Through Glass Darkly: Episode Two

by Peter Knyte

  ‘They’re good suggestions Mr Hall,’ replied Platt with sympathy. ‘I should’ve thought of them myself, and yes of course I will ask for both to be arranged. Though if you could stay for the rest of the briefing I’ll have a car standing by to transfer you to the facility on Staton Island the moment we’re finished.’

  The rest of the briefing went much as it had done while we were still on the ship on the way back from the railyard, though Platt and Jenkins wanted to delve into my encounters with the two creatures in a bit more detail.

  The problems that the search teams had encountered with the lensing scopes was something I felt it worth describing in more detail, as it was this to me that had been one of the principle causes of the teams being effectively trapped by the second creature later in the day. As such in addition to describing the difficulty which the men had had in using the scopes in close quarters I also explained how hard it had been for the men to track the fast moving creature, when it was moving around and behind things that were big enough for it to hide behind. And then how the men were having to do this while holding their scopes in their off hands and aiming a gun with their main hand.

  ‘Are you suggesting there’s an alternative?’ Jenkins asked.

  ‘Well,’ I replied, ‘When we first realised we needed some kind of technology to help us see these creatures, we initially did a lot experiments with treated lenses based on the technologies used by ordinary high-street opticians as well as some being developed for the film industry.

  ‘If we could find a local manufacturer who has the ability to cast glass lenses using a slightly modified glass formula with a level of accuracy that will allow a small number of lenses to be interlocked together, then I’m sure I could do the second stage treatments for those lenses aboard ship, and could then house them with the necessary capacitors in a primitive lens rig that the opticians supplier could probably also easily manufacture based on a sample we could provide.’

  ‘I take it from this suggestion,’ commented Platt. ‘That you don’t think the second creature has been destroyed.’

  ‘If we’re lucky, that’s exactly what will have happened,’ I ventured. ‘But with all due respect to the job that Agent Fraser did in manning the weapon in the gunnery arm, it seems to me that while the creature will almost certainly have been wounded, simply because of the area effect of the Arc cannons, there is a reasonable chance it still lives, and at this point is just holed up licking its wounds.’

  ‘And you don’t think it’s worth waiting to see if that’s the case before going to all this time, expense and trouble?’ Platt replied again.

  ‘I think the point that Mr Hall is trying to make,’ broke in the Captain, ‘Is that the equipment you have right now is not good enough, and that making something better will take several days and perhaps even a week. So if you’d like to have these new devices ready for your men to use by the time the creature comes out of hiding, you’ll need to start work sooner rather than later.’

  We discussed the point for another few minutes before moving on the rest of the briefing. It was finally agreed that while I was at the hospital with Ariel the Captain would provide Jenkins with the different lens glass formulas, and the stripped down lensing rig that could be used by the manufacturer as a template.

  The rest of the briefing was covered fairly quickly, and then as good as his word, the police captain had one of his patrol cars take me over to the Staton Island Sanatorium where the creature that might also be Ariel Shilling was about to be operated on.

  CHAPTER 22 - DISCOVERY

  While the sanatorium where the surgery was to take place was an attractive older building externally, the surgical facilities were clearly state of the art with a glazed viewing gallery above the head of the patient to allow students or other interested parties to observe the procedure.

  The surgical team were already in the operating theatre, though they were still engaged in visually examining their patient when I arrived, so with the aid of a theatre assistant who had been waiting for me I was able to quickly get cleaned up in time to join them before the surgery proper began.

  I don’t know what I’d been expecting from the surgery, but whatever I’d had in mind it certainly wasn’t a selection of efficient looking electrical saws that sounded more like construction yard tools than precision surgical equipment.

  It was also very noticeable that the creature’s numerous appendages were also securely fastened to a set of steel bars that ran around the gurney, and that there were two heavily armed police officers with large calibre firearms on either side of the door leading from the theatre, just in case something should go wrong.

  I was introduced to the two surgeons briefly by the theatre assistant, both of whom seemed strangely matter-of-fact about the work they were about to be doing, despite the fact they could obviously have never seen anything even remotely like it before in their professional careers.

  The more senior of the two surgeons who would be leading the operation was Dr Bach, while his assistant for the day was the unfortunately named Dr Payne.

  As soon as the introductions were out of the way, they were both straight down to business.

  ‘From what we can see Mr Hall,’ began the more senior doctor. ‘The plates or pieces of shell that cover the patient interlock in an incredibly intricate manner, with some plates physically locking into one another in one configuration, or sliding over one another in another combination, so it’s going to involve a bit of trial and error to figure out the best way of removing them, and we’re going to have to start with the circular saw in the first instance in order to get beneath the locked plates, after which we’re hoping to be able to peel them apart.’

  ‘We have been informed,’ the assistant surgeon interjected, with more than a note of scepticism in his voice. ‘That the patient may exhibit some unusual properties which it might not be possible for us to see with the naked eye, but that you may be able to see with your specialist lenses?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right.’ I confirmed, neutrally. ‘Once my lenses are activated I’ll be able to see a much wider range of the electro-magnetic spectrum than is normally visible to the human eye, so I should be able to give you some warning if your patient is waking up for example, or if your instruments are beginning to heat up to the point where they might start to be damaged.’

  This seemed to take them both back a bit, and after clarifying a few points and then giving them the briefest of demonstrations of my lenses in operation they went to work on Ariel.

  The obvious place to start was the face, where the carapace plates had been dislodged by my bullet’s impact, and after confirming there were no more loose sections which they could easily remove they began with the rotary saw cutting a line around what would be the hairline from the brow to the temple.

  The surgeons started slowly at first, out of what I imagined was caution, but after twenty minutes of very slow progress, they decided to switch tack, and then tried drilling a sequence of small holes, which also seemed ineffective.

  ‘Perhaps we should try you sidearm again Mr Hall!’ joked Bach.

  ‘I could have some of the bullets sterilised just in case?’ I replied, to their evident amusement.

  ‘Perhaps, we could try lifting the plates,’ suggested Payne

  ‘Yes, I’ll try and insert an elevator beneath the edge of this plate that covers the brow,’ Replied Bach being handed what for all the world looked like slender crowbar with sharpened tip. ‘And then we’ll see if that allows us to get the chisel in.’

  Slowly they started to make some progress, first levering and then chiselling away at the multi-layered plates in order to expose the edge of another, which they could again lever again. Occasionally when nothing could be levered a small cut would be made into the surface of a plate just enough to get the crow-bar in and prize the entire section up with an unpleasant crunch.

  After two solid hours of gruelling labour the surgeons had managed to clear Ariel’
s other eye and brow, her nose and part of her cheek, but it was clearly going to take a long time

  When they finally managed to remove the plate closest to Ariel’s skin, a dark gel like substance was revealed that seemed to be attached to both Ariel’s skin and the shell that covered it.

  It made the entire process even more difficult because it was both messy and very slippery, and through my lenses I could see it also had a strange energising quality, that pulsed almost invisibly beneath my lenses.

  It’s slipperiness was the biggest problems for the surgeons though, and after a while they asked one of the surgical assistants to just suction as much of it out of the way as possible before they got back to work.

  I was watching absently while she did this, and just happened to notice that as the assistant suctioned the gel from the exposed area she also sucked a little bit out from underneath the edge of the plates, where for the briefest moment the low level energy that seemed to permeate those plates seemed to dim, before recovering a few moments later when the suction moved on.

  I was still puzzling about what I’d seen when Payne addressed me.

  ‘Have you noticed something Mr Hall?’ He asked. ‘You look a little quizzical.’

  I immediately explained what I’d seen, and then wondered whether if we could suction more of this gel out from under the plates whether it might make them easier to cut or lever.

  ‘Well there’s no harm in trying,’ replied Bach, before turning to address the surgical assistant who’d worked the suction.

  A minute later and the nurse had fitted a finer suction tube and was busy extracting as much of the gel from beneath the plates covering Ariel’s cheek before Bach and Payne had another go at working on it.

  To everyone’s surprise this simple suction seemed to have dramatically weakened the shell, and in barely five minutes the surgeons had removed as much of the shell as they’d managed in the previous two hours.

  Half an hour later and the entirely of Ariel’s head had been freed of the shell, both front and back, and the surgeons were starting work on her neck.

  Once they’d removed the plates covering the back of Ariel’s head I noticed that in the process they’d also exposed a number of larger areas of muscle mass and what might’ve been some kind of blood vessel type structures that could have been carrying the gel.

  Bach and Payne had spotted the same, and after I mentioned it they discussed whether to try draining the blood vessels of gel or whether to expose more of them first.

  They opted for the latter as the more cautious approach until they understood more about what was contained within the thorax of the creature, but they did think it would be best to work away at the back of the creature next, so unfastened the creatures limbs and then flipped it over before re-fastening them to the restraints built into the gurney.

  Throughout the process I paid close attention to the ambient energy patterns of the creature for any sign of it regaining consciousness, but it seem to remain unchanged for the moment.

  The work on the carapace plates covering the creatures back continued to go quite quickly, with a regular pattern of draining the gel and then levering apart the plates. It wasn’t quite as quick as it had been on the head and neck as many of the creatures limbs were also attached in this area, and for each of the eight limbs it was necessary to first saw through some of the plates near the limb before the plates across the back could be levered off.

  Again though the circular saw seemed to work much better if a single hole was drilled through the armour first, and then the suction tube used to drain the site of gel, before the drill was used to create more holes.

  As a consequence within the space of another couple of hours the entirety of Ariel’s back down to the bottom of her pelvis was exposed.

  In the process though the surgeons had also exposed the point at which the creatures limbs attached to Ariel’s spine. It was a complicated structure for each limb, and both Bach and Payne voiced the opinion that as the bone structure of the limbs seemed so similar to the spinal cord of a human each one probably also carried a nerve.

  ‘In order to separate these limbs from the patients spinal column,’ explained Bach, ‘We can either truncate them a few inches from the spine, or we can move deeper into the patients tissue around the spine and remove the extra limbs at the point where they connect with the spine.’

  ‘That sounds far more complex and time consuming.’ I ventured.

  ‘It is, and it’s also much more dangerous,’ continued Bach. ‘Any mistake could lead to a loss of sensation and control for the patient from that point on the spine down, or even full paralysis in a worst case scenario.’

  It took me a moment to realise they were wanting me to make the decision, about which way to proceed.

  ‘I think Ariel would prefer to be extracted from the shell of this creature first,’ I explained. ‘Even if that means separate surgeries to remove these additional limb attachments later on.’

  ‘I believe that’s the most sensible approach,’ declared Bach before turning back to his colleagues to proceed.

  The severing of the limbs was as brutal a procedure as I hope ever to witness. And involved the surgeons employing what to me looked like a giant set of bolt cutters to one at a time cut through the incredibly strong bone of the limbs that were attached to Ariel’s spine.

  They left about four inches of bone extending from the spine at each attachment point, and then crowbarred the rest of the limb upward and away from Ariel’s back, before chopping through the limb again at the equivalent of its first major joint.

  As this was happening I watched carefully to see if the electrical activity across Ariel’s head and back changed with each cut, and while there were momentary flares in activity they quickly died down again.

  It was clearly hard work for the surgeons, and each was freely perspiring by the time the limbs were all truncated enough to leave the rest of Ariel’s back exposed.

  ‘That’s all looking good,’ Commented Bach again. ‘I think we’ll try moving the patient onto her back now, and see if we can’t then lift the rest of this carapace shell off her.’

  As much of the gel was once again suctioned out from the edges of the carapace shell, then carefully the creature’s remaining two limbs were unfastened from the gurney, and the entire body was rolled over onto a second gurney.

  Four surgical assistants then took hold of the creatures limbs, and under the surgeons directions, they slowly lifted the shell free, the surgeons practically on their knees at the side of the gurney severing any attached or connective tissue that tried to hold the shell in place, and then suddenly the shell was free, and the four assistants were moving over the end of the table to reveal the naked human form of my friend Ariel Shilling beneath on the gurney.

  She was in an almost foetal position, with her arms held tightly across her chest, and her knees folded right up beneath her arms.

  She was still covered in the dark coloured gel that had filled the creatures shell, but as that was suctioned or wiped away it revealed her pale flesh still intact and undamaged.

  Payne, slowly raised one of her hands and after a moment confirmed he had found a slow and steady pulse, In the process he also revealed the three bullet holes in Ariel’s chest where my bullets had clearly penetrated the carapace armour.

  These were the next area of concern, which required first straightening out Ariel’s long limbs and covering her with surgical sheeting and thermal wraps in order to make sure she didn’t lose too much body heat.

  This gave the surgeons time to relax for a moment before proceeding. Payne began the examination, but after only a moment or two asked for a set of forceps, which he then used to slowly extract my bullets.

  ‘These appear to have cracked her breastbone,’ he explained as he continued to work. ‘And a couple of her ribs, but I can already see quite a significant amount of healing has taken place, which with a bit of luck will continue.’

  At
this he sutured the wounds, before asking one of his assistants to dress them and then take her through to the recovery room for close monitoring.

  I couldn’t quite believe how well it had all gone, and that my fellow crewman who I’d thought dead was now practically whole again beneath the surgical sheets that covered her. I could only hope her mind would also somehow be as intact.

  CHAPTER 23 - RECOVERY

  I stayed at the Sanatorium for short while after the operation just to make sure Ariel was alright while she was moved through into the recovery room, and although there was a significant part of me that hated myself for doing it, I also suggested the hospital should once again fasten her to the bed with strong restraints in case the psyche that remained within her was that of the creature rather than that of my crewmate.

  It was gone midnight by the time I finally took my leave and headed back to the ship in a police patrol car to get some rest. The city was still warm and inviting after another long and sunny summers day, but being New York it was of course still full of life, and from my previous visits to the same city on my own world I knew it would remain so far into the small hours of the morning.

  The police officer driving the car must’ve been close to the end of his shift as well, because aside from the usual politeness he was happy to sit in silence on the way back, content to allow the bright lights and bustling streets of the night-time city wash by with the warm summer air that flowed through the car’s open windows.

  A few minutes later and I was past the security cordons and riding back up to the ship in one of the cradles. And after checking in with the Captain who was once again back in the engineering decks overseeing the night shift at work, I retired to my cabin.

  I was dog tired, but needed a few minutes to let my mind slow down a bit before I’d be able to sleep, so after getting changed out of my uniform I absently settled down to give my gun and my lensing rig a quick service. All the tools were still in my kit where I’d left it, and in no time my Webley was in pieces and once again as clean as a whistle, as were my lenses and the automatic rig they sat in.