One by one, five sixteen-year-old orphans are brought to a strange building. It is not a prison, not a hospital; it has no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless flights of stairs leading nowhere —except back to a strange red machine. The five must learn to love the machine and let it rule their lives. But will they let it kill their souls? This chilling, suspenseful indictment of mind control is a classic of science fiction and will haunt readers long after the last page is turned.

“An intensely suspenseful page-turner.” —School Library Journal

“A riveting suspense novel with an anti-behaviorist message that works . . . because it emerges only slowly from the chilling events.” —Kirkus Reviews