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.