Turn 4 of 15

Step inside the pod

The receptionist steps aside, her arm sweeping in a graceful, rehearsed arc toward the pod's open maw. I step closer, my shoes silent on the cool, polished floor. The interior of the pod is not a bed, but a tall, narrow chamber. The dark lining is not soft fabric but a fine, metallic mesh, and it hums with a faint, almost subliminal vibration. The air inside is thick with that ozone smell, and it makes my eyes water. I hesitate, one hand on the cool fiberglass lip of the entrance. The woman waits, her smile fixed, her patience as infinite and as empty as her gaze.

"It's time for your transformation," she says, her voice a gentle, insistent whisper. "Everyone feels a little nervous at first. But you'll feel so much better afterwards. So much more... you." The way she says "you" is strange, as if she's referring to a version of me I haven't met yet. The humming from the console deepens, and a soft, blue light begins to pulse from within the mesh lining, casting strange, shifting patterns on the walls of the small room.

I think of Denise, her blank expression at the bus stop. I think of the silent, watchful women in their matching tracksuits. I think of the quiet, dead feeling of the high street. This is the heart of it. This is the machine. To step inside is to answer the question, but to do so might cost me the ability to care about the answer. My hand trembles on the edge of the pod. The blue light pulses, patient and inviting.

I take a deep, shaky breath that tastes of copper and electricity. The receptionist does not move, does not blink. The choice is mine, and the silence in the room is absolute, save for the low, expectant hum of the machine. I can feel the pull of it, a strange, magnetic curiosity that is almost stronger than my fear. What is it, really? A scanner? A reprogrammer? A very expensive, very strange tan? The only way to know is to get inside. I look at the woman's vacant face one last time, searching for a flicker of humanity, a warning, anything. There is nothing. Only the programmed smile and the waiting pod.