Free The Human Body by Paolo Giordano

Torsu’s ear. Frightened, he gives a little yelp and snaps the lid shut. Zampieri is standing behind him.
    â€œWhat the fuck do you want? How long have you been standing there?”
    â€œAre you sure she’s not a guy?”
    â€œGet the hell away!”
    â€œTersicore is a man’s name.”
    â€œShe’s not a guy!”
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    Zampieri leans her behind on the edge of the table and crosses her arms, as if wanting to get into a long discussion. Torsu has the beginning of an erection in his pants and Tersicore89 waiting for him inside the computer. “Would you please leave?” he says, controlling himself.
    She ignores him. “The Internet is full of people who pretend to be what they’re not for their own smutty purposes. Men who pretend to be women, for instance.”
    â€œDo you mind telling me what the fuck you want from me?”
    â€œI’m just trying to protect you. You’re a friend of mine.”
    â€œI don’t need anyone to protect me.”
    Zampieri tilts her head. She studies her nails, chooses one, and starts biting it.
    Torsu says: “Anyway, a man wouldn’t write certain things.” He has no idea why he’s now trying to convince her.
    â€œI’d be able to write like a man if I wanted to,” Zampieri replies, skeptical.
    â€œNo one had any doubts about that.”
    â€œBesides, if she doesn’t want to be seen, it means there’s something wrong.”
    â€œFuck, you actually read all of it?”
    â€œSome. Big, firm tits. Mmm . . .”
    â€œShut up! Anyway, I don’t want to see her either.”
    â€œHow come?”
    â€œJust because.”
    Zampieri strokes his hair and the back of his neck, making him shiver. “Torsu, Torsu . . . what’s the matter? Do real women scare you?”
    He shoves her hand away forcefully and she bursts out laughing. “Give my regards to your little boyfriend,” she says, then walks away. She’ll probably go straight to the others and blurt it all out. Who the hell cares. Torsu opens the computer lid again.
    TERSICORE89: r u still there?
    THOR_SARDEGNA: i’m here. sorry, i lost the connection
    Awkwardly they pick up where they’d left off. The conversation quickly degenerates into a rapid exchange of you-do-this-to-me-I-do-this-to-you, but the first corporal major’s mood has been ruined. He’s constantly turning around to make sure no one is watching him. From time to time the image of a young male adolescent sitting in place of Tersicore89 crosses his mind, disconcerting him. A severe fit of nausea rises up as he writes and reads, and he has stomach cramps. The malady worsens until he can no longer stand it. He’s obliged to sign off in a hurry. He promises Tersicore89 he’ll be right back.
    Walking briskly through the base, he forces himself not to make eye contact with the other soldiers or be distracted by the small hawks wheeling around the watch tower. He wants to keep what’s left of his arousal alive until he reaches the latrines.
    Halfway there the first wave of wooziness hits him. The unsteadiness quickly passes from his head to his body, a quaking that he feels in the lower part of his abdomen. Within seconds, the pangs intensify to a point that makes him start running.
    He reaches the chemical toilets, turns the first handle but the door is locked; he opens the second cubicle and finds a gruesome spectacle there; he enters the third and barely has time to latch it and pull his pants down, then he crouches over the aluminum squat toilet and releases his bowels in a single surge.
    Slowly he exhales, his heart pounding in his ears. Another discharge takes him by surprise, coming suddenly and even more violently than the first, accompanied by acute stabbing pains. His digestive tract is in complete revolt. Torsu squeezes his eyes shut and grips the handle; he has the feeling