Spilling Guts

Part 107 - Rubber Duckie

Cetz, on a coffee bender, and in need of something to go right, joined Rachel and Hayman for their talk. The deep science stuff eluded him most of the time, but hearing it made him feel better, like despite setbacks the Watch was still moving forward in a somewhat moral direction Smarter people surrounded him and wouldn't let him lead the Watch astray. Plus he wanted a timeline to get Reese up to snuff with punching.

He waltzed into Rachel's lab, headset off, and sat on the only padded chair while the other two stood at Rachel's note-etched whiteboard.

"Is it okay for him to be here?" asked Hayman, eyes wide and innocent, as if he didn't know Cetz was the Head of Watch Two. The resident lab rabbit in Hayman's arms couldn't soften the snark.

"He's aware of the situation," said Rachel. She had made sure Cetz had been kept up to date on Will's general condition and why he shouldn't be drowned in patent paperwork.

And aware of things far above your pay-grade, thought Cetz.

"I move bodies on request," said Cetz. "Not to mention I'm the one that pushed through approval to make the Devil's Neckbrace available, and I help approve your paycheck as a contractor with the Watch. If there is something my people need that the Watch can provide, it's my job to provide it. So go ahead," Cetz gestured to the whiteboard them. "Talk sciencey medical stuff. I can be the rubber duck."

"No backseat quacking," warned Rachel.

"And you can make yourself useful." Hayman relocated the rabbit to Cetz's lap.

Cetz bracket his hands on either side of the rabbit on his lap, keeping it still. Great, he'd been promoted from rubber-duck to pet-sitter. He would get white hair all over his slacks.

"Our scans caught something," said Hayman.

"A big something," said Rachel, refocusing on Hayman and the board. A projection came up of multiple squiggly lines and a map of the brain. "Another, for lack of a more accurate term, "day terror". It didn't look as bad as the previous one, but Will was out longer. Is the data conclusive?"

"It's a start," said Hayman. "Last night his scans did show indicators of sleep paralysis mixed with parasomnia, night terrors. The Beanie recorded what particular areas of Agent William's brain lit up during the day terror. They are similar. But we need to know why Grovic's Device triggered them."

"If we need a better scan we can get him in a BT for the night," offered Rachel. "Maybe not the BT-10 on such short notice, but the BT-8 could do it."

"I could get power for the BT-10 approved by Grant if need be," said Cetz, reminding them he was present and useful. "He's in a good mood after catching up on sleep."

"Stuff Agent William into a coffin to scan him for nightmares?" said Hayman, askance. "Dear me, I wonder if you'll find any?"

"You sound like Louis," muttered Rachel, protective of her equipment's reputation. "BT's are perfectly fine. At least Will won't be wired up like a marionette."

"As fantastic and wireless as your BTs are, they are not specialized. I would prefer him back at Albert Hospital to continue the sleep study. If it worsens we might need to put him into a fMRI."

"Right," Rachel drawled. "That so much better than a BT."

"If you two already know that Will's mind is misfiring, shouldn't you look at the cause?" asked Cetz. He pointed to the segmented machine on Rachel's desk. "That's why this thing is out of storage."

Rachel rolled her shoulders, posture prickly, like a white and gray hedgehog. "What happened to no backseat quacking?"

"It's an honest quack."

"True, but we also need to look at what areas to focus on for the patient's treatment," said Hayman. "Focusing solely on Grovic's device for William's sake is akin to examining the parts of a gun to analyze a gunshot wound; nonsensical."

"The device is a bit more complicated than a gun," said Rachel "And Will's wounds are not as visible as a gunshot. We don't know what all it's done to him. Examining the cause of the problem could give us guidance to what we might be missing with our scans."

Hayman sighed and brought a diagram of the Devil's Neckbrace up on the board. A spindly thing, more arachnid than sleep asset. "From what we understand of Grovic's device, it was meant to shut down the parts of the brain that process pain and to induce a twilight sleep."

"But it's hasn't done that for a while," said Cetz. He pulled Copperfield back from leaping off his knees. Rachel wouldn't like that; too many cords around to be chewed. "Can't you turn on the Neckbrace while it's being scanned by your sleep cap thing?"

Hayman looked "That's an idea. Though I wouldn't want to put it on an actual person for ethical reasons. Volunteer or no."

"Does it have to be a live human?" said Rachel.

"How many severed heads dedicated to science do you have access to?"

"Good question," Rachel mused, as if mentally checking her roll-a-dex for people who might have an extra laying around.

"But the Neckbrace doesn't work on non-living people," said Cetz. And I don't want to deal with the paperwork that comes with a cadaver. "It needs to sense electronic output to know where to use its sensors. Unless you plan on sticking a bunch of wires up a skull and attaching it to a battery."

Rachel and Hayman looked at Cetz askance.

"What?" said Cetz. "You made me read Louis' report."

"I'm so glad Louis has become a paragon of scientific communication for you," said Rachel. "Perhaps you could let him do it more often, instead of burying him in patents."

"He'll take his punishment and like it." Cetz caught Copperfield trying to leap off his lap again. "Okay, does this guy need dinner or something? Cause he's not having it with staying in one place. And I think he pooped on me."

"If they're pellets, you're fine." Rachel fetched a container of veggies from her fridge, and a set of pudding snacks.

"What about making a brain simulacrum?" said Hayman.

Cetz put the rabbit on the floor to munch on cucumber slices, and then brushed off his trousers. Yep, pellets, and white hair. "Out of what?"

Hayman held up the pudding snack Rachel gave him. Rachel nodded, considering.

Cetz blinked. "Okay, rubber duckie is lost."