Sigma/Star

Chapter 35: Enigma

Leif was surrounded by liquid, suspended in it by the powers of buoyancy and an arrangement of tubes that entered his body or wrapped around his limbs. All that enveloped him was itself contained by a glass tube that ran from the floor to the ceiling of the room. There were others in the area, some empty but two filled with other people, similar to Leif.

One held Syn, who was watching Leif with an intense curiosity. The other had a female within, the young Allyson, who was asleep for the moment. Her blonde hair swirled around her head as her body bobbed up and down and both Leif and Syn were staring at her now, each one captivated by her beauty.

With her slender features and feminine attributes it was tough to imagine her as the leader of the Red Scarf Rebellion, long since captured and imprisoned for a year by the Enian Federation. Syn had watched those headlines go by on the newsfeeds all over. That was around the time he had been committing one of his first murders, on a young man in an alley. That had been a crime of passion, an angry outburst that had triggered a long history of violence for Syn, and paved the way for many more enjoyable incidents. That was why he remembered Allyson so well.

Leif was a mystery though. He was a political prisoner and a rebel, that was known, but of what rebellion was still a secret. None of the three could speak to each other, or speak at all for that matter. Their mouths and noses were crammed full of different breathing apparatuses to keep them alive, as well as a feeding tube or two. If they could manage to utter any sounds and then for someone to hear it through the fluid and glass, it would be a miracle.

So Syn kept moving his head between Leif and Allyson, watching the two, and trying to learn whatever he could. The only way he could learn things about them or what was happening was by listening to the scientists and researchers on the outside. Often he had to feign sleep to get them to talk but it was worth it.

Already he had picked up little facts here and there, tidbits explaining just what was coming their way. He had seen some of the parts coming through, shiny bits of metal and computer components. The way the handlers of these objects looked from Syn to the parts, he knew they were going to be a part of him one day.

What a day that would be! To have your flesh replaced by metal, to become one with a machine and remove all those human hindrances he had suffered for years. Yes his heart was failing and he possessed a rare bone deficiency. To finally shed those weights and leap a thousand feet in the air and run around the world! What a wonderful experience that would be! And what about how it would feel to kill? Oh yes, that would be quite entertaining with all those new powers at his disposal.

One of the scientists approached Syn's glass vat and tapped on the outside, peering in with a smile. Fortunately, Syn was not ashamed of his body and so he was not embarrassed to have this man staring at his naked form. The scientist did just that, scanning up and down with his eyes in a curious manner, before looking into Syn's eyes through the murk of the fluids.

To each viewer, the other's face was warped and would ripple and undulate with every passing motion of the liquids, all magnified by the curved glass. It was a human fishbowl, and Syn hated it. If he could move, he would have burst out of this place and strangled the man in front of him, or perhaps stabbed him with shards. Yes that would be most pleasurable.

"What are you thinking about in there?" The scientist tapped the glass again as he spoke, gesturing towards Syn's thoughtful eyes. Death, Syn thought, but he knew the man couldn't hear it. A bubble floated up out of his mouth as he tried to speak and clung to the wall of the vat. "Not that it matters. You won't be thinking much soon. Almost time to turn your brain off. Going to have to if we're doing what it is that we're...doing."

The scientist turned away from the tube with a distant look in his eyes and his shoulders shuddered. Obviously he was feeling the weight of such a morale burden quite a lot. Syn almost envied the man for being able to take on an emotional load. Syn couldn't do it. If he let the conscious weight of all the things he'd done in the past loom over him, he'd be crushed.