Sprawlvember 3: Medical Miracle

 

The prompt for the third day of Sprawlvember is Medical Miracle. There are no miracles in cyberpunk that don't come with a horrific price. 

The Medical Miracle Nightmare Event.

Still talked about, still causing fear and anger in those who remember it. Early in the day of medical nanotech development one singular event created by somebody who must have been pure evil. So terrifying bad that it almost got nanotech banned in globally.

A children’s hospital called “Ladies of Mercy” had been working with the new nanotech helping heal children who were suffering from incurable diseases or injuries that couldn’t be mended with modern tech. They were meeting with great success, the world was watching as children were able to walk again, nervous system damage being rewired, cancer cells being devoured by the little bots and saving lives. It was truly a short lived time of miracles.

Until somebody figured out how to remotely hack the nanotech remotely. Leading to a week long nightmare as the children, who had already suffered so much, were treated to tortures beyond any imagination. Their bones either devoured or growing out of control, spinal cords shredded from the inside out, wounds opening on their skin as the flesh was peeled back. Their bodies boiled on the inside. The fatality rate was nearly 80% until they finally managed to shut down the tech running through their bodies.

The unknown hacker has never been identified although many have claimed they were as attempts to make others fear them. Most met very abrupt violent ends in short order. But it did teach a lesson in the worst way possible. The security breach led to a major revamp in how the nanotech was managed and controlled. Sealed systems were put in place and laws were made making it illegal to create any nanotechnology that could be altered once it has entered a living body.

This set the development back by decades while also driving up the costs through the roof. The age of miracles for everyone was over. Another treatment only available to those who could afford it.

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