"Tell me one more time, where did you get this body?" Betty looked at the man before us, Finn quietly watching in the corner; his guilt consumed him, and he covered half of his face with his hand holding deep onto his chin.
"A family nearby donated him — For science," I said.
"Donated? Science? Your majesty, I don't mean to be imprudent, but did you steal another body?"
Finn's eyebrows went to the roof. There was much he didn't know about me, and this moment proved it even further.
"Yes, Donated"
"Mmmhm," she questioned me, making a single sound as she put her hands on her hips.
"Finn was there too. Ask him"
She quickly turned to Finn. he organized his stance.
"Scouts honor," he said, doing a cross where his heart should be.
"Fine, but this better not turn into another Frankenstein situation."
Betty's skepticism lingered in the air like a thick fog as she watched me set up the operation table, her expression a mix of concern and suspicion. Finn, sensing the tension, remained silent in the corner, his guilt weighing heavily upon him like a cloak of shadows.
With practiced precision, I began the autopsy, my hands steady despite the weight of Betty's scrutiny. As we dissected the man's body, revealing the secrets hidden within, the truth of his condition unfolded before us.
"He was relatively healthy," I began, my voice steady as I examined the heart encased in stone. "Except for this."
Betty's eyes widened in astonishment as she observed the anomaly, her skepticism melting away in the face of undeniable evidence. Finn, too, leaned in for a closer look, his earlier doubts replaced by a somber understanding.
"It's the heart," I explained, my tone grave. "It's turned to stone."
A heavy silence descended upon the room as we processed the implications of our discovery. The man's heart, once the source of life within him, was now a cold, unyielding mass incapable of sustaining him any longer.
"It couldn't withstand the strain," I continued my voice barely above a whisper. "The infection took hold, and his heart simply gave out."
Betty's gaze softened, her earlier skepticism replaced by a solemn acceptance of the harsh truth before us. Finn, too, seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation, his earlier guilt tempered by the knowledge that we had done all we could.
As we closed the man's chest, sealing his fate within him, a sense of closure settled over the room. Though the outcome was not what we had hoped for, we had fulfilled our duty to him. We had now a better idea of what this was doing to people and how it affected their daily lives.
With one final glance at the man lying before us, we silently paid our respects.
"Let's not let this be in bane" said Betty
"How can I help" Finn followed.
"We better get to work then" my lips curved upwards.
We prepped the body and began our experimentations, if this whole experience thought me something was that we had a timer at hand, their hards quite literally could become stone as we speak, at least the older people, its hard to discern what this did to younger people, or people borned with this condition. They might have adapted through out the years as their younger bodies grew, and they might not be at risk at all, but we couldnt risk it. I couldn't risk it.
Finn began growing clone parts and separating them into more complex mutations with a more prominent rock formations, when suddently it hit me, I grabbed the cobblers blood and began multipliying it, i started making generation after generation of his blood, before i knew it i was over a hundred generations down, a cure of sorts.
I couldn't take away the illness, but i could make it berable, somehow the cubbler developed a mutation that allowed him to use the mutation at his advantage, his skin had become stronger without any of the side effects, he was patient 0 for a new and stronger race. One that didn't need us to survive. One that was physically unkillable.
I turned it into a vaccine, the only problem was the delivery, if we learned something from taking the blood was that there was only one delivery method, we also needed a guinea pig to try it and make sure it works. Now this part has to be fun, how would we find someone to try the vaccine for the first time and also let us basically stab them in the eye to deliver the cure?