The Nightingale Circus (8 page)

So
tempting. Anya’s throat went dry,
and she licked her lips.
Go away, you snake.
But she
couldn’t bring herself to ask him to leave. “What’s the catch?”

“There is a fee, of course, but there is no
catch,” Big Dino said.

“I don’t believe you.” No one gave you life
and asked for nothing in return.

“Let’s say I take pride in doing things that
haven’t been done before.”

“So you’ll use me as a test subject. If it
works, fine, if it doesn’t, also fine, maybe it will next time?”
Anya frowned.

“No, it’s not like that. I’ve never lost a
client,” Big Dino said. “I have this theory, and I’m 100% convinced
it works, but I need to make it happen for people to believe it.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to find volunteers.” He gave her a long,
pensive look. “I believe you’re brave enough.”

“Or foolish enough.”
Or desperate
enough.

Big Dino tapped his thick fingers on top of
the table. “You should come by the factory and see with your own
eyes, maybe that will convince you I don’t have any hidden reasons
to do this. My tech guys could take a look at this—” he pointed at
her chest, “—and confirm that it’s doable.”

“I’ll think about it.” Anya’s cold tone made
no promises.

Big Dino nodded his heavy head. “Have Serioja
bring you over one morning. Normally, I would suggest you to stay
for the show, too, but I don’t want you to get overly exhausted. It
is
a complicated procedure.”

Like she didn’t know that!

* * *

Leaning heavily on Serioja’s arm, Anya
climbed the steps leading to the train car. Her lungs burned from
the unusually hot dry air each time she inhaled.

Serioja placed his palm on the panel on the
wall, and after the metal door slid to the side, he led her into
the car with an easiness that showed he knew his way around the
place. Anya couldn’t help wonder if they had done any work on him
too, but she didn’t see any signs. She supposed the goal was not to
make the fixtures visible, but Serioja didn’t look like he was
fixed. He watched her with placid eyes and gave her an encouraging
smile.

Anya sighed to herself and turned her
attention to their surroundings. The first room they entered was a
combination between a workshop and a warehouse with all the
prosthetics and spare parts lying all over the place. Two bulky men
with rough faces covered in scars leaned over the open shoulder of
an old man sitting on a chair. Bile rose in her throat at the sight
of the torn muscle, bone, and wires.

“Take her to the back,” the shorter man said,
busy wiping away the blood while his colleague connected the parts
together. “We’ll be with you in a minute.”

Anya gave Serioja a wary look, reluctant to
go deeper into that horror house. He squeezed her hand and opened
another door for her. Behind them, the injured man joked with his
torturers, obviously feeling no pain.

The door closed silently, trapping them in
the new room. The white was unnerving, and the fluorescent lights
hurt her eyes. No windows, just one door at the opposite end.
Medical equipment decorated the walls, surrounding a high, padded
armchair set next to a surgery table. The screens were blank,
lifeless like the rest of the room.

She froze two steps into the room in fear of
touching anything. The place was clean, too clean. It smelled of
disinfectant, but it still gave her the creeps. “It’s so filthy
back there,” she whispered as if they could have heard her.

“It’s all right, they know what they’re
doing,” Serioja said. “All the important procedures are done in
here.”

“
Those
are Big Dino’s helpers?” Anya
suppressed a shudder. No way she was letting any of those creeps
touch her. “They don’t look like doctors.”

“They aren’t. You saw the poster outside.
They’re the knife throwers.”

“Knife throwers, hmm? Well, I guess that’s
one way to solve the problem.” Run a knife straight through her
heart, and then there wouldn’t be a need for a new heart and lungs
at all.

The rattling of paper inside her lungs
intensified, and the tightening in her back announced a strong
coughing attack. Her shoulders shook for several moments while her
coughs filled the room, and when it ended, she collapsed exhausted
in the armchair, with itchy eyes and a handkerchief full of
blood.

“Thanks.” She accepted the glass of water
brought by Serioja.

The door opened, letting the knife throwers
in, and Anya jumped out of the armchair so they wouldn’t get any
ideas. No procedure was going to be done here today. The whole room
spun, and water spilled on the floor, but her strong legs kept her
standing. Serioja took the glass from her.

“Sorry for the delay,” the shorter, chattier
man said.

“Anya, these are Rake and Spinner.” Serioja
nodded first at the tall knife thrower and then at the other one.
“This is Anastasia Semenova.”

“Charmed,” Anya said without batting an eye.
She even managed a pale smile but made no gesture to offer her
hand.

“We will be too when we get paid.” Spinner
grinned.

The grin didn’t improve his look, but it made
him more approachable, and some of Anya’s stiffness faded away
despite the money comment. “We didn’t discuss a fee yet…”

“That’s a matter to settle with Big Dino. We
only do ground work here.” Spinner waved a hand. “Now.” He gave her
a quizzical look. “I understood you caught a bug that wreaked havoc
inside your chest cavity.”

“Yes. The doctors figured it out but couldn’t
do anything about the damage.” Maybe
they
could do
something? Her hope peaked.

“I can hear it.” Spinner nodded pensively,
making her self-conscious of how loud her breathing was. “Okay,
let’s take a look.” He clasped his hands with glee in his eyes,
smiling in anticipation.

Anya took a step back. She was
not
going to take her clothes off in front of these strangers.

Rake brought a portable device from a shelf
and stopped in front of her. “Hold still.”

Before she could protest, Spinner turned on
one of the large screens at her left and the image of her lungs and
heart, in color, appeared on it. Rake put away the scanner and
stepped closer to examine the image.

“The good news, Miss Semenova,” Spinner said,
“is your doctors were right. The bad news is … they were
right.”

Anya rolled her eyes at his back,
unamused.

“It’s unsalvageable,” Spinner continued.

“See this?” Rake pointed at the outline of
the right lung where a discolored area surrounded the bottom
lobe.

“Uh-huh.” Spinner nodded and said over his
shoulder, “It looks like the doctors killed the bug but failed to
contain the infection. It’s seeping out through the pleura.” He
shook his head. “This isn’t good. We’ll have to remove everything
before the abdominal cavity is damaged, too. You really don’t want
to get rid of everything in there.” He gestured at her torso. “I
mean it can be done, but…”

Anya wrapped her arms protectively around
herself. Was he talking about eviscerating her? Serioja’s
comforting touch on the back didn’t erase her suspicions.

“What do you recommend?” Serioja asked.

“If it weren’t for the infection, we could
try growing new organs and hope there’s enough time left … although
chances are there isn’t,” Spinner said. “We don’t normally do this
as the law doesn’t allow it without proper credentials, so we
mostly focus on mechanical parts, but Big Dino gave this case
special care. Unfortunately, as he predicted, that isn’t a viable
option.”

“What is then?” Anya asked in a weak voice,
dreading the answer.

“We remove everything,” Rake said and mimed
with both hands pulling something out. “We clean up any affected
tissue and coat the entire cavity with a layer of bio-resistant
tissue that will prevent the system from interacting with the new
parts. We install them, adjust the setting until you feel no
difference, and then we close you up.”

Anya swallowed with difficulty. He couldn’t
be talking about her, could he? But he was. “I-I’m a ballerina …
will this affect my dancing abilities?

The knife throwers exchanged a glance.

“We can try to get the weight close and
similar sizes and locations so it won’t affect your balance.” Rake
folded his arms. “The weight is the tricky part. It won’t be
identical, but we’ll do our best and you’ll get used to it.”

Serioja watched her with hopeful eyes, asking
What do you think?

“I’ll have to think about it.” Anya looked
away. She fought once again against her reluctance to disappoint
him, but she needed time. Her hands shook when she smoothed her
skirt and started for the door.

“We need two days to get everything ready,”
Rake said. “If you haven't decided to do it by then, we'd better
not start at all. We won't be in town long enough after that to set
everything right.”

“Yeah, we’re running on a schedule, and Big
Dino doesn’t like to fall behind,” Spinner said.

Anya hesitated with her hand on the door
handle. “You’ll get an answer before the day ends.”

* * *

“Rise and shine…”

The words came from far away, and Anya’s eyes
fluttered open. She blinked a couple of times, trying to come to
terms with the image in front of her. Not every day one got to see
her chest open and people digging inside with screwdrivers and
tweezers, but the mirror pinned to the ceiling showed her
everything.

“Are you with us, sweetheart?” One of the two
masked, gloved men hovering over her watched her through protective
glasses, and Anya more guessed than saw the grin accompanying the
question.

“Tha-mn-me-o-a-u … ” Her tongue stumbled, and
she couldn’t get the words out.

“Stay calm,” Spinner said. “We need to keep
you sedated from the neck down until we finish the last touches.
We’ve been working at it for over four hours, plenty of time for
the bio-layer to take hold. Do you feel anything?”

“Mno…” Something was wrong with her tongue.
It was incredibly difficult to speak.

“Any pain?”

“…mno.”

She tried to swallow and became aware of the
tube going down her throat. They had to pump oxygen into her new
lungs somehow. No wonder she couldn’t speak.
Oh, God, this is
really happening.
A whimper escaped her lips. She looked
around, as much as her stiff neck allowed, but couldn’t find Big
Dino. He didn’t do manual labor, he only came up with the
designs.

“All done here,” Rake said. “Major veins and
arteries connected. Trachea too. Ready to switch off the
ventilator.”

“Yep, it’s looking good.” Spinner checked the
readings on the screens. “Do it.”

There was a click, a hitch, and for a split
second, Anya thought everything stopped in the world, but then the
hiss of a fan filled the silence left by the disconnected
ventilator.

“Oy, that’s loud.” Spinner winced. “We can’t
have her walking around sounding like a furnace. I’ll have it
padded to muffle the noise.”

“It will risk overheating,” Rake said.

“We’ll add another fan.”

“A fan to a fan?” Rake’s eyebrows crawled up
his forehead. “Really?”

“Eh…” Spinner peered inside her chest. “Let’s
divert the power through here and here.” He pointed at two sets of
wires going separate ways.

Rake tilted his head. “That could work.”

“Don’t panic,” Spinner told Anya, “I’ll cut
your air supply only for a second.” His fingers moved quickly
between metal and plastic parts, touching here and there, adjusting
things.

Anya’s vision burred, but the suffocating
sensation failed to appear. She was vaguely aware of the noise
turning into a soft purr, and then the world brightened again.

“There you go,” Spinner said. “Much better …
now, I’ll take this out.” He pulled on the tube in her mouth.

Anya gagged. The discomfort left inside her
throat gradually disappeared, and she was able to take in a long,
satisfying breath. She wondered how she did that since she
technically had no lungs.

“Wonderful,” Spinner said. “You’re regulating
the breathing on your own. The machines have fused with your body
already, and your system can’t tell the difference.”

“Blood flow is good, too,” Rake said. “We’ll
have to do some stress tests later, when she recovers, but we’re
good for now.”

“Okay, let’s close her up then.” Spinner
turned to Anya. “Oops, she’s turning green. We kept her open for
too long.”

Waves of nausea assaulted her, but nothing
came out of her mouth.

“It’s all right, your stomach is empty,”
Spinner said. “Sorry about that, it’s the bio-layer’s reaction to
the nitrogen in the air. Unfortunately, it needs the oxygen and we
can’t get it from your airways with the risk of perforating the
circuit, so you’ll have to open up and let the air in at least once
a week. The nausea will return each time, but it can be decreased
some with an oxygen pump. Did you get all that?”

“Yes.” Her voice came out stronger than
earlier. Breathing effortlessly was bliss.

“The upside is you’ll never drown. The new
lungs are designed to filter the oxygen from the water and
decompose it from any liquid or substance that might get in. You
have a real factory in there, and I’m quite proud of it.”

“Can you save the speech for later?” Rake
asked. “We have a show to do soon, and I haven’t slept since
yesterday.”

“He gets cranky when he doesn’t get enough
sleep.” Spinner winked. His hand moved out of her vision range,
reaching for something. “Sleep well, sweetheart. We’ll wake you up
again once we fashion you a smooth closing panel. You won’t even
know it’s there.”

“It’s Miss Semenova to you,” Anya said in a
clipped voice before lead filled her veins and her eyes closed.