The medical evacuation helicopter thundered overhead as Maya watched the paramedics secure James onto a stretcher. The neurologist had arrived first, her preliminary examination confirming Maya's worst fears—James had suffered severe auditory trauma.
Maya couldn't hear the helicopter, but she felt its vibrations through the concrete beneath her feet. Her world had gone strangely dim, Verne's sonic blast having temporarily disrupted the neural pathways that created her synesthetic vision. The colors that usually accompanied her perception of the world had faded to muted tones, as if someone had drained the saturation from her reality.
"Dr. Chen, we need to examine you too," a paramedic signed awkwardly, clearly having minimal ASL knowledge but making the effort. Maya nodded numbly, her ey
