The man tightened the final loose strap on the chair, this one restraining his victim’s left ankle. He’d worked his way down the chair methodically, easily trussing up the unconscious body. It was easy to bind them when they didn’t beg or plead or fight back. Not that begging or pleading would have had any effect on the man, who focused intently on what he was doing with blank, empty eyes. 

After all, the man had no personal stake whatsoever in what was happening. The man barely registered that there was an actual person under his control; he was simply obeying his orders. Besides, they wouldn’t really be a person for much longer. Not entirely, anyway.

No, soon, they would be like the man. 

The man, seeing only enough to enable him to obey his directive, arranged and adjusted the headset/visor helmet to remain on the body in the chair, no matter how much it struggled. After all, the programming would need to be completed no matter what. This was his directive.

The man turned the helmet on and, having completed his directive, exited the room, then the building. The man got into the back seat of a black town car with tinted windows that was waiting for him outside and silently stared straight ahead. It was of no matter; the driver already knew the man’s destination. 

Upon arrival, the man exited the vehicle, still without a word. The vehicle drove off. 

Once the vehicle was out of sight, the man received a text message. 

<Check your left pocket.>

The man retrieved a small piece of paper from his left pocket. Still in a trance, the man read the directions written on the paper.

<Read all of the directions on this paper before acting. You will destroy this piece of paper. Then, you will recite your sleeper directive aloud. Follow these instructions now.>

By the time the man blinked awake to find himself standing in front of his own front door, both the shreds of the note and his words were already lost to the wind.

“I will only remember again next November.”