The Sowing

As you can see, Cassius’s disembodied voice says, creeping all around us, the Recruits are incapacitated and tethered to neurostimulators. These are connected to pressure points throughout their bodies, and are capable of delivering sensations of the utmost pleasure—and the most agonizing pain.

As if on cue, a sharp pain stabs my gut. I can see where this is going.

This Trial will test each Recruit’s resilience and ability to withstand pain, in the event that one day they are captured by enemy forces and subjected to the most barbaric interrogation methods.

Each Recruit will be subjected to jolts of pain that will be inflicted in increasingly potent increments via the conductors attached to them. When the Recruit reaches the limit of their endurance, they will issue an indication for the exercise to terminate—usually in the form of a verbal plea, either spoken or screamed. Thus eliminated, they will either choose between their Incentives, or choose the form of termination of their remaining Incentive. In the event that the Recruit is unable to make their wishes known due to their own death—the holo pans across the Recruits—any living Incentive associated with said deceased Recruit shall immediately be shelved.

But don’t be alarmed, Cassius goes on. Undoubtedly, some of you are feeling that this trial is unfairly skewed, that the ability of some of the Recruits to endure pain has been severely compromised, as in the case of Recruit Crowley.

Even though I can no longer see Cassius, I can feel his eyes crawling all over me as he says this, as if it’s for my benefit alone. The holo shifts to a close-up of Crowley.

We have taken this factor into account when designing this challenge. That is why the Incentives will serve as a deciding factor that will affect the outcome.

At this, my throat runs dry. I turn to the others and we exchange a look that conveys more than words ever could.

There’s a hum from above, followed by the grinding and squeaking of under-oiled gears lowering devices in front of each of us.

I force myself to look at the shiny black box that’s hovering before me like a deadly arachnid dangling from its web. The names of the remaining three Recruits are embossed on its surface. Beside each name are two buttons, one green, the other red. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they’re for.

Before you are remotes that control the sensory outputs to each of the Recruits. Your task is simple. Once the commencement signal is given, you are free to select a Recruit of your choosing and provide them with a dose of either pleasure stimulation, via the green button, or pain, via the red button. If you pause for more than five seconds between each selection, or do not make any selection at all—as some of you may be tempted to do—then the particular Recruit representing you will receive a double-dose of the pain option, making him or her more susceptible to failing the challenge and therefore putting yourself at risk of being shelved.