Catabolism - Part Two: Diplopia

Chapter Five

The sounds were somehow both far away and everywhere at the same time. The cause was intangible, but the effect perforated every atom.

Tap.

Tap-tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap-tap.

Tap.

Taliah's eyes opened all at once. Unconsciousness still lingering in her peripherals, she blinked until the room came into focus. The ceiling she recognized after a moment, dread settling before the realization.

She was back in the hospital. Or medical room, or whatever it was. When she first woke up there, she thought she was in a normal, civilian hospital for a moment, until she slipped out the door and into a utilitarian MC Escher painting. It took precious seconds for her brain to wake up and remember that the BSAA was military, and that it made more sense for her to be there.

Well, apparently, she was still there. Had her previous escape attempt only been in her head, a lucid dream, wishful thinking? But no, it had been real, she was sure. So what happened? She had not been caught, she must have passed out again.

Fucking traitor, she mentally hissed at her body. Never truly on her side.

She had heard something, she remembered. A sound that pulled at the back of her brain, drawing her in a like a siren song. Humming? Singing? Whatever it was, it had been familiar. Coming from an open room. And then...

Taliah blinked, trying to take stock of her situation. Again. Same room, same bed, same too bright lights hurting her eyes. She tilted a head that felt foreign to her, full of sand.

Shit. There was now a soldier at the door, assault rifle strapped to his chest, eyes watching every move she made. Their gazes locked, and Taliah knew a challenge when she saw one.

"You've been causing quite a fuss," a voice chimed on the opposite side of her bed.

Looking over, which took more effort than it ought, Taliah saw a young woman approaching the bed. She did look vaguely familiar, with short brown hair and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She wore a lab coat over a sweater vest, a strange combination that skewed her older than Taliah originally thought, but she still could not be much older than herself.

"But you really need to let your body rest."

Taliah kept her mouth shut, not fooled by the cheery disposition. She was flanked, that was going to be a problem.

"I'm Professor Rebecca Chambers. I've been periodically monitoring you." She did not hold out a hand, which was a good call.

"That's a new one," Taliah choked out, brow raised. Great, she was being studied already. Ahead of schedule. Guess she could not say the BSAA was not efficient.

The woman's fake cheery smile dropped into a more neutral line, looking much more natural. "I know everything is confusing right now, but I have to insist you rest a bit longer. We've kept you under another two days after your last escape attempt—"

Taliah frowned, and not just from how dismissively she said it.

"—since your system needs time to fully acclimate to being off the sedatives and regulate a sleep-wake cycle—" The sedatives were not the only thing threatening to put Taliah back to sleep. "—and we figured that two more days wouldn't hurt after how long you were under."

Taliah's blood ran suddenly cold, but the professor had already moved on, looking at the monitor she was once again hooked up to.

"I've spent the time studying what was available about your metabolic ability." She folded her arms over her chest, looking like she was watching a particularly engaging television show. "It's pretty interesting. The sedatives have all been purged from your blood, but it looks like some of the tissue cells—"