The Chronicles of Protan (Book 1): The Shadowed Man

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Four hours into the operation, the Doctor and Sorin were still very much focused on the task at hand and anxious to find out what makes this man tick. Doctor Nixon had joined them in the viewing room about two hours in after catching up on reports. Martha and Cameron, the camera operators, had been instructed to pass the cameras through the previously injured organs of the man’s body. Through the perfectly structured and high intensity of these camera lenses, one was able to see with their own eyes how well the man’s body had healed. All bones and tissue had reformed and healed as well as someone who had never been injured before. 

Once this part of the procedure was done, the cameras were diverted towards the brain, heart and other vital organs. At the fourth hour, the cameras were en route inside the nose, and passing down through the throat again toward the respiratory system. The procedure was slow. Firstly, because there was no room for error. Secondly, the cameras were, in layman’s terms, slow. Conversations of fascination were going on during the entire procedure of how immaculate the man’s internal organs were.

“Unbelievable…” the doctors would say now and then, briefly discussing what they saw amongst themselves. Sorin would simply acknowledge. They would just re-iterate, “He’s perfect in every way possible.”

These types of comments were still passed around every few seconds or so while the first few cameras reached the lungs. Each person in the OR was starting to give in to the fact that he obviously was a Hybrid of some sort, so now and then one of the nurses or doctors would encourage Nixon and Singh to just call the operation quits.

“Doc come on, he’s obviously a healer. Let’s just let this be and we can all get some sleep huh?” George asked politely. He carried on with reasoning and logic while the both ignored him on the other end of their headsets. Sorin started feeling the same way, “Maybe we should just give them a break for awhile. We’ve been at this for almost five hours now, and I think we….”

“STOP!” Singh shouted as he jumped out his chair and gazed at the monitor. On his command the cameras were stopped directly in front of the heart. Everyone was silenced. The simple ticking of the man’s life meter was the only thing that could be heard.

“What…in God’s creation…?” Doctor Singh asked in complete dismay still glaring at the screen. A strange, metallic contraption encased the man’s heart. Moulded almost perfectly around the organ with a slight bulge on each side that seemed to illuminate a faint amber colour each time the man breathed in. Even the three coronary arteries were injected into the casing. It was one of the most amazing, yet eerie pieces of technology one would ever see.

“I was afraid of something like this. But it still does not explain anything,” Nixon said thoughtfully.

Doctor Singh stood up firm, and turned to Sorin with an anxious look on his face while Nixon still gazed at the monitor intrigued.

“But he came from the Creek. How...” Nixon seemed to come to a shocked realisation at that point, and looking up from the monitor, he saw Sorin and Doctor Singh miles ahead of him with that feeling.

“It’s become evident that we might have a problem on our hands,” Sorin said breaking the silence amongst them, realising that it was possible that Doctor Singh’s hunch about the man was right. Could this man be the crusader that they had heard about from the Creek? If so, why is he here? So many different versions of stories had circled all the bases of Earth Realm, about what he had done and how he’d survived the impossible. But never had anyone thought that he could actually be human. Doctor Singh turned off his headset, and immediately Nixon followed. The three of them stood arms folded, and in deep thought.