golden coin -- to be continued

The golden coin tunnels through the machine, scratching as it slides into the chamber. Several ounces of wealth rest silently, their beautiful surfaces unperturbed in the darkness. A hand slides a lever, finds its way and selects. The machine graciously approves and funnels a drink into the cargo bay below.

Printed electronically on the can is a symbolic heart with a dodecagon star, blue against the white heart, small and displayed only once. A blank silver color covers the rest, elegantly saying without explaining the contents.

"Stardrive, you are my Suicide."

Faintly, a vibrating hum reaches the ears. A malfunctioning light shakes in the ceiling as the can is opened. The nose buzzes in response to the queer, disassociated odor. The hand rises and the lips suck grey, almost transparent liquid into the body. As the coin fell through the machine, the liquid coils through the body. But where the coin was dead falling through the unliving, the living liquid tunnels through the living body. It swims into the stomach and through the blood, merging with the fuel being gracefully pumped. The grey brain feels grey chemicals. The grey ceiling flashes yellow light, and the humming malfunction increases in volume.

The left leg trembles slightly, then fearsomely shakes, disorienting the mind. Control is found again, but in doing so a new awareness surfaces in the grey bubbles tossing through the blood. The liquid is within, and the body is with out - outside of the blood. This changes as the nose bleeds and red fuel streams across irradiated skin. Blood is within and out. Red blood darkens, shifting up the spectrum with increased oxygen transformation.

A golden coin sits inside darkness, resting peacefully and unaware of the changes within and without the tiny box it rests in. Surrounded by golden brothers, it knows no connection or understanding. It cannot be observed and it has no mind. The machine continues vibrating at its own frequency, distorting the oxygen molecules around it in a constant chaos leak of sound waves. The ears are filled with popping and direction-less motion, and gravitational balance is lost again. The body stumbles, the legs minutely shake and a level stance is difficult to find. Waving hands glide over the sonic chaos in the air and the mind too, is shaking. The body collapses, resting just as the coin has been resting, the can falling downwards, spinning and crashing.

Brief agony and acknowledgment flushes through the mind. A malfunctional brain orders endorphins into the legs, and the gross shaking ceases. Darkened blood softly slides onto the hard floor, dissolving a faint scattering of dust.