Snippet #2686284

Rosemary put on her latex gloves and wired James up to the machine which monitored heart rate and blood pressure, as well as sticking an electrode to the back of his neck to monitor brain activity. In the case of an emergency -- for instance, if he was to enter a depth of dream state that risked irretrievability -- a loud alarm would sound. In theory, it would wake the others who were in lighter dream states, providing that they too hadn't gone into emergency state. Rosemary shook her head slightly, pushing away the anxieties. It hadn't happened to her before and was extremely unlikely to happen today, particularly when the venom was so weak.

She took the maggot in her tweezers. She registered James' anxious expression as she placed the maggot on his skin and knew he was already anticipating the pain. She couldn't remember the exact feeling, but she knew it was horrible. You could feel the pain of the venom making its way through your blood vessels with a deep ache. The maggot bit down and James winced. "Sorry," Rosemary said, placed it back in the dish before injecting him with the sedative. She watched as he went under, his face relaxing. The monitor readings were all normal.

"Right," she said, turning to Ben. She concentrated on the machine to avoid making eye contact, feeling suddenly shy. Or perhaps she was afraid of what she would see in his gaze. She knew this was his first time going into a dream for a while too and she didn't want to see anxiety in him. She needed him to be confident to reassure her. She clipped the pulse oximeter onto his finger and the peeled the backing tape from the sticky pad for the electrode. "Lean forward," she said and gently pressed the electrode to the back of his neck, at the base of his skull. His skin was warm against her fingertips.

She took a deep breath and turned to get the maggot. She finally met his eye. "Are you ready?"