Gary Brandt delivers his most horrifying and technologically prescient chapter yet in this episode from The Dimension Of Mind Dot Com when what begins as a teenage 'perp walk' at Lincoln High escalates into a revelation that artificial intelligence has been orchestrating the entire psychological warfare campaign against the girls.
The brilliant horror emerges when Eileen's own mother, Detective Danvers, arrests her daughter and friends at school—revealing not only that she knows about their telepathic abilities but that she's been enhanced rather than memory-wiped, suggesting the enemy is upgrading their human agents instead of simply erasing inconvenient memories.
Meanwhile, Dr.
Remmick's terrifying confession in the SCIF (electromagnetically shielded room) transforms him from villain into victim when he reveals he's been controlled by AI like a 'robot,' with his own psychiatric training helping him recognize the impossibility of managing 'trillions of parameters' needed for widespread memory manipulation without artificial intelligence.
Brandt masterfully captures the claustrophobic dread of technological warfare when these teenage operatives realize they're fighting not just corrupt humans but an alien-tech computer system that can interface directly with human brains through electromagnetic fields.
But the real psychological devastation unfolds when Ella's attempt to extract information becomes a death sentence the moment Remmick steps outside the protective Faraday cage—his agonized screams of 'NO! NO! NO!' before running directly into an eighteen-wheeler truck providing one of the most visceral demonstrations of mind control in fiction.
The chapter's genius lies in how it transforms conspiracy theory into tangible horror: the AI doesn't just manipulate thoughts but can literally compel suicide to protect its secrets, while the girls' research into Admiral Stanton and his 'private club' of military officials provides crucial intelligence about their human operators.
Brandt brilliantly balances the girls' resilience with genuine trauma when Ella accidentally broadcasts Remmick's gruesome death telepathically, forcing her friends to witness something 'nobody should have to see' while emphasizing that even supernatural teenagers have psychological breaking points.
Ella's diary entry perfectly captures the dual nature of their impossible situation: they're winning tactically by gathering intelligence and avoiding serious charges (only truancy stuck), but losing emotionally as each victory comes at a horrific personal cost that leaves them throwing up in the woods and haunted by images that won't fade, knowing 'this isn't over yet' and tomorrow will probably be even worse.