[TheRaisin]

Ma'am scanned over the printout handed to her by a secretary, and let out a long string of curses.
"I knew it! Look at this." She showed the printout to the nearest technician. "See? The specialized brainwaves are developing too quickly. Having the two of them in contact is amplifying it. Their powers are developing too quickly and independently, and we could lose control of them."
The lab technician tapped his chin. "We could always boost the control level on the chips," he said.
Ma'am thought. "I can't risk it. In 58 percent of the tests something went wrong when we boosted the control level. If they get out of hand we can always regain control, but if they die there's no way to salvage the project. Hold off for now." She glanced at the monitors. "Whoops. Better catch our little guinea pigs before they get away."
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Ian

I watched from the ground as the gargantuan clay-brown ship moved into position. Even in orbit it was visible. An intense point of red light began to grow beneath the ship, showing that it was preparing to fire. But when it did, instead of a laser burning through the atmosphere it was a missile. It left a red-brown streak of smoke as it plummeted down and out of sight in the distance. Then a mushroom cloud rose up from the ground, reaching miles and miles into the air, rising into view behind the building-tops. Shortly after came the blast of air. Buildings flew apart like sandcastles being hit with a fire-hose. The building I stood in began to shake and sway, and the building dynamics that made it able to stand up to an earthquake ironically worsened the structural integrity in this instance. I saw the roof begin to collapse, then all was blackness.

I woke up with a shout, drenched in sweat. I tried to remember the nightmare but it was already gone, locked away in my subconscious mind. I noticed a bundle of clothes on the nightstand and looked around suspiciously, but whoever had left them was long gone. I showered and changed into the clothes, a simple pair of jeans and a bland white T-shirt, as well as a pair of sneakers I found at the foot of the bed. The door was unlocked, so I stepped out.
Well, that's some improvement, I thought.
I headed for the cafeteria we had seen the day before. Lyra was already there, dressed in similarly generic clothing. She looked up from the bowl of cereal on the table in front of her.
"Food's back there," she said, waving back towards a counter.
"I'm not hungry," I said.
"Neither am I," she replied, pushing the cereal away with a look of disgust on her face.
"Any idea what this place is?" I asked.
"No..." She paused, and when she continued there was a sharp tinge of fear in her voice. "But it scares the hell out of me."
"Same here," I said. "I'm going to take a look around."
She stood up. "I'll come with. I'm going to go crazy if I spend another minute in here."
We walked out through the double doors. By silent agreement, we turned away from the hall leading to the eerie testing room, heading in the opposite direction. There were more numbered doors, identical to ours. Turning left, we saw a change in the monotony: a hall crossing this one, with multiple small offices and corridors. The office doors we found locked, and the corridors held no special interest, but to the right, at the end of the hall, was the most promising thing I had seen since I woke up the day before: an elevator. Finally, a way out.
We made a beeline for it. When we were halfway there, the black-haired woman from the day before walked out of one of the side-corridors and stopped in the middle of the hall with a fake look of surprise on her face.
Damn, I thought. She cut us off. Must have been watching us.
"Ah, there you are," she said cheerfully. "I was just about to come get you. Shall we get started?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned and started walking the way we had come, and we followed.
"I never got your name," Lyra said.
"You can call me Miss Fletcher," she replied.
"Miss Fletcher". Even her name sounds phony, I thought.
>Tell me about it,< Lyra's voice echoed in my head.
At the exact same moment, we stopped and stared at each other.
"Is something the matter?" Miss Fletcher asked.
Lyra recovered quickly. "Um, no, nothing."
"Miss Fletcher" started walking again, and Lyra pulled me after her.
>Can you hear me?< I asked, directing the question at her in my mind.
>I think so. Either that or I really have gone mad,< came the reply.
>This keeps getting weirder and weirder,< I thought. >Are we... really communicating telepathically?<
>It would appear so.<
>Do you think it has something to do with why we're here?< I asked.
>I... I don't know. But whatever's going on, she doesn't seem to know,< she said, flicking her eyes at the woman in front of us. >And I have a feeling it would be best if we keep it that way, at least till we can get some information.<
>Good idea. Keep your eyes open. If anything seems off, we should tell each other. And.... you'd better stay on your toes.<
>You too,< she said.