Midori and Atlas went inside the unknown place. The first thing that greeted them was a cold breeze, which made Midori cover herself with her arms, starting to tremble. Atlas seemed to manage the cold better. A few steps in and Midori was already able to hear some machines making all kind of noises all over the place.
— Wh-what am I hearing? —she said with some difficulty, the cold overwhelming her—.
— It’s… a lot of machines… I don’t exactly understand.
Midori took ahold of Atlas’ sleeve as to not get lost. Atlas noticed an incubator and slowly approached it, squinting his eyes.
— What is this…?
Getting closer, he noticed how there was a person inside of it. Atlas gasped, startled.
— W-what!? —Midori automatically responded, scared of Atlas reaction—.
Atlas gulped down and cleaned a bit of the humidity covering the crystal. Seeing it clearly, it was indeed a person, he could better see their face now. It seemed to be sleeping. Atlas crouched down and found out that the incubator was plugged in from somewhere, he followed the cable with his eyes. After a few seconds he localized the machine it was attached to. He stood up and walked to the machine.
In said machine, the vital signs of the person could be seen, as well as their brain state. Atlas tilted his head to the side grimacing as he did so. He couldn’t understand why it was showing that information in specific.
Midori was restless. Not being able to see but feeling the cold and the sound of the machines was a bit of a horrific experience for her.
— What’s wrong, Atlas?
Atlas shook his head, getting out of the trance he was in. He turned back to Midori.
— There’s a person in an incubator.
— What!?
— That’s not all… it’s connected to a machine, in which their vital signs and brain state are showing…
— Of their… brain? Why the brain?
— That’s what I can’t understand.
Atlas started to roam around the place, looked at the monitors in the other incubators. There were people whose brains were in perfect state, but others were suffering damage. Others were physically deteriorated, as if the aging up process was increased.
In the last incubator, Altas noticed how there were some papers over it. He took them and cleared his throat to read them put loud.
“Patience n. 52
Vital stats: Stable.
Cerebral state: Minimal damage.
Patience n. 52 is doing good so far. The dose was incremented since he was occasionally waking up. His screams could wake up the other patients if we didn’t take precaution. Regarding his world, it’s developing excellently. In the latest session he could be seen with a job and wife.
There’s nothing else of relevance to report as of now.”
Midori instinctively looked at Atlas. Even though she couldn’t see him, Atlas was doing the same. Neither of them could say anything. Atlas looked at the date on the report and it coincided with the present date. That could only mean that someone had been there and updated it recently.
— What is that…?
— Worlds…? That’s where we were inside all this time…? —questioned Atlas—.
— But here it seems that he’s alone in his own world… Why were we in the same one?
— I don’t know…
In that moment, both of them heard something close to the door.
— Someone’s coming! —exclaimed Midori—.
Atlas and Midori went to the door and hid behind one of the machines that were there. Right when the door opened up.
— Thanks for opening the door for me.
— It’s nothing, what happened to your card?
— I don’t know… it simply disappeared.
— Could it have been your patience? —the nurse said in a chuckle—.
— Nah, that’s impossible.
Both nurses walked to another door and, similar to the first one, swiped a card and went inside. Midori and Atlas took that chance to get out of there. They pressed the button for the door to open and ran away. Without thinking it twice, they went to Midori’s room.
— That was close… —said Midori, placing her hand over her heart, which was beating rapidly—.
— Y-yeah… —said Atlas, almost inaudible—.
— Are you alright?
— I-I’m alright… —he said, coughing slightly—.
Midori guided Atlas to her bed and sat down.
— What could’ve been all that? Are they doing experiments on us?
— I don’t know, Midori. But I know what’s the next place we need to go.
— You mean the other door?
— Correct. We’ll do it tomorrow.
Atlas got up and stood in front of Midori.
— It’s a date.
Midori let out a big laugh.
— It’s a date. —she said back—.
TO BE CONTINUED.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
