A slender woman in her late 20's walks in. "I'm terribly sorry to keep you waiting, Miss. We're ready for you in Lab 6."
"Oh, ok." Amy, still unsure about this, followed the woman. After a short walk, they reach a pair of metal double doors, which open on their own with a faint "whoosh" noise.
The woman leads Amy inside the room. Cables snake along the floor, and there are several networked computers facing a raised metal platform in the center of the room.
On the platform are three cylindrical metal objects, with large hatches on the front. The outer two are marked "A" and "B", while the center one, which was larger than the others, was marked "C".
The woman gestures to a curtain in one corner of the room. "If you could go behind the curtain, take off your clothes, and lay down on the bed, we'll begin with a physical examination."
Amy blushed. "Um..take off my clothes...I don't know..."
The older woman smiled. "It's alright dear, I'll be examining you myself, you don't have to worry about any men seeing you. Just relax."
Amy still felt a bit nervous, but moved behind the curtain. There was one of those flat beds like you find in a doctor's office, with a paper sheet. Undressing, she lay her clothes on a chair. The room was chilly, and her nipples hardened immediately.
Laying down on the bed, however, she was astonished to find the cushions quickly heated, until she felt very warm and drowsy. It was quite pleasant, and she didn't notice the woman come in.
"I'm just going to give you a slight sedative, dear." Before Amy could object, there was a slight sting, and she felt very relaxed.
She just lay there with a goofy smile while the woman did..whatever.
"Excellent, you're in good physical condition. No signs of drug use, and you don't seem to be that sexually active."
Amy struggled to speak "th...thas good?"
"For our purposes, yes. The other subject, well, let's just say she's lived a bit harder than you. Hopefully you both will balance each other out.
"Wah?" Amy was confused, but the woman injected her with something, and she blacked out.
She woke up later, unable to move, as she was being carried by two figures in hazmat suits. She couldn't see their faces, and she wanted to scream, but couldn't. They opened up the cylinder marked "A" and placed her inside. It quickly began to fill with a clear liquid. She blacked out again.
Sometime later, she awoke, her mouth and nose filled with liquid! She thrashed a bit, then realized she wasn't drowning...she was breathing the stuff! It had a vaguely plesant scent as well.
She was floating in the center of the cylinder. She swam up to the hatch, which had a glass window set in it. Looking out, she saw the people in suits carrying in another girl.
She was younger than Amy, and very slender. Her dark hair was cut short in the back, with the bangs kept long. The bangs were dyed purple, and the girl was wearing matching purple lipstick. Her eyes were dark, and she had rings under her eyes. She was also much shorter than Amy, though it was hard to tell how much so. There were scars on the girls wrists and forearms, as well as on her thighs, and she had a tattoo of a butterfly on the small of her back, just above her butt.
The woman's voice came from somewhere inside the cylinder.
"I'm going to try and answer your questions now, Amy. I can't hear you, so don't bother to reply. The liquid you're breathing is highly oxygenized, and it's mixed with a sedative so you won't panic and drown. As we speak, vital chemicals in the liquid, which we call the 'C-9 matrix' are flowing through your body, forcing it to expel waste materials, toxins, and the like, as well as pumping you full of vitamins and immunity boosters. We need you to be as clean as possible, and your immunity system is the stronger."
The woman paused, then continued.
"The girl's name is Mallory. She's only seventeen...yes, I know she doesn't look it, there's a reason for that. She ran away from home when she was 12, and ended up a prostitute in a sex club. She was addicted to heroin, and given drugs that retarded her growth and physical maturation, so she'd stay looking young longer."
Amy felt a surge of pity for the girl. How horrible!
"After a few years, she stopped being quite so 'fresh', and therefore, less valuable, so she was able to escape. By now the damage is done, her immune system is shot, she's hopelessly addicted to drugs, and the damage done to her body is slowly killing her. However, there is a way she can live. Through you."
Amy started pounding on the glass, but to now avail, her movements caused the liquid to surge and move her backwards.
"Needless to say, this research isn't legal, and you are not a willing subject. I'm truly sorry, but we must advance as a race, not hide behind what others feel is 'safe'. The machine you are in will transform your body from matter to energy, then the energy will be transferred to the larger Pod C at the same time as Mallory. You will both merge together, and then become material once more. We expect a significant loss in mass due to the energy conversion, but there should be enough left of the both of you for one viable lifeform. We're ready to begin, I hope you make it."
Amy tried to scream, but all she did was gurgle out liquid. And then, every molecule in her body exploded...