The note read:

Dear Penelope,
Please accept from me this token of esteem. For best enjoyment, use it when you are alone, relaxed, and comfortable.
Regards,
Cyril

Removed from its envelope, the note rested on a layer of untied ribbon and torn wrapping paper beside an opened parcel box, all of which had been placed on an end table next to a plush lounge chair. A youthful, attractive woman with long black hair sat in the chair, with her bare feet propped up on an ottoman. She wore three things: a red silk dressing gown on her body, a uniquely shaped band around her head, and a look of wide-eyed bewilderment on her face.

The woman stared straight ahead in perpetual bemusement. She sat almost completely still, with only the small, rhythmic movements of her chest as she breathed, and an occasional random twitching of her fingers and toes, indicating that she was even alive.

A short time earlier, she had come home to find the parcel awaiting her outside the door to her flat. She had brought it inside and opened the card. Smiling at the surprise gift from a colleague, she had taken the message in the note to heart. Before opening the package, she had changed into her favorite robe, taken a seat in her comfiest chair, put her feet up, and pushed all thoughts of a stressful day out of her mind.

Once opened, the box had revealed the headband that the woman now wore. She didn’t immediately grasp its purpose. While soft to the touch, its composition of metallic weave, with small hints of circuitry threaded throughout, indicated it had a utilitarian purpose, rather than an ornamental one. Curious, she had placed it on her head.

The band had fit snugly without being too tight. It neither itched, nor irritated, and in fact felt as cozy as a knit winter cap. Not only had the woman been glad to find no discomfort in wearing it, but almost immediately she found the wisdom in her associate’s recommended usage of it. For within a second putting it on, the band had begun transmitting tiny electrical impulses through her hair into her skin. The pulses tingled in a sensually enticing way, causing her to feel like she was receiving a luxurious massage.

After a minute or so of enjoyment, the woman had suddenly felt something else. This new sensation had been sharper and more intense, just shy of being painful. Thinking perhaps that the device was malfunctioning, she had decided to remove it...when she realized with alarm that she couldn’t.

She couldn’t take the headband off because she couldn’t move at all. Fortunately, she wasn’t so paralyzed that she couldn’t breathe. But other than her autonomic functions, and the occasional involuntary twitching of her digits, she found herself utterly immobilized.

There she sat, unable to move, a stupefied expression locked onto her face, and strange electrical stimulation coursing through her head.

Then, once again, the pulses changed. Their intensity lessened, and they returned to a more soothing nature. But now, despite their more benign feel, the micro-charges penetrated deep into the woman’s skull, targeting both the sleep and pleasure centers of her brain.

In direct response to this new stimulation, the woman’s expression softened into a droopy-eyed grin. A sleepy contentment settled over her, slowly tugging her down from wakefulness into an opiatic state of bliss. With her awareness pleasantly blurred, she perceived only one thing--a voice.

She distantly recognized the voice as that of her colleague, the gift giver. It said two simple phrases to her, repeated over and over:

“You will submit, you will obey. You submit, you will obey. You will submit, you will obey…”

As she listened to words, the woman entered into a trance-like sleep. She dreamed of the face that belonged to the voice. Sound and image interwove and became the whole of her reality. Soon, her mouth opened, and she unknowingly spoke the only thoughts within her mind:

“I will submit, I will obey. I will submit, I will obey. I will submit, I will obey…”

The headband continued transmitting its impulses into the woman’s head for several minutes, until at last its program determined that her mind had been rendered as pliable and receptive as it needed to be. At that point, it quietly and unobtrusively shut itself down, having completed its part in her brainwashing.

For a while longer, the woman continued saying her new mantra, as the image of her colleague remained in her mind. Though the headband no longer played the voice into her ears, still she heard it in her dream. And still she stayed euphorically happy.

Eventually, the woman awoke. She yawned and stretched, and thought how wonderful a gift the massaging headband had been. She hadn’t felt so relaxed in ages. When she had arrived home an hour before, she had felt physically tired and emotionally weary. But now, she felt both invigorated and completely at ease.

The woman decided that she would have to thank her colleague for this token of esteem. She would need to tell him what she thought of it, and what she thought of him. With his voice and face still resonating through her subconscious, she smiled and realized that a note from her wouldn’t suffice. No, it wouldn’t at all. Instead, she would go to him and tell him all of these thoughts in person.