:;Red Queen advance 1, A1b1!

The mad scientist came awake the usual way, slowly. This time between dreaming and waking, outside of the mindless tedium of drudgery and the crystal-sharp focus of the madness place, was special. It was pleasant. It was sacred.

She was cold. It was a cold that started in the pit of her stomach and snaked through her bones, numbing her extremities. The blankets were uselessly twisted around her limbs. She lay awkwardly on her arm.

She struggled weakly against the crippling entanglements. She had no feeling in her hands, and her fingers curled near uselessly. As she thrashed and tore, panic overtook her. Sharp tingling pinpricks raced down her limbs with what little progress she made. She landed on the floor with a tumble and crawled away, finally free of the sheets .

It took a moment with her back to the wall, her heart pounding, and feeling just returning to her limbs before she was able to form any rational thoughts. She went into analytical mode. She remembered looking at the enemy. She remembered those purple eyes. She recognized it from the books as a gaze attack. The thought put a blackness in her heart.

The effects followed all the way to the other world mused the voice. [The enemy] must be a terrible and powerful monster indeed. Then, more darkly, What the hell would have happened if [we] had failed the save?

That coldness did not go completely away until she had taken a long, hot shower.

A shower and a hot cup of tea, actually, before the chill faded completely. It remained murky even after she added the everclear, but that was a mystery for another day. It warmed her up and helped, so she had a second. The everclear didn’t clarify that one either. She moved on to breaking her fast.

Soon, she had situated herself in front of the far viewer. She had a selection of tomes to research, a brick each of cheese and crackers to snack on, and a fresh cup of tea. A quick experiment this time showed that the tea was able to dye the everclear if added first. Damn, that was good. It had a depth and complexity of flavors far beyond the ramen and other things she remembered eating. Her fourth glass was difficult to pour, and she remembered wondering why. She didn’t remember much after that.

She woke up on the couch. Her head ached, and her body didn’t quite want to respond. More importantly, she hadn’t been to the other world. She worried that maybe she had been locked out of that other place. She stumbled into the shower.

When she got out of the shower, the light still streaming through the window gave proof that it was not yet time for sleep. This calmed her. Maybe there’s some other explanation, came the assurance. [We] should continue the work.

She took the time to re-clear the house, excluding the lab, before sitting down to research. She just wasn’t ready to go back in there. As long as she didn’t, she could ignore those instructions she had found on first waking. She studied far past the time the crickets came out before succumbing to sleep again.