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was turned down at the first seven places he applied. The eighth place was different. They had line monitors that made sure no one applying got beat up. They didn’t ask any questions. They put a cotton stick in his mouth and made him wait in a large holding room for an hour. Most of the people were dismissed. After another hour, they called his number — 204394 — and told him they could hire him at a medical research facility, for $2/day. He signed the forms so fast his hand cramped.
    He couldn’t believe his luck. He assumed the conditions were dire, but he couldn’t have been more wrong — it was a resort, like one of those American health spas in the magazines they sold in big cities. And now he had screwed it all up. Surely they were kicking him out. They had called his number.
    Maybe he had enough for a new farm. Or maybe he could find another research place. He’d heard that the big factories in China exchanged lists of bad workers. Those people couldn’t find work anywhere. That would be the kiss of death.
    “What the hell are you waiting for!” The orderly shouted. “Find a seat.”
    Jin and the other fifty or so white-clad, barefooted “workers” scrambled for chairs. Elbows flew, people pushed, and several people tripped. Everyone seemed to find a chair but Jin. Every time he reached a chair, someone would sink into it at the last second. What if he didn’t find a chair? Maybe it was a test. Maybe he should—
    “People. Relax, relax. Mind the equipment,” the orderly said. “Just find the closest chair.”
    Jin exhaled and walked to the next row. Full. In the last row, he found a seat.
    Another group of staff entered. They wore long white coats and carried tablet computers. A young-looking woman came over to him and hooked the bags to his arm valve and attached the round sensors to his body. She tapped a few times on her screen and moved to the chair beside him.
    Maybe it’s just a new test, he thought.
    He suddenly felt sleepy. He leaned his head back and…

    Jin awoke in the same chair. The bags were detached, but the sensors were still connected. He felt groggy and stiff, like he had the flu. He tried to lift his head up. It was so heavy. A white coat came over, ran a flashlight across his eyes, then unhooked the sensors and told him to go and stand with the others by the door.
    When he stood, his legs almost buckled. He steadied himself on the arm of his chair, then hobbled over to the group. They all looked half asleep. There were maybe 25 of them, about half of the group that had entered. Where were the rest? Had he slept too long — again? Is this punishment? Would they tell him why? After a few minutes, another man joined them, he seemed in even worse shape than Jin and the rest.
    The orderlies ushered them through another long passageway and into a enormous room he’d never seen before. The room was completely empty and the walls were very smooth. He got the impression that it was a vault or something.
    Several minutes passed. He fought the urge to sit down on the floor. He hadn’t been told he could sit. He stood there, his heavy head hanging.
    The door opened, and two children were escorted in. They couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. The guards left them with the group, the door closing behind them with a loud boom.
    The children weren’t drugged, or Jin didn’t think so. They looked alert. They moved quickly through the crowd of people. They were brown. Not Chinese. They both spoke rapidly, wandering from person to person, trying to find someone to respond to them. What language were they speaking? Jin was too tired to think about it.
    At the end of the room, he heard a mechanical sound, like a winch. After a few seconds, he realized something was being lowered. His head was so heavy. He strained to lift it. He could barely see the device. It looked like a massive iron chess pawn with a flat head, or maybe a bell with smooth, straight sides. It must have