Page 53 of Undone
Amber
We spent all day at the medical facility doing x-rays, inventorying surgical supplies and anesthesia, and reading anything we could get our hands on about surgeries performed on the anterior portion of the frontal lobe. What we found was that every worm had attached itself to the prefrontal cortex. They didn’t appear to be imbedded, so we hoped it was a matter of simply plucking them off. I supposed “simply” was not a good word, though. Nothing about it would be simple.
When Captain Ward was deep into learning how to perform a Craniotomy to open a skull, he dropped the book to the floor and grabbed his head, rocking in his chair.
“Oh, God. I can’t do this. I can’t.”
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Captain—”
“No!” He stood, his eyes wild. “I do root canals, not brain surgeries. I’m going to kill them, Amber! There has to be another way.”
I chewed my lip and paced. In a way, I was relieved, because I’d been freaking out about how we would pull it off. Even if they lived, one tiny wrong slip could leave them without emotions or creative thinking capabilities for the rest of their lives.
“Maybe the Baelese left behind some sort of instructions about the worms,” I said. “I wonder if the tech guys have gone through everything.”
“It’s worth a try.”
We walked together to the tech building, where we found Top and Matt with the technical and communications teams. Top took one look at our defeated faces and pressed his lips together.
“Not gonna happen?” he asked.
“Not if we want them in better shape than they are now,” Captain Ward told him.
I glanced around at the papers everywhere. “I’m guessing you haven’t come across anything about the worms in their papers?”
Top crossed his arms and shook his head. “They didn’t leave behind a paper trail of any sort. We’re sorting through written communications via satellite systems now. All these papers are from before.”
We were all quiet as we thought.
“Can I talk to the humans?” I asked. “Maybe they remember something.”
Top shrugged. “Worth a shot. I’ll come with you.”
Captain Ward and I were led by Top and Matt to the holding room where the thirteen sat. It was beyond creepy how they stared at the wall, barely interested when we walked in.
“This is our medic, Amber Tate, and our dentist, Captain Ward,” Top told the room. “They have some questions. Answer as best as you can.”
“Hi,” I said, stepping forward. “Do any of you recall when you received the, um, apparatus in your brain?”
“Yes,” they all responded, raising the hairs on my arms. Captain Ward and I shared a hopeful glance.
He stepped closer, pointing to the woman on the end, and said, “What is your name?”
“Marilee Green.”
“Mrs. Green, please tell us what you remember about it.”
She stared blankly up at him. “I was strapped to a hospital bed. A DRI female held The Helper to my nose while a man held something metal to the top of my forehead.”
I scrunched my forehead. “The Helper?”
“That is the name of the worm device,” she clarified.
Now all four of us shared looks. Maybe we could search the Baelese communications for that name.
“What did the metal thing look like?” Matt asked her. “The one they held to your forehead?”
“It was black. Rectangular.”
