Rebirth(s)

A red light flashed as Marston pressed the button? The door didn't open. Marston pressed the button again.

A red light flashed on the keypad once more. Marston scratched his head.

"Well, that's weird..." Marston then entered in his seven-digit code 8976568, and to his dismay, the red light flashed again. So a missile had probably destroyed the Blast Door System? Marston was trying to stay positive, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

He entered the code once more 8976568. Once again, the red light flashed. His sweating increased as did his dizziness.

He frantically pounded on the Blast Door, which made a dull thud as Marston's naked fist's repeatedly clashed against them.

Marston was now panting like a wild beast, and tears began to form in the corner of his eyes. This day was hands down, the worst of his life. Once his hands and arms broke, he clumsily tapped in numbers on the keypad. They ached, but it was nothing compared to being cloned.

He held back his tears, shook his head, and tried to think of the possible outcomes here. Was he going to starve to death? If no one came for him, the answer was no; he would surely dehydrate first! And then he would be cloned again. It would be a hideous and tormenting cycle.

No, anything but that! An idea formed, Marston knew he had to destroy this hellish contraption. He would NOT endure this again, not if he had any say in the matter. Death would be his choice.

Marston raised his foot into the air and stomped down on the Cloning Bays Floor base with his heel. Pain shot up his leg, but he stomped like a mad man. He repeatedly stomped the bottom until both his feet and legs broke.

Zero progress. The only thing different about the cloning bay was Marston's blood, sweat, and tears painting it.

Marston decided to take a break and laid down on the still-warm metal base. His arms, legs, feet, and hands all throbbed in excruciating pain, but he didn't care.

"Shit, maybe someone will find me." Marston was trying to convince himself, but he knew deep down no one was going to come for him. He couldn't lie to himself. His tears started to gather in the corners of his eyes again. He blubbered and cried himself to sleep.

Marston laid on the floor for a solid twelve hours before waking up. Momentarily he had forgotten the awful situation he was in right now. He figured he would try the codes again while all of his fears returned.

8976568... Redlight, 8976568... Redlight, 8976568... Redlight, he continued doing this for a while and was beginning to gasp for air?

"Oh no, don't tell me the Oxygen AND Doors are both broken." Marston prayed to God that this was not the case. His panic intensified. He curled up again and wept on the floor strands of snot gushed from his nose, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He tried to breathe less and think of a way to destroy this Cloning Bay, but no ideas came to him, and slowly over the next hour, the air became harder to breathe until all the oxygen was gone.

He frantically struggled and clutched his neck. And before he stopped twitching, he had a thought.

Maybe the cloning machine can't work without oxygen! Marston emitted his final pained gurgle before he died another horrible death.

Phase 1 initiating...

Everything was black again! This time Marston's memories returned much faster than before. His despair grew. He would experience the pure hell of the Cloning Bay once more. Would he spend the rest of his life in absolute agony and fear? Marston screamed within his mind.

"NOOOOO I CAN'T TAKE THIS PLEASE!" he was so panicked that if he had a body right now, he probably would have had a heart attack.

This scenario was too cruel. Marston began to envy his dead crew members.

Phase 2 initiating...

Marston loathed his stupidity in the purchase of this fucking machine. He had just repeated his irresponsible behavior of buying what he thought was technologically impressive instead of what was dull and far more functional. He had done the same thing when he bought that Omni Laser 3 before.

HE DIDN'T THINK IT THROUGH.

Marston experienced all the same horrific pain, except he knew it would be a potentially endless loop of anguish. He cursed the machine as it re-created him. He would have sworn it was two days of torture and suffering.

Phase 3 initiating...

If he had bought the Drone Bay equipped with "Repair Drones," they would have fixed the Doors, Oxygen, and Sensors. If he had Bought the Omni Laser 2, he would also possibly have avoided destruction in the first place.

Marston once again fell to the floor and tried to breathe. But no air was there for him to breathe. As he fruitlessly gasped, he stomped upon the seemingly indestructible "Cloning Bay." When he saw that was going nowhere, he tried the keypad several times frantically, before dying a third time.

Marston kept dying over and over again. He lost count of how many "Phase 2's" he'd experienced. The corpses covered the entire floor now and were starting to pile up.

Just as Marston suffocated for the hundredth time, his vision went black the same as the other ninety-nine times. His corpse laid on the mountain of other bodies.

This time would be different. There was a glimmer of hope.

Marston awoke fully clothed, sitting on a chair in a dark room. Across from him sat a beautiful red-haired woman in a green cloak.

Marston looked at his hands and then back up to the woman and said

"Is this a dre..." Marston stopped himself from finishing his question; if this were a dream, he would wake up. Had he been dreaming? His excitement grew.

"Welcome, Marston. That was no dream, and neither is this." She smiled warmly towards him.