Yuli was walking. She didn’t know where. She knew that she was being irrational, that she could get lost if she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings, that venturing into an unknown part of the maze alone was a foolish thing to do. But her rational mind was drowned out entirely by the horror of what she had just experienced.

Why make it so that people can die here? she thought as she walked, trying to put as much distance between herself and the workshop as possible. Anyone could live forever in this place, but instead they’re killing people. Why? Are we really that expendable, or is there a bigger reason?

Knowing A-Corp, she doubted there was.

She stopped walking, finding herself at a dead end, then backtracked, moving in an unfamiliar direction. She hardly noticed the pink and blue doodles on the walls, which were already being deleted as she passed by.

She had vowed to herself that once she convinced the Explicator to give her full access to the software used to run this disgusting experiment, she would immediately bring Dr. Shaw back. But the Initiative had thought of everything—looking back through, she’d discovered that all the code and data pertaining to the engineer as a living person had been deleted or scrambled, made irretrievable. Was that supposed to be for ethical reasons? What a joke, Yuli mentally seethed as she sharply turned a corner. A segment of the ground shifted, opening a dark pit beneath her feet. She didn’t look down, continuing onward, lost in her thoughts—until her foot hit nothingness and she began to fall.

A pair of strong hands gripped her by the arm, hoisting her away from the pit. Her cry of alarm faded into a sharp exhalation of nonexistent air.

“Hey there... you okay?” an unfamiliar man said kindly. His hair was long and shockingly pink. His eyes were caught somewhere between brownish and greenish, his skin somewhere between pink-ish and tan-ish, as if he’d spent a little too much time in the sun. He wore a uniform covered in doodles. The sleeves were ripped off, to expose his muscular arms.

“Yes. Thank you,” Yuli said, somewhat embarrassed. She gently but firmly extricated herself from his grip and took a step backward. A pang of unease hit her when she recognized his uniform as a test subject’s. If he was a test subject, why did he save her?

“Hey,” another man spoke up. No, not quite a man – this must have been one of the AIs, standing slightly behind the test subject. His skin was pale, yet entirely unblemished. His eyes were a crisp shade of blue, as was his hair. He wore what looked like a cross between the subjects’ and the Colonists’ standard clothing, and his chest pulsated with a faint glow. In his left hand was a pale blue marker. He twirled it absentmindedly between his fingers.

“Ah... so this is what the AIs look like,” Yuli said, smiling despite herself. “Wow... that’s so interesting. What’s your name?” she inquired.

“I’m Vade.” The AI dipped his head slightly in greeting. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Same to you,” Yuli said. It was hard to remind herself not to stare. Would an AI mind being stared at? They were supposed to be treated like people, right?

“And I’m Xavier,” the test subject extended his hand to shake, smiling in a way that seemed rather calculated. It was clear that he was trying to seem mysterious, or perhaps attractive. “Xavier Donovan. You’ve heard of Captain Kravchenko, right? Well, I’m sort of a captain myself.”

“Captain of the test subjects?” Yuli said frostily, folding her arms.

Xavier Donovan scratched his head. “Now that you mention it, yeah,” he laughed. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about us, but I promise we’re not dangerous. A lot of us don’t deserve to be here, really.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Yuli frowned. “So, if you’re their leader, does that mean you’re the one who told your friends to try to kill us?”

Xavier’s smile faded. “That wasn’t my idea,” he hurried to clarify. “I actually tried to tell them not to go. They wouldn’t listen. I’m so, so sorry for whatever they did to you. You have to understand, they’re very angry about what—”

“Some ‘captain’ you are, then,” Yuli interrupted. “Excuse me. I need to leave.” She circled around the pit to the other side of the hallway, not wanting to try and shove past Xavier.

“Wait!” Vade called after her. She paused for a moment, glancing back toward the AI. He cleared his throat, looking rather shy. “Um... can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said with a slight frown. She didn’t trust this AI, mainly due to the company he kept, but he did seem rather nice.

“How could you tell I was an AI right away?” he asked, staring down at the marker in his hand. Yuli hadn’t seen any art supplies in ages. Why were there markers in the Explicator’s Maze?

“Your skin and hair. They look too... artificial,” Yuli explained.

“Oh. I see,” Vade sighed. For a moment, his face rippled. A series of freckles popped up on his skin, right before Yuli’s eyes. His hair changed too, becoming a bit more unevenly colored. He pressed a hand to his head, looking exceedingly uncomfortable. “Sorry. The Explicator does that sometimes. Kinda ruins the effect, doesn’t it?” He sighed, turning away in embarrassment.

“So, will I be seeing you around?” Xavier smiled, entirely ignoring his AI friend’s discomfort as he brushed past him, moving closer to Yuli. “There’s a lot to explain about the way this place works. I’d be happy to tell you everything I know, show you some of the prettiest areas, maybe a few of my secret—”

“I’m not interested in men,” Yuli cut him off, thoroughly sick of his antics.

“What does that mean?” Vade whispered to Xavier, watching Yuli with intrigue and confusion.

A pair of patrolling soldiers rounded the corner and caught sight of the trio. “Excuse me, Miss. Is this test subject bothering you?” Private Teva Makova asked solemnly.

“Quite a bit, yes,” Yuli answered, instinctively moving closer to the soldiers.

“Oh, mind your own business, will you?” Xavier grumbled, making a rude gesture. In response, the female soldier walked over and punched him squarely in the face. He fell against the wall, cursing profusely.

“Yingyue!” Teva exclaimed in surprise.

“We can walk you back to your home base, if you like,” Private Yingyue Wei said with a small smile. This soldier was very pretty, Yuli couldn’t help but notice.

“I would appreciate it,” she said, blushing despite herself. She spared one last look at Vade, who seemed focused solely on Xavier. Then, alongside the soldiers, she left.

-

Though the Explicator’s Maze was many miles in length, news spread quickly within its walls. Soon, everyone knew that the soldiers were hunting Blake Deane—better known as Subject 17. Whoever caught her would be rewarded with an extra weapon from the Armed Forces arsenal. In this lawless maze, Captain Kravchenko was attempting to impose some semblance of order. She had enough soldiers at her disposal to enforce her vision of justice. Though the Colonists desired protection from the test subjects, most of them did not trust the soldiers one bit. Only Arilus and Yuli refrained from grumbling about how ‘Captain Android’ had developed a thirst for power.

On their second night in the maze, the Colonists held a funeral for Dr. Shaw. Yuli used her code visualizer to produce a small monument, which they placed in the garden together. Dr. Shaw’s body had disappeared within moments of her death, presumably retrieved by the Cyber Initiative for a memorial service in the physical world. This unsettled the Colonists deeply. They were all thinking the same things, though no one discussed them aloud – We were told the Explicator’s Maze is safe. Why has someone been killed? Why did the Initiative seem prepared for such a tragedy? Is this part of the testing? Did it really even happen?

On their third night, they found out that Blake had been sold out by another test subject, and that she would be used to ‘send a message’ the following morning. Mira found herself wondering which subject had decided an extra weapon meant more than the life of an ally. Yuli didn’t even want to think about it.

Half of the Colonists and most of the test subjects showed up to watch Captain Kravchenko execute Blake in front of the Armed Forces base. Arilus spotted the girl who had killed Aliyah Shaw among the group of subjects. He did not feel a shred of remorse, seeing the incredibly realistic injuries she’d sustained. 

“This is a warning to all who believe that because this is not the world they know, they have a right to engage in violent and criminal behavior!” Dara bellowed. Her voice echoed across the space, reaching every ear present.

“Wait! Don’t do this!” Vade, the blue-haired AI, pushed his way to the front of the crowd. A strikingly human expression of pleading filled his sharp, pale eyes. “The maze is already dangerous enough as it is! We don’t need to be killing each other! I know you haven’t been here very long, so you don’t know yet, but you have to trust me!”

Dara paused for a moment, glancing down at the AI without an ounce of emotion. Then she nodded to a pair of nearby soldiers. They took Vade firmly by the arms and dragged him away from the crowd. To no avail, he struggled and shouted, “This is a terrible idea! Don’t do this, please! I know how Xavier will react to something like this! Why won’t you listen to me—?!”

Dara twisted her staff clockwise, activating its various augmentations. She stopped when a red laser rifle materialized at one end of the experimental weapon. She closed her eyes, steadied her breathing, and made one clean slice. In a moment, it was over. The test subjects erupted into screams of fury as Blake collapsed, then disappeared.

“Well, that was awful,” the Colonist beside Arilus grimaced, turning to leave.

“I disagree,” Arilus said thoughtfully.

The Colonist looked at him like he was insane. He didn’t care. He turned to watch the captain for a moment, impressed by her stoic, steady demeanor. Now this was someone he could work with.