Preparing for Limbo

Nalz lay down onto a blindingly white sheeted gurney as the Link Technician instructed him to in a calculated monotone lacking all emotion but, just enough that if one of his superiors listened in he wouldn't get scolded at the end of his shift for failing to keep the subject, Nalz, in a relaxed and positive mood. Of course he was used to this sort of treatment after being through the process so many times. A Link Technician could only go over the same information so many times before they got tired of constantly repeating it to new subjects dozens of times a day.

After so many forays into a Link Technician's territory Nalz had narrowed down the way the Technician's acted to three separate states of mind. The first state of mind is a new Link Tech. In this state the Tech is genuinely enthusiastic about they're work and they go about it happily although there hands are not as skilled and they are a bit rougher around the edges in their work. However, these Techs are more than happy to answer any question the subject may have and they are also prone to never stop talking about what they're doing, the technologies behind their work and some even go into the whole psychological factor. They will not hesitate to drown their listener in a tidal wave of information whether it's falling on deaf ears or not.

The next state of mind is a Link Tech that has been working in the Limbo program for a good amount of time. They are skilled in their work, quick and efficient. They can still be seen smiling occasionally if there is something about their current subject that they like or amuses them. These Link Techs are less willing to explain their work, but they will answer a question or two but not in extensive detail as a new Link Tech might.

The last state is filled by the grizzled veteran Link Techs who are, without a doubt, the most pleasing to be processed by. Masters with their hands and tools you will almost never know that they're sticking needles and objects into your body. They are fast and waste absolutely no time. Getting one of these Techs to so much as curl the edges of their lips anywhere but down is a feat that only a few can claim to have achieved. They may indulge a subject that asks an intelligent and well thought out question but getting them to answer anything less than that is an insult to their intelligence.

Nalz wasn't upset at all that he had one of those veteran Techs. They were so gentle it betrayed their unconcerned exterior. Their subjects were their passion and whether they showed it to or not they loved what they did. Unless, of course, they got a first timer that just wouldn't shut the hell up. With these the Tech would usually resort to knocking them unconscious to save themselves the annoyance of listening to mindless chatter. Their superiors never did anything the majority of the time. Nalz had been through the process more than enough times to know the procedures that would be performed on him inside and out as well as the gadgets, injections, gels and tubes that would eventually be worked into him. Not to mention he know more about Biotechnology and Nanotechnology than he thought he ever would. There had been a couple of times were he'd been stuck with new Tech's that were more chatty than most and never passed up the chance to run their mouth's even if he never asked a question. When they would start to do something new it seemed like they heard him ask a question and it didn't matter if he had even made a sound.

The gurney made no sound, silently being guided down the blank white walled hall by the Tech. Nalz folded his upper arms behind his head, lower hands with meshed fingers on his stomach. A chill ran up his spine and he shivered slightly, wishing that someday somebody would realize that the temperature of the halls should be increased a couple of degrees when half of those that pass through them are naked. Clothes were a hindrance near the end of the process so instead of removing them at that point it was eventually decided to just have the subject nude. Nalz figured it was mostly because Techs were tired of waiting for their patients to undress themselves, which had been made difficult from the number of different drugs were well in their system by that stage. He was also sure the Techs wanted to have nothing to do with having to undress a half limp body since they would already be getting intimate with every nook and cranny of your body.

While Nalz was on the subject of intimacy he realized that he had yet to see who the Tech he was going to be spending quality time with was. When he had strolled into the room with the gurney and the Tech had been facing away from him at a sink rinsing his hands and just instructed him to lie down. There was something familiar about the Tech's voice but he'd only heard them speak once, but he had at least been able to tell the Tech was male when he originally spoke.

Nalz heard a door slide quietly out of the Tech's way and into the wall, guiding the mobile table into a small preparation rooms. The walls were adorned with all manner and make of machines. Diagnostic equipment, disposal and sanitation containers, cabinets full of inject able liquids and more that he'd seen before but the Tech's didn't use. The gurney stopped slowly but not completely, still rolling very slowly. The Tech muttered ‘brake' under his breath and the gurney ceased moving completely.

"You can sit up for this part if you like."

The voice was definitely familiar. Nalz sat up slowly to avoid the possibility of a head rush after lying down for so long, swinging his legs over the edge. He stretched silently and eyed the back of the Tech's head who had an odd tribal patterned tattooed onto his scales. He had bronze tinged scales but the tattoo shimmered with any movement of his head, changing colors slightly from deep blues to faint purples in the light. Nalz knew it was an expensive procedure but it created dazzling results and brilliant imagery. The design seemed to continue beyond what he could see under the Tech's coat and over the curvature of his skull. Two horns flowed elegantly along the curve of his skull and down the neck, stopping at blunt tips above the collar of his coat. Each horn was bright white with a spiral starting at the tip and ending at the base in a black so dark each horn looked like a hollow corkscrew. The base of each horn was adorned with a fat burnt red colored metal band, not the rarest and most expensive but the effect was what was important.

Before the Tech finished turning around Nalz had mentally cursed himself, amazed at his inability to recognize the unique design on the horns. Nalz's snout split it a tooth saturated grin, bright white teeth flanked by grey scales. "Well if it isn't Mr. Fluorescence!" Mr. Fluorescence had turned fully around by this point and was stepping towards Nalz with his arms crossed chuckling.

"I thought I was going to have to remind you who I was! It hasn't been that long since you last saw me."

"Last time I saw you Flory, your head hadn't been done." Nalz noticed two crimson streaks running up the sides of his throat, arching over each ear hole and terminating in a lightening shade at his temples. They pulsed lightly ever second or two, fluctuating slightly on the frequency of their pulse. Flory smirked and ran a claw down the pulsing red.

"Pretty nifty isn't it, cutting edge shit. They call it Biofeedback Luminance. It pulses every other heartbeat and changes dynamically to whatever my heart rate is. Also, my head isn't the only thing I've had done in the years we haven't seen each other." Nalz shook his head at what Flory would consider a seductive smirk and smiled.

"Still living in a rundown apartment complex, taking public transport to work every day and under eating to afford that fancy laser work?" Flory looked smug and lifted his snout to achieve an air of importance.

"I'm a Master Tech now, one of the best. Last you saw me I was an Apprentice right out of school. Besides I'm Bound with a female I met on the transit so I have one income and another I can borrow from." Flory rolled his eyes at Nalz’s expression and moved towards one of the cabinets decorating the pasty white walls. "I'm not as unlovable as some people would like to think." Nalz snickered and looked around the room, a controlled chaos.

"So is this your office or a storage room?" Flory turned around, eyeing a syringe as it slowly filled with a clear liquid.

"It's my personal prep room." He pointed to a couple of complex looking devices on stands. "Won't see that shit in another prep room, experimental. You're my first test subject." Flory laughed when Nalz frowned at one device with a long but flexible looking needle hooked by a thick cord to several digital readouts. "I'm just messing around with you. They're experimental and you really won't find then in another Tech's prep room but I wouldn't use it on you. You're just valuable enough to the higher ups to squeak by being a test subject."

Nalz knew that Flory was sarcastic but it was sometimes difficult to tell when he was being serious or joking. Being the first to test out one of his new toys wasn't that appealing of an idea. Flory walked over to Nalz and set a metal try down next to him with a lower arm while flicking a syringe he held with an upper hand. Nalz's attention once again shifted to the pulsating stripes on Flory's neck and head.

"Are you stuck with those flashing or can they be stopped?"

Flory pulled a small black square from a pocket in his lab coat and ran it from the beginning at the base of his neck to the end of the stripe on the side of his head, the pulsating red becoming a solid shade after the square passed over it. "Then you just go back over to turn it back on," he said while demonstrating this. "This square changes the charge of the particles in the Lumin. I wouldn't have gotten it if I couldn't have turned it off." Nalz nodded and watched Flory disinfect an area on his upper arm, tossing the used pad into a trash can. Gently he lifted one of Nalz's scales and pierced the skin underneath with a fat needle, emptying the clear contents of the syringe into his bloodstream.

The first injection was always the one that took the longest to come into full effect. A smorgasbord of nanomachines specifically designed to interface with specific organs and monitor their function as well as their health status. These technological marvels also created three dimensional recreations of the area around them and transmitted them to a receiver where a computer compiled all of the small bits and pieces of their observations into a completed model of the host's body. Hundreds of millions of each specific type would attach themselves to their designated organ and monitor any fluctuations or changes in the organ's operation. Anything outside of the safe zones for too long and the subject was pulled from the program.

Flory had a second injection ready. With a practiced flick he carefully slid the needle under an adjacent scale. This injection contained hundreds of billions of nanomachines that would affix themselves to muscle fibers throughout his entire body, massaging the fibers with set patterns of electrical impulses designed to keep muscles in the same condition they were in when the subject entered a stasis chamber. The ability to increase muscle mass was still in experimental stages, it had been a higher priority to develop a device that could keep inactive muscle at the same mass when the subject came out of Limbo. Although it was not perfect and there is always some loss it saved large sums of money by negating the need for a lengthy rehabilitation. Being suspended in a liquid for nine months or longer would tend to have a negative impact of a subject's physique.

A third injection was readied and the needle cut through Nalz's skin without any pain and another type of nanomachine invaded his blood stream, on a quest to his brain. This particular set was the most complex nanite yet to be produced and took the longest to be finished from the drawing table to the first fully functioning model. Each nanite would attach itself to the synapses of a neuron and emit neurotransmitters to receptors to make the subject's brain transmit the necessary signals the spinal column and other neuron's to make the subject feel what the Limbo program instructs the nanites to convey. Nanites also attached themselves to the axon hillock, sending information to other neurons and on down the chain. Nalz didn't know the advanced details of the technology nor did he want to even attempt to wrap his head around it. Some parts of what he knew he wasn't even sure whether he fudged a definition or two.

There was only one syringe left on the try that Flory picked up after tossing the previous syringe into a box on the wall where it was flash burned, a few left over particles falling into a try at the base of the bright red box with a hazard symbol on it. Nalz always wondered if the hazard was the destruction of the item put in or that it was used to dispose of hazardous materials. Flory stuck the needle into a small container and pulled a dirty looking liquid into the syringe. The needle was noticeably larger than the three previous ones. This injection contained hundreds of thousands of large nanites whose sole purpose was to amplify the signal broadcast by the nanomachines from the first injection. The nanites couldn't produce a signal powerful enough to be picked outside of the body, so the third nanite injection was designed to boost the signal so that receivers placed on the body could pick up the signals.

Flory disposed of the last syringe after injection and returned the bottles to the cabinet he'd taken them from, returning at Nalz's side with some new items. Nalz knew the drill and rested back on his elbows. Flory bent over him, scrubbing at some scales in the middle of his chest. The pad flew with practiced precision into the red box. Nalz watched Flory rip open a small plastic bag and remove a plain looking black rectangle. One end seemed almost flat but it sloped upward, ending in a flat side with a small hole in it. The underside was coated in metal Nalz observed when Flory peeled off a protective backing. Carefully he centered it over the abraded scales and firmly pressed it into place and checked that it refused to move.

"Well now that I'm done with the exciting part where I got to stab you it's time to move on to the extremely dull bit." Flory moved briskly to a cabinet full with rows of small boxes and removed a few. He lay back on the table while Flory wheeled a machine over to the head of the gurney and began to fiddle with it. The machine emitted a faint whirring noise and Nalz felt lines pinpoints of warmth moving over his head. A plastic bag was ripped open behind him and the sound of a dozen small electrodes falling onto a metal tray came to Nalz's ears. The dots of warmth that cascaded over his skull slowly stopped moving and settled in what felt random but to Flory they were the exact spots based on brain activity scans to put the sensitive electrodes for optimum performance. The electrodes were basically the pathway for the nanites that sent signals into the brain to communicate with the Limbo program. Instructions and information could be sent and received through the electrodes. Everything managed to work together and in perfect harmony in an undeniably complex system.

Limbo did not come about in any short period of time. From start to finish the technology and implementation to the level it was current took nearly two centuries. Even with the extremely fast development of new technology it was still a daunting project. The entire planet of Sihv and all of her scientists from every continent took part in the production of Limbo. It was a massive undertaking for the Naerian species but it had well been worth the cost.

The room was warmer than the hallway had been and Nalz shivered when the first cool electrode was pressed against his head, removing the warmth of the laser. Flory finished this quickly and put the machine where it had originated while cleaning up his workspace. Most Techs kept their work areas immaculate. Nalz had noticed it to be a common trait that most of them seemed to be obsessive compulsive about cleaning their area. He didn't know if it was drilled into them through their schooling or if those that had that sort of cleanliness trait gravitated towards the job of a Link Technician.

Flory moved around Nalz with a couple of different hand held devices. Plugging into the sensors and amplifiers, checking to make sure everything was working as it should. Next he moved up to the electrodes adorning Nalz's head in a pattern not much different from a shotgun's spread. Flory hooked another device to all of the electrodes and fiddled with some buttons. Suddenly Nalz felt like his brain itched and his body tingled in random places, ending just as soon as it had started.

"Feel that?"

"Yup," Nalz replied.

"Well since the nanites seem to be working as they should I won't have to inject more of them into your system." Flory unplugged the device and hung it back on the wall among many others, each one performing a different test.

"Alright, all done with that! Now I get to put in all of your IV's and other fun stuff like that! I'm so excited!"

Nalz raised a brow. Not so much at the comment but that Flory almost sounded like he was genuinely excited, which was odd. He wiggled around a bit on the uncomfortable gurney in an attempt to get more comfortable while Flory busied himself by retrieving various packages of tubing and needles for the next phase of preparation which consisted of creating pathways for nutrition and waste removal. Nalz never had a painful experience but sometimes it was just uncomfortable until the body adjusted. Having something expand in your urethra and anus wasn't very comfortable.

Flory sanitized a small patch about the middle of Nalz's abdomen and put the antiseptic pad to the side in favor of a syringe which he slipped into Nalz's body under a scale, injecting a powerful numbing agent. As soon as he felt the needle pierce his flesh all feeling began to fade away like he had a hole growing in the middle of his body. It was as if something removed that part of his body and left nothing but air, a strange feeling but interesting to experience. Flory disposed of the used items while he waited for the anesthetic to finish penetrating into Nalz's body.

The next step of the process was one Nalz was not very fond of. Watching Flory slice through scales and flesh with no effort with a powered scalpel and not be able to feel any of it, well, it is an awkward thing. The scalpel itself was an interesting piece of technology. The blade reciprocated nearly a thousand times per second, so fast and traveled such a miniscule distance that only the Tech knew it was doing it because they had to hold down a button to power it. Very little blood pooled out of the inch long incision until Flory pushed a tube about as thick as a pen through the hole, forcing more blood to worm around his scales to his belly. Although Nalz couldn't see what was going on he knew from other Tech's explanations that the tube had a tip a quarter of an inch long and only a little bit skinnier than the rest of the tube made of an alloy that, with the introduction of a special chemical, would cause it to heat extremely fast, cauterizing the flesh around the tip to seal the puncture wound. The tube itself was used as a direct connection to a subject's stomach through which to feed them while in Limbo. Nalz thought he could almost smell the burnt flesh after Flory squeezed a drop of the necessary chemical down the tube from a dropper. Next he cauterized the original entrance incision with a pen like device and applied a sort of gel to promote the tissue and scale regeneration as well as seal any gaps between the tube and skin. It was the safest way to feed a comatose subject. The possibility of something going wrong while they were in Stasis with multiple tubes running down their throats was enough to warrant a slightly more intrusive method. Nalz was just happy they didn't punch tubes into his lungs.

Flory went about cleaning up the coagulating blood, disposed of the soiled materials and went over to a sink to scrub his hands. After he dried them he ran a hand under a machine, first with his hand palm down and then palm up, doing this for each hand. He waved his hands for a few seconds and then went back to gathering the necessary items for the next procedure. The first time Nalz had seen a Tech use one of those dispensers he couldn't figure out what it did. A Tech later explained that it sprayed an opaque coating that would harden and form a barrier against fluids and chemicals but would remain soft enough to allow free movement of the hands, however, it had to be rinsed off in water with an added chemical to dissolve the barrier and renewed every couple of hours when the bond began to break down and the barrier wear away. If the issue of contraception hadn't already been solved long before hand it would have made a very effective form of it.

Nalz poked at the tube at the base of his chest as the empty hole feeling began to fade to see what it felt like to move. He felt nothing except for Flory smacking his hand to make him stop. "After all the time you've been through this and you go and play with it. It could still bleed and I don't want to have to deal with you ripping a hole in your stomach. Besides, I might just let you bleed for a while, you wouldn't even notice with the anesthetic still in effect." Flory smirked, two rows of small, sharp, pearl colored teeth threatening him. Nalz didn't want to tempt Flory into giving him such an experience.

After another round trip to a different wall of cabinets Flory was laden with more packages full of sterile plastic tubing. He milled around the end of the gurney, laying out the packages and other nonsense in a specific pattern before taping one of Nalz's legs and saying ‘up.' While he bent his knees it had never occurred to him before that each Tech always laid out there stuff in specific patterns, not one Tech had ever done it the same as another. His train of thought was interrupted by a cool, wet sensation against his tail hole as Flory rubbed a gel against it. Nalz shivered and instinctively tightened but after a few moments he relaxed. The gel was used as a muscle relaxant and topical numbing agent to make the experience less uncomfortable for the subject and easier for the Tech; however he hadn't begun to feel any numbness when he should have been. Nalz raised a brow and was about to ask Flory what was going on when two fingers found their way inside his body, quick at first but slowly pressing in after. He felt two knuckles press against his rim, two additional fingers beginning to rub his slit in a very unprofessional manner. So far there was no explanation for this as it had never happened to him before with a Tech, at least, not in such an arousing fashion.

Nalz shuddered and tilted his head back, mouth agape in a noiseless gasp when the two fingers at his slit sank inside the moist interior, pressing against his tip. The palm of Flory's four-fingered hand rubbed against two small lumps at the base of Nalz's slit gently, massaging his internal testicles both from the inside and outside. His tip exposed itself with the rest of his length not far behind as it hardened. Nalz finally lifted his head and looked at Flory over a leg. "This isn't exactly standard operation procedure."

"Not exactly but, I thought you wouldn't mind the favor. I just thought I'd give you one last real orgasm before you're stint in Limbo for ten months. Besides," Flory started with a confident smirk, "you won't get anything this good for a nice, long time." He caressed the soft, smooth scales around Nalz's groin with his upper hands. One lower hand slowly working at Nalz's tail, Flory's other stroking his firm phallus. Nalz wondered if anybody happened to watching the CCTV camera feeds from Flory's room. He figured with Flory's status nothing would happen to either of them should somebody actually be watching. When Nalz began to writhe Flory removed his fingers from his tail hole, removing a tube as thick as his forefinger and just about as long from the items he had brought to the gurney. He rolled the end of the tube in some lubricant that had dribble down onto Nalz's tail. The opposite end of the tube had an adapter to accept a female connection on it; it was part of the body waste management system.

Nalz stiffened momentarily when he felt the foreign object pushing into his loosened entrance, relaxing when he realized what it was. He thought it felt like the object was several inches long and that it was slowly expanding. The material the tubing was made of was heat sensitive and when exposed to body heat temperatures it would expand up to four time its normal diameter, however, around the sphincter the temperature was just low enough that it didn't expand much. The point of the expansion within the body is to create a seal to prevent any leak. When the subject is suspended in fluid it is best to avoid that sort of problem. While the sensation of an object expanding in your body wasn't normally enjoyable Nalz found it to be extremely so in his current state of arousal, driving him closer to orgasm.

Flory massaged around the base of Nalz's tail with one of his, now free, lower hands while the other rubbed over his testicles. Both of his upper hands continued to stroke, squeeze and pull the lizard's length in all the right ways. Nalz gasped through clenched teeth and held his breath. The pressure in his loins released suddenly, his spunk spurting onto his belly. Flory continued to stroke around the tip through the orgasm until Nalz had calmed. Quickly he cleaned the mess he'd helped make. Wiping up any semen and lubricant left over from the activity. He checked the tube in Nalz's rectum and then opened another package; a catheter assembly.

Nalz groaned when he sat back up. He hated this part. Flory gave Nalz's penis another tug to make sure it was empty while Nalz shivered.

"Now this might be a little bit uncomfortable." Flory added, inserting the tapered tip of the thin tube into Nalz's urethra. Nalz tensed and closed his eyes.

"At least it goes in easier when you're aroused." Flory added with a smirk. It wasn't long before Flory had all six inches of the catheter in place, another female connector on the end of the tube.

"You look so cute with all these tubes sticking out of your pretty little body," Flory cooed. "You must feel warm and fuzzy inside from all those nanites too!"

"If I could feel like I did before you put them in I might be able to tell you." Nalz stuttered and suddenly felt a wave of vertigo hit him. He fell back and held his head.

"Aw, fuck." Nalz wheezed. Part of the nanites function was to decrease body function which included but was not limited to slowing down the heart rate, slowed breathing and decreased blood pressure. Another drug was administered to induce total immobilization and hibernation.

"Guess all that extra activity the nanites didn't like. Unfortunately your body doesn't like being forced to slow down either. I'll make the last stretch go quickly." Flory reassured Nalz.

He made quick work of cleaning up and keying some notes for Nalz's medical file. Flory reassumed control of the gurney and guided it out of his prep room and down another blank, slightly cool hallway. There was more activity at the end of the hallway. White coated Link Techs bustling about, some with subjects of their own in tow. He turned sharply and entered another prep room through automatic doors.

The room was similar to the last with fancy and exotic equipment lining the walls, everything bright white. This room was special for it had some large displays suspended in the center of the room above a sunken hole. This area contained a Suspension Chamber and enough room around it to move with some difficulty. Flory stopped the gurney at the edge of the hole and moved over to a panel. He taped some commands in swiftly and a lid for the Suspension Chamber lowered from the ceiling between the displays; tubing dangling beneath. Flory moved and took hold of the tubes, pulling the lid along a track it hung from over the gurney. All the proper connections were made quickly. Waste management system, nutrition system and the nanites information system.

"Alright my good friend, time for our goodbyes while you can still speak." Nalz thought he detected a sinister undertone.

"Well, it was great to finally see you again Flory. Congratulations on your Bond and I'll see you around again I'm sure." Nalz smiled.

"Oh I will make sure you do and thank you," Flory smirked.

"Now open wide, lizard."

Nalz opened his maw and Flory slide another tube down the reptile's throat with a small camera attached, guiding it into his windpipe. Nalz didn't even feel the need to gag thanks to the Master Link Tech. Another female connector capped off this tub just past his lips. Flory pressed Nalz's snout closed and held it, taking the cap off of a small syringe with his teeth. This one didn't have a needle but it contained a chemical compound the hardened after being exposed to air and skin and was extremely powerful. It was used to keep the subjects lips together while submerged so they didn't drown and to keep any involuntary jaw movement from breaking the seal. It was strong to keep even sudden, powerful muscle contractions of the jaw from breaking the seal. Flory guided the flat tip of the syringe along Nalz's lips from one side to the other and around the tube. He checked a clock on one of the displays and waited a little longer.

"Try opening your mouth. Good. Now don't breath through your nose anymore." Flory used the excess of the compound and sealed Nalz's nostrils.

Flory stood and disposed of the garbage and then double checked some readings on a monitor. He turned Nalz's upper right arm over and inserted an IV just above the wrist and secured to his scales. Two tubes from the lid were connected to Nalz, one to the tube into his lungs and the other into the IV on his arm.


"You sure would make a good marionette like this." Nalz tried to frown but he couldn't anymore. Flory double checked all the connections across Nalz's body and moved over to a console and keyed in some more commands.

"You're all set to get into the fish tank, lizard."

Flory told the gurney to lower itself. Its hydraulic legs complied and it sank at a comfortable pace, settling six inches from the floor. The gurney moved towards the Suspension Chamber, bridging the empty space between the edge of the tank and the end of the floor. Flory stepped onto the edge of the tank with one foot and told the gurney to tilt up. It complied slowly and Nalz scooted lazily off with Flory's help. When he hit the liquid it didn't splash it was simply displaced without much disturbance to the surface. The liquid had a high viscosity to help minimize potential muscle spasms that could run the subject into the sides, top or bottom of the chamber and also so they didn't sink or float. The Suspension Chamber was about five feet tall and three feet wide to help maximize the number of chambers that could be held in an area.

Flory pushed down on Nalz's shoulders after rolling up his sleeves and the dark gray reptile sank to the bottom of the tank. The liquid lazily oozed in over his head and filled in the hole Nalz's body left. Nalz felt a momentary feeling of drowning wash over him and fear for not being able to fight against the liquid but it passed quickly as he breathed through the tube in his throat. Flory moved the gurney away and dropped down into the recess around the chamber, waving at Nalz. The chamber was made out of a rigid polymer that also blocked electromagnetic fields, microwaves, RF interference and wireless signals to name a few. It was also rated to stop repeated hits from small arms ballistics. Flory busied himself with a nearby console and the metal lid began to descend with a faint whirr.

Nalz watched Flory through the liquid. His vision was only slightly distorted and the liquid was inert enough not to burn the eyes. One thing the liquid did well unintentionally was carry sound and Nalz struggled to move his head through the thick liquid when he heard the whirr of the lowering lid. The idea of being entombed for nine months didn't bother him anymore. With some difficulty he returned to watching Flory and moved into the fetal position. The lid settled onto the top of the chamber lightly followed by the locking mechanisms clicking into place. Barring some catastrophic life support system failure or himself becoming mentally unstable he would be stuck in the Suspension Chamber for the next two-hundred and seventy days.

Flory's disembodied voice entered the container through a small speaker in the lid.

"I'm about to have the final injection administered and then you'll be out like a light. Everything in the clear and you're ready to be transported and entered into Limbo. Keep your limbs inside the ride at all times and try not to go insane. Without further ado," Flory tapped a key with a claw, "you're on your way." Nalz attempted a wave but his control over his own muscles was too weak to register more than the twitch of a finger.

"See you around, Nalz." Nalz's eyes closed and he drifted into unconsciousness. The nanomachines in his body slowing down all the organs in his body except his brain. The final drug carried chemical messages to the nanomachines to put the subject into a state of hibernation and decreased activity as well as initiating the start of the program to them, beginning their transferring of the subject's consciousness into the Limbo programs server farms. From there they were compiled, scripts run and programs initialized. Nalz was well on his way.

Flory busied himself at the console next to the chamber and soon it was being lifted out of the recess and taking out of the prep room on its elevated track. Flory watched the Suspension Chamber leave then shut down the console. He rubbed his throat and crossed his arms as he left the room. The lights shut off behind him as he left the room and onto the next subject.