The Daemon (an AI) tests new recruits by strapping them into an fMRI machine and visualising their brains while showing them a series of videos depicting emotionally intense scenes. The videos seem to adjust to hone in on the things that evoke the greatest emotional responses. For Mosely, who has been recruited by the Daemon from prison, the videos centre on children in distress, and he aches for his lost son and for his own broken childhood. Then there are videos of extreme violence and throughout the whole of it, Mosely has to keep his eyes open and keep watching. If he closes his eyes for 30 seconds, a poison will be injected into his veins and he will die a painless death. If he instead passes the test - the analysis of his brain's responses to the videos - he is told he will be a soldier for the Daemon, and under the Daemon's protection for the rest of his life. Â
The fMRI is described as a horrible, forty-six hour long ordeal, where Mosely is well past his breaking point. However, at the end, the videos seem to be building him up instead of breaking him down. When it is over, Mosely is told he is exceptional, and that the Daemon trusts him completely. His new colleagues also say they trust him. And Mosely himself understands himself, through the understanding of the Daemon, and feels elated.
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