Alice shook off the guard’s uniform. She kicked away her boots, and fought the waves of blackness that crested over her. Then, using her one good arm, pulled herself into the scanner’s ceramic interior. The end doors irised shut; smoke evacuated through a small vent. Her labored breathing was loud in the capsule, its thick walls deadening the maelstrom outside. Blood pooled beneath her as the machine hummed, a low pitch that rose. Vibrations next, a deep thunking far below and away. More clunks.