When Harper awoke, her body was as heavy as it had ever been. Instinctively, she turned, eager to snuggle into her bed and sleep off her weariness for a little longer. But instead, she found herself unable to move, pressed against something rigid and uncomfortable. She opened her eyes. She wasn't in her bedroom at home. She was in a dark, sterile laboratory, surrounded by workstations, computers, and all kinds of unfamiliar electronics. Then, it all came flooding back: what had happened, and where she was. Filled with sudden fear, Harper shot to her feet - or at least, she tried to. Twisting and turning, Harper found that she was tied to a chair, her wrists bound tightly with rope behind her back.
"I see you're finally awake."
Harper turned her head as far as she could. Somewhere beside her was Professor Elbourne, busy typing at a computer even as she addressed Harper.
"Let me go," Harper snarled, straining as hard as she could against her bonds.
Professor Elbourne sniffed. "I think not. Not after all the trouble you've caused me."
"Fuck you," Harper spat.
"And I see you're still as spirited as ever," Professor Elbourne noted, walking around to stand in front of Harper. "Fascinating."
"Yeah, I bet." Harper grimaced as she started looking around the lab, only half-listening to the professor. It looked much as it had done before, but with more occupants. Sat at the back of the room, dressed in jeans and a crop top, was a girl that Harper recognized as Amia Grover, Professor Elbourne's TA. She was holding a notepad and a piece of paper, and seemed to be doing nothing more than taking notes. A short distance away from her, standing to attention next to the door, was another figure, dressed in sleek, mesmerizing latex from the neck down. It took Harper a moment to recognize them with such a blank, unfamiliar expression on their face, but she quickly realized there was only one person it could be: Jae.
"Jae!" Harper cried, redoubling her efforts to get free. But she froze when she remembered exactly what had happened. "Jae? What did you do to them?" she demanded, turning to the professor.
"You should have known better than to believe everything they told you," Professor Elbourne admonished. "But you fell for it, just as I predicted. You're too impetuous, Miss Williams."
"Tell me!" Harper demanded.
"Fine, fine." Professor Elbourne rubbed her temples for a moment. "They came here a few days ago, to confront me. That turned out to be incredibly unwise. They seemed to have been exposed to some of my handiwork before. It was easy to subdue them, and just as easy to turn them into the perfect bait for you."
"They... no..." Harper protested weakly, her mind struggling to wrap itself around the implications of what she was being told. Jae had been brainwashed all along? But then, it had all been nothing more than a trap. It had been hopeless all along. "Jae? Jae, can you hear me?"
From the back of the room, Amia snickered. "Of course they can't, stupid."
"Amia!" Professor Elbourne said in a warning tone. Then, she turned back to Harper. "I'm afraid it's true. Everything that's happened has been entirely within my control. I orchestrated this experiment, and now that you're beginning to become volatile, I'm ending it."
"What experiment?" Harper remembered Professor Elbourne mentioning an experiment before. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Professor Elbourne paused for a moment, considering something. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you. Not now. It won't do you any good. Besides, it's not often I get the pleasure of explaining my work." She adjusted her glasses. "Serial recruitment. That was your experiment. Yours and your roommates. The brainwashing and programming techniques I developed are highly effective, but intrusive and time-consuming to administer. Alone, I could hardly hope to brainwash many drones. Not enough to matter. So, I wondered if it might be possible to program drones to brainwash more drones. That would solve everything. Exponential growth. And I believe it will be, once I make a few alterations. Your roommate's results have been very promising."
The sinking feeling in Harper's stomach was growing worse and worse. Her worst fears had been confirmed. Lori really had been brainwashing people. Had Harper? She didn't know. She wished she could trust her memories. "What... what about me?" she asked hesitantly.
"You were there to act as a control," Harper continued smoothly. "I was monitoring you all along. You were reporting to me, and you didn't even know it. Serial recruitment involves risks - the risk of exposure. I wanted to see how you and Lori would react to each other, and to see if you would try to reveal what was happening to the world. But you didn't. You only drew each other further into indoctrination. An encouraging result, even if you were beginning to show signs of volatility. It turns out that conscious knowledge of the dronification protocols can be an asset, not merely a risk. Your shame kept you from revealing anything to anyone, and the pleasure you took from it kept you exposing yourself to it. And exposing Lori to it, of course."
Harper couldn't help but blush, despite the horror of her situation. She felt so ashamed of what she'd done to Lori. It was inexcusable. In a twisted way, though, knowing they'd been part of an experiment was a comfort. She'd never had a chance. Her mind had been poisoned and used against her right from the start. As she considered that and what it meant, one question loomed large above all the rest.
"Why?" Harper asked. As she waited for Professor Elbourne's response, she started tugging at the ropes binding her wrists again. This time, though, she wasn't simply trying to pull free. She was searching for weaknesses in the knots. Maybe she could slip free. Maybe. It wasn't much, but she needed some kind of hope to hold on to.
"What do you care? You're not going to remember this conversation anyway," Amia said, snickering again.
