Chapter 2

The next day, Tom was greeted by a man of about thirty at the address he had received from the deacon. The man, Dr. Adams, was the supervisor of the experiment.
"We couldn't get any volunteers, so the direction of the University decided to offer students who misbehave the opportunity to participate or risk being expelled," he told Tom, who already knew. It didn't make him feel more comfortable. What kind of experiment did these morons conduct? He nervously followed the doctor to a large room.
Inside, an enormous machine stood. It looked like one of these old computers, i.e. the ENIAC, filling half of the room’s space. All kinds of lights flickered on it and two tubes, ending in what seemed to be hair-drying caps, emerged from its side. The machine was connected to a modern computer, standing on a desk.

In the room also a girl about Tom's age sat, looking nasty at the doctor. She had skin brown as chocolate, but her features hinted she was of Mexican or Puerto-Rican descent instead of African. A very pretty face, shoulder length black hair and long legs. The girl wore a simple cotton T-shirt, jeans and flip-flops, showing her beautiful shaped feet. Tom also noticed her full breasts, she had at least a D Cup. She was introduced to Tom as Julia, and her ancestors indeed came from Mexico and were part Spanish and part Aztec. Tom learned that from Dr. Adams as he was seated next to her. Julia, he said, was here because a fellow student had made racist remarks about her descent, over and over. Until Julia had enough of it and struck him with a chair on the head with such a force that the wound had to be stitched in a hospital.

"He is a gringo pig," she exclaimed. "He has no right to make my ancestry ridiculous! He deserved...", she wanted to rant on, but Dr. Adams told her to be quiet.

"Tom here has torn pages out of the library books several times," Dr. Adams told Julia. Probably being exposed of what they had done wrong was part of the punishment, Tom thought.

Tapping the huge machine with his hand, the doctor began to explain the experiment.

"OK, what you see here is what is called the "Sartre Device". This machine can read and transport brain waves in a very sophisticated manner. The brain waves of one person are transmitted into the brain of another person by this baby."

Dr. Adams looked at both Tom and Julia. They just stared at him.

"Now, we want to know exactly how well and how detailed the machine can dig into the mind. Therefore, I have programmed it to seek out and transfer the deepest, darkest fantasy of the persons being connected to it. This fantasy is then revealed to the other. No matter how well you try to hide it, the machine, if it works correctly, will find the fantasy and the other person will know it. Even better, he or she will actually be part of it. Like being in a holographic simulation. If you, for example, think of walking in a wood, the other person sees you doing so. But he can also hear the birds whistling, feel the wind blow, and smell the odors of the vegetation. It is as if the other person is actually in the woods with the other. Both persons can even interact. You can talk to another, walk together through the wood, hold hands... isn't that fascinating?" Dr. Adams concluded.

Tom had to suppress a smile. He liked the idea walking alone in the woods with this Julia. And holding hands.

"Well, the aim of the machine is to make it easier for people to explain things to others. Words can be notoriously inadequate for the latter. The first name for the machine was "Thought Transmitter", but it can also be used to transmit ones deepest secrets and fantasies to others. And since that can be very embarrassing or even humiliating, we have dubbed the machine the "Sartre Device", after the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, who wrote in one of his plays "Hell, that is the others."

"Is that the play in which three people are locked together in hell after their deaths, which is a room where they have to spend eternity together? And in turn they are each others' torturer and victim, not out of sadism, but because their being together simply goes that way?" Julia asked.

"Right, Julia. It is a cynical name for this great invention, but OK. So, if there are no questions, are you in?"

"Wait, does that mean she will be able to read my thoughts?" Tom asked.

"Not all your thoughts during this experiment. Only your deepest fantasy. If the experiment succeeds, that is. But I am confident it will," Dr. Adams replied.

"No way," Julia exclaimed. "That guy here probably dreams about having sex in a perverse way or something. And I'll be his "target" certainly. Not with me!" She stood up and headed for the exit.

"Fine. Then you'll be expelled. I understand your parents came here from Mexico to make sure you had a better future and work hard to afford the costs of your study. But I'm sure they'll understand. Absolutely," Dr. Adams said.

Julia stopped walking. She sighted with an annoyed expression. "All right, damn you!" she said and went back to her seat muttering something in Spanish. She was probably cursing the doctor.

"How long does it take?" Tom asked.

"About two hours. Maybe three."

Two, three hours. Either that, or being expelled from university, Tom thought. What was his darkest, deepest fantasy? He couldn't think of anything. And what would be the fantasy of Julia? Probably she wanted to be rich, famous, married to some celebrity guy or something like that. How terrible could that be, to experience that? Hell, he was probably going to be that celebrity and life the life of a rich and famous guy, if only in a fantasy for a little while. Some punishment....

"All right, I'm in," he said. Julia watched him carefully. She obviously was looking for clues what kind of guy he was, so she could prepare for what was coming. Tom grinned at her.

"Trying to read my mind? Don't worry. Soon, you will know, heh, heh," he laughed. Julia replied in Spanish. Tom only understood the word "cretino".

He and Julia had to take their chairs and place them under the caps. After being seated on them again, Dr. Adams lowered the caps over their heads.

"Relax," he said. "Just let it come. No harm will be done."

Dr. Adams went towards the computer and clicked here and there with the mouse on the screen. The Sartre Device sprang to life. Tom started to feel light-headed, as if his mind was being emptied. Unconsciously, he closed his eyes. The experiment had begun.