It had been some months, not that Brett had noticed them. His mind had been too addled to really be up for any kind of thought. His days and nights were filled with the focusing music and the spirals and the instructions and none of them left time for him to put two thoughts together. Workout, eat, workout more, sleepâhis routine was mechanical.
However, one day he had been ordered into a small room in the warehouse he hadnât been in before. The door closed, the lock clicked, and suddenly, the spirals and the music all turned off. Brett sat there for 5 minutes or so, his mind pulling itself back together after being in trance for so long. When it did, he looked around groggily. When he saw his arm, he jumped and swore. âIâm huge! What the hell? Where am I?â
A voice sounded over the PA system. âHello, and welcome to your Final Orientation.â
None of this was making any sense to Brett. âMy what?!â
"Your Final Orientation, my boy." Brett could feel a smile creeping into the voiceâs tone over the PA. "Iâve been working with you for the past few months to get you bulked up. You had this skater boi look that just wasnât what me or my clients wanted. So youâve been robotically working out for 6 months or so, taking supplements, and here we are."
"But⌠but howâŚ"
"How did I influence you? Simplicity itself. After you listened to my MP3 that reshaped your psyche, you were put into a deep trance. I just had to maintain it." Without Brett noticing, the music played softly in the background again. "Here, you look thirsty, my boy. How about a drink?" A panel slid open containing a sport bottle with a purple liquid.
Before he could think, Brett grabbed the bottle and drank half right off. He shook himself then. âWhat was in that drink?!â
"Just your supplements, my boy. Itâs what made you the many you are today. Here, let me show you." The far wall of the chamber seemed to turn into a mirror. "See, look for yourself. Youâre a full-blown muscle man now. Just watch those muscles tighten and loosen with every movement of those massive arms of yours."
Brettâs eyes involuntarily went to his arms, becoming fascinated by their motion. âBut⌠I didnât want this. I wanted to be a skater,â he said distractedly.
"But how could that compare to this, my boy? The pattern of those rippling muscles feels so good, doesnât it? That tension is good to hold in some places and relax in others. You may grow a little tired while you hold that tension, but then the relaxation after you release is so good."
"Yeah." Brettâs mind was already beginning to whirl as he fell under the influence of the induction.
"In fact, youâre starting to get tired of the tension, arenât you? The relaxation after it is so much better than it just seems to flow over everything, taking that delicious feeling to every corner of your body."
Brettâs body melted, his head lolling.
"Thatâs right, just let it all relax and soften and go deeper. Donât you want to?"
"Yesh," Brett said with what little control he had left. His mind was mush, putty in the hands of the voice.
"Good, just relax and listen and watch and believe."
In his control room, the master flipped a switch, turning the room into a sea of spirals and started piping the brainwashing material in there. Heâd always had to wake his subjects before the final brainwashing. They had to notice the changes to get their psyche in the right state to accept they were a new person. New body, new mind, new life. Pretty soon Brettâs personality would be that of a totally obedient muscle slave, working out to keep that figure and obeying his master at all other times. He looked at Brett over the monitor.
"Youâre just too cute to let go, my boy. Guess my stableâs just going to have to increase by oneâŚ"



















