Subject 7 (End)

You take your mom back to the Controller's area. You and her look after the facility as co-Controllers for the rest of the month. She is a good influence on you and your little pranks and jokes come to an end. The last thing you wanted was to disappoint her.

The two of you spend the next few weeks in the grips of a strange lover-mother-son relationship. In some ways you are like a new couple who have just fallen in love. You want to be near each other, you touch and kiss and cuddle all the time, you make little jokes and share deep connecting moments of eye contact. You make love countless times. In other ways you are still mother and son. There is still a parental dynamic there, you want her to be proud of you and she wants you to be happy. You speak very little of your father or what will happen when the experiment is over.

At the end of the month a new voice comes over the speakers of the facility. The scientists and officials that ran the place were back. It is only then you start to worry about the things you'd done.

Going in order of number each inhabitant is summoned to the exit door and let through one at a time. Roughly a half hour passes between each person leaving. Eventually, as Number Six leaves, you and Number Seven come out of the Controller's area hand in hand.

When Number Seven is called you go to leave together but the voice asks you to follow protocol. You kiss her then watch her leave. She looks back at you with such love it makes your heart melt. The next half hour is the longest in your life as a thousand thoughts race through your mind. In one way you had hoped this time with her would never end. What would things be like now? Was this the beginning of some forbidden relationship or just a crazy episode to never be spoken of again?

Eventually it is your turn. You walk back through the hallway and into the room where the lockers were. The thin man is there along with a few other men in suits.

He smiles. "Please take your belongings. A car is waiting for you out front. We'll have to blindfold you of course, but they will take you to where you want to go."

You stutter a bit. "S-so...that's it?"

The man nods. "That's it. The experiment was a great success. Thank you. You've done your country a great service."

"But...but I knew all of those people!" You protest. "These weren't random people!"

"No. The commander for any Mars mission would know their team backward and forward. We did this for...expedited results." He replies.

"Expedited results? Like with the **** in the water." You say. "The things we did..."

You notice the men look at each other, they knew something you didn't. "There were no **** in the water. That was a deception, to make you think you were somehow less responsible for your actions. What you did in there was all you." The man informs you flatly.

You stand stunned.

"Now...we must insist." He motions you toward the locker.

You put on your clothes and take the briefcase. True to their word they take you away from the facility and you never hear from them again.