“Here we are,” Dr. Kallo announced as the workshop came into view. After so many twists and turns, the eight Colonists had begun to suspect that this ‘workshop’ did not actually exist. When they finally found it, they were overjoyed. It was a two-story building shaped like a vaguely abstract house, with pale blue walls and triangular windows. A small garden sat beside the structure, bringing a tiny piece of home to the cyber dimension.

“Oh, it’s so nice!” Yuli exclaimed, breaking away from the group to examine the substantial house. She placed a hand against the smooth front door, and it popped open, inviting her inside. She stepped across the threshold eagerly, amazed by what she saw within the space. It was indeed a workshop, with one wall devoted to perfectly flat, holographic monitors, another to every tool a hardware specialist could ask for, and a third to unique devices that didn’t yet exist in the real world. Three smooth, metallic tables were spaced throughout the room, each ringed by a set of five chairs. 

“Wow,” Mira said, following Yuli. “This is kinda fancy.”

The others entered one by one, spreading across the room to ogle at the devices that most interested them. Cay picked up all manner of tools, examining them closely and running his fingers across their surfaces. The physics worked seamlessly, making him feel like he was really gripping objects, with all the subtleties of their proper weight and texture accounted for. Mira and Yuli headed over to the wall of new technology, marveling at a set of screens composed solely of light. Another Colonist inspected one of the monitors, reading from a database of assets used in the maze. Experimentally, he placed his finger against a certain type of tree, and an insubstantial replica of the tree appeared behind him, conjured into the room for the sake of examining.

Dr. Aliyah Shaw removed her jacket and draped it on the back of a chair, heading toward the seemingly levitating set of thin, glassy stairs that led to the second floor. “What’s up here?” she shouted to Arilus.

“The beds!” Arilus called back.

Aliyah ascended the stairs, catching sight of another large room. Identical full-size beds lined the walls, each bearing a pillow across which the A-Corp logo was plastered. Before her eyes, seven of the beds disappeared, and the room seemed to grow smaller, shrinking in a flash. Downstairs, one of the tables evaporated, and the chairs reoriented themselves, more quickly than the Colonists could comprehend. Now four chairs rested at each of the two remaining tables.

“They designed this place for fifteen Colonists,” Yuli said, voice small.

“Yes,” Arilus nodded sharply. “But eight is still a perfectly valid number.”

Yuli frowned, wondering whether she should be bothered or relieved that so many of her coworkers had dropped out of the experiment. Maybe it was for the best. The maze surely was dangerous, like Dr. Luzi said. 

She began to play with a fascinating device on the wall of experimental interfaces. It was a set of semi-transparent, hovering screens that she could resize and ‘pin’ at specific locations relative to her body position. One screen would scan a designated object, and another would display its source code. Another screen held the maze’s code at the ready for her. Certain sections were locked, but it appeared that she would be able to edit the rest of it. A fourth screen was blank, awaiting user input. Experimentally, she copied over the code necessary to materialize a flower, and ran it. A flower appeared at the exact location she had specified—on the nearest table, within arm’s reach.

Mira picked it up, gazing at it in wonder. “Did you do that?” she asked the software specialist.

“Yeah,” Yuli nodded. Her mind was spinning with possibilities. She had to hold onto this device. “Um... excuse me, Dr. Kallo?” she asked, barely able to keep her voice from trembling. The intimidating man turned to face her, and she immediately regretted addressing him directly. “Um, what’s this device called, do you know?”

“That’s the code visualizer,” Dr. Cielis spoke up. “From what I know, it’s a pretty fun tool for someone in your field.”

“Um...” Yuli hesitated, noticing the impatient look in Dr. Kallo’s eyes. “Would you mind if I... kept it? So I can figure out everything it does? I don’t think anyone else here really works with software, right? Unless you want it, of course, Dr. Kallo. You’re kind of in charge here, right?” She could tell she was stumbling over her words, but didn’t know how to stop herself.

Dr. Kallo gave her a tight, cold, condescending smile. “Sure, Miss Suriova, you can keep it if you like,” he said. “If anyone else would like to claim something as their own, feel free. Settle any disputes among yourselves, you’re all adults.” He then turned sharply away, dismissing her.

Relief and excitement cascaded through Yuli. This was an entirely new way of experiencing code, one she never could have imagined. She wondered if she could write her own programs on this device and run them in the maze. She wondered if she could make significant changes to the maze’s code, or create a modified maze of her own. Her hacker’s mentality went wild, imagining a world of possibilities she couldn’t wait to try out. Maybe this experiment would have more positives for her than the money alone. Maybe she would actually enjoy her time here.

-

Dara snapped the last piece of her upgraded armor into place and gave herself a once-over. Her living quarters at the top of the base were less spartan than expected, sporting a bed fit for a queen, storage for her weights and weapons, and a mirror. She disliked the inclusion of the mirror. Catching sight of herself could darken her mood for hours at a time.

The base was similar to what she had envisioned, though the layout was somewhat unusual. It had been designed by the Cyber Initiative, so perhaps that was why. From what she had seen of their main headquarters, she could tell that they were rather showy, and a fan of windows. Her living space’s sizable window provided an excellent view of the outdoor shooting range and obstacle course, which had been included for the sake of day-to-day training. The base additionally contained an expansive armory, as well as an excellent gym—which Dara would not permit herself to use. Working out alongside her soldiers would encourage a sense of familiarity and diminish her influence as a leader.

She preferred to be alone, besides.

In her shiny new armor, she flexed in front of the mirror, examining every inch of her hard-earned biceps beneath the metallic plating. Soon, she couldn’t bear to look, and quickly turned away. She grabbed her electrostaff and walked to the elevator beyond her room. Silently, she waited for the glass doors to close. “Main floor,” she commanded, and the elevator obliged, descending to ground level. The doors slid open, and she turned to face her soldiers, who were waiting dutifully in rows, under the watchful eye of the Explicator.

Well, most were waiting dutifully. Johdavi Sulos was at it again, calling up to the ceiling, “Miss Explicator, you mean to tell us that we don’t have anywhere to sit and eat? What are we supposed to do, eat in our beds?”

The disembodied voice of the master AI reverberated through the walls. It was unsettling, how a voice like that could fill a room, with no visible source. “Your simulated bodies have not been programmed with a facsimile of eating, drinking, or passing waste. It was determined that these functions are not psychologically necessary in the same ways that simulated breathing and sleep are.”

“Simulated... what the hell is she talking about?” Johdavi shook his head. Then he noticed Dara’s presence and straightened up, staring unwaveringly ahead with his lips pressed firmly together.

“Sulos!” Dara shouted. “I will remind you one more time that this new world is not a playground! If you defy my orders again, I will send you on patrol alone and unarmed! Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am!” Johdavi shouted back in an almost robotic tone.

“Good. Now, patrol and navigation groups for Shift 1 are as follows: Tesfaye and Sato, Devi and Garcia, Sulos and Makova, patrol, Armed Forces territory. Ghelfi and Wei, navigation, Armed Forces territory....” She rattled off names in an emotionless manner, enunciating sharply. “...Kimathi and Nikolayev, patrol, forest zone. Tanaka and Diya, navigation. Kesley and Silina, patrol, Colonist territory. Phiri and Deschamps, navigation.” She paused for a moment, then commanded, “The rest of you, head to the range for practice. Report here for your Shift 2 assignment in three hours. You are dismissed.”

Private Kazim Silina frowned, concerned by his assignment to the Colonists’ zone. As his designated partner, Mara Kesley, approached him, he muttered aloud, “I thought the Explicator lady said we shouldn’t interfere with each other’s territory.”

Mara seemed unconcerned. “You heard God-Emperor Android. Don’t wanna disobey, right?” Her tone was downright resentful, making Kazim raise his eyebrows.

The soldiers dispersed, walking in orderly pairs as Dara had trained them to. She had drilled it into their minds and bodies, time and time again, that no movement should be without purpose, unsynchronized, or individualized. Seeing the six unauthorized weapons among the group, the threat of disorder amid the neatly planned routine, angered her to no end. Who did they think they were, defying her like this? One thing was for certain – she would put those six in their place upon their return.

“Why did you do it, Mara?” Kazim asked with a sigh, glancing toward the double-bladed sword on his patrol partner’s back. They walked side-by-side, matching each other’s pace.

“Oh, this?” Mara shrugged, jostling the sword a little. “I dunno. Felt like it.”

“That has to be the stupidest reason I’ve ever heard,” Kazim sighed. “Do you seriously not mind the captain’s punishments?”

“Ehh,” Mara said. “Target practice isn’t so bad. She makes everyone set their guns to nonlethal. As long as I don’t try to murder her, I think I’ll be safe.”

-

“I literally want to murder all of them,” Leonela announced, kicking the nearest wall as hard as she could. She immediately stumbled back, cursing at the pain in her toes.

“Can we murder them, Xavier? Pretty please?” Blake snickered. She flipped her ratty blond hair out of her eyes, yawning widely.

Xavier frowned thoughtfully, sighing through his nose. He was experiencing a similar compelling desire to barge into the Colonists’ pretty little house and burn it to the ground. But they needed to be cautious. There were only twenty-one surviving subjects. Though they outnumbered the Colonists, the soldiers vastly outnumbered them, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t take kindly to the subjects massacring the maze’s Initiative presence.

“It’s bullshit,” Carys grumbled, clenching her fists. “We’ve had to fight for everything, earn everything, and now these people just waltz right in and get a damn house? We deserve that house! We’ve been here so much longer!”

Many of the subjects nodded in agreement. When they had first arrived in the maze, they had nothing but their identical uniforms and weak starter weapons. But through succeeding at the Explicator’s tests, they had earned rewards, a little at a time. Most approved rewards were cosmetic, but after years without any self-expression or freedom, even a simple cosmetic change counted for something. So far, Xavier had unlocked long pink hair and a set of markers, which he often used to draw on his clothes. Some subjects opted for new tattoos, others for nail polish, piercings, or modifications to their uniforms. 

But no matter how many times they asked, the Explicator refused to remove the scars that formed the words “Property of the Cyber Initiative” on the upper arm of each subject. Supposedly, the scars would fade over time at a rate equal to each subject’s ‘length of service.’ For the people with life sentences, they would never disappear.

Things were so much simpler when it was just us and the AIs, Xavier thought to himself. He glanced toward the AIs seated among the group, who were watching the humans’ exchange with interest and confusion. Their names were Vade, Lairah, and Morathi. They looked just like people, only a bit too flawless. The test subjects didn’t mind their presence. They fit in pretty well, all things considered.

“I bet they’re going to try to experiment on us in here,” Subject 11, a young woman named Ruo Zeng, said darkly. “They’ll get the soldiers to round us up, take us to that stupid house.”

“What a nice thought,” Xavier said dryly.

“Let’s go raid their stupid house!” Leonela shouted. “Who’s with me?!”

“I am!” Blake immediately shouted back, jumping to her feet.

“Wait,” Subject 1 spoke up. He sat in the corner, beyond the chaotic cluster of prisoners and AIs. The others had nearly forgotten he was there, he was so quiet. “Don’t do anything rash. We don’t know how the soldiers or the Explicator would react to a raid on the Colonists’ zone.”

“I don’t care,” Blake said matter-of-factly. “I just want to put my axe in the face of one Colonist. Just one of those smug little creeps. Then I can die happy.”

“What do you think?” Xavier asked the AIs. “If the soldiers or the Explicator don’t take kindly to our treatment of the Colonists, will the AIs be with us or against us?”

Vade frowned slightly, thinking it over. “I know the three of us will help you,” he answered. “Others probably would too.”

Morathi cracked a smile. “Our personalities are basically scrambled reflections of yours, right? Of course we’ll help you. You’ve been here the longest.”

“That’s good to hear,” Xavier nodded. “Still, we should wait and see how this new dynamic plays out before we do anything too... permanent. We don’t need the Explicator making our lives harder.”

“Our fearless leader, everyone,” Leonela slowly clapped her hands.

“It’s alright, Leo. We don’t need him,” Blake smirked, moving closer to the red-haired girl. “If anyone else wants to join the party, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

“I’m coming,” Aster said, rising to his feet.

“I’ll go too,” Ruo said. “This’ll be... cathartic.”

“Anybody else?” Blake asked, sweeping her gaze over the ragtag group. Most of the subjects didn’t acknowledge her. Lairah the AI shifted, then hesitated, glancing over toward Xavier and Vade.

“Don’t die,” was all she said, not moving from the spot.

“Alright then. Suit yourselves,” Blake shrugged, turning away. “You’re gonna miss all the fun.” With that, the four subjects left the relative shelter of their makeshift camp, beginning the long and confusing walk to Colonist territory.