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backseats of cars with them. Some Minders choose to treat those ‘intimate’ moments as free time, to catalogue the impressions from their day or week mentally, giving the Subject time “alone.” Others use them as a marker of their Subject’s behavior at moments of intense sensation. Everyone approaches and experiences Syncopy in different ways. But one thing is universal.”
    Curtis’s eyes met Sadie’s again, and she felt like he was speaking directly to her. “The experience of Syncopy will test you. It will push the limits of your experience, comfort, and patience. It will make you feel more powerless than you ever have before. It will overwhelm you. It may terrify you. You won’t be disappointed.”
    Around her there was a scattering of nervous laughter, breaking the spell of his gaze, and Sadie realized she’d been holding her breath.
    “For all this magic to happen,” he went on, his eyes moving from one side of the group to the other, “your body must be put in stasis. We’ll start you in a shallow stasis for a week so we can monitor you closely and fine-tune the connection between your Subject’s signal and your brainwaves.”
    A hand went up near the front of the room, and a girl asked, “What is the difference between shallow stasis and deep stasis?”
    “It’s like the difference between ducking your head under water in a bathtub and submerging yourself in the middle of a lake,” Curtis explained. “We’ve found that the initial jump into Syncopy can be overwhelming, so to minimize that disorientation and maximize your ability to work productively from day one, we suppress certain sensory inputs, such as taste and temperature. In shallow stasis you also have access to a panic button that makes it possible for you to exit Syncopy easily and safely if necessary.”
    A guy with hair that appeared to have been parted by a ruler asked, “Why would we panic?”
    Curtis chuckled. “Right. You’re not a group prone to panic.” Sadie felt herself nodding instinctively and, glancing around, saw that everyone else was too. “That’s exactly why. Syncopy is unidirectional. That means all you can do is witness. You won’t be able to talk or move or advise or offer suggestions. To say that your hands will be tied is an understatement. You will not have the ability to communicate or influence events in any way. Hours can feel like days, days like years, when you are in someone else’s control.”
    The group went completely still.
    “Everyone will be brought out of stasis at the end of the first week and interviewed,” Curtis went on. “If the Committee is satisfied with your performance, you will move from shallow to deep stasis for the remainder of the six weeks. At that point—”
    A girl with her hair pulled into a tight bun shot up a hand. “Excuse me?”
    Curtis paused. “Yes?”
    “What happens if the Committee isn’t satisfied?”
    “You will return home.”
    The girl said, “You mean we’re kicked out of the program.” Her tone was challenging.
    Curtis shook his head. “Your Syncopy session ends. You still remain a Mind Corps Fellow with all the privileges and responsibilities that entails.”
    Another voice, this time a guy with a southern accent standing next to the table, asked, “How often does that happen? Not making it past the first week?”
    Curtis gave a weary smile, as though he’d answered all these questions before and they weren’t the important ones. “About half the time.”
    Southern accent said, “Do you mean every other year someone doesn’t make it—”
    “I mean half of you will be allowed to enter profound stasis. In other words, either you or the person standing next to you won’t make it for the full six weeks.”
    Saying it like that was like waving a scent in front of a pack of hunting dogs, Sadie thought. Every one seemed to sit straighter. Any cordiality between the Fellows vanished as they all galvanized their determination to be one of the