The Birth of Love

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The year is 1865 and Ignaz Semmelweis is dragged along the corridor though he struggles violently, kicks and shouts.

At one point he forces himself out of their arms and starts to run.

Then they seize him again, and this time they beat him, so hard he thinks they might kill him.

There is a foot stamping on him from above.

He is choking on blood.

The Vienna General Hospital will vouch for me, he is try ing to tell them. I have many powerful friends in Vienna, but then he remembers no one will vouch for him.

He is alone and they have tied his arms. They throw him into a room. A room stinking of human fear and sweat and dung, with a man somewhere crying, I am the Christ. I am the Christ.

The year is 2153 and Prisoner 730004 is forced into a cell. She wonders if everyone else has been captured. Or if they are dead already. ‘This is for your own protection,’ says a guard, as he thumps her in the spine, so she falls to the ground. Then he locks the door against her, though she runs to the grille and begs him to release her. She hears his footsteps fading away.

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