The Tank : A Fox Tales Contest Entry

The lid to the tank opened and the technician looked in. The woman inside floated, weightless in her eternal prison, her eyes blank as she listened to the voices that were her only companions. She had never known the touch of another human. Not even as an infant. The robotic nannies that ensured her feeding and heatlh were incapable of love or tenderness. These she learned from the voices. Laughter, joy, sadness, pain... all were experienced as her mind flew across the length and breadth of time. From ancient humanoids who thought only in terms of food, sex and shelter to the great insectoid inheritors of humanity's birthright who (exist/will exist?) a billion years from now, she listened. For her, all was an eternal NOW, no true past, present or future. The only humans to ever have seen her were the few technicians that were needed to maintain the equipment. The technician glanced about furtively and then slowly reached in. She could not see him and yet, her hand rose from the inky black solution that she resided in. Their fingers touched and, for a moment, the technician WAS her and he was suffused with the voices and emotions of billions of beings, most of which were alien in nature. The technician's knees buckled. The endorphin rush was equal to that of a gram or more of heroin and and his heart stopped instantly. The lid to the tank slammed shut and the technician hit the ground. Seeing this, his co-workers rushed over. One of them looked at the tank and slowly reached towards the latch...

• Original contest post here