Interlude 2: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of Specimen 647 Tue May 16 2000 >> Time has no meaning in the laboratory. The distance from moment to moment is measured in the buzzing and flickering of the electric lights. Footsteps ring out in the drug-addled oblivion. The air is pungent and stinging. Specimen 647 was born in the laboratory. The idea of "born" as coming from the womb of a mother is inconsequential. The specimen's life in the laboratory was different enough from the life before that it had essentially been reborn. >> The life before isn't remembered, and thus is inconsequential. Most things are inconsequential in the torpid haze of buzzing fluorescent lights, sickly-sweet medicines and distorted sounds of the laboratory. Sensation is not inconsequential. Being of consequence, sensation is the solid ground which the reality of specimen 647 is grounded to. Cutting is bad; sharp and cold. Pain is bad in the laboratory. Rest is good. >> Rest is the lack of pain, or rather the diminishing thereof. There are no dreams. Rather it is impossible to tell. Reality contains all those qualities once ascribed to dreams in the life not remembered. There are certainly no good dreams, but the laboratory is in its own way so like a bad dream that the two are indistinguishable. Dreams are inconsequential. >> Things are always quiet in the laboratory, but now there is noise, a loud crash, and the milky white of the fluorescent tubes becomes an angry red, and a flurry of footsteps rushes past, and there are shouts and alarms and speech in a language the specimen once knew in a time so infinitely far away and beyond a wall as impenetrable as the barrier between life and death, and a table of sharp cold cutting things clatters to the floor and skitters, clatters and skitters and trips up the waves of frenzied vague shapes that rush by in white coats, white dyed pink by the angry red lights that flash on and off in time to the wailing klaxons that stab the mind like sharp cold needles but like a wintry gate hearken to the life before when the world was different and the foggy maze of agony was a million miles away in another land. >> Everything is black. Rest is good. >> Ellena wakes up in endless black space, from an infinitely long and painful dream of surreal tortures in a foreign land. Now she hovers in peaceful oblivion, weightless. * Ellena opens her eyes slowly and silently, taking in the strange umbra-like place with quiet befuddlement... >> The difference between eyes open and eyes closed is so meaningless that it's hard to tell if she has opened them at all, or is simply too weak to control her muscles. Ellena: . o O ( What is...where...? Am I...dead...? I can't move... ) * Ellena tries calling out into the blackness, but her throat is so raw that it sounds more like an animal's croak than actual speech... Ellena: . o O ( Why doesn't anyone answer me...? I'm...alone...? ) >> A cold breeze whisks past, chilling her face and shoulders but not her lower body, and shattering the fragile equilibrium that exists between person and surroundings in the somnolent half-realm between sleep and waking. As she comes to a greater awareness of her surroundings, she realizes that she is lying with her head propped against a pillow of some sort in a large basin of warm water, like a bath-tub. * Ellena shivers involuntarily because of the chill on her arms, yet is comforted at the same time by the warm water. Ellena: . o O ( It's not hard...like...that thing...before. Or cold...where is this...? ) * Ellena tries, against her better judgement, to call out to someone, once again her voice coming out with a croaking sound, and her getting more confused by the moment. * Ellena tries yet again, "Is...someone...there...?" * Ellena swallows thickly to soothe her throat, the quietness beginning to set her on edge slightly, despite her fogginess. >> "What?" A door opens and shuts, and light from a small oil lamp illuminates the room. It's spartan, made from untreated wood, and there are no windows, but a draft sneaks its way through the kinks in the log walls. An Elw girl in patched, piebald clothes sewn together from myriad mismatching fabrics stands at the doorway, carefully closing it behind her. She is pretty, but weather-worn, and appears no more than 200. * Ellena blinks serveral times, not quite beliving what she seeing. "I...the lights...the table...gone...?" Ellena: Who...? Elw Girl: Shh. You're safe here. *she approaches, kneeling by the bath-tub* "I've brought you some tea." * Ellena mumbles the word 'tea' slowly, almost not fully connected with the outside world and its trivial things. Ellena: Tea...thank you... Elw Girl: Can you move? Ellena: N...Not really. I'm so tired... Elw Girl: Your muscles are atrophied...this will help. Open your mouth. It might hurt a bit to swallow, but it'll help you get better. Ellena: A...All right... * Ellena weakly opens her mouth, pain almost so common that she's not even concerned about the possible pain swallowing will cause. >> The girl tilts the cup and pours the tea into Ellena's open mouth...it's hot, and her sense of taste doesn't seem to be working yet, but it burns as it slides down. A slow, radiating warmth spreads throughout her body, returning feeling to her extremities and easing her pain somewhat. * Ellena coughs, but is able to get it down, smiling a bit as the warmth spreads throughout her body. Ellena: It's been so long since I've felt warm...I don't even know if I have felt warm before... Ellena: Thank you... Elw Girl: *smiles warmly* It's nothing. My name is Mariel...I'm a friend. Do you know your name? Ellena: It's...Ellena... Mariel: Ellena. Where are you from, Ellena? Ellena: I...I assume where you are from...right? You are an Elw..but...I'm from Tarjon Village...I know...this is probably wishful thinking, but...am I ...home? >> She shakes her head. "Not in the way you mean it. What's the last thing you remember?" * Ellena blinks, not quite understanding. "I remember...staying with a human...he was kind to me...then these men in black came and took me away...and they...they took me to someplace they called a 'lab'. Then things became foggy and I don't remember much after that. >> Mariel nods quietly, averting her eyes and pausing before she speaks. "Yes. How did you leave the Elw Dimension?" Ellena: I...I was blamed for something I didn't do. Ellena: I was banished... Mariel: Banished? *she blinks* What in the world did they think you did? * Ellena looks down slightly, ashamed. "I was walking with some of my friends...We wandered too close to the forest prison. I know I wasn't supposed to be there...but...I've never seen it before. I was curious..." Ellena: But... Ellena: My friends were walking back home, and I stayed for a few more moments...and I saw...something...snake through the trees and then dissapear. I'm still not sure what it was. But there was an explosion and all the monsters inside somehow got out. Since I was the only one there...they all blamed me. Ellena: Even my friends. Mariel: *silence* Mariel: I see. Well...you're still in Filgaia now, but... * Ellena looks up. "But...?" Mariel: This is a part of Filgaia most people never see. Whoever it was that took you to the research and development facility won't find you here. Ellena: How was I able to get out...? I don't remember much...but I do remember it always being cold...and I couldn't move... * Ellena shivers, "And pain...I remember that too." Mariel: It's not important. Don't think about it. The important thing for now is that you get better. You can stay here as long as you like, Ellena... Ellena: Thank you Mariel...thank you... Mariel: It's nothing. It's more than enough thanks just to see you alive and with some semblance of your former self. * Ellena nods quietly, closing her eyes. Ellena: (w) I just hope things stay like this...being warm...safe...I hope... Mariel: Do you want anything else? * Ellena opens her eyes again. "I'm all right...maybe a little bit of sleep will do me some good." Mariel: The water will get cold. I have clothes and a bed you can use. I have little to offer, but after what you've been through you deserve it. * Ellena nods slowly. "The warmth was so nice, I forgot I was sitting in a bathtub. I appreciate all of this..." Mariel: It's okay....it's the least I can do. * Ellena smiles still, not feeling she can ever show her gratitude...and fearful this will all be taken away...