[TheRaisin]

Ian

Drifting.... falling.... silence. There was a great void in front of me, but at the far end was a golden light, beckoning me.
Come. There is no you or anyone else. You are part of something bigger and better. There are no troubles.
No... wait. There is an I. My name..... my name is.... my name is....
You have no name. There is only calm, and silence, and sleep. Simply--
Ian! My name is Ian. And I'm in a building, and I'm being captured by robots, and--
Lies. Lies your mind tells you. Here there are no lies. If you would just come forward--
No! I can't rest. Something's happening to me and... where's Lyra?
There is no--
I've got to help Lyra!
I turned away from the golden light and the enticing voice, which was now screaming at me in rage, but there was nothing it could do.
Fine. Leave. We'll meet again soon enough. I have an eternity to wait.
And suddenly I was caught up in some unseen stream, being pushed upwards, away from the golden light and back towards the other light at the opposite side of the void. Rather than being warm and golden, it was bright and stark and unnatural. I began to reconsider, but it was too late. I was thrust up, back into the real world, back into the sickening glow of the flourescent lights, back into life.

My eyes flicked open as if someone had thrown a switch. I was on an examination table of some sort, a plain gray metal slab. It was so cold it began to sting my bare hands. The room I was in had several long rows of these, each with bays of equipment and computers surrounding them. All around the walls of the room, the hulking black robots stood, silent and immobile. Ms. Fletcher blocked the door.
"Glad to see you're awake," she said.
"Where's Lyra?" I asked, wishing fervently that looks really could kill.
"My, you don't use your eyes much, do you? It's no secret." She pointed at the table next to me.
There, lying as still as stone, was Lyra. Her skin looked more unhealthy than usual, and her sleeping face was twisted into a frown.
"What did you do?!" I shouted.
"The robots just gave her a little something to calm her down. Although it seems they might have given her too much."
Looking again at Lyra, I realized she wasn't moving. My face twisted into a look of horror.
"Oh no..."
"Oh, don't worry, she's alive. We wouldn't just let her die. Of course, we can't guarantee she'll stay alive, as such. Comas can be very nasty. Sometimes people don't recover from them at all. And you know, with every month that passes the chances diminish." Her eyes narrowed. There was an unmistakable malice in her words that chilled me to my very soul.
I felt Lyra's hand. It felt unnaturally cold, but there was still a weak pulse. I began to telespeak, hoping I might be able to reach her, but as soon as I started a fierce pain jolted through my head, emanating from the base of my skull. I choked and gasped as the wind was knocked out of me, and tears of pain formed at the corners of my eyes.
"Oh, I wouldn't try that," Ms. Fletcher said with twisted delight in her voice, "we activated the safeguard in the chip at the back of your brain. Any telepathic activity, and it'll deliver a nice jolt of electricity."
"What is this place?" I asked.
"All your questions will be answered in due time. Now are you going to cooperate?"
I looked at Lyra, her face twisted in discomfort, her breathing shallow.
"I'll do whatever you want," I said. "Just help her."
Ms. Fletcher smiled. "I knew you would. That's the problem with people like you: you care too much. Find the right string to pluck, and you've got them under your control." She snapped her fingers and the machines surrounding Lyra sprang to life, monitoring her and attaching IVs.
"Follow me," she said.