Rob's head was pounding; his mouth was dry, and his eyesight blurry. That was not the least of his worries. After blacking out after some great sex, Rob had awoken after what seemed like seconds strapped to a chair that resembled a dentist's chair. His wrists were secured to its arms. He could not see his legs, but he could not move them. He was shirtless, and wearing only a pair of white cotton pajama pants. Thankfully his abductors hadn't secured his head, and he could look at his surroundings.
The room was small and had mirrors on three of the four walls. It was blindingly white, and Rob could barely make out the outline of a door in front of him. He could see in the mirrors that the chair he was strapped to was secured to the white floor. There was no apparent escape, not even a vent on the ceiling.
As he surveyed his surroundings, the door in front of Rob opened with a slight 'hiss'. A short man with frizzled grey hair and a white lab coat dotted with stains came through it. He surveyed Rob through his mirrored safety goggles, and smiled, showing off sickly yellow teeth.
"What the fuck are you doing with me?" Rob demanded upon seeing the strange man.
Ignoring Rob, the man turned and went back the way he had come, closing the door behind him with a louder 'hiss'.
Angry, Rob began to shout, "Get me the fuck out of here! Please!"
No answer. Rob began to panic; he'd seen enough horror movies to see where this was going. They were going to do painful experiments on him and probably kill him in the process. Breathing became difficult as the panic set in, and Rob began thrashing at his bounds.
"Settle down, we aren't going to hurt you" a voice came from some hidden intercom.
Upon hearing the voice, Rob settled down a bit. They could see him, and probably hear him too.
"Then what do you want from me?"
Silence. Clearly the kidnappers were not willing to answer any questions.
'hisss'
The door opened again. This time, a young redheaded woman in a nurse's uniform came through it. In her hand were a metal tray with a syringe and a bottle with a blue liquid inside. The nurse barely glanced at Rob as she set the tray on his lap and picked up the needle and bottle. He watched in strange fascination as she filled the syringe with some of the liquid.
Finally, Rob's senses kicked in and he fought against his restraints, knowing it was no use, but also knowing that whatever was in the syringe was meant for him. The nurse ignored him, and unceremoniously jabbed the needle into his upper arm. There was a slight ache as she pressed the liquid into his arm.
"No...please" he protested, "Stop."
But it was no use, and he braced himself for whatever effects the drug would have. The nurse gathered her tray from Rob's lap, and excited just as she had entered without a backward glance at the man in the chair.
Rob held his breath, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. After a few seconds he let out the breath he was holding, still bracing himself for whatever delayed reaction he might have. Still, nothing happened.
"What was that?" he asked himself silently.
'hiss'
Yet again the door opened, and the man with the wild gray hair came in again. This time he walked right up to Rob and began looking him over.
"Get away from me, you freak" Rob said, uncomfortable under this man's gaze.
"Shut up" the man said with a slight German accent, "It'll all be over soon."
Rob didn't like the sound of that at all.
"Are you going to kill me?" he asked, suddenly wanting to know the truth.
"Far from it" was the only answer he got before the door opened. The nurse was back, this time she was pushing a chair similar to the one Rob was strapped to. There was someone in that chair as well, but he was unconscious.
"Who..." he began to ask, but his voice trailed off when he recognized the figure.
It was him.
Every detail was dead-on, down to the last freckle.
"You....what...." Rob sputtered, unable to comprehend what he was viewing.
"Impressive, isn't it?" the German man said, "Possibly my finest creation."
"This is sick!" Rob shouted, "You fucking cloned me?"
"Cloned you? No, not cloned....built"
"What the fuck..." he said, his confusion growing.
"Why explain? It won't matter in a minute anyway"
The nurse was back, this time wheeling in an odd looking apparatus with more dials and monitors than Rob had ever seen on a single machine. Attached to it were two flexible metal tubes, each with a rather nasty looking barb on the end. Rob didn't like the looks of it, and began to panic again.
"Now, now, this won't hurt much at all" the German man said noting his panic.
"You're all set, Engineer" the nurse said in an affectless voice.
"Thank you, Nurse Sweet" he said "that will be all."
He faced Rob and grinned.
"Now, I haven't had much success yet, but I feel like you'll be the perfect candidate. Young, strong, smart; the perfect man...the perfect mind."
Rob just stared back. He was helpless. Captured, restrained, and shot up with some unknown drug; there was no escape. He didn't even struggle when the man called Engineer grabbed his hair and pulled his head down to his chest.
"This might pinch a bit" he said, a picked up one of the metal tubes.
Suddenly Rob's instincts kicked in, but were too late again, and could barely move before the tube was stabbed into the base of his skull. He couldn't move an inch. He willed his body to respond to his brain's commands, but no part of him did. He was paralyzed, his spinal cord severed.
"Don't fret, young man" Engineer said, "You won't need that body anymore anyway."
He brought Rob's head up from his chest, and turned it towards the other chair.
"That's your new body. I made it just for you...or rather; your mind."
More riddles, but Rob didn't care. He was done for; he couldn't even use his body anymore. He watched as Engineer stuck the other tube into the base of his clone's skull.
"Let the show begin!" Engineer said enthusiastically, and threw a switch on the machine.
Rob's vision became fuzzy, and a deafening ringing was all he could hear. Slowly his world began to fade from his eyes, and all he remembered before he woke up was the sound of ringing which never dimmed. ************* It was a bad dream, it had to be. He would wake up and be in bed with the girl he had met at the bar, maybe even have another go before they had to part.
"...waking up" he could hear her through the fog.
Slowly, Rob opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, and there were blinding white lights above him. He blinked and opened his eyes again. This time the lights were purple. Another blink, the lights were red. Once more and the lights were orange against a purple background.
"What..." he managed to grumble.
"Optics are adjusting"
A female voice, a flat affectless one. Nurse Sweet. It wasn't a dream. His eyes snapped open, this time his vision seemed normal. He tried to move, but couldn't. At first Rob thought this was because of the paralysis, but soon discovered it was because he was restrained again, but this time with something stronger. Metal bands secured him to a bed, and he could feel them biting into his bare chest and stomach.
"Let me go." He demanded, surprised at the strength of his voice.
He sounded the same, but different; more assertive and clear. He strained against his bonds, and was surprised to find they creaked a little in stress. He tried for several more seconds before giving up.
"Strength is at full power" Nurse Sweet's voice said.
Rob lifted his head and looked around. He was in a hospital room with all the equipment one would expect, as well as a few things Rob did not recognize. Nurse Sweet was nowhere in sight, but Rob could see an observation window in the wall.
"Now that he's awake, we can begin testing him tomorrow."
There was a click, and Rob realized that Nurse Sweet must have been dictating notes out loud from behind the observing window. Perhaps she didn't know the intercom was on, or maybe she wanted Rob to hear that he was nothing but some kind of experiment.
The lights in the room went off, and Rob was plunged into darkness. The only light came from the steady glow off the monitors around the room. Unsatisfied with just laying there helpless, Rob began to fight against his restraints again. The metal began to groan like it had before, but it seemed louder this time. Rob fought harder, pushing with all his might. The groaning became more intense and growing louder. The sounds spurred Rob on and he pushed with all his might.
