TITLE: incubator By 12/31/09 |
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it felt like the walls were pressing her flat, like squeezing a tube of steak paste. she called up her com, but it wouldn't work. the machines running nearby blocked her signal. her personal environment wasn't working, either. as fast as it would cool the air around her, the heat broke in again. the environment overloaded and died.
she questioned what part god played in the situation. after all, if he'd wanted to, he could've prevented her from falling into the tube. maybe this terrifying situation had been allotted to her from god. part of those “all things that work together.” but as she thought some more about him allowing this to happen, she got angry. she didn't usually show her anger, but this time she shouted, “what is this, god? what are you thinking?!”
she banged on the tube again. the lab was still dark, so she knew there'd be no one to hear her. she hit the wall because it was the only thing to do. the only way to keep fighting. rivers of sweat burned down her front and back. when part of her said she should stop blaming god for something he wasn't doing, she reminded herself that god is good. it didn't seem like it at the moment, but. she thought at least she was alive. so far, anyway.
the tube blinked and she could feel a more intense heat coming from the walls. the heat felt like it was coming from inside her. had the lab shut down for the weekend? she couldn't remember what day it was. although when she entered the lab, she'd known perfectly well.
it was unbearable. she was a crow in a trap, but she always could roll with the punches. she spoke to the computer that was sewn into her shabby top: “daisy, is there any thing i haven't tried?”
daisy answered, “why don't you play a game of chess with me?” the computer projected a chess set on the floor. for an opponent, daisy projected kate burr, a national master. she sat there cross legged and attired all in red orange, the color she always wore. the girl moved her king pawn two spaces forward, and kate countered with a pawn move. as she played her opening, the girl's skin turned red, and she felt thirsty. she played almost defensively, not committing herself completely to any particular position until she observed what kate's strategy was. she lost. “mate,” daisy said.
the girl curled up and sobbed, wondering why she was here. what had she done that was so awful? she wanted out. eventually she fell asleep.
she dreamed she was in a spinning intestine. she fell down and down. through the wall of the intestine, she could see stars buzzing by in a blur. at first she was afraid, expecting to hit the ground at any moment. once she realized she wasn't going to hit bottom, she relaxed and hung there in space. wind came from beneath her and also surrounded her, holding her hair aloft.
she woke. she tried to recall her dream, but it was a jumble. she tried to think about the walls but she wasn't sure if they were walls or a ceiling. when she thought about her need to keep fighting, she thought maybe she had been hadn't been fighting. maybe she had been quiet the whole time, and hadn't struck the walls. she rolled over and pushed against the wall that was by her head. she quickly pulled her hand back from the scorching wall. she longed to escape somehow. she felt like the walls were crushing her, smaller and smaller.
a coat came into the lab and dialed on the lights. the “jackals in the desert” sculpture ]that he liked so much appeared next to his station. some of the beasts were on four legs. others walked like men. they were tearing at something like an anaconda, only it bulged at the head and the tip of the tail like it had light bulbs under its skin. it was crimson. as for the girl in the incubator, she screamed but was too weak to be heard. she quickly stopped, overwhelmed and unable to sort her situation out.
the coat finished the last bite of his sandwich and sat down in his chair. “basic table fill,” he said, and the table filled with glass bottles, beakers, and graph paper, all projected by the computer sewn into his lab coat. “burner please” he said, and a plate appeared and began to heat up. “pencil” he said, and a pencil appeared in his open hand.
the incubator tube was getting hotter.
the coat heard pencils rolling on the floor and got up to see what was happening. as he trekked around the back of the preparation machine, he saw the girl in the tube. she was horrifying to see; at first he wasn't sure she was human. he stuck his finger up, “one” as in “one moment,” then ran out of the lab. he returned with a metal object the shape of an ax handle. he put the weapon to the wall of the incubator. the sonic cutter hummed and vibrated the tube until it split open. after another moment the opening was big enough she could walk through it.
she stood up and nearly fell over from dizziness. she emerged and wrapped herself around him.
she said, “i don't know how much longer i would have lasted in there. it's a good thing you got here.”
“oh, we wouldn't leave you like that,” he said.
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