Out of the Zone and into the centrifuge

[Visha]

After the procedure Visha had been inconsolable, and even Ephraim could not risk being in the same room as her. It was not just that the pain triggered defensive biological processes, but her own surprised reaction to what increasingly felt like a violation. The doctor had not been kind despite being handsome, and she struggled to reconcile those two things in her mind. It didn’t make sense. He had said she could trust him. And then he’d looked right through her like she was not even a person. Unable to untangle it, or just unwilling, Visha focused on the promise of a cure, but just the thought of Dr Müller made her heart race and her skin tingle and burn. Physically she had healed quickly, but the memory embedded itself far deeper.

When she was finally calm enough for reason, Ephraim had sat with her like he had when she was a child, his voice calm and reassuring while she curled around her pillow. He told her how proud he was. He promised her concessions and rewards for her bravery. With the doctor’s help, they could begin arranging small freedoms. Of course she thought immediately of Seven, though she had no idea where to find him, and Kallisti was hardly likely to be the kind of place Ephraim would escort her. Besides, the fantasy was too precious to her and she was loath to reveal it. Maybe, when things had died down some more, she could convince Catch to let her out again. She pandered to herself with that possibility when her mood spiralled, but the truth was months had passed by now. It was unlikely he even remembered her.

That thought made her even more miserable.

Her only reprieve in that time was discovering Dr Müller had been temporarily commandeered for other work, or at least that was what she was told when she begged and howled not to have to see him again. Catch seemed to think it was true though, because when she asked he said he hadn’t been checking into the security systems. It made her feel all cold when he finally prewarned her of the doctor’s return, and she had to spit venom out into the bathroom sink. Her body felt primed for battle, and clutching onto the porcelain she forced herself to breathe slowly until her heart stopped racing.

A plan. That’s all she needed. A plan to make him kinder.

There was something else though, and when the wave of panic receded she turned it over curiously in her mind, pleased with the new distraction.

Catch said Dr Müller hadn’t returned alone.

It was unlikely the newcomer would be as beautiful as Raffe, but she decided she did not mind that so long as they were not disfigured like Ghost. She avoided his room after that first brief visit out of curiosity, and had been belligerently disinterested when Ephraim had once dangled the possibility of a mysterious companionship like it was a wrapped gift. Visha would have preferred jewellery or a dress, or even access to a new show. Ghost looked like an experiment, and Visha didn’t want that reminder. She wasn’t like that. She wasn’t like the others here.

Patience not being foremost among her virtues, and she did not wait beyond nightfall before sneaking into the newly occupied cell. The surveillance was everywhere, but Catch would take care of it so long as she behaved. Likely the occupant would be asleep – it was how she preferred her first assessment. They usually woke up if she waited long enough, and she could always creep back out if she was disappointed with what she saw. Covered throat to toes, she was little more than a ghostly, blonde shrouded face in the dark.