Story Comp.

The sound did nothing to phase him. None of their attempts did anything to phase him. Not anymore. Not after all this. Alone., confined, changed. In darkness, where even such night-worthy eyes saw no image. No feeling, beside the smooth, cool rock below him, the thumping of his heart. No scent, but the occasional bland of food that no longer held such appeal to him . Bloodless food, that kept him alive when death seemed so much more alluring. Not much food, of course, his skeletal system was dangerously exposed. Each rib could be painfully examined through his skin. He was never hungered. Though the skin itself was in perfect shape, the bones themselves just as strong as they had been, the fur so soft, the eyes so bright. The food was packed full of vitamins and minerals, and Lord knows what else, the only thing it lacked was calories, fat, anything that would give strength and energy to the test subject. He was never hungered. Except, Except they'd upped his portions this last week, and after the first filling meats he'd had since he'd last seen the sun, he refused to eat. And so they'd sent someone

The yellow eye lulled open, the gaze so bright and healthy, the -disallowed_word- Still, after a month of such confinement!) . They'd spiked the food., keeping this body so fit, while the mind went, while he suffered his conscience. The Tests.

Luke, Remember, you chose this for yourself."

And he had. It had seemed so good then. So right, to give himself to them. Like enlisting in the army, giving your service to protect what you love. Until you notice the blood that's spilled around you, the murders you've committed. The family whom you disserted for their protection, that no longer recognizes you on your return. That tortured conscience.

Eat, Luke.

The voice was so finale, so definite. And then nothing.

Pain seared into him, the base of his neck drilled into by tiny needles, tiny hooking and clinging barbs. Awoken from sleep (Sleep, the only release from my mind!), he didn't react at first, the pain didn't register. How long had it been since he felt any physical pain, not just that ache of his mind? How tortured a soul to not react to that searing! But that wasn't pain,. His scream ripped away any sleep he had been feeling, his jaw parting in anguish. It was as if each nerve had been set on fire, collected at the base of his spine. The soft glow that erupted blinded him, then let him see. A cord had fused itself to his spine, a long tentacle like devise, that reached up into an apparent infinity. A plug that drove itself into a black socket in his skin. The first and second pain. The cord was segmented, long stripes running down the sides glowing faint greens and blues. The pain stopped so suddenly, he couldn't breath, his vision blacked out, and his limbs were stunned.

Oh, Luke, you will live yet.

There was such remorse there, he sobbed silently until his breathing returned. They had no right to care for him, no right to feel guilt for what they continuously did.

A jarring sound spurred him from motionlessness, his ears swiveled to the distinctive noise, unpulsing, reachable. He no longer slept, the cord that protruded from the base of his neck kept him from his last release, he just sat, and stared, and tried to not get lost. His body retracted, the instinctive movements of fear that even such isolation and torture could not change, whipping around to locate the noise , that cranking, like old gears. The light flared about him, those dull blues and greens, now pulsing to his breathing, his unavoidable excitement. And then, a great snap, that released in a burst of light, his eyes incapable of registering sight. The cranking, which was such a roar moments before, was now faded, unimportant, his mind blocking it out. Cheering. Voices, that was what he now heard. With a sidelong thought he heard a shallow 'Click' , felt the glowing cord wrap about his bleached white neck, felt the voice resonate in his mind.

Oh Luke, "

But he ignored it, ignored it all, for he saw them, every thing lost to him. Those cheering masses, those singular beings whom he lived for. They cheered, they cheered, they cried. Another, They all thought. Another one to save us. Their deliver, their hero, their protection, their survival..