Unsafe Testing Conditions
You're a paid volunteer for a science experiment involving memory erasure and trance induction. Unfortunately for you, the one administering the test could really use a nap.
"So there's virtually no risk!" Nex explained excitedly, concluding a lengthy, babbling safety explanantion that had lost you quickly and given you ample time to completely zone out. You simply nodded, thinking better than to ask him to explain it all again. You trusted Dr. Nex - he always had a good eye for saftey. Or maybe he just got lucky.
Hopefully the first one.
"Any questions?" He asked. Shit. You tried to think of a question to make it look like you were listening, but came up blank. He waited expectantly, and then nodded enthusiastically. You let out a sigh of relief as he turned away, typing into a keyboard and gesturing for you take a seat.
You sat. Nex turned abruptly. "Uhh, make sure your wrists are right over the armrests, or else-"
The restraints clicked tightly around your wrist, pinching your fluff a little and making you yelp.
"Yeah, oops, uhh. Forgot to tell you. That's my bad." He said, tapping a few more keys and unlocking the restraints. You rubbed at your wrist, wincing slightly.
"Why are there locked restraints, again?" You asked.
"We bought the chair secondhand." Nex answered offhandedly, coming up behind you and adjusting a device that hung over your head, some sort of beam that pointed directly at your face. He clicked a set of headphones over your ears that connected to the chair's headrest, locking you facing forward.
"Okay so basically you're just gonna sit there. I'm gonna activate this beam and it'll very gently blast you with a thought-erasing ray. It'll do that on a timer, every 10 seconds for 20 minutes. Then we're going to do a little basic quiz to see how much of your memory and intellect was lost. You read that little pamphlet, right? That's what we're testing on."
The pamphlet. Uhh. You were pretty sure you read it. You felt like he probably should have asked you that before he got you strapped in. Now you didn't want to ruin anything.
"I read that." You blurted out, making the robotic doctor pause and watch you briefly.
"...Okay good." He said, flicking a few switches and making the beam hum loudly. "Uh oh." He said, pressing a few more buttons and quieting the humming slightly. "Okay cool. You ready?"
"Yes." You said, trying to quell your anxiety.
Nex pressed the largest button and the beam in front of your eyes lit up. You curled your toes and moaned, as the heat seemd to go straight through your head and into your brain. The beam shut off and you were left, panting and squirming slightly in your restraints.
"Good? Like, that felt good, right? It looked like it felt good." Nex asked, falling backwards into his office chair and spinning it a little.
"Yeah, uhh, wow, that-"
The beam activated again, a ringing filling your ears as your eyes rolled up and your words melted into a moan. You felt your body tensing up until the beam shut off and you relaxed into your seat, panting and drooling slightly.
"Just relax. I'm gonna be right here, and in 20 minutes we'll chat." Nex said. "Try not to think too much." He said.
"Okay." You said, just before the beam switched on again and you melted into your seat. You let your eyes close, just basking in the feeling of having your thoughts removed from your mind. You barely noticed when it was over, overflowing with warmth and comfort.
"Huhhnn." You slurred.
"G'boy." Nex said, yawning.
It was on again. You shivered and moaned again, wishing the thing could be on even more than it was. Every time the ringing got a little louder in your ears, louder in the sense that it... took up more space in your mind, somehow.
On again. You barely even noticed when it was off. Was it speeding up? Activating more often? Or maybe it was bleeding over, so you couldn't really tell when one was ending and another was beginning. You weren't sure how long the pulses lasted, only that there was a break between them. You were pretty sure Nex had told you how long the break was but-
On again. You didn't feel it turn off. The ringing was so loud and warm and soft. It made you feel like you were melting, but in a good way.
You squirmed and writhed and panted until you suddenly found a small break. "Wha- is- is the... 'xperiment... over?" You slurred, looking around the room, which seemed... darker, than before.
Nex was still in his chair, hands folded on his chest, eye display off. The lab seemed to have gone into a sleep mode, or something. The only light besides the gentle glow of the beam in front of your eyes was a display on the control console, that read simply:
"Experiment Timer: 01:23:41
Mindblanker Cooling Down"
Something about that... bugged you. Wasn't this experiment supposed to end after 20 minutes?
You wanted to call out to Nex. Maybe if you could wake him up, you coul-
The screen blinked. The bottom line disappeared. That meant-
Your thoughts vanished, evaporated from your mind in an instant as the beam brought you right back to where you'd left off. You could barely tell that you'd finished in your underwear.
You couldn't feel it when the thing turned off anymore. You couldn't feel anything but warm, tingly pleasure, blanking out your mind, sending you spiraling and tumbling down into the pleasure of blankness. You were floating, listless, thoughtless, like your body was made of a cloud.
Awake again. You blinked, your face slick and wet with drool that you couldn't wipe away with your hands still restrained. You weren't dehydrated, though, for whatever reason. Probably something... sciency.
The timer. It was back.
"Experiment Timer: 02:58:02
Mindblanker Cooling Down"
You might have frowned if you could stop smiling. As it was now, though, you were perfectly content to let the number keep going up. You couldn't suppress your shiver of excitement as the screen flashed and the beam began to hum louder again. Yes please, more please, lots more please, please-
On again. Blanking you, hollowing you, your mind fading away entirely. You were in heaven. You were perfect.
Nex's display blinked on.
"Oh shoot. Did I fall asleep?" He said, glancing over at the drooling sheep, sitting comfortably in his restraints, appearing to have no reaction each time the beam switched on. "Well that's not good." He commented, before turning to turn off the beam. He froze, reading and re-reading the status screen.
"Experiment Timer: 09:31:43"
"Uhh. Wow, okay, uhh, that's not good. That's not good at all." As he quickly disabled the beam and unlocked the restraints. He wasn't too surprised when his subject didn't respond.
"Okay so, uhh. Shoot. Heck, uhh, okay. This isn't really the scope of the experiment, but uhhh..." He stood up and snapped his fingers in front of the sheep. He got a small reaction, just a little flinch, so he continued on, snapping over and over, until the sheep's glassy eyes slowly turned up to look him in the eyes. "How ya feeling?"
"Feeling?" The sheep replied.
"Yes. How are you feeling." Nex repeated, slower.
"Good." The sheep said.
"Oh. That's good." Nex said. He hadn't thought this far ahead. "Do you remember the pamphlet?"
"Pamphlet." The sheep said.
"Is that a yes or a no?" Nex asked.
"No." The sheep replied.
Well, that part worked, at least.