Richard woke on the ground, confused and surprised to be alive. His surroundings were a small section of the Morgue - about twenty feet in diameter. It contained part of the floor, half the examination table and a piece of wall. This stood in the middle of an enormous white room. There was nothing else around.
Morris sat up beside him and began to rub the head of his stolen body. Richard looked for Sands – he was nowhere to be seen.
"What the fuck just happened?" Richard asked. A sharp pain throbbed behind his eyes. He winced against it.
"Matter transport. It's called a Bubble. Sands came up with it years ago as an evacuation device. Never went public." Morris winced as well. "Side effect is a migraine. Never could figure out why. Goes away in exactly an hour."
He got up and stretched. Richard did the same and swayed slightly.
"Was this planned?"
"Of course!" Morris moved to the edge of the Morgue floor and hopped to the tile a short distance below. "Every minute."
"How is that even possible?"
Morris shrugged.
"Does he have a Time Machine?"
This summoned a chuckle. "No. Not that he hasn't tried. There were issues with Paradoxes that made him step away. As for what's going on now - it's just his talent for pushing the world in the direction he wants – consequences be damned."
Richard followed Morris and dropped to the ground. He was surprised to see the Bubble had also taken sections of the building's structure – chunks of concrete, steel beam, electrical conduit and plumbing.
They started across the room – Morris led. His confident stride made it clear he knew the space. Without him Richard would have been lost. Bright lights caused the white walls and floor to glow - this melted them into a void and blurred any sense of direction. The only point of reference was the chunk of Morgue behind them and it was fading into the distance.
"What is this place?" Richard asked.
"It's used for all sorts of things," said Morris. "Most of the unstable experiments get run in here. Designed to contain a lot of chaos - walls, roof and floor are thick and reinforced with some wild science."
After a significant walk a door appeared in the distance. Richard couldn't help but wonder if Morris had known it was there or if they had stumbled upon it by sheer luck.
"There's one of these every few feet," Morris said over his shoulder before Richard could ask. "Otherwise no one would get out of here."
Instead of a handle there was a black number pad. He punched in a sequence when they arrived and it opened without a sound.
On the other side was a round hallway. Following it delivered them to a familiar room – Sands enormous Lab.
"Welcome gentlemen!" Sands boomed. At first Richard didn't see him – he was hiding on the other side of a large drum covered in lights. When Sands stepped out from behind it his stomach dropped. He was still in Evs body and the grin on its face was terrifying – equal parts excitement and madness. "That was a hell of an adventure! Better than a shot of adrenaline. Woke me right up!"
Morris held out a hand to Richard. "I need what you grabbed."
Richard reached into his pocket and pulled out the small bag of hair. He gave it up without reluctance. His plans hadn't wavered at all despite Maxwell's warnings.
As soon as Morris had the bag he turned and walked away, navigating around a haphazard stack of machinery before disappearing behind a steel shelving unit.
"You did well in there!" Sands announced. He gave Richard a hearty pat on the back. "I'm proud."
This made Richard cringe. Sands wasn't someone he wanted compliments from.
"I knew you were Homesick and almost on board," he continued. "Just not quite a hundred percent – morals are solid restraints. All you needed was a little bump. Seeing your body did the trick. The effect is overwhelming - indescribable unless experienced. If I hadn't lost my own body I wouldn't understand...." Sands paused to chuckle. "Then again - none of this would have happened if I hadn't!"
Despite his preoccupied state of mind, the laugh sent a shiver of rage through Richard's body. Its tone of conceit was hard to ignore. Sands narcissism underscored that he was nothing more than a prisoner of circumstance, controlled by a maniac dangling a carrot.
"And let's not forget one thing," said Sands. "I enjoyed watching you suffer." He held up a Swap Box. "Each time I used this it was bliss."
Richard stared at him. This was the breaking point – the Homesick noose had slipped a little and let him see clearly. His hands balled into fists. Maybe the Lab would be the place everything ended. It was as good a spot as any.
"Are you upset?" Sands glanced down at Richards fists, then looked him in the eye. "There's no reason to be. You may not want to believe it, but you're in good hands."
Morris appeared at the end of the shelving unit a few feet away. "I'm going to need some help after all," he said.
"Everything okay?" Sands voice held a note of concern.
"I just want a hand mixing two of the Bases."
"No problem!"
Richard watched Sands jog over and follow Morris. This left him alone with his thoughts – an assortment of contradictions. A small part of him wanted to run – but there was nowhere to go, an overwhelming part wanted the new body he was promised – that likely came with all sorts of terrible expectations, while the last simply wanted Sands out of commission somehow – the most dangerous and challenging desire of the bunch.
Being Homesick should have kept him in check and on course. The body was the priority – the rest ignored. And that probably would have happened – if he hadn't noticed the Swap Box.
Sands had set the device down on a nearby stack of pallets and clearly forgot about it when Morris asked for help.
With shaking hands Richard picked it up by one of the Hotwire cables and dropped the whole thing in his pocket. He had no idea if or when it might be of use but that didn't matter, the weight made him feel armed.
The click of shoes on tile brought his attention back to the shelving. Sands strolled out from behind it seconds later - his lunatic smile bigger than ever. It was like he knew something was up.
Richard watched with a hammering heart –wondering how long it would take him to spot the missing weapon.
"Something wrong Sobel? You look unsettled."
"Just wiped out."
"I'd be stunned if you weren't." Sands stopped a few feet away. If he did notice the absent Swap Box there was no indication. "You'll get to rest soon. We're almost done."
A lump rose in Richard's throat – brought on by nervous excitement. This helped quiet a growing urge to touch the pocket that held the Swap Box to prove it was still there - even though he could feel it pressing against his thigh. Such compulsive behavior was the product of a tired mind.
"Why are you still standing there? Let's get moving!" Sands nodded in the direction he had come from. "Things are all set."
"For what?"
"Incubation!"
This did nothing for Richard's endlessly shifting emotions. That single word changed his focus in a heartbeat. Everything he used to keep his Homesick desires in check – anger, hate and frustration – were crushed. All that remained was lust. The promise of a new body was one thing – knowing it existed was something else entirely.
He followed Sands across the room and around the corner. What was waiting made his knees weak.
Against a far wall were two large cylinders filled with yellow fluid. Floating in the middle of each was a small black sphere. Both shifted and stretched.
Sands clapped him on the shoulder. This startled Richard. "See! I follow through on promises. You're on the left Sobel. Not much right now but there's going to be plenty in an hour."
Richard moved forward on shaking legs. He reached out and touched the glass. The sphere was beautiful – a symbol of hope.
As he stared at it the room shook - he was too captivated to notice.
But it caught his attention the second time.
"Is that supposed to happen?"
"Nope!" said Sands. He had pulled a Tablet from a desk beside him and was tapping the screen.
"Did you plan for this?" asked Morris. His focus was on the ceiling high above.
"Yes and no. Doesn't matter – it's going to take them ages to get inside. By then we should be finished and on our way.