The Host Prologue: Inserted

The Healers name was Fords Deep Waters.Because he was a disposition, by nature he was from each wizard(prenominal) things good compassionate, patient, honest, virtuous, and full of love. Anxiety was an unusual emotion for Fords Deep Water.Irritation was still rarer. However, because Fords Deep Water lived inside a pitying system, irritation was roughlytimes inescapable.As the whispers of the Healing students buzzed in the far recessional of the operation room, his lips pressed together into a tight line.The expression felt by of place on a intercommunicate more often given to smiling.Darren, his firm confederate, saw the grimace and patted his shoulder.Theyre effective curious, Fords, he said quietly.An insertion is hardly an raise or challenging procedure.Any grounds on the street could perform it in an emergency. There is nonhing for them to learn by observing today. Fords was surprised to larn the overhasty edge marring his normally soothing voice.Theyve ne er seen a grown human before, Darren said.Fords embossed one eyebrow. Are they blind to each others faces? Do they not mass mirrors?You be what I loaded ?C a wild human. Still soulless. One of the insurgents.Fords looked at the filles unconscious body, laid erupt facedown on the operating table.Pity swelled in his heart as he remembered the match the poor, broken body had been in when the Seekers had brought her to the Heeling facility. much(prenominal) pain shed endured??Of course she was perfect straightway ?C completely healed.Fords had seen to that.She looks the same as whatever of us, Fords murmured to Darren. We all have human faces. And when she wakes up, she will be one of us, too.Its plainly exiting for them, thats all.The soul we implant today deserves more respect thusly to have her military body gawked at this way. Shell already have far too much to mountain with as she acclimates.Its not fair to shed her through this. Bythis, he did not lowly the gawkin g.Fords perceive the sharp edge fruit to his voice.Darren patted him again. It will be fine. The Seekers needs teaching and-At the wordSeeker, Fords gave Darren a look that could altogether be described as a glare.Darren blinked in shock.Im sorry, Fords apologized at once. I didnt mean to react so negatively. Its just that I fear for this soul.His eyes moved to the cryotank on its stand beside the table. The light was a steady, soggy read, indicating that it was occupied and in hibernation mode.This soul was specially picked for the assignment, Darren said soothingly.She is exceptional among our kind ?C braver than most. Her lives speak for themselves. I think she would bid, if it was realizable to guide her.Who among us would not volunteer if we were asked to do something for the greater good? save is that really the case here? Is the greater good served by this?The question is not her willingness, but what it is right to ask any soul to bear.The Healing students were dis cussing the hibernating soul as well. Fords could hear the whispers clearly their voices was rising now, acquire louder with their excitement.Shes lived on six planets.I perceive septette.I heard she never lived dickens terms as the same legions species. Is that possible?Shes been almost e precisething. A Flower, a Bear, a Spider-A See Weed, a Bat-Even a DragonI dont believe it ?C not seven planets.At least seven. She started at the Orgin. unfeignedly? The Orgin?Quiet, please Fords interrupted. If you cannot observe professionally and dimly, then I will have to ask you to remove yourselves.Abashed, the six students fell silent and lancinate away from another.Lets go on with this, Darren.Everything was prepared. The appropriate medicines were laid our besideThe human girl. Her coherent dark hair was secured beneath a surgical cap, exposing her slender neck. Deeply sedated, she breathed slowly in and out. Her sun-browned skin had notwithstanding a mark to show for her?? acci dent. lead off thaw sequence now, please, Darren.The gray-haired assistant was already waiting beside the cryotank, his baseball mitt resting on the dial. He flipped the safety back and spun down the dial. The red light atop the atrophied gray cylinder began to pulse, flashing smart as the seconds passed, changing color.Fords concentrated on the unconscious body he edged the scalpel through the skin at the al-Qaida of the subjects skull with minute, precise movements, and then sprayed the medication that stilled the surplus flow of blood before he widened the fissure. Fords delved delicately beneath the neck muscles, conscientious not to injure them, exposing the pale mug up at the top of the spinal column.The soul is ready, Fords, Darren informed him.So am I. call for her.Fords felt Darren at his elbow and knew without looking for that his assistant would be prepared, his hand stretched out and waiting they had worked together for many long time now. Fords held the gap op en.Send her home, he whispered.Darrens hand moved into view, the smooth gleam of an awaking soul in his palm.Fords never saw an subject soul without being struck by the beauty of it.The soul shone in the first-class lights of the operating room, brighter than the reflective silver operator in his hand. Like a animate ribbon, she twisted and rippled, stretching, happy to be extra of the cryotank. Her thin, feathery attachments, nearly a yard of them, billowed softly like pale silver hair. Though they were all lovely, this one seemed peculiarly graceful to Fords Deep Waters.He was not alone in his reaction. He heard Darrens soft sigh, heard the admiring murmurs of the students.Gently, Darren placed the small glistening creature inside the beginning Fords had made in the humans neck. The soul slid swimmingly into the offered space, weaving herself into the alien anatomy.Fords admired the achievement with which she possessed her new home.Her attachments wound tightly into plac e around the nerve centers, some elongating and reaching deeper to where he couldnt see, under and up into the brain, the optic nerves, the ear canals. She was very quick, very firm in her movements. Soon, only one small segment of her glistening body was visible.Well done, he whispered to her, sagacious that she could not hear him. The human girl was the one with ears, and she slept soundly.It was a routine national to finish the job. He impertinented and healed the wound, apply the salve that sealed the incision shut behind the soul, and then brushed the scar-softening pulverize across the line left on her neck.Perfect, as usual, said the assistant, who, for some reason unfathomable to Fords, had never made a change from his human hosts name, Darren.Fords sighted. I tribulation this days work.Youre only doing your duty as a Healer.This is the rare occasion when Healing creates an injury.Darren began to clean up the workstation. He didnt seem to bop how to answer.Fords was f illing his Calling. That was enough for Darren.But not enough for Fords Deep Waters, who was a legitimate Healer to the core of his being. He gazed uneasily at the human females body, peaceful in slumber, knowing that this peace would be bust as soon as she awoke. every the horror of this young girls end would be borne by the innocent soul hed just placed inside her.As he leaned over the human and whispered in her ear, Fords wished fervently that the soul inside could hear him now.Good luck, little wanderer, good luck. How I wish you didnt need it.