A Complicated Web

Chapter Thirty-Four: Something Very Unusual

The med lab looked just as sterile as a morgue. Ms. Kendrick remembered the chemical smells like they were her favorite perfume. It was familiar and brought back memories of her "rescue". She breathed in the scent like a dying man who'd just found an oasis in the desert.

A heart monitor beat out a consistent cadence in the background. And there, on the stiff white bed, lay Hiro Hamada. His gash had a new bandage over the top of it. And someone had inserted what looked like a feeding tube through his nasal cavity.

Despite his age, the teen looked small and gangly. His overall skin tone still looked pale, even with the slow drip of saline hanging from a pole into his arm. Ms. Kendrick contemplated the youth, waiting for the doctor to come out of whatever corner he was hiding in.

"Ah, Ms. Kendrick," Dr. Bosch greeted as he came from a back room. "I didn't hear you come in." He indicated for her to precede him into his office while a medic came to check on their patient.

Ms. Kendrick took the hint and moved ahead, choosing to stand instead of sit in the cozy office. She waited while Dr. Bosch entered the space and turned on a large monitor. "I hope you have an update on our young guest," she said as she watched him adjust something on the screen.

"Our guest gave himself quite the knock out," Dr. Bosch reported in a somewhat dry tone. "But, as you can see, his little accident didn't result in any damage to the skull. No internal bleeding either, which is good." He indicated the x-ray now on the screen. "I did note, however, extreme dehydration and malnutrition, along with sleep deprivation. I hope you're not responsible for that."

The woman gave him a withering look. "You know I wouldn't compromise our mission with stupid tactics like that. No, they are entirely self-inflicted. My guess is they are his way of protesting being here."

Dr. Bosch let that slide as he called up another set of images on the monitor. "While those items are concerning, I did want to point something else out to you that I found particularly strange. The image on the right is an MRI of an average human brain while conscious." He indicated desired image with one hand. "And the one next to it is one of an unconscious brain."

The two images were decidedly different, the one on the right showing more activity than the one on the left. Ms. Kendrick pulled out a pair of reading glasses to be sure she didn't miss any details. She frowned at the image, not sure where the doctor was going with this. Her glasses slid down her nose as she glanced back at the medical professional. "And the point of this is?"

"This," Dr. Bosch said as he called up another image of a brain scan, only this one was lit up like a Christmas tree. "This is Hiro Hamada's brain. Even in an unconscious, injured state, his brain is operating at a capacity unheard of in modern medicine. At least for anyone who could be considered normal. Put in the fact that he's severely malnourished to the point his body is eating away at the muscle, this should not be happening."

That explained the feeding tube, Ms. Kendrick mused. Not entirely surprising considering all she'd heard and seen so far. "And how do you account for that abnormal activity?" she asked as she pointed at the monitor, not sure what to make of it either.

Dr. Bosch shook his head. "All I know is there is something very unusual about this young man. I've detected low levels of an unknown energy type coming from his body. The closest thing we have to any of it is the energy harnessed from the teseract, which is why I've decided to sequence his DNA."

That caused some surprise as Ms. Kendrick's brows rose. "Are you suggesting some kind of mutation?" Was that why Hiro had such a high IQ and innate genius? And yet nothing she'd researched about his history could shed any light on this unusual phenomenon. "Any idea what may have caused this?"