My college friend Melanie and I were out for dinner Friday night and we had plans to spend Saturday hiking along the headlands, only the forecast was for rain which was a big disappointment.
Melanie told me that she had received an email from the head of the psychology department where we both went to college, and that they were looking for women to help them conduct some government-funded research, so maybe we should plan on that as an alternative. The psychology department was so short of lab assistants, that they had set things up to meet applicants at 9 am tomorrow, and make a quick decision, in order to deploy the successful applicants for experiments to run at noon. We both exactly met the specs: intelligent and attractive 25-29-year-old women, living 60 or miles away from the college campus, the idea being to minimize the chance that we had ever met our subjects prior to the experiment.
"What kind of research?" I asked.
"It's to test the subject's observational ability, in a laboratory environment where there is the possibility, but not the certainty of a sexual reward," Melanie informed me. "And that the subject felt some sense of desperation about achieving that reward," she added.
"Hmm, and why would the government be funding this research, and why would I want to help conduct it?" I queried.
"Well, I don't recall if it is the CIA, or the DIA, or maybe it is the SEC - I truly can't remember - but whatever agency is funding this is looking to learn how to protect its foreign agents against the dangers of 'honey traps' and they think the findings from this research will do just that," explained Melanie.
"And I suppose that you and I are the 'honey' and the subjects are all male, why do I want anything to do with such research?" I asked, especially as Melanie tended to have a wild streak compared to me.
"Becky, I understand where you are coming from, and I felt the same way when I first heard about it a few months ago. Inexplicably, the experiment is audio recorded, but neither observed nor video-taped, and that creates the opportunity for the women who conduct it to chart their own course, and have some real fun while doing so," said Melanie, who was well aware that my work as a third year legal associate left me little time for a social life.
She went on to explain her experiences the two times she had helped conduct it and provided me a lot of valuable coaching. By that point, I was intrigued by the idea, and agreed to get up early the next morning so we could get to our alma mater in time to apply, with the understanding that if I felt uneasy about it in the intake process, I could always back out then.
We met early the next morning to drive to our old college campus together. I was wearing my black jeans and black ribbed turtleneck sweater, which accentuated my 5'10" frame. I have shoulder length chestnut-colored hair, which I had tied back in a bun, with just a tendril down by each ear, and large hoop earrings.
As the college already had us in their computer system, the psych department research coordinator was able to cut through a lot of the normal screening steps and hire me quickly. Melanie waited while I went through a half hour orientation session. The whole experiment hinged on the asking and answering of twenty questions, and the subject had to answer fifteen correctly to get his "reward." All while spread eagled to a king size bed. Lab assistants were encouraged to choose harder or easier questions as needed, to try to get the subject to a point where everything hinged on his answer to the 20th question.