A Psychological One

When you finally crack your eyelids once more you are greeted by a blinding white light. You blink a few times and try to regain your senses. Your memory comes back to you in a flash. You bolt upright, sitting up on the hospital gurney you were resting on. Looking around you see that you are in a brightly lit white room with no windows. There is a short bald man in glasses and a lab coat and a nurse standing to your side.

"Wha?" You mutter.

"Very good." Says the man. "We're glad you are up, the others are already waiting."

You pat your body, they had changed your clothes. You were wearing a white and grey one piece jumpsuit.

"Where am I?" You ask. You mouth was dry and rough and felt like it had been stuffed with cotton balls.

"You are at the facility. Your belongings are in this locker." He indicates a nearby locker. "Along with your money. Now just head through the door behind you and we can begin." He adds. "And please hurry, the others are waiting."

You slowly drag your legs over the side of the gurney. The nurse helps you to the floor. Heading to the locker you do indeed find your belongings, along with the briefcase. Opening it you see the stacks of cash and remember why you had agreed to this. You wonder if anyone would miss you during the month you were gone, probably not enough to do anything.

Closing the briefcase you place it back in the locker. You nod to the pair and head towards the indicated door.

"Remember." He warns. "No talking during this initial meeting. And please put on your mask and do not remove it until you are allowed to."

You just now realize you have a plain white mask hanging around your neck. Weird. You place it on your face and tighten it, now the only part of your face visible is your mouth and chin. You head through the door. You hear it latch loudly behind you. Ahead of you is a long white hallway with only one other door at the far end. You walk the distance quietly in your slipper clad feet.

Opening the far door you see a large circular room with curved couches around the outside walls. Three open hallways lead from this room along with the door behind you. The man in black stands in the center of the room and seven people dressed just like you are seated along the couches. There were four women and three other men.

"It's about time you joined us. Please take a seat." The man directs you. You hesitantly sit, beside you is a large black man.

He looks around at you all. "You all know why you are here but let me just refresh your memories. Thanks to various ethics laws and regulations entire branches of research have been pruned from our scientific endeavors. The problem is that some of these branches were fruitful." He begins to walk around looking at each of you as he talked. "The Stanford Prison experiment 1971, the Milgrim Experiment 1961, the LSD experimentation of the 1950's, and countless others gave us valuable psychological insights and data. "

He stops and returns to the center of the room. "Now we stand on the precipice of a new world. Mars. We will colonize it in the next 30 years and we require the knowledge from these forbidden branches of science. A small group of colonists will be completely isolated from Earth. Completely separated from our social norms and modes of control. We must know now how people will react in such conditions so that we may save lives then." He clears his rattly lungs, obviously a smoker. "You eight have been chosen because of your physical and mental fitness. None of you require medication and your bodies have been purged of any **** so they will not interfere with what any results we get here. Careful ladies, that includes birth control."

He turns and pulls out a keycard, like one you'd get at a hotel. "For one month nothing will enter or leave this facility. There will be no communication. One of you will be chosen to be the Controller of the facility, the others will simply be residents." This causes a slight stir. He raises his hand for quiet. "It must be one of you overseeing the others for this experiment to truly represent an isolated population. Do not tell each other of your true identities, please refer to one another only as the number on your respective suits." Looking around you realize you each had a number sewn into your suit on the left upper chest. You were number eight.

The man approaches the door you had just entered through and uses the keycard to open it. "At the end of the month you will each receive your money and you will never speak of this place again. You will never hear from us again either. As you all know this is a top secret project, any leakers or whistleblowers will be terminated with **** prejudice. I say again. If you speak of this place or this experiment once outside you will be assassinated and your **** covered up by every level of government. This was what you agreed to."

As he readies to leave he adds. "We will be monitoring you for one hour, just to ensure you find a room and have no communication among yourselves. Please leave the masks on until you are in your room and the door is closed. Please go quietly and find a room, the doors will be released in the morning." He tips his head. "Have a good month."

The door latches shut behind him. Locked no doubt.

The eight of you look at each other, trying to get a read on one another through the masks and the silence. They may have known what they were getting into but you didn't! This was crazy. The group of you begin to file out of the room, there were dormitory style rooms down the hallways. A few of the people begin choosing their rooms.

You take a minute to take a quick tour of the facility.

There was the large circular room which acted as a living room. There were panels around the walls with a television, sound system, and other implements for entertainment. With the four curved couches facing each other it mostly seemed designed for visiting.

There was a kitchen and dining room. Everything gleaming white, you are curious about the six robotic arms folded up on the ceiling. Perhaps this place cooked for you? You then notice the web of tracks for the arms to travel along lead out past this room and into the others. It looks like these appendages could reach anywhere within the facility. Weird. Connected to the kitchen was a supply room with food supplies and other necessities.

There were two bathrooms and two showers, all separate.

Finally there was a strange room that looked a bit like a meeting room of some sort. There is a large square white table in the center with eight chairs placed around it. At the far end of the room the entire wall was a mirror except for a sturdy metal door on the right hand side. You had the distinct impression that it was a one way mirror.

The walls, the floor, the tables, the robotic arms, almost everything was a sterile white. There are no windows anywhere.

Looking back through the dorm rooms you realize they all looked identical so you choose the closest one available and close the door behind you. You take off the mask and sit on the bed.

"Holy shit." You mutter. "What have I gotten myself into?"