Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl - The Eternity Code

‘But the freezing interferes with the body’s own bio-rhythms and magnetic fields — things even the People don’t understand fully. There’s more than skin and bone at stake here. We have no idea what a trauma like this could do to Butler.’

Holly stuck her head under the camera.

‘Are you sure this is a good idea, Foaly?’

‘I wish we had time for discussion, Holly, but every second costs our old friend a couple of brain cells. I’m going to talk you through it. The first thing we need to do is to take a look at the wound.’

Holly peeled off several cold packs, unzipping the foil suit. The entry wound was small and black, hidden in the centre of a pool of blood, like a flower’s bud.

‘He never had a chance. Right under the heart. I’m going to zoom in.’

Holly closed her visor, using the helmet’s filters to magnify Butler’s wound.

‘There are fibres trapped in there. Kevlar, I’d say.’

Foaly groaned over the speakers. ‘That’s all we need. Complications.’

‘What difference do fibres make? And this really is not the time for jargon. I need plain Gnommish.’

‘OK. Surgery for morons it is. If you poke your fingers into that wound, the magic will reproduce Butler’s cells, complete with their new strands of Kevlar. He’ll be dead, but completely bulletproof.’

Holly could feel the tension creeping up her back.

‘So, I need to do what?’

‘You need to make a new wound, and let the magic spread from there.’

Oh great, thought Holly, a new wound. Just slice open an old friend.

‘But he’s as hard as rock.’

‘Well then, you’re going to have to melt him down a little. Use your Neutrino 2000, low setting, but not too much. If that brain wakes up before we want it to, he’s finished.’

Holly drew her Neutrino, adjusting the output to minimum.

‘Where do you suggest I melt?’

‘The other pectoral. Be ready to heal; that heat is going to spread rapidly. Butler needs to be healed before oxygen gets to his brain.’

Holly pointed the laser at the bodyguard’s chest.

‘Just say the word.’

‘In a bit closer. Fifteen centimetres approximately. A two-second burst.’

Holly raised her visor, taking several deep breaths. A Neutrino 2000 being used as a medical instrument. Who would have thought it?

Holly pulled her trigger to the first click. One more click would activate the laser. ‘Two seconds.’ ‘OK. Go.’

Click. An orange beam of concentrated heat spilled from the

Neutrino’s snout, blossoming across Butler’s chest. Had the bodyguard been awake, he would have been knocked unconscious. A neat circle of ice evaporated, rising to condense on the surgery’s ceiling.

‘Now,’ said Foaly, his voice high-pitched with urgency. ‘Narrow the beam and focus it.’

Holly manipulated the gun controls expertly with her thumb.

Narrowing the beam would intensify its power, but the laser would have to be focused at a certain range to avoid slicing right through Butler’s body. ‘I’m setting it for fifteen centimetres.’ ‘Good, but hurry; that heat is spreading.’ The colour had returned to Butler’s chest and the ice was melting across his body. Holly pulled the trigger again, this time carving a crescent-shaped slit in Butler’s flesh. A single drop of blood oozed from between the wound’s edges.

‘No steady flow,’ said Foaly. ‘That’s good.’ Holly bolstered her weapon. ‘Now what?’ ‘Now get your hands in deep, and give it every drop of magic you’ve got. Don’t just let it flow; push the magic out.’

Holly grimaced. She never liked this bit. No matter how many healings she performed, she could never get used to sticking her fingers into other people’s insides. She lined her thumbs up, back to back, and slid them into the incision.

‘Heal,’ she breathed, and the magic scurried down her fingers. Blue sparks hovered over Butler’s wound, then disappeared inside, like shooting stars diving behind the horizon.

‘More, Holly,’ urged Foaly. ‘Another shot.’

Holly pushed again, harder. The flow was thick at first, a roiling mass of blue streaks; then, as her magic ebbed, the flow grew weaker.

‘That’s it,’ she panted. ‘I have barely enough left to shield on the way home.’

‘Well then,’ said Foaly, ‘stand back until I tell you, because all hell is about to break loose.’

Holly backed up to the wall. Nothing much happened for several moments, then Butler’s back arched, throwing his chest into the air. Holly heard a couple of vertebrae groaning.

‘That’s the heart started,’ noted Foaly. ‘The easy bit.’

Butler flopped back into the pod, blood flowing from his most recent wound. The magical sparks knitted together, forming a vibrating lattice over the bodyguard’s torso. Butler bounced on the trolley, like a bead in a rattle, as the magic reshaped his atoms. His pores vented mist as toxins were expelled from his system. The coating of ice around him dissolved instantly, causing clouds of steam and then rain, as the water particles condensed on the metal ceiling. Cold packs popped like balloons, sending crystals ricocheting around the surgery. It was like being in the centre of a multicoloured storm.

‘You need to get in there now!’ said Foaly in Holly’s ear.

‘What?’

‘Get in there. The magic is spreading up his spinal column. Hold his head still for the healing, or any damaged cells could be replicated. And once something’s been healed, we can’t undo it.’

Great, thought Holly. Hold Butler still. No problem. She battled her way through the debris, cold-pack crystals impacting against her visor.

The human’s frame continued thrashing in the cryo pod, shrouded by a cloud of steam.

Holly clamped a hand on either side of Butler’s head. The vibrations travelled the length of her arms and through her body.

‘Hold him, Holly. Hold him!’

Holly leaned across the pod, placing the weight of her body on the manservant’s head. In all the confusion, she couldn’t tell if her efforts were having any effect whatsoever.

‘Here it comes!’ said Foaly in her ear. ‘Brace yourself!’

The magical lattice spread along Butler’s neck and across his face.

Blue sparks targeted the eyes, travelling along the optic nerve, into the brain itself. Butler’s eyes flew open, rolling in their sockets. His mouth was reactivated too, spewing out long strings of words in various languages, none of which made any sense.

‘His brain is running tests,’ said Foaly. ‘Just to check everything’s working.’

Each muscle and joint was tested to its limit, rolling, swivelling and stretching. Hair follicles grew at an accelerated rate, covering Butler’s normally shaven dome with a thick growth of hair. Nails shot out of his fingers like tiger claws, and a raggedy beard snaked from his chin.

Holly could only hang on. She imagined that this was how it must feel to be a rodeo cowboy straddling a particularly bad-tempered bull.

Eventually the sparks dissipated, spiralling into the air like embers on a breeze. Butler calmed and settled, his body sinking into fifteen centimetres of water and coolant. His breathing was slow and deep.

‘We did it,’ said Holly, sliding off the pod on to her knees. ‘He’s alive.’

‘Don’t start celebrating just yet,’ said Foaly. ‘There’s still a long way to go. He won’t regain consciousness for a couple of days at least, and even then who knows what shape his mind will be in. And, of course, there’s the obvious problem.’

Holly raised her visor. ‘What obvious problem?’

‘See for yourself.’

Captain Short was almost afraid to look at whatever lay in the pod.

Grotesque images crowded her imagination. What kind of misshapen mutant human had they created?