Pa'an

Sara drove happily to work in her new Ford, not the two hundred sixty horsepower car but a practical and efficient electric. Instead of the back door, she trotted through the front door looking to show off her new car to Elexi. However, the elderly woman in the outer office was unfamiliar.

“Where’s Elexi?”

“Elexi is on vacation, I’m told. I’m a temp. Please call me Margie.” The woman said. She was stout, pleasant and wore her long hair tied up in a bun with a pencil through it. Sara thought she was the perfect stereotype of a temp. All she needed was a stack of file folders and a cup of coffee.

“Elexi is out? I had no idea. For how long? Where did she go?” Sara was disappointed and a bit put out. Why didn’t Elexi tell her she was going on vacation?

“You must be Sara, from the lab. I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that. I’m sure Mr. Kunstler knows, but he is out of the office. Is there anything I can help with?”

“No, no, it’s OK. I just… I’ll come back later.” Sara wandered out in a bit of a daze. Elexi had no relatives to take sick on short notice. She had nowhere to go that Sara knew of. Sara wondered what got into her to take off so suddenly.

*****

They had taken all her clothes.

Elexi huddled naked in a square of the floor. She had no idea where she was or how she got there.

The square was covered by a fine metal mesh. It was red. The color seemed to come from underneath. Everything seemed somewhat unreal, as if she were drugged. The room was vast, the opposite wall some distance away. Perspectives seem to shift in and out. There were tiny windows high off the floor along one wall. It was chilly, and she hugged herself for warmth. The entire floor was covered in colored squares. Each was roughly two feet by two feet. The one she huddled on was the only red square.

A cultured baritone voice boomed out of invisible speakers, “You are in the Room of Colors at the pleasure of the master. You must please the master.”

The voice boomed again out of nowhere, “The master prefers green.” Green squares illuminated here and there across the floor. The red square gave her an electric shock. Elexi jumped, but she was not going to move just because of a voice. The red square gave her another shock, this one much more severe. She stood up, trying to get as much bare skin off the square as possible, but a third shock made her tremble and scream in agony. The voice boomed again, “The master prefers green.”

Elexi ran to the nearest green square. There she rested for a few precious seconds. The directionless voice boomed again, “The master prefers green.” She looked down, horrified to see that the square she squatted on was now red. She simply stared until the first shock came. She didn’t wait for the second shock.

Thereafter she was very careful to watch for changing colors and very quick to find the nearest green square. The whole thing seemed stupid, demeaning and purposeless. She simply watched for green squares and moved there.

But it went on forever. Finally the voice came on again. “The master is not pleased. The master now prefers yellow.”

There were very few yellow squares. Now every square gave her some kind of a shock, except yellow squares. She had to run from yellow square to yellow square and endure at least some shocks getting to the yellow squares that changed constantly and become fewer and fewer. After many, many hours she was too exhausted to move and the only yellow square was the one she sat on. She yelled back at the voice, “I don’t care any more. I don’t care any more.” But the yellow square turned red and she wound up following a series of yellow squares leading into a corner.

The voice boomed, “The master is pleased. You may eat.”

The final yellow square contained a bowl of soup, no utensils. She ate it but it was not nearly enough.

The voice boomed, “The master prefers blue.” The sequences started all over again.

In an observation port high above the floor, an old man in a wheel chair addressed the operator of the chamber, who was ensconsed behind a control panel. The conversation was in French.

“We want her compliant but not impaired. How many days?”

“Five days, Mentor, plus or minus one day.”

“How many did you give to Kat, that girl you sent over?”

“We got her when she was younger, and no one mentioned impairment. Five days, twice.”

“Will she remember this?”

“No, Mentor, the deep conditioning drug will be renewed in her food until we administer the antidote, and then she will not remember the experience. But she will remember the trigger phrase. They all do.”

“Very well, then. See that she is returned to Boston intact.” Mentor motioned to a tall dark-skinned man by the door. Ogu came and wheeled him away.

*****

Sara stood in the entrance foyer as Elexi took off her raincoat and hung it on the coat stand. “Awfully good to have you back. Boy, nothing gets done around here without you. How was your vacation?”

“It was OK.” Elexi responded, deadpan.

“Where did you go, girl?”

“To the countryside.” More deadpan.

Sara leaned closer and whispered, “Are you alright, Elexi?”

Elexi startled, looked up and backed away, “Sure, sure. I’m just fine.” She entered the outer office and closed the door. Sara walked away, shaking her head. “Something is wrong with her.”