In a dark spacious warehouse a group of 5 men sat in folding chairs surrounded by monitoring systems and shelves stocked full of paper boxes. They were watching a man in a chamber hooked up to wires and machinery scream for help.

“Release the subject on the double.”

The man’s voice could be heard through the metal encasement clearly.

“Help me, help me. Can somebody help me? Somebody is watching me. Help me! Help me!”
~~~~~~

Oscar and Kevin raced over to the entrance of the chamber and stepped inside. Michael was slumped over in his seat leaning against a metal box with a push button on the front of it. His thumb was pressing consistently with zeal.

Oscar pulled him up while Kevin started unbuttoning his shirt to pull the wires off of his chest. As they continued to free him from the wiring, Dwight, Andy and Ryan began discussing what had happened.

“Alright Dwight, go.” Ryan demanded.

“He’s alright, just delusions I think. He’s coming out of it now.”

“Good, this has been an interesting experiment. How long has he been in there?”

“Exactly 484 hours and 36 minutes.”

“Amazing. Did you get all the data recorded into the computer system?”

“Yes Ryan.”

“Good, I want to see all the data when it’s compiled and then I want to see the reaction from him once we receive it. Make sure to bring it to Michael’s office when you’re all set. I’m going to go up stairs and make a few phone calls. Thank you Dwight.” Dwight saluted and got up from his chair and headed toward Michael.

“Andy come with me.” Ryan and Andy both stood up and walked up the stairs to the doorway of the warehouse.

The two men entered the Dunder Mifflin hallway and Andy opened the door holding it open for Ryan.

“So do you think it was a success sir?” They walked inside and passed by Jim and Pam at reception. They stepped inside Michael’s office and Ryan shut the door behind him.

“Yes, I think it was a smashing success actually.”

“Do you think he’ll be alright?”

“Well, as alright as Michael can be.” Ryan smiled and then slunk into Michael’s desk chair while Andy sat across from him. “We were monitoring everything, his respiration, his heart rate, blood pressure. Everything was normal until the end. He just cracked that’s all, delusions of some kind. I’d like to see you be confined in a box 5 feet square for about 2 and a half weeks without human contact and not lose it. I’m sure your imagination would run away from you too. Actually you snap when people hide your cell phone so I’m sure it wouldn’t even take 2 days.”

There was a soft knock on the office door.

“Come in.”

Pam pushed the door open quietly and looked inside. “Uh, Ryan? Dwight called up and said Michael’s awake if you wanted to speak to him. He’s weak and they’re keeping him resting downstairs for now. He’s alright though, right?”

“Yes, thanks Pam, we’ll go right now. Come on Andy.” The two men left and walked quickly back down stairs.

“Michael!” Ryan called from the stairs.

Michael looked up and gave a little wave and a smile. “Hello Ryan.”

“How do you feel?”

“Much better thanks.”

Ryan raced down the stairs and sat down in a chair next to Michael.

“What was it like? Where did you think you were?”

“Guh, no where I want to go again that’s for sure. It was this little town, a town without people or anyone. How did that happen, could you see it on the monitors?”

Dwight spoke up first. “Your mind created it out of nothing. You weren’t in contact with anyone and the medication was stopping your brain from remembering where you were so your thoughts created a delusion of emptiness. The Schrute brain is more powerful than yours, I would’ve created a town with people. Next time I should be the one in the chamber. You’ll get to see an amazing brain at work.”

Michael turned away from Dwight brushing off his comments and looked back to Ryan, “so… now what?”

“Well now we know how you’ll work under extreme pressures. We plan on putting our regional managers through some rigorous stress tests and we wanted to check your senses first. You were actually the first name that came up when this test was brought up in a meeting. We knew you could handle it.” Ryan flashed his corporate-smile at Michael.

“Why did I have to be in there for so long like that?”

“Well, we were simulating your office and what it would be like if you weren’t allowed to leave it or interact with your employees. We wanted to see how you would do actually working a full 8 hour day, 40 hour week.” Ryan slapped his hand down on Michael’s shoulder. “You did extremely well Michael, extremely.”

Michael smiled wide with pride.

“Thanks buddy.”

Even without knowing the purpose, even without knowledge of use, Michael Scott allowed himself to be isolated from his life, his loved ones, and his job. He put his body and mind through the most rigorous test of his life for the love of his company. He took steps to enter into the unknown, to risk his health for the unfamiliar; he traveled into the Twilight Zone.