Weird Science

Not a Halloween story, but it does star @MagicalFirefly and a special appearance by @The-Princess-Marie.

“Oh hello.  Welcome to the lab.  What is your name please?  Okay, Marie.”

“What?  You’re looking at me because I’m just a head?  It’s okay.  I’m used to it at this point.”

“No, I don’t usually come to work as just a head.  My body’s back there, somewhere.  I think it’s in many pieces right now.”

“Go ahead if you must. Pick up my head, look underneath. There’s skin there, covering where my head and neck separated.”

“Okay.  You’re all checked in, so let me tell you how I ended up here.”

(a few months previously)

Carlie wasn’t sure what she was doing here.  Sure, the scientist in charge of this particular lab said he’d pay her $2500 a month, which she could use for bills and rent and food and stuff.  Being 19 and out of the house wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be.

She knocked on the door, but, when nobody answered, she let herself in. “Hello?”

A voice from somewhere called up. “I’m back here, getting everything ready.”

Carlie stilled herself as she walked in.  The lab wasn’t as neat and orderly as other labs she’d seen, but she hadn’t seen many. She had to look, again, at some of the doodles drawn, not sure what the mathematical equations meant.

She found Dr. Beckett, a kind of frazzled looking man in a lab coat, working on something as she noticed a monkey in a cage who gave her a curious but disinterested look.  Dr. Beckett ran a hand through his hair when he saw her. “You must be Carlie.”

She smiled and shook his hand, still not sure what she’d signed up for.  Dr. Beckett looked around nervously, as if he was afraid she might change her mind, before offering her something to drink.  It was a sealed can, something he said she’d probably be glad for before going on.

Dr. Beckett tried to explain. “Have you ever heard of the theory of quantum entanglement Carlie? It’s the idea that two particles, so intricately connected, can be separated by great distances and still remain connected to each other.”

Carlie nodded.  She knew that part.  Dr. Beckett smiled excitedly. “I have this idea that it can apply to living matter as well.  You know the term magic?  What if it’s merely an application of quantum entanglement at a biological level? Imagine what could happen then, surgery without anesthesia, painless injections, all sorts of wonderful applications.”

Carlie sighed.  She knew magic, had been fascinated by it for as long as she could remember, but also knew that what was shown as magic was often just illusion, just a presentation made to be magic. “Dr. Beckett, are you saying that magic can be real?”

Dr. Beckett excitedly smiled and nodded. “Imagine all that can happen if it were possible to apply a quantum variance field to a living being and make things happen to that being. I mean look at Seymour over here.”

The monkey in the cage, apparently Seymour, looked up, mildly interested.  Dr. Beckett went over and opened the cage up.  Seymour simply climbed up his arm to sit on his shoulder before Dr. Beckett continued. “Would you believe that, yesterday, I managed to remove his leg and reattach it?”

Carlie looked at Seymour for a moment, not believing that.  Dr. Beckett suddenly put Seymour back into his cage, but the monkey didn’t seem to mind. Carlie watched, fascinated, still not sure why she was even here. “Dr. Beckett, if I may ask….”

Dr. Beckett cut her off. “What does every magician need in order to make the trick work?”

Carlie got the idea then. “A willing assistant.”

Dr. Beckett nodded, eyeing her appreciatively. “Yes.  Now, are you ready to see if we can do this?”

It took a couple of minutes to get the quantum variance field up and Dr. Beckett had some kind of instrument attached to Carlie’s ankle.  She wasn’t sure what he was up to until he produced a large, very sharp knife.

He was going to cut her foot off.  Carlie steadied her nerves.  I mean, if it worked, it would be amazing.  She always did have a fascination with the idea that parts of her could be removed.

Carlie nodded and Dr. Beckett brought the knife down, slicing into her ankle.  Without so much as a sensation of pain, her foot came completely off.  Her eyes widened as she looked at her amputated appendage, amazed that she could still flex her toes. “How can I still feel it?”

Dr. Beckett smiled big at her foot before answering. “I told you, quantum entanglement.  Now, let’s see.”

He picked up her foot, brushing his fingers over her sole as he did so, making her laugh.  Dr. Beckett took the cue and started tickling the foot, making her laugh even more, before he stopped, showing her what he’d noticed.

There was an expanse of skin over where the cut end was, something he hadn’t noticed before. Carlie had to wonder if he could reattach it, so he pressed the cut end of her foot onto her ankle and she felt it come together.

The images of what she’d seen when she was much younger came to her mind and she had an intense desire to know what it felt like. “Can you cut me in half?”

Dr. Beckett thought for a moment before nodding.  He didn’t see how that would be any more of a problem.

Carlie lay down, pulling her shirt up to bare her waist.  Dr. Beckett addressed her waist with the knife and sliced into her.

It felt so strange for Carlie.  She knew she should be in a world of pain, bleeding to death with organs hanging out and falling on the floor, but it didn’t happen.  There was no pain, no blood, just an eerie sensation that she knew where the knife was in her the whole time.

When the knife cut through her spine there was a very strange sensation that caused her body to shudder, but it only lasted a moment before he continued to cut her in half.

Carlie knew he’d finished. She knew it.  Somehow, even though she could still feel like she was a whole, she knew her body was in two pieces.  Carlie sighed, wondering if she could.

She sat her bottom half up, flinging her legs over the table, but found she couldn’t actually stand with them. “What’s wrong?”

Dr. Beckett smiled at her. “You need your whole body to stand up.  Otherwise the leverage just isn’t there.”

Carlie paused a moment. “Could you help me stand up?”

Dr. Beckett lifted her legs up, and, as they straightened, sat them on the ground, feet first. Carlie could feel it, knew that she was standing, even though divided.  She tried to take a step and felt her legs tumble to the ground. “Dang.”

Dr. Beckett encouraged her to try again, but, again, Carlie’s lower half fell to the ground.  Dr. Beckett suggested something. “It might be the fact that your legs don’t have their own inner ear for balance.  I’m sure that, with further practice, you could easily walk your lower half around.”

Carlie smiled, excited. “How many pieces can you cut me into?”

Dr. Beckett grinned, then started to cut off Carlie’s arms before she asked him to cut off her head. That had to be something she experienced….

“And so that’s how I got started here.  Now, don’t be afraid.  The experience is kind of pleasant once you’re used to it.”

“I see Dr. Beckett is ready for you Marie.  Go ahead and go on back.”