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We followed hi at her leash as she tried to rush ahead into this world of exciting new sto reassure her that the world wasn’t changing for the worse I understood the sentily difficult for me to put one foot in front of the other The spots around the edges ofI saw
The dark roo alley door to the h that could have been a side effect ofstopped in front of the interior door, holding up a hand as he motioned for us to do the same
"If you’ll wait here, I’ll let Dr Cale know that you’re back," he said
"Okay," I said dreaht?" The black spots were continuing to expand
I didn’t even feel myself hit the floor
This time, when I woke up, I was in a hospital cot in thetheater, with two IV bags--one full of blood, one full of saline solution--attached to my left arm I blinked at the tubes, and then twisted to look around the s fro a treble accent to the dru softly inI assu off the bed I reached up There were sensors on s held dohat felt like surgical tape I frowned
"Ah, good: you’re awake" Dr Cale’s voice came from the other side of the curtain She pushed it aside with one sweep of her ar lady Itcare of yourself This can’t continue"
"What?" I blinked at her blearily, trying toin the bowling alley with Nathan and the dogs--the dogs "Where are Beverly and Minnie?"
"Your dogs are fine I was prepared to be irritated about you bringing non-lab animals here, but they’ve already proven their value by distractinga seizure on my floor" Dr Cale’s frown deepened "There are only a few human-tapeworm chimera in the world, Sal You know that As far as I’m aware, you’re the only one ever to arise without help You’re a collector’s ite the proper care to keep yourself in mint condition"
"I don’t… I don’t understand Where are e of her nose "Your dogs are with Nathan, who is getting the until we relocate to a new lab space Recent events have accelerated our ti found"
"Dr Banks was on the radio," I said "He’s telling people I broke into SymboGen because somebody made h to true that I can’t be as angry at hi off the topic" She lowered her hand, looking at ravely "As I said before, you’re the first chimera to happen naturally All of the others have had a tea by, bound and deter with their hosts Even then, it didn’t always go as well as anted it to"
"Like Tansy?" I asked
Dr Cale nodded "Yes Exactly like Tansy She had everything going for her when I perforinal dae to the host’s brain was minimal--it should have been perfect It wasn’t She caused seizures in her host, and danitive issues ste to tell you?"
I didn’t I knew that norance would show on my face, and so I didn’t even try to hide it: I just shooka little as the sensors attached to my forehead pulled, and said, "Not really"
"When you entered Sally Mitchell’s skull, you exploited the dae that had been done by her accident," said Dr Cale "It was a lucky break--literally If her skull had broken in any other place, you probably wouldn’t have been able to get through But in the process, you compromised some of the blood vessels that feed into the brain They were partially repaired during the initial surgery There should have been an additional surgery to suture and reconnect them properly, since those are your only source of nutrition now that you’re anchored in the brain, instead of in the digestive system Unfortunately, Dr Banks had taken over your care by that point, and he did not choose to order that operation"
I stared at her "But… why not?"
"Sal, I don’t know everything, all right? I can’t say for sure why he would have decided not to operate Maybe you were too fragile at that tiration Maybe he was looking for leverage to hold over you later There’s no way he e I honestly don’t knohy he didn’t correct it"
"But you suspect" The dru to make a little more sense to me now Of course they would see them with my ears, but with my entire body, which rapped into the pulse of the circulatory system in Sally Mitchell’s brain There was no way I could have avoided hearing the dru just a little too loud lately? Like they were pounding when they didn’t need to be? Like they were being played by so