[The Place of Purging] [Flashback] Autopsy (Poison)

[Dhalvasha]

Winter 6, 501 AV

Silence had a sound, contrary to popular opinion, and the idea that true emptiness and silence actually existed was a foolish notion. If the world had proved anything since and before the Valterrian, it was that something is always happening, moving, changing, dying, living. Spiders crawl up the pale walls with the eerie scuttle of a half-heard noise, and beyond the sterile rooms there were travelers and citizens both...they could not be pressed to be silent even if they desired. Their muscles made noises to move, their chests expanded and deflated with the same hint of change. Nothing was truly at rest, as it only waited to be acted upon.

Dhalvasha stood over the body of a recently deceased surrogate. Her stomach showed the sunken signs of organ degeneration and it was likely true that the newborn's poison had spread throughout her body at this point. Sighing, Dhalvahsa closed his eyes to remember that he was lucky to have the body at all.

It would have been more prudent to consume the corpse, live with the sustenance or even allow the child to finish the job of its first meal...a macabre practice, but one simplistically renewing and strangely intimate in nature. The mother will live on as part of the child, consisting of its first meal.

Placing his index claw on the woman's abdomen, he traced a line from just below her ribs to her groin, pressing just enough to leave a line. Humans had thicker skin than some of the other races, requiring he be careful when cutting her.

Starting from the traced line, Dhalvasha pushed his sharpened claws through the skin and sawed at the epidermis. Ordinarily one might use a knife, but the Symenstra believed that he had been given all the necessary tools for an autopsy by virtue of his birth. In the dim light his eyes blazed like coals, twin suns of hungry interest drinking in his progress.

He was approaching the edge of being a novice in medicine, learning things about Symenstra bodies and often the bodies of other races (Through virtue of the Harvest) piqued an interest in him that could not be sated. Some had disdained his progress, finding little use in a Symenstra male that could not hunt on his own. Certainly it was something that bothered him, but only as an afterthought.

Life was an experiment and should it require him to take up the bow and fell a cave spider or something, he'd set himself to that task. For now though, his interests lay solely in this beautiful creature in front of him.

Of course he'd glean precious little from her, the venom always made autopsies difficult, but one could not complain lest the next dead body be their own.

Pressing against the line, his claws needled into the flesh and sawed toward her groin. The smell that rose from her, the venom cooking and liquifying her insides was almost too much, Dhalvasha held his breath and narrowed his eyes. Unidentifiable sludge oozed from the wound he made, an organic mess he'd have to clean up later.

Still sawing with practiced precision (Or as practiced as he could be with such a basic understanding of fighting and cutting unarmed), Dhalvasha slowed his progress to allow the cuts to be more complete, the incision vital.

She lay before him, her body opened, her modesty exposed. The remnants of organic structures clustered against the bones like rotting boats, bloated and pale colored in the wake of her death. Dhalvasha sneered distastefully, almost tasting her taint against the tangible odor.

Sighing, he stepped back, wiping his claws on a bit of fabric before picking up his empty book and inscribing carefully. He noted the same skeletal structure has he had in other humans, lamenting the lack of organs to classify. Still, it was likely her brain would still be intact...though he hadn't the tools necessary to crack a skull.

"Vicious little parasites, Symenstra children," he murmured to himself, writing the advanced state of decay into his case notes, "Instinct always outweighs love in our cases, much to your misfortune my dear."

Talking to a corpse, but not so strange as it used to be. Sometimes the lack of interaction was too much, suffocating in its close proximity, and Dhalvasha created a means to escape it, albeit at the expense of sounding mad.

Reaching down, he took one of her limp arms, noting that while one felt loose beneath the skin, the other held some basic musculature structure left. Excited, Dhalvasha set the book aside and cut into her arm, barely slicing the layers of skin to expose the lattice muscle strands clinging to the bone.

The complexity of how the muscles moved the bone was amazing. Without them, the bones would simply keep a cohesive shape but be denied locomotion. He stared at his own arm, pale skin neatly encasing a complex network of precise organic machinery. If even the barest bit of it was injured, an entire arm may be proven useless...or far worse. It was any wonder that life persisted with such high constraints on functional integrity!

Oblivious, blind and deaf to the world around him and foolish...he hadn't taken the precautions to lock the door. While dissecting a dead body was not entirely illegal, it did give a macabre sense of disturbance. Paired with how he spoke to the corpse at times, some may view him as psychologically disturbed. While he wasn't overtly concerned with another opinion, part of him strove to be seen well by the community as a whole. He may not have deviated to a path approved by the mass total, but he liked to think his pursuits would culminate in something to be proud of...greater than any Harvest ever could.

Perhaps not, but he liked to fancy it so.

After all...what are scientists without their dreams?

[Poison]

It was completely quiet inside the small room where Dhalvasha performed his autopsy. The only sounds were those that he made himself, the seemingly insane murmurs, the sickening sounds as claws cut through skin and muscles to reveal that which had been previously hidden. The surrogate lay motionlessly before him. She was long past the point where she could feel pain, where she minded what was being done to her. There was only an empty shell left. Her soul had left a long time ago. This was her final purpose in this world, the end.

He had not taken enough precautions, but for the majority of the time nobody interrupted him. Organs, near destroyed by the newborn’s venom, already lay exposed, and an intense smell had begun to permeate the room as she approached. Her steps were almost inaudible, hard to miss by a man that was so focused on what he was doing. He would only notice her a moment before she stepped into the room. There was only a moment for him to prepare himself before she raised her voice.

„You know, you need a fresher body.“ Her voice was a little deep for a woman, but pleasant nevertheless, and she sounded unmistakeably amused. „I suggest trying to get your hands on a surrogate just after she’s given birth, so that you can watch the whole process or harvest her organs before they become like this ...“

If he turned around, he would see a Symenestra in her late twenties or early thirties, tall and slender as they all were, lacking the curves of a human. Her face was snow white and laced with fine veins, her eyes an intense red. Grey hair fell over her shoulders, and she was dressed in a white silk robe. She didn’t seem to have put much of an effort into her appearance, but there was something alluring about her nevertheless, about the way she moved, about the way she looked at the corpse so intently, as if she found it fascinating beyond measure.

A slender hand that ended in long, black claws brushed against the dead human’s face almost lovingly, before the Symenestra turned to look at Dhalvasha. He would likely recognize her. She was a fellow doctor, a surgeon at the Purging. „Sometimes I wish that they’d leave one of those rare barren surrogates to us. They are useless to them, but we could learn so much ...“ Her voice trailed off, and she had a dreamy look on her face for a moment.

„What were you just about to do? Did you intend to do a specific kind of research?“

[Dhalvasha]

His concentration shattered, bludgeoned with her intrusion. Once again he had been too immersed in the experience of autopsy to remember locking the door. Not that he could have, few doors in Kalinor held locks in the conventional sense. When she first spoke, he measured the tone of her voice before the words she spoke. Quickly he turned on his heel, nearly knocking the book from his hands in his hurry to face the transgressor. Initial anger at being interrupted was quickly crushed by the fear of discovery. Not all Symnestra felt strongly about desecrating a corpse. He might argue that they were no different, hurling the dead thing to be consumed in the darkness below...but what the elders did not see rarely hurt them. Of course, some manner of happenstance had given his intruder a far less devious purpose for interruption. It was Alassa, a surgeon in the House of Purging and well known for her work. They had spoken before, had shared moments among the dead they would not speak of to others.

Perhaps if there was such a thing, they were of similar souls, similar minds. Both looked to the advancement of knowledge beyond the static constraints of morality.

He sighed, even affording a small rueful smile. She was right, inevitably, and he gazed on the corpse with something akin to sorrow.

"Had I your clearance, I would not need to settle. But alas, your superior doesn't trust me...so I shall make do."

Of all the Symnestra surgeons and medical workers in the web, she and she alone deigned to speak to him. Many of the others did not trust the manner in which he watched the surrogates, did not take well to his experimentation of grisly ambitions. No one ever asked him, but Dhalvasha was sure more than a few feared he may not check for vital signs before cutting into a patient, given a chance.

Not that he could blame them. His demeanor was less than friendly. Still, he was no murderer or monster of massacre. Science needed to advance, and advancements called for sacrifice. At the least, he had made the distinction not to include the Symnestra among his forays into anatomy. No, Kalinor was not ready to embrace and understand themselves utterly.

They who worshiped a god of Blood no less. How comical.

"Barren surrogates are allowed as prey of the web that provided them, and spider grows most dangerous when you threaten its food. Perhaps if we had been warriors first and surgeons second..." He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders helplessly and placing a claw at the nape of the corpse's neck. Sliding it in, he scissored his cut to her chin and past her lip, neatly vivisecting the pale pink color. "A general autopsy this time I fear," he answered, gently peeling back the layers of skin. Blood had coagulated against the skull, an eternally grinning jaw snickering from behind its veil of flesh. "A more detailed analysis will have to wait until you can provide me a proper patient hmm?" Smiling, he winked, almost playfully. Around her he could afford to be a little playful. There was something about their work that was almost passionate between them, and it gave the normally reserved Symnestrian an unexpected, albeit welcome means of expressing himself.

"So," Dhalvasha started, looking up at Alassa, "It has been at least a season since we last spoke. I had begun to think you had grown tired of me."

It might have had something to do with Dhalvasha, of course, the last season he had spent gathering samples of ooze and arachnid venom, testing them against the other subterranean animals and noting the results. He had returned to surgery only when it was unbearable to stay away. It helped that it coincided with the birth time of the new arrivals.

The end of the Harvest always promised fresh patients. At the least, venomous reproduction could be thanked for THAT.

[Poison]

„You seem to be a little worried“, Alassa remarked and smiled wryly as she noticed that he nearly dropped the book that he was holding. She tried to look over his shoulder to see what kind of book it was, and then she stepped away again. From the way she acted it was obvious that she wasn’t afraid of discovery at all. She always acted as if she were completely in control of the situation, as if she had Viratas himself on her side.

„My superior is narrow minded, too set in his ways to realize how much could be gained from this. Sometimes it is best to just ignore him“, she stated as she turned to examine the corpse a little more closely. She didn’t seem to mind the smell that was worse from up close. The expression on her face was one of near indifference. If there was something unpleasant, she ignored it.

She reached into the corpse without hesitation to touch the dead surrogate’s heart and look at it. And then she cast a glance at the poor woman’s intestines, furrowing her brow a little as she did so.

„It seems your patient hasn’t had any food for a while before her death“, she remarked. „How long did she survive after the birth? And how long until she ended up here, with you?“ As he cut through the skin on the woman’s neck, Alassa fell silent and simply watched. She had none of the issues that their colleagues had with Dhalvasha’s work, but supported it and approved of his attitude.

„You should cut a little deeper“, she suggested. „Right here where the carotid artery is.“ She put a claw on the corpse’s throat. „I always found that part of the body especially interesting. Don’t you think that it is fascinating how quickly a person can die if that artery is severed? It is also possible to take the ability to speak away from somebody if you stick a needle into the right place ...“ Her fingers moved a little, to another part of the corpse’s throat.

„It has been some time“, she agreed. „But it wasn’t because I’ve grown tired of you. I don’t think I could ever grow tired of you. You weren’t there as often as you used to.“ There was a hint of criticism in her voice. Of all the people that worked at the Purging he was the most like her. She had missed talking to him and working with him, but she would never say that out loud. Alessa didn’t like talking about her feelings. She was afraid that it would make her seem weak, and if there was one thing that Alassa definitely wasn’t, then it was weak.

„If you want a proper patient“, she began, remembering what he had said. „I can provide you with one. But you will have to help me. A lot of our colleagues don’t share our views ...“

[Dhalvasha]

"My surprise was for anyone but you," He answered her wryly, returning to where she had indicated and cutting his claws deeper, scissoring at skin and muscles "Narrow minded as your superior is, I haven't the same ability to ignore him as you do." She was right, of course, it was fascinating how such small intrusions in a body could stop the greatest of functions. He might liken organic beings to complex automatons, as he read about in Animation book he owned. Everything could work perfectly, but the smallest of pebbles wedged between a working joint would steal movement of an entire arm, if not the body itself. Thick, coagulated blood coursed along his black claws, bringing with it the sense of beginning decay. It was a small he was used to, but still disliked. A corpse in this condition could only say so much.

"She thought to starve the child enough to weaken its venom," Dhalvasha answered her with a shrug, removing the heart with quick precise cuts and placing it beside the other organs, "Evidently she was not informed time only increases the potency of our bite." He indicated the open chest cavity, the molten organs and bio-material inside. "I assume this advanced state of dissolution is partly due to that failed experiment." He chuckled as her questions continued, looking up from the corpse and leaning against the table. Of all the women in Kalinor, she was the only he would consider settling with. Her mind was like his, her body wholesomely desirable in its lithe exotic poise, and she had the rank and power to allow him all the necessary subjects he needed for research. Had he time for such contrived ceremonies, perhaps he would consider it...much to the chagrin of his father. "This patient wasn't mine," he remarked, nodding his head to the door, "Zaxis was caring for this surrogate, but once the child was delivered he became otherwise engaged." He laughed, a rare barking thing that was over the moment it had emerged, "When ones own child is delivered, sometimes lesser duties slip the mind...lucky for me."

Returning to the patient, he hedged her question about his absence. In truth he wasn't ready to reveal his ulterior interests yet. Anatomy had been his passion for some years, but something about the chemical process of venom and poison had motivated a temporary leave of absence. "She died, from what I can tell, just after the birth...perhaps even during." He indicated the damage to her genitalia, the vicious marks carved even through the liquifying skin, "She needed some help to deliver it seems."

Alassa's last words piqued Dhalvasha's attention, and he looked up at her sharply. His brow wrinkled in question, but the hint of a smile played at the edges of his mouth.

"A proper patient you say, dare I remark at how such brazen offers win my heart?" He grinned, fangs showing amid his teeth, sprung and bared in anticipation of opportunity, "Tell me Alassa, how can I assist you in procuring a...patient?"

[Poison]

„Humans are such fools sometimes, aren’t they?“ Alassa remarked as Dhalvasha explained to her that the surrogate had tried to starve the child to weaken its venom. She laughed as if something about the inferior race of surface dwellers amused her. „They rarely bother to learn about us and our ways. She should have eaten more instead of less. It might have prolonged her life – and her suffering – a little.“ With that she fell silent and simply watched as he removed the heart that she had inspected a few minutes prior.

Once he was finished, she reached into the surrogate’s chest cavity again and worked at removing the lungs, cutting away the blood vessels and cleaning the two organs, without asking him if he was okay with her doing so beforehand. She simply assumed that he didn’t mind if she took part in the autopsy. There was something special about cutting a body open together. Somehow it made her feel closer to him. If she weren’t so dedicated to her work, if things were a little different, she might have wondered if there could be more between them.

„Did you know that people don’t need two lungs, that they can survive just fine with only one? They don’t need two kidneys either.“ she remarked while she put the lungs next to the corpse. Her claws were covered with bits of tissue and dried blood now. „I’ve always wished that they would let me experiment on a living being so that I can find out which organs are absolutely necessary for survival.“ She sighed again, frustrated at the narrowmindedness of those she was working with.

„She was Zaxis‘ surrogate?“ she asked, surprised. „I didn’t know that. That explains why he became otherwise engaged.“

„I wasn’t there during the birth“, she remarked and took a look at the surrogate’s genitalia, to find out the extent of the damage. „But it seems more likely that she died after the birth. If she had died during the birth, with the baby still completely inside of her, there would have been different complications. They would likely have had to cut her open to save the child rather than deliver it the usual way. I can’t see any signs that Zaxis had to perform a section on her. Do you know if the child was fine? Is it healthy?“

„A proper patient“, she confirmed. Her grin mirrored his own. She couldn’t help but be a little excited. She almost seemed like a little girl rather than a grown woman for a moment. „As for how you can assist me, that depends on whether you want a live one or one that is only recently deceased. What shall it be, Dhalvasha?“

[Dhalvasha]

Dead bodies had an allure about them, a quiet acceptance of anything that happened. They were inviting, chests with treasures of knowledge just waiting to be mined. Without interest they withered, and even with interest they withered. Sans the vital spark of life, a body was simply a husk of meat and tissue...a complex machine wired with sophisticated networking. As Alassa removed the lungs with tender precision, Dhalvasha cut along the eyes as gently as he could afford, lifting each out and delicately placing them beside him on the table.

They moved in a fluid sort of synchrony, a dance in which she took the lead. She knew the movements better and Dhalvasha would be the first to admit that. Still, he was not so slow himself and complimented her well, if he were to give an opinion. Both focused on the details, working swiftly but with measured caution. Organs were delicate things, and for a Symenestra, delicate was a fact of life. Both knew the risks with puncturing or possibly irreparably scarring one of the intact structures...loss of research, a waste of time, possibly weeks before they could restudy what they missed.

"Life with a single lung or kidney," he murmured, more to himself as he cut the skin along her scalp, "If only we could examine how well the removal of a lung would work from a surgical standpoint." Of course he would need a sea of bodies to accommodate his desire for knowledge. There simply wasn't enough willing subjects for him to try. Finding a body was excellent fortune, and he likely hadn't more than a few more hours before someone remembered to dispose of their trash.

And then he would have lost whatever followup work he could have used.

"I simply assumed she had died in mid-birth, baby partially expelled." He pointed the cuts around her genitalia, "See how desperate and uneven they are? They feared the baby would suffocate and moved fast...or perhaps Zaxis was a bit more vigorous than absolutely necessary." a wry grin crossed his ordinarily dour features and he enjoyed a short chuckle. "But the child is healthy to my knowledge, a son I believe." He caught her eye over the table and shook his head, "Not that I was there, but you could hear his excitement down the halls, a bit unprofessional."

Scraping the skin and tissues away from the skull, Dhalvasha frowned. Opening the skull was a delicate operation and one he hadn't the strength to perform. Sighing, he occupied himself removing a half intact liver from the stomach and setting it aside. Her last comment caught him by surprise and he paused, midway from placing the liver on the table beside them.

"A live patient? Certainly you jest..." His tone was not confident, she was serious. A slow smile found its way onto his face, creeping up his pale features and setting fire to his eyes. "Now that," he said quietly, dropping the organ onto the table, "Would be an opportunity I could not pass up."

[Poison]

„If one of us had a mark from Rak’keli or maybe Viratas ...“ Alassa murmurred as Dhalvasha pondered the removal of a lung. „If one of us were marked in such a way, we could probably minimize the risk. We could lessen the bleeding and make sure that the patient doesn’t die from shock or infection before we can find out how well you can really live if you only have half the organs that a normal person should have. But alas, I haven’t attracted a god’s attention yet, and you haven’t either, have you?“ She let out a sigh.

„Partially expelled?“ Alassa repeated and furrowed his brow as she thought about it. „That could have been the case as well“, she decided after inspecting the cuts. „It is understandable that Zaxis was excited after the birth of a son, but it’s unprofessional regardless.“

She let her fingers run across the dead surrogate’s skull, almost as if she were caressing a lover rather than a dead being. „Do you have something to drill holes?“ she asked him. She had noticed how he had sighed after taking a look at their patient’s head and wanted to help him. She had just had an idea. „If you were to do that and used a saw afterwards to connect the holes, it would probably be easier to remove the skull or at least a portion of it and examine the brain. I’ve always wondered if a human brain is different from ours ...“

She watched how he removed the liver, but found that particular organ uninteresting. The stomach was more fascinating, and she was half tempted to cut it open and see what was inside, if it was really as empty as they thought.

„Have I ever jested?“ she asked him and smiled a little. „If we worked together, we could probably get a surrogate that is still alive or even a barren one. If we were to compensate the Web in question sufficiently or used the right kind of persuasion, the right arguments ...“ She didn’t finish the sentence, but just cast him a meaningful glance. „Nothing’s impossible, my dear Dhalvasha. You just have to know how exactly to go about it.“

[Dhalvasha]

The moment gods entered the conversation, Dhalvasha was already waving away the concept. No faith in the ephemeral. Gods were powerful beings who blessed few and cared about fewer. In his hours of need, no God had attended him. No blessed father of the Spiderfolk comforted his anguish. Neither had the Chaktawe guardian raced down to deliver such a devout follower. There was nothing.

No one saw, no one cared. Why should he?

"Divinity marks are crutches," he commented wryly, lifting a pale arm and testing the joint for the rigor of death. He found it stiffening, but not as quickly as he feared it would. Favorable. "Why rely on a being who's only concern is to tattoo your flesh with an inkling of their power? It is rarely gifted in the right situations and rarer still used to its potential." He sighed, glancing back at his female companion, "No, better to understand a scientific approach, eschew this frivolous consorting with greater deities. If I speak ill of Viritas, I hardly expect him to strike me down, or even raise an eyebrow at my remark."

He turned back to the body. Part of him wanted to quail in expectation of some foul curse to befall him, but he steeled that superstitious piece of him, crumpled it and discarded it in the back of his mind. If the almighty Leechgod wanted to smote him, it would have already been done.

At her mention of holes, Dhalvasha snapped his fingers and stepped away from the table. "A moment," he exclaimed quietly, exiting the chamber and strolling down the hall. It was the work of channeling Djed from his eyes when he spoke to another doctor, a snide creature closing up the equipment, that gave him what he wanted.

Hypnotism was a useful art, dangerous to be sure, the overgiving he had read about were no silly trifles. To guard his most precious aspect, his mind, the surgeon would have to be precise, learn all there was to glean in the art and use this power judiciously.

This was one such occasion. As he spoke, Dhalvasha played the awestruck hopeful, the fledgling doctor disgraced with his failed surgery and only hoping to be as respected as the other man before him. With just the right suggestion of superiority sinking tentatively in his brain, his opponent relinquished a hand drill, consisting of a turning bit and a crank.

Dhalvasha returned with only the hint of a smile on his face.

He was loathe to play a bootlicker.

Holding up the drill as he entered, a smile returned to his face. To Alassa, the surgeon was triumphant. Why spoil the moment with the methodology? Crossing to the cranium, Dhalvasha placed the drill against the skull and delicately pressed his weight on the device. Turning it elicited the sharp sound of cracking bone, groaning with the weight of the intrusion. Dhalvasha, not too strong by any standards, pressed himself against the tool till sweat beaded along his forehead and glistened on his fingers.

Three holes were made, spaced across from each other, and he held the saw out to Alassa, panting quietly.

"Need these creatures have such stubborn bones?" A woeful excuse for his physical performance, but one he chose to cling to. Sitting back against the wall, he let himself relax and finally addressed the last few comments she had made.

"Very well, you've convinced me...but what approach do we take to acquire such a subject? You have my rapt attention." He grinned, sliding down to the floor as his narrow chest heaved against his bones.

He was interested, caught in a net of possibility.

[Poison]

„True“, Alassa remarked, although there was a very light frown on her face. Like most people in the city of Kalinor she worshipped Viratas and prayed to him every once in a while – she even sacrificed her blood sometimes - but on the other hand Dhalvasha did have a point. „God marks may have their uses every once in a while, but it’s better not to rely on them.“ She placed her fingers on Dhalvasha’s arm where a mark would have been if he had attracted Viratas‘ attention. Her touch was unusually gentle. Her hand lingered there for a moment and then she pulled it away and focused her attention on the dead body again.

As Dhalvahsa briefly disappeared, she couldn’t help but smile. Apparently he liked her suggestion. While she waited for his return, she leaned against the table where the surrogate was lying, idly playing with the dead woman’s hands that were cold to the touch and beginning to stiffen a little. How was it possible that dead people fascinated her so when all her colleagues worked to preserve their race? How was it possible that they were unable to say the beauty that lay in dead organs, in a heart that no longer beat?

„Wonderful!“ she exclaimed as Dhalvasha returned, drill in hand. While he drilled the holes, she held the dead woman’s head. When he was done, she took the saw and began to work. Even now it took some effort, but after a while she had opened the dead woman’s skull. Smiling she handed Dhalvasha the now bloody saw back. Instead she took a knife and cut the brain free so that she could remove it from the surrogate’s head.

Brain in hand she stood in front of Dhalvasha, thinking about his question. „A barren surrogate would probably easiest – if we manage to find one of those rare creatures“, she murmurred. „They are usually just killed, so I don’t think the owners wound mind selling her in exchange for a bit of money. But a normal surrogate ...“

She paused and furrowed her brow.

„We’d have to take her out of the operating room immediately after she has given birth. I know that there are substances that can make somebody seem dead, but it won’t be any fun if she doesn’t move when we examine her. Maybe we could convince the parents to let us have her, but we’d still have to get her past our colleagues ...“

She paused again and put the brain next to the dead body.

„I think I know of a surrogate that might suit our purpose. The youngest son of the Anice Web acquired a surrogate some time ago, but so far she hasn’t gotten pregnant yet. She might be barren. Together we could convince the young man to leave the human to us. He might not be unwilling, but we need to take her to a place where nobody can find her – one of the abandoned buildings at the edge of the city maybe. What do you think, Dhalvasha? Do you want to conduct a little experiment with me?“