A Question of Humanity

[Academia Nut]

"Only one remains. I wonder what he will choose?"

"He will choose correctly."

"He wants to know what happened to his family. That is something we will not tell him, but he will try and discern which one of us is least responsible."

"Obviously."

"Bah! He should pick the one most able to let him get revenge!"

"And if that one is the one most responsible?"

"He's strong, he can deal with it!"

"Quite."

"I'm sure."

[Cynical Cat]

Dane hadn't been asking many questions, but he had been listening very carefully. There was so little said and no way to verify it, but he had no choice. He had to take the future into consideration and there was one who seemed more likely to leave him with at least some free will while giving him power to fuck with them.

"Smith," said Dane at last.

[Academia Nut]

Start of Chapter One

Nothingness parts, the bliss of unconsciousness lifting. For some, the memories roused by wakefulness are cruel, their last sensations not pleasant ones. From whatever nightmares they wake from, their first impression is one of light, harshly bright and yellow, like the sun but closer and right in their faces. So overwhelming is this sensation that it takes a moment to notice the more intimate sensation of the straps holding the survivors down, or rather up. Thick and leather, heavy restraints pin each of the survivors to a cold metal table held vertically upright, holding them near the source of yellow light.

For those that can bear to look, they are alone in a white room, surrounded on all sides by lamps similar to the ones in the camp, aimed at them, keeping bright light like that of the sun focused on them at all times. For those that can't bear the pain of the brilliant lamps, and for those that can, they can also tell by the play of the hot air across their skin and the pressure of the straps that they are naked. With the pressure of the straps there is also a slight, rythmic sway, as if the whole room were tilting back and forth half a degree every few seconds.

[Cynical Cat]

"What. . . the . . fuck," croaked Dane. His throat felt as dry as a desert.

[fgalkin]

Nadya awoke to the sensation of bright light hitting, hurting her eyes. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was no longer in the domain of the Smith, but rather has rejoined the mortal world. She hung there for a while, her mind blank and empty, still trying to process what occurred.

Eventually, other sensations rejoined that of the light and heat on her bare skin- the pressure of the straps, the numbness in her limbs, and she began to take note of her predicament. She appeared to be strapped to a table, under bright lights, on a...ship?

She pondered that for a moment. The swaying was far too regular and rhythmic to be produced by a vehicle traveling overland, and besides, these lights surely required a much stronger power source than normally available.

That means they have been found, and either are being taken somewhere, or were already there. By whom? That question should be answered shortly. Someone would come eventually. She just had to wait and see.

Nadya waited.

-------------------------------------
Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Losonti Tokash]

Fucking...lights...

Zachary tried shielding his eyes from the intense glare, but something held his arm in place. The wheels in his brain slowly creaked into motion and he realized he was strapped to some kind of table.

Other details slowly slid into place as he looked around. The gentle rocking of the room, the door with no handle. Or at least not from inside the room.

Also, all of his clothes were missing.

"Fuck."

[Academia Nut]

For several seconds after Dane's exclaimation nothing but the quiet echo of his words in the chamber and the hum of the lights could be heard. Then the sound of well oiled metal teeth running over each other could be heard and somewhere to his right a door was heard opening. Hard rubber boots hitting metal heralded the arrival of people into the room, but the ring of lights prevented him from seeing anything.

Similarly, Zach found his chamber invaded by whoever their captors were, although those that entered made barely a sound, their precision crisp and the mechanisms of the door running smoothly.

Silent, Nadya found the silence of her room uninterrupted.

[Cynical Cat]

"Are you motherfuckers going to continue playing games or are you going to let me up?" asked Dane.

[Losonti Tokash]

Zach stared at the people who'd entered the room in amazement for a few seconds before he said anything.

Hazmats? Really? And machine guns? What the fuck?

"What the hell is going on? Who are you? CDC? Military? A goddamn Nicaraguan death squad? Why the hell are you wearing hazmats?"

[fgalkin]

Alone in her room, Nadya waited. And waited. And waited.

The silence of her room uninterrupted, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


-------------------------------------
Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Academia Nut]

At the outbursts of the Dane and Zach, the men carrying the long poles reached out and stuck each one in the chest with their long poles, jabbing a long needle into their flesh. The experience was interesting.

For Dane, the jab was strangely intense, not exactly painful, but somehow larger, and more nuanced than he expected it would be. He could practically hear the rod quiver with the impact and then the sympathetic tremor caused by the motions of his body, from the recoil of his muscles to the expansion and contraction of his lungs, even down to the tiny quiver set up by his heartbeat. He could feel the change in pressure as the fluid in the syringe flooded into his body.

And then the heat.

Whatever was in that rod did not respond well to his body, producing a flash of heat like the worst fever Dane had ever experienced, like there was a coil of dozens of loops of electrical wire between the top of his head and the bottom of his groin that pumped heat into him. It lasted only a moment before his body finished burning off whatever had been pumped into him.

For Zach, the experience was slightly different. The world felt just fine, but when the needle hit, the area around went numb, like he'd been to the dentist and took a large shot of novocaine before he had been hit. He felt a sort of pressure as the injection commenced, but it just sort of sat within his blood, his body refusing to interact with it. This was despite the fact that the blow had been expert and injected right into a major vein.

Just as Nadya's eyes started to flicker closed once more, she heard the sound of a lock cycling. It seemed that someone had taken interest in her now.

[fgalkin]

Nadya started awake at the sound of the door opening, followed by heavy footsteps.

She raised her head, and, squinting against the bright light, tried to make out the figures that entered her room.

----------------------------
Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Losonti Tokash]

Zach's body tensed as he saw the needle coming at him, and he shut his eyes. He opened them again after a few seconds, wondering why they'd stopped short.

But no, there was the needle, sticking out of his chest, injecting something into him. No pain, just a weird numbness. After the needle was withdrawn, Zach continued to look at the injection site, dumbfounded.

Huh.

[Cynical Cat]

Dane struggled and thrashed against his bonds.