Clouds. They bloomed within the dark heating chamber. Tiny bits of lightning were cutting their swirling pathways into the dense liquid within, carving a miniature road map into the fluid before disappearing like mayflies. Laboratory white, sterilised ceramic walls kept the heat trapped inside at a near perfect temperature of 78 centigrade. All that remained now was to solidify the liquid and fully pressurise the sphere, massively inflating the bubbles left behind until visible. The experiment would end with a single photograph. One flash of light would create a beautiful atlas of greyscale in three dimensions, a strange charcoal sketch of a magical, invisible world.
That didn't happen.
Instead, Ms. Molly Schäfer took the soggy teabag out
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One-sixth, she thought. One of the smaller organs. Perhaps she could spare a kidney. Maybe she could donate one-third of herself to feeling gracious, if she absolutely pushed herself to find reasons to leave her village.
Rationalisation set in. She would happily go anywhere, she thought to herself, that didn't involve endless rows of unpleasantly swollen root vegetables, hyperactive children, and badly cling-filmed milk jugs that spent all day curdling up a surface of yogurt quicksand to trap a few unmourned craneflies. Somewhere that didn't lack for art galleries, buses, parties, skyscrapers, and gatherings of three or more people. It was not as if she had a choice, really, come Monday. The council had seen to that.
A scratched, white leather suitcase with a brass combination lock bulged with her belongings at the end of her tough, high-backed boots, old but polished well enough to reflect away a laser. She fiddled with the back strap of her leaf-green apron. The damned thing was a pain to get off. Molly's inner monologue became unprintable for a few moments. Eventually, she got the brass case clip harness onto the back of her thick winter coat.
She pushed her stainless steel spoon to one side. She'd carry the tray inside tomorrow morning. Her cup was empty. She looked at her watch, then the