– Clark asked me to keep an eye on you," Riley says loudly as they walk leisurely down the halls. – She might skin you if I let you out of her sight! – he adds. – Now, where was I… Oh, yes, they'll wake her up to find out if she's been damaged in some way by rummaging around in her head. Don't you worry about it! – Gilmore pats her on the shoulder.

– I'm not.

– We've got the best anesthesiologist in the hospital, by the way! And Higgins promised to stop by, but knowing him, he'll forget.

They go up to neurology, and Emily's legs begin to shake. A metal staircase into the operculum, a circular branching corridor, and they're inside.

She thought it would be sterile, white, and quiet; in fact, the operating room is hardly quieter than the wards themselves: there are white coats everywhere, conversations, and solid doors with glowing numbers – from the seventieth to the eightieth. Separating them from the operating room itself is the washroom, a small space with a hand basin, shelves, and one tin bench.

Emily washes her hands, the fingers, the interdigital spaces, the back and nails of her left hand, in quick, honed strokes; then she moves to her right hand. The smell of sterility and ammonia hangs in the air; wipes rustle; cerigel is rubbed.

A nurse, fidgeting at the lockers, helps her put on her top gown, fixes her sleeves and tightens her sash; Emily feels like an important surgeon and, for a moment, closes her eyes and imagines that it is she who will perform the operation.

But the gloom quickly dissipates – Clark's loud, sonorous voice can be heard even through the heavy doors:

– Finishing balancing!

– Doesn't he tune himself? – Emily asks in a whisper, trying to stay close to Gilmore.

– Trust no one," Riley shrugs.

As soon as the door behind them clicks shut, Clark turns his whole body around, holding a thin metal wire in his hands:

– What the hell have you been poking around in there? We'll get started soon," and immediately retreats to the other end of the room in quick strides.

– Welcome to hell, Johnson," Riley winks and, whistling, retreats to the operating table.

Chapter 5

the word does not heal him, does not resurrect him,

it does not give hope, it does not torture, it does not kill,

Here lays it on a new bandage,

and it presses hard,

it thickens viscous,

it squeezes, it rubs, it pokes,

it melts elusively on the delicate wound,

bleeding under the crust,

leaving a nasty tang of questioning.

"will I live, doctor?" -

and cauterizes.

Emily spins her head, trying to look around her.

In the middle of the operating room there is a huge plastic and steel structure, flashing all the colors of the rainbow and constantly making a nasty, sharp beeping sound. Emily recalls: it seems that in the textbook this structure was called a monoplanar angiographic system and was depicted much more simply than in real life. Johnson can almost hear the advertising slogans in her head: six square screens, an X-ray tube, a seat for the patient – the latest equipment allows you to penetrate the most complex areas of the brain.

A girl is already lying on the bed with a movable leg – still under anesthesia, and the anesthesiologist is chirping in his high chair with wheels (Riley whispers in Emily's ear that his name is Dylan). He has another pair of screens next to him, on a movable tripod; a large computer-like keyboard, and a whole bunch of wires.

Everything around Emily is wrapped in sterile film: the enormous microscope Clark is fiddling with; the surgical bench with the nurse standing by; and even the anesthesiologist's chair. The man sitting in it is talking so loudly that his voice echoes off the walls:

– Look at this! – he shouts in admiration, touching the stem of the microscope. – It's a Leica! You don't even have to do anything with it, just stare and enjoy it! My girl," Dylan adds fondly, patting the plastic.

Clark raises an eyebrow.

– That's what you said about the last one, Kemp," she says wryly.

– "Yuck," he says with a grudge. – That one wasn't as graceful and deep as…

– Don't go on. – Clark walks over to the tool table. – What have you laid out for me here? Why would I want this? I'm going to kill you!