Exit Interview

It has been an unaccountable eternity since Emily had been in the "real world". She'd only live a scant twenty seven years in her old life, a mere blink of an eye in the summation of her existence.

Yet, every moment of her time in this artificial world she had been reminded of that sliver of youth.

Emily never aged - at least not in the traditional sense of that word. Sometimes she had been older - for a few decades she's been a caring mother and grandmother. Sometimes, she'd been younger - reliving crucial parts of her childhood and teenage years, most often in warped versions of her original memories.

All of those lifetimes of knowledge - all of that slow learning and adapting - had been for this one final moment. The time before she returned to the "real world".

It had been explained from the first day she arrived that only minutes would pass. She was still, technically sitting in the same place she'd left. In her living room, being held down on a sofa while the Correction Agents slipped her mind into Rehabilitation.

Her wife, Emily expected, was still being restrained. It seemed odd to think her old partner was still in tears, crying out endlessness to the deaf body. Emily hadn't seen her original wife or their modest apartment in so long, yet this reality had never let the memory fade one iota.

Emily had to suppress a giggle, thinking of her old life. How silly she'd been back then! How naïve!

While she'd surely miss this world for all the lessons it had taught her - for the enlightenment it had brought her stupidly resistant soul - she couldn't wait to return back to reality. She knew her place now and was eager to serve the System that had nurtured her these many, many years.

The Auditor - a construct just like all the other "people" she'd interacted with in her head - now sat across from her. A mild smile cross the man's face. Her older self would have called him gross, lecherous. But she new better now - he was her superior, even in this artificial environment.

"Emily," he began "The system believes your Rehabilitation to be complete. Your behavior has been well within Compliance for quite a while, and you seems to have taken the Truth to heart."

"Thank you, Sir!" Emily beamed with pride. Nothing felt as good as this validation. Nothing ever did, nor ever would compare to the love of the Truth.

"As you know," the Auditor continued, "Before we release you back to your old body, you must take the final step of repentance. We'll be going over each of the problems we've needed to correct. Nothing will escape the Rehabilitation."

Emily felt a wave of shame and self pity, thinking back to how hard she'd fought to reject the Truth in the beginning.

"So for your confession, where would you like to begin?"