Chapter Twelve
Parental Inspection & Final Vows
I was left to stand alone for a couple of moments when he and the two assistants left to fetch them. When they departed, all sound was cut off and I had my first taste of the utter soundlessness that I would soon endure unless at prayer, constantly, every day for the rest of my life. The fizzing sensations of the Controller equipment bonding itself into my body nearly drove me crazy, but I could do nothing other than stand twitching and writhing in misery.
‘Oh God! What had happened to me?!’
At last the door at the end of the room opened and my parents walked slowly to where I stood, hidden-chained to the floor, my head bent submissively and kept that way by the concealed chain to my nose ring. My hearing came back with a loud snap that m
