Several more cycles passed without fanfare as the aliens left Adrian alone, until one day he heard a small hiss come from the top of one of the walls, near the ceiling. He looked up from his meal and saw five metallic objects fly towards him. One of them landed on his arm while the others swarmed above his head.
It was a small, white ball with blue lines on it. On the side of the ball was a thin circle surrounded by four slightly smaller circles. Adrian watched curiously as the circles flashed red and the ball oriented itself so that they were touching his skin.
A small beep came from the machine and the four smaller circles opened, extending small, grip-like appendages that pinched Adrian’s skin.
“Ow,” he said in surprise. He moved to swat the ball off his arm when he felt a prick come from the part of the ball touching his skin. He felt something enter his bloodstream, followed by his arm turning numb. As if bolstered by the success of their brethren, the remaining four balls quickly descended and attached themselves to Adrian, each delivering a dose of their contents. They flew back into the hole they came from and disappeared.
Adrian’s entire body became unfeeling and unresponsive. Unable to hold himself upright, he flopped onto the floor, unmoving. He could only tilt his head slightly, move his eyes, breathe, blink and swallow. Apart from those actions, he remained utterly paralyzed.
The dull throb that had been present while he was eating disappeared without a trace. He felt absolutely no pain anymore, worrying him greatly.
His mind flashed back to his time with his human captors when they decided to make use of new painkillers to aid with one of their punishments. Medication that had been provided by their benefactors.
Oh shit, Adrian thought. He’d been dosed with painkillers. Which meant the aliens were about to do something that would otherwise be very painful. His mind thought up all sorts of things they could do to him, none of them pleasant.
The familiar hissing, bubbling sound of the wall opening brought Adrian back to reality. He had fallen in such a way that he could still see the door. One of the aliens stepped through, a floating rectangular object following behind it. It approached Adrian and positioned the floating object off to the side. It grabbed Adrian by his ankles with its two long arms, cutting into him as it dragged him towards the object.
Once Adrian was next to it, the alien spoke, and the hovering object lowered down to the floor. It went beside Adrian and rolled him onto the platform. He lay on his back as the platform raised itself higher on command. The alien walked out of the room and the platform followed. There was no blue force field barring the way and Adrian smoothly exited his cell.
He stared up at the lights on the ceiling, squinting his eyes to avoid the glare. Blinking away the spots, his heart beat rapidly in his chest as his anxiety swelled. He entered a cold sweat when they stopped and entered a room.
Adrian was unable to properly look around. He heard several of the aliens conversing and he tilted his head sideways, trying to get a better view. They were gathered around a table, one of them holding a glass jar with an object encased in the same material that he’d been in during stasis. He turned his head to the other side and nearly wet himself at the horrifying sight.
A large metal operating table was beside him. Hanging from the ceiling were all manner of tools attached to robotic arms. Adrian could see knives, fore grips, saws, Dremels, pointed needles and other unidentifiable objects positioned right above the table with a large light in the middle.
Beside the table was another tray full of tools that he had no doubt they were going to use today. Each of the tools had a modified grip to accommodate the unwieldy hands of the aliens. Several large machines were next to the table, whose functions Adrian could not identify.
Trembling, he turned his head to the other side and focused on the group’s actions. The solid blue encasing in the jar turned to liquid and sloshed about. The alien holding the jar tipped it and drained the liquid into a small tub that was positioned beneath. From his angle, Adrian missed the slight beating of the object, which now sat at the bottom of the glass jar. What’s happening? he panicked. What are they going to do to me?
Carefully using a pair of tongs, the alien extracted the jar’s contents and dipped it into a second tub that sat to the right of the first. It waited for several seconds before removing the object, which was now completely clean, and placed it on a tray covered in a waxy substance. It then brought the tray over to the operating table and placed it on the only spot free of tools on the smaller table beside it.
They carefully transferred Adrian from where he lay onto the operating table and stripped him of his clothes, managing to avoid ripping the fabric further. They were neatly put aside where they wouldn’t be in the way.
Naked, Adrian expected the table beneath him to feel cold, but the sensation felt far away. He remained at a comfortable temperature. A slight draft tickled his skin, but Adrian couldn’t determine whether the air was warm or cold.
Despite the multitude of aliens present in the room, only one approached the table. It chirped and received a chorus of clicks in return. The creature’s antennae twitched twice, and it waved one of its arms under the large light, turning it on and blinding Adrian. His vision swam as his ears picked up movement to his left.
The creature connected an IV tube to his arm and a clear liquid flowed through it into his veins. He assumed it contained the painkiller they had dosed him with. They probably didn’t want to risk it wearing off during the surgery and having him suddenly able to move, he thought. That wouldn’t end well for anybody.
He craned his neck as much as he could to avoid the light, turning to focus on the alien next to him. He watched it pick up a tool from the small table next to it and inspect it before putting it back down. It turned its head and focused its gaze on him before turning to one of the machines. It picked up a tube and brought it towards his face.
Adrian gagged as it was shoved down his throat without remorse. He felt every inch of the tube that was inserted as he instinctively tried to cough and reach to pull it out. His arms didn’t so much as twitch and after a whir and a hiss, he felt air forcefully enter his lungs.
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The mechanical rhythm of the ventilator forced him to breathe at a steady, measured pace. His lungs expanded and contracted without his input, and he couldn’t win against the machine for control over his breathing. He tilted his head forward and saw the alien pickup the tool it had deposited earlier.
It looked like a scalpel, only the blade appeared to be dulled. The alien tapped the side of the object and the blade’s length lit up a pale blue light. It brought the scalpel to Adrian’s chest and began its operation. His muffled cries went unnoticed as the alien sliced through his skin with no resistance. It placed a dab of a gooey substance on each side of Adrian’s breasts and peeled back what it had cut open, sticking each flap of skin to one of them.
An airy sensation tickled Adrian’s exposed innards. He didn’t have long to dwell on the newfound feeling when the alien reached high above Adrian and grabbed one of the tools dangling above him. The shrill whine of a saw fast approaching his rib cage sent adrenaline coursing through him anew.
Once more, Adrian tried begging, but it was for naught. His mewling was drowned out by the sound of his rib cage being cut open. The vibrations resounded inside his chest as the alien cut out his sternum and removed it, placing it to the side. He looked over and saw his bones covered in a sheen of blood.
His exposed heart beat frantically as the creature ran the back of its hand over it, gently caressing the organ. Adrian suppressed a shiver, knowing how sharp their claws were. It lifted the handheld saw back up and turned to the machine next to the operating table. With surprising dexterity, it connected him to the machine that took over his heart’s functions, pumping blood throughout his body in its place. Adrian felt it. He felt his heart stop beating as he became dependent on the machine to survive, and it utterly terrified him.
The alien then picked up its scalpel again, continuing its grisly work. It proceeded to cut out Adrian’s heart, one bit at a time. When it was finally free of its bodily connections, it reached into his open chest cavity and pulled it out. He watched as it held up the still, unmoving, bloody heart, and spoke to the others that were in the room.
Adrian tried to but couldn’t faint. The drugs coursing through his system kept him wide awake, keeping the sweet taste of oblivion out of reach. The IV attached to his arm ensured that he’d never run out during the surgery as it carefully administered the proper dose.
The alien placed the heart on the table and picked up the object off of the tray. It inspected it and spoke again. When it received a reply, it proceeded to deposit the object into the gaping hole in his chest. It reached up towards the ceiling and pulled several other tools down with its arms.
It’s an organ, Adrian realized in horror. They’re transplanting new organs into me. The thought deeply disturbed him. He’d caught a glimpse of his soon-to-be heart and it looked nothing like his old one.
The alien used all four of its arms in tandem to connect the strange organ to his body. He felt the tools scrape along his bones and muscles as they sealed the new organ seamlessly into his body.
Just when he thought it was finally done, another alien brought over a larger tray. On it were more strange objects. They’re not done, he realized. They’ve only just begun. Tears formed in Adrian’s eyes, spilling over and dripping down his cheek. He never asked for any of this. Never wanted to be an experiment. Never wanted them to do this to him. What are they doing to me? What am I going to become?
The alien made multiple incisions in his abdomen and opened it up. It poked and prodded his innards, figuring out how best to proceed. Adrian watched it pull out his intestines and throw them to the ground. He felt it cut out his kidneys, liver and remaining organs without replacing any of them.
Once he was nothing more than an empty husk, it began to quickly insert the new organs. It was a race against time. Without its organs, Adrian’s body was shutting down. He watched it grab a newer, different version of them and felt it coil them into place inside of him.
The surgery was long and intensive, requiring extensive manipulation of his blood vessels to properly connect the new appendages. Adrian watched as they replaced his lungs one at a time, no longer able to breathe but still alive thanks to the machinery he was connected to.
At last, after hours of surgery, they reinserted his sternum and sealed the bones back together. How they managed that, he did not know. They disconnected him from the machines and withdrew the tube from his throat. His heart began to beat again, and his lungs pulled in deep breaths of air. He found it easier to breathe than before, for some reason. They then closed him back up.
Ever so gently, they transferred him back to the floating platform and brought him back to his room. They deposited him next to the water dispenser and left him lying there, alone. They turned off the lights so that he could get some rest, even if it wasn’t the proper time for a sleep cycle.
What they did not do was give him another dose of painkillers. As the medication slowly began to wear off, Adrian began to scream. He lay there, too weak to move. Nothing inside him felt right. His heart beat differently now, its strange rhythm the only thing keeping him grounded through the night.
He did not sleep. He did not drink. He did not eat.
He continued to lie there, unmoving. He was still alive, but just barely. His body was having a hard time accepting the new organs. The lights turned back on and the door to his cell opened. One of the aliens came in and attached him to an IV, not bothering to move him elsewhere, ensuring that he stayed hydrated and had enough nutrients to survive. He hardly noticed the pinch of pain as they inserted it into him.
He only moved when he needed to go to the bathroom. The effort required was monumental for Adrian and left him thoroughly drained for hours afterwards. They still refused to give him any more pain medication.
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Through some stroke of luck, his body did not reject the transplanted organs and he survived. He healed at a rate far faster than he expected, and after only fifteen sleep cycles he felt mostly better. They had returned to take the IV out of his arm once he was able to move again, ripping it out without care, leaving a scar on the inside of his arm. They must have figured that he was healthy enough to eat the food they provided without issue.
Adrian’s clothes were returned to him and once he had the strength, he dressed himself. Lying on the floor naked for weeks on end had not been a pleasant experience. He inspected the clothes, noting the rips and bloodstains in the sleeves near the shoulders and on the pants near the ankles. Looking himself over, he saw that he had blood and scars present where the rips were. He looked over his scars after washing off the blood with some water. The floor stained as the blood-laden water dripped onto it.
A series of red, angry lines that were smooth to the touch marred his skin. There were two long lines on the outside of each arm with another slightly shorter line on the inside. The same pattern repeated on his ankles. He traced the scars with his fingers.
He also had scars on his torso where he had been cut during the operation. A long vertical line ran through the centre of his chest and down to his stomach. It was large, ugly and hadn’t healed well. Another set of scars decorated his abdomen, where they had cut into him to access the rest of his organs.
He was thankful that he was left alone to recuperate but knew his reprieve to be temporary. Once he was well enough, the experiments would continue again. After twenty-five sleep cycles, Adrian was healthy and hale. He was no longer starved and ate the food they gave him more often. A newfound effect was that he grew hungry more often and needed to increase the amount he ate to compensate, even if he couldn’t stand the taste.
After thirty sleep cycles, the door to his cell opened once more. It was time for another experiment.