Fading into Nothingness

The Sound.

Rhythmic clock-like and distant.

It fades, then moves closer. Louder. Softer again.

A hiss to one side. Sensations of heat. A distant murmuring.

Words? Perhaps, but nothing that makes sense.

A touch. Cold steel pressing through her skin. Sensors sharpening.

Pressure becomes pain. Pain blurs the sounds. A tinkling of glass on glass.

Then, nothing once more.

Her vision clears. Were her eyes shut? And for how long? She blinks. She is unable to move much else.

Her eyes swivel left to right to look around her, what little she can see. Something shimmery, then farther off, Smooth Caldari steel grey walls fade into various shades of grey and black.

Another hiss, louder this time followed by a blinding light, Her thoughts as the sound, seeming to focus. A monotone voice distant, then air hissing all around, smoke rising around her. Or is it Steam. No. Fog? Cold and moist. She fights weakly to remain conscious but the fog rolls around her .. then nothing, as her eyes slowly close again.

Awakening. Thoughts clearer this time. She feels pain in every part of her body. Searing, white hot pain like nothing she ever felt before. More aware, her chest rises in rhythmic fashion though she knows she is not initiating it. Sounds. Nearer this time. Or is it just that she is closer to consciousness. Body floating. Moving through something viscous, while suspended. She is more aware of other sensations. Cold. Heat. Pain. Fear. Loneliness. Confusion.

She opens her eyes, but again is blinded by the intense white light.

She kicks out and moves through the gelatinous amniotic fluids, now more keenly aware of her situation. Her isolation. She stares through the glass partitions just within reach, making out several figures. Her thoughts fade and ebb with confusion. Acutely aware again of searing pain, she closes her eyes but fights the numbing of her thoughts this time. The one word she keeps rolling around and around in her rapidly numbing mind. why?

Her eyes open. She looks around once more, trying to make sense of what she sees. But the figures, now pressing buttons on a panel while looking at her, and once again she feels the cold permeate her being, His name floats on the edges of her memory just before ... just before everything fades to darkness.