Eagle in the Sky - Smith Wilbur (бесплатные версии книг .txt) 📗

steel, and carefully removed each piece from the field as it came away.

What we have here is a bone splinter that was driven by the steel

fragment into the canal.  It is a large piece, and it must have been

under considerable pressure, and it has consolidated itself here He

worked on carefully, and gradually the white worm of the nerve appeared

from beneath the growth.

Now, this is interesting.  Cooper's tone altered.  Yes, look at this.

Can we get a better view here, please?  The camera zoomed in a little

closer, and the focus realigned.  The nerve has been forced upwards, and

flattened by pressure.  The constriction is quite obvious, it has been

pinched off, but it seems to be intact.  Cooper lifted another large

piece of bone aside, and now the nerve lay exposed over its full length.

This is really remarkable.  I expect that it is a one in a thousand

chance, or one in a million.  There appears to be no damage to the

actual nerve, and yet the steel fragment passed so close to it that it

must have touched it Delicately, Cooper lifted the nerve with the blunt

tip of a probe.

Completely intact, but flattened by pressure.  Yet I don't suspect any

degree of atrophy, Dr. Friedman?  I think we can confidently expect good

recovery of function.  Despite the masked features, the triumphant

attitude of the two men was easily recognized, and watching them, David

felt his own emotions at war.

With a weight upon his spirits he watched Cooper close up, replacing the

portion of Debra's skull that he had removed, and once the flap of scalp

was stitched back into place there was little external evidence of the

extent and depth of their penetration.  The image on the screen changed

to another theatre where a small girl was to receive surgery for a

massive hernia, and the fickle interest of the watching students changed

with it.

David stood up and left the room.  He rode up in the elevator and waited

in the visitors room on Debra's floor until the elevator doors opened

again and two white uniformed male nurses trundled Debra's stretcher

down the corridor to her room.  She was dead] pale, y with dark

bruised-looking eyes and lips, her head swathed in a turban of white

bandages.  There was a dull brown smear of blood on the sheets that

covered her and a whiff of anaesthetic hung in the corridor after she

was gone.

Ruby Friedman came then, changed from the theatre garb into an expensive

light-weight grey mohair suit and a twenty-guinea Dior silk tie.  He

looked tanned and healthy, and mightily delighted with his achievement.

You watched?  'he demanded, and when David nodded he went on

exuberantly, It was extraordinary.  He chuckled, and rubbed his hands

together with glee.

My God, something like this makes you feel good.

Makes you feel that if you never do another thing in your life, it was

still worthwhile.  He was unable to restrain himself any longer and he

threw a playful punch at David's shoulder.  Extraordinary, he repeated,

drawing it out into two words with relish, rolling the word around his

tongue.

When will you know?  David asked quietly.  I know already, I'll stake my

reputation on it!  'She will be able to see as soon as she comes around

from the anaesthetic?  David asked.

Good Lord, no!  Ruby chuckled.  That nerve has been pinched off for

years, it's going to take time to recover.  'How long?

It's like a leg that has gone to sleep when you sit wrongly.  When the

blood flows back in, it's still numb and tingling until the circulation

is restored How long?  'David repeated.

Immediately she wakes, that nerve is going to start going crazy, sending

all sorts of wild messages to the brain.  She's going to see colours and

shapes as though she is on a drug hinge, and it's going to take time to

settle down, two weeks to a month, I would guess then it will clear, the

nerve will have recovered its full and normal function and she will

begin having real effective vision.

Two weeks, David said, and he felt the relief of a condemned man hearing

of his reprieve.

You will tell her the good news, of course.  Ruby gave another buoyant

chuckle, shaped up to punch David again and then controlled himself.

What a wonderful gift you have been able to give her.  No, David

answered him.  I won't tell her yet, I will find the right time later.

You will have to explain the initial vision she will experience, the

colour and shape hallucinations, they will alarm her.  We will just tell

her that it's the normal after-effect of the operation.  Let her adjust

to that before telling her.

David, I - Ruby began seriously, but he was cut off by the savage blaze

of blue in the eyes that watched him from the mask of scarred flesh.

I will tell her!  The voice shook with such fury, that Ruby took a step

backwards.  That was the condition, I will tell her when I judge the

time is ripe.

Out of the darkness a tiny amber light glowed, pale and far off but she

watched it split like a breeding amoeba and become two, and each of

those split and split again until they filled the universe in a great

shimmering field of stars.  The light throbbed and pulsed, vibrant and

triumphant, and it changed from amber to brightest purest white like the

sparkle from a paragon diamond, then it turned to the blue of sunlight

on a tropical ocean, to soft forest greens and desert golds, an endless

cavalcade of colours, changing, blending, fading, flaring in splendour

that held her captive.

Then the colours took shape, they spun like mighty Catherine wheels, and

soared and exploded, showered down in rivers of flame that burst again

into fresh cascades of light.

She was appalled by the dimensions of shape and colour that engulfed

her, bewildered by the beauty of it and at last she could bear it no

longer in silence and she cried out.

Instantly there was a hand in hers, a strong hard familiar hand, and his

voice, dearly beloved, reassuring and firm.

David, she cried with relief.

Quietly, my darling.  You must rest.

David.  David.  She heard the sob in her own voice as new torrents of

colour poured over her, insupportable in their richness and variety,

overwhelming in their depth and range.

I'm here, my darling.  I'm here.  What's happening to me, David? What's

happening?  'You are all right.  The operation was a success.  You are

just fine.

Colours, she cried.  Filling my whole head.  I've never known it like

this.  It's the result of the operation.  It shows that it was a

success.  They removed the growth.  'I'm frightened, David.  'No, my

darling.  There is nothing to be afraid of Hold me, David.  Hold me

safe.  And in the circle of his arms the fear abated, and slowly she

learned to ride the oceanic waves and washes of colour, came gradually

to accept and then at last to look upon them with wonder and with

intense pleasure.

It's beautiful, David.  I'm not frightened any more, not with you

holding me.  It's wonderful.  'Tell me what you see, he said.  I

couldn't.  It's impossible.  I couldn't find the words.  'Try!

he said.

David was alone in the suite, and it was after midnight when the call

that he had placed to New York came through.

This is Robert Dugan, to whom am I speaking?  Bobby's voice was crisp

and businesslike.  It's David Morgan.  'Who?  'Debra Mordecai's husband.

Well, hello there, David.  The agent's voice changed, becoming