Title of Story

The first thing Emma thought upon entering Conditioning Hall 3 was: God, it's bright in here.

The walls were so white that bleach would have stained them; the linoleum floors displayed no trace of anyone ever having walked there.  Emma instinctively raised her hand to her eyes to protect them from the bright light of the fluorescent lamps overhead, and although every surface in the hall was about as reflective as scientifically possible, not one of the nine visitors strolling down the hall cast any sort of shadow.

Emma shivered, and then realized how cold it was.  It felt like a robot production facility.  But then again, wasn't that what Conditioning was?

Dr. Kasikova set the pace at the front of the group; he was the Chief Supervisor of Conditioning, and to receive a tour from him was the top goal of most of the Psych scientists of the day.  The scientists following him were still buzzing about his appearance thirty minutes into the tour, and Emma crossed her arms, hoping violently that Dr. Kasikova hadn't shown up just because she was going to be there.  She already felt like the black sheep of the group; seven scientists with white lab coats and clipboards surrounded her, viciously taking notes on everything that left Kasikova's mouth.  And Emma was just Emma, wearing her absolute nicest suit (which still didn't involve a white lab coat) and not taking notes on everything Kasikova said, more repulsed than interested by what she had witnessed during the tour.  She didn't need her connection to Kasikova to be made public.

"Halls 1 and 2 are used for lower-level experiments, and Hall 3 is for the big boys," Dr. Kasikova was saying, and Emma looked up.  "Hall 3 is where all the big breakthroughs happen.  For example – oh, yes, here comes Lila.  Everyone, say hi to Lila."

There was a chorus of Hi, Lila's and Emma was very surprised to see a tall, skinny girl whom she hadn't even seen approach standing next to Kasikova.  Kasikova put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Lila, this is… everybody."  He chuckled to himself.

"Hi, everybody," Lila said, and smiled.  Her voice was very high, and her light brown eyes were enormous, larger than anyone's Emma had ever seen.  She felt rude staring, but she couldn't take her eyes off the eerie girl.  There was something not quite right about her smile…

"As you can see," Kasikova continued, "Lila displays the characteristically large eyes of those who have undergone Conditioning, but other than that she is in perfect physical condition."

As Emma stood staring at the Conditioned girl, Lila slowly turned her gaze towards Emma and locked eyes with her.  Emma quickly looked at the floor, but when she looked back up, Lila was still watching her closely.

"Now."  Kasikova lowered his voice, like he was about to reveal some ancient secret.  "Lila is considered to be one of our greatest triumphs with Conditioning.  With much time and effort, Lila has been Conditioned to not feel pain."

Whispers spread like wildfire through the small crowd.  Emma felt goosebumps pop up on her arms and cursed herself for being perpetually chilly.

One of the scientists near the front of the crowd raised her hand, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, and without waiting for acknowledgement from Kasikova said, "Would this be physical pain or emotional pain?"

"Emotional," Lila said, her high voice piercing right through the crowd.  "Physical pain is much harder to overcome; it takes months of hypnotism before the Conditioning can even begin."  She cocked her head to the side and smiled again.  "We're taking baby steps for now."

The scientists began to buzz again.  Emma was annoyed at their enthusiasm.  A few of them scurried up to the front to ask Lila questions, and Emma observed with digust.

"Does the Conditioning hurt?"

"No, but then again every experiment is different.  My pain tolerance has already been increased tenfold, so I may be feeling less pain than others during the Conditioning."

"Are the doctors nice?"

"The doctors are very nice; they give us everything we need."

Lila smiled after every answer she gave, that same chilling smile that threw Emma off-balance.  When she had answered a question, she slowly pivoted to face the next asker, her eyes meeting Emma's at every pass.  Emma swallowed and willed herself to not be afraid of a sixteen-year-old girl that had been experimented on.

"You must be very proud of the work you do."

Lila smiled.  "It's very hard work, and I work very hard at it."

Emma began to feel nauseous.  Lila's smile was polite, but lacked warmth.  And the way she moved was perfect, too perfect, almost like she was a predator stalking her prey.  Teenage girls should not be this way.  Suddenly the room felt very hot.

"Let's move on," Kasikova said.  Emma, breathing heavily, quickly told the scientist next to her, "I'm going to step out for a minute," and dizzily speed-walked back through Conditioning Hall 3 until she reached Conditioning Corridor A, where she leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and tried to breathe slowly to keep herself from throwing up.  She prayed nobody would walk in and find her like this.  Unfortunately, after just 90 seconds of alone time, she felt a hand on her shoulder.  She jumped and felt her stomach lurch along with her.

"So," Dr. Kasikova said.  "What did you think?"

Emma, nearly a foot and a half shorter than Kasikova in heels, looked up into his shockingly blue eyes and managed to spit out, "What are you doing here?"

Kasikova smiled easily.  "Following you, of course."

"No, Jack.  I mean here.  With these kids.  You're destroying them."

Kasikova held up his hands in a defensive gesture.  "Hey," he said.  "These kids knew exactly what they were getting into when they signed on for the Project."  He leaned in dangerously close to Emma.  "They wanted it."  He stood back up straight and tugged at the bottom of his suit jacket.  "That Lila, you don't know what she's been through.  This is better for her."

"Not if you're making them into robots," Emma said.  "Can they still feel?  Can they remember?"

"Lila can remember everything that happened to her before she came here," Kasikova said, without a hint of emotion in his voice.  "She just isn't impacted by it."

"Then it's not a memory," Emma said.

Kasikova sighed.  "Look," he said.  "These kids.  They come from awful places, orphanages, families torn apart by divorce, alcoholism, abuse.  They come here, sign a few papers, and suddenly they're under our care.  We give them food.  We give them water.  We give them shelter and clothing and hot showers and companionship.  Everything that wasn't certain in their past is now guaranteed in their present.  I don't think you could ask for a better deal than that."  He put a hand on Emma's shoulder.  "Am I right?"

Emma shrugged his hand off.  "It's still wrong."

Kasikova leaned in again, so close that their noses were nearly touching.  His eyes were angry.  "That's not for you to decide."  Then suddenly, he smiled and straightened up.  "And don't even think about reporting me to the Director.  He and I are on good terms, and he supports everything I do here."

Emma's mouth opened in shock; she had just been thinking about calling up the Director when Kasikova mentioned it.  She stared helplessly into Kasikova's eyes, sending him messages in her head: Have you been Conditioned too, Jack?  Conditioned to read minds?  Suddenly, Kasikova's blue eyes looked very, very big.

"I know you, Emma," Kasikova said.  "You're a fighter.  But I'm asking you to not fight me on this."  He spread his hands open.  "This is the new world.  If you can't beat it, join it."  Now, he held his hand out to Emma.  "Are you going to join it?"

Emma looked at his hand, then back up at his face, with the same robotic smile that she had seen on Lila.  She turned and walked as fast as she could on little legs towards the front of Conditioning Corridor A.  She had to get out, fast.

"You'll regret this, Emma," Kasikova said.  "We could have done so many great things together.  Like we used to…"

Emma kept walking, violently thinking, This is nothing like how it used to be, Jack.  She turned the corner out of Conditioning Corridor A and rushed past the fountain in the lobby, finally escaping in the Psych Building's parking lot.  Although she knew she was safe outside and free of any creepy vibes from the buildng, she still almost ran to her car and jumped in the driver's seat as fast as she could.

As she turned the car on and blasted some air in her face to cool herself down, she heard a small throat clearing from the backseat.  Whipping around, she found herself face-to-face with Lila, sitting neatly in the backseat with her brown eyes wide and alert.

"Hello," she said, cocking her head to the side and smiling.  "I'm Lila.  Dr. Kasikova wanted me to speak with you."