Maxine's new lab was located in the quiet, old Pancreatic Junction, where the amber ducts that looked like veins weren't pulsating anymore. It seemed like a dead place. Maxine was working here on her confidential project amidst the remnants of the past.
On the table, there was one stasis file of Captain Joan Rhodes. Her skin was ashen and she was artificially respirated. Nearby there was a prototype: a tiny, strange box made of ancient wood and nerve fibers, and it was emitting a sound.
Maxine termed it the Resonant Aligner. The concept was simple: Detect a harmful frequency and emit a different frequency to nullify it. Joan was the one who had caught the most terrible effects of Wilder's Aether, thereby hampering her cells' regeneration. The Aligner was meant to do so that it would be like a reconciliation between the discordant MDR ion the one Joan's life, which was already faint.
It was a very dangerous move. If the device was too powerful, it could wipe out what was left of her and if it was too feeble, she would remain helpless.
Benny was with her. He said, "The bad note… it's like a thorn. It's not a part of the song. It's simply stuck there."
Maxine spot to work. Precisely. We have to vibrate the thorn to a point where it drops off or disappears.
She powered the Aligner. It generated a low sound that seemed to make the air vibrate. Maxine was looking at Joan's readouts. Initially, there was no evidence of an impact. Then, there was a sudden spike. Joan's heart rate soared, and to an enormous extent, her brain activity went wild.
Benny exclaimed. "It's causing her pain!"
Or causing pain by fighting, Maxine, looking at the monitors, said. The Aether was fighting back. It was a battle of sounds.
She turned down the Aligner's tone to be softer. She was trying to persuade the poison that it was part of the organism, hence turning the loud cry into a soft sigh.
The spikes decreased. Joan's condition stabilized. On a tiny screen, a small line marked the progress of 0.2%.
It was slow but sure progress.
It will be a long time, Maxine said. Maybe weeks or even months.
Benny was not really upset. Months don't matter. We have time now.
The entrance opened. Lucien Gray, carrying a tablet with the schematics, looking more rejuvenated, walked in. Sharpe! I've been aligning the Lobe's map with the network models. I might have made a discovery.
He demonstrated the tablet to her. There were the cross-sections of the skin, the network, and the human digestive tract. The Earthworm of the Bread was the problem because the fungi was not decomposed by the human guts. We are getting weaker because of hunger.
Maxine looked at the tablet and then at Joan. So?
We have to change the food or the people first. Altering people will take ages. Yes, the mycelium can do the pre-digestion of the chitin but it requires something to initiate it. A frequency, like a switch but for biochemistry.
He intended to use the science of the consumption of a god to consume fungus. It was quite ironic.
You want to invent a dietary furnace, she said.
A vat, Lucien said. Employing the sounds to get the mycelium to self-process and turn into something consumable. Why can't we use the old vats? The stuff is already there!
It was a clever move. The very instruments of cannibalism turned into means of survival.
Do you have the frequencies? Maxine asked.
I have some ideas. But you have the graft. You are the one that can sense the network's operations. You could even find the sound that says...'break down now.'
Maxine looked at Joan. One person's healing is quiet. World healing is loud. Both need her knowledge.
Benny, she said. Keep an eye on the Aligner. If her brain becomes overly active, then, by all means, decrease the intensity. She handed him a tablet.
She turned to Lucien. Lead me to the vats.
On their way out of the Junction, with the thoughts of the two patients lingering on her mind—the woman and the world—Maxine was feeling as if she was being pulled. She was a surgeon, and the operation was still ongoing.