​Intermission 4. Eliza

Darkness. Motion.

No sensations — only the cold of metal and the tight mesh of restraints holding her in place. The pain in her eye sockets had turned into a burning, blunt pressure.

Something clicked. From the smooth walls of the cocoon, thin needles — fine as hair — slid out soundlessly and pierced with mechanical precision: her arms, her neck, her thighs. A searing cocktail of tranquilizers, neuro-blockers, and pain suppressants flooded her veins.

A high, shrill whine came from above her head — a laser scalpel. The pain vanished as the compounds blocked everything. But she felt the vibration as the machine cut through bone. Half her skull was removed like an access panel.

A mechanical arm descended and implanted a foreign device at the center of her brain. Now it would begin replacing her neural cells with synthetic equivalents.

The machines retracted into the walls. Darkness and silence again.

Under the rough bandage across her face, heat pooled. It seeped through the fabric and ran down her cheeks like bloody tears.