Process Cycle for the Med-Droid ZZX

By: Michael Gardner

1. When assigned a human subject, sedate them, run medical diagnostics.

• Pay particular attention to organ damage, burns, complex breaks.

2. Create a comprehensive treatment plan.

3. Translate to nanobot specifications and oversee surgical interventions.

Your success condition is an expiration rate no greater than 13.2 percent of all subjects under your care.

4. Once stable, nurse the subject.

• Administer pain relief.

• Provide nourishment, physical rehabilitation, psychological support.

• Record and upload information exchanges, including small talk, confessions, pleading.

• Prevent postoperative infection.

5. Monitor your subject’s progress.

6. Once fully recovered, escort them back to interrogation.

© 2024. Michael Gardner

Michael Gardner is a writer of horror who masquerades as an economist by day. His work has appeared in Writers of the Future Volume 36, Bourbon Penn, and Aurealis. You can find out more at www.michael-s-gardner.com.

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