Chapter 3: Part 7, Echoes of Death

The syringe pierced the soft flesh of Eric’s forearm and sank deep in search the elusive highways that ran beneath his skin. Raimi squeezed its plunger and delivered a measured dose of Ketamine into Eric’s circulatory system. A small droplet of blood welled up from the puncture wound as he withdrew the long needle. Taking a deep breath he wiped it away with a small gauze pad. He was damn tired, it had been a marathon session. He exhaled sharply as he sat down next to Eric’s naked body. “Tell me Eric, how do you feel?”

Raimi waited and watched as the muscles in Eric’s neck strained to form words. At first there was nothing but rasping clicks and gargles as Eric struggled to find his voice, then a slow moan started to build as his chest tightened. The cords in Eric’s neck stood out and his back arched as a violent scream wracked his body.

Raimi stood up and backed away as he watched in fascination. He hadn’t expected Eric to have as much motor control this soon after the surgery. Eric’s hands grabbed at the tables edge and fought against the restraints that bound him. His muscled chest expanded as he took a heaving breath and let out another primal scream which ended in a voiceless howl. Raimi readied a second syringe with the anesthetic and was cautiously closing in on Eric’s taut arm when he paused. He patiently stared on as Eric’s body relaxed with a shuddering breath. His labored breathing slowed to a more normal pattern as the first dose of Ketamine worked within Eric’s raging body. The drugs characteristic dissociative effects would also help Eric’s mind cope with the viral assault on his system.

Raimi sat back onto the lab stool and wheeled it over to Eric’s head. He quickly scanned the sutures that held the numerous surgical ports closed and was pleased to see that his skilled handiwork had held through Eric’s fit of temper. “Eric, I am disappointed at this outburst. You were always such an even tempered individual. Even when confronted with the knowledge that I knew about you little rouse you maintained your façade. I guess I misjudged you.”

Eric’s neck tightened and his mouth moved as phantom words passed over bloodless lips. A slight red trickle escaped from between his stapled eyelids and silently fell to the cold operating table below.

“Are you crying Eric? Hmmm... I thought I removed your tear ducts. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this, along with your earlier tantrum was caused by cerebral swelling. I’ll start an IV drip of steroids and anti-inflammatories to help with that. Now, if your done acting out, I would like to know how you feel.”

“C... colddd... Wha... what have you done?” Eric’s drug drenched mind fought to find words describing what he was experiencing. Each time Raimi’s mechanical voice spoke to him, the front of Eric’s head would explode in painful flashes of color. “Too much... It’s too much color!”

“I understand... relax... I see that you’re beginning to use your new vision. Think of this like a bad acid trip which you’ll come to understand in time. Try and comprehend the images that are flooding your brain. I’ve given you a great gift Eric, you have a totally unique sensory system and a dual processing center to support its function. I can only imagine what you are experiencing.” Raimi’s voice had taken on a faraway tone as he pondered fantastic thoughts. “Just like the newborn child who first opens its eyes to take in its surroundings, you have just stepped over a threshold into a realm of new experiences. You are drastically different though, you now have two mature and fully developed neural networks to interpret these stimuli.”

There was a pause as Raimi snapped out of his reverie, his voice returned along with its cold sarcasm. “As for the cold, well I apologize in advance because it’s going to get a lot colder for you.” Raimi started placing cold packs around Eric’s head. These would serve two critical functions. The first was to limit the swelling from the trauma of the surgery, and the second was to counteract the fever induced by the virus. Severe fevers had been known to cause irreparable brain damage if allowed to go unchecked, and Raimi would do everything in his power to prevent that.

A monitor rested behind Eric’s head which displayed his vital signs. A second screen sat next to it displaying a graphical interpretation of the electrical signals received by Eric’s ocular nerve. Raimi could see peaks and valleys representing the patterns of sound which occurred in the operating room. Each time he spoke, a mountain of spikes would appear followed by depressions marking silence. He noted with disappointment that there was a large amount of background noise causing the baseline to jitter erratically. “Eric, I’m seeing a lot of static on my display. I’m assuming that it’s your new sight coming online. Could you tell me what you are experiencing visually?”

There was a moment of silence as Eric withdrew into his mind and focused on what his new organ was telling him. At first it seemed like a jumble of sparkling colors, similar to when he would rub his tired eyes. Then slowly out of these random fireworks he could start to see waves of flickering. They were so fast as to be nauseatingly imperceptible but somehow he could distinguish it. It reminded him of the faint flicker given of by cheap fluorescent lights.

His own voice echoed through the quiet room as he related these observations back to Raimi. “There’s almost a pulsing to the colors, like when you see an old computer screen on the TV. There seems to be an echo of color to what I’m seeing. It’s giving a depth to everything which I can’t explain.” Eric’s elucidation paused for a moment while he thought of a better way to sum up the experience. “I... I can see my words...” His voice trailed off into silence.

A high pitched alarm suddenly went off above Eric as the monitor began flashing red. Eric shrieked in pain as he fought in vain to bring his hands to his face. Unfazed, Raimi walked over to the touch screen and silenced its piercing cry. Eric’s hands immediately relaxed as the sound ceased.

Raimi watched with a malicious curiosity as minute tremors rippled across Eric’s toned physique. A second alarm began to sound as the spasms climaxed into an uncontrollable convulsion. “What’s hap.... pen... ing?” The words escaped from Eric’s tightly clenched jaw.

A long finger extended from Raimi’s hand as he silenced the second alarm, he noted Eric’s elevated heart rate and thought about the question. “I don’t know any other way to say this Eric... You’re dying.”