Dark Matter

Chapter 8

Rizza woke up with a gasp. He was shivering. He looked down and realized he was in a metal tub of ice. He was naked, hooked up to unidentifiable machines. He wiped at his ice cold face feverishly, his whole body felt so cold it was burning. Two women rushed over.
"Where am I?" He mumbled hoarsely. They didn't respond. They helped him out of the bath and guided him to a shower, turning on scalding hot water. He felt like he was going to pass out, shivering so violently he could barely stand. They made him stay in the shower until he stopped shaking.
"Please tell me where I am," he pleaded with them. They seemed to be identical, long brown hair pulled back into tight buns, faces mousy and plain.
Clones. Or cyborgs. Probably clones. The realization dawned on him as they led him back to the ice bath room.
Everything in the environment was sleek stainless steel. It made Rizza uneasy; made him feel like he was the only thing out of place.
The two women--or whatever they were-- helped him back into the tub. The ice had been drained from it, which he was thankful for. The women left and he hoisted himself out of the tub as soon as the door closed. Rizza searched through the many drawers and cabinets built into the walls feverishly. He found a pair of pristine white pants and a white shirt and pulled them on. He looked for something, any thing that showed him where he was, but found nothing.
He surveyed the room carefully, and his eyes rested on a clipboard at the foot of his tub. Rizza snatched at it, glaring at the neatly typed up information. It had his full name, Captain Rizza Nova Dewitt, a brief medical history, some background on his parents, and some charts he didn't know how to read. There was a small logo at the top corner of each paper, an upside down triangle in the center of a circle.
Rizza shook his head and sighed, setting the clipboard back onto its hook dejectedly.
He sat on the edge of the tub and waited. He waited for almost an hour, pacing and searching for more clues. He did notice a camera in the corner of the room. Rizza wanted to smash it. He hated being watched.
Finally the door in one corner of the room opened, and a man in his mid-40s strolled in. He wore a white lab coat and light blue hospital scrubs. He had a greying black goatee and receding salt and pepper hair. He looked like a doctor. Rizza hated doctors.
"Hello," Rizza said stiffly, staring at the man warily.
"Hello. My name is Doctor Richard Kaiser," the man said. He kept his distance, but was relaxed in his movements.
"Rizza. But I'm sure you already knew that," he said, a tone of bitterness under his words.
"Yes. Rizza, here at Capricorn Labs, we strive to get the most data out of every situation. To do that, we use a select group of people, put them in a simulation, and observe the outcome of each trial. You and your crew are one of these select groups," the doctor explained.
Capricorn Labs? Why did that sound so familiar? Rizza stared at the doctor for a moment, and he looked familiar as well. Rizza processed the words for a moment, anger bubbling in his stomach as he stared at the pompous and composed man. Every fiber of him told him to attack, but he kept calm.
"That can't be legal! You kidnapped us!" Rizza cried, raising his voice. A blinding pain shot through his body, so intense that tears prickled his vision. He fell to his knees and slapped at the spot where the pain originated from, the back of his neck. There was nothing there.
"At the sign of heightened aggression levels, a special device we've planted under your skin sends shocks through your nervous system. And I assure you, everything we do here is completely legal. Loopholes are a wonderful thing, Captain," the man smiled as Rizza stood shakily. He walked as calmly as he could past the doctor and raced out of the room, sprinting down the hallway. A dull pain buzzed in his neck with every stride.
He came across a door at the end of the hallway. Rizza peeked into the small square of a window in the door. The room was identical to his own, the only difference being who occupied the tub. It was Malakai, and he was hooked up to large machines and submerged in an ice bath as Rizza had been before. Mal looked sickly, pale and skinny, and it terrified Rizza. He wanted to scream or cry, but the only sound that came was a choked whimper. The pain was stronger now; it felt like someone was clawing at his skin with their fingernails.
There was a sharp pain in the lower back, much different from the continuous pain he'd been feeling since he left his room. He reached for it, but fell to the floor before he could find it. He stared up at the ceiling, eyelids feeling heavy. Rizza saw the doctor and a few of the clone nurses, but their faces were fuzzy and swayed uncertainly.
The last thing he heard before passing out was the doctors voice.
"Put him back under."
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Rizza gasped awake, and the panel in front of him hissed open.