IMMOLATION: CHAPTER 50

Melanie wasn't sure how to feel about what was happening in front of her. For the last half hour she'd been watching as Joan's friend, Matt, took measurements and made adjustments to the Heat Machine.

“How long has Joan been in there?” Melanie asked for the third time.

“She's just fine,” Matt said over his shoulder without making eye contact.

“That's what you said last time,” Melanie said, “but that doesn't answer my question.”

Matt ignored her. “We're up to four hundred percent of our predicted output,” he told the older Asian man, Dr. Muto, at his side.

“And how is the machine?” Dr. Muto asked.

“Working like a dream,” Matt replied with a broad grin. “Heat flow's dissipating evenly throughout the structure and conversion to electricity is at ninety percent.”

“So,” Dr. Muto said after he'd worked out some math on his notepad, “we can power America?”

Matt's grin widened even further. “That's correct,” he said and the two men clasped each other on the shoulders. “Now that we know it works, we can share it with the rest of the world.”

The smile on Dr. Muto's smile slipped but Melanie wasn't paying them enough attention any more to hear what he said. Instead, she walked to edge of the observation room and looked more closely at the safety glass. It looked new, much newer than the rest of the observation room.

“Is this soundproof?” Melanie asked.

Both men stopped talking and looked toward Melanie.

“It has to be,” Dr. Muto said.

“Why? Melanie asked, “It didn't use to be.”

“Her fire is too intense now,” Dr. Muto stated, though Matt looked uncomfortable with that response.

“How much room does she have inside there?” Melanie asked.

“Everything has been optimized for the Heat Machine,” Dr. Muto said and it was clear from his tone of voice that he was losing patience with Melanie.

“You know Joan's claustrophobic, right?” Melanie asked.

Matt and Dr. Muto shared looks but neither of them spoke.

“Seriously,” Melanie said, “You guys have been running this thing for weeks now and this is the first time you've let me in here to see her...and I haven't seen her yet. All I see is a big white dome behind soundproofed glass and a locked door.”

“These are all for safety,” Dr. Muto said, waving to the security guard who had escorted Melanie in.

The guard stepped forward and opened the door, signaling the end to Melanie's visit.

“No!” Melanie was outraged at what seemed to be a clear abuse of Joan and she pulled away from the guard as he made to grab her by the arm. “How could you?” She cried at the guard, “You've been here as long as Joan, you've seen what happens to her when she's all cooped up.”

“Come on,” the guard said as he finally succeeded in grabbing her arm, and then added in an undertone, “I'll get you in.”

Melanie looked up at the guards face and he nodded toward the door. She wasn't sure if she should trust him but for a moment his stern face softened and his grip on her arm lightened.

“Okay,” she said and the guard led her out of the observation room.

The door shut behind them and the guard immediately let go of Melanie's arm.

“I'm sorry,” the guard said, “but ever since they came here we've had to be extra careful. Things get really bad really fast whenever anyone is found talking bad about how they're treating Joan.”

Together they walked down the corridor and Melanie recognized at once that the guard was not leading her toward the exit.

“What do you mean?” Melanie asked.

“Things in here are being run more like a prison state than a holding facility,” he looked around uncomfortably before continuing. “They've begun installing hidden cameras in some of the halls, but they're not showing up on our security screens.”

So, who's watching the new cameras?” Melanie asked.

“That's the question, isn't it,” the guard replied.

“Is that legal?”

“Of course not,” the guard said, “but those who tried to bring this up with the judge have all quit now.”

“That doesn't make sense,” Melanie said as they rounded another corner. “Why would they quit over a few cameras?”

“Did they really quit?” the guard asked.

Melanie stopped walking and it took the guard a few steps to realize it.

“Things in here are getting really serious and I know my time here is running out,” the guard said, “that's why we're doing this now before we lose the opportunity. The next hallway has some of the new cameras in it so we'll have to be quick. I don't know if they'll figure out what we're doing in time to stop us or even if my key card will still work.”

At that moment, several other guards came around the corner. All of them were armed and wearing riot gear and Melanie's heart jumped into her throat. They were caught.

“It's okay,” Melanie's guard said, “They're with us and they're going to make sure you get out of here all right.”

“Okay,” Melanie muttered but the serious looks in all of their faces made her wonder at how bad things had gotten.

“What are you going to do?” Melanie asked.

“We,” the guard said, stressing the word, “are going to let Joan's out for a walk.”

“What?” Melanie was underwhelmed. With how serious everyone looked, Melanie thought they were going to break Joan out or something. “That's it?”

“That's all any of us can hope for,” the guard said. “If we could we'd taker her away from here, but can you think of a way to keep her hidden?”

Melanie knew there was now way to hide Joan sufficiently. Her fire was too strong, too constant to hope to be able to hide Joan for any extended period of time.

“Ready then?” the guard asked.

Melanie steadied herself and then nodded. As one, the guards moved forward with Melanie in the center of them. She hoped it was just to keep her hidden from the cameras and tried not to think of why else they would be shielding her. Before long they reached the end of the hall. Melanie didn't have a very good view of what they were doing with the door, but when she heard the beep and click of the lock, she knew they'd made it.

“Wait one moment,” one of the guards said and a pair of guards went in ahead of the rest.

“What are they doing?” Melanie asked.

“Making sure no one sees you,” the lead guard said.

Muffled sounds of a scuffle echoed from inside the enclosure but none of it sounded very serious. As soon as it fell quiet once more, the group of guards around Melanie motioned for her to move inside. All but the first guard waited outside.

“Why are you doing this?” Melanie asked as she was lead toward the dome of the Heat Machine. “Why me? Why now? You know you can't free Joan so why risk losing your jobs?”

He pointed to the side of the dome and Melanie noticed a rectangular slot with a hinged metal covering.

Creases around the guards eyes deepened and he pursed his lips. “That's the first in a series of slots that lead to the center of the dome that they can open and shut to pass food through,” he said with disgust, “so why let her out?”

Melanie put her hand to her mouth at the thought of Joan being confined inside of that thing for so long, alone.

“They never let her out?” Melanie shot an angry glare to the observation room as it came into view and was surprised to see that there was a thick black screen covering the glass.

The guard shook his head. “We've checked with all the guards. No one's escorted Joan out of her dome for more than a week.”

“But don't they know what happens to Joan when she's locked up?” Melanie's anger was rising. “And what about, you know, hygiene? What do they expect Joan to do?”

He shrugged as they finally reached the door to the dome. “Joan will probably be burning when we open this door,” he said, “that's why we brought you. Hopefully you can calm her down enough so we can bring her out.”

Melanie tried to put on a brave face but she couldn't help thinking about Tom and how easily Joan could do the same, or worse, to her.

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 I'd hoped to get this chapter to include Melanie and Joan's reunion, but it was already running long. You'll have to wait to see what happens.