Lifeboat

28. Dance With Me

Dante. I had to save Dante.

He'd been hauled out of the room, his feet dragging, his body dejected. I had to find a way to get out and help him to escape. I knew the way out. The imprint of the building had become available to my knowledge. Previously buried somewhere out of my consciousness but now close at hand.

The Engineer fiddled around again under my cylinder. I watched him carefully, recalling the position of his arm muscles in certain actions.

This came as a pleasant surprise to me. I could now understand from every tiny tension or flex of his structure how he moved the control panel. Without having to see it.

One problem solved at least. I understood how to reset my panel. For what purpose was still lost on me.

The Engineer glanced up and winked. A smarmy flick of a smile curled his lip.
"Let's have a bit of fun, Sweetheart."

He stalked over to the main exit and shut the door, sliding the bolt across it as I had done, so long ago before. On his way back, he skipped and called out in a chirpy voice.
"Computer, play 'Somewhere Beyond the Sea', medium volume."

If I could have smiled I would have.

He skipped and twirled in time to the music, making his way back to my cylinder.

Once again I took a keen interest in the patterns of his muscle movement as he worked on the panel. The sequence of motion stored in my memory.

A shift in pressure around me caused my heart to race. The liquid drained away. Slowly, the level of the fluid sank down and slid over my scalp. My thick hair, previously weightless and freely waving in the liquid, now hung heavily around my forehead. As the level dropped past my eyes, it lay stubbornly on my eyelashes refusing to allow my eyes to stay open easily.

The air stung my skin.

Fluid drained from my cheeks, my nose, and my mouth. It rushed past my ears, leaving a hollow, gulping sound as if my ears had once been blocked but now cleared. I attempted to breathe through my nostrils and received a flood of liquid up through the cavities and into the back of my throat. I choked, coughing on the obstacle. After clearing the passage, I went back to following the sensation of the retreating fluids. Past my shoulders, over my breasts.

The cool air shocked my skin and I realised that I had no clothing.

Once the liquid had fully drained away, tickling on the tips of my toes, I took a deep breath and held my head high. Whatever challenge faced me, I would handle it. Whatever enemy I had, I was prepared to meet them.

The Engineer's sweaty, greasy face leered up at me as he weaved his way upright and stared into my fluid-free cylinder.
"Come on Barbie, let's go party!"

His attempt at old school pop-rap caused my skin to crawl.

The cylinder sprang open. The door hinge squeaked slightly under the pressure of the movement.

I took a hold of the sides of the cylinder's exit. Gripping so tightly to the corners of the open panel that the glass edge dug into the soft tissue of my palms and set a trickle of blood free. It tapped its way into a shallow red pool on the cold, hard floor.

The Engineer smiled and tilted his balding head to one side. His voice came out low and raspy.
"Dance with me, Sweetheart. Let's set this night alight."

I could only guess that he had been drinking.

My limbs hesitated for a brief moment, then obeyed the messages sent from my brain to move in the way I wished them to.

Stepping out of the cylinder, the Engineer gallantly offered his arm and I leaned on him for stability.

The rhythm of the music infected my steps. With no control, my feet skipped forward as the Engineer led me across the floor in a twirling motion.

Dancing. I couldn't remember the last time I'd danced. Maybe never.

The echo of the trombone bounced through my ears, my legs followed the lazy notes. The Engineer pulled in closer, his left hand sliding over my hips. His smile had frozen on his stubbled face. His eyes flicked down.

My throat tightened. This was wrong.

No matter how hard I concentrated on stopping the ridiculous dance, I had no result. Now a prisoner in my own body I had no choice but to continue being held and leered at by this horrible man.

He dropped my right hand and slammed his sticky palm over my breast. The sick grin still plastered on his mouth. He pushed up against me. His breath of mint invaded my nostrils. I could taste it.

The music wouldn't stop. The dance carried on. His eyes took on a hazy sheen. I had to do something. Quick.

A click of a tendon or nerve at the base of my spine broke the spell.

I brought my knee up as hard as I could, slamming the bony joint into his expectant scrotum.

The Engineer screeched in pain, crumbling to his knees.

Automatically, I seized the opportunity to crush his face with the same motion as before.

He fell back unconscious, his blood spattered face bounced with the impact of his skull against the floor.

He wouldn't be dancing again.

A shiver shot through my torso and I wrapped my arms around myself.

The music stopped.

In the thick silence I noticed a ripple of bubbles from the cylinder to the left of mine. It had been covered over with a thin film of grey paint. A strip missing along the right side. The bubbles sang again.

My legs shaking, I tiptoed to take a look through the gap.

A hand.

An arm.

A slender, dark skinned arm and elegant fingers, floating in the liquid.

I bent down to the control panel, remembering the sequence of the Engineer's muscles. I reproduced both the first set of instructions and the second I had witnessed. The round control buttons clicked into place under my touch.

The rush of draining fluids slipped away through the unit and down under the floor.

I stood on my toes and reached for the clasp of the side panel. As I yanked it open, a waft of peppermint sprang from the cylinder. Pulling the panel all the way back I gasped.

A tall, young girl with thick, black curls blinked her deep brown eyes open.

She didn't only look like me. She was me.