Yuli was not expecting Cay and Arilus to return to the workshop carrying a battered, blue-bleeding, barely conscious AI between them. She leaped to her feet the moment they entered, hands flying to her face in horror. “What is this?!” she gasped as they hurried to place the artificial man on the couch. For a moment, she almost worried that Arilus had done this to him, though she knew that was completely illogical.

“We found him near the Armed Forces base,” Cay explained, regarding the unfortunate AI with genuine sympathy in his eyes. The AI’s clothes were solid white and featureless, which meant he was brand-new, less than a day old. Upon further inspection, Yuli realized that he closely resembled someone she had met before—the guy who was always hanging around the pink-haired test subject. She’d spoken to him a few times. What was his name… Vade? “We don’t know who did this. Do you think you can help him?”

“Of course I can,” Yuli nodded, immediately pulling up her code visualizer. She didn’t know this AI personally, but she knew that he did not deserve what had happened to him. With a flicker of golden light, she quickly scanned his body. The visualizer’s many screens spiraled through great volumes of maze code until it found the relevant pieces devoted to this particular individual. Yuli grabbed the source code from one miniature screen and placed it on another, watching it transform into a series of abstract shapes that she could adjust in a vast number of ways. She had memorized the symbolic ‘language’ of the visualizer over the course of many long, sleepless nights. At this point, it typically took her less than a minute to successfully edit the physical wellness of her companions.

She had never healed an AI before, but she knew from skimming through maze code that their life functions were set up identically to the humans’. Her hands danced through the air as she pinched and tweaked relevant shapes, turning red points green and sending a cascade of positive effects through the injured AI’s body. It would have been much simpler to just spawn in a sufficient number of healing items, but the Explicator insisted on reserving those for tests and traps, no matter how many times Yuli argued and pleaded.

The AI groaned softly and rubbed his eyes. His face was smooth and clean now, free of bruises. He cautiously sat up, taking in his new surroundings with wide, faintly glowing eyes. “H-how…” he whispered, touching his chest. “I’m okay...?”

“You’re okay,” Yuli affirmed softly, perching on the edge of the couch. “I healed you up, good as new. My name’s Yuli. What’s your name?” She spoke to him as if he was a child.

The AI stared raptly at the young woman, and the mesmerizing screens of light that surrounded her. “Vade,” he murmured. He then forced himself to look away, offering a small, sad smile to Cay and Dr. Kallo. “I… I’m sorry if I knew any of you before. I was… started over very recently.” He sounded so embarrassed, it made Yuli’s chest ache.

“I don’t believe we’ve met, no,” Dr. Kallo shook his head, folding his arms. “Tell me, what happened to you back there? Not to be insensitive, but I’d very much like to know whether this is part of a test.” He sounded rather sarcastic. Yuli wondered if Vade would pick up on that.

“Soldiers attacked me,” Vade answered with a tired sigh. “I don’t have any weapons, but I don’t think that mattered.” He studied the uniforms of the Colonists with a bewildered expression, and hesitantly asked, “You’re… not test subjects, right? But you’re not soldiers, either…”

“Sounds like the subjects got him caught up in their fight,” Cay frowned to Arilus. “And then they just left him?”

“Hey, Vade?” Yuli said. She made sure to keep her tone gentle and pleasant, though she was internally seething over the way this AI had been treated. “Do you have any other AI friends, anyone who can watch over you while you learn about this place?”

“Uh…” Vade appeared troubled, averting his eyes. “Well, I have Xavier, and the AIs he’s friends with.”

Yuli hesitated for a moment. She knew enough about Xavier Donovan to expect that an ugly picture of the Colonists had already been painted in this naïve AI’s mind. But she had to try. “Do you think you might want to stay with us for a while, instead of Xavier? We’re not test subjects or soldiers. We’re not fighting anybody, and we would never leave you behind like that.”

Vade’s expression darkened. Thick black armor shimmered to life around him, as if an inner desire to shield himself from the world was manifesting. “That’s okay,” he muttered, giving Yuli a shy, melancholy glance. “Thank you for saving me, really. But I’ve got plenty of friends, who are probably wondering where I am.” He rose from the couch and left without another word, not looking back.

The moment he was gone, Yuli let out a long sigh. “God, I hope he doesn’t get killed out there,” she said, deactivating her visualizer and flopping down on the sofa.

“He’s chosen the test subjects for allies. He probably will,” Arilus shrugged. “It’s really not our concern.”

But Yuli wasn’t capable of just brushing this off. Something about that AI haunted her. The way he was aware that he had been reset, the way he was struggling to put the pieces of his old life back together, even after such an awful experience… She hoped she would encounter him again, even if from a distance, so that she could make sure he was okay.

-

Fifty-eight… fifty-nine… sixty… Teva Makova blew dangling strands of hair out of their eyes as they counted their push-ups in a steady rhythm. Their muscles shook from the strain. Normally their gym clothes would be sticky with sweat by now, but not in the Otherworld.

No matter how much they trained, their physique remained the same. Their hair had not grown since they first arrived, either. It was like they were frozen in time. Teva was certain that there was no point in keeping up the strict workout regimen Dara imposed upon her soldiers, but they still visited the gym daily in their spare time, because they wanted to keep up their normal routine.

Eighty-eight… eighty-nine… Teva was not the most free-spirited person. They had joined the military to serve A-Corp in a structured, straightforward way. They didn’t mind Captain Kravchenko nearly as much as some of the others did. People like Mara Kesley and Johdavi Sulos didn’t belong in the service, in Teva’s opinion. They couldn’t handle the discipline, and villainized the captain as a result. But any cruelty Captain ‘Android’ was rumored to possess was nothing compared to the actions of the Explicator.

Once they hit one-hundred, they allowed themself to stop, sighing sharply and rising to their feet. Their workout partner and best friend, Kazim Silina, regarded them with an amused smile. Kazim had been beaten pretty badly during the skirmish in front of the base, so he was taking a little time off from exercising. He’d needed stitches for what had to be the third time since arriving in the maze. Their friend Yingyue often joked that Kazim’s scars were the only way she could tell him and Teva apart. They did look alike, with slight builds, fair skin, black hair, and dark eyes. Yingyue insisted that the two were ‘identically boring,’ also.

“I might head back,” Kazim said, looking a little dejected. “Should probably get some sleep.”

“Are you okay?” Teva frowned. The other times Kazim was hurt, it hadn’t seemed to affect him much. But today, it was clearly wearing him down.

“Yeah, I guess,” Kazim shrugged. “I just… I’m tired of this, Teva. This isn’t what I signed up for, you know? I wanted to fight the Enemy, not a bunch of second-rate killers turned science experiments.” He stood shakily, looking a bit nauseous. Teva offered him their arm. He did not take it.

“We’re pretty much science experiments, too,” Teva smiled wryly, swiping a stray lock of hair away from their cheek. “I get that feeling a lot, actually, myself. But I always try to remember that this maze is worth something. We’re personally contributing to solving the world’s problems.” They did their best to avoid sounding halfhearted, but did not quite succeed.

Kazim rolled his eyes. “Sometimes it feels like the only problem they’re trying to solve here is overpopulation,” he said. Teva opened their mouth to argue, but found that they couldn’t. Kazim quickly filled the silence. “Did you hear about the test where the Explicator picked a bunch of people at random, and stuffed them in a room together with a literal firing squad?”

Teva nodded. “I was there,” they said. They’d been plucked right out of their patrol route and dropped in a stark, narrow space full of test subjects and AIs. The master of the maze had tantalized the participants with what appeared to be the labyrinth’s exit, blocked off by rows upon rows of faceless, heavily armored enemies. Those who dared to try their luck were mercilessly shot down, one by one. The purpose of that test was still a mystery to Teva, though the Explicator insisted it was very informative.

“Damn, that’s rough,” Kazim winced, absently tracing a finger across an old scar.

“I survived,” Teva sighed. Kazim began to walk, and Teva followed him, willing to cut their plans short if he wanted company. “Hey, want to go exploring for a bit? I heard Kesley discovered a nice meadow area the other day.”

“It’s probably full of traps,” Kazim grumbled, but he seemed interested nonetheless. “Then again, I could use a change of scenery…”

They were nearly out the door when a wall of light erupted from the ground, blocking off the exit. Teva whirled around to find a second, identical wall appearing behind them. A nearby soldier was caught in the light and instantly vaporized. The floor began to rumble as the sheets of luminous white inched closer together, forcing Teva and Kazim to back up to the middle of the gym. “What is this?!” Kazim shouted.

“I don’t know! A test, maybe?” Teva responded. They searched the featureless, expanding light for any sort of clue that might lead to an answer. They found nothing. Their heart thudded in their chest as they grabbed the heaviest dumbbell they could find off a nearby shelf, dragging it over to the closest window and hitting it against the simulated glass. The clean, transparent surface did not budge. Was this the end for them? After surviving a hundred battles and trials, would they be done in by a faceless wave of glowing bullshit? As the sweeping lights closed in, Teva jabbed the weight into the window again and again, cursing under their breath, until their vision went white and a searing pain filled their entire body—

The voice of the Explicator echoed through their ears: “Welcome to the Field of Play.”