The God Codex

8. Sterile

Her lips are full, and her pout stirs into a smile as she looks at me. "Good morning. Mia. I'm Doctor Hill."

I try to nod. Hello.

"Let's get that tube out of you so you can talk!" She dons some gloves and gets on with it, trying to take the intubation tube out of me quickly and safely. The tube slithering out of my throat has me cringing and wriggling. When I'm clear of the tube, I cough and cringe at the pain in my chest.

"Give her some water!" Dr Hill says, and the nurse brings over a bottle that has a nozzle.

She squeezes some freshwater into my mouth. I'm thankful, and I drink like I haven't had water in days.

"Thank you," I rasp, my voice only a scratchy whisper.

Dr Hill nods before the nurse catches her attention. "What is it, Geeta?"

Geeta flashes me a reassuring smile and peels back the bandage. Wordless.

I watch Dr Hill. Her brown eyes squint as she stares at my chest. Too long for my comfort.

"Is it bad?" my horsey whisper disrupts them.

Dr Hill shakes her head, her eyebrows rising. "No. The opposite, actually." She takes the soiled bandage off and puts it on the tray the nurse offers. "May I?" She points at the wound site and I nod. "I'm going to touch you, Mia. Can you tell me if you feel pain, numbness, anything, okay?"

I nod again.

Geeta peers over at me as Dr Hill lightly presses around my ribs. Occasionally, I wince, but the sensation is of numbness more than pain, mostly.

"Can I see it?" I ask. I want to see this wound that has two medical professionals looking baffled. Why do they seem curious about my wound when they've seen worse things in their emergency ward?

Dr Hill nods at Geeta again, and she returns with a mirror in hand and holds it over my chest at an angle so I can look at this curious beast.

All I see is a fresh pink scar the size of a tennis ball where my right breast had been.

"We had to remove the damaged tissue, Mia. But with new augmentation and bio-silica, once you have plastic surgery, you won't be able to tell the difference between the new breast and the old one; aesthetically, physically, or neurologically. Of course, milk production on that side will be out of the question, as expected, but that'll only be an issue if you are thinking of going the natural route and having biological kids, naturally in the future."

Kids? Gee, lady, I'm only sixteen. I haven't even thought about sex, or surrogacy, let alone kids. I stare at the scar — not sure how I'm supposed to feel about missing a breast. They were still new to me and I was still getting used to them. However, something tells me the uneasiness I sense off the two women has nothing to do with my missing body part.

"Why do you look worried, Doctor Hill?" I ask, my voice returning to normal. I can't help myself. A moment ago, when they rescued me from the river, they were certain my injury was going to be the end of me. Now that I'm here, and healing — or healed — they look worried. "I'm not dying anymore, am I?"

Dr Hill shakes her head, takes the mirror from my hand, and places it on the side table. She then pulls a chair over and sits facing me.

"How much do you know about biotechnology and CodeTech, Mia?" she asks.

CodeTech? What does it have to do with my injury? Its failure almost killed me last night. In my honest opinion — sorry granddad — CodeTech can take a hike for all I cared, not that I was ever going to say it out loud in front of my mum. She does not like hearing negative talk about her family or their legacy.