The Nightingale Circus by Ioana Visan

Author:Ioana Visan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: short stories, dark, sci fi, cyberpunk, magician, circus, ballerina, singer, prosthetics, nightingale

* * *

“Rise and shine…”

The words came from far away, and Anya’s eyes fluttered open. She blinked a couple of times, trying to come to terms with the image in front of her. Not every day one got to see her chest open and people digging inside with screwdrivers and tweezers, but the mirror pinned to the ceiling showed her everything.

“Are you with us, sweetheart?” One of the two masked, gloved men hovering over her watched her through protective glasses, and Anya more guessed than saw the grin accompanying the question.

“Tha-mn-me-o-a-u … ” Her tongue stumbled, and she couldn’t get the words out.

“Stay calm,” Spinner said. “We need to keep you sedated from the neck down until we finish the last touches. We’ve been working at it for over four hours, plenty of time for the bio-layer to take hold. Do you feel anything?”

“Mno…” Something was wrong with her tongue. It was incredibly difficult to speak.

“Any pain?”

“…mno.”

She tried to swallow and became aware of the tube going down her throat. They had to pump oxygen into her new lungs somehow. No wonder she couldn’t speak. Oh, God, this is really happening. A whimper escaped her lips. She looked around, as much as her stiff neck allowed, but couldn’t find Big Dino. He didn’t do manual labor, he only came up with the designs.

“All done here,” Rake said. “Major veins and arteries connected. Trachea too. Ready to switch off the ventilator.”

“Yep, it’s looking good.” Spinner checked the readings on the screens. “Do it.”

There was a click, a hitch, and for a split second, Anya thought everything stopped in the world, but then the hiss of a fan filled the silence left by the disconnected ventilator.

“Oy, that’s loud.” Spinner winced. “We can’t have her walking around sounding like a furnace. I’ll have it padded to muffle the noise.”

“It will risk overheating,” Rake said.

“We’ll add another fan.”

“A fan to a fan?” Rake’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead. “Really?”

“Eh…” Spinner peered inside her chest. “Let’s divert the power through here and here.” He pointed at two sets of wires going separate ways.

Rake tilted his head. “That could work.”

“Don’t panic,” Spinner told Anya, “I’ll cut your air supply only for a second.” His fingers moved quickly between metal and plastic parts, touching here and there, adjusting things.

Anya’s vision burred, but the suffocating sensation failed to appear. She was vaguely aware of the noise turning into a soft purr, and then the world brightened again.

“There you go,” Spinner said. “Much better … now, I’ll take this out.” He pulled on the tube in her mouth.

Anya gagged. The discomfort left inside her throat gradually disappeared, and she was able to take in a long, satisfying breath. She wondered how she did that since she technically had no lungs.

“Wonderful,” Spinner said. “You’re regulating the breathing on your own. The machines have fused with your body already, and your system can’t tell the difference.”

“Blood flow is good, too,” Rake said. “We’ll have to do some stress tests later, when she recovers, but we’re good for now.

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