cinder || dnf

chapter nine

"Successful transmittal of the carriers," said Li. "All reactions appear normal. Blood pressure stabilizing. Signs of stage two expected around 0100 tomorrow morning." He clapped his hands and spun in his chair to face Dr. Za and Fateen. "That means we can all go home and take naps, right?"

Dr. Za sniffed. He traced his finger along the screen before him, slowly turning the holographic image of the patient. Twenty little green lights were flickering along his bloodstream, spreading slowly through his veins. But Phil had seen this before, dozens of times. It was the rest of the boy that held his interest now. 

"Have you ever seen anything like him before?" said Fateen, standing beside him. "The sales from his control panel alone will cover the family payoff."

Dr. Za tried to give her an unimpressed glare, but it was less than effective when he had to tilt his head back to look up at her. Snarling, he scooted away and turned back to the holograph. He tapped on the top of the glowing spine, where two metal vertebrae connected, and enlarged the image. What had been a small shadow before now appeared too substantial, too geometric.

Fateen crossed her arms and bent down. "What is that?"

"I'm not sure," said Phil, rotating the image for a better view.

"It looks like a chip," said Li, getting up to join them.

"On his spine?" said Fateen. "What good would that do him?"

"I'm just saying that's what it looked like. Or maybe they messed up on the vertebrae and had to reweld it or something."

Fateen pointed. "This is more than just welding though. You can see the ridges here, like it's plugged into..." She hesitated.

They both faced Dr. Za, whose eyes were following a small green dot that had just floated into the holograph's viewing range. "Like a vicious green firefly," he muttered to himself.

"Doctor," said Fateen, snapping his attention back to her, "why would he have a chip plugged into his nervous system?"

He cleared his throat. "Perhaps," he said, pulling his spectacles from his pocket and sliding them onto his nose, "his nervous system experienced traumatic damage."

"From a hover accident?" said Li.

"Spinal injuries used to be quite common before computer-operated navigation took over." Dr. Za scratched his nail across the screen, pulling the holograph back to show his whole torso. He squinted into the lenses, his fingers flittering over the image.

"What are you looking for?" asked Fateen.

Dr. Za dropped his hand and glanced at the immobile boy on the other side of the window. "Something is missing."

The scar tissue around his wrist. The dull sheen of his synthetic leg. The grease beneath his fingertips.

"What?" said Li. "What's missing?"

Dr. Za stepped closer to the window and pressed a shaking hand against the counter. "A little green firefly." He breathed.

Behind him, Li and Fateen traded glances, before spinning back to the holograph. They each began their count, him silently, her out loud, but Fateen paused on number twelve with a gasp.

"One just disappeared," she said, pointing to an empty spot on the boy's right thigh. "A microbe, it was right here, I was looking right at it, and now it's gone."

As they watched, two more dots flickered and disappeared, like burned-out lightbulbs.

Li grabbed his portscreen off a desk and pounded his fingers against it. "His immune system is going berserk."

Dr. Za leaned into the microscope. "Med, please draw another blood sample. Quickly." The girl jolted to attention at the sound of his voice.

Fateen joined him at the window. "We haven't given him the antidote yet."

"No."

"So how..."

Dr. Za bit down on a thumbnail to tame the rush of giddiness. "I need to go get that first blood sample," he said, backing away, almost afraid to take his eyes from the cyborg boy. "When all the microbes have disappeared, have him taken into lab four."

"Lab four isn't set up for quarantine," said Li.

"Indeed. He won't be contagious." Dr. Za snapped his fingers, halfway out the door. "And perhaps have the med untie him."

"Untie-" Fateen's face contorted with disbelief. "Are you sure that's such a good idea? He was violent with the med-droids, remember?"

Li folded his arms. "She's right. I know I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that fist if he got angry."

"In that case, you have nothing to fear," said Dr. Za. "I'll be meeting with him in private."

~~~

764 words
2/22/22