Chapter 14
Upon following Karin through the door in the room and entering the lab—or "office-lab" like her medical unit aboard the Normandy, only this was much larger and had four doors connected to it, a pair on each side of the rectangular room….And between the doors were tables with computers, microscopes varying in size from small to large and increasingly complex with dials and knobs, lenses and stages with clips….Braith shook her head at the typical "confusion" she felt whenever she looked in such crowded lab spaces….Somewhere among it all was Karin's desk, and by the door where Braith and she had come, a control unit in the wall—a very obtrusive, "sensitive" piece of equipment that extended from the floor to the wall, which made the object appear immovable, screwed-down, permanent….Likely this connected to whatever was used in Braith's former "exam" room….She saw Karin pick up a clear, see-through bag of cellophane from off a chair behind the desk in the middle of the room, and handed this to Braith….Inside she could see a set of folded white clothes.
Braith crinkled the bag in her hands, gazing about the closed room and seeing no useful indications of whether the results, images, tests had been left out for her to catch a glimpse of so as to understand what Karin's work on her was revealing to the other woman, "….I take it you're not going to let us leave for a while," Karin passed her a set of white slippers, also wrapped in cellophane.
She looked at the slippers she gathered to her growing pile, "….Yes," Karin wiped her eyes with a tissue she removed from a box on her desk, to make sure she had blotted the wetness from these, "….you'll have to stay with us for a time, Shepard—I don't know about your friend—but you'll be with people you'll remember, people who are fond of you and will be….Prepare yourself, Braith," Karin lifted her face, blinking her eyes and sniffing as she gave her a wan smile, "….they'll be surprised and emotional like me, blubbering and tearing-up helplessly over seeing you again."
Braith took the slippers and clothes and set these onto the "sensitive" equipment nearby, dropping it more or less onto the keyboard and inadvertently activating a few screen images after she turned to take Karin into a hug, "….Come on, Doc," she noticed Karin glance behind her, "….No more tears….I can't think how many times you've ever cried in front of me….except when we broke open that Serrice Ice Brandy and toasted Joker."
Karin looked long at Braith's face….Her hands came up to pet her hair and hold Braith in her palms, her fingers squeezing her freckled cheeks and feeling the roots of her black hair, "….I've aged terribly since the Reaper War, Shepard, my hair's gone white….Knowing you and Anderson were on that station when…." Her eyes became glassy again, "….We watched it break apart," her voice cracked into a whisper, "….You….I can't believe you're here, really….and….dare I hope….Anderson?…." Braith shook her head, and Karin started to nod—rather jerkily, "….I knew hoping for him, too, would be….too much to pray for, but…." Braith pulled her in again for a longer embrace, allowing Karin to whisper thanks for her sacrifices, and Braith started to cry herself.
Rubbing her back, Braith signaled a minute later that they needed to part and collect themselves, "….Tears are good and all, but let's keep it together, Doc."
As she drew away from Karin, she started to turn to pick up her clothes and slippers, "….We reasoned you and Anderson had suffered from the failures of the Citadel's systems—Life Support, gravity, basic operations that are essential to the station's preserving any surv—" She saw Braith move towards the imaging unit against the wall, picking up her packs of attire and staring at the screen, "….Shepard?"
"I think my socks have pressed something," Braith was glued to the screen by her eyes, "….What is that an image of?"
Karin stepped up next to her to see the screen better, taking the clothes and slippers away from the keyboard—and Braith's hands, "….It's you, Shepard….Your womb, to be accurate."
Braith stared at the visual of her uterus, the small spec inside its borders "traveling" it seemed in three distinct images, "….What is that thing?…."
"It's the fetus," Karin pointed and circled all three with her fingernail, "….It looks a bit like a dark spot with a tail…."
"It has a tail?…." Karin nodded….Braith felt a surreal sense of horror as she looked at the images, then her gaze hooked on another series behind the top layer, "….Those don't look like an MRI, X-ray, or 'Biotic Energy Map'…." She could not place the next few images under the first row containing the contents of her uterus, and reached to tap on these with her nail clicking against the screen's glass.
"No, Shepard, they're none of those, well, those are…." Karin leaned around her to bring up the images using the keyboard, hitting a cursor and selecting the carriage-return, "….This is a WAV scan….I was having trouble finding what I needed to understand about your….heartbeat….You have what is typical and not—Between your heart's pulse, I've detected another rhythm, and it was affecting my sensors so I brought you here," she pointed to the doorway from which they'd come, "….That, in there, is a room meant for testing varying levels of light, color and wavelengths, on subjects….As you must know," she raised an eyebrow, "….light has an effect on neurons….While I was scanning you upon intake, I detected your body reacting to a fluctuation coinciding with a shuttle bulb that was failing on and off….Your heartbeat actually fluctuated with it….It was an inkling, but I couldn't help noticing that when the lights flickered, your pulse, or the one in between your heart's pulses, changed with it….As an experiment I ran this WAV test against your body's reaction to several normal stimuli of light, with increasing and decreasing frequencies, patterns, hues, et cetera," she pointed to what appeared to be an "inkblot" of scattered stars on a blue background, "….I found that you are giving off a second pulse, and in it, you are transmitting lightwaves, Shepard," Karin looked right at her, her voice lowering with a tinge of awe, "….When I readjusted the WAV feedback, quite incidentally, mind you, I ran into an interesting result….Your body produced a new series of lightwaves, which is what these images represent….Blue light amplifies your responses by these waves that are coming from your heartbeat…." Karin passed through five more visuals on screen, hitting the keyboard's cursor with her middle finger rapidly, her fingers dancing across the keys, "….Since I've only had you here for twelve hours—"
"Twelve?…." Braith shook her hair with her hand running through it, "….I thought I was feeling kind of hungry," she smiled at Karin's look.
"Pay close attention, Shepard, I know this kind of input bores you, especially when it's about your own body….I'll feed you and your 'boyfriend' soon….I've had some time to play around, simulating different patterns in the Light WAV Engine in a 'give and take' here with this color patterning," she pointed to the door they'd entered by again, "….and it's clear that your heart has a direct connection—a reaction, so to speak, to the colors of light I pass to you….See here," she brought up more images on screen, these outlining Braith's heart rates to varying degrees of WAV tests, with different hues and frequencies applied, "….With a simple play of the variables, I was able to alter your heart's rate, and here is an actual EKG….You can see that these lines—these spikes—correlate to this chart, an actual EEG, and the color here….When I changed the light to blue, your body stopped issuing the patterns and you were….What shall I call it….at peace?…." Karin straightened, "….When you were given the yellow waves, your body breached levels of a response that were close to those at which you began to manifest signals of an impending seizure….Braith, your 'medicine' could be this light therapy treatment by the colors corresponding to your own, a theory of optogenetics….Like having an answering wavelength of color you somehow produce returned to you—"
"What?…." Braith stepped back, "….You're going to point a flashlight at me with the color blue coming out of it to treat my seizures?…." She put her finger on the cursor and moved the highlighting-box on screen over the images, moving several forward as she had watched Karin do so, "….That's weird," she studied the increasing activity denoted in the images, ebbing and increasing with each different measure of color and light pattern as indicated by the labels under each test-box's parameters.
Karin handed her clothes and slippers to her again, "….We should discuss this later, Shepard….Your friend's getting antsy….I can hear him growling in the other room on my mic," she tapped her earlobe to indicate the nodule in her ear, and Braith grasped the clothes from Karin's passing these to her.
"Keep me in on everything, Karin," Braith looked away from the screen, "….I assume I'll be in on this all, correct?"
"You will be."
"Maybe the reason I lived is right there, trying to communicate through me," Braith glanced back at the images on-screen.
She started to break open the cellophane and unfold the pants, shirt, and paper-thin underwear, which she made a face at as she held it up to examine, "….You'll have to give up the moonshine, Shepard," she could hear Karin's disapproving tone, "….I heard it's Stolych's Moonshine, your 'weapon of choice' these days?"
"I've been living a simple life in Colorado for the past five years and until now, there's been no other option for handling the seizures," Braith started to dress, shedding the John to the floor, "….I don't know how it works, but the alcohol seems to—"
"Knock you out?"
"Not exactly, but I stop the seizures with it, and then I drink more because….I just want to forget…." She looked up at Karin standing over her as she bent to pull on her slippers, "….I've picked up painting—
"Yes," Karin grinned mutely, "….Kaidan mentioned a 'mural' of sorts in your home?….Shepard," as Braith stood and pulled on her shirt next, Karin's voice came through with concern, "….since you're pregnant, you will have to stop drinking."
Braith looked down and up from the slippers she was wriggling her toes in, "….I'm not having any more if you've got something better for me, Karin," she indicated the screen with her hand, "….The moonshine was a fix, but not a permanent solution."
Braith looked to the door next-over from the one to her exam room, "….We can give you a medication to help with the seizures, Braith, until I figure out how to use the light and color treatment I have in mind on you," Karin furrowed her brow, noting where Braith was looking, "….but before you go in to see him, what do you intend to tell him?"
"I'm going to tell him everything," Braith plucked her shirt and looked at her, "….Maybe it's not his, but, damn….What if it's—"
Karin nodded, "….It's his….I can test again for you both to be certain….We'd need another sample from him, one that's—"
Braith shook her head, "….I don't know if he'd want," Of course, he would….He'd do it for me, just like he's here for me….She looked at Karin, "….Let's see him…." She closed her eyes and sighed, "….I'll see him…." Karin nodded again, went by her to the second door, and opened it with her scankey from her labcoat pocket.
The door went wide and Casnar got off the table, turned towards Braith who had entered first….His eyes locked hard on the doctor behind her, and he strode abruptly for her with intense seething in his eyes—Braith put up her hand, "….Stop."
He slowed and stood still, Braith coming forward to put her hand against his chest, smoothing it up over the cotton to his collar and beyond that, into his tebris….His glare switched from Karin to Braith's face, and she could see Casnar seeing her, calming from her touch, "….What happened to us?….Are you okay?…." His eyes had already taken in her white uniform and footwear.
Braith nodded and shrugged, "….Fine, all things considered," with a glance at Karin, "….It's been interesting, I only woke a few minutes before you did, Casnar….My room's through that mirror," she nodded to the window-mirror, and it was a one-way from here—The room and them reflected back in its surface, and Casnar glanced at the mirror with lowered eyeridges, back to Braith's face, "….Casnar, I think I'm going to be staying here for a while—"
"I'm not going anywhere without you."
She stared, "….I don't know how long I'll be here….Don't you have a business to run?….Mechanic, overalls, the garage…." He shrugged, taking his hand and placing it over hers against his neck….Karin saw the gesture and noted it on a clipboard in the other room.
"I can go back when you do," Braith smiled at the warmth of his palm over the back of her hand, twining his fingers through hers, pulling it down between them, "….Cherry Lake loses a mechanic for a week or two…."
"Casnar, there's something in me….Not to freak you out, but the way these things go—"
"What's in you?…." She shook her head….
"I don't know—We don't know yet," she turned her face to Karin in the other room to include her in that grouping, "….but it causes me to react to certain lights and colors….Karin's thinking of treating me with what she's learning from these tests she's run…." She pushed her hand over her hair, flattening the glossy strands to her scalp as she looked down at her flat stomach between them, Casnar trying to see her face to understand what was going through her mind that she wasn't telling him yet, "…..You and I have something we need to talk about…." She caught Karin's surreptitious glance, and gazed sheepishly up at his emerald eyes, "….Casnar, what would you say if I told you I'm pregnant?"