Prologue

Today was the day... Today was the day...

My eyes flicked open, searching for the nearby clock in a room full of darkness. It wouldn't take me long to find it. 6:55am, five minutes away from the alarm... I sat up and collected my thoughts in the black room. Light started to sneak in behind the curtains as I tossed up wether the wait for the alarm or get up and face the cold early. With another glace at the clock, the promise of what today will bring flickers through my mind. My heart skips a beat, out of excitement or nerves, I wasn't sure. I threw the sheets off of me and propped my feet onto the hard wood floor, before lifting myself out of bed.

Somehow I managed to throw some clothes on myself and walk out to do the usual morning routine. The day started like any other, almost like any other person id assume. Get up, use the bathroom, stuff myself full of food to power myself until lunch, and make a coffee to get myself out of sleep mode. However today I was far to excited, the coffee was hardly required to wake up, I had hardly slept.

Once I was satisfied I was presentable to go out into the world and leave the home, I marched out the door and into my car, my head held high. I had a short drive to make to where I worked, but it still left me time the ponder the day ahead.

I was a young man, living in the outer suburbs. I worked at a nearby institute, but I was no scientist, more the dummy. My name is Russell Stone, and today I would be making history. Even for a test dummy what I was about to do would be a world first and perhaps even revolutionise the world. I tried not to get egotistical thinking over it, but yet what I would be doing was so significant. The moment in which my name was about written down in the history books would be a momentous occasion, the world would stop like the lunar landing to witness it's significance.

Although that said, unlike the man landing on the moon my event wouldn't be broadcast around the globe until the feat had been pulled off first rather than live. But still once the footage was released, every man, woman and child would be gathered around a TV set, or in this day and age their computers.

I had to stop my thoughts, as I pulled into work. I was getting rather ahead of myself, and I said I wouldn't get a egotistical over it! I needed to pull myself in, take a deep breath and calm down. Then the other thoughts poured in, everyone would see what I was going to do! The nerves of having my work exposed to the world was quite daunting. I was a wreck of excitement and nerves.

I stopped my car and took some deep breaths before I strolled into my building.

Today was the day...

I made my way through the security doors and staff to the lab. The first person I noticed was Neal the overseer of this little project. He waved me over.

“You're in early?” he said with puzzlement

“I couldn't sleep” I responded

“Ah, I understand. Well that is to be expected.” he paused “you'll need to be briefed before we can proceed, we've prepared a presentation in the auditorium”

“oh right...” I said feeling a little nervous, the moment was perhaps starting to get me.

“Why don't you get something to eat on the way over? Calm your nerves” Neal must have read me like a book.

“Sounds like a good idea” not wasting much time I turned to leave, Neal let out a slight grunt like he hadn't finished speaking.

I made my way to the auditorium like I had been instructed but I wasn't in the mood to stomach any more food than the breakfast that was already giving me butterflies.

I chuckled to myself, it had dawned on me that before I had thought to compare this day the lunar landing. Sure it was that important, but the scale of this project seemed so far away from that day in 1969. Man had touched down on the moon and while that had been a giant step for mankind, I was about to take a smaller one.

I Russell Stone was about to be the first man to be shrunk, but not only that make a routine trip inside the body of another person.

Today was the Day...

Chapter 1: Briefing

The thought was not lost on me, such a historic event like the lunar landing was fraught with dangers. But like then, most dangers had been planned for and I was in a going to be in a controlled and safe environment

I took my seat in the auditorium, the room was devoid of any souls but myself. I almost wished I had stopped to at least to get another coffee to sip on during this presentation. But before I could let my thoughts wander any further the lights dimmed and projector began playing. I noticed the podium was absent, perhaps everything I need to know had been prerecorded. This would turn out to be the case as i'd discover right now.

“Welcome Russell Stone, institute ID: 15f9094129n. This briefing is strictly classified” I turned my head from side to side, but the room was still empty. The next slide flashed up in front of me

“You will be the first person the venture inside the human body at a small scale. To achieve this process you will be miniaturized to a size to make this journey possible. Once at this size you will be placed inside our already preshrunk and extensively tested vehicle” it flashed a picture of the vehicle I would be commanding on the screen. I was already familiar with it, it was submarine like and while I hadn't already driven it, I had been drilled to use the controls in a simulated environment.

“Once inside our vehicle you will be placed into a needle with the appropriated fluid, then you will be transported by our courier to the hospital where the patient is waiting. From there you will be injected into the hosts bloodstream and make a half navigation from the patients lower half upwards and will be collected at the rendezvous point prior to meeting the heart. In which you will evacuated from the hosts body and taken back to the lab and returned to normal height. Then you will make a statement for the media after being briefed again.”

“For any questions please see Dr Neil Swiss prior to departure.”

The lights sprung back on the projection faded, I was again left with just my thoughts. I peeled out of the chair I was currently occupying and started to make my way back to the lab. The briefing really hadn't mentioned anything new, I already was well aware of what was happening and the running times since the beginning of the project.

I walked back into the lab, Neal was waiting with arms folded.

“You're a little late Russell” he said with a humph

“Sorry, I just took my time getting back here”

“Well, that's okay but we do have a schedule to keep. Now please come over here I need you to sign this”

“What am I signing?”

“Just another contract, the usual liability nonsense”

“ugh, another one?” I made my way towards the contract and signed my name with the date “you'd think the first one would have covered me”

“We can't make exceptions” I gave Neil a look, he was as about as on the edge as I was. Lighten up it was just a joke. “Our courier is on the way so if you'll make your way to the shrinking room”

I waved him off, I already knew where to go and what to do. I made my way towards the room and got sealed in. I looked around at the vents, soon they would release the gas that would take me down to a almost microscopic scale. Unfortunately the gas would Knock me out, but not for very long. But by the time I came too I should be loaded into the vessel.

I heard the ventilation start, now was the time. I tilted my head back and shut my eyes waiting for the proses to take me away.

Chapter 2: Transported

Conciousness slowly hit me, my body became aware that I was now awake. I stretched my arms and slowly opened my eyes. Still groggy I searched for my alarm clock, instead though the memories of my early morning activity at the institute flooded back. I sat up in the bed I had been placed in, looking around I was in the back of my vessel.

I already knew this, I knew the in's and outs of this special vehicle. I was up near the back of it as I had already mentioned. Lying down in the back/sick bed. Up the front of course where the controls and the windows obviously to control my journey. Like most vehicles I still needed to see out to correctly pilot the vessel itself. Near my bed was an appropriate first aid station, and further behind that was a compartment containing rations, just in case my journey was extended for whatever reason Neil decided to leave me inside the host.

Obviously there was nothing on board for fun or recreation, even if my journey was long I wasn't supposed to have fun on such a serious and historic event. I got to my feet and slowly walked towards the controls. Remembering my first required actions I picked up the Radio and waited for Neil or a nearby person in charge to respond to my call. They responded pretty quick, and I let them know I was awake and ready to proceed. While I cut the transmission I pondered how long I had been out for. I felt well rested but as always when I got up, groggy as well.

There was a jarring thud that came from the outside of the vessel. If I wasn't fully awake yet I was now because the whole place shook around. I peered out the window, even though I had been told to expect this I couldn't truly be ready for the view outside. Another shameless comparison to what man must have thought when he touched down on the moon, he must have been braced for it but still unable to comprehend it's beauty as well as sense of danger.

I was in fluid of some sort, what it was I wasn't to sure of myself. A little detail that hadn't quite needed to be shared with me. Although I doubt it was important to my part of this journey, it was neither better or worse that I knew what my ship was submerged in. beyond the somewhat murky fluid lay thick impenetrable glass walls. In the normal world the needle or syringe I was floating it would crack easily if dropped, but form my perspective the walls where more solid than any material I had seen. This glass honestly looked like it was kryptonite, but while it made me feel secure and I wouldn't spill out it gave me the feeling of entrapment as well. There was only one way out of this place now and even if I wanted to bail at this point I still only had one direction of exit.

I squinted beyond the kryptonite walls of glass and made out the flesh coloured fingers pressed up against the glass. Of course the sheer size of one of the fingers completely dwarfed my little vessel. Even though it remained far away, the smaller unnoticeable details that the regular naked eye stood out to me. The lines and grooves of just the base of one finger tip stood out to me clear as day. The small specks of dirt picked up from god knows what also where noticeable. I'm sure whoever had me had the cleanest hands, but I was so minutiae I could see the small spots even the person had no idea existed.

Although the processing in my mind was rather slow it eventually dawned on me that I was getting carried. The giant fingers holding me should have been a dead give away, but I was far to busy coming to terms with how insignificant I and my ship where to the average world. Soon the exchange of hands began and I watched it from my small position. The courier tasked with delivering me had arrived and was set to take me to the hospital and my goal. Now within his grasp as I assumed through the fog of fluid we where heading to his delivery vehicle. My arrival to what seemed to be a van did not take long.

I was placed in some sort of secure clamp to hold me in place. The courier was oblivious to me as a passenger. All he had been told was that this needle was important and needed to be delivered. He had no idea of a stowaway passenger on his van. Nor really did he need to, he was a hospital courier. He did his job and i'd do mine, to him I was any other needle and as long as I got to where I needed to be like any other needle his job was done. I had no idea who this man was, and he had no idea of my existence. That said as I glanced around I wish he had perhaps been informed so I could be segregated from the rest of his deliveries.

Through the glass and to the right of me, I could make out the disgusting yellow of patient sample bottles. Although it didn't truly dawn on me until I read the label, containing the patients name and what specimen it was. Disgustingly if you must know they where urine samples. Quite odd to sit here so small and be dumped next to collective urine. To my left I notice a box that just said “medical supplies” and just gave the warning “Fragile” and “Sharp”.

I settled in and waited for time to pass, the hospital I was going to far away, but still a bit of a stretch. Almost tempted to head to the bed to pass time I ignored it and waited patiently. The car started and the sound of travel and motor filled my ears through the muffled glass of the needle.

I did however close my eyes and rest sitting up in the control chair. I wasn't one for meditation, but with nothing but time to kill and a large assignment ahead I decided to draw some relaxed breaths. I did need it, not only was my goal daunting, but being so small took it's toll on my mind. I had settled, but still couldn't quite come to full terms with my new perspective.

BUMP!

My eyes quickly jerked open, we had gone over some sort of pot hole I could assume. I was eyes wide with panic, but quickly relaxed.

BUMP!

“Another one!?” I yelled. But before I could vent my entire frustration the sound of creaking rang throughout my temporary home. Searching around it did not take me long to locate the sound of the irritating noise, the clamp I was fastened in had loosened and the sides of it where now tearing against the glass of the needle.

I was going over.

What a helpless situation to be in, I began to notice the straightness of the needle was no more. The top end pointing diagonally to the roof of the van. I watched as the clamps scraped on by, leaving a terrible noise in their wake. I prayed, that at the last second it somehow hold and the needle through a turn or something rebalance itself. But that was a lot that had to work right in my favour and I was faced with the reality that soon the needle would topple and i'd end up on the ground.

While the glass looked impenetrable I had no doubt that a solid collision with the hard ground would cause it to shatter. This was truly a dangerous and powerless situation to be in. I watched the last of the clamp lose it's hold and over we went.

I shut my eyes, I heard the impact though. It vibrated throughout my environment. I opened it expecting the worst, but I had been spared.

We had landed, and I was still intact. By me I mean the needle of course. Now on it's side and on the ground rolling towards the back of the van. I breathed a sigh of relief, I wouldn't be spilled free from a crack or a break. All the courier had to do was pick me up and carry on.

BUMP!

What road was this guy taking! I was meant to be on a smooth freeway, it seemed like a dirt road at the moment. But this bump created a new problem. The box I previously sat next too tipped over and out rolled needles all pulled by momentum to the back of the van to where I was.

Chapter 3: Mix Up

The road was to be a lot less bumpy for the rest of my journey, although that's not to say I enjoyed the now unrestrained ride amongst the clutter of this van. Lucky for me the tipped box of needles didn't really allow me to roll freely around the place. However not being securely in place presented an element of danger that I did not like the feeling of. The sooner I got to my destination the sooner the issue would be resolved and i'd be on my merry way.

I was also particularly grateful the patient samples I mentioned earlier hadn't tipped over either. That had the potential for a real mess, and even though I was safely inside my needle it's not something I wanted to be exposed to. That and it probably meant bailing the mission altogether for safety and hygiene issues, and I didn't want to start over again another day.

The glass of my needle stopped shaking, as everything around me rolled forward. The hum of the engine slowly died out and I could only make the assumption that we had come to stop.

“Thank God” I couldn't help but mutter, happy for this car ride to be over. I more than anything just wanted to proceed with the rest of the day past this point.

Next thing I knew I heard a loud unhinging sound and light began to pour into the back of the van once more. I caught a glimpse of the courier from outside my glass confines. He looked as if he was processing the mess that had been created in the back of his van. No doubt, if I where in his shoes i'd be inspecting the place over and scratching my head also. Speaking of scratching heads, he literally did so ever so slightly moving his cap as he did. I watched his gaze turn from the open clamps, to the box and then to me. It was like he piecing it together.

“Shit” he mouthed “Which one was it?” His words lingered in the air for a moment before he put his hands to his face in a show of despair. Then came an unexpected shoulder shrug, his face went from tense to relaxed as if he had mulled it over in his head. With his large and industrious hands he bent over and began to clean up the mess

I watched him to it with ease, marvelling how he could lift such large objects even though I knew it was only a matter of perspective. However then came something entirely unexpected. Running his fingers over a few needles near my own he picked one up and examined it for a while.

“That'll do” to my absolute disgust and complete shock, he bent down and placed the needle securely between the clamps. My spot!

“What the Fuck are you doing!?” I knew my question would remain unanswered but I had to utter my bewilderment out loud just to comprehend what he had just done. But before I could yell even more expletives he began to clean once more. He turned the box right side up and began to stack the needles inside. He saved me for last, now the true peril dawned on me.

Once in the box, the lid was closed. I was sealed in darkness, my fate had taken an unexpected turn. The feeling of motion began as the needles around me clattered in the darkness, illustrating the complete carelessness in which he had dumped them back in the box.

I listened to the outside world go by, from what I could attempt to hear I had changed hands. I was now out of the couriers possession. I could hear the general exchange of signatures and chat that complimented it. From what I had gathered just by hearing alone that I was at a doctors clinic, but not to far away from the hospital I was meant to end up at. We then moved again before the box finally came to rest. All I had now was the darkness and my thoughts.

Time began to pass and I began to calm my mind. Once the imposter needle arrived where I was meant to be my colleagues would piece together the mistake and come in find me. I told myself once more, all I needed to do was wait and all would be rectified soon enough.

Time didn't pass to much though before I picked out the sound and tremor of approaching footsteps. I pressed my ear against the wall of my ship to try and gain whatever advantage I could despite knowing it'd achieve nothing down here. Just faintly I picked up sounds, then voices. I could just make them out. First I heard a door open, and then shut. The footsteps got very close before going quiet. Again I tried to make myself as quiet as possible to listen to the outside world.

“So Miss Clarke, how can I assist you today” a male voice said, it was meant from response from a still faint female voice, I couldn't yet pick up on. From what I knew so far this man could be a GP. “ah right, well these sorts of things can occur when playing sport. Can you tell me where exactly the pain lies?”

The faint voice responded

“Okay I understand” the return of footsteps returned as I heard him get out of his chair. “Does it hurt when I do this”

Again I couldn't hear her response, but it didn't sound as faint as before. Perhaps indicating it did indeed hurt. The brief footsteps returned before the sound of the doctor easing into his seat overcame them

“Alright Miss Clarke, you've got nothing to worry about. This injury isn't serious but may cause minor pain. It should subside within a week, but because it seems a bit painful now we can give you something to last you a few hours if you like”

This time I heard a clear yes from the other voice in the room. As if I hadn't been blinded from going to dark to light already the box opened and light once again sprung to meet me. I had to shield my eyes, the vessel had no sun visor to protect me, because why would it ever need one? Once my eyes adjusted I realised I was again moving, I was moving free of the box. The familiar sight of human digits holding the glass again. I couldn't quite make out the face of the doctor above me though, the top of the needle didn't allow it.

Perhaps a colleague of mine had already come to rescue me. But this didn't quite feel right, I had a sick feeling in my gut. We jolted forward, I realised heading towards the other person in the room. I could finally see another human being, that whom the faint voice belonged to. Her name should have been an early tip off, but this woman wasn't someone I knew. I wasn't being collected.

Our approach to this young lady continued. I had a full chance to examine her. She wasn't to bad looking if I had to honest. She was a little pale white, she had brown hair that flowed past her shoulders. Her face was cute, very peaceful. Blue eyes and a smile to go with it. She was dressed casually, nothing to exciting. Jeans and a top, bold for the autumn weather. As my eyes continued to examine I noticed she had her left arm out stretched. Odd I thought to myself.

As my carrier got closer the puzzle pieces finally fell in place for me. The closer we got, the closer I got to her outstretched arm.

“No...” I said to myself, the word escaped my mouth as a breath. My heart rate accelerated. From my view I was getting the tour of her arm, starting from the hand we hovered up the landscape of her arm before the needle came to rest.

Then we came even more dangerously close, the tip of the needle playfully touching the crease of her elbow. My mind racing, I knew what was about to happen. The fatal error of this mix up was now complete. I was going to make history, but not the way I intended.

This woman, Miss Clarke had come to her Doctor seeking relief from some sort of injury. I was mistaken to be the relief, having been mixed up at the van. Instead of being injected and monitored in a supervised environment, I was about to find myself inside to body of a completely random stranger.

The situation was hopeless. Sure I was in control of this little vessel, but everything else was well out of my power. I could do nothing but watch as we hovered above the white surface of this woman's arm. Time had slowed to almost a stop for me, I was about to have a complete panic attack.

Injected into a stranger, they wouldn't even know of my existence. There was no feeling left but hopelessness. Surely I would be saved, but until then i'd have to fend for myself inside to body of a stranger. Ironically, I would still be making history as the first person to man and pilot a ship inside the human body. But this ground breaking achievement wouldn't be shared with the world, only I would know and soon this woman would become my world. Then the scary thought crossed my mind, what if I couldn't be traced? What if I was never to be saved. Unfortunately all I had was thoughts, I would have to wait and see.

The needle plunged downward, bringing me close towards her arm. I couldn't see the contact but I knew the needle was in her. The fluids began to move, given an opening they descended downwards to their opening. To encourage the flow, behind me the needle top began to push. Stuck in the current I drifted towards my unintentional host. Like a kid being pushed by his parents the needle didn't allow me to back out, I was going in regardless. I took a last look at the outside world, I screamed “help” in a last moment of desperation. It would go to fall on deaf ears. Unlike what I had been trained for, there was no failsafe, there was no option to abort. I couldn't yell to Neil stop, this was an ultimatum.

As slow as it played in my mind, the moment itself was over rather quickly. Soon I was in and the needle was out. Now began my new journey. Nobody to save me, alone inside this woman. The event had played out and now I was left with nothing but the hard reality of the situation. The way I had came in had vanished, the outside had vanished and now it was just me and her...

Chapter 4: Meeting

Neal made his way down the hallways, towards the Director's office. The morning sun well risen now casting a warmer light on the at times darker hallway. In any circumstance it was a beautiful day, one that shouldn't be wasted inside. He made it to the very end, but hesitated to pull the handle. He hadn't quite composed his thoughts or what he was going to say. He had been brief but panicked over the phone. Now his boss wanted him to front up in person, and he wasn't sure how he could put the word together. Gritting his teeth he pulled the handle and strolled inside the room.

“Neal, Thank you for coming” The director stood up and gestured for him to take a seat. Neal glanced around the room, asides from him and the director it was empty asides from the bland office furniture. “As you're probably wondering, I haven't called the board. I ask that this conversation be kept between you, me and your team. Understood?”

“Yes Mr Rhineheart” Neal responded

“From what I could gather from over the phone, We seem to have a situation on our hands here.”

“Yes Sir” The director frowned at this response.

“Perhaps you'd like to enlighten me? Give me a full briefing? How does a man and thousands of dollars of equipment go missing?”

“uh... There was a supposed mix up with courier. The tube we received wasn't the correct one”

“So, then where is it?”

“Well Sir we managed to find the courier and trace his other deliveries. The thing is, we know where he could have ended up. But we don't have the rights to go and retrieve him. And every institution we called has not let us access their records or inventory”

“So what you're saying is we have a complete write off on this experiment”

“That may not be the whole truth sir, i'm afraid I was brief during our call”

“Oh, is there something else I need to know?”

“This ship was manned...” The director's face quickly vanished of all colour. He didn't speak for a moment as if processing it all. After a long awkward silence he finally spoke again.

“So? You're telling me... That out there somewhere in the world is one of our employees?”

“Correct...”

“This is a huge disaster you've involved me in. This little experiment will cost us everything. While you were busy chasing off glory, you've put as all at risk! If this gets out our lives will be destroyed! I want this man found, Not next week or the week after as soon as possible. You will deploy every resource in your power to find him and bring him home!”

“Believe me Sir we are doing every...”

“I wasn't finished!” Neal quickly hushed up “Who else knows about this?”

“Just me, You and the man himself”

“So only we know”

“Yes”

“I still want this man found. But if he isn't, I am not prepared to take the fall”

“What are you saying?”

“What I am saying is that if we don't find him, we write him off with the rest of the experiment and put it behind us”

“You can't be serious!?”

“Use your brain for a moment Neal, can you imagine the storm if this gets out? A man goes missing it's big news, but not as big as losing someone in an experiment. If no one has no leads or knowledge we can simply just let the trail go cold, rather than put it out there.

“But this is a life at steak”

“Think of your own for a moment. You, me and this whole institute will go down the toilet. You'll never be able to work in this community game. Publicly shunned and outcast. Then the legal side of things falls on your head. You failed your duty of care, you'll be trialled and convicted. But if you say nothing, The missing persons register just gets updated.”

“I suppose you're right” Neal slumped in his chair, he felt dirty but he was right. If he couldn't be located his career and life would irrecoverably destroyed. He himself had a family to feed.

“Keep your mouth shut and i'll see you're looked after” spoke up the director as if reading his mind. He placed out his hand.

Neal stretched forward and met his hand with his shaking it, Silently agreeing.

“It won't come to that though, because i'm going to find him”

“Then go”

Neal quickly exited the room, heading back down from the hallway in which he had come from. He hadn't wished to had waste time with the director in the first place. But he had to be notified. Now he could go back to manning the radio, and only hope that Russell came up on the correct frequency. That was his only plan and hope for finding him. Otherwise he might have to come to terms with the Director's dark proposal.

Meantime while Neal was scurrying down the hallway the director pondered his thoughts in the office alone. After a while his hand reached for the intercom. Pressing for his secretary.

“I'm going out. Cancel all my morning and afternoon appointments”

“Where are you going?” a female voice replied from the speaker.

“That isn't of your concern, I just need to go take care of something...”

Chapter 5: Interior

My eyes remained firmly shut, I didn't wish to open them. But when I did choose to open them, i'd hope to find the familiar surroundings of my bedroom, as if awaking from a bad dream. But even with my eyes shut I couldn't escape the reality of my fate. The thud of a heartbeat could be heard, that wasn't my own. While I knew what to expect, the situation was different. Outside of a controlled environment and alone in the wilderness. Her pulse could be felt reverberating around the ship.

I decided to face the music and opened up my eyes. The lids slowly lifted and the sights of the ship interior greeted me. But from my windscreen I could cast my eyes out further. While I was shocked, the sight I saw wasn't overly surprising or terrifying. Granted I had been trained for this. But what I had to describe wasn't much. What I saw ahead of me was a dark red murky tunnel. However what I did notice was the speed at which we where flowing.

The speed in which my vessel was moving was quite different than to that of the experiment I had carefully studied for. I was intended to be placed inside a subdued patient. My hostess instead was well concious and moving about. This meant she was going to have a healthy circulation, not slow and controlled.

Even past it's beta stage the technology was never intended to be placed inside an active human. Obviously this now presented some new challenges that I had not either been briefed or trained for. I would have to do some improvisation in this now unpredictable environment. My thoughts went over back to my training and how I could apply what I had learnt to my current situation.

The pod I was in had a variety of movement controls, after all I wasn't just meant to be a passenger. This technology was intended to work and save people in the future. I threw my engines in reverse, to slow myself down against the current of blood. It worked quite well, while I couldn't come to a complete stand still I could slow my movement considerably. Still though the engines sounded like they struggled against the flow, protesting through noise at their disapproval.

The ship did however have an anchor system. I could well stop myself for good if I wanted too. But again there was a problem with that idea. Again I wasn't meant to be inside someone active or awake. If I I did anchor myself in a procedure I was to repair the spot I had anchored too prior to departing the body. In this case, I simply wasn't allowed to do that. While small I could have some serious ramifications on my hostess. If anything it was more last resort tactic if I got off track, to which I could be rescued and damage to the host could be prepared. The real risk I obviously ran with deploying it, would be causing damage to her vein. Despite how quick the body could heal, I had no idea how fast she could. I could cause internal bleeding which I wasn't willing to risk. That and I knew nothing about this woman, she could be a haemophiliac for all I knew

I owed her some sort of duty of care. My sense of morals where to not be shifted, while for the meantime I was a prisoner inside of her, I had no intention to bring harm to her. If anything despite being my prison she was nothing more than an innocent bystander.

I decided to sit there and take it in. As frightening as it was I still couldn't help but marvel at the science that had put me in such a risk. I stopped and listened, Still only her pulse was really audible to me. While lost in thought the rhythmic beating went on, silencing what thought I had left I decided to study my environment closer. Although sight yielded nothing, I instead cast my ear out hoping to hear past the beat. To my surprise I could pick up faint noises, muffled I could hear almost her voice speaking. Perhaps if I piloted the ship closer to her vocals I could maybe hear her voice clearer. I wondered what else I could hear from different areas. Right now it wasn't much through fields of flesh and bone barring me from hearing anything important other than body functions.

Hearing...

Than it hit me. I have a means of communicating with the outside world. On board I had a radio to which I was meant to be in contact with my superior with, it sat at the back of my pod along with a lot of contingency suppliers. Luckily they had that much foresight, I had a small bunk and plenty of food and water. However the real question I was wondering was if this woman was perhaps close enough I could make contact with those on my frequency. I ran to the back of my pod, near to my bed and emergency rations. I turned on the radio... static.

I slammed my hands down in protest. She wasn't in range, my only hope would be to hold out on the radio and hope at some point during her travels she walks close enough for me to make contact. Until then I didn't have much to do other than bide my time. But even then I didn't know what future perils awaited me as I slowly traveled up her arm.