It’s paradise but you can’t get out of it. And anything that you can’t get out of is hell.
//Margaret Atwood
“That’s the final challenge?” Bennett asked, eyes squinted in confusion and brow furrowed.
The doctor nodded. “Of course. The last challenge is meant to be the hardest one of all.”
“But it’s – it’s beautiful. And – well -” Bennett spluttered. “I just didn’t realize that naming it Eden wasn’t a move of irony on your part.”
The doctor quirked his eyebrow. “That would’ve been rather cruel, don’t you think?”
Bennett huffed in disbelief. “Not any crueler than any of the other levels that we’ve put them through.”
The doctor seemed not to hear and turned to face the monitors that were tracking all of the candidates. Many looked dazed with happiness. Some were napping on the soft green grass, others swimming in the eye achingly blue waters. Almost all had laid down their weapons. He stopped and tapped thoughtfully at the figure of one candidate far from the others, glaring at the barely perceptible force field in front of her, hands gripped tightly around her weapon. “It is perfection, of course. But it’s still a prison. And anyone that would choose pretty lies over grim truth is not anyone we need on our side.”
He turned and faced the much younger Bennett. “Our enemy are masters of using our own sense of optimism and complacency against us. An illusion, even one of happiness and perfection, is still deadly. These candidates must learn that or else they have no use to us.”
He laid the manila folder in his hands on the desk. “Give them one day, then begin releasing Toxin 7 into the air. If they haven’t found a way out by day 4, they never will.”
Bennett looked up at him in barely contained shock. “But what if none of them find the way out?” He motioned to the wall of monitors. “They don’t really look that motivated. The whole challenge could be a waste!”
The doctor smiled and pushed a few buttons on the panel in front of him, focusing on 6 or 7 individuals who were cautiously prowling the woods and open clearings. “Don’t worry. I have faith in our candidates. Not all of them are fooled by their gilded cage.”
And with a quirk of his eyebrow, he turned and left the room.
Navel Gazing 