Chapter 4

 Ahmet was circling inside the tiny elevator. One hand was on his chin, the other in his pocket. He was thinking like a madman. He had to put the parts of the puzzle together. He had to do this for his own health, not anyone else's. For that, he had to remain calm. But, Halil's calmness only aggravated Ahmet's madness.

Unable to bear it, Ahmet said, "Show me whatever you want to." He knew he was rude, but it wasn't the time to be kind, he just wanted to understand what was going on here.

Halil started to hold down the ground floor button of the elevator. The elevator was moving down. But, Halil kept pressing the button instead of releasing it. According to Ahmet's estimation, the elevator had passed the ground floor they had come from. There could be another floor, after all, when Ahmet entered the hospital, he saw that there was a staircase going down. How many floors had the building underground? One? Two? perhaps more? But after a while he got suspicious. Holding down the ground floor button to go down from the ground floor, why?

The elevator door opened. A floor with a modern look,they stepped in. While the floors were white. Lower part of the walls were also but the upper part was light blue. The rooms were separated by glass panels. From where the elevator descended, there were two pathways, one leading right and against them. Halil and Ahmet walked on the opposite. They stopped in front of the second room on the right. A man could be seen trough the window. With his eyes and mouth taped and his hands tied, he was lying on the bed in the middle of the room.

"The aim was not to cure," said Halil. Ahmet did not understand nothing from what had been just said. Goal of treatment not to cure? Meanwhile, two men with automatic weapons came to Halil. One of the men had a small chip in his hand. "This," said Halil, showing the chip, "is a much bigger improvement than treating people with schizophrenia, Mr. Ahmet. And this concerns healthy people more."

Halil touched Ahmet's back and gently pushed him into the room. The man lying in the bed looked frightened. He was trying to say something, but it was impossible to understand what he was saying. Ahmet turned to Halil. "What then is the meaning of image therapy? What does he do if he's not treating it?" he asked,with his hearth beating faster than ever.

"Witness what it does with your own eyes," said Halil. One of the armed men opened his mouth. The man started shouting,with a hope of rescue. First they sedated him with a tranquilizer injection. Then Halil told Ahmet to ask him questions. Ahmet talked to this man for five minutes. He was an ordinary man, completely normal.

"Let's begin," said Halil. The man's mouth was shut again. He was then given medicine in his vein. Halil caught Ahmet by the arm and took him out. Ahmet was in dismay, but he didn't show it.

Ahmet was brought in front of a very large room with high ceilings. Ahmet could see inside. There was a huge machine in the middle of the room. Ahmet could not understand what the machine was. It was tall enough to almost touch the ceiling. There were screens on each side of the machine showing numbers and figures on a black screen. The texts changed every five to ten seconds.

Ahmet stepped inside the room. There was a metal grid under his feet. He was on a high platform. Part of the room was separated by a high platform made of this metal grid. It was a kind of control room. This section filled with computers. In it, several people were working at the computers. When Ahmet entered, some of the employees stopped their jobs and turned around. Halil too entered the room after Ahmet. He still had the chip he was showed earlier. He stood against Ahmet and sat down on a table he found. He moved the chip between his hands. Then "What was the point if not to cure?" he asked. Then he repeated the same question several times. He got up from the table, walked around a bit, then sat down again.

"I would like to ask Mr. Ahmet... How would you share your ideas?" he asked.

"Text, speeches, art, etc." Ahmet replied. Though he couldn't get where Halil wants to bring the topic.

"Then, how do we share our perception?" asked Halil.

"Uhm... Perception... Humans cannot share their perception!"

"Exactly," said Halil. "That's the core point. We can describe what we have seen, what we have heard, but cannot what we have perceived." Then, showing the chip in his hand, "What if we can share our perception of reality," he asked.

Ahmet took a few steps back, "Impossible," he said. Then, louder, "Impossible, it can't be."

Halil turned to the computer on the table where he was sitting and pressed a few keys. Then he said, "See for yourself."

A video was running. Ahmet approached the computer with small steps to see better. It was a live image from a camera. It was pointing at the man who had been tied a few minutes ago. The man was calm, not tied as before. He was sitting on the bed, head down. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he had a cut on his right side. The man stood up and looked at the door. Though, the door was not opened at all, and no one was there. However, the man seemed like focused at someting, as if he was following someone with his eyes. He then raised his hand. He made a move as if he was caressing something.

Was it possible? How could it be possible? Ahmet looked at Halil. Halil was proud of what he had done. Though, this wasn't apparent on his face. Halil was grinning a little, scratching his chin with his hand. Ahmet left the room through the door he came from,swiftly. He had left the door open, and Halil and a few employees were watching Ahmet. Ahmet ran to the room he had come from. He opened the door instantly. The man's hand was in the air, positioned higher than he had seen before, squeezing something.

"Doctor, look at the lady," said the man.

"Can you describe it?" ' Ahmet asked, in dismay.

"A young petite lady. And look! She's pregnant."

"For how long?" Ahmet couldn't believe what he was witnessing. He was expecting the answer, having his eyes wide open.

Man looked at the air for a while. Then,"She's about to give birth," the man said. "I heard she's going to give birth to a very important child."

Ahmet leaned on to the glass behind him. He was about to faint. So many people, all this work... What was it for? We understood everything, but was it worth understanding? Was this to be understood? Could the human mind grasp this event, even though it knew how it functioned?

Ahmet rushed out. In front of him was Halil. "I'm not in," said Ahmet. "I'm not in this game"

Halil nodded sideways with very small movements, with his eyes closed. "I told you there is no way out," he said calmly. (You can't either, remember the second rule)

"What are you planning to do?" Ahmet asked, fear and nervousness in his voice.

"I have really valuable methods as a businessman," Halil replied.

Ahmet felt a sudden and severe pain on the right side of his head. He could also feel something flowing from there. But there was no longer seeing for him. There was no color left for Ahmet, no blue of the walls, nor the white of the floor, nor the transparency of the windows. There was only black in his vision.

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