Parasite Eve by Hideaki Sena Read Free Book Online Page A

kidney transplants. At the moment of collision, She
gauged the most precise timing to apply the brakes. She held back Kiyomi’s
abdomen with all Her strength to prevent it from lurching forward, fixing both
of her hands on the steering wheel to protect against peripheral injury. Kiyomi’s
forehead struck the steering wheel. She could tell skull fragments had pierced
the brain. Every time She thought of that moment, She felt a shiver if
excitement. Kiyomi would die, but She would live. Forever.
        Kiyomi’s kidneys were to be
transplanted into two patients. Ideally, at least one of them would be female
and the process would be complete. Toshiaki would perform the primary culture
as planned. She’d already induced such thoughts in him without his knowing.
        Toshiaki.
        She imagined his figure and
Her body twisted slightly. It was almost time. Her entire being trembled. She
remembered Toshiaki’s voice, his expressions, the warmth of his body. She’d
been waiting for a man like him. He was the only human being who could
appreciate and understand who She truly was. She refused to let go of such
perfection.
        She would become one with
him.
        An acrid excitement sent Her
into convulsions. And as Kiyomi’s blood pressure made its rapid decline, She
surrendered Herself to the afterglow of Her bliss.
       
        When Yoshizumi and staff
received word that blood pressure had dropped to 50, they returned to the ICU
once again. An hour had lapsed since the catheter insertion. The assistants set
up a number of Ringer’s solution bottles, to which perista pumps were
connected. After ensuring that the catheter was in position, Yoshizumi inflated
its two balloons with clean air to intercept blood flow.
        At Yoshizumi’s signal, his
assistants ran the pump. Cold perfusate passed through the catheter at a
precisely calculated rate. Yoshizumi placed his hands on the side of the donor’s
chest to verify that it was flowing properly.
        The human body has a main
abdominal artery and vein through which a great amount of blood flows. The
arteries which supply blood to the kidneys extend from this main artery.
Similarly, the kidney veins are linked to the abdominal vein. The abdominal
artery and vein each fork out in the lower abdominal region and continue into
both legs. The balloon-tip catheter had been inserted up through this lower
arterial branch to reach the kidney extension, and the balloons then inflated
to interrupt blood flow in the abdominal artery. At this point, a coolant, or
perfusate, was sent through the catheter tube. There were minute holes in the
tube between the balloons so that the perfusate could seep through into the
abdominal artery. Since the artery was blocked above and below by the balloons,
the perfusate flowed directly into the kidneys. The donor’s kidneys were
swiftly cooled and simultaneously flushed of blood. After the perfusate passed
through, it traveled into the kidney veins and on to the lower abdominal vein,
where it was recovered by the perfusion device and sent back in.
        The fresher the kidney, the
better. Compared to kidneys extracted from brain-dead donors, heart-failure
donor’s organs were inevitably less viable given the period of blood
deprivation. To save the kidneys from such damage, it had become standard
procedure to introduce a perfusate through the artery to rapidly cool the
kidneys upon heart failure. Cooling them before they were extracted improved
their chance of staying alive in their recipients. With the donor’s family’s
consent, it was even possible to begin the procedure prior to heart failure.
        One of the assistants
reported the perfusion rate at regular intervals while another monitored the
donor’s heart rate. Her skin turned pale and cold from lack of blood flow. It
was forty minutes since the perfusion began. Her heart stuttered, reducing her
pulse to a hush.
        “Please call in the family,” Yoshizumi
said