Collin swung himself in the hammock that he had Merrin setup. After taking the rest of the day to think in his cell and to cool down, he felt mostly okay about what had happened.


    Mostly.


    The listening device in his skin was a sore point to put it lightly, but there was no going back on that part already. There was still enough money in this whole deal to take care of his family for a long time. Besides, this was the first job he had taken a swing on his boss and not gotten fired. Collin decided that as long as the doctor didn’t cross anymore ethical boundaries, he could live with two days of work for life-changing money.


    First chance he got though, Collin was still going to do some damage to that prick’s too perfect face.


    The hallway door opened to reveal Merrin in her monkey form pushing a large, silver cart. She pushed it into the first cell with CX01 and backed out of the room. Merrin repeated the process four more times until the first five cells had its own silver cart in the room.


    Merrin stepped out of the hallway and a few minutes later the voice of Chuck came on over the intercom, “Welcome to the second day of the experiment everyone. Today, we are going to have each one of you try to link with a Hypnosite. There are only five fully developed hypnosites at this time, so each subject will have to wait their turn. CX01 through CX05, we are going to seal your rooms and start.”


    Metal walls slid down from the ceiling to seal the five cells. Collin could still see the five subjects on the screens outside of his cell. He was thankful he got a chance to watch the process before having to try it.


    After the five rooms were fully sealed, Merrin spoke over the intercom this time, “Remember to maintain a willingness toward the hypnosite and you will have a greater chance at establishing a connection. It’s normal to experience memory loss if you manage to connect with one, but your mind is still there, so think of things that you feel strongly about and the memories will return eventually.”


    The carts automatically opened slowly. Inside there was a clear tray holding a small greenish-silver, liquidy blob, no larger than a strawberry. It looked similar to mercury. Collin had pictured something more ominous than the small liquid ball. How that little thing could turn into a monkey, made no sense.


    “Get ready,” Chuck said, “I’m going to begin transmitting the frequency.”


    Collin heard nothing from his vantage, but the five participants seemed to hear something and react to it.


    Collin waited… And waited. The whole process was a lot more boring than he expected after an entire day of mentally preparing.


    After about twenty minutes, one of the blobs started to move. It was in CX02’s cage. She was a small woman in her late forties. As soon as the blob started moving, CX02’s body slumped to the ground. The Blob in her room bubbled and roiled and shifted into a more rigid form with tiny legs. It looked like a small, deformed, cockroach.


    “Very good!” Merrin cheered over the intercom, “CX02, move from left to right if you can hear me.”This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The cockroach skittered around the tray, but didn’t move in the signaling way that Merrin had requested. Inside CX02’s room, the woman’s nose started to bleed and her body jerked in convulsions. The cockroach began the bubble and shift in unstable jerks.


    “I’m cutting the experiment for CX02 and turning off the frequency transmission in her room,”  Chuck called out.


    Collin watched in concern the whole time, wishing there was something he could do to help. All he could do was hope she would be fine. It felt horrible to be able to do nothing but stare.


    CX02 thankfully stopped convulsing and her cockroach reverted back to the liquid blob shape at the same time. The cart immediately closed, covering the tray and the blob inside of it. Shortly after the cart was covered, two figures shrouded in full black bodysuits entered the room and carried CX02 away.


    “She’ll be fine,” Chuck announced, “We have an excellent medical team here and she will receive the finest care. This is an excellent example of someone straining too hard to force the connection, make sure to maintain a willing mindset, but don’t force what doesn’t happen naturally.”


    Collin didn’t doubt that Chuck was saying that more to keep people calm than anything else. He hoped the woman would be fine, but for now he reminded himself to focus on the task at hand.


    After twenty more minutes, none of the other four subjects were able to establish a connection. Their respective carts were closed off and all five carts were moved to the next five rooms, and the prior participants were escorted away. All five of the new participants were given the same time slot of forty minutes where nobody had a shred of success.


    The same process was repeated for CX11 through CX15 where another woman, this time a teenager, was able to establish a connection.


    The successful young girl, known as CX11, had her blob turn into something closer resembling a ladybug. She also failed to respond to the doctor’s request, but thankfully there was no nose bleed or incident. She was okay throughout the entire run.


    After fifteen minutes of CX11 skittering around, Chuck called an end to the session “Congratulations CX11, You are officially the day’s first success,” Merrin announced, “We will be contacting you later this week for the next experiment should you be interested.”


    That caught Collin’s attention. No more poking and prodding? All it took was one test where you became a mindless bug and the day was done?


    Sure enough, when they came to escort the next round of subjects out, CX11 was guided out with the rest of them.


    Over the next eighty minutes, two more successes cropped up. One was a man and one a woman. Collin was beginning to wonder if women had a greater chance for compatibility given the outcome of two to one, but since three coin flips would always become two to one, he was probably just assuming things too early.


    “Alright, CX21,” Chuck called out over the speaker, “You’re the last one.”


    “Glad to be done?” Collin asked.


    Charles answered back in his deep voice, “I’d say I’m more happy with the promising results, but I’ll admit that I’ve been looking forward to your turn the most. The blood sample you provided reacted with the hypnosites in a way that has me feeling hopeful. You could say that we saved the best for last.”


    “Yeah?” Collin said, “Well you’re still a dick.”


    Charles laughed over the intercom, “How about I make it up to you with a special offer only for you?”


    Merrin pushed a new silver cart into the room with Collin and then left. This silver cart had CX21 carved on it.


    “What‘s this about?” Collin asked. Nobody else had gotten a cart with their name carved into it.


    “I’ll give you an extra twenty thousand dollars for today if you manage to link with this hypnosite,” Charles said, “I kept this one from exposure to anything else until it had a chance to meet you.”


    “That doesn’t sound foreboding at all”, Collin said sarcastically, but Collin would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested. He felt a draw from inside the cart. Something calling to him, pulling him in, “What are the odds that the crap under there kills me?”


    “Honestly, I have no idea,” Charles said, “The blood samples that you all gave us were fed to the hypnosites to test for compatibility. If the hypnosite spat the blood out, it was obviously not compatible. If the hypnosite ate the blood and kept it down, then it indicated a higher chance for compatibility. That’s how we chose CX01 through CX20. The particular hypnosite in front of you is different. After consuming your blood, it changed. It condensed and refused the blood samples of anything else at that point. Furthermore, your blood from that point was rejected by all the other hypnosites. You can imagine that I was more than excited to have you, the man whose blood reacted differently, try to form a connection with it.”


    Collin looked at the cart for a long time. The pull from within was a primal sensation that filled him with a curious, pulsating hunger. He had his doubts about giving in to that pulsating pull, but ultimately, it was the thought of his family that once again pushed him forward, “Alright, let’s do it.”