The week passed uneventfully. Yuli went about her routine each day, assisting with the development and tweaking of Initiative software. Her mother and father visited, and she told them as much as she could about the Colonists Program. When they learned of the sum of money they would receive in exchange for her participation, they nearly burst into tears. They didn’t seem to mind that they would not be hearing from her for a year.

The day before the digitalization procedure, Dr. Luzi called Yuli into her office for a surprise meeting.

“Sit down,” she insisted the moment Yuli stepped inside. The door shut automatically behind her. The young woman took a seat opposite Dr. Luzi’s smart desk, giving her a perplexed glance.

“Um... How’s your day been, Dr. Luzi?” Yuli attempted to smile. Dr. Luzi rarely held meetings with lower-level employees more than once a month. Did Yuli do something wrong?

“Fine, thank you,” the head of software said briskly. “Let’s get right to the matter at hand. Miss Suriova, I understand you’ve signed up for the Colonists Program?”

“Yes, I have,” Yuli nodded.

“The Initiative will allow you to back out of the program anytime prior to digitalization,” Dr. Luzi said, gazing intently at the young programmer. “Once you’re in there, you can’t leave for an entire year. But if you decide to withdraw from the program now, there will be no penalties against you. You won’t receive the participation money, but you’ll be able to resume your usual work as if you never signed up in the first place.”

“Why are you saying this?” Yuli frowned.

Dr. Luzi looked pained. “The Explicator’s Maze... It’s not a place you belong in, Yuli. Trust me when I say that. There’s still time for you to back out, and I am advising you to do so.”

Trepidation filled Yuli. “What do you mean?”

The woman hesitated. “They don’t want me to talk about this. I trust you won’t share this information or where you received it, yes?” she said, raising her eyebrows. Yuli quickly nodded, prompting her boss to continue. “With the Explicator’s Maze, they’re testing the full range of human psychology. As many varied reactions as they can possibly squeeze out of you in one year. People are going to die in there. The tests will go lighter on the Colonists, of course, but it will still likely be a traumatic experience, and there is a very real chance you could be killed. That’s why they’re offering so much money to volunteers.”

Yuli’s eyes widened, and her heart began to race. “You can’t be serious,” she said. “The Initiative wouldn’t do that to us, right? Are we really that expendable? I... I can’t believe they wouldn’t tell us!”

“I’m telling you now,” Dr. Luzi said grimly.

“But... but does anyone else know? Are all the others about to walk into something that could kill them without knowing? Why did you say the maze was safe if people will die there?!” Yuli exclaimed.

“The maze is safe, in a sense. It won’t malfunction or behave in unpredictable ways—the deaths and injuries are part of the system, already accounted for,” Dr. Luzi answered. “You are the only Maze Colonist I’ve shared this information with. If you tell anybody else, I will have you demoted.” Her tone softened. “I just want you to save yourself, Miss Suriova. You have a promising future here.”

Yuli was on the verge of panicking. She had just been handed very dangerous information, and did not know what to do with it. Should she tell the others and save them from this dangerous experiment, sacrificing her own safety and success to help them? Should she quietly back out of the program and continue going about her business at the Initiative, like Dr. Luzi had suggested? Or should she subject herself to the maze, risking her life to help her family?

Was Dr. Luzi even telling the truth?

“I... I can’t,” Yuli shook her head. “My family needs the money. If I die in there, at least my sister will live.” She rose from her chair, wearing an expression of fierce determination. “Thank you for telling me this. I really do appreciate it.”

As she turned and walked away, Dr. Luzi called out to her, “I wish you the best of luck.”

Yuli nodded quietly, then exited the office. She felt wrong, pushing aside the safety of her coworkers and friends like this, but her family came first. Besides, the more Colonists the Initiative had, the better the data would turn out—and humanity needed the Otherworld to be the best that it could be, right?

-

Yuli’s hands trembled as she held her ID tag up to the thick, towering doors that led to the digitalization room. She had never visited the research wing of the Initiative before, and was stunned by how utilitarian it looked. Most areas of the Initiative campus had been crafted meticulously to appear light and welcoming, filled with bright windows and flowing architecture. Here, the halls were oppressive, plain, and altogether unpleasant.

Mavis stood next to her, gazing eagerly at the door. “What do you think it looks like?” he breathed, wide-eyed. His light-brown hair was messy, and dark circles hung beneath his exhausted eyes. “The digitalization machine.”

Yuli gave him a reassuring smile. “We’re one step away from finding out.”

Mavis scanned his ID, and the doors slid open smoothly, revealing a cavernous room covered in sensors, monitors, and other, less recognizable hardware. A row of pressurized tanks lined one wall, connecting to a series of dark tubes that extended into the ceiling. At the center of the room, a pentagonal platform rested, with a black X painted across its surface. Several other Colonists were already milling about the area, examining the workings of the cryptic machine and asking the researchers questions. Dr. Kova and Dr. Kallo stood together in one corner, supervising the arrival of the Maze Colonists and the researchers’ preparations.

“I can’t believe I’ll get to talk to real live AIs, right in front of me!” Mavis beamed, clasping his hands together. “They’ll be just like people... Wow, isn’t that crazy? It won’t be like VR. They’ll look and feel completely real.”

Yuli wasn’t listening to Mavis. She was distracted by a nearby conversation between a teenage intern and a woman from the engineering department, Dr. Aliyah Shaw. “You’ve got to be messing with me,” the intern shook his head fiercely, folding his arms. “You expect me to believe that we’re going to be atomized by this machine, and a copy of us will be uploaded into the simulation? And then what, they delete that copy and make another physical body out of some slurry of... new atoms, to pass them off as the people we were before we signed up for this?”

“Precisely,” the engineer nodded. “Look over there, at those tanks. That’s where they’re storing the ‘slurry of new atoms.’ They might know how to translate biology into code and vice versa, but they don’t know how to transfer consciousness. Nobody does.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” the intern said. “Just because I’m new here, that doesn’t make me stupid!”

Yuli was hit by a twinge of guilt, imagining her colleagues being vaporized, effectively murdered, for the sake of progress. Dr. Luzi’s words echoed in her mind – People are going to die.

As ten more Colonists trickled in, Yuli’s dread worsened. Mira was the last to enter, barely making it on time. Seeing her there, yawning widely and flipping her blue bangs out of her eyes, Yuli began to wonder whether she was making the right decision. But she had already committed to her choice. She was going to the Explicator’s Maze.

“Everyone!” Dr. Kova called out to the disorganized group of Initiative employees. “This procedure will be effortless, as long as you follow instructions. Form a single file line near the center of the room. One at a time, you’ll step onto that little X on the ground—impossible to miss, really—and away you go!” He chuckled, grinning. “Now, I’m not saying it’ll be a vacation per se, but—” He glanced down at his tablet, and his smile evaporated. “Ah. Looks like the soldiers are here, right on schedule.” He glanced back up at the Colonists, making a shooing motion with one hand. “Go on, get in line. We’ll let them go first, but you can still get yourselves nice and prepared.”

“Soldiers?” Yuli heard Dr. Cielis call out. “What do you mean?”

As the Colonists began forming a line, the digitalization room’s doors swung open once more. In marched a hundred young people in uniform, wearing the insignia of A-Corp’s Armed Forces. They took up half the room, looping around in a neat line, entirely disregarding the presence of the Colonists. The Initiative employees huddled together in one corner, casting bewildered glances toward the militant strangers.

“What is this?” Yuli murmured, scowling.

“No need to be concerned,” Dr. Kallo said, turning to face his fellow Colonists with his hands clasped behind his back. Thanks to his rigid posture, neatly cropped hair, and muscular build, he almost looked like a soldier himself. “The Armed Forces demanded that one-third of the Otherworld be reserved for military use. They’re sending a few soldiers into the maze as part of an experimental training program. Don’t worry—they’ll have their own base, their own territory. I’m sure we’ll hardly ever run into them.”

A collective burst of indignation radiated from the Colonists’ group. “This is ridiculous!” Mira exclaimed. “You’re using the Otherworld to support the war?! The war is why we need the Otherworld in the first place!”

“I was told that this experiment was solely an Initiative project! Why are these people here? What else haven’t you told us?!” Dr. Cielis demanded.

Yuli glanced over toward the soldiers. The one who looked to be in charge—a strikingly tall woman with dark-brown, flawless skin and curly hair dyed bright red—was being directed onto the platform. Her well-sculpted muscles stood out beneath her flattering uniform. The military woman seemed so sure of herself as she stepped onto the painted X, standing tall while she waited for the digitalization process to begin. The machinery on the walls thrummed to life, and a soft blue light flickered across her body, scanning every inch of her.

“Good luck, Captain!” a random soldier in the line called out to her. She did not glance back as, with a sudden vibration, she disappeared on the spot.

Yuli’s gaze lingered on the space where the captain had stood. She was barely aware that Dr. Kallo was speaking.

“There will be a few... others in the maze, besides the soldiers and AIs,” the man admitted. “Before approving the experiment for Colonist participation, we needed a... trial period, to determine that everything was working as it should. We sent a group of test subjects into the maze six months ago. The higher-ups figure that the researchers might as well retrieve you all at once, instead of getting them out before they put you in. I won’t pretend to understand their reasoning, but there’s no use in arguing. This is just how it’s going to be.”

As soldiers were methodically zapped into the Otherworld, the Colonists grumbled, shifted and paced, deeply dissatisfied with this news. Dr. Cielis eventually asked, “These test subjects. What sort of people are they? What do we know about them?” His tone was pointed, almost accusatory. He already knows, Yuli thought, frowning slightly.

Dr. Kallo sighed. “They’re criminals,” he said matter-of-factly. “They were given to us as an alternative to prison. But they won’t be able to harm us in the maze. We’ll have our own territory, and the Explicator will intervene if they attempt to cause trouble.” He laughed without a trace of warmth. “Maybe the soldiers will keep them in check.”

Dr. Cielis slowly shook his head. A hardware specialist near Yuli emitted a disgusted sigh.

“Alright, that’s it. I’m out,” Mavis announced. “I’m not doing this. I’m not evaporating myself into another dimension with a bunch of hungry criminals waiting for me. That seems like something you should warn people about before they sign up!”

Dr. Kallo met Mavis with a piercing stare. “I understand, Mr. Richa, but remember – if you back out of the program, you’ll have to forfeit the monetary compensation you were promised.”

“I don’t care,” Mavis shook his head. “It’s not worth it. Absolutely not.” With that, he stormed off, heading right for the doors. They opened for him slowly, as if the researchers were reluctant to let him go. Nearly half of the Colonists followed him out, griping about how this was a scam, a ridiculous waste of time, not worth the promised reward.

Yuli was one of the eight who remained. She waited alongside Mira, Dr. Cielis, Dr. Shaw, Dr. Kallo, and several other brave souls, as the soldiers disappeared one by one. Soon, much too soon, Dr. Kova beckoned to her little huddle of scientists and dreamers, inviting them to what might be certain doom.

“I guess we had some cowards in our midst,” the head researcher winked, smirking at Arilus. “Come on, one of you, step forward. I won’t bite.”

Everyone hesitated, even Dr. Kallo.

With her heart in her throat, Yuli tentatively raised her hand. If she didn’t do this now, she would lose her nerve completely. “I-I’ll go,” she stammered quietly.

Dr. Kova raised his eyebrows. “Alright then, sweetie, step right up!” he smiled. His grin looked positively devilish up close. Tensely, Yuli walked up to the platform and stood on the dark X. She glanced down at the black slashes of paint beneath her feet as her breaths hiccupped and her heart pounded. She wanted to flee. She wanted to shove Dr. Kova out of the way and run from the digitalization room, run from the Initiative. But no, she had to do this.

A blue light flashed across her eyes without warning, making her wince. The precise position of every atom in her body was recorded, generating an identical simulation in the Otherworld. Yuli felt a faint tingling fill her skin, and heard the start of a powerful boom–

She suddenly found herself surrounded by four blank walls that extended infinitely upward, a wall of weapons, and a hundred soldiers.