines that where now thrashing him about and tossing him into tables and cabinets.

Eve finally had to have Archie spray the killer plant with liquid nitrogen to stop it from killing the two and completely wrecking the lab.  Once Thad and Doctor Hammer had been released from the vines of death all Doctor Hammer had to say was, “I think I
miscalculated how much growth hormone I gave that plant.”

However, it was not always as exciting as the killer plant episode
.  There were times when Doctor Hammer would try out some of his drugs on himself.  One night Thad found him naked except for a one sock.  He was dancing through the halls of the main house at three in the morning singing a song from near the middle of the 20
th
century called White Rabbit from a group who called themselves Jefferson Airplane.

Thad did not spend all of his time working with Doctor Hammer, he filled his free time with exercising,
and watching old movies, but his favorite activity was picking through the Doctor’s enormous scrap pile.  He would dig through discarded robotics, failed experiments, twisted metal, cogs, and old computer parts until he found just the thing he was looking for.     

Doctor Hammer
enjoyed watching Thaddeus take pieces of used machines and torn scrap metal, and fashioning them into some kind of wheel-less motorcycle. After two months of hard work, he had built what could only be described as a grav-bike.

The o
nly thing he couldn’t seem to find was a seat or suitable material to make one. Thaddeus could have had the fabrication bots make some fake leather for the purpose, but somehow he felt that to do so would cheapen the bike and his efforts.  What he really wanted to get his hands on was some real leather, which was hard to find out here at the ass end of the universe.

Building the bike was not the only thing that took up his
time.
 
Doctor Hammer introduced him to movie night, twice a week.  They would sit down in front of a large screen and watch old movies from the 20
th
and 21
st
centuries.  Doctor Hammer explained that long before 3D holographic entertainment, in which you would interact with the characters in a 3D environment, people used to sit in front of a screen and just watch a story unfold on a screen, and eat popcorn while doing so.

Life was good with Doctor Hammer
. He was fun to work with and the man was the picture of a mad scientist with all his crazy ideas.  Sometimes he would start talking about things that were way beyond Thad’s comprehension.  Thad would kind of glaze over and Doctor Hammer would keep talking away, not really paying any attention to him.  Thad would nod whenever he looked over at him and so the days went.  They would make a few trips into town every now and then.  If anyone remembered him as the mysterious Mr. Smith, no one said anything.  

It was after dinner one
warm night, right before Thad headed out to work on the final parts of the grav-bike. Doctor Hammer stopped him, “Thad come here.  I want to show you something.”  Thad nodded and followed him to the very center of his compound where he had never been before.

“You’
ve been with me now for several months now.  I find that I have come to trust you.  I
think it’s time you learned about my most closely guarded secret.  I want you to see how I power everything here, even how Eve herself is powered.”  He put his hand on a scanner and said, “Eve would you be a dear and verify.”

Eve’s bright smiling face appeared on
the screen above the scanner as she said, “Sure thing boss.” There was flash of light from the scanner as it scanned Doctor Hammer’s hand, “Identity verified.  Doctor Julius Michael Hammer, access granted.”

“Eve please
add Thaddeus to the access list,” Doctor Hammer said.

“I would love to
.  Thaddeus please step up to the scanner.  Place you hand on the device and state your name for the record.”

Thad complied and put his hand on the scanner
as he said, “Thaddeus Hammer.”

“Thaddeus Hammer is now authorized to enter all secure areas,” Eve said with a smile.

“This way my boy,” Doctor Hammer said as the door opened and they stepped through.  The room was small with another door on the other side of the room.  “This is just the decontamination chamber; it will just take a second.”  There was a blast of light and air, then the other door opened and the two stepped into the next room.

This
room was large and circular in shape, with computer banks on the walls.  In the middle of the room was a cylindrical glass enclose with what looked like a ball of light, which appeared to change color as it spun on its axis.  It was so beautiful, that it was hard not to just stand there and stare.  “It’s marvelous,” Thad said in awe, as he placed his hand on the side of the chamber. 

“I know,” Doc
tor Hammer said, with a wide smile on his face.

“But what is it, some kind of plasma?
”  Asked Thad, still spell bound. 

“No.  T
his, my boy, is way more powerful and infinity more useful.  It is a trans-dimensional energy conduit,” Doctor Hammer said as he folded his arms across his chest watching Thad’s reaction to the raw energy.

“Trans-dimensional
?”  Thad asked, making the question sound more like a statement.

“
Yes. Trans-dimensional, meaning it draws energy straight from subspace.  Do you know how a starship slipstream drive works?”  Doctor Hammer asked, as he touched a screen next to him to bring up some diagrams for Thad to look at.

“Kind of
.  As far as I understand it there are an infinite number of different dimensions that exist in the universe, and they are each separated by a void in which there is no matter, just energy moving faster than the speed of light.  What a slip stream engine does is cut a hole in our dimension big enough for a ship to slip into and gets it carried along much like a boat getting swept down river, except in a much faster moving current.”  Thad explained as best he could.

“
Yes that is the basic idea.  All I have done is figure out a way to keep the hole open and funnel off some of the energy indefinitely.  This gives me free unlimited power, no need for carrying fuel or power with me. I can power just about anything. I already started with Archie and other things around here. In fact, it is how Eve is powered, because she can pull as much as she needs. She has no limits to her computing power.  Now you understand why this must stay a secret.”  Doctor Hammer looked at Thaddeus with the look he had come to know as the no-bullshit-face.

“Yeah there are people that would kill to get their hands on it
.  Then there are those who would kill you just to keep it out of the hands of others.”  Thad answered as he started to run the ideas through his head.

“Good I
’m glad you understand. I knew you were smart enough to understand all this, now I have a surprise for you out in the garage.”  With that, he led Thad out of the power room to the garage. 

Thad’s bike was up
on a work stand, with the fusion bottle that he had installed removed and a square chrome cover in its place.  “You didn’t?”  Thad asked, although he already knew the answer.

“Oh yes
, I did.  Now you never have to worry about refueling and you have more power than your engine can hope to handle.  So, I had to add some protocols to limit the flow of power to your engine. Otherwise, if you pushed it too hard you would have a bomb on your hands instead of a joyride,” he smiled. 

“
Wow! She
was going to be fast, but this is a real game changer!  I wonder how I’m going to control her at high speeds. I’m going to have to completely rethink the computer controls,” Thad said as he picked up a hand held computer tool.

“
Now for the surprise, push the red button right here,” Doctor Hammer pointed to a new button on the top of the computer interface.

Thad pressed the button and the computer interface lit up for a second
and then went black.  Thad looked at Doctor Hammer, who just smiled and pointed to the handlebars where a 3D hologram of a blond woman, with black leather high-heeled boots, leather pants, and a leather bra appeared.  She was very sexy as far as A.I.’s go.  Doctor Hammer said, “Say Hello to Rhonda, your grav-bike’s very own A.I.”