A long time passed, during which the room got darker. He tried to control his mind, with panic at the edges. He almost missed the change: near his feet a rectangle frame appeared in the wall, and a door moved inward. From the near darkness of the uncovered space emerged a circular body, held upright on four arms and hands and topped with two cockroach-style antennae and two extra hands holding a small plate. The hands lowered and then let drop the plate. The apparition retreated and the door closed. Some kind of giant bug had just brought him a meal.
The young man had plenty of time to contemplate this, even after he slept again. The room was getting brighter again, a circadian cycle. The plate contained something shimmery like slime, perhaps food, or rather his mind’s twisted reconstruction of hospital food, while the bug had to be a hospital aide. Did that mean he was up and about, able to chew, just encapsulated in insanity? Or was he gravity-welled on a bed, in a hospital that his comatose mind was unable to perceive? The answer to this question had many implications, but the issue was at the moment undecidable. For a long time he debated whether to take the bait –the slimy goo – but in the end, he decided he had to.
He realized that brute force was not going to get his head where he needed it, so he tested his limbs for their positioning and purchase against the floor. Grease from his body made things more difficult. Eventually, he mastered a shallow roll of his head together with a wave movement of his body. After innumerable repetitions he had half turned himself toward the plate. He stretched his lower left arm out and with some rolls and reps he felt the plate between his fingers. It felt like plastic but was as heavy as lead. He got close enough to use his thumb and pulled the plate a little toward him.