LINKAGE (boyxboy)

CHAPTER 72: THE NEW IS TERRIFYING

The direct and bright illumination inside the square room was the monotonous white that laboratories always had, bringing with it the serious and almost melancholic aura to the place. Having the walls painted in neutral tones added more of that feeling to whoever was inside who was not a scientist nor a doctor. People in that profession probably found comfort in the cold visuals that type of environment has. The room was divided into a bedroom and a operational room, and several people marked their presences in the first mentioned, waiting for the process to end. Guards stood by the doors, corridors and entrances, but also in the rooftop and in the underground parking lots. Besides them in the room, Angelina, Lola and Gavin's entire team waited for the surgery to be completed.

It has been now twelve hours since the incident in the State Union. The day was getting darker, almost turning into night, and everyone's patience was getting to a bad place as well. Angelina first got there with Gavin so he could get his eye replaced as soon as possible, but the surgeon didn't have an artificial or natural prosthesis that Gavin's organism would accept, so he had to take samples of his DNA in the speed of light and fabricate an artificial eye to insert in his face.

When it came to Isaac, Angelina still hasn't talk to him yet. She was waiting for everything to settle down before she informed him all the things that happened. She also said to Lola to do the same. When the time was right, they would all talk and the lovers would see each other again. The Bethervan present in the room walked in circles, demonstrating her agony and anxiety. She knew Gavin would be alright, but she wanted to see him anyway. The state he was when they walked in was deplorable. He could barely stand on his feet and his voice was only whispers. She feared something happened inside him and she asked to the doctors to do every exam possible so she could be 100% sure Gavin was fine.

About 25:40 in the evening, the short man, Doctor Plouthasi, specialist in ophthalmology, walked out the operational room with his assistants. "Mrs. Bethervan, we need to talk. Privately, if it is possible." He held a giant PAD in hands, but the content it held was only visible in one side of it.

"You wait on the outside. I will let you know when you can get here again." Angelina said to everyone. All of them directed themselves to the exit.

"Last one closes the door, please." Mr. Plouthasi said, then he took a seat in a chair, and Angelina sat by his side in another one. He looked at the PAD and he put out holographic images in front of them, which were the results of Gavin's exams. "Mrs. Bethervan... I really don't know how to say this..." He said in low voice, afraid someone could hear it on the outside.

"What is it, Plouthasi? Is he going to be alright? Is he going through surgery again?" Her nerves were at their best moment of blooming.

"Mr. Malone is going to be fine. You don't need to worry about his health at all, but after the incident on the Cube I presume his body needs rest, a lot of it. What concerns me is this." He pointed to the images. He displayed pictures of a head, and a little detail shared the huge difference between them. "On the left, we have a VSS of a random patient of the hospital, and on the right, we have Mr. Malone visual sectioning sample, which I did with ten different equipments to make sure we were seeing right, and all of them showed the same thing."

With two fingers, Angelina approximated the images to her eyes, and the blue lightning of it illuminated her face. She covered her mouth in disbelief. "Mr. Malone is brainless, Mrs. Bethervan."

"Oh my Gods..." She took a pause still staring at the images. "What- what he has inside then? It can't be a vacuum, right?"

"To understand better the conditions that Mr. Malone is living by, we would have to run more exams and maybe open his head. What I found the most peculiar is that he has blood and something pumping in his chest. I took samples of the blood but it was hard because his body rejects everything that tries to get inside."