toxicspiderman: Photo of a grassy, tree-lined riverbank.  (Specifically, The Charles River) (bucolic)
Sangamon Taylor ([personal profile] toxicspiderman) wrote in [community profile] damned_institute2009-04-09 05:01 pm

Day 40: Greenhouse [Fourth Shift]

Most days, fish and chips (and a cold beer or three) was pretty goddamned high on S.T.'s list of perfect expense-account lunches. Today, the idea of picking at greasy hunks of unidentified bottom-feeder odds-and-ends (politely known as scrod, to the delight of teenagers all across the Northeast) didn't appeal.

He begged off and collapsed into his bed, after using his damp shirt as an excuse to surreptiously check the contents of his closet. Bingo. His nurse watched his little show, unimpressed but (more importantly) unsuspicious. Not that his hairy chest was much of a catch today, pale and sweating from fever. At least she didn't tuck him in.

The intercom woke up up right on schedule, and pulling the sheets back over his head almost won. But a handful of unanswered missives and a vague sense of duty dragged him out to the bulletin, and from there it was easier to stagger over to the greenhouse.

It was warm inside -- a deep, humid warmth that actually penetrated to the aches in more joints and muscles than he could remember the names of. Like a sauna, without the hassle of finding someplace to look that wasn't a mound of pasty middle-management cellulite. Or a sweat lodge, without the opposite hassle of being conscious that he was the only white guy in the room. In fact, besides the nurses in holding patterns, he was the only person in the room.

He located a tray of tomato seedlings going rootbound in their tiny six-packs, and a potting bench whose location was a quick-and-dirty approximation of equidistantly far from anything blooming. He assured his nurse he knew what he was doing, and after a couple of successful repottings, gently sliding the little seedlings out and loosening the tangled roots, she seemed to agree and backed off. It was, by far, the most fucking theraputic thing he'd found in this hellhole so far, and he let himself sink into the rhythm of the task.

[Free!]

[identity profile] heliokleptic.livejournal.com 2009-04-19 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"He's pretty nice, and... yeah. When I mentioned being a replica to my roommate, he mentioned clones too. But Superboy said he was grown in a tube or something." Luke shuddered a little, to show what he thought of that idea. "It's too bad Jade isn't here. It would probably be pretty interesting to him."

Not that he exactly wanted to wish this place on any of his friends. But Luke would sure feel more comfortable with Jade's intellect on their side. Then they could find Ion and Emperor Peony and get out of here. He poured a bit of water into the pot.

"Anyway, I don't know what I think of replicas being created on other worlds too... But he seemed pretty okay with it. Maybe it's not a big deal there."
nobleman: (your hard times are ahead.)

[personal profile] nobleman 2009-04-19 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Who would have thought making replicas (or clones, as the term might be) was so common? Guy personally thought it was pretty disturbing, but according to Luke some people found it normal. Would Auldrant have been like that if Van had succeeded? Everyone and everything would have been a copy -- would Van have even told them?

"That's hard to believe, but maybe not. I... I'm not sure how to feel about it, either," he admitted. Everything in him insisted that it was wrong, but maybe in certain worlds it had been necessary for one reason or another. Guy had just been telling Luke that he needed to have an open mind, but now he was coming up against something he couldn't really swallow.

"It would be good to have Jade around, yeah," Guy agreed. Jade was good at putting things like this into perspective -- plus he would have actually been interested by it. Unfortunately, it looked like they were going to have to get through this without him.

Soon after that, the intercom sounded. Guy didn't really want to go yet -- he still had things he needed to talk to Luke about -- but it wasn't his choice to make. He sent his friend a smile as he stood from the bench. "Be careful tonight."