The vision blurred, and this time Jag - no, - Nimio, knew that it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him. Drigs and the restaurant disappeared, but he didn't return to the box. He was in some sort of tank. The water swirled around him, and he couldn't make out what was on the other side. He tried to move, but his limbs were frozen. He opened his mouth, but then the water flooded in. His eyes bulged. He was drowning.
Then the water drained down, and his hair and head were slowly uncovered. He was panicking, and yet drifting ever closer into a state of drowsiness. As the water emptied away, his heavy eyelids shut of their own accord, and he could not sustain them. Nimio lay limp, suspended by cords of wire and tubes across his body; but he did not notice, for he had soon become unconscious.
Gregariza ordered the operator to detach the tubes, which promptly fell out of Nimio's body.
"Add adrenaline, we want to wake him up enough to run some tests. We've got a tight schedule here, and I would prefer if we do not deviate from it, lest you want the Regime beating us to this," Gregariza addressed the team of medical staff.
Nimio was levered out of the tank by a small crane and dropped naked onto a mat on the floor. Someone put the generic hospital dress around him, and then another scientist wearing sterilised clothes came to inject a small syringe full of a viscous yellow liquid straight into Nimio's arm.
He lay on the floor, breathing, and then suddenly his eyes started fluttering awake, body stirring on the ground. Nimio's eyes opened wide with the crazed look of a savage whom had let himself over to only the most primal of his instincts. He jumped up to his feet with inhuman agility.
"What has happened to me?" Nimio asked with obvious pain in his face. "I feel like I just had a whole body transplant."
"You will have to relearn how to use your body, but it should only occupy a short period of time," Gregariza said in his matter of fact tone, reassuring Nimio. "Now if you would, we'd like to run some tests."
*******
YOU ARE READING
Truth Stealers (Thief's Signal: Book 1)
Science FictionTrapped in a box with no way out, Jag doesn't remember how he got there, or why. But with time, as he slowly remembers snippets of who he is, he tries to piece together why he is there. But what is fact, and what is fiction? Is he dreaming, or is he...
