Read Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories for Free Online Page A

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