Julia got the text early in the morning, during her coffee and her breakfast. "Leave your house theyre coming to get you" it said. Who were they and who had sent the text? The number was private.

It was the humour of a family member or a former work colleague, decided Julia, after a moment's consternation. although to send prank messages was certainly a thought crime. Nevertheless she put down her phone, went back to her coffee, her breakfast and her novel and acted as though nothing had happened for the benefit of the hidden camera that was visibly concealed in the smoke detector located towards the left corner of her living room. She was exactly half way through each when the home telephone rang.

She considered at first letting it go. Perhaps it could indeed be someone out to get her and in answering the phone she would make it easier for them to find her? Of course, having her number would indicate that they already had found her, not to mention that letting it ring might be somehow incriminating – possibly indicate a sense of guilt on her part, at worst somehow identifying her as a threat to the INGSOC regime and resulting in her arrest...

"Hello?" Said Julia, upon picking up the phone.

"Goodmorning, am I speaking to a Ms Julia Stucco?" Said a professional female voice.

"I'm Julia Stucco."

"My name is Sarah, I'm calling on behalf of the Dunderhaven Research Group here at Gumby. We're calling because we require your assistance for one of our studies; this will include a questionnaire and an interview, among other things. You will be remunerated for your time and two of our employees will be at your house at the conclusion of this phone call in order to transport you to one of our research facilities."

With a sudden feeling of intense unease, Julia replied,"This is a bit sudden, isn't it? I don't think I gave my consent for any research. What kind of research is this?"

"The Dunderhaven research group conducts medical research, mainly concerned with the gastro intestinal tract and numerous cellular pathologies thereof, including colorectal cancers, pancreatic cancers and mucositis in the treatment of cancer. Our most recent advances, however, have been in the area of diabetes and it is in this area that your participation will be of most use to us. Furthermore, I'm afraid that your consent has not been sought for participation in this study and nor will it be necessary, Ms Stucco."

"Really, and you mean to send people to take me away right now?" Said Julia, "I've worked in medical research in the past, for more than five years actually, and I know that you require participant consent. And I've never in my life heard of your research group, are you sure this is what you're really calling about?"

"That's right, Ms Stucco. We are the Dunderhaven research group, we are explicitly funded by the Inner Party, we function under the Ministry of Truth under the research division and as such our studies are extremely classified. Your background was a significant factor in your assignment to this particular study, Ms Stucco. So far, you have been privileged with not only the knowledge of our existence, but you have also been given the highly exclusive information as to our location being in the province of Gumby.

"Furthermore, we have a record of how you came to lose your prior job, Ms Stucco, and by all accounts it should be an honour for someone of your... history that our organisation should consider you at all. I'm sure that lately you have been unaccustomed to getting professional offers, especially from organisations with a similar standing to our own. Please keep in mind that we have given this opportunity to a select few candidates and in this instance, you have the good fortune to be among them." The woman paused for a moment presumably to let this information sink in, before continuing: "Our employees will be at your home momentarily. You will be required to comply quietly as you are taken to our facility."

Julia felt herself taken aback by this offer she had not applied for in any way and shown no prior interest in, the suddenness of which seemed to her deeply concerning. Piqued by this woman's knowledge of personal information, of her own history of failure, and the rudeness with which this was all relayed back to her, Julia replied, "If any of your people come even close to my property, I will be calling the authorities." She put the phone back on the receiver with a conclusive snap.

Well that was weird, Julia thought to herself.

She became more uneasy the more she thought about it. Nothing would have surprised her about the underhandedness of the inner party, including abduction under the false pretense of research participation. On the other hand, she had made a few enemies at her old job: there had been quite a scandal at the time.

Julia had helped to design a potential cure for more than one debilitating illness, but had been most successful in a single area, her research leading to what seemed like a quick, inexpensive cure. It had at first seemed like a miracle, but like many things in life it had proven too good to be true, the issue being that while the treatment worked flawlessly in the animal model, when applied as a trial on human subjects it turned out to be highly toxic. More than one member of the inner party, who had been so excited at the prospect of being cured that they had signed up immediately to the trial, had consequently dropped dead, the entire research group had been fired, their names blackened and any chance of future employment effectively ruined. Thankfully though, Julia had enough money to survive comfortably in her little flat on her own for the time being and she had also kept the government issued vehicle: a motorbike that with a burst of energy could fly short distances.

There were unquestionably a number of people she could imagine making that call just to frighten her. Probably it was simply someone playing a trick. Julia glanced out her front window but could see no one arriving at her house to transport her to any research facilities, as had been promised.

Still, it worried her enough to collect some food from her cupboard, a bottle of water and a smallish blanket and to pack it all into a bag that already contained her purse with her money and identification. She left it by her front door, thinking that now, if she had to, she could leave the house quickly if indeed someone uninvited turned up. These seemed like intense measures to have to come to, but it was good to be prepared for the worst, she supposed.

She sat back down on her couch and checked her mobile, but no more strange messages had been received. With some relief, she relaxed back into the couch. Julia had been leading a sedate, quiet life lately- or for some time now, in fact. She was a single woman in her early thirties, her house was perpetually cacophonously empty and any dissonance with her current lifestyle inclined her to get concerningly stressed. With little else to think about other than her own imaginings and her telescreen, she often dwelled on troublesome thoughts and the paranoia without a great stimulus that she was currently feeling was not unusual for her these days.

But this time it seemed more warranted- there, just across from her house, she noticed a black van had pulled up, that had two large, dark figures inside it.

Julia jumped from the couch and hurried to the door, keeping an eye fixed out the window on the two men as they ominously left their van and made their way down the path towards her front door.