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Diego stared. His breath was coming in short, ragged puffs that fogged the glass of his wristwatch. “What is that? A cyst? An infection from her cheating?”
“No,” Dr. Salinas said. “That is an organized subchorionic hematoma, measuring four point two centimeters across. But more importantly… look at the tissue density within the surrounding muscular layer.”
Dr. Salinas zoomed in on the uterine wall.
There, embedded directly within the thick, vascular muscle of my posterior wall, was a microscopic, foreign acoustic reflection—a tiny, bright, synthetic double-cross shape measuring three millimeters in length, glowing like a piece of polished metal beneath the ultrasound soundwaves.
A synthetic micro-implant.
Paula let out a sharp, audible gasp from the doorway, her hand flying up to cover her mouth.
Diego’s eyes narrowed into slits. “What is that metal piece?”
“That is a bio-absorbable hormonal micro-pellet casing,” Dr. Salinas said, turning her head slowly to look directly into Diego’s bloodshot eyes. “Specifically, a specialized progestin-releasing acoustic implant used in high-containment clinical trials. It is designed to be placed inside a patient’s food or beverage in micro-crystallized liquid suspension, which then precipitates into a solid tissue anchor in the gastric lining before migrating into the reproductive vascular bed.
The room seemed to lose all atmospheric pressure.
My hands, still resting flat on the cold vinyl mattress, tightened against the sheets.
“A micro-pellet…?” I whispered, my voice sounding as if it were traveling through fifty feet of dark water. “Dr. Salinas… what does that implant do?”