Colin woke to the pulse of the hypnosite calling to him. The sound of the metal doors sliding around his room signaled the start of the next round of experiments. He was surprised he slept in for that long, but he still felt tired so he must have needed the rest. He looked around groggily and found the cart in the room with him again. The hypnosite inside was silently calling to him before the cart even opened, “Is it time already?”

  “Not for everyone. It’s still the middle of the night,” Until he spoke, Colin hadn’t noticed the figure dressed in one of those all black bodysuits standing in the corner inside the room with him. It was the voice of one of the Gilbert, “They want to see how you manage if someone else is attempting to connect to your hypnosite at the same time as you.”

  “Yeah, sure. You’re the boss. You might wanna lay down just in case you win, buddy.” Colin said, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He was in the perfect position laying on the bed anyway, so he didn’t bother sitting up.

  “I’m sure I’ll be quite fine,” Gilbert said as he raised a hand and gave a thumbs up.

  Without any further warning, the frequency blared out. Colin closed his eyes and easier than ever found his connection with the hypnosite.

  Before blacking out, Colin grinned. Gilbert never even stood a chance against him.

  …

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  Colin woke inside of the hypnosite. He burbled into form and felt more stable. He wasn’t sure what he felt more stable in comparison to, but he was sure of the feeling. His legs and body changed color from the greenish-silver to the dull gray of a water strider and he instinctively knew he currently looked just like one. He still couldn’t remember anything, but he felt much more himself. Much more aware.

  HUNGRY

  Colin’s thoughts were cut short by the demand of his own hunger. The feeling became his everything, but there was nothing inside the glass dome for him to eat. He latched onto the nearest life pulse. A large, dark human moving towards another weaker life pulse that was laying down.

  Colin lunged for the two life pulses. This was an opportunity to feast on a meal of titanic proportions. The glass dome prevented Colin from making any progress toward his meal.

  HUNGRY

  Colin felt fury boil up inside of him for being prevented from feeding. He was trapped and that was unacceptable. He let out a rage filled screech that rattled the glass, but it didn’t make a difference.

  The moving human stopped and leaned over the one laying down. After a few seconds, the life pulse of the one laying down started to fade until it disappeared completely.

  Colin’s hunger was temporarily forgotten as he felt a stab of mental pain and staggered.

  Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. The moment that life pulse faded out, Colin didn’t know why, but he felt it in a personal way. It was too much for him to understand, but the feeling wouldn’t go away.

  Loss

  A feeling of deep sadness pulsed throughout his body in tiny, yet profound waves. Relentlessly reminding Colin of its presence.

  Colin whimpered and curled into himself, trying to shrink away from the pain.

  The remaining life force approached Colln and fear welled up inside of him until metal rose from either side of the glass dome and blanketed Colin’s world in darkness. The life pulse disappeared from Colin’s senses.

  The fear faded, but not the pain of loss. His hunger and rage forgotten, all Colin could manage to do was whimper alone in the dark and hope the pain would go away soon.