Read Mechanical for Free Online Page B

project.
                "We're going to return eyesight now, Lieutenant Riley. Are you ready?"
                And suddenly the world appeared in front of Tom. Tom would have stopped breathing if he could, but, anyway, he still wasn't able to feel his mouth or throat, or breathe. But it was still awesomely beautiful just to see the bright white radiance, the neon lights shedding warmth, light and life around them, the tech types moving around, standing around or sitting in front of computers, all doing inscrutable things on keyboards, moving mouses or furiously flicking fingers on touchpads. The light was really beautiful, colorful, radiant, life giving, warm—
                "Can you see me, Lieutenant Riley?"
                Just in front of him stood the white-lab-coat person but Tom just watched the other people, seeing their faces moving, a few talking between themselves and exchanging technical information, one woman concentrating on the inscrutable things appearing on her LCD screen, another man punching away at his keyboard, a third man comparing things on his monitor with a large printout, scanning through it to find something.
                "We'll now enable motor control. Try moving your right hand, Lieutenant Riley," said the lab-coat man and looked to his left, towards the Serpent's right hand.
                Tom could not move his head, and he could not feel his eyes nor close them or blink, but he could see the room he was in perfectly. He could see every detail, from the clipped fingernails of a tech person sitting in front of a computer, to the dust motes gathering in the corner of the hall, to the body of a bug lying on top one of the ceiling lights, embedded into a crevice between the neon bulb and the starter.
                "Please move your right hand, Lieutenant Riley," said the lab-coat person impatiently, glancing at his watch.
                Tom was still watching the room. He could not feel that he had eyes. He did not blink, nor did he have any trouble looking straight into the neon lights without them leaving aftereffects in his field of view. There was a visual acuity greater than anything he had ever experienced in his life. He could even see small imperfections in the paint on the wall or in the plaster between the floor and the walls.
                But, unbidden, a question arose. Why had he woken up in a different room? He could distinctly remember other instruments lining the wall, devices that showed his vital signs. The walls were lined with other instrumentation now, with readings he couldn't understand.
                "Lieutenant Riley, we are working under a time constraint here!" The lab-coat person bent over and sharply tapped Riley with his knuckles, producing a flat knocking noise on what Tom assumed was the Serpent's faceplate.
                “I hate question-loving idiots,” Lieutenant Ramirez had said. Maybe he had a point, Tom sighed in his mind. He shifted the focus of his sight to the right, and now he could see his hand. The Serpent's hand, Tom reminded himself. The arm was black, lean and slightly curved. The hand itself was wide with very long fingers that terminated in sharp points, making Tom think of the talons of some very powerful bird of prey.
                Move , thought Tom, quite unsure what to do. To his surprise, the thin tapering fingers moved.
                "It's about time, Lieutenant Riley. Now, make a fist. Now, move every finger separately. Now, spread your hand as wide as it can go. Now, make another fist. Rotate your wrist."
                Tom would have smiled had he been able to. The movements of the fingers and hand were incredible. They moved exactly the way he wanted, with delicate and accurate movements. There was a slight humming vibration from the hand, probably from electric motors inside the joints, but nothing was