Through Glass Darkly: Episode Two

by Peter Knyte

  When I nodded my agreement, he went on to explain the nature of the procedure that was planned, both to me and his support team. He also pointed out a drip that had been attached to Ariel’s arm.

  ‘As you can see we’ve also analysed the patients’ blood chemistry, and while there’s a lot we still don’t understand we have been able to create a basic isotonic crystalloid solution that matches the levels we found in her blood, which we hope will be enough to keep her hydrated. You all know this patient has a unique blood condition which means no transfusions are possible, so in the event of significant blood loss we will terminate the surgery and then re-evaluate.

  ‘Having said that,’ continued Payne. ‘The area around the spine where we will be working is not close to any major arterial blood vessels, so blood loss should be minimal.’

  With that Dr Payne deferred to Dr Bach who was once again acting as the lead surgeon.

  ‘Mr Hall, if you’d be good enough to tell us how the patient appears through your various lenses?’ He asked.

  Without further ado I dropped my first sequence of lenses into place and described the results as I observed them.

  ‘I’ll begin with the Infrared, there are no unusual energy signatures coming from the patient, body temperature appears slightly above normal, but only marginally, and is consistent across the entire body. Moving through the EM field I’m still not seeing anything unusual, electrical conductivity of the exposed skin especially around the neck and head still seems reduced in a manner consistent with lower brain activity or unconsciousness.’

  After thanking me, the surgeons then proceeded to turn the patient over and expose the eight bony remnants of the creatures limbs that protruded from the area around Ariel’s upper spine.

  I again lowered my lenses and ran through the same combinations to see if there was anything unusual across both the visible and invisible areas of the spectrum, though again there was nothing out of the ordinary.

  I continued monitoring as the operation began, but as soon as the surgeons began work on the remnants of the Lamphrey limbs I could see they were triggering some kind of electrical response that was sending strong pulsing signals both up the spine and to the limbs.

  ‘Wait,’ I blurted. ‘Your incisions are causing what looks like a strong pain response up the patients spine. I can see it as heightened electrical activity whenever you tools touch her.’

  ‘Is it the incisions or the contact with the metal tools,’ Bach asked patiently.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ I had to reply. ‘The metal that’s just in contact with her skin doesn’t seem to be causing a reaction. Do you have any non-metallic tools you could try.’

  ‘We do have some obsidian bladed scalpels in the research lab,’ Payne commented, I know they use them because of their improved edge for preparing slides.’

  ‘It’s worth a try,’ Bach commented, before asking one of the theatre assistants to step outside and call through to the research lab for several of their scalpels.

  ‘It might also be worthwhile asking for a length of fine wire while you’re at it,’ I commented.

  Bach nodded his approval to the assistant before turning back to me for an explanation.

  ‘It’s a long shot,’ I conceded, before going on. ‘But we know the electrical properties of the creatures from the Expanse are quite highly developed. We’ve discovered with some of them that even after their death their cells can still alter their structure if a small electrical current is passed through them, or even if they’re just adequately earthed.’

  A few moments later and the theatre assistant was returning with both the sterilised scalpels and coil of fine electrical wire.

  Payne tried the scalpels first, which I could immediately see caused almost no pain response from Ariel, which I conveyed to both surgeons surprise.

  The wire I suggested they use differently. Starting by earthing a normal scalpel via the wire to one of the metal legs of the surgical table, to see if that also had a positive effect, which again it did, an identical incision now seemed to cause almost no response in Ariel at all, as opposed to the very strong response of only a few minutes earlier.

  Having the wire attached to the scalpel did however make it slightly more difficult for the surgeons to wield, so they both elected to use the obsidian bladed tools to begin with, and had their theatre assistants quickly improvise a number of earths that they could easily attach to many of the other tools as and when needed.

  In this way the surgery once again proceeded, with the surgeons first exposing the root of one Lamphrey limb, before carefully cutting through the cartilaginous material that connected it to the spine, and then finally severing the nerve tissue.

  One after another the bony roots of what had been the creatures arms or legs were carefully removed before the wounds were finally closed.

  It was a mesmerising thing to watch, the delicacy and precision of the surgeons work was breath-taking to observe. Even when cutting through the tough cartilage, for all the world making what must’ve been a unique and challenging operation seem straight forward.

  While it didn’t seem to take so long to me the operation still took a little over five hours to complete, so it was just gone midday by the time Ariel was once again moved back into the recovery room and I was able to quickly discuss how things had gone with the surgeons.

  ‘Well I can’t deny you had me worried at the start Mr Hall,’ Bach began. ‘When you highlighted the pain response that the steel tools were causing, but actually after that it was pretty much textbook. The material that looked like cartilage on the X-rays turned out to be exactly that.’

  ‘Yes, it was a surprisingly well designed mutation in the end,’ commented Payne. ‘I don’t know how this young woman wound up with this condition, but the mutation happened in such a logical way she could well have survived in this state indefinitely if you hadn’t captured her.’

  They wouldn’t be drawn on how long Ariel might take to recover, but they were hopeful, if she continued to heal as quickly as she had been, it wouldn’t be more than a few days.

  We talked for a little while longer, during which time they both expressed an interest in taking a look through the lenses they’d seen me use, which I was happy to demonstrate by letting them try on my lensing rig for a minute or so with it set to cycle slowly through a limited range of lenses. Neither man lasted for very long before asking to stop the demonstration, which was hardly surprising considering they must already have quite tired eyes after several hours in the operating room, but they both found the experience interesting and thanked me for the demonstration.

  With that it was time to head back to the ship and start my afternoon job or testing all the remaining members of the search teams and other volunteers to identify which of them would be able to cope best with the new lensing glasses that were being constructed.

  The test was a fairly straight-forward process that was probably reminiscent of a trip to the opticians for many of the men and women being tested, but with over a hundred volunteers to get through it would take a day or so to complete.

  In order to get through the numbers I started with a relatively simple test, intended to weed out those candidates who had absolutely no aptitude for the use of lenses. Typically they’d last for less than ten minutes of the initial thirty minute test before developing a headache or starting to feel nauseous. This eliminated just over half of the volunteers, which was consistent with the percentage of the adult population which would normally be expected to have no tolerance.

  The next phase was intended to identify those at the other end of the scale, like Agent Fraser, who could probably cope with wearing the lenses for extended periods of time. This was typically only two percent of the general populace, but I pitched the test at a slightly easier level than was used normally, as it was unlikely that any of these candidates would need to be able to tolerate being exposed to the more extreme sections of the electro-magnetic spectrum. I was hoping this wo
uld give us at least six good candidates, but was pleasantly surprised when we actually managed to identify a full dozen individuals who could probably tolerate wearing the lensing rigs being developed all day if needed.

  While the Captain had been able to spare the time to help out with well over half of the first round testing, I was expecting to have to complete the entire second stage by myself, but to my surprise both Fraser and Hughes popped down to see me and help out, which meant we just about managed to complete the testing of all the candidates in a single day.

  It was still late by the time we’d finished writing up all the details, and if it hadn’t been for the fact I hadn’t eaten yet, I’d have been happy to head straight for my bunk.

  I was expecting Hughes and Fraser to head off in their own directions once we reached the point in the ship where they could take one of the cradles down to the ground, and I half turned to thank them for their help again before I turned my own steps toward Bradbury’s refectory to try and find a bite to eat. But it seemed they’d both got other ideas, and instead of heading off to the cradle they steered me toward one of the officers mess areas, where it appeared Hughes had arranged for a chef to come and prepare a meal for the three of us.

  They were both kind enough to wait until we’d all finished our first course of some delicious roasted tomato and sweet red pepper soup before they gave any hint that they might have an ulterior motive.

  ‘I’m sorry Ashton,’ began Fraser sincerely. ‘I know we’ve been pushing and pulling you in all directions over the past few days, but we need to update you on a few things, starting with the creature.

  ‘We think the wreckage at the railyard should’ve cooled down enough by now to start sifting through it to see if there’s any sign of the thing that attacked our search teams, so we’ve asked your Captain to take another flight over there first thing in the morning.’

  ‘Yes of course,’ I said, not realising why they were being this elicit and talking in such a solemn tone.

  ‘There’s more I’m afraid,’ added Fraser, just as a lovely looking fish course was served to us.

  As we ate the two men took it in turns to explain that earlier on that afternoon a report had been received of some unusual sightings in the sewers beneath the city on the lower east side of Manhattan Island. It might’ve gone un-reported ordinarily but for the fact that someone in Platt’s staff had apparently had the presence of mind to alert the city’s sanitation department that their staff should take extra precautions for the foreseeable future and report anything unusual no matter how trivial or insignificant it might seem.

  Apparently in response the sanitation department had given strict instructions for all sewer workers to work and travel in pairs at all times, and that at least two crews should attend every job so that one crew could support the other if needed.

  Nothing significant had been noticed in the morning, but then in the early afternoon several crews had started to report unusual numbers of dead and eviscerated rats being found, dozens in fact, often left in small piles.

  Another crew found the remains of a number of young alligators, finally putting an end to the popular urban legend about ‘gators in the sewers’.

  And finally, one crew working beneath Delancey Street near the Williamsburg bridge reported seeing the ghost of a young woman in the sewers.

  ‘A ghost?’ I asked incredulously.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Fraser, with a smile on his face. ‘When I interviewed the sewer workers further, they both confirmed they’d seen what looked like a pale young woman who was almost see-through. Though they could only see half of her because one side of her face and body was just a mass of what they thought looked like the bubbling black tar they use on roads.’

  That stopped me in my tracks with a fork of food half-way to my mouth.

  ‘Of course!’ I said as the penny dropped. ‘You must’ve landed a good hit with the Arc Cannon, and the creature is trying to heal the damage by feeding off the sewer creatures, but while it’s hurt it can’t fully turn itself invisible, so it appears only partially transparent . . . like a ghost.

  ‘We should get after it, while it’s still hurt and vulnerable,’ I suggested, feeling that smouldering ember of rage inside me flicker again into flame.

  ‘We thought you’d say that,’ commented Hughes. ‘Which is why I thought we’d best get a decent meal inside you tonight!’

  ‘We’re going to have to do it the hard way,’ explained Fraser. ‘The tracking dogs can’t be used in the sewers for obvious reasons, so we’re planning to enter the sewers along the length of the Bowery, down the middle of the Island, and then drive Eastwards until we reach the river. If this creature is injured and hiding anywhere in that bit of the city we’ll either corner it or drive it into the river.’

  It sounded good. With luck the thing wouldn’t have moved too far, and while it was healing it wouldn’t be able to move very fast or turn invisible. But it was a big city and if the sewer workers had disturbed it while it was feeling vulnerable I didn’t know what it would do.

  CHAPTER 25 - TRACKS

  I slept a deep and dreamless sleep that night back in my own bunk, and awoke early the following morning refreshed and ready for the day.

  Even with the sighting from the sewers, the plan was still to fly out to the railyard at the western end of Long Island, just to make sure the creature wasn’t somehow still using it as a base or fall back point.

  If it was still using that site, it would mean the creature was a lot more mobile than we’d anticipated, and had probably also found a fairly safe route through the underground sewer and rail tunnels between the railyard and the river. A route it could follow without feeling threatened even its injured state.

  On the plus side, having woken up early I had the time to have a good look around the ship to see how the repairs were coming along before we set off.

  With the frame of the ship now almost whole again and the gas cells on the damaged side of the ship once more in place, if not fully filled, the ship was obviously well on the road to be being fully operational again, but with all the late night or early morning coming and going I hadn’t realised just how many areas of the ship Bradbury and his men must’ve been working on simultaneously.

  I’d noticed the glass in the bridge had been replaced and a couple of the malfunctioning engines had been brought back on line, but now as I walked around the ship I also noticed that many of the heavily damaged weapons arms which had either been seriously buckled or completely torn from their moorings had now been re-attached or re-constructed.

  To say that some of these freshly constructed weapon arms were crudely constructed would have been unfair, as when I walked over to inspect one of them it was clearly manufactured in a precise and robust way. It just wasn’t as elegantly done as the originals with their tapering and curved support girders, as opposed to Bradbury’s functional but angular versions.

  Work even seemed to be ongoing on some of the weapon systems as well, though much of this must’ve required advice and guidance form the Captain, as many of the technologies would’ve been completely unknown to Bradbury or his men.

  I knew we carried spares for each of the major weapon systems: Arc cannons, energised matter accelerators, projected flame throwers, subsonic mortars, not to mention the usual array of heavy machine guns, flechette throwers, and explosive or electro-static rockets, all sat serviced and ready in the hold of the ship, ready to be swapped out as and when needed, while the weapon systems they replaced were taken back into the hold to be serviced and repaired.

  We’d needed to do this quite a lot in the previous six months in order to keep all the arms working at their best, and in theory there were enough spares to enable the Captain to radically change the mix of weapons deployed if we’d found some systems just didn’t work too well in the Expanse, but in the end this hadn’t been necessary.

  I could’ve happily walked around the ship talking to Bradbury and his men for hours, b
ut I knew we’d need to be casting-off before too much longer, so headed back to the bridge.

  In what seemed like just a few minutes we were leaving our impromptu lakeside mooring again and heading south-east toward Long Island. Jenkins and Hughes had once again volunteered their services on the bridge while Fraser had returned to the gunnery arm which housed the Arc Cannon emplacement.

  With the site now clear of smoke and dust I could see a lot more of the area that Fraser had bombarded with the Arc cannons, and he had without doubt created a truly surreal landscape of twisted and molten metal with the shots he’d rained down.

  In some areas there were the recognisable remains of the various carriages, tenders and boxcars which made up some of the yards rolling stock, while in other areas there was now only a series of pools of melted glass, steel and other metal alloys.

  Thankfully while some of the larger pools were clearly still very hot, they were at least all solid rather than still molten, which meant we should at least be able move around the place without too much of a hazard.

  Fraser and Hughes had decided to come down to look around with me, while the Captain and Jenkins stayed on the bridge to keep a look out. They also took the precaution of raising the cradle back up to the ship just to make sure the creature couldn’t try to sneak aboard.

  The railway had wisely decided to re-deploy their workers to another site until the Police had given them the all-clear to return, so the area was exactly as we’d left it. The circular barricade of oil drums and pallets which had been made by the search teams was still where we’d left it, as were a few of the odd items that nobody had bothered to take with them, a thermos flask, an empty medical kit, a tobacco tin and lots and lots of spent bullet casings.

  We moved quickly over to the area where the Arc cannons had hit, now a solid pool of melted remains from the railway carriages, boxcars and the rails upon which they’d stood. I’d already scanned the site from the air through my lenses to make sure there was no obvious sign of the creature, and I lowered my lenses back into place again now and set them cycling through a slightly wider section of the UV spectrum as we approached the melted wreckage.