Ted was asked to sit in what looked suspiciously like an electric chair.
"What's going on here? Why do I have to sit in this chair?"
"You ask too many questions, Ted." Replied Henry. "Just sit down."
Ted knew there was no point in arguing. He reluctantly sat in the chair, and Henry began hooking a strange device to his head. It seemed like some kind of weird headset, and many diodes were hooked up to various points on his head.
"What's this thing?"
"I told you, Ted, don't ask so many questions. I'm not authorized to tell you anything at this time."
"Don't be like that, Henry. He won't remember it anyway." Doug said as he stepped through the door.
"What? Are you removing my memories or something?" Ted asked nervously.
Henry gave no answer, and promptly left the room.
"Ted, I'm really sorry about this." Doug said, sounding sincerely apologetic. "If there was anything I could do to stop it, I would. But the others wouldn't budge on this."
"On what? What's going on here, Doug?"
Doug signed. "They need a creativity core, Ted. You should be honored that they picked you, although it really is unfair that they have to do this to you."
Suddenly it all made sense. Mr. Wheatley's missing kid, Stephen. All those people who decided to become cores, through the process he'd heard about. They were being forced to do it.
"Doug, wait."
Doug stopped at the door and turned around.
"Can I have one last request?"
"If it was up to me, I'd say yes, no questions asked. But frankly, it depends on what it is."
"I need you to save my memories. My actual memories. Don't put them in my core, but put them somewhere where only I would be able to find them, someday. Can you do that without anyone else finding out, Doug?"
"I thought you might ask. It's already done." Doug winked. "Good luck, Ted. I hope you find your memories someday."
Doug closed the door, and the machine started. Ted immediately felt a pulling sensation, as if something were sucking him up through a tube. Except his body stayed right where it was. His consciousness, though, was another matter entirely. He felt himself zipping through an electric wire, and suddenly he was inside a large, mechanical eye. His optic started up, down, around, and he saw everything around him with perfect precision, more detail than the human eye could ever see. He could even see light outside of the visible spectrum! And the sound... it was amazing. He could hear everything, sort out individual conversations perfectly, even in the clatter of a crowd. How he knew he could do this, he couldn't remember. And then, he realized... He couldn't remember who he was.