Chapter 39 Section VII

A few hours later, Ben lay peacefully in his bed at home. The hospital in New Eden has almost become a madhouse. People and robots shuttle back and forth, rampaging, and the patients scream and groan in pain. Nicole is on the phone with Kenji Watanabe: "We need all the Tiaso robots, send them here as soon as possible. Please come here immediately from all the medical staff from the village clinic. The situation is very serious." The hospital was full of people and noisy, and Nicole couldn't hear what Kenji was saying.She said loudly into the microphone: "The situation is very bad, quite serious. So far, 27 people have been taken in, and 4 people died. The Nara district with Japanese-style wooden houses around the forest and behind Vegas is the hardest hit area. The fire was pretty intense ... people were terrified."

"Dr. Walkerfield, Dr. Walkerfield, please go to Ward 204 immediately." Nicole had to hang up the phone and rushed into the hall, then ran up to the second floor. In Room 204, there was a dying patient, an old friend of hers—Korea Jin Li.When Nicole was interim governor, he had been Hanko's liaison. Mr. Kim was one of the first two people to build a new home in Nara Ward.When the fire was burning, he rushed into the burning wooden house to save his 7-year-old son.Mr. Jin used his own body to block the raging fire and saved his son, but he himself suffered extensive third-degree burns.

Nicole bumps into Dr. Turner in the aisle. "We've tried our best, but we can't help your friend in room 204," he said. "I called the emergency room. They just brought in a very serious patient who was trapped in the fire." Nicole took a breath and gently pushed open the door of the ward.Kim's wife, a beautiful Korean woman in her mid-thirties, was sitting quietly in the corner.Nicole went and hugged her and comforted her.A Tiatho robot monitoring Jin's situation brought his information.It seemed that there was no hope for this man. Nicole took Mr. Jin's chart handed to her by the Tiaso robot, and looked up unexpectedly to see her daughter Ellie sitting beside Mr. Jin's bed.Ellie, with a large piece of gauze wrapped around the left side of her head, was holding the dying man's hand.

"Nicole," Mr. King called her name in an anguished whisper, recognizing her.His face was all scorched, and he had a hard time speaking. "I want to die," he said, nodding to his wife sitting in the corner. Mrs. King stood up and went to Nicole: "My husband wants me to sign the Euthanasia Agreement, but I don't want to. Unless you can tell me that he really has no hope." She cried, but held back Try not to let the tears flow down. Nicole hesitated for a moment, then said hard, "I can't tell you, Mrs. King." Her eyes flicked back and forth between the burned man and his wife. "All I can tell you is that he may die within 24 hours. Before he dies, he will be tortured in pain. If a medical miracle allows him to survive, his entire appearance will be completely destroyed, and the rest of his life will be Very painful and vulnerable."

"I want to die right now," Mr. Kim repeated painfully. Nicole asked the Tiasuo robot to take out the "euthanasia agreement" and related documents.The agreement must be signed by the doctor involved in the treatment, the patient's family members and the patient himself, and the agreement must be approved by the doctor, and the patient can only implement it when he is awake to make a decision.After the Tias robot leaves, Nicole motions Ellie to go out with her. "What are you doing here?" Nicole asked Allie in a low voice after walking out of the ward. "I told you, you must stay home and rest. You have suffered a severe concussion."

"I'm fine, Mom," Ellie said. "I heard that Mr. King was badly burned. I want to help. He was a good friend of ours." "He has been burned out of shape, I believe he will not live long." Nicole said. Ellie reached out and grabbed her mother's arm: "He wanted to make his death worthwhile, and Mr. King talked to me...I have sent someone to find Amadou, but I need you to talk to Dr. Turner. " Nicole stared at her daughter in bewilderment. "What are you talking about?" "Do you remember Amadou Diaba? He was a friend of Eponina's, a Nigerian pharmacist, who contracted the RV-41 virus during a blood transfusion... Eponina said his heart was fast It will die."

Nicole was silent for a moment, unable to believe what she was hearing.Finally she said, "You want me to order Dr. Turner to do a heart transplant, right now, in this critical situation?" "If Dr. Turner decides now, the operation can be done tonight, can he? At least Mr. King's heart will be healthy then." "Ellie, look," Nicole said, "we didn't even know..." "I've checked." Ellie interrupted her mother. "A Tiaso robot has tested and confirmed that the heart donated by Mr. Jin is acceptable." Nicole shook her head again and said, "Okay, okay, I'll think about it. I think you should lie down and rest for a while, a concussion is nothing small." "What do you want me to do?" Robert Dr. Turner asked Nicole in bewilderment.

"Doctor Turner," said Amadou, "it is not Dr. Walkerfield who is begging you now, it is me, I am begging you. I beg you to perform this operation, please do not consider the risks. You also said that I live In just three months, I know very well that I may die on the operating table, but if the operation is successful and I survive, according to the statistics you gave me, I still have a 50% chance to live another 8 years, and I can still get married, Have a baby." Dr. Turner glanced at the clock on the wall. "Just a minute, Mr. Diaba. It's midnight and I've been working on burn patients for nine hours. I haven't had a heart transplant in five years. When this kind of surgery was done on Earth before, there were excellent equipment and the best cardiac surgery staff, for example, all the surgical work was done by robots."

"I understand that, Dr. Turner, but it's not quite like that. I'm sure I'll die without the operation, and maybe there won't be anyone who will donate a heart voluntarily." Ellie told me, getting ready for the new budget item , you have revisited all the steps in the heart transplant procedure." Dr. Turner looked at Allie in confusion. "My mother told me about your preparations for the new project, Dr. Turner, and I hope you don't mind me telling Amadou," Allie said. "I'll do my best to help you," Nicole added. "I've never had heart surgery myself, but I did a full course at the Heart Institute."

Dr. Turner looked around the room, first at Ellie, then at Amadou and Nicole: "I think the three of you didn't give me a choice, so this is the way to solve the problem?" "Have you decided to have an operation?" Ellie asked with the typical impulsiveness of a young man. "Let me try," said the doctor, walking towards Amadou and holding out his hands to him. "Do you really know that the chances of you waking up are pretty slim?" "Yes, sir. Dr. Turner, a little hope is better than no hope, thank you." Dr. Turner turned to Nicole. "We'll revisit the procedure in the office in a quarter of an hour...By the way, Dr. Walkerfield, can you ask the Tiasso robot to get us some fresh coffee?"

Before the operation, Dr. Turner and Dr. Walkerfield recorded all the surgical steps in detail.During the operation, they carefully checked the situation of each operation, and there were no accidents during the whole process.Ellie insists on staying in case she needs help.Dr. Turner took out Amadou's heart and showed Nicole and Ellie the extent of the damage: Armando's heart had been seriously infected with the virus, and he could not live for a month. An automatic pump keeps the patient's blood circulating until the new heart is connected to the main cardiovascular system.This is the most difficult and dangerous step in the operation.In Dr. Turner's previous experience, such resections were not performed manually. During the three years in New Eden, Dr. Turner performed a lot of major operations, which made his medical skills play well.He easily connected the new heart to Amadou's main cardiovascular system.The whole process went so smoothly that even he was surprised. Dr. Turner observed the patient carefully and asked Nicole if he saw any strange expression on Amadou's face. "Nothing but a smile," she replied. "I've never seen a smile like that on an anesthetized person." The operation was over, and the Tiaso robot reported that the patient was fully alive. Dr. Turner, Nicole, and Ellie were all exhausted, yet the three of them, overjoyed at the news, forgot their fatigue. The doctor invited two women to his office for coffee to celebrate the success of the operation.At that time, Turner did not realize that he had fallen in love with Ellie and would propose to her.Ellie was stunned!She looked at the doctor as if she didn't understand what he was talking about. Turner looked at Nicole, then turned to Ellie: "I know it's sudden, but I've made up my mind. I've been observing for a long time. I love you, and I want to marry you, as soon as possible." For a moment, the room was eerily quiet.The doctor walked over without a word, closed the door, and unplugged the telephone line.Ellie was about to say something. "No, don't say anything," Turner said emotionally. "I have to do something else first." The doctor sat down, took a deep breath, and said calmly, "I want to do something I've wanted to do for a long time, and you both deserve to know my real situation." Before Dr. Turner could begin to tell his story, tears were streaming down his face.He tried his best to restrain his emotions and not let the tears fall: "Before I was 35 years old, I was blindly optimistic and couldn't be happier. At that time, I was already one of the top few heart surgeons in the United States. I had a beautiful wife and two daughters, a two-year-old and a three-year-old I am deeply in love with my wife and daughter, and we live in a country club with a pool just north of Dallas, Texas. "One night, I came home from the hospital. It was late because I had just had a heart operation. When I got to the gate of the club, the security stopped me, whispering, as if I didn't know what to do. Then they picked me up. A phone call, after a few glances at me, let me go. "There were two police cars and an ambulance parked in front of my house. I was about to stop when a policeman let me out of the car. There were many spotlights from TV cameras around me. followed me into my room. "My wife was lying on a stretcher covered with a bed sheet. The stretcher was placed next to the corridor leading to the second floor. Someone had cut her throat. I heard someone talking upstairs, and I rushed up to have a look. I was stunned: I Both of my daughters were murdered. Christy was lying on the bathroom floor, Amanda was lying in bed. The bloody bastard cut their throats." At this point, Dr. Turner cried desolately: "I will never I can't forget that terrible scene, Amanda must have been killed in her sleep, except for the knife wound on her throat, she was fine... Who killed such an innocent child?" Dr. Turner's tears were streaming down like broken beads, his chest heaved with excitement, and he could speak no more.Allie walked quietly to him, sat down on the floor, and took his hand. "For the next five months I was numb, unable to work, unable to eat or drink. My friends, psychologists and other doctors tried to help me, but I was still devastated and could not accept the cruel fact that my family was killed. "The police have a suspect named Carl Tyson, a 23-year-old young black man, a grocery delivery man from a nearby supermarket. My wife usually does TV shopping and Carl Tyson has been to our house a few times before. , he is well aware of my family's situation. "I was in a trance after the incident, but I still knew something about the process of Linda's murder. Everything was so simple, and Carl Tyson's handprints were everywhere. He came to our club to deliver goods that afternoon, and most of Linda's Jewelry is missing, theft is the most obvious motive. I think after investigation, Tyson the suspect will be convicted and sentenced to death. "However, the situation suddenly changed. Carl Tyson's residence did not find a piece of jewelry; security checked the records, and he only stayed in Greenbulla for 20 minutes that day. In this short period of time, he could not complete the delivery, theft And the whole process of murdering three people. A well-known lawyer decided to defend Tyson and prepared a detailed confession for him. Tyson insisted that Linda asked him to help move the furniture that afternoon, which was left all over the room. The best explanation for his fingerprints." Having said that, Dr. Turner stopped with a look of pain on his face.Ellie rubbed his hand gently, and Turner continued: "On the day of the trial, the indictment was as follows: That afternoon Tyson came to my house with daily necessities. After talking with Linda, I learned that I had an operation that night, and I may be back late. My wife is a very friendly and trustworthy woman. , she probably chatted with the delivery boy and mentioned to him that I would be home late...According to the plaintiff's statement, Tyson came back after delivering the delivery. He climbed over the stone wall into the clubhouse and walked around the golf course Came to my house, plotting to steal Linda's jewels. He thought everyone in the house was asleep, and apparently Linda saw him, so in a fit of rage he murdered Linda and the two children, destroying the witnesses. "Despite the fact that no one saw Tyson return to the club for the second time, I believe the plaintiff's allegations are very convincing. The man was quickly proven guilty because he could not prove that he was not there at the time of the incident. The mud happened to be the same as the mud behind my house, and he didn't show up for work two days after the incident. Also, Tyson was arrested with a load of cash that he said he won from gambling. "The court began to defend, and I immediately had doubts about the judicial system in the United States. Tyson's lawyer turned the case into a racial discrimination dispute. He said that Tyson was an unfortunate poor black kid, and repeatedly emphasized that Tyson had All he did was walk up to my house and deliver. He said another person, a deranged person we didn't know, climbed over the fence and stole the jewelry and killed Linda and the two children. "In the last two days of the trial, I could see from the expressions and actions of the jury members that they were going to acquit Tyson. I lost my mind in anger. I was convinced that Tyson was the murderer of my loved ones. I Unbearable he will be acquitted. "The week before the final judgment was announced, I went to California. Ostensibly for a medical conference, I actually went there to buy a pistol on the black market that would fit in my medical bag. As As I expected, on the day of the sentencing, the security guard let me in without opening my bag. "Tyson was acquitted by the court, and there was an immediate uproar in the audience. All the black people cheered and chanted 'Long live, long live'. Carl Tyson and his Jewish lawyer Ayton Benster hugged each other, and I was ready to It was done—I opened my bag, took out my pistol, and rushed up and killed them." Dr. Turner took a deep breath and paused. "I've never admitted to doing anything wrong before, not even to myself. Yet when I was operating on Mr. Tebba, I saw clearly. How painful it is to have imprisoned one's emotions, one's heart all these years.. The brutality of revenge did not bring my wife and daughter back to me, nor did I feel happy. Only imagining Tyson and his The fleeting moment of perverted joy when a lawyer is about to die." With tears of remorse in his eyes, Dr. Turner looked at Ellie and said, "I know I'm not good enough for you, but I do love you, Ellie Walkerfield. I want you very much, I hope You can forgive me for the wrong things I did before." Ellie raised her head, looked at Dr. Turner, rubbed his hand and said slowly: "I don't know what romance is, because I have experienced it in my service. But I can really feel the wonderful feeling when I miss you .I admire you, respect you, and possibly love you. I will discuss it with my parents... Of course, if they don't object, I am willing to marry you."