"Do we need anesthesia?" Schiller asked, looking up.
Strange was already arranging the Gauntlet and preparing to irrigate the wound. "Are you sure you can get the dosage right?"
Schiller assessed the woman's height and weight, then said, "Close enough. If we don't anesthetize her, I'm afraid the two of us won't be able to hold her down."
He then bent over to carefully examine the wound and the woman's current condition. "We may have to give her some adrenaline. I remember the healing manual mentioning that the juices of several plants can have similar effects. We can only gamble."
"Your professional skills as a psychologist aren't helping?"
"Helping how? Persuade her to lie still while someone cuts open her stomach and think happy thoughts?"
As Schiller spoke, he rummaged through the cabinet. Strange also took on some of the assistant's duties, alternately flushing the abdominal cavity with saline and medication.
"The situation is worse than I imagined," Strange said. "Her organs show signs of impact trauma, and there are already indications of bleeding. One kidney may have to be removed, and I don't think we have the conditions for that kind of operation."
"We still have to try. These people are always tougher than humans, aren't they?"
"You'll have to ask the fireplace that."
"Yes, and ask our stomachs too."
Schiller brought several plants to the operating table and began preliminary processing while flipping through the manual. After a while, he brought over several syringes and told Strange, "Push half of this one in, inject the whole of that one, then pray to God."
Strange took them. As he inserted the needles into her arm, he said, "You need to learn how to give injections. If we need more anesthesia later, I won't have a free hand."
"I'll try."