“Healer Eleri. Let us assess the situation without letting our emotions interfere. We need to examine Cassie.” Senior Healer Aglao pressed a button on the interface, and a floating stretcher appeared from the floor in front of Örim. With some reluctance, he placed Cassie on it and let it whisk her into the infirmary.
“Aglao, I know it’s unprofessional, but Cassie is my patient, and she’s also human. Someone needs to advocate for her!” She snapped on a pair of gloves and made her way over to Cassie’s bedside, where she hooked her up to a set of diagnostic programs.
His whole body was shaking as he followed them to the examination space. “I understand how bad this looks, but you have to believe me, I wasn’t trying to hurt her.”
“Do you understand? You must know what the Aviary is by now. She’s spent her entire life being forced to obey otherpeople. She’s never had a choice. She doesn’t understand what it means to have a choice.” Her tone seared through him as she inserted needles into Cassie’s body, threading a tube down her throat, connecting a bag to force air into her lungs.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt her! I would never hurt anyone!” Örim clenched the node at his wrist so hard he worried it might shatter.
“Cassie isn’t an experiment! Don’t lie. She was interesting to you. You say you weren’t trying to hurt her, but look at what you did to her!” Something on the readout made Eleri pause and gasp. Even though he had no idea what he was looking at, Örim leaned closer, trying to see. “Aglao… tell me I’m wrong. Please.”
Aglao moved closer to examine the interface. “If you are commenting on the extensive damage to her breathing and speaking infrastructures, then your assessment is accurate.”
Örim watched in horror as spouts of water spilled down the length of Eleri’s face. Although he considered himself decently well-versed in human behavior, he had never seen a human do anything like this. Aglao placed a single tentacle on Eleri’s shoulder.
“I think a break might be helpful, Healer Eleri. I will manage Cassie’s treatment until you feel ready to return. This must be incredibly distressing for you.”
Still dripping water, Eleri nodded and ran out of the room.
Aglao picked up where Eleri had left off with assessing Cassie. “The first priority is to stabilize her heart. Her sinus rhythm is abnormal, which indicates electrical damage. Explain to me in simple terms what you were doing when she was shocked with electricity,” Aglao hummed as they worked with practiced efficiency, connecting even more devices to Cassie’s still form.
She was at least still alive, if obviously precariously unwell. “I never wanted to hurt her,” he said, more for his own benefit than Aglao’s.
“I do not suspect anyone thinks it was your intention to harm Cassie. But the details of the event will assist me with my treatment plan.”
“I connected to her voicelock device with a wireless signal. After I tried to probe into vocabulary bank, it triggered a safeguard protocol.”
“Do you know what it did?”
“Not exactly. There was an electrical discharge, but it may have also sent out tracking information. I can’t know unless I reenter the interface, which I don’t think is in anyone’s best interest at the moment.” Örim paused then at his own revelation. “I also doubt it’s intact. I suspect the electrical discharge destroyed it entirely.” Someone was likely alerted when the safeguard protocol initiated. Someone who had a hand in doing this to Cassie. He’d have to investigate to be sure.
The implications paralyzed him as he stood by helpless, watching as Aglao worked with practiced professionalism. He spiraled through the possibilities while Aglao hooked Cassie up to several machines with a series of electrodes and needles. They hung a bag of viscous fluid beside the treatment bed and then poured something purple and shimmering over her throat. Every additional intervention weighed against him as evidence of the damage he had caused. Every labored breath Cassie took reminded him why the Quorum had removed him from his position. He needed to talk to S’samph about the security breach, but first Cassie. Cassie’s immediate wellbeing came first.
“I… is she going to be okay?”
“She is stable. The next few hours will be critical. However, I remain optimistic about her chances of survival. Humans are surprisingly resilient.”
“What do you mean?” Örim asked, barely finding enough breath to power his own voice.
Aglao placed a tentacle on the interface, enlarging an image of the soft tissue of Cassie’s throat. It had been burned beyond recognition. “The damage is extensive. Provided she survives, Cassie will need significant support while she recovers. She will be in pain. She will struggle. I will give her medication to minimize her discomfort, but it isn’t perfect.”
The subtext was clear without needing to hear the words verbatim. He may have still killed her. Her survival wasn’t a guarantee.
“Whatever she needs, I’ll do. This is my fault. I should have kept my curiosity to myself. Anything. I can get it. I’ll find it. Whatever needs to happen.”
“Someone very cruel did this to Cassie. But Cassie wanted to be able to communicate on her own terms. I think, perhaps for misguided reasons, you were trying to help her to that end. You can still help her. The best way to help her is to ask her what she needs if she wakes up.”
“And you’re sure this can’t be fixed.”
“Not unless she goes to a Tier I hospital and can find a healer with the skills to create new vocal organs for a transplant.”
“I have credits. As many as she needs, I can provide.” Örim wasn’t sure how to fix this. He couldn’t fix it. Not until Cassie woke up and he could beg for her forgiveness.
Limbs flowed in rippling patterns around Aglao’s face. “Save your credits. They are of little value compared to the other ways you can try to make amends. Let’s get her through the night first.”
He camped by Cassie’s bedside as she breathed with the support of a ventilator. Each hissing rattle was an acute reminder of his failure, of his hubris. This was his fault. He’ddone this to her. Even if it had been completely opposite from his intention, he couldn’t remove himself from culpability.
Örim sat watching her with his wrist nodes wearing away under his aggressive rubbing. She was still breathing. If he had just slowed down. If he had checked in on her. If he had followed proper protocols for this type of research. If he had remembered she was a person and not a project, none of this would have happened. Eleri’s harsh words clattered in the back of his mind. Hehadfound her interesting. It had been impossible for him to ignore her potential as a ticket back home, as a pathway to his own meritorious glory. But no amount of merit could save himself from his own ego.
