Nano Contestant - Episode 1: Whatever It Takes Read Online Free PDF Page A

wearing hospital scrubs. His hair was pulled back in a pony tail. He set an old defibrillator down on the floor next to the operating table. “I check ‘fibrillator this morning. Good charge.” Then he straightened his posture and pretended to be an emergency room doctor. He rubbed the paddles together and then stuck out his arms towards Roland. “Clear!”
    Roland put up his hands to stop him. “Not yet! After the procedure!”
    Ivan guffawed loudly and put the paddles back onto the device. “I just joking! Funny! Da?”
    Skylar crossed her arms. “That wasn’t funny.”
    “Da! That very funny! You white as ghost!” Ivan pointed at her. “Pretty girl need to relax.”
    Skylar still looked cross. “I’m just fine.”
    Ivan turned to Roland. “Her need vodka, then her relax. Ok, You ready? Buckle all three seat belts.”
    “Ok.” Roland buckled the belt around his waist and his chest. Skylar buckled the last one which pinned his arms to his body and the chair.
    Ivan came over to inspect the buckles. “These need to be tighter.” Before Skylar or Roland could respond, he grabbed the tail end of each buckle and yanked even tighter. Roland’s shoulders turned white as the circulation was cut to a minimum.
    Skylar took a step towards Roland. “Roland, are you ok?”
    Roland wheezed a little. “It’s hard to breathe.”
    “Hard to breathe?” Ivan clapped his hands. “Da! That perfect. You not want to move during procedure.”
    Skylar eyed Ivan suspiciously but stepped back.  
    Ivan moved quickly to set up his equipment. He performed each step confidently, never wasting an ounce of effort. He mounted a brace on the back of the L-shaped chair, which then extended over Roland’s head and was supported on Roland’s shoulders. He extended leather straps down from the top of the brace that buckled under Roland’s chin. “These make sure your head not move during procedure. You move, you go blind, Da?”
    “Mm-hmm,” was all Roland could get out.
    Ivan looked at the restraint settings carefully. “Can you move now?”
    “No,” Roland said through clenched teeth.”
    “Ok, we make a little tighter just to be sure, Da?” Ivan cranked each of the straps down one more notch. Roland’s face was scrunched together from the straps. Ivan looked the straps over again, but this time he smiled. “Da! Much better. Ivan make sure you not move now. Ivan always take good care of paying customers.”
    Skylar grimaced as she surveyed Roland’s restraints.
    “Ok, we almost ready!” Ivan set a large robotic arm on the table across from Roland. He extended the clamps from the base and cranked them down onto the table. He gave it a test shove to make sure it was secure. It didn’t budge. Next, he hooked up two wires to Roland’s neck.
    Skylar pointed to the wires. “What are those for?”
    “Vitals. Wires monitor vital signs.” Ivan turned towards the blank wall of the room and barked several commands in Russian to his computer system. There were two short beeps and then the center of the wall showed a camera view that was attached to the end of the robotic arm. All around the video feed were readouts showing Roland’s heart rate, blood pressure, body electrical conductivity and several other signals.
    “Ok, where is serum you want delivered?”
    Skylar opened the container on the table. “Right here. He needs four hundred milligrams. It has to be delivered at a rate of one hundred milligrams per minute.”
    Ivan took out a syringe package and held it up for Skylar and Roland to see. “See? You pay for new needle. Ivan delivered. You always trust Ivan!”
    Skylar looked at the package they had paid an extra two hundred dollars for. She wasn’t sure what Ivan’s alternative to the sterile syringe was or that she even wanted to know, but she did feel it was money well spent.
    Ivan put on a pair of latex gloves and then attached the needle to the end of the robotic arm. Then he went over to his keyboard and hit