Tiles. White tiles covered the whole room, top to bottom, side to side. No-one ever discussed what happened in that room, so I’d never found any explanation of the tiles. Not that it was necessary, of course. The room was made by Them, so the room was exactly as it was meant to be, and questioning – well, what was there to question? The room did its job, and that was all.
They led the first citizen of the day into the room. I thought of the day I went in for the test. All very easy of course. It was so simple that it had never occurred to me that They might actually have someone outside the room, controlling it. There was surely no need. There are right answers and wrong ones. Even a machine would surely know the difference.
It turned out that They did need someone outside – just in case. And today it was my turn. Everyone did at some point, as part of the cycle of serving Them and the state. No-one ever mentioned it (like how they never mentioned the tiles) so again I thought nothing could go wrong.
But something – different – was going on here. The citizen was getting some of the questions wrong! I couldn’t grasp how that was possible. ‘Do you promise to always love Them?’ Of course! ‘Would you sacrifice your personal freedom for the state?’ Who needed ‘personal freedom’, whatever that was, when They provided everything we need?
Somehow it just kept going downhill. Question after question this person was getting wrong or just not answering at all. In fact they seemed almost, what was the thing I’d heard whispers of, Feeling? Whatever Feeling was, it didn’t look pleasant. As the ceiling came down the last few inches, though, I thought I almost Felt – but it soon went away, as cold satisfaction slinked into its place. Now I realised what the tiles were for. Quite sensible, just as They must have planned. White tiles are easy to clean.