For the first time in an hour, Xavier Donovan breathed.

He appeared in the cavernous digitalization room and immediately fell to his knees, inhaling in great gasps, with both trembling hands pressed against his chest. Wild-eyed, he raised his head to stare at the digitalization machine, as if seeing it for the first time. His mouth hung wide open as he sucked in huge breaths, digging his fingernails deep into the fabric of his test subject’s uniform.

Dr. Kova smiled. A pair of safety guards moved to collect the shivering young man, lifting him from the floor just as he began to gather his wits. “H-holy shit!!” he spluttered as they carried him from the room. A pair of sturdy doors clanged shut, cutting off the young man’s frantic cursing. In the silence that followed, Dr. Kova took a moment to silently congratulate himself on his success.

-

The Director of the Cyber Initiative sat at his desk, watching Dr. Kova through a pair of smart glasses. The powerful man dismissed the array of screens and readouts plastering themselves across his vision to momentarily give the renowned scientist his full attention.

“The latest round of testing was successful,” Dr. Kova reported, standing stiffly in the center of the Director’s expansive office. “We sent Subjects 1 through 9 into the Otherworld for one simulated hour each. Everything appeared to be working properly, and the subjects didn’t report any perceived abnormalities. There were certain... adverse effects, from a purely psychological standpoint, but every subject was restored properly with no anomalies or glitches to speak of.”

“Tell me more about these ‘adverse effects,’” the Director said brusquely, folding his hands in his lap. Several notifications popped up on his glasses, but he dismissed them with a blink.

Dr. Kova kept his expression neutral. “The subjects experienced discomfort with the setup of their simulated bodies. The inability to blink, breathe and swallow felt ‘unnatural.’ This isn’t of any real concern, of course. I’m sure people will get used to these effects over time—”

“No, no, that is a real concern,” the Director shook his head, interrupting the man. “Your digitalization process might work splendidly, Dr. Kova, but if existing in the Otherworld feels unnatural, it’s completely worthless.”

Dr. Kova paused for a moment, carefully considering his words. “What are your orders, Director?” he inquired calmly.

“Get a team together to do some more work on the bodies,” the Director said. “Give them lungs, a heartbeat, whatever else they’ll need to feel ‘correct.’ Run some more tests, figure out the minimum amount of ‘extra’ required to make a person feel human in the Otherworld. No need to cover every biological process if some will go unnoticed.”

Dr. Kova’s eyes narrowed, and he said, very cautiously, “Director, I believe that our time and resources would be better spent perfecting other areas—”

“I gave you my instructions,” the Director cut in. “We’re trying to make a world as good as our own, aren’t we?”

“Yes, Director,” Dr. Kova nodded sharply. “I’ll inform the software division of its new assignment.” Then he turned smartly and exited the office, permitting himself one small, exasperated sigh.

-

“Where’re they sending us, when they do those tests?” Leonela Kingsley—Subject 6—asked, absently tracing her hand across a tattoo on her wrist. Her unkempt red hair hung in her face, obscuring her many freckles and her cold green eyes.

“Who knows, Ginger?” Xavier—Subject 7—drawled, flinging his arms forward. He lay on the floor in what he had dubbed his prison cell, though being Cyber Initiative property was technically not the same as incarceration. “Give it a couple weeks, and we won’t have to worry about it anymore, now will we?”

“That right, Donovan? You got another escape plan up your sleeve, huh?” Leonela chuckled, pressing her face against her room’s single window to glower down at her fellow test subject. “We all know how great the last one went.”

Xavier smirked lazily. “That was just the first phase, getting a feel for their numbers and methods. Phase two begins this week.”

“Bullshit!” Leonela shook her head, hitting her fist against the window. Xavier didn’t flinch.

“Leo, stop,” a surly, exhausted voice piped up from a nearby cell. Carys Wylder—Subject 2. “He took the punishment for all of us. He didn’t have to do that. Give him a break, will you?”

Xavier’s entire body throbbed at the memory of the researchers’ disciplinary methods. They kept their torturous consequences on a rotating schedule, so that the subjects never built up a tolerance to any.

Leonela didn’t acknowledge Carys. Instead she cackled fiercely, peeling her face away from the window to pace around the perimeter of her cramped, locked ‘bedroom.’ Nearby subjects immediately began to complain about the noise.

Subject 1 decided to speak up, which made everyone else fall silent immediately. He was the oldest test subject, and the most knowledgeable. His words carried a certain gravity that Xavier envied. “They’re sending us into the cyber dimension, Leonela. A digital parallel universe. Like a VR game, but real. They’re trying to make a planet for people to live in.”

The test subjects digested this information with varying levels of comprehension. Aster Zev—Subject 4—was the first to break the silence, muttering, “Why?”

Subject 1 bowed his head, closing his single surviving eye. He had lost the other in a test gone wrong, many years before the other subjects arrived. Though it was customary for a new subject to share what they had done to deserve their unwelcome fate, the entirety of Subject 1’s identity remained a mystery. “They’ve decided it’s too late to fix the world, so instead they’re developing... alternatives.”

“Alternatives,” Xavier repeated, shaking his head. “Are they insane?”

“It’s A-Corp, what do you expect?” Leonela scoffed.

Subject 1 sighed quietly. It was impossible to tell whether the tests or the personalities of his fellow prisoners were responsible for the graying of his hair. Xavier suspected the latter. “They’ll keep sending us back there till it’s good and ready for the people who matter,” the man said grimly. “After that, who knows what they’ll do with us?”

“Who cares? We won’t give them the chance,” Xavier said.

“Oh, give it a rest,” Leonela groaned.

-

Xavier never did manage to finish his escape plan. He was put through a rigorous series of tests as the Cyber Initiative rushed to perfect its Otherworld, leaving him disoriented and drained. It was all he could do to maintain an even-tempered attitude in front of the others, especially when they were having emotional breakdowns left and right. He was kept so busy and isolated, he could hardly think straight, let alone communicate a plan. He suspected this was intentional. Every time he saw Dr. Kova leering at him from afar, irrepressible urges to lash out in a senseless flurry of violence overtook him. He could barely keep himself under control.

After months of being forced through painful exercises to test every facet of the Otherworld’s workings, the subjects were rounded up and paraded into the digitalization room one last time. There, they received the news that they would be sent into the Otherworld for six consecutive months, to participate in a trial version of a project called the Explicator’s Maze. If the trial was a success, they would be left in the Otherworld for a ‘currently undetermined’ period of time.

The subjects exploded into loud, furious protests.

“You can’t do this!” Aster pleaded, grabbing his head in despair.

“This is ridiculous!” a girl named Ruo gasped indignantly.

“Trying to get rid of us for good, huh?!” a woman named Blake shouted, clenching her fists. “Why not just kill us outright?! Spare us all the trouble!”

“Bite me!” Leonela screamed, attacking the nearest safety guard. A sizzle of electricity filled the air, and she fell to the ground with a shriek, spasming uncontrollably.

Subject 1 watched their fruitless rage with tired eyes, remaining perfectly silent and still. Xavier studied him with curiosity, imitating his expression and posture.

“Everyone, stop!” Xavier called out, loudly enough to be heard over the subjects’ yelling. “Listen! Every month we spend in this Otherworld is a month free from testing! There’s nothing we can do about being sent there, so let’s just try to do this painlessly, okay?”

Dr. Kova’s lips curled into an ugly smile. A mirthful gleam filled his eyes, as if he knew something Xavier didn’t.

“Let’s get started,” the researcher nodded.

The thirty test subjects were herded into a single-file line and led to the center of the digitalization room one by one. Powerful machinery thrummed throughout the expansive space, incomprehensible to the subjects. Dr. Kova took great pleasure in watching the nervous criminals disappear into the digital realm, as if erased from existence. He glanced down at his paper-thin tablet with interest, watching as the subjects and their accompanying stats began to appear in an orderly list on the screen. Viewing them as a series of numbers was rather amusing.

He hoped the Explicator would know how to handle them.

-

Xavier snapped into existence near the corner of a smooth, rectangular room he did not recognize. He was surrounded by other test subjects. More appeared each time he blinked. He gazed across the area, immediately filled with confusion. Four featureless walls extended infinitely upward before fading into blackness. In front of him, he saw a shimmering holographic display, sporting a series of icons symbolizing various weapons. What was this place?

“Welcome to the Otherworld,” a strange, feminine voice boomed through the area, making many subjects jump. “I am the Explicator. My job is to direct you through a series of tests with the purpose of gathering data on human behavior. I will use this data to construct artificial intelligence that accurately mimics human beings. You will work alongside this artificial intelligence to navigate my maze. When you are ready to proceed, select a weapon.”

The subjects began to mutter among themselves, casting wary glances around the room. A sinking feeling filled Xavier’s stomach as he beheld the symbols of weapons laid out before him.

“Oh look, Donovan! More tests!” Leonela crowed, clapping her hands. She seemed to have fully recovered from the electric shock.

“Everyone, listen up!” Xavier shouted, choosing to ignore her entirely. “We need to stick together, understand? No splitting up into our own little factions, no getting into fights. This is important. I don’t like the look of this place. If it’s really a maze, it’ll be easy to get lost or divided. We’ve gotta make sure that doesn’t happen. They’re handing us weapons and we don’t know how they work. If you die in here, you might die for real. So we need to make sure we have each other’s backs, okay?”

At first, the subjects did not respond. Some were already reaching toward icons on the wall of light, selecting weapons that appealed to them without a second thought.

“I said, okay?!” Xavier repeated, raising his voice until it echoed across the eerily featureless room.

“Yessir!” Leonela chirped sarcastically, twirling a fancy-looking gun in her hands. Subject 1 caught Xavier’s eye and nodded, conveying a silent message – that he would help keep the others in line.

Xavier sighed, then punched his fist through the symbol of a rather impractical-looking sword. It immediately appeared in his hand, nearly startling him. He gripped the hilt with both hands and experimentally swung it through the air. It made an exaggerated whoosh as it sliced through nothing.

Once every subject was armed, the wall of weapons dissolved. A grand pair of doors appeared, sliding open beckoningly. Tentatively, Xavier approached this new entrance. What trials awaited him in this mysterious maze?

There was only one way to find out.