Free The Nightingale Circus by Ioana Visan Page A

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.