Stell felt sick.

“Remarkable, isn’t he?”

He turned to find an average-looking man tugging off a pair of blood-slicked gloves. Behind round glasses, the doctor’s deep-set eyes were bright, pupils dilated with the pleasure of discovery.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” demanded Stell.

“Learning,” said the doctor.

“You’re torturing him.”

“We’re studying him.”

“While he’s conscious.”

“Necessarily,” said the doctor with a patient smile. “Mr. Cardale’s regenerative abilities render any anesthesia useless.”

“Then what’s with the mask?”

“Ah,” said the doctor, “one of my more genius moments, that. You see, we cannot anesthetize him, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dampen his functions a little. The mask is part of an oxygen deprivation system.

It reduces the breathable air to twenty-five percent. It’s taking all of his regenerative ability to stave off the damage done by starving the cells, which buys us a bit more time on the rest of the body before it heals.”

Stell stared at Eli’s chest as it struggled to rise and fall. From this angle, Stell could almost see his heart.

“We’ve never come across an EO like Mr. Cardale,” continued the doctor. “His ability—if we find a way to harness it—could revolutionize medicine.”

“EO abilities can’t be harnessed,” said Stell. “They aren’t transferable.”

“Yet,” said the doctor. “But if we could understand—”

“Enough,” said Stell, transfixed by the sight of Eli’s ruined body.

“Tell them to stop.”

The doctor frowned. “If they take out the clamps, he’ll heal, and we’ll have to start all over again. I really must insist—”

“What’s your name?”

“Haverty.”

“Well, Dr. Haverty. I’m Director Stell. And I’m officially discontinuing this experiment. Make them stop, or lose your job.”

The sick smile slid from Haverty’s face. He pulled a microphone from the viewing room wall and clicked it on.

“Terminate the session,” he ordered the surgeons still in the room.

The men and women hesitated.

“I said—terminate it,” repeated Haverty curtly.

The surgeons began to methodically remove the various pins and clamps from Eli’s open chest cavity. The moment they were gone, the tension in the EO’s body began to recede. His back sank to the metal table, and his hands unclenched, the color returning to his limbs as his body put itself back together. Ribs cracked into place. Skin settled and fused. The lines of his face smoothed. And his breathing, while still labored (they left the mask on), began to even.

The only sign that something horrific had happened was the sheer quantity of blood left pooling on the table and floor.

“Are you happy now?” grumbled Dr. Haverty.

“I’m a long way from happy,” said Stell, storming out of the observation room. “And you, Dr. Haverty—you’re fired.”

* * *

“PUT your forehead against the wall and your hands through the gap.”