The man in the hospital bed is Da5id.
Extremely thick, wide leather straps have been stretched across the head and foot of the bed. Leather cuffs, lined with fluffy sheepskin, are attached to the straps. These cuffs have been fastened around Da5id's wrists and ankles. He's wearing a hospital gown that has mostly fallen off.
The worst thing is that his eyes don't always point in the same direction. He's hooked up to an EKG that's charting his heartbeat, and even though Hiro's not a doctor, he can see it's not a regular pattern. It beats too fast, then it doesn't beat at all, then an alarm sounds, then it starts beating again.
He has gone completely blank. His eyes are not seeing anything. At first, Hiro thinks that his body is limp and relaxed. Getting closer, he sees that Da5id is taut and shivering, slick with perspiration.
We put in a temporary pacemaker," a woman says.
Hiro turns. It's a nun who also appears to be a surgeon.
How long has he been in convulsions
His ex-wife called us in, said she was worried.
Juanita.
Yes. When the paramedics arrived, he had fallen out of his chair at home and was convulsing on the floor. You can see a bruise, here, where we think his computer fell off the table and hit him in the ribs. So to protect him from further damage, we put him in four-points. But for the last half hour he's been like this -- like his whole body is in fibrillation. If he stays this way, we'll take the restraints off.
Was he wearing goggles
I don't know. I can check for you.
But you think this happened while he was goggled into his computer
I really don't know, sir. All I know is, he's got such bad cardiac arrhythmia that we had to implant a temporary pacemaker right there on his office floor. We gave him some seizure medication, which didn't work. Put him on some downers to calm him, which worked slightly. Put his head into various pieces of imaging machinery to find out what the problem was. The jury is still out on that.
Well, I'm going to go look at his house," Hiro says.
The doctor shrugs.
Let me know when he comes out of it," Hiro says.
The doctor doesn't say anything to this. For the first time, Hiro realizes that Da5id's condition may not be temporary.
As Hiro is stepping out into the hallway, Da5id speaks, "e ne emmariiagiaginimumamadameneemamankigaagia gi..
Hiro turns around and looks. Da5id has gone limp in the restraints, seems relaxed, half asleep. He is looking at Hiro through half-closed eyes. "e ne em dam gal nun na a gi agi e ne em u mu unabzukaagiaagi ...
Da5id's voice is deep and placid, with no trace of stress. The syllables roll off his tongue like drool. As Hiro walks down the hallway he can hear Da5id talking all the way.
i ge en i ge en nu ge en nu ge en us sa tur ra lu ra ze em men ...