sidi

Chain of Command?


You've been here for days, maybe weeks, and the room is dark except for a rail of four lights stuck to the ceiling. You've been told that you can go if you say there are five lights. The torment will stop, you can have your friends back, you can rejoin the society where you are loved an respected - and all you have to do is say there are five lights.

It's a puzzling problem. Who does it really hurt if you say there are five lights when you only see four?


Saying there are four lights has only gotten you hurt. You are told time and again there are five lights, humiliated and even threatened with violence and losing what you need to survive if you say there are four. Losing everything dear to you. There are consequences for seeing four lights. There are consequences for saying what you see.

Who would be hurt by saying there are five when there really are four?


It's been so long and you've been told so many times that you're mistaken: there are five lights. And for a moment, you look at the lights again and wonder if maybe you are wrong. Or, at the very least, if it doesn't matter. What does it matter if there are four lights? Who cares what you see? Perhaps everyone else really sees five, and you're crazy for seeing four.

And, for a moment, you almost see five lights.