The minutes ballooned out until they seemed like hours, the clock only ever ticking slowly downward, never really approaching zero. His breath hitched in his throat, the wetness of his mouth unbearable, an unsolvable problem no matter how desperately he swallowed.
Clutching the cold, speckled grey marble of the counter until his knuckles were bone white, he could feel his heartbeat, throbbing in his temples. "Just... one more minute." He breathed, the anxious rhythm his leg had decided to pick up shaking his hip and causing an uncomfortable jiggle in his already knotted stomach.
Forcing his foot down, he closed his eyes as though that would make the journey shorter. Instead, the void only brought with it a greater sense of mystery and a disconnection from the world around him. He imagined he might be long adrift. Weeks spent tossed by an endless ocean. The shrillness of the alarm was a welcome surprise, the piercing shriek repeatedly calling him to long anticipated action.
Flinging open the door and thrusting his hands into the aperture, he could feel the searing heat of the supposedly safe ceramic support disc. His fingerprints were etching themselves into the smooth surface as he forced himself to grit his teeth through the pain, groaning as he extracted the sample and bodily leaped to deposit it on the marble slab, hoping that it would not shatter from the thermal load. Taking a moment to press his hands firmly into the coolness of the stone, he breathed deeply, keeping his face well away from the scorching aura radiating from the practically glowing rectangle before him.
As the pain in his fingers eased somewhat, he prepared a new timer, setting the requisite tempering time to allow an equalization of the molten contents. Returning to the irradiation chamber, he carefully closed the door, restoring the seal in the stainless steel mesh that prevented dangerous leaks.
Turning his attention to the sample, he watched the timer tick out before raising it into the air, holding the still searingly hot parcel with a pair of tongs and examining it before the bare light bulb above.
Shakily, uncertainly, he lowered his hand, bringing the steaming edge ever closer to his trembling, parting lips.
He could feel the scalding exterior before it even touched his mouth, the edges burning into the corners of his lips, his tongue flattening to avoid making contact. His teeth felt like they might shatter, sinking into the deceptively frangible material. Magma sloshed into his cheeks like injecting a syringe of pain.
His teeth stopped suddenly, and a bitter cold filled his mouth, and his heart. He felt a different kind of tear welling up in his eyes as he fell to the floor, still clutching the hot pocket.
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