Chapter 23: Disruptive Assocation — Part 8
Sissy pulled off her shirt and pants, kicked off her sandals, and stepped into the center of the cylinder, standing on the cold metal slab, starting to shiver. Sissy’s body was that of a young woman from a stock of hume origin that was slow to betray physical age. The clothes needed to come off to ensure that there would be no materials interaction or surface contamination of Sissy’s skin, though Orchid had to admit she could understand why Pearl retained a closeness with the girl. Orchid began working across the knobs of the machine, and within moments the clear walls of the cylinder closed around Sissy. She looked over at Orchid for a moment, her eyes moving from Orchid to her friends, then back to Orchid’s hand, which had raised almost of its own accord, to count down the point of change. Orchid’s fingers began curling into a balled fist one at a time until her hand formed a tight ball that seemed tightened in pain.
Sissy stared at the hand until the glowing blue gas swirled in around her and stole her vision from her. The gas hummed with energy, charged her with its raw painful power from head to toe, the extreme nature of the gas ripped all the hair from Sissy’s body, tore the first few layers of cells from her skin. Sissy felt the metal slab separate from her feet, the bitter cold engulfing her in painful reminiscences. Orchid continued typing into the computer, Sissy continued to focus on the spot where she thought Orchid’s fist must still be. Outside the chamber, the cylinder’s surface began to reflect light as an undefined liquid flooded the cylinder, becoming solid as it filled the chamber within. Sissy’s body, frozen in the center of the chamber, could no longer be seen from the outside.
Orchid put her hand down, made a few adjustments to the chamber, turning slowly away from the controls. “She’s frozen solid now. She will stay that way for three hundred years. When she thaws out, the weight of our lives will be on her shoulders.”
“Why did you do this?” Ren asked, staring in horror as the reflective cylinder dropped down beneath the floor of the lab.
“She asked me to find a solution to her pain. She would have killed herself, eventually. No technology can stabilize a determined mind, or a failing soul. This is the best I could do for her. She is at a temperature near absolute zero. Her core has been triggered, but is also in stasis. Her biological processes have stopped completely, and for her at any rate, time has stopped completely. She will survive the centuries, of that I am certain. But will she remember?” Orchid intertwined her fingers, flexing them carefully outward to relieve the stress she felt in her knuckles and wrists. “When Pearl wakes up, I will see the two are together, and live their long lives with each other, as should have happened to begin with.”
Ren turned and left quickly, half running from the room, his eyes glimmering with tears of anger. Kamau followed Ren at a slower pace, and Orchid could only hope that Kamau could help Ren understand. Orchid felt her strength fail her, felt herself fall to the ground, without even the control to fall safely. Diane caught her, her tongue clicking, her tone scolding, and carried her to her bed.
