[TheRaisin]

Hmm. I have no opening comments whatsoever. Oh well. More room for the story, then.

Lyra

We followed Ms. Fletcher in silence. I was at the same time nervous but exhilerated by this new discovery. I wondered how we gotten this ability to speak telepathically. I had no doubt that it was in some way related to our being in this place: what were the odds of two people getting amnesia from being knocked out in the same attack in the same place, waking up in the same hospital, and both discovering they had telepathy?
Practically infinitessimal, I thought, answering my own question. There was no way this had happened by chance, and I sincerely doubted it had happened exactly the way Ms. Fletcher told us.
She led us down the hall in the opposite direction of the elevator. We walked by the empty, locked offices and small corridors, finally taking a right into a larger hallway.
"We've determined that your minds are all right, and I expect you'll regain your memory. And your immune systems don't seem to have suffered. So now we just have to build up your muscles again. We had equipment to keep them from deteriorating completely, but you can count on a lot of muscle loss when you're comatose for three months," Ms. Fletcher said.
I looked at Ian, and he did indeed look somewhat wasted, like an antenna that might snap in the wind. I knew I looked the same way.
Ms. Fletcher shoved open a door and held it open as we walked into golden sunlight.
"Wow," Ian remarked.
"Yeah," I said simply.
We stood in a sort of exercise yard, with tall fences on three sides and the grey wall of the building behind us. The area was filled with exercise equipment, even a climbing wall complete with harnesses. The sun was just climbing over the hilly horizon, filling the sharp crystal-clear air with a soft warm light. The only clouds visible in the sky were a few pastel pink and purple tinged whisps hanging over the hills, lit from behind by the sun. The rest of the sky was a light matte blue. A lush green lawn surrounded the building. Towering pine trees rose suddenly out of the ground a few hundred yards away, reaching up over the hills and beyond into the low mountains like a green shag carpet. The air smelled damp and fresh, like fall. It appeared Ms. Fletcher had been telling the truth when she said we were in Oregon.
"Thought you might like it," she said. "Hang out here for a while. Try out some of the machines, and get your muscles back to normal. I'll be back in a while." She walked back in and shut the door behind her.
"It's... not that great," Ian said. Then, giving up the ruse, he said, "Aw, what the hell" and ran towards the climbing tower, grabbing one of the artificial rocks and hauling himself up. I picked up a bike that felt as if it were made for me, and zoomed across the area, the tires leaving tracks in the well-packed dirt.
>You know as well as I do that this is just to blind us, make us content so we don't find out something we're not supposed to,< Ian pointed out in telespeak.
>Good enough for me,< I said, and zoomed off a small dirt kicker.
We ran around for what must have been hours, trying all kinds of exercise equipment and structures that any high school gym coach would have killed for. Finally my endurance ran out, and I slumped contentedly onto a bench, laughing. Ian reached the top of the climbing tower, and struck a "Thinker" pose, his legs dangling over the edge with his chin on his hand and his brow furrowed in mock concentration.
>This is the best day I've ever had!< I exclaimed in my mind.
Ian laughed in telespeak. >That's not saying much, is it?<
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"Look at them. They're like lab rats given a piece of cheese, happy because they don't know there's anything more." Ms. Fletcher watched from the monitor room, as was her habit.
"That's what we want, isn't it?" asked one of the technicians.
"Good point. We'll keep 'em content with drugs and exercise and the chips buried in their little brains, and we'll own them. They'll do anything we want." Ms. Fletcher rubbed her hands together with a look of sick satisfaction.