Out of the Bubble

“I’m here to see the residents,” Jenson stated, flat as if he had been asking for a bus-ticket. The receptionist started, obviously unused to visitors in this part of the facility, but nonetheless she was accommodating and saw to it that the proprietor was summoned promptly. Jenson took the momentary delay to glance around at the entrance-way, its pristine walls and polished floors. Like every swanky private hospital he’d been to, the building looked untouched, unlived in, modern and high-tech. The doors opened with a whoosh as the proprietor entered the scene, his arm already extended in a well-practiced shake. Jenson met the open hand and flashed an obligatory smile.

“Jenson Stag, I’m here for the inspection.. Five yearly, I imagine you’ve been contacted.”

“Oh absolutely,” the proprietor said, shaking firmly. A large man, his suit didn’t quite seem to fit him, and Jenson reminded himself that he likely wasn’t used to guests on his facility, his days were mostly spent dealing with the residents. “Laslow Snare, proprietor of this facility, but please, my friends call me Las.”

“Certainly Las,” Jenson noted that he really wasn’t a friend of this man, but he would follow the requested convention all the same, “so perhaps I could get a look at-…”

“Ah, the creatures, you’re here to see the creatures!” Las cut in, and Jenson furrowed his brow slightly.

“Residents”, he corrected, “Yes, if you could.”

With no further word said, the larger man lead his guest towards one of the winding corridors off the main entrance. Perhaps correcting him had been considered offensive, Jenson pondered, no doubt they had their own jargon within the facility.

The main chambers were larger than the inspector had anticipated, trailing on for hundreds of feet. The walkway that the men stood on, as white and polished as the entranceway had been, was flanked by glass windows on either side, behind which were the hundreds, literally hundreds, of flexiglass incubation bubbles. From this distance, Jenson could see only the brief outlines of the residents inside, moving idly in their tiny containments.

“There are more than I’d expected,” he admitted, to which the proprietor grinned broadly, apparently this was a subject of personal pride for him.

“Well yes, I’ve worked.. that is, we’ve all worked very hard to keep things running as is over the years, and the numbers really only demonstrate just how successful we’ve been at keeping that status quo. Things have been ticking along-“

“Yes yes,” Jenson cut in, he’d heard the marketing spiel before, albeit in a slightly wordier manner. Apparently Mr. Snare had a competent Marketing assistant for the public releases. “I’m interested to see the residents myself, actually.”

“Well, of course..” there seemed to be a moment’s pause as the proprietor considered the request, “That isn’t a problem. Might I just remind you not to touch the incubation bubbles lest you accidentally open one, that would be a catastrophe.”

Jenson simply nodded, having read the company notes he was aware of the features on a standard incubation bubble. Without any further warnings, Las lead the way into the main incubation area. It was as sterile within as the outside had been, though the air was thinner and movement space between incubation bubbles was limited. Each bubble was spaced just two foot from its neighbour. Jenson looked into the bubble, examining his first resident.

The inhabitants of the incubation bubbles were small caterpillar-like beings, tiny heads on small wriggling bodies. They lacked arms and any real means of mobility, and fed from a small tube inserted into the bottom of the bubble. The bubble itself completely enclosed the small being, a flawless seal, opened only from the outside by the security release. The bubble itself, Jenson noted, was no more than three-foot long, and slightly less wide.

“That’s not a lot of movement room,” he said aloud.

“Not a lot is required,” Las replied, “as you can see, they are not especially mobile creatures.”

“And they are comfortable in there?”

“Absolutely.” At this, Las seemed certain. “Why would they not be? Their needs are provided with absolute regulation, no single creature goes without. It's a happy existence for them, and  besides, there isn’t really an alternative.”

Jenson was surprised. He turned abruptly to look at the proprietor, his eyebrows raised, but Las was quick to explain.

“We haven’t analysed the air,” he put in, bluntly. “All the food and waters have been checked and monitored, but our equipment simply isn’t up to the task of checking thoroughly what effect the chemical components of the air will have on the creatures. Preliminary tests showed drastic and startling changes, the creatures went into a state of shock. And so we’ve ensured that each incubation bubble is kept air-tight and fed only safe and secure gases.”

Jenson looked back to the small caterpillar being, crawling ever so slowly in the smallest of circles behind the flexiglass.

“You haven’t let one out? To find out how they cope outside their bubble, after the shock?”

“Oh no,” replied the proprietor, and it was his turn to look incredulous. “Understand this, Jenson. Our breeders here care and love each of the.. residents, as if it were their own. To even consider endangering one of them is like suggesting manslaughter to them. Would you willingly destroy the lives of one of these creatures?”

“But how do you know it would destroy them to release them from their bubbles?” Jenson replied in earnest.

“How do you know it would not? Is that a risk you’re willing to take? Because we’re not. These creatures are important to us, invaluable. No no, much better to keep them in the bubbles where we know for sure that they are safe and secure. Comfortable living for everyone.”

“Comfortable, yes. Are they happy?” he spared a glance at the being, pressing itself against the glass, “They’re so confined, their lives are so limited..”

“At least they are alive.” Las put in with finality. He turned towards the exit, content that his point had been made. Jenson couldn’t help but watch the little resident for a moment longer as it crawled towards its feeding tube. That was its life, crawling and feeding and sleeping, stuck in a bubble it might not want to be in, because nobody dared find out what they could be outside of them.

It was probably this very thought that made him do it. This very idea that was the reason he hit the security release on the incubation bubble closest to their exit. Laslow tried to intervene, but he had walked too far from his guest in his hurry to move along, and before he could prevent it the flexiglass shell had slid apart.

Laslow screamed for the guards as the little caterpillar-like being began to gasp and choke, and its body convulsed in an obvious state of shock. Jenson could only look on in fascination, the proprietor yelling for the security team that had obviously not been in position to intervene. But soon Laslow was watching in fascination too, as the little caterpillar-like being, inhaling the natural air for the first time, didn’t roll over and die. The convulsions began to calm, and it didn’t struggle to live, didn’t struggle to exist outside of the bubble now parting around it. In fact, for a moment Jenson was convinced that it was gasping for the air, sucking it in hungrily. And then it’s back parted in two, right down the middle.

From the centre of the being’s spine, enormous wings sprouted, not unlike those of a butterfly. Colourful and patterned, they spread out widely, lifting the being up into the air, no longer in pain and now totally free of the captivity below. For a moment, it hovered in the air, fluttering above its entrapped brethren, before soaring off towards the exit.

“Perhaps you might consider letting them out of their bubbles?” suggested Jenson.