The Distant Echo

Euphoric Liquid

Alex had passed out. When he regained consciousness, he felt numb, the pain gone. The medic returned, this time accompanied by another Reptilian and the spherical drone. The drone scanned him, and the medics assessed the data. Then, they retrieved various pieces of equipment and moved the ceiling column into position.

Alex begged his captors not to hurt him, but the Reptilians bestowed no consideration or mercy. They activated the column, and a series of needle-thin particle beams carved flesh, slicing open the injured parts of his body. Pain too intense for comprehension triggered a seizure, and many of his teeth cracked while blood-soaked guts pushed out of fresh wounds.

The medics went to work. They inserted flesh expanding devices into smoldering incisions, repairing broken bones and mutilated organs with a heinous assortment of probes, cauterizers, pliers, and drills.

An alarm sounded from the pod, indicating a severe drop in blood pressure. The medics ignored it. Another alarm sounded when their patient stopped breathing; they ignored that too. Several weak heartbeats later and they finished by stapling the incisions closed. Two flexible tubes fired down, the sharp ends impaling deep into Alex's neck, injecting blood replacement fluid.

The pod alarm discontinued, and Alex tried to control incessant nerve-fire with measured breathing. Once more, the blue liquid poured over him, and sonic oscillation power-washed it away, with a yellow baking light to finish. Pulsing bolts of electricity reverberated throughout the pod and Alex's wounds healed in an instant.

The first medic returned and performed another scan. Satisfied with some unknown criteria, it retrieved an injector instrument from the wall recess. Put to Alex's chest, at the location that his frantic heart raced, a long needle shot out, boring into him.

Euphoric liquid swelled the inner chambers of his heart before coursing through his veins, and Alex tumbled into an unconscious abyss. The medic clicked a command, and another Reptilian came over. They took Alex out of the pod and put him back into the fog tunnel, sending him to another part of the ship.