Mourning This Morning

You can never really tell if your mark is teetering on that edge between melting and stiff.

“It’s just a guessing game. I can give you a rough estimate, but it’s different every time.”

The vague advice had frustrated Akenu from the first time his best friend Dahrick, who also happened to be the Yoke of their Division, had shared it.

“Most of them will be ready for you somewhere within the 3-4 minute range, but you have to watch carefully…. Some of them tighten up a lot sooner than others.”

“A guessing game….” Akenu whispered to himself as his timer ticked past 3:00:00.

Dahrick’s words rolled around in his mind as he loomed over the boiling, steam-filled chamber that he’d slid the pair into just over three minutes ago.

“It’s more of a feel Ken….. There’s only one way to get good at something like this. Do it over and over again until you don’t even have to think about it.”

Akenu checked his timer.

3:04:96

He hadn’t gotten good enough at something like this to not think about it yet.

Dahrick had proven to be extremely skilled at the task, and Akenu had been hoping he would have some magical number of seconds to count out so that he’d know the EXACT moment to remove his twins from the chamber. Something that would take away the responsibility for having to stare down at them while they cooked right in front of his eyes.

3:09:41

Steam was screaming out of the top of the chamber into Akenu’s face. “The steam always has that faint tinge of.... stink to it,” he thought. His eyes squinted, and his nose scrunched a little in response to the sea of vapour.

In the winter, when it was freezing outside and as dry as the desert indoors, he actually appreciated the heat and moisture the steam would provide. However, it was a cloudless summer morning, and the sun had already raised the temperature outside of their Division headquarters to sweat-inducing levels. Condensation ran down the slightly convex, glass dome of the chamber in all directions. Akenu hovered above it like a giant, ravenous villain in some deranged fairy tale.

3:13:13

Was it time?

Akenu’s mind raced.

These ones might be ready. They might not be able to hold out as long as yesterday’s.

He went back and forth, second-guessing his timer, as well as his feelings, and debating whether he should raise the dome to prod them for a moment.

Just for a few seconds....

He had started bargaining with himself again. Something he'd been guilty of doing dozens of times before.

..... Just to see if they’ve had enough.

3:15:09

The anxiety of watching the mutation unfold toyed with him at every instant. Akenu feared that raising the dome, even for a few seconds, would impact the time it took them to “complete their metamorphosis,” as Dahrick put it, but he wanted desperately to stop the boil and be done with it.

It was hot enough today anyways.

And Akenu was impatient.

3:21:19

“THAT’S IT!” Akenu told himself.

He threw open the dome and used the Division’s mechanical ladel, which dwarfed the two specimens in the searing liquid, in order to manipulate them and investigate their condition.

Neither showed signs of stiffening. Yet.

But Akenu didn’t think they were ready either.

The timer, which he’d forgotten to keep an eye on in his desperation and desire to end this session, shouted a silent, digital warning at him.

3:29:08

“I’ve had this thing open for almost 10 seconds!”

Akenu chastised himself inside his own head.

He quickly pulled the mechanical ladel from the broth, slammed the dome, and cranked the heat even higher to compensate for his sluggish investigation.

He admonished himself again for not being able to just trust the process.

“You do this ALL the time! Dahrick TOLD you. 3-4 minutes. Usually closer to FOUR! Where is your patience…..”

3:35:16

He stared down at the dome, waiting for the steam to build again. He knew that the most essential part of this whole process was ensuring that the heat remained INSIDE of the dome. Opening it only prolonged the process…. And it almost ensured that he wouldn’t have “cooked” these two properly.

Oh sure, ruining another set was fine if it was just him, but Akenu wanted to advance his abilities to a level where he could do this for the entire Division.

He wanted to be valuable in more ways than just the one he had been chosen for initially.

3:42:66

The dome had been open for almost 10 full seconds. Did that mean he needed to add time to make sure they were ready?

What if they were ready now?

What if they were weak, and stiffened sooner than others?

These thoughts raced through Akenu’s head, but before he could make another choice…. or another mistake, an 'incoming call warning' on the floor’s communication console began to blare.

“WHO could that be RIGHT now???”

Akenu was irritated by the interruption, especially at such a crucial moment, and because, being the only Division personnel on the floor, he had no choice but to answer it.

3:46:23

He took one last glance down through the dome at his batch, then raced the few steps over to the console, smashed the ‘OPEN CALL’ button and leapt back towards his work station.

“Ken! You ready for duty? I know it’s going to be a long one today so make su—“

“Dahrick? Of COURSE I’m ready….. Ugh, HANG ON A SECOND!!!!”

Akenu arrived back at his station and immediately pulled the dome from the chamber, fearing the worst.

3:51:91

He was pulling them, but they would either be way too stiff, or not even close to ready.

“Man, you sound like you’re in a firefight over there…. I’ll hate to see what you’re like in the mech today! All I was going to say was to make sure you get a good meal in before we head out. We’ll have some supply drops scheduled for us, but a 48-hour perimeter shift is a hell of a beast. Oh, don’t forget to bring some extra stims with you too…….”

Silence.

Akenu had pulled the pair from the torturous, bubbling sea he had watched them writhe and twist in for almost four minutes, but it was too late.

3:55:99

“Ken? You there?”

Akenu sighed, “Yes D. Just making breakfast.”

“Oh man! Poaching still? Did you nail it today?”

“Not quite.”

“Ah well, there’s a thousand other mornings to get it right. Just throw some salt and pepper on them and eat them like you hard-boiled them on purpose! I told you….. it takes a lot of practice.”

Akenu just stared down at his plate.

An assortment of steamed vegetables, some handmade sourdough bread, which was toasted to perfection, and two sad eggs…. Split open, but spilling zero yolk anywhere.

“What a waste….” He puffed aloud to himself.

“I’ll see you in an hour or so D.”

“Yea, see you in the yard Ken.”

The console closed the call automatically.

Akenu stood in the kitchen of their Division HQ eating his poach-boiled eggs, lamenting another anxiety-riddled culinary experiment that had all been for nothing.