Babel first became aware of a quick, piercing pain in his arm, followed by the light. A bright light stabbed into his brain, and he gasped and shut his eyes tightly against the glare. When he tried to raise his hands to rub his tired and gritty eyes, he found he couldn’t move them from his side. A momentary wave of fear swept over him that the paralysis he’d experienced in an alleyway far away had returned, but he realized he could still move his hands and feet. His arms and legs were held down, strapped to the padded chair in which he sat, reclined at a slight angle, so Babel faced the ceiling of the room and the light blazing down from it.