Chapter 2: Pink Dilemma

It was with difficulty that she at last opened her eyes, seeing at first only a void of softest pink. It was a welcome sight one that she found instantly comforting, pink after all had always been her favorite color.

For a time it was enough to simply experience the view, with no thought, no effort.

But then ... Slowly, gradually her mind began the process of sluggishly reasserting itself.

She was warm, comfortable and the swirling vista presented before her was intriguing.

Not merely a solid unvarying field but a panoramic landscape consisting of every shade of pink her eyes could catalog.

It was beautiful ... And for a time it was all that she seemed to be aware of other than a vague sensation of drifting.

Where was she? Her first cohesive thought lazily unfurled. The plethora of roseate hues presented before her however, suggested a possibility, one on which her mind sleepily agreed.

"Good ol' blanket." She smiled.

Many were the times when that expanse of plush fleece had enfolded and protected her. Always had it stood stately by, waiting to embrace and to comfort ... However there was something wrong with that notion. Some distant voice in her mind argued.

That was impossible? Wasn't it? The blanket that the professor had given her was gone...

It had since been retired and replaced, she vaguely now remembered, folded neatly and put away ... Years ago.

And the bureau in which it had been placed for safe keeping was destroyed.

Yes. Along with the rest of her things when their house in Townsville had perished.

The professor ... The name which had come along with that memory had stirred something else something, which seemed important.

Along with the feeling came an image of a kind and handsome face, one that always seemed to smile. There were recollections as well, memories of a pipe and a white lab coat.

Who was he?

"Because of your directness and opening right up to me." She remembered a voice saying.

"I think I'll call you Blossom."

"Blossom..." Was that her name? It felt right. A name that was warm and comfortable as a glove as she 'slipped it on', the fit seemed perfect.

"What time is it? " She wondered groggily.

One thought, leading to what currently seemed logically to another, the word 'Blanket' which connected readily enough with 'bed'.

From that starting point she added 'Blossom' which of course was her, being the next seemingly solid element she had in her minds current frame.

Assembling a chain from those parts she dimly deduced as best she was presently able, that she 'Blossom' must be in bed.

With that established she wondered then how long had she been sleeping?

Well, she considered, since she was awake 'now', and had pertinent no data concerning the current time? It might well be a good idea to 'get up'.

At least that was the plan...

Upon trying then to sit up however, Blossom discovered suddenly her forehead contacting a solid surface.

Confused, she settled back and tried to refocus, the impact hadn't hurt but what had she hit?

She attempted then to bring her left hand up, possibly to explore the obstruction of which now she was aware only to find the limb was loathed to respond.

Weakly, she perceived the knuckles of her hand suddenly against the surface, this was so primarily because she could see that it was.

Her arm had certainly obeyed but only as she concentrated directly upon it.

Even so she lacked the basic ability of coordination and the simple effort was making her suddenly light headed.

Something here was very, very wrong.

'Disconnected' she supposed was the best choice of terms. Now that she was specifically focused upon her limb Blossom was suddenly aware of a curious numbness that seemed to define it and most of her right side.

This wasn't the 'pins and needles' that came with the sudden loss and gradual return of circulation ... No, the portions of her anatomy in which she perceived the lack of sensation were simply dead.

Concentration apparently however was becoming progressively somewhat easier.

More than likely this was owing to her now having something to concentrate directly upon.

Yet ... her mental processes seemed oddly ponderous and slow to respond to her insistence as indeed had her motor skills.

In due course however her ministrations bore results as the arm she had managed to raise had allowed her to focus then upon the hand her eyes insisted was attached to its end.

Through concentration as intense as she was currently able Blossom managed to rotate the wrist and bring the palm flat against ... whatever the surface was that was ... Above? Or was it in front of her?

She was as foggily uncertain of her orientation as she was about everything else at the moment.

Blossom began pressing and curiously the surface seemed to yield to her pressure, that is until the moment her backside firmly encountered another surface solidly behind her.

The contact thus forcing her perceptions to slowly alter at least enough to confirm but only at that precise moment that she was not in fact laying prone.

"What's going on here?" Blossom's mind groggily attempted to coalesce.

"Am I in some kind of box?"

Indeed that was the case, for close by in a darkened chamber just beyond where Blossom labored to comprehend her predicament, a visual monitor had come to life only to begin a steady beeping while on screen readouts began to scroll remorselessly.

As the graphic display continued, myriad of sensors and probes contained within the nearby cylindrical tank transmitted the moment by moment data they had been crafted to gather. This in turn was interpenetrated by an elaborate array of electronics systems designed specifically for the job. Ultimately this sub-system presented its data to a central computer which coldly noted and compared.

Having detected heart, brain and muscle activity beyond a level which has been specified the system dutifully relayed its finding as it had been meticulously instructed.

The end result of these event which had been carried out in a space of time more rapid than what is required for a man to blink was that a signal was sent and there bye an individual had been summoned.

Thus prompting multiple panels comprising the chamber's far wall to trundle suddenly apart.

Bathed in the pink glow being emitted from a translucent band spanning the central tanks lower circumference, a massive form appeared at the just created doorway.

Seen only in shadowy silhouette, the basic impression given is that this individual is of massive proportions. The outline presented is markedly hulking in aspect.

Pausing only long enough to momentarily observe the location, the large form then ambles with a curious 'rolling' sort of gait to room center as the wall behind closed silently again.

Upon arrival at the central column, the brutish figure briefly studies the myriad of readouts and controls for the moment required to rapidly confirm the system readings which have in turn served to summon him.

"Hmm, vital signs are stable." He takes a moment to brood aloud.

"We are ahead of schedule, I should think."

After another moment's thought massive hands begins to work the panel's keyboard with astonishing speed and accuracy. A virtuoso performance that results in prompting an info window containing a legend momentarily to eclipse the monitor readout.

' Confirm new settings?' hovered while the system awaited confirmation.

He took another moment to 'double-check' before his hand descended again, giving the 'Y' on the system's keyboard a deft tap.

He then paused for a moment again apparently listening, only to issue a satisfied grunt as from somewhere below the floor there began a soft whirring as the sound of mechanisms and hidden pumps engaged.

A short distance away, Blossom was also instantly aware of subtle vibrations which accompanied the activation of an armada of hidden mechanisms.

This new addition to the state of her current existence sparked something which under other circumstances might have been called 'anxiety' but as things were it was barely enough to motivate a reaction.

It is thus that she dimly perceived a change in the surface before her as the darker aspect of the field seemed to steadily 'roll upwards' becoming noticeably lighter as if from the lifting of a cover ... For indeed that was exactly what it was.

The translucent band which girdled the tank's lower half began to progressively widen as a protective cover slowly slid upwards.

The event however evoked ... nothing, even though some portion of her argues that it should.

Calmly she watches as this shielding continues to rise and more and more of the cylinder contents is revealed, the native luminescence of the pink media within cast more and more ambient light, illuminating both rooms' contents and the cylinders as well.