-1-
Her hair was gone, her eyes closed, her mouth flesh toned crooked and
shut but, she was just as perfect as I remembered.
She was submerged in a clear thick viscous liquid but, she didn’t appear to be floating—just laying still. Her body was covered in a large white tarp and I could just barely tell she was breathing. There were tubes inside of the incubator going from place to place, more tubes than I had seen anywhere. I sat just watching her like a mirror. I knew I could not open the incubator so I stood there, unable to react.
I stood there all night until Dr. Channing came in the early morning hours and found me.
“Alan, what are you doing in here ?,” he asked, his voice was fearful
“What are you doing?,” I shot at him, “Why do you have her here ?,”
“This is my most special project.” He said
“Where did you find her ? What have you done to her ?,”
He paused. His brow furrowed.
“Do you know her ?,” he asked
I didn’t say anything, I was not even sure if she really was who I imagined her to be.
“Let’s talk in my office.” He said, “I will explain everything.”
“Let’s talk here,” I said
I didn’t want to leave her.
He walked over and put his hand on the glass of the incubator.
“You can touch it you know,” he said,”The glass.”
I put my hands in my pocket.
“Before I came to Fort Life I was working on the Summit Project. That’s the name of a team of researchers who are working on the remains of the Life Summit incident. It is an academic effort to further the cause of studying nuclear disaster.
I came to the project late and at that time they had already found her but, been unable to account for her identity. I have no idea how she survived, I was told she was just lying face down in a small pond water. The others did not think she could survive any longer and were ready to euthanize her but, I saw an opportunity and someone’s daughter or niece like Persephone. My first goal was to get her stable, which took weeks. I was finally ready to study her and see if I could save her, then this disaster happened and I needed to move her with me.”
“I know her. Her name is Minnow,” I said
“Minnow,” he said, “A lovely name.”
“Can I touch her ?,” I asked
“No, I have just grown her new skin back, it is very sensitive and all of her organs are still artificial. Her life is very touch and go.”
I could not believe she had been so close to me the whole time.
“I know her very well actually.” I said,” We were together—you have to help her.”
“ I will try my best,” he said
***
All I could do was listen to Dr. Channing but, he never seemed to be doing enough for her. He just watched her and monitored her body’s response on the computers. I went about working on the camp, people came in and they died but mostly they lived and some were sent to hospitals outside of the fort to be closer to their families. I was learning what I had seen with Griffith and Shai was part of the viscous cycle of life here, an after affect of war.
I had seen enough violence to last me a life time.
***
I sat with Minnow everyday, anytime I was free I was by her side, hoping she would soon wake up. When I sat with her and I occasionally heard her make noises, those just hurt me more. Dr. Channing said they were just sounds of air going in and out but, they sometimes sounded like words.
One day, as I sat with her , I heard a sloshing sound and went to see what was causing it.
Peering into the incubator I saw her eyes were open , they were a blank white with no colored iris and rolled around in her head from side to side. I had no idea how she kept her eyes open for so long under that liquid. Her body was flailing the tiniest bit causing the liquid to move. It looked like she was having a tiny seizure.
I didn’t know what to do, I was afraid but I could not leave her here alone.
“Dr.Channing !,” I screamed, I kept screaming his name and her face began to scrunch, like she was wincing in pain or fear. Was she drowning in all that liquid ? Her eyes were moving quicker, looking from side to side.
Dr. Channing was probably nowhere nearby. I finally had to leave, I tore across the fort to where Persephone was in Sector A.
“Where is Dr. Channing ?”I asked
“On his way to Sector B,” she said
I ran until I saw him parking his vehicle just outside of Sector B.
“Dr. Channing ! Dr.Channing,I think she is awake,” I said
I got in his car and we went back to the lab. When we got there she was making noises. He told me to stand back while he adjusted the tubes, messing with the holograms above her head.
“Her body is starting to function on it’s own,” he said with a smile,”That is very good.”
He placed a small circular microphone on the incubator and turned it on. A red light glowed from the center.
“Ms. Dory ? Hello ? Calm down, you will be just fine.” Dr. Channing said,” Look who is here.”
He turned the microphone off and told me to come over and I stood where he was.
“She’s blind, those are glass eyes. She can’t see so, you have to talk to her.”
I turned the microphone on.
“Minnow, it’s me. Alan. Minnow, I am so sorry this happened to you I-,”
I cut myself off. I had been so removed from the Alan I was when we were at the Life Summit together. I didn’t want to say too much with Dr. Channing in the room.
“You have been hurt very badly, Ms. Dory” Dr. Channing said, ”You are in good hands now. This is progress. Now, we have to leave you but, we will be right back.”
Dr. Channing took my arm and we went into his private office.
“Alan, those machines were programmed to wake her up when her skin was at a place where it could handle some human contact. That means I can really start on helping her. But, listen I need to know what you think happened to her. It is very important.”
“I can’t say much but, I will say she was in the building when it . . . exploded.”
“How do you think she lived this long ?,” he asked
“I have no fucking clue.”
“Something we will figure out together, I guess.” He said
“Together ?,”
“Something tells me if I don’t let you help you will be a pain in my ass,” he said
The next day I watched as Dr. Channing drained the incubator and open it. He gave me a pair of sterile gloves to wear. Her blank eyes were open and when she felt my touch there was a smile on her face. Dr. Channing removed the tarp and I saw her body was a mess of fleshy things I didn’t recognize. Her left arm was missing, she only had half a right leg and less than that of a right arm. Her torso sat strangely with the rest of her body. Parts of it looked melted and twisted.
“There is a breathing device in her throat that helps her breath and allows her to stay in the incubators fluid,” Dr. Channing said.
Dr. Channing opened her mouth and put a clear cylinder vacuum in her mouth. He turned the machine on and it’s suction was so powerful it seemed like it was going to pull her face off. Finally a small round sponge got caught in the vacuums chamber. He removed the vacuum and swabbed the inside of her throat with a long q-tip to lubricate it and used a syringe to suction out any remaining liquid.
“Okay, Alan.” He said
“Minnow, it’s me,” I said “You have to tell us what happened to you. The accident was 10 months ago, how did you survive?,”
“Alan.”she said, her voice was hoarse and careful. Each syllable in my short name spread to last atl east second.
“I’m Dr. Channing,” Dr. Channing said,” I am a doctor foremost and willing to put everything I hear under doctor patient confidentiality. As you are talking I will be working on your skin.”
I watched as Dr.Channing began to cover her naked body with a thick blue liquid.
“Oh, Alan.” She said holding on to my arm ,” . . . Saint, he covered me before the flash. . . and carried me far away, we ran and hid. We were near Arcadia or some place . . . he brought me food and medical supplies. Then after a while he left and never came back . . . then they found me . “
“Saint ?,” Dr. Channing said,” As in those Eastern Military warriors ?,”
“Yeah.” I said
“ I suppose that could explain how she survived. In my research I have found the closest anyone has come to creating a shield to radiation poisoning it’s the Eastern Military and their Saints. It is theorized it is in their skin. I never could get access to those files but, he could have acted as a human shield.”
It seemed plausible and the kind of thing Saint would have done. I wondered if I could have, would I have done the same thing ? Risk my life for hers.
“Alright, I have to put you back under to reduce infection but, I will keep the microphone on.” Dr. Channing said
As he talked she gripped my hand harder.
***
To my reluctance, after that I had to get back to my work. Dr. Channing never took her out of the incubator again. He was working on trying to make her new body parts as well as help the new injured soldiers coming in. It seemed like this nuclear bomb mess was never going to get cleaned up.
Dr. Channing worked long hours and came to bed long after Persephone and I went to bed and was up before us.
Everyone was stable for the day and I had gone for a walk around camp. I had actually found a quiet area not too far away from the camp. There were no buildings on it and it looked like it used to be an open field or something. I came there whenever I wanted to pretend I was free.
I sat for a while when Dr. Channing came up to me with a white box in his hands, he was holding it very carefully.
“How is it going ?,” he asked me
“It could be better.” I said
“I like this area too,” he said ,”Nice and quiet. It used to be a cemetery you know ?,”
Of course.
There was death everywhere.
He opened the box and set it in front of me.
Inside was a glass vessel with two fleshy white things floating around.
“I am working on a set of organic working eyes for Ms. Dory. These are done--- “
“Wait, you made this set of eyes ?”
“Well yes, I know am a bit of a cybernetics specialist. They are a mix of machine and organic compound. I was just going to ask you what color you think they should be ?,”
“Shouldn’t you ask her ?,”
“I can’t right now.”
It was a simple question but, I didn’t feel qualified to answer.
“Can I ask you a question ?,” I asked him.
“I believe you already are.” He quipped
“ Will you let me be your apprentice, your protégé –“
“Like Persephone and the med students? To some extent you kind of already are--,”
“No, I want to learn everything you know. . . . about cybernetics. I want to be able to help Minnow like you are helping her. I have been walking around this past year as ignorant, only accepting what I see but, I want to understand and I want you to teach me.”
The concept of cybernetics had been floating in the background of my life. I never thought about it until that first conversation with Jean about my eyes. Since then I had been thinking about it constantly, where does human end and machine begin ? Should they even be together to begin with ?
I saw what they did to Luce and Cleo and I hated cybernetics for that. Then I saw how Dr. Channing had used the same theories to help me and lots of people in this camp.
In school I hated science, biology and all those classes but, this wasn’t about that it was about life. If I ever got out of here I couldn’t go back to being a killer and I couldn’t go back home either. I was making my own path and it had to start with this.
Only if he said yes.
“I will think about it,” he said.
-2-
When I visited Minnow again, the glass was still up, she had gotten a small infection from last time. Dr. Channing said he wanted to wait a few more weeks before opening the glass again. I didn’t care, I was alone with her and that was all that mattered.
Today was a special day.
I walked over to the incubator and pressed my body against the glass and held my hand to it like I was touching her. She was weak and couldn’t do the same thing but, that was fine. She was touching me enough as she slowly opened her dark violet eyes and looked at me for what felt like the first time. Her eyes fluttered for a few seconds and I smiled.
I never realized how much I took a look for granted. I was seeing her and she was seeing me.
I pressed my face into the glass and she lifted what was left of her arm up to my hand. The moment seemed unreal . For so long she had been dead to me, an impossibility. I wanted to kiss her somewhere, anywhere I wanted to touch her skin to skin with nothing in between.
I thought about what had brought me here. Was it a type of faith or destiny. Or was it just inevitably ?
Luce.Cleo. Haley.
They barely spent any time in my life, but, I somehow felt like they had brought me here to this place, to this mental state. As if I had been on a journey of sorts.
Luce taught me to believe, Cleo taught me to fear and Haley taught me to care.
Minnow was my second chance. Nobody gets second chances. No one deserves second chances, lest of all me.
But her she was and I was never going to let anything happen to her.
And I didn’t.
-The End -
