Bianca awoke with a cough. Her mouth was dry and she was lying face down on some kind of operating table. There was a drip running into her arm and cool gel on her back as some sort of sensor was pressing between her shoulder blades.

He vision was still blurry but she could hear voices.

"...the wire is in place... Good nerve response... Lets start with the next one..." came a voice she recognised; the anonymous doctor.

"She's awake." said another voice somewhere else behind her head.

"Damn it. Inject her again!"

"No!" moaned Bianca as she felt a hand grip the back of her neck.

"Hold her still… Hold her still…"

A needle was injected into her shoulder and a numbness spread through her; a sedative. Bianca tried to fight it

"Now are we ready for the next incision..." she heard the doctor say before everything went black.

…

The next time Bianca opened her eyes there was a pillow under her head.

"Sweetheart, don't move."

Bianca groaned.

"Mom?"

"It's okay, just take it easy. They brought you back to me."

"No." exclaimed Bianca. A wave of nausea washed through her. "I'm sorry mom!"

She pulled herself to the edge of the bed and promptly vomited.

"Oh honey!" gasped Erica, stepping clear.

Bianca couldn't stop being sick.

Erica hammered on the door.

"There is something wrong!" she called. "Can you hear me out there, something is wrong with Bianca!"

Eventually the lock popped aside and the door opened.

The doctor stepped in and seeing her condition he hurried to Bianca's bedside. He felt her brow and turned angrily to an orderly.

"Bring me the antiemetic now and get him in here!"

Two guards entered, pushing before them a familiar figure.

"David!" gasped Erica. "What are you doing here?"

David Hayward was the last person Erica expected to see. It didn't look like his was a willing presence, his clothes were dishevelled and he had a bruise on his cheek.

"Ask your friends." David said bitterly. He pulled out of his minders grasp and moved closer to Bianca.

"I thought she had no reaction to your serum!" said the doctor injecting the anti-vomiting drug into Bianca's system.

"But you aren't using my serum." said David, taking in the dressings covering Bianca's body like a patchwork. "What are you doing to her?"

"We are treating her." said the doctor. "We need to understand her injury before we can help."

"Help." snipped Erica angrily. "You don't know the meaning of the word!"

"Cure then." said the doctor. "We aim to cure her totally with our serum. Only there seems to be a few flaws."

David glared at the doctor. It was becoming clear to him they had no idea what they were doing, but they also didn't seem too worried about ethics either. Admittedly David wasn't a man who could claim to take the high ground here; his own early experiments had been on, if not unwilling, at least unknowing victims.

"Because you don't know what you are dealing with!" David explained to the doctor. "There is a finesse with Orpheus. It is not one cure for all; you need to tailor it to your patient's needs."

The doctor sat back on his heels.

"That is why you are here. She was your patient, I'm certain you have other ideas on treatment."

"I'm not going to hurt her."

The doctor smiled.

"Officially she's already dead. You can't kill a dead woman," He patted David companionly on the hand, "But you can save her life."

David recoiled from his touch.

The doctor straightened up and left David in the room with Erica and Bianca.

"I'll leave you to think about it." the doctor said. "You can save two dead women or you can leave me with two bodies to experiment with as I desire. The choice is yours."

The door was slammed shut and the door locked.

David bent over to examine Bianca more thoroughly. She gave him a grateful smile but she still looked nauseous.

Erica sat on the edge of her bed and watched him.

"So can you help her?" Erica asked.

David examined the needle mark under the dressing on Bianca's neck and at the base of her spine.

"That all depends on what the hell they have been doing to her." he said.

…