The interrogation rooms, like everything else, had become comfortable, safe spaces. But that benign appearance with the frosted windows, beechwood table, and cushioned chair belied a sinister nature. There were restraints, for one thing, and Sandy found her wrists bound, kept by a metal bar in the table so she could not leave. She could see the faintest outlines and shadows of metal bars just beyond the frosted glass window. And then there was the camera in the corner of the room. Sandy had grown up with cameras and computers watching and analyzing her every move. But this one had a keen interest in her, always moving to keep her face in full view.

She had been left in the interrogation room for half an hour, an hour, she really didn’t know. So she yelled at a robot. That’s all they had on her. This was a scare tactic. Not even the apathetic populace of the day would allow Silicon Life to throw Sandy in jail for that. The world hadn’t fallen that far.

As for the other things . . .

. . . she thought as a shadow blocked the light coming through the frosted glass doorway. Sandy sat up, straightening her back and trying to put on a calm demeanor. She could beat this. She wasn’t afraid of Silicon Life’s robo guards. And she still wasn’t, even as a giant man more than a foot her height and over a hundred pounds her weight stepped into the room.

He was dressed nicely, long black coat over a tight fitting button up shirt. His goatee was well groomed and wore trendy circular glasses.

“And I thought today was going to be another boring-ass slog,” he said, smiling lightly at Sandy, “it’s not everyday the ur-Mockingbird falls into my lap.”

Sandy scoffed and rolled her eyes. She hated the phrase Mockingbirds. “So I yelled in public. Who cares?”

The officer’s smile never went away as he sat down across from her. “Oh, you’ve done so much more than that, and you know it. You’re not even thirty yet and you’ve had thirteen jobs in your life. Some for as long as three days. You have more pirated music than purchased. And you closed your LifeSpace after three months, barely logging into it and making just five friends.”

“Really?” Sandy asked, dumbfounded, “you’re holding me in here because I don’t have a fucking LifeSpace account? Because I don’t buy your products?”

The man waved her concerns away, “You misunderstand: these are not your crimes. These are symptoms of your problems, not the cause of your current predicament. Sandy, you are aimless and do not fit in with the society we have built. You . . .”

“I’m a discordance to harmony, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who gives a shit?”

“Everyone. If there’s one Mockingbird, there can and will be others. More and more Mockingbirds until society is in collapse, with each person singing a different song until they become a cacophonous noise. It is order that gives us strength. And you have no order..”

“Well, golly, gee, thanks. I’ll get right on finding that order so society can be happy again.”

The security officer put his finger up to his temple, unamused but unaffected by Sandy’s sarcasm.

“What if I told you we had a way to force you become part of the harmony of society?”

“I’d call you a liar.” Sandy said, sitting back as best she could with her manacled hands. Truth be told, her heart was exploding inside because it was beating so fast. She felt weak, shaky , and afraid. Sandy had never been caught before. Not after all . . .

. . . The security officer rose from his seat and towered over Sandy. Her cockiness had worn away. His calm face and measured responses started to creep into Sandy.

“Well, it’s true. The Silicon Life Corporation has been given a special dispensation by the government to help troubled individuals who are a threat to society, but not enough to go to prison. It forces them to merge peacefully into society and to enhance it. It’s called the Designate Program, and you are an excellent candidate for it.”

“I dunno you’re being very, uh, vague about this.” Sandy said, stumbling on her own words. She tasted the adrenaline that pushed her toward fight or flight, and neither option was available. Sandy gulped as the big man reached into his pocket.

She didn’t recognize the thing he brought out of it. Well, she did. But it looked fake. It was a copy of the collars all robots wore around their necks. A central jewel of some brightly colored material, and silver bands extending from that. This one looked strange. Well made and perfectly detailed. But the collar had several dozen small needles that lined the inside of the metal.

“Have you ever seen one of these not on a robot’s neck?” The security officer asked.

Sandy shook her head, turning her eyes, then her neck, then her body, to keep the officer in her view as he walked around the table and then around her. But wit the manacles and the chair rooted to the ground it was eventually no use.

She tried to stand up, but a giant hand pushed Sandy back down and pushed her head forward. She started to shout and then stopped as the metal collar slammed into her neck. She felt the thin, tiny needles jab into her skin.

“I am Designating you Unit 246261. You will become property of the Silicon Life Corporation. You will obey your Owners. You will obey your programming. You will become a productive member of society and will no longer be a discordance to harmony.”

Sandy’s eyes went wide and wild. She didn’t even hear the security officer’s words as she felt something pour into her body from the collar. Something both liquid and alive somehow. It pushed across and below her skin and made her numb and cold. The feeling came up to her eyes and for a moment Sandy went blind. When her vision returned just a moment later, though, she saw glowing green words in her eye.

[Beginning DESIGNATE Process . . .]