Chapter Text
Hunk frowns up at Lance in the pod. “Is he gonna be alright?”
Pidge bites their lip, arms pulled close as Coran and Allura look over the many screens displaying Lance’s vitals.
“You said he was bitten by a bug?” Shiro asks.
Pidge nods. “Yeah, and he sprained his ankle pretty bad on the way back to the lions. Coran said there was nothing wrong with him from the bite.”
“Coran?”
Coran twirls his mustache for a moment before looking up. “There indeed appears to be no adverse effects from the bite. He is stable and his vitals are much the same as they were previously on his last visit. If anything he’s more stable now than he was then.”
“So there’s nothing to worry about?”
Coran hums noncommittally. “There is some unusual brain activity,” he says, tugging on his mustache and Shiro’s eyebrows come together.
“Unusual how?”
Hunk peers at the screens, his eyes widening before he looks up at Lance. “Well that’s not normal.” He doesn’t look worried but more in awe. “That’s- wow that’s a lot of activity.”
Allura leans around him to look between the screens and Lance’s still form. “Is this not normal for humans?” she asks and Hunk shakes his head.
“Well I mean, yeah, sort of.” He scratches at his cheek. “These areas here.” He points to where the screens are pulsing with light. “This is where we store memories and this is the emotion center of our brains. The cerebral cortex, the temporal lobe, cerebrum…even the hippocampus.” Hunk points them out one by one. “His entire limbic system is on fire,” he says faintly. “His amygdala is white hot.” He looks like he’s going to be sick.
“What does that mean?” Keith speaks up from the corner, just as confused as the Alteans.
Pidge is pale. “It’s rewriting his memory.”
“We don’t know that,” Hunk snaps.
Pidge’s eyes narrow. “That is literally every memory center of his brain!” They gesture sharply at Lance who is still as stone within the pod. “Long-term, short-term, the emotion center connected to memory.” Pidge ticks them off on their fingers. “I am not speaking in metaphor,” they snap. “It is literally rewriting his memory!” Tears fill their eyes and they look at Coran desperately.
“Get him out.”
Coran looks to Allura for guidance, visibly distressed.
“Do it.”
Coran’s fingers fly over the screens until there’s a flash of red and a warning beep. Coran’s eyebrows come together and he does it again. The results are the same. The screen flashes at him in denial.
“Coran?” Shiro steps forward and Coran tries a third time.
He looks up and shakes his head. “It has locked him inside. I cannot get him out.”