posted 12-12-98 06:46 AM ET        

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The lights flickered to life, taking the cell from a pitch black to a dim grey. Morning, such as it was. Laura Carter sat up on her bed. She was exhausted. Once again she'd been plagued by those dreams. It was almost more relaxing for her to be awake. How many nights had she been here? She'd lost count. And every night, those dreams. Laura stood and walked over to the door. She bent down and picked up the tray of food that was there, just as she had the day before, and the day before that. She took it back to her bed, and resigned herself to eating that flavorless mush once again. "How many days?" she thought to herself. "And how many still ahead of me?"

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Director Zale sat down at his desk with a cup of coffee. He took a sip as he brought up his schedule for the day on his touch-screen. "Excellent," he said. "Swanson." He smiled and took another sip.

Zale was referring, of course, to Katrina Swanson. Swanson was had finished her preliminary training yesterday, and today would be reporting to Zale to move on to the next phase. He opened his desk drawer and took out a small box. Inside was Swanson's badge, identifying her as part of Psych Services, Special Operations Division. Zale opened it up and grinned as he saw the octopus logo in its center. He was still impressed by it. The image was designed to be friendly and disconcerting at the same time, familiar yet alien. He had to admit that the guy who dreamed it up had done a good job. "Rorschach, eat your heart out," he pondered.

Swanson poked her head through the doorway into the office. "Director Zale? They told me I should report to you here."

"Come in, sit down. And call me Steve. You'll find we don't stand much on formality around here," Zale cheerfully replied.

"Thank you sir. Steve." Katrina smiled sheepishly, catching her own mistake. This was quite different from the classrooms she was used to. She sat down in the chair in front of the desk. It was surprisingly comfortable.

"You probably have no idea what we do here, do you?" he asked, as he slid the box across his desk. "Go ahead, put it on."

Katrina picked up the badge and stared at it for a moment. Then she pinned it onto her plain grey jacket. "No, sir, I don't" she answered. "They didn't really tell me anything."

"Well, they told me a lot about you. They say that you're in the top percentile in logic and biology, and you have a strong aptitude for psychology. Given that, I'd say you probably have some idea what we do here, even if they didn't tell you explicitly."

"Well sir, I suspect that this is where you rehabilitate the� you know� problem cases."

"Yes," smiled Zale. "Among other things. And remember, it's Steve. Follow me." Zale stood up and led Katrina out of the office.

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Laura was dreaming again. She was standing on one side of a plate glass window, and she could see her boss, Chuck Cadence talking to Gary Steiner, director of Morgan Security Services.

"Come on Gary, let me organize a rescue operation. She's one of my best agents."
"Best agents? Please. You wouldn't have sent her in if you didn't think she was expendable. You just want to play one of your little spy games. I think you've been watching too many vids."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. In a way, I guess it's good that she's not coming back. I was supposed to give her hazard pay for this one," Cadence said with a cold grin.
"Damn, and I thought I was harsh!" Steiner chuckled.

"I'm right here!" screamed Laura, as she pounded on the glass. "I'm right here!" She dropped to her knees, sobbing. "I'm right here."

The lights flickered on. Morning again.

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Zale led Katrina down a corridor, explaining things as they went. "Now, Katrina, you'll find that this job is as much an art as it is a science. You've got to be able to use different techniques in combination for maximum effect, just like an artist would use different colors. With your background in biology, you might be tempted to resort to pharmaceuticals too quickly. That can be a big mistake. Indiscriminate use of chemicals can leave you with nothing but a vegetable, and that's not what we're after here. Don't forget the old standbys, like just talking to them, and understanding their problems from their perspective. A lot of you young people always want to rush in with the latest gizmo or new idea, but sometimes the old ideas are the best ideas�"

Katrina followed him, trying to absorb as much of what he was saying as possible.

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Again, Laura was troubled by her dreams. She was at the window again. This time she could see her boyfriend behind it. He was with Karen Jordan, from apartment 6B.

"Now that Laura's out of the picture, I guess you'll be able to spend a lot more time with me, eh Johnny?" She moved in close and he put his arms around her.
"That's right, baby."
"What did you ever see in that tramp anyway?"
"I does seem kind of stupid, since you were right here for me the whole time." He pulled her closer.

The lights flickered on again. "Night after night," thought Laura. "Night after night. I don't know how much longer I can take this." She was on the verge of tears. Laura went over to get the food that was left by the door while she was sleeping.

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"Now this is an interesting case," Zale explained as they walked into the oversight room for treatment center ZK-32. "What we have here is a captured Morgan spy."

"A spy?" gasped Katrina. "What are you doing to him?"

"Her," corrected Zale. "What are we doing FOR her," he added with an impish grin. "This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about in the hallway. You see, we've dug into this spy's past a little bit, and we've learned quite a bit about her. Both of her parents were killed in a construction accident when she was a small child. They were vacationing in an unfamiliar city at the time, and she was left completely alone, without any familiar faces to comfort her. This has developed into a complex fear of abandonment in her adult personality, which we're attempting to exploit. The first step was to isolate her from human contact for an extended period. Normally that would take quite a while, but we're trying out a new technique. First, we removed all time references by putting her in a windowless room. Then, we introduced an artificial day-night cycle by turning on and shutting off the lights periodically. We've been gradually shortening that period over time, so now her "day" is only three hours long. We've treated her food so that it actually stimulates her appetite instead of satiating it, and there are very few nutrients that her body can actually absorb, so she's always hungry when she gets up in the "morning". It appears to be quite convincing to her. She's only been in there a little over a week, but it's been like months to her."

"Impressive" commented Katrina.

"Yes. Now, once she had been isolated a bit, her mind started to wander, and began fixating on her fear of abandonment. We've been nursing that along by playing voice simulations of various people who are close to her, friends and coworkers and such, in a variety of negative scenarios. For example, we've virtually convinced her that her boyfriend is seeing another woman."

"That seems sort of cruel," ventured Katrina.

"Yes, but it gets the job done. Ironically, her boyfriend really IS cheating on her, she just didn't know it. We actually think that she's very close to the breaking point. She won't be able to stand the solitude much longer."

"And then she'll be willing to join us?"

"Naturally. She's seen what the Human Hive is all about. One thing you'll never be here is alone. That's exactly the sort of support mechanism she'll need. Once she's reached out to us in that respect, she'll be much more willing to accept the rest of the Hive's philosophy."

"Sensible."

"Eminently. Let's observe."

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Chuck Cadence turned on his viewscreen. His favorite vid was coming on, and he had a big bowl of popcorn all ready for it. A commercial came up. An attractive young woman in a red jumpsuit standing next to some sort of industrial machinery was in the middle of the screen.

"What the hell?" he shouted. "What's Carter doing there? I thought she was dead!"

Laura smiled and started talking. "Are you tired of working all day, just to make somebody else rich? Are you tired of scrimping and saving to do the best for your kids, only to know that you'll never have enough? Are you ready to escape a world of petty interpersonal politics to go somewhere where you can actually accomplish something? Are you ready to be a part of a community where cooperation and mutual respect are a way of life? If so, then you should join me, in the Human Hive. The Hive knows that you can make a valuable contribution to our society. Why don't you come see if the Hive is right for you?" A group of jumpsuited people walked in from either side of the camera. "Join the Hive!" they shouted in unison, with big smiles on their faces.

Cadence's jaw dropped open in disbelief. This was unacceptable. Entirely unacceptable.

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"Zale, this is Gordon over in Intelligence. You were right. After seeing that video-spot, their morale is through the floor! This is one of the best jobs you've ever done. Keep up the good work!"

posted 12-13-98 07:18 AM ET            

I liked your story, people don't tend to write comments very often on stories even if they are reading them so don't get discouraged because people don't seem to be responding. We are reading!