Meera didn't scream.
Not because she wasn't afraid.
But because fear had already been consumed by something stronger.
"Rani…" she whispered again.
This time, no one stopped her.
Because silence inside this place didn't care about names.
The hands holding her loosened slightly.
Not out of mercy.
But procedure.
A voice spoke calmly:
"Subject shows emotional instability."
Another voice responded:
"Begin stabilization protocol."
Meera's breathing slowed for a second.
Not naturally.
Forcing.
Controlled.
And then—
the system began.
A soft light filled the room.
Not bright.
Not harsh.
Just… steady.
A voice echoed from the walls:
"Identity is flexible."
Meera's eyes narrowed.
"What is this…?"
The voice continued:
"Attachment detected."
A pause.
"Attachment is risk."
The screen in front of her changed.
Now it showed images.
Not random.
Her life.
Meera as a child.
Meera in school.
Meera at home.
Then—
Rani.
Meera's body froze instantly.
"Stop…" she whispered.
The system continued:
"Emotional dependency identified."
A pause.
"Correction required."
Meera suddenly struggled again.
"NO—don't touch her!"
But no one touched anything.
Because the system didn't need hands.
Only control.
Elsewhere in the facility…
Rani was sitting in a separate chamber.
Still weak.
Still silent.
But not absent.
A faint sound reached her ears.
Meera's voice.
Her eyes slowly opened.
"Meera…" she whispered.
A technician nearby spoke:
"Subject shows external emotional trigger response."
Rani didn't understand the terms.
But she understood the feeling.
Meera was close.
Too close.
Back in Meera's chamber—
the system continued:
"Option A: Detach emotional link."
A pause.
"Option B: Preserve subject memory under compliance."
Meera laughed suddenly.
A broken sound.
"You think love is a file you can delete?"
Silence.
Then the system replied:
"Love is a pattern."
A pause.
"Patterns can be rewritten."
Meera's eyes filled with rage now.
"You don't know what love is."
The system responded calmly:
"Love has been recorded in 98.6% of behavioral subjects."
A pause.
"Most outcomes result in instability."
Meera whispered:
"So what… you erase it?"
"No," the system said.
"We stabilize it."
The walls shifted slightly.
Doors unlocking in a controlled sequence.
Meera suddenly realized something.
This wasn't interrogation.
This was transformation.
Her wrist tag beeped.
New instruction:
"Proceed to Conditioning Unit."
Meera looked toward the corridor.
Dark.
Long.
Silent.
And somewhere inside that silence…
Rani was waiting.
Or being changed.
Meera stepped forward.
Not because she agreed.
But because she refused to stop moving.
"I'm coming," she whispered.
Not to the system.
Not to the room.
To Rani.
As she walked, a final message appeared on the screen behind her:
"Attachment detected at critical level.
Subject unlikely to detach voluntarily."
The system paused.
Then added:
"Begin deeper intervention."
And somewhere far inside the facility…
a door opened for Rani too.