“So… You are telling me this is all legal?”
“Well, yes, of course, it is.”
“I just, I can’t imagine how it could be.”
“Everyone who’s involved with this experiment agreed to it.”
“Do they know they agreed?”
“If they read the fine print then yes they do.”
“Has… Has anyone actually read the fine print?”
Two men in lab coats rounded the corner, one almost jogging to keep up with the other while looking intently into his face. “I mean, they wouldn’t agree to it if they had. There is no way!”
The man with the handheld device displaying graphs and analytics smiled wryly.
“That part isn’t any of my concern. The experiment had to be conducted this way or the data wouldn’t be raw.”
“I, I just can’t get over the fact that you got everyone living in this place to agree.”
“You wouldn’t imagine what people are willing to overlook for a few added perks and creature comforts.”
“It doesn’t, I mean… Does it feel wrong to you? In any way?”
“This is your first week. You will get used to the idea of it once you see them in action. If people are alright with being lab rats who am I to tell them they can’t.”
“But that’s just it, it doesn’t feel to me like they realize that’s what they’ve become!”
“Well, maybe not, but they should know the golden rule innately if they are worth a damn.”
“What golden rule is that?”
“Nothing is ever free.” The answer was callused.
The man asking questions paused while the other walked ahead, eyes pinned to the changing charts and graphs. “I thought you were going to say something like, ‘Always read the fine print.'”
He chuckled. “Ah, a sense of humor, that would have brought the topic full circle,” The man hurried to catch up as his compatriot disappeared around the next bend in the sanitized hall. “That will serve you well here, try not to overthink it, Dr. Kraus. It will land you in a padded room on holiday.”
A light flickered and dimmed slightly, the camera on the ceiling followed the figures out of view and then repositioned itself on the end of the hall they’d come from.