Feeding Dragons by Catherine Rose Page B

later I stepped through
into the last room and as instructed by the voice on the intercom I
ripped open the seal and removed the scrubs. I couldn’t wait to put
them on. I was shivering from the cool air blowing over my skin.
Once dressed in the thin cotton clothes I completed suiting up with
the space-girl outfit that would keep all airborne pathogens away
from me. I had barely finished hooking up my respirator when the
last remaining door opened. I stood quietly at the threshold
looking around and saw what appeared to be a dentist chair of all
things in the center of the room.
    To say I was confused by my
surroundings would be an understatement. I looked around; nothing
else really to see here. The door I came through, the dentist
chair, another door at the far end of the room and off to my right
a large inner window with a deep blue tint; not a whole lot to look
at. I heard another click and a voice came over the loudspeaker I
had not noticed mounted in core of the room.
    “If you were pleased by the garments
you were issued we would appreciate it if you remove them when
asked and re-use them when the test has been completed. Thank you
the inspection will begin in five minutes.”
    Re-use them? What the hell was up with
that? Nowhere is it ever considered a good idea to re-use any item
that may have been exposed. Growing alarmed with this whole set-up
I strolled over to the loudspeaker and yelled up, “Hey! What is
going on? I’ve never heard of any type of procedure in which the
inspector remains barefoot! I’m not wearing booties inside this
suit. There were none in the packet!” No response. I tried again,
“Hello?”
    I stood waiting with my hands on my
hips looking up but received no reply. The speaker remained mute
and the only sound I could hear was my own breathing rushing
through the respirator. I got the insidiously creepy feeling I was
being watched. Turning back the window was now becoming clear and I
could see the scientists watching me; lined up in a row like small
porcelain dolls. Their black beetle browed stares devoid of
anything that made me feel like this would end well for me. For a
second I remembered something not often mentioned in history
classes today because American politicians helped cover it up
afterwards and nobody wants to go down in history as an
unredeemable bastard.
    The Japanese had engaged in horrific
human experimentation during World War II. Irrefutable evidence had
come to light after they surrendered to the Americans of gruesome
vivisection on prisoners of war without the benefit of painkillers
or even the luxury of anesthesia. Unit 731 run by some of the most
learned and distinguished medical doctors of Japan did such lovely
things as put a Russian mother and her young daughter into a gas
chamber then peer through the glass and watch as the mother
desperately tried to shield her five year old from the gas all
while the medicine men timed their convulsions as they died. They
exposed a three day old Chinese baby to the cold to determine the
length of time it took for hypothermia to set in; Joseph Mengle
would have loved these guys especially given the fact that almost
none of them were tried for war crimes but instead got a nice fat
check from the U.S. government as stipend in return for their data.
How fucked up is that? But I tried telling myself that was in the
past. Nobody in their right mind would try and conduct experiments
like that today. So while I was certainly freaked out I wasn’t in
any real danger.
    I walked up to the glass and slapped my
fist on it. In a strident voice I demanded this bullshit stop at
once. They did nothing. Silent as the grave they stood watching me
without any indication they heard me. I pressed my face shield up
against the glass and pounded with both fists, “I know can you hear
me!” They ignored me. “Hey!” I slapped my gloved hands repeatedly
on the reflective surface while yelling like a maniac.
    Finally I saw one lean forward and