"Beck"

 BECK: “Place’s empty. I guess... uh... hello?”

The hangar was vacant of any human trace, yet it smelled like someone had been here recently.

...

BECK:”Speak up if anyone is here”

As Beck approached the half-open door at the other side of the hangar, she turned on the light and saw a young, petite blonde woman, in a gown, connected to three cables emerging from her upper back, leading to a hole in the ground. The subject was stuck inside of a small cell, sitting in a fetal posture.

BECK: “Um..”

SONG: “Quiet. Don’t let them know you saw me”

BECK: “The hell are these wires?”

SONG: “They control me”

BECK: “Oh, great.. do you know anything about this wretched place I got sent in after cursing someone?”

SONG: “It’s not just a base. Don’t let them trick you. It’s a containment and experimentation zone”

BECK: “I assumed, because I was abducted and sent here without any form of trial or court proceeding”

SONG: “Neither was I”

Subject D-54 pointed to one of the many photos on her cell walls.

SONG: “Becky was my horse, she was my only friend and we were separated by force when I was 10 years old and still so naive about the cold machine that encombrates this world. This alone should prove to you how bad this whole rabbit hole goes.”

BECK: “I don’t know what to tell you, it’s always going to be a grounds for containment and study”

SONG: “What are you in for?”

BECK: “Uh... hexing people?”

SONG: “This is a prison, let’s be real. I’m never going back home to Sedona and you shouldn’t put your hopes so high about getting out of her if you’re considered “special”. I have become insensitive to everything around me. You could kill someone and I’d just be glad that the victim finally escaped”

BECK: “Why.. why did you get sent here?”

SONG: “I have a certain value to them”

BECK: “A value? What, as an asset? What did these fucking humans do to you?”

SONG: “My bloodline. I was abducted during a visit in the Vatican, and went missing. People took advantage of my body and sold it, passed it around. I had to do what I was told to do or else they would murder my family. A bunch of people posed to rescue me from trafficking as a child and sent me here because there was no family willing to accept me. The orphanages and foster homes were all full and... the reason I wasn’t on a waitlist anymore is because they can convince agencies to remain silent about my presence in O5. A knife deeply twisted into the soul”

BECK: “And I thought I was blade-crazy”

SONG: “Remember I’m human too, but these guys.. they remind me of... you know.. not something very human-like”

BECK: “I’m surprised you didn’t attempt to unplug yourself yet”

SONG: “I can’t. I tried. Like I said, they took advantage of me. My soul is tethered to a containing central deep under this place so it’s trapped here. Which is why I’m hooked to all these wires here. They always revive you with some weird alien tech. And if I severe the cables, I’m going right into the AI after this body goes”

GUARD: “HALT!”

SONG: “Nothing to see here”

Beck’s arms were death-gripped by the two guards, as she futilely protested. Escorted back to her “zone”.

BECK, back in her containment room: “What a terrible way to live”

For the first time in her life, Beck felt this unique sense of terror about her fate. It was all so confusing. A despair so profound that she felt called to curl up on her bed, catatonically. And then, she cried for a very, very rare time, trying to compose herself.

“Looks like I’ll have to either deal with the fact I am here for years, or have to resort to brutal means to get out. How fucking illegal. There was no trial! Nothing! They just shoved me here! What value do I have to these creepy fucks? And then this stupid chick confirms what I thought?

A fate worse than death crossed her mind.

“What if they wire me up just like her?”

The facility’s on-duty psychologist knocked on her door. “Beck, may I see you?”

She sat down with her and presented contracts. About 4 papers to read, one to sign. The papers read that Beck was going to be under an NDA about anything that happens in the facility, and that she has no choice but to undergo a psychological assessment every two weeks.

BECK “So, this is what prison is now? Secret government programs?”

DR. JOHNSTON: “Well you are correct, because this is way beyond even federal level. This is part of the military. That’s who cooperates with and manages the judicial rehabilitative system in this era. But I assure you this is not a prison per se”

BECK: “That explains everything. No trial, nothing, just arbitrary arrest and kidnapping. The late effects of 2025 fascism. 25 years later and looming"