"I'm so sorry, this is the last one. We thought you'd be further along by this stage. You were supposed to be... I'm sorry..."
I'm in a room. Hungry. I've been here before. The trough is empty. The floor is clean. It's not been filled yet. The room is silent. I and my companions are standing. Waiting. There's a sound, a new one... A buzzer. From the gloom near the ceiling a chute slowly descends. The precious brains spill out into the trough. I want to eat, but nobody else moves. They all stay silent. Why are they not eating? The hunger pulls at me, but I don't want to stand out. Why don't I want to stand out?
The buzzer sounds again and the chute withdraws. I can feel a groan welling up inside me, my jaw starts to clench and relax like I'm eating the air. I can't stand it, I have to eat. Why aren't they eating? I must eat! Suddenly the room bursts into life as everyone, including me, lurches towards the trough and starts to feed. There's no discernible signal. I am temporarily distracted from my hunger, wondering about what just happened. I discover my hands are still feeding me without conscious control.
This time I drop hardly any of my brains onto the floor. I'm still hungry. The trough is now empty, I pretend to scrape at it like the others. I still want to fit in. Just like before suddenly everyone stops and steps back from the trough. I do too. I don't know if I could disobey, I don't try.
We line up and walk out of the room into a corridor. Something sluices down from the ceiling. It's a shower. We step out into another corridor and we are dry. We are wearing some kind of dark clothing which seems to repel the watery brains.
What am I doing? I'm walking in a corridor. I can see a light up ahead. I'm hungry. What am I doing. I can see... I...
I'm in a room. Hungry. I've been here before. The trough is empty. The floor is clean. It's not been filled yet. The room is silent. I and my companions are standing. Waiting. There's a sound, a new one... A buzzer. From the gloom near the ceiling a chute slowly descends. The precious brains spill out into the trough. I want to eat, but nobody else moves. They all stay silent. Why are they not eating? The hunger pulls at me, but I don't want to stand out. Why don't I want to stand out?
The buzzer sounds again and the chute withdraws. I can feel a groan welling up inside me, my jaw starts to clench and relax like I'm eating the air. I can't stand it, I have to eat. Why aren't they eating? I must eat! Suddenly the room bursts into life as everyone, including me, lurches towards the trough and starts to feed. There's no discernible signal. I am temporarily distracted from my hunger, wondering about what just happened. I discover my hands are still feeding me without conscious control.
This time I drop hardly any of my brains onto the floor. I'm still hungry. The trough is now empty, I pretend to scrape at it like the others. I still want to fit in. Just like before suddenly everyone stops and steps back from the trough. I do too. I don't know if I could disobey, I don't try.
We line up and walk out of the room into a corridor. Something sluices down from the ceiling. It's a shower. We step out into another corridor and we are dry. We are wearing some kind of dark clothing which seems to repel the watery brains.
What am I doing? I'm walking in a corridor. I can see a light up ahead. I'm hungry. What am I doing. I can see... I...
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