Call Me Obie by Ateret Haselkorn

Author:Ateret Haselkorn [Haselkorn, Ateret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liminal Books
Published: 2022-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

I tried to not get dirt or leaves on the vintage suit from Jonas’ store as I waited. I was crouching in the bushes in the parking lot, anticipating the moment when the chemicals dancing around the pollution filters would hit icy particles around the air filter. Then they’d make a brief but thick ice fog right in front of the security cameras, just like they did above my building. It seemed that hospital employees were usually dropped off by a corporate shuttle and I didn’t want to be seen as a lone wolf just walking on in.

My thighs were starting to ache from squatting and my shoulder pads were driving me crazy. I was covered in sweat because I was scared and because the old clothing I was wearing had no ventilation. This was definitely one of those How did I get here? moments.

“So how are we going to handle security?” Mateo had asked earlier while putting drops into his blue eye because the camera had dried it out.

“How are we going to do an illegal partial brain transplant?” I retorted. Now that Mateo’s “reconnaissance” mission was over, we had to turn to the next problem.

“The good news,” Jonas answered, looking up at me from disinfecting the equipment, “is that her brain injury has saved us a lot of work. Her head is already open, and patients with her problem usually have a removable casing over their skull so that the treatment can take place.”

“Oh, phew,” I said and wiped my hand across my forehead.

“Ease up on the sarcasm,” Mateo told me, “and start prepping for the procedure.”

“Me?”

“Yes,” Jonas said. “From what Mateo has shared, you are quite the eye surgeon.”

I remembered the robot-assisted mock eye surgery I’d done at Mrs. Stein’s home before the shooting—before everything. It seemed like it was a thousand years ago.

Mateo continued, “You have the most experience between the three of us, and Jonas downloaded as much of the instructional software for brain dissection as he could find anonymously, so get cracking Obie, MD.”

After that, I’d gotten to practice snipping at fake brain samples using Jonas’ organ handling equipment and an old kidney he’d printed for practice years ago. He drew some lines and bumps onto it with a marker to make it more brain-like and then stood behind me, guiding my arms as I held the tools that steered the surgical pens as we listened to the instructions. Since human brain transplants were illegal, we planned to use the guidelines for transplants in animals which we’d found in some ancient medical textbook. How could a robot know what it was holding anyway?

The trickiest part was holding the piece of kidney-brain in the right way so we could reinsert it into the space we’d just cut it out of. Then, a thin material called a fusogen sheet would not only hold the implanted part in place, but help it reconnect with the receiving brain. I’d say, by the end of our rehearsal, I

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.