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Suddenly you were awake. You remembered how you used to wake up; bleary eyed and groggy. This certainly wasn't like that. It was more like being snapped to attention, from dreamless slumber to mid-day alertness in an instant.

You tried to stand up. You couldn't move. Not an arm, not a finger, even your eyes stayed staring straight ahead. Your mind shook with angry anxiety but your muscles did not respond. You could feel your body, you could feel every limb, your torso, and your head heavy on your neck, but you couldn't command it to budge. You screamed out for help in your mind, but no sound emanated from your mouth.

You sat, unblinking as seconds dragged by. The amount of panic from being unable to do anything tore at your psyche. How could you handle the ratcheting mania with absolutely no outlet? You had to enforce some sort of calm. You had to reach acceptance before you went insane. You had to focus on what you could at least see.

The room was dark, very very dark. There was one light source, the wall you were stuck looking towards. It looked like a giant screen. There was nothing on it, just the powered on grey of a monitor not actually displaying anything. From the dim haze of the screen you could see silent people sitting around you. At least, you think they were people. You could make out vague shapes in the blackness which resembled heads and shoulders. They all sat similarly unmoving, in rows in front of you. There could be rows behind you too, you had no way of knowing.

The wall came on in full. A blindingly bright, pure white replaced the grey image. A fraction of a second later the white was replaced with a much duller blue. In the milliseconds of bright light you could have sworn you saw faces. You were packed in what seemed to be a lecture hall, with lots of other people. How you had gotten here you had no idea. You couldn't even remember where you had come from. Everything you could remember seemed to have happened months ago.

You heard steps approaching from the right. A man walked in front of the screen, the back of his dark suit illuminated by the blue light of the display-wall.

He cleared his throat once, then began a speech he seemed he had given many times before.

“Now that you are all awake, I know you all very curious as to what is going on. Instead of opening up questions immediately, we've decided to play a short video that will hopefully clear up the majority of questions.”

The man walked off to the side as a logo faded in on the video. An ad played for Sterling Robotics. It went on and on about the new line of maid robots, about how they learned and were capable of doing any chore around the house. You'd heard of these 'nandroids' before. They were far outside of your price range. Regular meals were out of reach on your income.

After the ad, the screen faded back to the dull blue. The man from earlier walked back to center stage.

“Now before we open for questions, I would advise everyone not to raise their voices. Please raise your hands if you have a question.”

You could feel the control of your body wash over you. Immediately the room broke out into shouting.

“What the fuck is this!?”

“Who the hell are you!?”

“Where are we!?”

You cried out for help as loud as you could, your voice awkwardly high pitched. A searing pain burned in your throat, like a hot poker being shoved down your gullet. Screams echoed around the room. As you halted your cries the pain went away. The room died back down to silence.

The man in the front of the room sighed. “I did tell you not to raise your voices.”

A silhouetted arm shot up in the row ahead of you. “Please!” The girl begged in a sweet sing-song voice, “What exactly is going on?”

The man sighed again, dropping into another oft-repeated speech. “Sterling Robotics purchases debt from multiple creditors from all across the globe. In the event that debt is owed post-mortem, Sterling Robotics is allowed to collect any and all items owned by the deceased up to and including; the body, consciousness, and soul.”

There was a deathly silence as everyone in the room processed the his words.

“Wha-what exactly are you saying?” The girl asked again.

“I'm saying,” the man said, notably annoyed, “that artificial intelligence is difficult and expensive to develop.” He paused, letting every word sink in for his audience. “I'm saying control is easy when you can direct pain immediately throughout the entire body with pinpoint precision.”

Fear was palatable throughout the room, but everyone's eyes stayed locked on the man in front of the blue screen.

“I'm saying,” The man shouted, “there are no free lunches, and since you didn't pay your debts to society before you died, you're going to do it now!”

Again, silence. Even after being unable to move for so long, you were afraid to move now. Ever so slowly you took your eyes of the man in the front of the room. You looked at the girl in front of you, who had dared asked the question. She was very short, petite frame, blue light reflecting off her metal skin. The girl next to her was identical, save for her hair which was styled differently. Every person in the row was the same, a neatly dressed robotic maid.

You turned to the person next to you. You were exactly eye level with them. Their face a copy of every other person in the room. They stared back at you, their electronic blue eyes incapable of carrying the sorrow you could feel in them.

You reached out to the girl at your side, your hand grasping their tiny shoulder. They looked like they wanted to cry. Your metal fingers offered little comfort.

“Welcome to nandroid school!” The man shouted.