Disclaimer: except for Sal, her classmates and other school-related people, I do not own any characters.

Chapter six

Mr. Sinjohn opened the door to the basement. Sal couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had expected a lot of junk, puddles of water and rats the size of… well, you get the picture. But there was none of that here. In fact, this was more of a laboratory then a basement. The walls were hidden behind all kinds of weird equipment. Monitors were flashing on and off, showing all kinds of statistics. There were all kinds of people walking around, wearing white coats and others protective clothing of some kind. But all of them had some strange symbol on their clothing. It was shaped like the head and torso of some young woman, her eyes were glowing blue, and her hair was a strange kind of blond. Underneath the symbol were the following initials:

C.R.O.F.

'Excuse me sir, but what does that mean? CROF?' Dot asked mr. Sinjohn.

'That means: Coalition for Research Of Fangirlism.'

'Oh… yeah that figures. Considering where we are.' Dot said.

To the others it didn't seem obvious at all. After all, the idea that this was a research- centre and not a school was a bit confusing. What kind of odd place was this, exactly? Janet in particular wasn't feeling very well. But that was probably because she thought of what the damp air down here could possibly do to her hairdo.

Dot was fascinated by all this. When she had said that she found it logical that such a place would be where it was, she wasn't completely telling the truth. She was just as overwhelmed as the others. Even Tony, who was usually quite the model of zen was absorbed by all this new information.

They followed their teacher through a large door at the back of the 'basement'. He let the girls in, then closed the door behind them. They were now in what seemed to be some sort of waiting room. There were four comfortable chairs placed conveniently in front of a large desk. Behind the desk sat a woman. Her stern eyes went over each girl as they sat themselves down in one of the chairs. As soon as they were all seated the woman began to speak.

'Hello, young women. You have been selected as part of our project to understand the minds of fan girls. Being each of you different in nature, and worshipping different kinds of characters you shall give us good information about what moves you young one's into blind worship. When you return from your ordeal, hopefully you will be better people then you were. And you will understand the value of your lives here and now instead of worshipping something that will never be. My best wishes and may your wit be with you.'

The girls felt rather depressed after this. They arose and followed mr. Sinjohn and this strange woman with the stern look through the next door. Sal noticed that this door seemed to be made of some kind of metal. Why? She wondered. But she hardly had time to wonder, when she saw what was behind said door. She had never seen anything like it in her entire life. It was even bigger than the previous laboratory they were in. all kinds of strange things floating in big tubes filled with some kind of fluid. Hey, hold on, were that… people? Sal pressed her face against the glass of one of those tubes. In it floated the body of a young woman, probably about her age. Her arms were hanging lifeless alongside her body, her eyes were closed.

Who are these people? Sal thought to herself, as she followed the group further into the abyss, as she had now come to think about it. She felt her body grow cold with sweat. Something was very wrong here.

Finally they reached their destination. A Dome-shaped sealing above them, in front of them four tubes facing, it seemed, north, south, east and west. Four tubes, four girls… then it dawned on Sal.

'YOU WANT TO PUT US IN TUBES, JUST LIKE YOU DID WITH THOSE OTHER GIRLS!' Sal shouted. Janet screamed, and ran. Dot hid behind the nearest huge computer and Tony got herself ready for one hell of a fight. Sal could do nothing but stare at her teacher and this, this… woman, who had so cleverly lured them in here.

'Easy, girls, easy.' Mr. Sinjohn replied. 'Those girls you saw in the glass tubes back there were Mary Sue's. We transported some here for research, but it seems they cannot live outside their natural environment. If they can't lust, they're nothing.' He pronounced 'lust' like it left a foul taste in his mouth.

Sal had calmed down a bit, but was still on guard. Some mild squealing was heard as two security people dragged a very frightened Janet back to the group. Dot had come from her hide out on her own accord. Tony, in between had put her fists down but was still eyeing anyone who dared come near, except for her friends.

'Then why did you bring us here?' Sal asked. They had been kept in the dark for to long now, it was time to get some answers. This time, it was the woman who answered.

'Those tubes you see before you are meant for brainwave-research. Your bodies will go through a short cleaning-period, so the circuits will attach properly to your bodies without dirt disrupting the transfer-process. And the fluid that will then fill up the tank will speed up that process. Meaning that, to you it might look like days, or even months, and in truth it will only take an hour or so.'

'What are you talking about? Where are we going?' Asked Janet, though she was smart enough to guess the answer.

'It's all very simple, really.' The stern-looking woman continued.' You shall each be put in one of these tubes. You will be cleansed of anything disruptive and you will be put into dream-status. In this dream-status, you shall be put into the world where your lust object resides. When there, you shall not know how you got there, yet you will know your name and other personal things. It is vital for us to get uncorrupted information, and if you would know, your behavioural pattern would change and ruin the experiment.'

'And… there's no risk at all of us getting damaged?' Tony enquired.

'There's always a risk in cases of new discoveries. But the damage will be kept to a minimum, I assure you.'

Tony nodded, but deep down she was ill at ease. Janet stood next to her, leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Sal was too far away to hear, but it seemed to throw Tony off balance a bit. Sal shuddered involuntarily.

'All right, then. Question time is over. Close the dome.'