"Remember the first time we held hands?"
"Of course...your palms were so sweaty."
"I was so nervous..."
"You thought I didn't like you cause I flinched...But I was just surprised."
"I'm sorry...it must have felt gross."
"I liked it...it was cold...your hand was warm."
"...."
"...."
"I wish we...had more time..."
"...we...we do...someone will find us...just have to keep our eyes open."
"...we've said that a lot, Laura...the air is so thin...the others...are already gone..."
"...we'll make it, Marin...we're still here..."
"I can't feel anything...I can't move...we haven't eaten in days...no water..."
"Marin, please...stop...I can't..."
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to ask you out...that I wasted so much time..."
"..."
"I wanted to be with you for so long, and I was just too much of a coward even to look you in the eyes..."
"Marin..."
"I want more time...to know you...to feel you...to wake up with you..."
"You will...we'll have time...so much time..."
"...when?"
"In this life...or the next..."
"...you think there's...something after this?"
"...I do...not sure what...but there has to be..."
"...and I'll see you there?"
"I swear...we'll be there together...and nothing will take us apart again..."
"...it's a promise then..."
"...It's a promise."
_____________________________________________
A heartbeat. Faint but getting stronger. Muscles twitching. Eyes flutter. Vision blurred. Feeling returning to the still motionless body of a young woman. Marin's brain takes a few minutes to even register her own thoughts that feel so distant. Ego reforming. Bodily control snaps into place as warmth and color return to still flesh.
And with control and sensation comes realization. She feels weighted. Suspended in place. Her eyes can see something in front of her. Shapes and blinking lights. And as she moves her hands out, she feels resistance for every inch. Like she is submerged in gelatin. But with some effort, she can feel the tight walls around her with both hands and feet. Metal on all sides, but a section in front of her feels more like glass.
She tries to bang on the glass, but whatever she is suspended in prevents her from getting any sort of momentum.
As Marin's vision continues to adjust, she starts to wonder why she isn't drowning in all of this until her eyes focus inward. Like staring down at your own nose, she notices a dark surface over the bottom half of her face. Her hands move back to explore it. Finding a rubbery surface sealed over her nose and mouth. Straps that lead around the back of her head. Several tubes of varying sizes protrude from the end of the mask and disappear down into the floor, where other hoses end as well.
She curiously bends down to grip the other hoses and follow their lead up to her body. Finding that they end against her crotch and her butt, connected to a black rubbery harness over her pelvis. Her eyes widen as an embarrassing red flush creeps over her cheeks. Now that she has noticed them, she can feel all of the tubes from the mask and harness subtly within her throat and her lower regions.
'Am I...in the hospital? Did we actually get found?'
Marin considers the possibility. All of these tubes are definitely keeping her alive. And she does feel fine now, as opposed to when she passed out only moments ago. Or at least what felt like moments. She is surmising she's probably been unconscious for a while. Maybe even in a coma. It would make sense given how dire a condition she was in before. But even if this feels clinical to her, she definitely doesn't remember ever hearing about a treatment like this before. It's strange.
'How the hell do I get out of this? I want out!'
And just as that thought clicks in her head, she hears a sharp beep and buzzing sound. Suddenly, she feels the container she's in move, shuddering and shaking before it drops down slightly. Then several green lights begin to shine inside her metal coffin. And after a few seconds, the dense gelatin she is in suddenly starts to get lighter and easier to move through. Gradually turning into a liquid. Her body no longer suspended as her feet touch the metal floor of the box.
The box shudders, and the green lights around her turn blue before a sloshing sound echoes through. She flinches as she feels a sudden chill on the top of her head. Her hand reaches up to instead breach through the liquid that is quickly draining. The box is draining quickly, and the more her body is released from the liquid, the more she becomes weighed down by her own weak state. Lowering down to her knees.
Once the water is all gone, the blue lights shut off before the entire interior is lit up with bright fluorescent light that momentarily blinds her. Blinking her eyes rapidly to adjust them as she sees the light gray and black walls of the box. Meticulously machined plating with almost no gaps. Somewhat coffin-shaped to her chagrin, but roomy enough to float in for the average human body. The glass in front of her is still blurred even without the water. Appearing like it's frosted over.
Marin's examinations cease as she hears a hiss close to her ears. The mask on her face, which was hermetically sealed, now loosens. The straps automatically snap open to flap freely. Her eyes widen, lurching forward against the glass as she feels the tubes in her nose and throat slither their way out of her body as if they're alive. The mask falls away from her face, along with a long trail of various tubes. Thankfully covered in copious amounts of some kind of lubricant. Lubricant that she now vomits out onto the floor of the tank and quickly vanishes into the drains. While the mask coils into its own slot where all the other tubes end. And realization hits her far too late to prepare.
'Oh no…'
Her face burns bright red as the harness on her pelvis loosens, the straps unlatching. Then the sensation she was dreading occurs. The horrifying feeling of something squirming around inside her belly and urethra as the waste tubes nestled deeply inside her slither their way out as well. Her body trembles as she leans against the glass for support. Her groans echo in the tank before the harness finally drops to the floor. The tubes whipping against the metal after they exit her.
Marin lets out a long sigh of relief, laying her full weight against the glass. Coughing up more of that sterile fluid. Feeling heavy and sticky. Taking deep breaths of what tastes like very sterile oxygen. Trying her best to collect her thoughts. But is interrupted again with another loud hiss as the glass clears up. Her eyes narrow as the room she is in is revealed. Immediately noticing similar tanks across from her. Their glass darkened, and the coffin-like structures leaned back into slots in the wall. Various cables and tubes webbing out of them and into the dark mechanical cubbies they're settled in. Blending in against the walls and floors of stark white tiled metal with a glossy finish.
The glass in her tank shudders forward and unfolds, causing Marin to tumble forward onto the cold floor of the room. The girl groans as she lifts herself up on all fours to scan the area. The room is relatively small. 3 tanks like hers on either side of the room, including the one she came out of. All the rest of them are laid back and slotted into the walls over a slight air gap that leads down into some mechanical recess.
The white tiles on the floor and walls stretch up onto the ceiling as well. So reflective that Marin can see herself clearly in them, and the white lights only make the room more blinding. To her right, between the last set of tanks, is a stark white pedestal that is flush with the floor and wall. A black metal half ring is settled on the top with an indentation in the middle.
Immediately to her left, outside of her pod, is what appears to be a sealed white door. No doorknob or handle in sight. Barely indistinguishable from the wall if not for the obvious cracks where it likely slides apart. All of it is far too clean and far too alien-like to be a regular hospital room.
"Where the fuck am I..." Marin mutters aloud, her voice coming out slightly hoarse. And despite the obviously concerning environment she is now in, she feels oddly calm. Her heart beat is steady. And the lethargic weakness she felt before seems to be subsiding fairly quickly. She tests her feet against the floor and takes a deep breath before she pushes herself up. Nearly slipping in the viscous fluids that lubricated the floor from her pod. But with a little effort, she is able to raise herself to a stand.
And after scanning the room again for anything indicating she might be somewhere familiar, she takes slow steps towards the other pods to try to get a peek into the glass. Alas, they're completely blacked out. The only indication that they might be working is the softly blinking green lights across the surface of each pod's stark white paneling.
Not really spotting much else that could help, the young woman turns to face the door. Approaching it with a perpetual hunched stance as if trying to sneak. Or bolt away if the need arises at least.
She reaches the door and starts to look around for some sort of handle or latch to possibly open it. Her brows furrow as she finds nothing of the sort. Not even some kind of futuristic panel or button.
"Oh come on...how the hell do I open this thing?" She protests, smacking the surface of the door in frustration. "OPEN!" The girl jolting backwards like a frightened cat when the door unexpectedly obeys. Dropping onto her ass as the door suddenly hisses and parts in four ways to disappear into the corners of the doorframe.
She stares at the open door for a few good seconds, seeing out into the next room, which seems to be quite large. Sterile hospital-esc air is hitting her nose, but she is unable to see much as the lights are turned off.
Raising back up to her feet, she approaches the doorway, looking around at the frame where the door pieces slid into. "Uh...Close..." And just as quickly as it opened, the door slides back out and seals in front of her. Marin slowly nods her head as she considers the implications of this. "Okay...yeah...Open please..." And the door unseals and opens. Cold crisp air hits her nude and wet body again. Shuddering as she tentatively steps into the darkness of the next room.
"Umm...I guess...lights on?" The room suddenly hums with energy as white fluorescent panels dotting the ceiling light up to reveal what looks eerily like a futuristic medical room. Matching the pure white tiles of the pod room. An open plan with no dividing walls but sectioned off instead by translucent plastic panels that are connected to the ceiling and floor and look as if they can be folded back. The room is divided into 3 separate areas. The main area looks like a mix between reception and recovery. A white, oddly shaped desk near the back with a strange arrangement of black rings with indents in them. While nearby on the side wall are 3 open beds. Each bed has plastic-like sheets shrink-wrapped over it. And on the wall where the beds are connected is several noticeable gaps that give the appearance of cabinets and shelves that can likely be pulled out of it.
One of the sectioned-off rooms behind the plastic panels is most definitely some kind of operating room. A single T-shaped table in the center suspended waist high by an arm connected to the ceiling. Several other arms reach down around it, each with different gleaming implements and strange-looking tools. Marin doesn't spend too much time in there, as it makes her skin crawl a bit.
The last divided area in the med bay is starkly different as the floor goes from white metal tiles to almost like a black rubbery mat. Gaps in between each black rubber panel are shiny steel grates that look like drains. And at the back of the room is a separate section behind sheets of frosted glass.
The air feels a bit humid when she approaches the glass area, turning to the right and nearly screaming as she sees a person reflected back at her. Only taking a few seconds to register that it's her own reflection. The entire right wall is a mirror surface with gaps in between to differentiate the panels that can be pulled out.
Seeing herself for the first time since waking up is a bit jarring. Especially since she is as naked as the day she was born. And she certainly feels like she was just born, given the sticky, viscous fluids clinging to her tanned skin. Her short black hair is matted and messy against her head. But overall, she doesn't look bad. Her body looks the same as it did when she checked herself out last in her bathroom outside her dorm. Lean but muscled and toned like a runner as she does track for her university.
Tearing herself away from her reflection, she looks towards the back area of the room. "Please be what I think you are..." She mutters quietly with a sigh as she steps up to the glass. "...Open..." And a portion of the glass in the center slides up into the ceiling to reveal a quite spacious shower. Half of the ceiling on one side is devoted to a dark, grated panel that is most likely a rain shower.
"Oh, thank god..." Marin doesn't bother thinking further, too enthralled by the idea of a hot shower as she steps under the overhead panel. " Shower on..." Jolting again as an entire square radius of water begins to rain down from the panel, sending shocks through her body as her skin feels like it's curling. "TOO COLD! HOT WATER PLEASE!" Before she screams in pain as the water scalds her skin. "WARM WATER! WARM WATER!" And finally sighing in relief as the water shifts quickly to a more soothing warmth.
Marin isn't sure how long she spends in the shower, but by the time she was ready to apprehensively step back out, her hands were quite wrinkled. But the fluids from the strange pod she was in are all washed away now. Leaving her nice and clean. Although it did take a few minutes to find that the inside of the shower had a few hidden panels that popped out for bathing supplies.
After exiting the shower, she starts to wonder why she hasn't been found by someone yet.
'There has to be someone else here, right? All this high-tech stuff can't just be for no one.'
As she expected before, the mirror wall does have its own hidden compartments that, when ordered to open, do so obediently. Which makes Marin wonder how the compartments know which one she wants opened at a given time. But she chalks it up to high-tech nonsense as she locates a compartment filled with towels and other sundries. And in one compartment are stacks of white plastic scrubs that she graciously puts on. Surprisingly, much more comfortable than they looked initially. Almost like velvet.
Now dressed, she exits the bathing area and sighs as she stares at the door on the otherside of the medbay. "Either there is no one else here, or this is the most passive alien abduction ever." She muses while approaching the door. "Open." The door unseals and slides into the frame in four parts, just like the last one. Letting out into a short hallway, the medbay seems to be one of four rooms. Two rooms on either side, while at the end of the hall to her right is a staircase upward. While the left end of the hall is just a dead end.
Everything outside of the medbay is still pretty much white paneling, but at least it's more matte white, so it doesn't bounce light around so much.
Immediately across from her is another door that she steps up to while calling out. "HELLOOOO? Anyone here?" Listening for a few seconds, but nothing answers back. Marin's brows furrow in slight frustration. "Maybe they're out to lunch…" She sighs and flinches as the door opens before she can even speak the phrase. Taking a defensive stance as she thinks someone else is on the other side, but there isn't.
The door leads into a quite nice bunk room. 3 spacious beds on either side with accompanying desks next to each. A set of white plush couches in the middle of the room with a simple rectangle raised block at the center for a coffee table. The walls all across the room have various indications of hidden shelves and drawers.
Marin cautiously moves into the room, scanning around the empty bunks. Seeing no signs of any recent living or personalizations at all. The air still smells sterile and heavily filtered. Not even a sign of a single dust bunny.
The young woman walks over to one of the beds nearest to the door and sits down. The soft memory foam-like mattress makes her sigh in relief. She surrenders and falls back onto the bed and looks up at the pure white ceiling. Every other tile is a dim light that works in tandem with the others to keep a constant muted fluorescence.
"Six beds….six pods...and I was in one of them." She ponders quietly. "But how did I get here…I don't look like I've aged or anything." Her brain starts to hurt more and more as she tries to piece her thoughts together. Shaking her head as she sits back up and rises to her feet. Exploring around the room, opening desk drawers and cabinets from the walls. Even turning over the blankets and pillows. Which doesn't turn up anything, but at least worth a try. The drawers and cabinets on the walls do have more changes of clothes. Tight white, gray, and black trousers. Long and short-sleeve shirts. Even simple underwear that she graciously puts on, along with a set of form-fitting gray pants and a long-sleeve black sweater. Completing the outfit with a pair of black socks and white slip-on shoes, she found in a drawer.
The sweater, though, does have what looks to be a patch on the right shoulder. Three dark purple dashes with a white diagonal strike through them. Which is the only indication so far that this place is actually owned by someone. But she decides to push that back for now and continue exploring. Leaving the bunk room and heading down the hall to the other sets of doors. Choosing the door to the left, the door slides open for her without a word. Making her wonder if it's just her intent for it to open that does it. Which would definitely be way ahead of what she remembered technology being capable of.
The lights hum to life as she is now faced with a full-on kitchen area. Wide open with a large white table on the left side with simple ergonomic chairs around it. Off to the right is ample counter space, a kitchen island, several induction stoves, and fridges. Most of the cabinets and the fridges look to be built into the wall like everything else, and the island in the center looks like it can be pushed down into the floor for more space.
Marin whistles low. "God damn this place is fancy as fuck…" She muses, putting her hands on her hips before turning and exiting the kitchen to walk up to the last door. Upon entering, it just seems to be a rather small, empty white room with two raised sections in the floor, likely used for benches. But she knows by now that the walls are probably where everything in here is stored. Whatever it is.
Walking up to one of the obvious hidden cabinets, she asks it to open, but is surprised instead to see a faint red light flash on the hidden compartment. "Oh…"
She tries again but is met with the same answer. Even trying it on several other compartments. Eventually, she just ends up rounding the entire room until she finally finds a set of compartments she can actually open. A few drawers and a pullout rack of shrink-wrapped packages. The drawers have a few items in separate slots, like metal tactical belts with accompanying pouches that can be added on. Another drawer housing some sort of white rubbery respirator masks in plastic wrap. The others contain various other tactical gear and equipment that Marin isn't even sure what to do with.
One of the small drawers catches her eye in particular. Once it opens, a row of 6 white rectangular objects with black accents rises up diagonally. And looking over the objects, they seem to have a section of them where they're meant to be gripped. The ends of the objects that are still aimed downward into the drawer sort of flare out slightly. The drawer itself has slanted indentations for each of them. A green light flashing above each as well.
Marin reaches down to gently grip and pull one of the objects from its slot. The flashing green light above it turns red in the drawer, making her brows furrow. "Oh…it was charging…I guess." She surmises as she rolls the rectangular tool in her hand. Gripping it where she thinks is right. Above the flared part is a long, thin slot. And on the grip near her index finger is a silver switch that she curiously presses on. The switch clicks back, and the tool begins to hum. Above the switch, a red button pops out.
"Uh…okay…" Marin starts to feel a little nervous as her index finger slides up to the red button and presses it. A bright flash of red and a sharp metallic screech as she drops it to the floor.
Marin leaps back, quickly covering her ears. Her eyes are wide with fright as she stares at the obvious weapon now sparking loudly on the floor.
The entire room is now bathed in a dim red light. The tool she dropped is now slightly hopping as the dark red knife blade connects with the floor. Sparking and crackling.
Marin hisses under her breath and reaches down to pick it back up, the floor somewhat scarred where it fell. She lifts it up carefully to her eye level. The dark red blade is flat and shaped like a standard combat knife. But it seems to be entirely made out of some kind of energy. Black in the center, spreading out into dark red and then bright red at the thinnest parts.
Marin gives the weapon a few testing waves and swipes. A satisfying hum as it moves. "Well…this is definitely not something that exists where I'm from…" She nods to her own observation. Realization sinking in that she might be waking up a bit later than she thought.
Possibly WAY later.
But her thoughts are suddenly ended as a sharp scream echoes through the halls and the sound of clattering metal objects.
Marin's heart finally begins to race for the first time since she woke up in this strange place. She shuts the knife off and runs in the direction of the scream. Finding herself back in the medbay and rounding the corner where the operating room is. A rolling tray is knocked over near the entrance with a few tools strewn around. Peering inside, she sees that some of the robotic arms hanging from the ceiling around the operating table are currently in motion, adjusting themselves and doing rotations. Maybe calibrating or something?
Marin scans around, noticing some fresh sticky footprints and drag marks leading quickly away from the OR and back into the pod room where she started earlier. She follows them cautiously. "Hello?"
She hears a gasp and a wet slap as someone falls and scrambles backwards. Marin very slowly moves into the doorway of the pod room and immediately notices the pod next to hers is upright and open. Fresh fluids all over the floor. And the back corner near the odd pedestal is a human girl. Naked, glistening, long hair, messy and matted to her head and neck. The poor thing is curled up on the floor, holding out what looks like some kind of surgical tool.
Marin raises her hands up in surrender, taking a deep breath. "Hey…it's okay. I'm just like you. I just woke up here like an hour ago. I was in the pod next to yours." She calmly tries to reassure the frightened woman on the floor, carefully stepping further into the room. "Not going to hurt you."
The girl on the floor freezes, her eyes widening as she sees the tan-skinned girl more clearly. The tool drops to the floor as her hands grip against the flat wall to bring herself up to a shaky stand. The shorter blonde's lip begins to quiver as her voice cracks. "M…mar…Mmm…Marin?"
The taller, tan woman stops in her tracks, brows furrowing and eyes squinting at the trembling figure before her. Making out the familiar features, she had only just begun to know more intimately. "Laura?"
Laura sobs as she hears her name back, bolting forward toward the other woman desperately. Easily slipping on the sticky fluids from her pod. Marin quickly rushes forward to catch her as she falls to her knees. Bundling up the blonde in her arms so tightly that one would think it would crush her.
The two were stuck in place. Wrapped in a deep embrace and afraid to let go.
In a strange and unfamiliar place.
But at least. Together.