Rick sighed as Dan told him about the center. He had said that it had changed his
daughter so she no longer stole anything for fear of being caught red handed. It was
basically the same story Rick had heard from other parents. Most of the children who
were juvenile delinquents had turned around so fast as to be unbelievable. Not that he
didn't think it could happen but the number of them that did was suspicious and he
knew there had to be something else going on. He wasn't getting anywhere with any
of the parents who had sent their kids to the center though. It looked like he was going
to have to go to the center to see what was going on.
Rick arrived at the center and was granted a tour of it. There were juveniles housed
there and he was told that these were the worst offenders and needed to have more
time with their therapy. Rick saw the look of fear in the children's eyes and thought he
saw a boy's nose grow. When he questioned them about it they knocked him out.
When Rick came to he was strapped into a chair in a room with Mr. Bagley standing
over him. "You're finally awake," he said with a grin.
"What do you plan on doing to me?" Rick asked thinking that he was going to be
threatened or killed.
"Well you do present us with a dilemma," Mr. Bagley said rubbing his chin. "We can't
just let you go seeing the transformation of one of the delinquents here. Normally we
would have modified your memory and let you go but we've heard that you've been
asking some questions of the parents. This leads us to believe you have a curious
personality and you would eventually start asking questions again."
"My memories can't be altered that easily," Rick said with a smile.
Mr. Bagley nodded and said, "We know that from your virtual vacation attempts. Your
memories can be altered for a little while but that eventually breaks down which is
another reason why we're not doing that. We did discover a way to keep you silent
however. You see the transformation you saw was caused by an almost microscopic
chip in his body which was programed to make his nose grow if he lied. These
transformations are very painful and most of the children quickly turn around rather
than risk going through the pain of a transformation."
"So Sarah would actually get red hands and it would be painful if she stole something,"
Rick said with a bit of venom. "Using pain and the fear of pain isn't the way to reform
juvenile delinquents."
"We're not interested in your opinion," Mr. Bagley said with a sneer. "Now I'll tell you
what you'll do. You'll leave here and not speak a word of what you saw to anyone. If
you do you'll be transformed. We did chip you while you were asleep. If you think we're
not serious we are going to give you a little demonstration."
A couple of guys undid the straps holding Rick down and he stood up. Mr. Bagley
pointed something that looked vaguely like a gun at him and suddenly pain like he had
never known blossomed in his body. He doubled over as his transformation began but
what was he transforming into?