"Do not be silly," the first of the therapeuticians, whose name-tag said Dr Mayers, said, "Our job is to detect things that cause nonsocial behavior before it manifests itself as actual criminal episodes."
A woman with a clipboard, whose tag said Dr. Cage, continued, "You have shown excessive interest in certain religious notions. You have been reported as abusing others by pressing your beliefs on them. Metaphysical speculations are acceptable, though we prefer people refrain. But dogmatism like yours is dangerous."
"Further," said a man whose tag said Dr. Trevor, "you have neglected your psycho-sexual development. You have said you are waiting for the right woman, which is totally unrealistic. You need to broaden your experience in this area."
"How do you know that your approach to life is the right one?" responded Joe.
"We are not here for a debate," replied Dr. Mayers. "We have brought you in for treatment."
"I am not at all interested in your 'treatment' unless you can show me by clear logic that your view is the correct one," Joe returned.
"You will not question us," retorted Dr. Trevor. "You will accept our diagnosis and submit to treatment."
"So you are going to force your views on me without even proving you are right." stated Joe angrily. "Have you ever considered that you might be wrong?"
"That's enough," interjected Dr. Cage. "Nurses, put him in a treatment room until he has a better attitude."
They put him in a solitary room for five days. They then put him through a series of treatments. They used counseling, drugs, sleep and food deprivation, and electric shocks. They even tried forcing him to watch pornography. Nothing worked.
Later, there was a tour. The star attraction of the tour was a former inmate named Sam. Sam was held up as an example of what their treatment could do.
"You see," whispered Dr. Travis in Joe's ear, "how foolish your resistance is. Sam was as stubborn as you when he came. But look at him now. A respectable and normal member of society. And he is now helping to lead tours to show people the value of the work we do here."
They gathered everyone they could to the conference room. Dr. Mayers was giving a speech about the work of the facility. "There once was the idea of imposing punishment as a retribution for criminal actions. We have grown out of that. We now seek not to punish but to cure. And we do not to wait until some criminal action takes place, but we anticipate problems before they arise and deal with them."
In the middle of the speech, with all eyes were focused on Dr. Mayers, the tourers all whipped out automatics. "This is a breakout," shouted Sam. "If no one moves, no one gets hurt."
The therapeuticians and some of the nurses pulled their own weapons. There was a brief firefight, and the three therapeuticans lay among the crumpled bodies on the floor.
"Come with me," yelled Sam. "I have a plan to get anyone who wants to out of the country."
As they walked away, Joe fell in close behind Sam. "So they never did break you " whispered Joe in Sam's ear.
"God forgive me, they did break me," returned Sam, chagrined. "They made act contrary to my principles. They made me a liar."
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