Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories

by Paul Kater

good, I am satisfied with this, Miss Marin," the doctor said as he turned back to the bed that was a table.

  Lily waited.

  Suddenly the doctor rushed to the desk and picked up a clock. He shook his head, mumbled something and then he invited her to lie down on the table.

  Lily, wondering why he shook his head, then noticed the leather straps on metal chains that hung from the bed. "Excuse me, sir, but do you think these are necessary?"

  "These are merely a precaution, Miss Marin," the doctor assured her. "It is imperative that you remain lying still, so a few supports for that should be in place."

  It struck her as odd to call these straps 'supports', but the doctor was the expert in this field, she told herself once more, so she lay down and let him secure her arms. And her legs. That worried her slightly, as the man was touching her ankles during that. And he was a doctor, yes, but still... As she wanted to make a slight comment about that, she noticed that, for some reason, she could not speak anymore. Could it be that the cream was not so innocent as it had looked? As the doctor had said?

  As she tried to talk, the doctor smiled at her. "Good, good, Miss Marin, move your jaws, so you can hold the light in your mouth more easily in a little while. We're going to do the first minute soon." He walked off, out of Lily's angle of sight.

  The young woman, strapped to the table, started to worry slightly. How could she tell this man that she could not speak? She could not move her hands nor her legs, so she had no way to write something on a note for him. As she was trying to think of something, doctor Drosselmeyer came back, holding the light in one hand and the power box in the other. He had connected the two together.

  "Now, Miss Marin, if you would be so kind to open your mouth," he asked with a polite look. "No, please keep it open, do not pretend you are a little goldfish, Miss Marin." Doctor Drosselmeyer chuckled at his joke.

  As Lily tried to force a sound from her throat, the doctor saw one moment that her mouth was open long enough and he slipped the light between her teeth. The presence of the strange object in her mouth startled her and she had to use all her self-control not to bite down on it. The rate of her heartbeat went up as she tried to calm down.

  "Now, Miss Marin, just relax," the doctor said. "We will commence the first minute of light treatment - now."

  As he said 'now', Lily heard a click. At first nothing seemed to happen. Then a faint blue light crawled over her upper lip and lit up her nose. She was so surprised by the unexpected colour that she lay still, watching it. Before she knew it, the click was there again and the light faded.

  "Wonderful!" the doctor exclaimed, "you did wonderful, Miss Marin. Now open again, so I can take the light out... very good."

  Lily sensed a strange tingling feeling in her throat. Very deep inside it. She had to cough and felt ashamed that she could not cover her mouth. So unladylike! She gladly accepted the drink of water the doctor offered her, and when she thanked him there actually was a squeak coming from her throat. So it was not all bad, her voice was coming back!

  The doctor fussed over her, made sure she was comfortable on the table she was strapped to, and checked the cream on her throat. All seemed to be fine, and he did not comment on her squeak.

  Suddenly he was there again with the light. Lily, a little more confident this time, opened her mouth voluntarily and let him put the light in. Before the click there were some rattling sounds and then the blue light appeared again. Lily wondered how her cheeks would look with all that light from the inside, when she heard a few more rattles. The light became orange and then an awkward feeling went through her whole body, something she had never before experienced.

  It was like an itch, but it wasn't precisely that. She seemed to vibrate everywhere at the same time, while her muscles seemed to stop reacting to her wishes. She was subjected to the slight jolts that they performed on their own accord, while the light glowed brighter and brighter. Its reflection now gleamed from the metal tube that came from her mouth, which had not happened during the first session. Shocked, Lily realised that she was rationally following the strange procedure while she should be terrified.

  Click.

  The orange light faded quickly. She opened her mouth without being asked and the small bulb disappeared. Lily waited, with closed eyes, until the shaking of her body would stop, which eventually happened.

  "Oh dear," said doctor Drosselmeyer. "I think we are shaken up a little, aren't we, Miss Marin?" The chuckle again.

  Only when Lily was certain all the tremors had left her, she slowly nodded. Her eyelids were heavy like the rest of her body. What a strange thing, she thought, for something that was only meant for her throat. After taking a deep breath, she tried to speak. She asked for water. It came out as if her words were being mauled by a grinding stone, but at least she could speak again. Somewhat.

  The doctor helped her drink again and checked her throat, her eyes and her pulse. "You are just fine, Miss Marin."

  "Will I be able to sing?" she asked. The doctor could not understand her words at first, she had to repeat them a few times.

  "Oh, certainly, certainly," he nodded, "the voice is a delicate instrument, and we are treating it in a way it is not used to, Miss Marin. This coarseness is a matter of time, you will see and you will hear."

  "How much time?" Lily cracked. She knew she was not very polite, but she did not want to hear the rasp that was her own voice now.

  "A few hours at the most, Miss Marin." The doctor did not seem to mind her terseness. "Are you feeling well?"

  Lily started telling him again, with considerable difficulty, about the shaking she had felt. As she spoke, a strange dizziness came over her. She rested her head back on the table, closed her eyes and hoped that the nauseating feeling would quickly pass. Alas, it did nothing of the kind. On the contrary...

  The young woman's body went rigid, all her muscles seemed to be pulled tight from somewhere. She couldn't even breathe anymore, as an invisible band around her ribs began to squeeze all air from her lungs. Lily panicked, but could not do anything about it, not even cry out for help. Balls of light started a slow and nauseating dance before her eyes as pain coursed through her very veins, pushed along by the irregular beating of her heart.

  Her body protested against the air deprivation by bringing a thundering roar to her ears which invoked even more pain. Lily desperately wished to lose consciousness, so this agony would end. Even death crossed her mind as a welcome option.

  Suddenly everything was gone. The pain, the noise, the stiff muscles. Slowly Lily raised her hand and touched her forehead. Something cold touched her cheek; she opened her eyes to see what it was and stared at a short chain, dangling from a leather strap on her wrist.

  "Doctor?" she asked, looking around in the room. The office was empty. The orange light coming in through the windows told Lily that the day was coming to an end. But the good doctor could impossibly have left her there, alone, bound to the table?

  Lily looked at her other hand. The leather strap was still on her wrist, and chained to the table. She lifted her arm and pulled. It felt strange. She pulled a little more and the chain broke with a loud snap. Confused, Lily sat up and stared at the dangling chains. Then, slowly, she undid the buckles.

  "I am probably dreaming," she told herself. "I can't break metal chains like that." In a sudden impulse Lily pulled up her knees.

  The chains on the straps that were on her ankles suffered a similar snapping fate as the ones on her wrists. After taking off these straps also, she swung her legs over the side of the table and grabbed hold. A wave of dizziness washed over her. It was so violent that she had to lay down again, waiting for the feeling to go away.

  After some time, Lily had no idea how much but the receding sunlight still came in through the window, she heard the click of a lock in a door. Carefully she turned her head, fighting against the ghastly sensation in her head. The door to the doctor's office did not open.

  "You are going mad, woman,
" she muttered to herself. Then there was another click. And again the door to the office remained shut. "See, you have clickings in your head." She hardly noticed that her voice was almost back to normal.

  Click.

  Curiously, as this one had sounded so much louder, Lily gazed at the door again. And this time it opened and the doctor came in. His eyes found her immediately.

  "Oh, Miss Marin! You are awake! How wonderful!"

  Lily wondered why he had to yell like he did. "Could you please talk in a normal voice, Doctor Drosselmeyer? You are hurting my ears." She hoped she was polite enough through her unnerving feeling.

  The doctor frowned. "I am not speaking loudly, Miss Marin," his voice boomed.

  At least this time it was not so deafening for Lily. "Thank you, sir," she said, touching her head.

  Only then it was that the doctor noticed she was not tied up anymore. "Miss Marin..." he started, pointing at the leather strap on the floor. "Can you tell me what happened?" A mixture of surprise, curiosity and fear showed on the man's face.

  Lily rubbed her wrist. "I had hoped you would be able to tell me, sir. I woke up and then I broke the chains. What has happened to me?"

  The doctor did not respond. Instead, he turned and quickly paced over to his desk where he started sifting through the stacks of papers.

  Lily waited for a while, wishing that he would not make so much noise with the