Chapter 27 - (part twenty-one)

“Hungry, Lina?” Mim teased, in a maddeningly casual manner.

As if on cue, Lina felt a sharp pang in the pit of her stomach. She winced and clutched her abdomen.

“My patience has worn thin, Lina. And I don’t have patience for *anything* thin. So, let's try this again,” said Mim. “I hope with more luck this time.”

From a small hatch in a console she produced a metallic circlet similar to the one she had used several weeks prior, when she had attempted to determine what it was that Lina craved—which, at the time, was nothing. But things had been much different then, when Lina was still possessed of her prodigious willpower.

“We have been preparing for this for a long time,” Mim declared with an air of finality, as she placed the circlet around Lina’s temples.

A series of panels spread out from behind the cybernetic recliner’s headrest, partially encircling Lina's head. The recliner and its many sensors, the circlet, WIDE-AS and its mind interface—all were working in conjunction to search Lina’s unconscious thoughts for a weakness…a food craving, the thing that would finally break her.

Images gradually coalesced before Lina’s eyes, a visual parade of foodstuffs. Only this time, there was no surplus of willpower as a buffer against these temptations. Lina was much too hungry and exhausted.

Her stomach growled again.

“Now,” said Mim. “Let’s just see if we can find out exactly what it is that can whet your appetite.”

Mim carefully observed several readouts as Lina tensed up in the chair and tried to exert any remnant of her rapidly dwindling determination, and when she realized that even this was failing her, she tried her utmost to lose herself in a sort of generalized hunger, focusing on the emptiness of her stomach.

Mim modulated her voice so that it took on a sort of sing-song quality. “You must be so very hungry by now, Lina. You can't hold out forever. I just need you to think clearly for me. You can do that, can't you, Lina? There's no harm in thoughts, is there? I just need you to think of a food that has brought you intense joy, and how perfect that would taste right now. What is that food, Lina?”

Lina knew what Mim was doing and tried to clutter her own mind, forcing her thoughts to race wildly between unrelated images and mental white noise. But now she was aware of a comforting, warm, and vaguely familiar aroma in the air, something wonderful and rich and sweet-smelling.

Images of dozens of foods flashed through Lina's mind, first by category, then becoming more specific. Holographic manifestations of these foods began to come into focus, multiplying until they became a parade of culinary imagery.

“You feel that hunger gnawing away at you, Lina? You can end that right now, and for good. You can finally be satisfied. What a relief it will be to just give in.” Mim’s voice was slowing down. “And you can just give in. There is nothing to worry about. You can be fat and happy. Fat is beautiful, Lina. Fat is where it’s at. Your friend Daesti already knows this, and remember how contented she looked when I gave you that sneak preview of her new figure! You can be that content, too. Think of what you'd like to eat, Lina. Is it something savory? Something sweet? Oh...what's this? Some positive biofeedback on something sweet!”

Lina’s autonomic responses were betraying her; her heart was racing now, her stomach rumbling. She could not stop thinking of exactly what she did not want to think of. The tears welled up again. “Please,” Lina pleaded pitifully. “Stop messing with my thoughts.”

“Someone has a sweet tooth,” taunted Mim.

Lina shook her head from side to side, choking back sobs.

The chair adjusted itself and now Lina was fully reclined. Mim walked up alongside her and patted Lina’s belly.

“Taut like a drum,” Mim said. “Listen to that hollow sound. How empty your belly is. So much room in there, begging to be filled. Let’s get some food in you.”

Lina squirmed.

“Let’s narrow it down a little further,” Mim said. “It’s only a matter of time."

There were only desserts now in the cavalcade of images dancing in Lina’s field of vision. The representations floating before her were so lifelike and enticing that Lina grasped at the air. She felt so ravenous that she could have wolfed down any of them. But they were only images, without substance, she reminded herself.

But at last there appeared an image of something that she absolutely could not refuse...if only it were real.