Tool

Chapter four

The sedative was certainly keeping Nicholas calm, and his voice was thick when he spoke. "Which I guess means you've got to mess my wrists up some so you can graft, right?"

"Pretty much," admitted Aurelia. "Although 'mess up' isn't necessarily the medical term I'd have used."

"Seems to sum it up, though," said Jonathon.

"I need you to be prepared. It's not going to be pretty, and you might not want to watch. But you do both need to keep very still, okay?"

Both men nodded. Aurelia brought her equipment and told Jonathon to hold Nicholas's right arm. Then, she began.

Scouring the skin of his arm was more difficult than she had imagined. Hurting someone went against everything that she'd been trained to do, and even though she knew what she was doing was necessary, she found it incredibly difficult to put enough pressure onto the instrument to create damage. On the other hand, she needed to avoid damaging the number itself in case it set off some kind of alarm. Instead she scraped away the skin around the number so the graft would have an edge to bind to. Eventually, she judged the skin was rough enough, and she prepared to lay the graft over the wound.

"Why is it packaged the way it is?" Jonathon asked, as she peeled back the wrappings. He had shown great interest in everything she'd done so far, and he hadn't flinched when she had scraped at Nicholas's wrist.

"Historically, the biggest problems with grafting skin were acceptability and hygiene," she explained, still concentrating on her work. "With synth skin, we no longer have to worry about grafts not being accepted by the body. Hygiene is another issue, though. We have to keep the grafts completely sterile to avoid any contamination getting into the wound itself; otherwise, infections set in. In a surgical vacuum that's not a problem, but here it is."

"Won't the skin be contaminated as soon as it's exposed to air?" he asked.

"Yes, but I've minimized the amount of time that it's exposed. If you look, the back of the graft, the part that will bind to the skin, is still covered. I can't eliminate the threat of contamination completely, but I'll give a couple of anti-infect shots when I'm done, and things should be fine."

She laid the graft over the wound and grabbed the tool used to seal the new skin. When she was satisfied, she turned to Nicholas.

"Ready for the other arm?" she asked gently.

He bit his lip but nodded. She couldn't help his pain; she daren't give him more sedative. He had yet to cry out or utter a word, though, and she appreciated his bravery.

It took a further half hour before she was done. She stuck two needles into Nicholas's arm, then began to bundle up all the equipment.

"What now?" asked Jonathon.

"I'll stick around for a little while to make sure nothing immediate happens when the sedatives wear off, maybe give a small pain shot if necessary. Other than that, we wait. He'll need around twenty-four hours before he can move the grafted skin naturally, at which point the binding will have begun and there'll be less chance of infection. He shouldn't move until then. By this time tomorrow, he should be good to go."

Jonathon nodded. He looked where Nicholas was lying with his wrists upturned and his eyes closed. Aurelia saw a new respect for the clone in Jonathon's eyes, and she was glad for Nicholas that he'd been so courageous.

"I'll let you guys talk for a while, if you want," Jonathon said.

Aurelia smiled. "Sure. I'll be up later."

"Can you stay?" His face was hopeful.

She sighed. I shouldn't. She should be at the hospital in case she was needed. On the other hand, Jason had sixth and seventh days off, so she could call him to cover for her. In the end she nodded, and Jonathon smiled, bade Nicholas goodbye, and left.