Dr. Schreber wandered around the warehouse on what he laughingly called his rounds. He saw several “His patients” lying there in various stages of their treatments. He passed by the bed that contained Bethany Black. “Ah, good morning Ms Black. You will be pleased to know that your daughter has turned out to be a good mother. You taught her well.” He picked up the clipboard at the base of the bed, which had been left by his employers or was that captors.
“I see that you are leaving us today. Good luck, my dear, in your new life. I am truly sorry.” He said as he turned down the corridor that led to room 47 and the experiment. Had it really been two days already? It must have been, or they wouldn’t been given this patient a task tonight.
He remembered Sunday night, or was that Monday morning? He had given up trying to keep track of time in this place.
The drones, as he called them, had returned from their allotted tasks that day. They began unloading their cargo into the receiving area.
Daniel stood there watching them do so he hoped for the last time. Number one had promised him that if he carried out the research on her little side project, then she would let him go. He had put all his trust in the woman’s voice, the voice of a woman that he had never met. He was so desperate to get his life back that he would have done anything. It was at that moment that he saw the woman arrive. He knew that they would more than likely target her at some point, but he just hoped that it would be later, possibly never.
He read the piece of paper attached to the gurney that she lay on. “What, this has to be some kind of mistake, it has to be.” He said aloud, thinking that no one was listening.
“It is no mistake, Dr. Schreber.” The voice of Number 3 said as if in answer to his question.
“We can’t do that to her.” He said, showing a level of defiance that he hadn’t shown up to that point.
“Yes, we can, Doctor. Take her to room 47, please.” The voice replied.
Daniel knew there was nothing that he could do to change their minds once they had decided on something, so he gave the drones the order.
“I am sorry, my dear.” He said to the woman as she was pushed out of his field of vision.
He waited until the Initial Purge had been carried out. During those six hours, they had dismantled bonds to her old life, her old family. There could be none of that left in her old life. Dr. Schreber was always upset at this point. He wondered if this was what they had done to him before he had started working for them. The people that they were doing these things to were no longer people; they were simply test subjects in some kind of grand plan that only those in charge knew about. He was only following their orders, he would tell himself. As if that was some kind of excuse.
He knew by the end of the first day that her core personality had been annihilated, well, it would have been if he had not made a backup of it. He had claimed that it was to be used for her replacement, but that was only partly true.
Dr. Schreber didn’t look in on her as much as he did the others; he knew that it was due to the treatment she was receiving, if anything went wrong with it afterwards, he would be close enough to see if there was anything that could be done to resolve the problem.
This time, things had been different; normally, they would have begun the implanting of the new personality if the patient was being released that quickly, but this time, there was no release planned for this subject. So this time, the obedience imperative embedded was implanted instead of a new personality. This was an unswerving devotion to the goal, linking autonomic functions to compliance. The void stayed barren otherwise—no emotions, just mechanical loyalty.
Then came the tests to see if the imperative had taken hold once they rebooted her. All the commands they gave her were carried out flawlessly. Over the next few hours came the loyalty Reinforcement. Then the failsafe’s were embedded to shut her down if their goal was compromised in any way. The final six hours were for the final calibration, then the activation. She was fully calibrated; her tasks going forward would be performed with blank efficiency. At the end of the process, Drone #47 (as she would now be known) rose driven solely by obedience.
Dr. Schreber entered room 47 that Wednesday morning after he visited Bethany Black only because he had seen her former name on his documents for that morning’s “rounds. Once inside, he noticed that her skin now had a slight blue tint to it. No one else had noticed it, for the last few hours she had been under the care of her new workmates, and they didn’t see anything wrong with the change. Her once shoulder-length hair was now a short dark bob. She stood there naked and unmoving; there was no attempt to cover herself from these strange people that she now stood in the middle of. It was as if there was no reason to do so. It was as if she had nothing that needed to be covered.
“Stop staring at her, Doctor, and get her something to wear.” Came Number One’s voice through one of the many speakers dotted around the warehouse.
One of the blue-clad men handed Drone #47 a set of their blue coveralls, which had been tailored to match her figure.
“Mam her skin is blue,” Daniel said towards where he thought the voice was coming from.
“Yes, I can see that, Dr. Schreber. An unfortunate side effect that we will need to try to make sure does not happen again. Please check her tests and see what went wrong.” The voice said before turning off the microphone on their side.
Dr. Schreber remembered seeing the assignment log for that evening and seeing his patient's name on it, or what had been her name before she had been given her treatment.
“What have I become? he wondered. A monster in a lab coat, enabling this madness.” He said aloud, not that anyone was paying any attention to what he said anyway. But for now, Linda Madison was just another cog in their machine.
“I am sorry Ms Madison. I promise that I will do what I can to help your son and return you to what you were before this. Dr. Schreber said towards Drone #47, softly making sure that only she would hear him. The entity that had just two days ago been Linda Madison showed no sign of recognition at her old name. Unsure of what to do next, Dr. Schreber left the room to carry on his rounds on Wednesday morning. He did have other patients to see to after all. No matter how much he wished it was otherwise, there was nothing that he could do for her at the moment anyway.
