The Icebound Clocktower and Other Noise Inspired Stories

The Artificial Limbo

Isochronic Brainwave Generator, In Utero, Aural Scan

Sensors and monitors pulse as everything about the subject in the tank is monitored. Faint melodic tones are played in one ear occasionally, to watch how her brain responds. The tank is a bulky but smooth, chrome contraption. Cold to the touch, with just one panel full of flashing lights and buttons. There are screens that show her movements, however small, while inside, and ones that show graphs, and ones that are even able to every so often construct a vague picture of what's going through her mind.

Inside the subject awakes to darkness, and it takes a few minutes of panic as she realizes that the fluid she's floating in is breathable. She tries to flail and swim in a direction she assumes is upward, but her limbs can't quite obey. They feel numb and useless and trying to move them triggers an unsettling ache in several specific parts of her brain. She doesn't know why at first.

Then she remembers.

Aah, how it all comes flooding back, and she feels another uncomfortable jab in her skull. There's a moment of peace in remembering, of understanding. Then the gravity of the situation starts to dawn on her.

She remembers having her hair cut, whole sections sheared and shaved off. She remembers her mother... her friends... she worries about them. She wonders where they are. She resets her mind, continuing to trace back her memory.

She was put into a sort of bathing suit... leotard... thing... yes, and she had her hair cut short... There was a part of her that was very unwilling to recall the last bit before she lost consciousness. And when she did, she knew why.

Wires.

She had wires attached to her... in her head. She felt her heart pick up speed again and forced herself to stay calm. Yes, she was being monitored. There were wires sticking out all over her person. They were mostly harmless. Her mother suggested this, and she wouldn't suggest anything that would hurt her. She relaxed. This wasn't so bad.

For the longest time she can hear nothing but the tones in her hears, the burbling of liquid, and her own breathing. She isn't aware of falling asleep or waking up, and after what could be anything from hours to weeks her mind starts to wander, and she dreams...

Sometimes it's of her childhood.

Most of it is of her friends.

Sometimes even, her mother is there. 

Strangely enough, though, that's never a good thing.