The four names burned under the ultraviolet light in stark black ink.
Julian held the 365nm beam steady on the fourth gurney. The purple thermal paper fluttered in the cold draft, still smoking faintly from the print head.
BAG #04: VANCE, JULIAN THOMAS.
His right ear throbbed as his tinnitus dropped four hertz, locking at 4,196 Hz. A heavy four-hertz binaural beat pulsed behind his temples. The back of his tongue tasted like wet copper pennies and scorched plastic toner.
Before anyone could speak, an overhead horn speaker crackled to life.
The horn was bolted to a corroded steel ceiling girder directly above the intake desk. Its flared bell housing was crusted with orange rust and peeling gray enamel.
A heavy electromagnetic relay engaged inside the speaker box with a wet pop.
[click-hiss].
