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are an anomaly."
"So I've been told. I'm glad you're confused."
"Perhaps you can that help us to resolve," the Hivis-tahm hissed softly. "We
would like you some pictures to look at."
In response to his gesture an O'o'yan handed him an oversized plastic envelope.
Delicate fingers explored the interior, brought forth a rectangular
tridimensional image.
"This the interior of your brain is."
Warily Ranji turned his attention to the flat sheet, conscious of the fact that
everyone in the room was watching him intently. Heida Trondheim, too? He chose
to aifect indifference.
After careful consideration he handed it back to the surgeon. ' 'Is there
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something here that's supposed to surprise me? I see an Ashregan brain. Nothing
more."
"For the moment I would simply like you at all of these to look. Elucidation
will follow." The Hivistahm patiently passed Ranji two more sheets. He glanced
at each before returning them. They were side and front views of the first.
The fourth was different.
"This a close-up image of one small part of your brain is. Truly much reduced."
The surgeon extracted still another sheet. "And this another." A slim-boned
finger tapped the plastic, the finely manicured claw seeming to sink into the
image. "I ask that you in particular note the minuscule white spot which has
been in deep red color-enhanced. ''
Ranji's gaze narrowed momentarily before he once more passed the sheet back.
"Glad to oblige. Anything else?" So suffused in droll solemnity was the
gathering that he nearly burst out laughing. "I'm afraid that as revelations go
this misses the mark. I've seen pictures of my insides before."
"I am certain that you have." First-of-Surgery hung close. "If you do not object
I should like for you your attention to devote to them one more time."
Ranji sighed. If this was some kind of test, at least it was less discomfiting
than others he had undergone.
"This picture here, for example." The Hivistahm removed a compact indicator from
a vest pocket and used it to highlight portions of the image. "Do you see these
points . . . here, here, and here?" The indicator shifted precisely as he spoke.
Ranji squinted, unimpressed. "What about them? Am I supposed to volunteer
identification? They could be bits of bone, or blood vessels. You're the
surgeon, not I. If you're offering me lessons on my own physiology, I don't need
any.''
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"Truly that to be seen remains." The indicator moved anew. "These are grafting
points." Wide slitted eyes gazed up at him, both eyelids drawn back. "You no
comment have?''
Ranji blinked at the image, trying to make sense of what the Hivistahm was
saying. What was the object of all this, anyway? Why were there so many of them
in the room, and why were they all watching him so closely? What did it matter
if such things were inside his head, or anywhere else in his body?
"No, I don't have any comment." He tapped the plastic. "This means nothing to
me. Should it?"
"It should indeed." The surgeon removed another of the sheets. "That the right
side of your skull was. This the left is. On this one you will see three
additional points. Note that as to location they are to the previous three
identical. It is thought that this work very early was carried out."
"Still means nothing to me." Ranji was cautiously indifferent. "Does it mean
something to you?"
"Truly. It tells me that the prominent bony ridges which just beneath each of
your eyes begin and over your ears and into the back of your skull run are not
natural, but rather the result of prenatal osteoplasty.''
Ranji started to reply, hesitated, instead said slowly, "I don't know what
you're talking about."
"Permit me." First-of-Surgery strained on the toes of his sandals to reach the
right side of Ranji's face. With a clawed finger he delicately traced the
prominent bony line which dominated each side of the prisoner's skull.
"These are to you not natural. They are of surgery and implants the result. Your
skin was similarly modified to allow for the additional unnatural projections.
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The same sort of modification has to your occipital orbits, ears, and fingers
been done. Everything carried out was before you were born, before your bones
time to set had.
"To insure that such work 'takes' without interfering with the natural process
of bone maturation and fusion requires skills we do not possess. Only one
species at bioengineering so clever is." He replaced the current sheet with a
new one.
"See here, your hands. Again the grafting points." Ranji stared without
comprehending.
"But ... if any of what you say is true, why?"
The Hivistahm's teeth clicked softly. "To give you the appearance of an
Ashregan. If one backward works to delete these points and their projected
effects, the result is a quite different skeleton." He hesitated and took a step
away from the prisoner. "Truly truly what one has is not a mutant Ashregan, but
a normal Human."
Ranji snorted derisively. "That's crazy."
First-of-Surgery slipped the pictures back into their protective envelope. "The
rest of your body-your muscular structure, density, organ placement and
function, sensitivity of sense, everything-comfortably within Human-normal
parameters sits. You grade out high-end Homo sapiens, not off-the-scale
Ashregan. You are as Human as the three others in this room.''
The prisoner's gaze darted reflexively to the Ashregan-fluent woman and her
squat male associate. They stared evenly back at him.
"This is more than aberrant; it's insane. No, it's more subtle than that. You're
all trying to trick me. You've got some ulterior purpose in mind and in order to
carry it through you need to confuse and trick me. You might as well forget it. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]