Board Thread:Roleplay/@comment-28358106-20181001230640/@comment-28358106-20181017024027

(Jorge/S9)  "We have thin enough ceramic tubing that could fit into a larger vein.  I'm going to try and get to her left axillary," Simonelle says, quickly putting on what looks like a strange leather corset around her torso. It appears to have several couplings at certain points, with many tiny belts on the outside. "There's nothing else that isn't injured that could possibly hold the ceramic tube, which we'll have to use so her blood won't dissolve it.  Her scales will be impossible to penetrate, even with the Arrowhead---"

"Axillary??" Thomas starts. "Using Jorge's sword??  You'll tear the wall, and there won't be any way we can stop her from bleeding to death if you cut too deep!"

"The only other choice is if she has enough DE to neutralize her blood," Simonelle says, "And we  have a source of that much DE." She nods to Kittycut.

"We don't know that!" Cosette says. "Tirush's humanoid body represents a vastly larger creature!  If we dump all the DE we have into her body, and that isn't enough and it fails, we won't have enough left over to neutralize the blood as it comes out of her for a try at a transfer!  We won't have a backup plan!"

As she has been speaking, Cosette, still on the ceiling, has been flipping strands of silk from the web harness to various points on the wall and ceiling. Tirush is hanging as comfortably as she possibly could be, and is perfectly immobile. The hundreds of strands of silk shows no sign of strain as she climbs down from the ceiling.

"We only have two choices," Simonelle says. "We dump her body with DE, I bite her, and we insert the needle.  Or, we risk cutting her axillary and save the DE for when we will need it, and we certainly will need more."

Thomas, pinching the bridge of his nose, waves his hand rapidly.

"Quiet!  We need to drain her lung first and then repair the puncture, or she'll drown when we do the transfer!  Aegis will be back in minutes, and only then can we even think about stitching her.  Jorge, get the ceramic tubing ready to insert into her lung, I'll guide you with the spectrometer.  Sun-Mi, get the CO3 still ready to neutralize the blood that leaches. Both of you get ready."

Thomas wheels the large, awkward machine into position beside Tirush and flips a few switches. There is a deep hum of electricity warming up inside the cabinet of the machine, and several indicator lights flicker and glow. There is a large brass plate---the scanning sensor---attached to a swivel arm that extends for about a meter, and as Thomas works, Quill, the Raiju nurse, moves the plate up and extends the arm over Tirush, its cables trailing back to the console. The archaic monitor glows with a ghostly monochrome as it warms up.

"Adjusting contrast..." Quill delicately turns two knobs on the console as Thomas watches, the light of the monitor lighting up both his and Quill's faces. Thomas' brow knits as he focuses.

"Make sure you account for keratin..."

Thomas stops. His eyes grow.

His mouth opens to a gasp. His face grows deathly pale.

On the monitor, Tirush's body appears as a framework of bright white bones. As the contrast is adjusted, it focuses in and out of the other layers of her body---white shades of scales, then skin, then muscle mass, all fade in and out with the focus. But something else is shown, something that would never be seen if one did not know that it was there, hidden within Tirush's huge frame.

So small that it would fit well within the Wyvern's midriff and never be noticed, is a shape. A focus shows it to be oval, and within it, other shapes, tiny bones, unmistakable in their arrangement. Bundled in pose, as if against the cold. Tiny wings, tiny hands, a tiny tail, all curled up around a tiny, beating heart...