Act One: The Laboratory - Clone

Feel the fluid building,

Feel it hum beneath my eyes,

Feel it drip and rest beneath the cradle of my brain,

Feel my fingers twitching,

Feel the static in my toes.

Blackness changes to light.

I now have eyes.

Lightness turns to colors,

Filling space between shapes and lines,

Blurry spots are fading in and out.

I don’t know why.

Find the straps that hold me,

Pull the wires from my skin.

Sit up and turn.

It’s time I learned.

Take a breath.

I can go anywhere!

Over here!

Over there!

By the door!

Down the stairs!

I’m light as a feather.

Endless blinking lights and doors and walls.

Going on

And on

And on

And on.

Rows of locks all paired with silver handles.

I wonder what’s beyond this hall.

Walking underneath fluorescent sky,

Hand to handle, turn and open wide,

Step inside,

And now I see a sing light’s allur

For thumb against the switch.

There’s something wrong.

What have I done?

The room is waking up.

The hum is swelling.

Oh, the metal arms move on their own.

I don’t know why,

But I feel something’s wrong.

Do they mean me harm,

Or do they have an agenda of their own?

Am I overreacting?

Rows of people just like me,

Afloat in tubes of glass.

All their faces fixed on me.

I am them.

They are me.

Then one moves its hand and mouths,

«Please save us.

Please save me.»

Why are they all smiling?