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The Ensoulment of Harry Branscombe

Word Count: 3112 (exclusive of title page)

12 pages (exclusive of title page)

News reports said the killing of Bill Hodgkins took place in the convalescent wing the evening of Valentine’s Day.  A project director at The New Era Corp. who specialized in stem cell implants and xeno-transplants, Hodgkins left no next of kin, police said.  

Though in a soundproofed room, Harry Branscombe picked up and processed slivers of dialog through the thick walls.  He figured they talked about him.

“…he’s the last un-marked descendant of the ur-tribe…”

“…those who went through xeno-transplantation…”

“… reinvigorate the gene pool…”

“How many generations of these people…”

“…different species used.”

As the conversation faded, he paced back and forth in the small, sterile room.  The lack of natural light disoriented him; the aseptic smell made him nauseous, and he sat down again to quiet his stomach.  Then movement on the other side alerted Harry to the presence of someone at the heavy metal door.  The handle moved down followed by the loud click of the release latch, which reverberated in the room.  Two white-coated lab technicians stepped in.

“Hello again, Harry.”  The female greeted him with a warm smile.

He rose from the webbed cot and stretched and let the man and woman approach him on either side, still unsure, though, why they brought him to the big building with white walls and no windows.  Harry remained confused from the rapid sequence of events that unfolded over the past few hours.  Just after dawn that day these two awoke Harry and hustled him from his room across the grounds, around the corner of the building, through the play yard he liked so much and down a long set of steps into an underground section of the big white building.  Then the three of them rushed along an empty corridor with slick white walls to the examining room where the man and woman told him “Stay” until they returned.

No one checked in n Harry for several hours, not even to give him water or food.  When they returned, the woman carried a clipboard and nothing else.  The man trailed behind her.  Neither brought him a treat or water.  His tongue felt scratchy, his stomach ached from hunger. 

The man walked around the woman and stood on Harry’s left side.  Then she came over and put an arm around Harry.