Test Tubes

Part VIII - Out and About

     That night, Maylea slept on the floor. Strange choice but I guess she had nowhere else. Sirene, Sarina and I stayed awake just looking at her and talking to each other about her.
     "I wonder if she's accepting her new body..." Sarina said.
     "I sure hope so, she doesn't have a choice," Sirene added, "she looked uncomfortable the entire time she was awake. Maybe she'll feel better in the morning?"
     "I don't know, she looked pretty upset about what happened. She didn't mean for it to happen but it was to save your life Sarina. You should thank her when she wakes up. It'll probably boost her spirit." I said. We just continued talking about her until we fell asleep.
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     I woke up in the jungle atop a tree. I admired my shiny black tail and started to twiddle with my hair. It was then I heard a rustling in the leaves. I looked down to see a man exploring the jungle. He took shelter underneath my tree. I slowly slithered down to see him closer. Then, like lightning, I wrapped him in my coils. I turn around to look at his face. I don't recognize him. He looks at me, smiles, and says, 'This is what you wanted.'
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     I wake up confused about the dream I just had, and I look at the time. It's quarter to five. I look down at Maylea, she's awake, and staring at me. I look into her eyes, and smile. We continue staring at each other for what feels like a brief moment but what turned out to be an hour and a half.
     "What are you doing?" Sarina says to the both of us.
     "Having a staring contest don't make me lose focus." Maylea snarks back to her.
     "Oh. My money's on Azrael," she replies. I'm determined now not to blink, because even though this wasn't a staring contest, Sarina's locked on our gazes, waiting for the first blink she sees. We stare for two minutes, just as my eyes start to hurt, Maylea blinks. I won something I didn't even want to win. Friendly competitions are lovely. Right after she blinks, she stands up, and does her regular spiel.
     "Good morning, girls! How are we feeling today?"
     "Eaugh, I'm okay, May," Sirene says while yawning. A buzzer buzzed near the door, Maylea goes over and presses it.
     "Hello?"
     "Hello, Dr. Stone. I've just got back from the construction folks, they've finished installing the water channels," Dr. Lambrick relays.
     "Oh! Fantastic news, thank you Dr. Lambrick!" Maylea says back. She releases the buzzer and walks over to our tubes. "Can you guys move yet?" She asks us. I try to wiggle my tail, and actually can do it! Sirene starts doing the worm against the wall, and Sarina starts tap dancing against the floor.
     "I can!" I say.
     "Me too." Sarina says.
     "I'm vibing hard." Sirene replies.
     "Okay, great," Maylea announces, "I've got some good news. Today, you're leaving your tubes and never going back inside them! You'll be able to roam the facility as you please. Sirene, sadly you'll only be able to use the water channels installed throughout the lab, but there is a central pool in one of the rooms you can access. You can go to the pond in the terrarium if you please. That's somewhere Azrael, Sarina, nor I will be able to go. Sounds fun, doesn't it?"
     We're actually leaving the tubes? I didn't think this would actually happen. I wonder just how big this lab is? I've only seen the terrarium and this room. How much more is there?
     "If you reach the top of your tubes you should be able to push it open and climb on out! Sirene you'll want to act fast, there's a pool to your left, go there as soon as you can!" Maylea tells us.
     "Question," Sarina prods, "I can't swim."
     "We'll help you out when Azrael gets out, just hang tight then, Sarina." Maylea says.
     I wriggle myself up to the top of my tube and push up, and the lid hinges open. I grab the lip of the glass and hoist myself onto the catwalk above my tube. I grab the same towel that was there when we were women and dried my face and hands. I then dragged myself along and brought my full body out of the tube. I opened Sirene's tube lid on my way down. She swims out and lands on the floor. Maylea pushes her into the pool. I have to learn to slither before I can get Sarina out.
     "Maylea go open Sarina's lid, I have to learn how to slither for a little bit first," I said. As Maylea goes up the steps I practice moving my tail left and right until I find something that works. If I move my tail to the left and lift up a bit, I move forward, if I do the same but on the right, I move forward more. I think I got it; I just need to practice. I slither up the steps and over to the top of Sarina's tube. I go down into her tube while coiling my tail around the catwalk railing.
     "Grab my arms," I say to Sarina, "I'll pull you out." Sarina grabs my arms and I gesture to Maylea to start pulling my tail out of the fluid. Her talons hurt like hell but it's what we have to do. After five minutes we pull Sarina to the point where she can hook her legs over the lip of the tube. She grabs on to the catwalk and hoists herself up onto it. After all that, she's finally out of her tube.
     "Looked like fun," Sirene joked.
     "You girls ready?" Maylea said inquisitively, "I've got an idea."