"What do you think of it?" Shannon asks.

Meet Vivi: Black hair, dark complexion, deeply beautiful eyes, lithe figure, decidedly lovely.

"Except for all the weird, oogie, creepy exhibits," Vivi says, "it's fine, I guess."

"Well, it is called the Museum of Strange Science. So, you'd kind of expect some weird, oogie, and creepy exhibits."

"I guess you would at that. My question is, why are we here?"

Even facing away from Vivi, Shannon can feel her lover's stare on the back of her head. She winces and turns around.

"Because...we need more culture in our lives?"

"More culture than we could get at the art gallery, the book festival, or even the regular science museum, all of which are open right now?"

"Okay, okay," Shannon says with a deflated pout. "Getting more culture isn't the reason I brought you here."

"Dragged me here," Vivi says pointedly.

"Ugh, yeah, okay, it's not why I dragged you here."

"But there is a reason?"

"Yeah, there's a reason."

"Which you're avoiding telling me for as long as possible because I'm going to think it's one of the following--"

"Crazy, ridiculous, or whacked beyond words," Shannon interjects, counting the oft-heard choices on her fingers.

Vivi nods sternly. Shannon sighs. Then Vivi laughs.

"Shan, I love you. And part of loving you is knowing you'll drag me to things that are crazy, ridiculous, or whacked beyond words. It's okay. It's what makes you you."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. So spit it out already. Why are we here?"

Excitement floods back into Shannon, flushing her cheeks and pushing her speech throttle into overdrive.

"My hope was that this place, being all about strange science and tech and inventions and everything, and also having lots and lots of interactive exhibits, 36 of them to be exact, might have a hands-on display about...mind control."

All of that shoots from Shannon's mouth in about a second and a half. Being nothing short of a pro when it comes to deciphering her girlfriend's rapid-fire-speed-demon outbursts, Vivi nods in acknowledgment.

"Okay. You're hoping they have an interactive mind control exhibit. Got it."

"Yeah!"

"Do you really think that's likely?"

"..."

"Shannon?"

"No," Shannon says quietly, then a bit louder and with more enthusiasm, "but they might."

"All right. Let's see if we can find your possible-but-not-probable interactive mind control exhibit."

"Yes!"

"But if they do, it's not my mind that's getting controlled."

"No, no, of course not."

Shannon shakes her head vehemently in punctuation of her point. But the twinkle in her eye says something very different.

Twenty-four minutes and nearly as many exhibits later, the young women approach the last remaining room that they haven't seen. Unlike any of the previous rooms, this one has a door. Hanging from the doorknob, a large-lettered sign announces that the exhibit is closed.

"Well, that sucks," Vivi says, putting a consoling hand on Shannon's shoulder. "Knowing our luck, this is probably the exhibit we're looking for. Oh, well. Ready to go?"

"Hey, look," Shannon says in that tone of hers that means she didn't hear a word that Vivi just said. "The door's ajar."

Shannon walks to the door and opens it enough to peak in.

"Shannon, no," Vivi says quietly but insistently. "It's supposed to be closed, so close it and let's get out of here before someone sees us."

Pulling back from the door, Shannon turns around. For the briefest instant, Vivi is relieved. But then she see the gleefully unfettered Christmas morning! Toys! Toys! Pancake breakfast! Toys! Toys! Toys! gleam in Shannon's eyes, and she knows this is the start of a world of trouble.

"Shannon. No."

"We found it, Vivi! We hit the--"

"Shannon--"

"JACKPOT!"

Vivi finds her hand suddenly grabbed and then herself yanked forward through the flung open door into the room. Once inside, Shannon releases her and squeals with delight at what she sees.

Knowing that nothing short of superhuman strength will pry Shannon away from here until all of her curiosity is sated, Vivi shrugs the shrug she has shrugged numerous times before, which means the harness has closed over her, the car has started moving, and it's too late to get off the roller coaster.

She turns around, moves back to the door, and carefully eyes the hallway outside. Seeing no one around, she feels more assured. She closes the door, then turns back to find out what exactly Shannon has gotten them into.

The room is small. It holds only Vivi, Shannon, and the object that Shannon can't take her eyes off at the far wall. Another four or five people could comfortably fit in it, but any more would be a squeeze.

Vivi steps around Shannon to check out the thing that has her girlfriend so excited. At heart, it's a chair--oddly shaped and styled, with lots of bizarre accessories attached to it, but still, at its most basic, just a chair.

"The mind control exhibit?" Vivi asks.

"The interactive mind control exhibit," Shannon says, staring in awe at it and waving halfheartedly at a placard on the wall that states more or less that.

"Nifty. Too bad the exhibit's closed, and there's no one here to control a mind, or have their mind controlled for that matter."

Shannon turns and gawks at Vivi with an expression of absolute incomprehension on her face.

"What do you mean there's no one here?" she says, completely ignoring the point about the exhibit being closed. "We're here."

"True. And if you want to plop your cute butt in the seat and see how that things works, have at it. But I already told you I wasn't going to be the subject."

"But why not? Don't you trust me? We hypnotize each other at home all the time, and we always have a blast."

"We sure do. At home, where it's safe, secure, and private," Vivi says. "Under very specific guidelines that we never waver from, one of which is that both of us have to want to do it. I don't want to do this...whatever the hell this is anyway."

"Okay, okay, you're right," Shannon says. "I just wanted to have some fun. But it's not fair to make you do something you're not comfortable with."

"Good. So, seen enough? Can we go now? We can come back another time when the exhibit is open, and maybe then you can see a demonstration."

Shannon's hurt puppy expression lightens a bit.

"But I still won't be the subject," Vivi says definitively.

Shannon sours again.

"Right, right, got it."

Vivi turns to leave. She takes a step towards the door, then Shannon clears her throat.

"Hey, Vivi?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry about this."

"It's okay. No harm, no foul."

"No, I mean about this: Swirly eyes hypnotize."

Now that is surely an odd thing to say, either to your girlfriend, or to anyone. Although, interestingly enough, Vivi doesn't comment on how odd it is. In fact, what she herself does is equally odd:

She turns back around to face Shannon. Her eyes have grown wide, and she stares blankly ahead. With slow, even movements, she reaches down and takes off her shoes one at a time. Then she does the same with her socks. Now she stands there, barefoot and bedazed.

Shannon beams as she drinks in the sight of her lovely, sexy girlfriend, who now embodies two of her favorite fetishes: mind control and bare feet.

If you're confused as to what exactly is happening, here's the explanation: Shannon triggered a post-hypnotic suggestion that she had previously implanted in Vivi's mind. Does Vivi know she has such a trigger that can be used to zonk her out like that? Good question. Perhaps an even better question is, what happens now that Vivi has been triggered? It looks like Shannon will answer that one...

"Vivi, you are now hypnotized, with no will of your own," she tells her entranced lover. "You will do whatever I say."

"I am hypnotized, with no will of my own," Vivi says in a quiet drawl. "I will do whatever you say."

"Great! Go sit in that chair."

Vivi walks calmly over to the chair and sits down in it.

"All right," Shannon says to herself, "now I just need to figure out how to make it work..."

She looks around until she finds a remote control attached to one side of the chair. She detaches it and gives it the once over, trying to figure out what the buttons do. Soon enough, she nods in understanding. Then she clicks a button.

Restraints quietly slide forth from the armrests to encircle Vivi's wrists. Shannon clicks another button. With a low hum, the chair unfolds itself into a recliner, raising up a footrest that elevates and supports Vivi's legs. Smiling at the delightful sight of her girlfriend's bare soles, Shannon clicks a third button. Now a bowl-shaped, lamp-like object lowers down from the ceiling on an extending metal pole. It stops a little ways above Vivi's head.

"Okay, I think I've got this," Shannon says. "Vivi, when I snap my fingers, you're going to wake up from your trance. You won't remember being hypnotized. Instead, you'll remember that I cajoled you into trying out this exhibit, which is why you're sitting there ready to be--hopefully--mind controlled by it."

Shannon snaps. Vivi blinks, and then her gaze regains its sharp focus.

"Really, Shan? You have to strap me into this thing?"

"Hey, I didn't plan that. I just pressed a button, and those straps appeared."

"Sure, fine, whatever. Can you press the one that melts my brain or whatever it does, so I don't have to sit here all day?"

"With pleasure, my love."

Shannon clicks the button.

From within the bowl-lamp, soft yellow light emanates. It begins to pulse rhythmically in time with a mellow buzzing that has started. Shannon watches it intently for several seconds.

"Do you feel anything?" she asks Vivi. "Is it doing anything?"

"I don't feel anything. I don't know if it's doing anything."

"Well, tell me if that changes."

"I will tell you if that changes."

Then Shannon notices the slow cadence to Vivi's words. She lowers her gaze from the object above her girlfriend's head to her girlfriend. Vivi sits perfectly still. Her eyes are open, but they droop drowsily. She wears a sleepy grin on her pretty face.

"Well, that's kind of cool," Shannon says. "Let's see now...Vivi, you will address me as Mistress."

"Yes, Mistress."

"You will obey me and do everything I say."

"I will obey you, Mistress, and do everything you say."

"Sweet! It's like hypnosis, but it does the induction for you. I like it!"

Shannon clicks the same button again. The pulsing light and buzzing over Vivi's head stop. Vivi quickly loses the sleepy expression.

"Have you figured it out yet?" she asks with no small amount of impatience.

"Hey, you didn't call me Mistress."

"No, I sure didn't."

"Hm," Shannon mumbles to herself, pondering with a frown. "Maybe the control only lasts while it's on. That's a bummer. I wonder if it works the same at a higher setting."

"Seriously, Shan. Please either control my mind, or let me out of this thing, preferably the latter."

"You got it, babe," Shannon says, clicking the next button on the remote.

The bowl-lamp lowers down a little bit. Then the light and buzzing start up again, more intense this time. Their effect on Vivi occurs just as it did before. Shannon repeats her previous command to be called Mistress. Vivi readily consents through her sleepy smile.

"And," Shannon continues, "when I wake you up, you will very much want me to tickle your feet. Plus, you'll randomly say banana for no reason, although you won't realize you're doing it."

Clicking the same button again turns off the machine. Vivi rouses.

"Mistress, please hurry up. This may be fun for you, but I'm bored out of my mind. Banana. Couldn't you at least tickle my feet while you're figuring out how this stupid machine works?"

"Did you just call me Mistress?"

"What? No, I called you...Shannon? Or, no, wait, did I call you Mistress? Banana. Oh my gosh, I did call you Mistress. Weird."

"Or not so weird," Shannon says smugly.

"What's going on, Mistress? Did you get the machine to work or not?"

"You don't remember?"

"Banana."

"What?"

"I said that all I remember is sitting here, being bored, and wanting to go home, Mistress. Why won't you tickle my feet? I'm asking nicely."

If not for being so wrapped up in all the fun of mind control, Shannon would certainly rush over to Vivi and give those luscious feet a tickling they wouldn't soon forget. But wrapped up she is, so she stays focused on the task at hand.

"I'll tickle them later," she says. "Right now, I have one more setting to test out."

"Banana," Vivi says.

With a chuckle, Shannon clicks the next button. The bowl-lamp lowers so that it covers the top of Vivi's head. The now very intense lights and buzzing start, as does Vivi's contented drowsiness.

"That's enough," says a voice from behind Shannon.

Shannon whirls around. She sees a man standing in the open doorway. She gulps loudly.

"Give me the remote," the man says, stepping forward.

"Um, what remote?" Shannon asks, moving her arms back behind her.

"You've had your fun. But now it's over. From the looks of it, you haven't done any damage to either the equipment, or your friend. Lucky for you. So hand it over. Now."

Shannon hems and haws. The man glares at her.

"Fine, I need to test the override settings, anyway," he says, then in a louder voice, "Initiate code 42."

The light from the bowl-lamp changes hue to a bright green. Along with that, the pulses and buzzing change to a faster tempo. Vivi trembles beneath it, though she continues smiling.

"Slave, you will obey me," the man says.

"Yes, Master," Vivi says. "I will obey you."

"What? No!" Shannon says. "Vivi, don't obey him! You're supposed to obey me!"

Vivi doesn't respond.

"System, release," the man says.

In rapid succession, the lights and buzzing cease, the bowl-lamp lifts up from Vivi's head, the restraints around her arms open, and the chair folds down into its upright position.

"Slave, stand up and come here."

"Yes, Master."

"Stop telling my girlfriend what to do!" Shannon yells at the man, as Vivi obliviously carries out her orders.

"Slave," the man says, ignoring Shannon's outburst, "take this woman and prepare her for processing."

"Yes, Master."

As she is about to angrily protest--possibly with a fist to the man's chin or a kick to his privates--Shannon feels a vice-like grip below her shoulder. She turns to see Vivi standing beside her, wearing a serenely blank expression and tightly gripping her arm.

"Come with me," Vivi says with a relaxed indifference that belies her iron grasp.

"No, Vivi, listen to me! Wake up! Snap out of it!"

Without responding, Vivi turns back to the chair and starts moving towards it, dragging Shannon with her. When she reaches it, she pushes Shannon into it and holds her down. From behind her, the man clicks two buttons on the remote. The restraints close over Shannon's arms, and the chair unfolds back into a recliner. All the while, Shannon alternates between pleading with Vivi and cursing at the man, and getting no reaction from either of them.

It is then that the man notices that Vivi is barefoot. He sees her discarded shoes and socks on the floor, and raises a curious eyebrow.

"I'm not sure what that's all about, but I like it," he thinks, then says aloud, "Slave, bare the subject's feet."

Vivi complies and strips off Shannon's shoes and socks to a chorus of more pleading. When she is finished, she turns back to the man.

"The subject is ready to be processed, Master."

"Good. Given that your friend satisfactorily tested the rinse and soak levels on you, I think we can skip those and initiate a full wash. That way, both of my lovely subjects will be at the same level."

"Yes, Master."

"No!" Shannon cries. "No! No, please!"

The man clicks the button. Once again, the bowl-lamp lowers down, stopping only when it covers the top of Shannon's head. Then, the bright yellow light and loud buzzes begin, pulsing out their strange beat. 

Shannon's jaw drops, and her eyes flutter. She sways under the power of the machine. Her eyelids droop. Her lips slowly spread into dopey grin. She flexes her toes and sighs contentedly. It feels to her as though the graceful hands of a skilled masseuse soothingly massage every inch of her body all at once. Its effect on her mind is much more insidious, though, casually draining away her ability to think, remember, or care.

Then, with the man watching the process intently, and with Vivi standing mindlessly beside her--neither able to stop it, nor even knowing that it's happening--Shannon undergoes a thorough brainwashing.

And like her girlfriend before her, she enjoys every second of it.