(原文)

Rebecca woke up, feeling confused.

She felt groggy and tired as if her whole body was heavy and she could not remember what happened last night.

Maybe she could remember anything if it wasn't for the weird, numbing headache she had, but the strange feeling refused to go away.

Slowly she realized there is weirdly quiet - impossibly quiet, even, as if there was no sound at all.

Rebecca tried to open her eyes, but nothing happened.

As she reached with her hands to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes, the only thing she could feel atop her pillow were two flexible tubes.

With mix of panic and confusion, Rebecca patted with both hands the place where her head should be, when the realisation finally hit her: It worked. I remember now! It worked!, she thought to herself.

Rebecca was always into body mods.

Tattoos, piercings, split tongue, you name it- she probably got it, so once she heard about the research in the field of advanced neural transplants and full sensory prosthetics, she volunteered.

To the scientists, the ultimate goal was to help humanity by researching ways by which patients could survive and overcome even the most grievous injuries.

For Rebecca, it was a ways to stand out from the crowd.

The surgery involved removing her head and implanting her brain into her ribcage by extended stem cell-grown spinal cord - not really that simple from the science standpoint, but sounded simple enough to Rebecca.

The major downside, besides almost complete sensory deprivation without using artificial means to regain some of her senses, would be her inability to process solid food or even feel its taste or texture, but Rebecca never really cared about food anyway.

For her, it was just means of sustenance, nothing more.

The true treat was the prosthetic part.

The prototype came in the form of heavy metal collar designed to fit around Rebecca's neck.

It had hidden microphones and a camera installed in front, which allowed her to see and hear and on top, just around the rim, were holographic projectors designed to emulate 3D picture of her head, it's movements and mimics and facial expressions programmed to match Rebecca's emotions and speech.

Right now, though, Rebecca was laying in bed immediately after her surgery, without the prosthetic.

The doctors told her she would have to wait about a week before her scars heal and the swelling of her residual neck subsides enough for her to be fitted with the sense collar.

Not being able to see and hear, faced by the prospect of being in such state for at least few more days, Rebecca focused on her touch.

With her hands still on the pillow, she reached lower to finally feel where the tubes lead to.

With excitement, she felt along the two tubes - one for breathing, the other for feeding – until she reached the point where the tubes disappeared into thick layer of bandages covering her neck stump.

As she tried squeezing the top o fit where her head used to be just few hours ago, she recoiled with pain.

“Of course, you dummy”, thought Rebecca, “The stitches must be just few hours old, what were you expecting?”

Rebecca's sudden movement alerted the nurse, who came and held Rebecca's hands gently, guiding them away from her neck stump.

With previously agreed upon gesture, she stroke Rebecca's forearm to alert Rebecca to her intention to communicate.

Rebecca extended her hand with palm facing upwards and the nurse started spelling on Rebecca's palm with her index finger.

“Are you OK, Ms. Becker?”

Rebecca lifted her other hand and raised a thumb in OK sign before spelling her response into the nurse's palm.

“Just got excited. Hurts to touch”

“The stitches are still fresh. Rest. Keep hands off. Will heal faster”, spelled the nurse in simplest terms possible. “Tomorow we'll try a little walk”.

With a “Thank you” spelled into the nurse's palm and a grateful pat on the back of her hand, Rebecca returned to her dark, soundless solitude.

as she tried to get back to sleep, her mind was racing.

She had done it.

She's headless now.

Her neck stump - neck stump, that still feels weird just to think about, she thought, - was longer than she expected, ending just under where her jawline used to be.

She couldn't wait for the scars to finally heal, eager to touch and caress the top of her neck stump as soon as possible.

After full night's sleep - at least Rebecca thought it was a night, but she had no way to tell herself, she was again approached by the nurse.

“Good morning, Ms. Becker.”, spelled the nurse

“Good morning. What time?”, spelled Rebecca back.

“About 8 AM. Feeling better?”

“Can't you tell by my smile?”

Rebecca felt the nurse's hand shake a little as she chuckled at rebecca's terrible joke.

“Guess that's a yes, then. Doctor is here for your check-up.”

Rebecca's hand was then taken by the doctor, his hands noticeably larger than the nurse's, even more so now Rebecca's only sense was touch.

Except for a brief greeting, he didn't attempt to communicate much with Rebecca in any way above necessary professional matters, instead he focused on her vital signs, reflexes and basic brain functions, asking her simple questions, which could indicate brain damage if answered incorrectly, like her name, age, how many marbles he put into Rebecca's hand and so on, after which he asked Rebecca to try and stand up.

With her knees shaking, and arms outstretched for stability, Rebecca stood up from her bed.

The doctor then held her hand and asked her to walk few steps.

Rebecca slowly lifted one foot and very carefully took a shaky step in the direction the doctor led her to.

After four steps, the doctor spelled into her palm she should now try and find her way back to her bed on her own and let go of her hand.

Rebecca focused on her sense of direction, turned around where she felt the tubes in her neck were tugging to and with her arms outstretched, started walking back to where she assumed her bed should be.

After few careful steps, her knees hit the bed frame and she bent over, feeling the mattress, before she turned around and sat down.

The doctor then held her hand again and spelled:

“You're doing well, Ms. Becker. Now we'll change your bandages for clean ones and remove the tubes from your trachea and esophagus.

As the nurse worked on the bandages, the doctor carefully pulled out the tubes.

When the second one was out, Rebecca felt a sort of smacking atop her neck stump, briefly cutting off her breathing before it cleared again.

She held the Doctor's hand and spelled „What was that?”

“What was what, Ms. Becker?”

“It felt as if i smacked my lips.”

“You did. They cover the openings. It's a bit complicated, so I’ll explain in few days once you're able to hear. Good bye for now”

Rebecca was intrigued now.

As she focused on muscles in top of her neck stump, she tested whether she can feel and control the lips.

After several attempts, she took control of the new, unfamiliar muscle group.

As she stretched them and pushed them together, she created mental image of how they might look.

They were certainly running from front of her neck stump almost to where spine ended.

She grabbed the nurse's hand, pointed at top of her neck stump and spelling into the nurse's hand, she asked:

“Do they look like i imagine?”

“What do you mean?”

“The lips. Do they look like… It?”

“Ms. Becker, that…”

Rebecca shook off the Nurse's finger before she could finish,

“Call me Rebecca, please.”

“OK. I’m Anna, then. The lips are made to work, not to look lewd”

“I know. But they do, do they?”

Nurse Anna paused for a moment, awkwardly tapped few times into Rebecca's palm and with a sigh spelled “Yes.”

“Rebecca pumped her arm in a victorious gesture before she spelled „Yes. Two for the price of one.”

Over the next few days, Rebecca's neck stump was healing nicely and as her sense of direction and her surroundings improved, soon she was walking around almost on her own.

She was still fed by nurse Anna by what she was told was “comprehensive protein paste”, but otherwise, she was starting to be independent enough for her state.

Fourth day she requested access to the hospital's gym for few hours a day, where she did pull-ups, sit-ups and rode a stationary bike to keep her body in shape.

Her excercise sessions were usually observed by multiple scientists, taking notes and remarking on how incredibly well is Rebecca adapting to her state.

Or, so they claimed, anyway, but Rebecca knew the sight of her toned, headless body, dressed only in sports bra and shorts, with sweat glistening on her curves as she bends and stretches must be interesting to them in more than just the professional way.

On the eighth day, as she tended to Rebecca's bandages, nurse Anna held Rebecca's hand and spelled:

“Your neck looks healed. I will remove rest of the bandages and you may very carefully touch it now.”

Rebecca was excited.

Finally, after more than a week, she will be free to explore the newest part of her body.

With trembling hands, she reached up, patting the top as if she half expected to find her head there.

After she felt the contours of the stump, she began exploring its features.

Running fingers along her lips, Rebecca confirmed what she knew from Anna.

The lips, slightly parted as her breath run silently between them, really appeared almost like labia.

As she traced their contours, she reached back of her neck stump where her spinal cord ended, she gently felt the contours of her spine under her skin, feeling a jolt of ecstasy rushing through her body.

She kept fondling her neck stump, lost in the moment, her sole remaining sense overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the almost erotic feeling.

She forgot where she is, her whole world was filled by the sensual spot atop her neck stump.

Nurse Anna took Rebecca's other hand and spelled with her finger:

“Satisfied?”

Rebecca suddenly stoped, remembering where she is.

“Sorry,”, spelled Rebecca in reply, “I didn't expect it to be so sensitive.”

“Need a moment on your own?”

Rebecca's neck stump turned red in embarassment „No, thank you. I just…”

“That's OK”, replied nurse Anna.

“I understand. I know you didn't volunteer just because you thought the research is important.”

“I’ll try to control myself next time. I just forgot you're there until you took my hand. It's hard to keep track of my surroundings past the reach of my hands.”

“Don't worry about that, yesterday you will be fitted with your Sense collar. You will see and hear again.”

Sense Collar, thought Rebecca. I got so used to being deaf and blind over the few days I almost forgot I’m supposed to get one of those.

Finally I’ll be able to see myself like that, maybe I’ll even try to take few selfies for my followers.

Next morning, the doctor came in accompanied by prosthetic technician carrying the prototype sense collar.

As Rebecca took the collar in her hands, examining its shape and mass, she noticed it was quite substantially heavy, barely any lighter than a real head.

The outside plating was made out of brushed stainless steel with a small round piece of glass mounted in front, which Rebecca assumed was the lens of camera which will provide her sight from now on.

On the underside of the camera was a piece of soft mesh, probably speeker, while two smaller meshes which she preesumed were microphones were on either sides just above the lens.

Around the upper rim, about six another small glass pieces were spread evenly – this, as Rebecca presumed, must bet he holohead projectors.

Inside of the collar was lined in soft, plushy fabric.

As nurse Anna took Rebecca's hand and spelled into her palm she is now allowed to put it on, Rebecca lifted the collar, slid it down her neck stump.

The technician then clasped the buckles in the rear of the collar to lock it in place.

As Rebecca expected, the collar was heavy, but thanks to the padding it wasn't uncomfortable at least.

The technician then booted up the collar and started the initial calibration proces.

Rebecca's senses came back in a flurry of chaotic inputs.

The calibration process felt as if a tornado of flashing, pixelated lights and colors was raging around her while she was having the worst tinnitus in her life combined with old radio being tuned.

Among the chaos, the image of her surroundings slowly formed, gradually gaining in sharpness and definition while her hearing was also adjusting, the tinnitus subsiding.

Against her bed, a team of about fifteen scientists were observing her with notepads in their hands.

“Ms. Becker, can you hear me?”, asked the doctor.

“I… I can.”, said Rebecca's emulated voice comming from her sense collar.

“Good. Can you see properly now?”

“The picture seems a bit pixelated, but i can get used to it.”

Rebecca's voice was audibly becomming more and more lifelike with every word.

“Is there a mirror anywhere?”

“Of course, here, take a look.”

Nurse Anna handed Rebecca a small hand mirror and Rebecca observed herself in it, barely containing her excitement.

The collar's design had sort of BDSM feel to it – not that Rebecca had anything against it.

The top of her neck stump was peeking just above the upper rim of the collar as Rebecca tried turning her neck stump around to adjust her view, she realized the collar doesn't exactly respond in full articulation as a head would - turning her neck to one side in such way which would make her head face directly over her shoulder managed to turn the sense collar only about 30 degrees – expectable, considering it sat around her neck stump and not atop it.

“Are you ready to test out your holographic projection unit now, Ms. Becker?”, asked the technician.

Rebecca agreed and handed the mirror back to nurse Anna, who standing in front of Rebecca, held the mirror for her.

With a dim flash, the holoprojectors started up, generating pixelated image of Rebecca's head.

To Rebecca's surprise, the projection's face mirrored the facial expressions she thought of making and turned around in sync with her neck stump, her ponytail even swayed as if by momentum of the movement.

“After connecting your collar to a device with proper software”, explained the technician, “you can adjust the projection's appearance within some limitations. For example, you can change your make-up, eye, and hair color freely, but changes to the general appearance of your face would require uploading whole new model. Also, haircuts ale limited to shorter ones, not reaching below the upper rim of the collar, for obvious technical reasons.”

“Do you have any further questions, Ms. Becker?”, asked the doctor.

“Yeah, a couple”, answered Rebecca.

“Could the collar be made any lighter? Also, is it possible to upgrade to two cameras in the future?”

“Your model is a prototype.”, answered the technician, “The future models will be of more streamlined design, including stereoscopic optics and sleeker, lighter design. we expect to reduce the overall mass by at least 70% within six months by downsizing the technology and switching to carbon fiber casing.”

“Okay, and how about those lips? You promised to explain in greater detail once I’m able to hear.”

“The lips on your residual neck are created to allow you to close your trachea and esophagus to hold your breath.”, replied the doctor.

“We realise they might appear a little…suggestive, but trust us, they are there for a reason. Without them, you might drown in shower or even rain.”

“And what happened to my original head?” asked Rebecca the last question currently on her mind.

“Your head is currently kept preserved in suspended animation in case you ever decided to have it attached again”

“May i see it?”, asked Rebecca.

“You may not only see it, you may obviously keep it”, answered the doctor, handing Rebecca large silver suitcase.

“This technology is almost maintenance-free, just keep the battery charged and your head might last for a century.”

“Now, Ms. Becker, we will obviously require you to remain available to this facility for few more days to perform necessary field test which will help us with introduction of the Sense collar technology to serial production, but as of now, you are free to go home as long as you return each of the next twenty days to perform your tests.”

As Rebecca shook the doctor's hand and took the suitcase containing her head, she dressed herself in her regular clothes, thanked nurse Anna for her care and set off home.

Pausing for one last time, Rebecca set the suitcase on a table and opened it, studying the large glass container inside, which contained her head.

It looked like it was just sleeping - which it technically was, despite the fact it lacked a body and brain.

“Oh, the technology”, sighed Rebecca as she leaned over the suitcase and took a selfie with her detached head to update her socials after the two week hiatus.

“Look out, world”, said Rebecca to herself, Ready or not, here i come!”

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