“Good morning, everyone!” chirped a synthesized version of Yuli’s voice. The time was 6:00, according to the synchronized clocks on Yuli’s code visualizer, Arilus’s data viewer and Mira’s portable screen. Yuli had developed an alarm clock of sorts for the Colonists, so that they could keep a consistent sleep schedule. They couldn’t rely on the maze’s sky – an unchanging dome of mist with an invisible, inexplicable, constant light source. Little things like the absence of daylight and darkness nagged at Yuli. She’d never realized the importance of these everyday details she usually took for granted.

“Ugh,” Mira groaned from the nearest bed. “Is it morning already?”

Yuli promptly slid out of bed, running her fingers through her hair to somewhat comb it. Most of the other Colonists were still lying down, struggling to move even the tiniest bit. It was strange, having to sleep in a room with six other people. Especially when one of them was Arilus Kallo. She spotted him briskly rising from his bed, an early bird like her.

Dr. Shaw’s bed had disappeared, a constant reminder of the loss the Colonists had suffered. Her chair was gone from the workshop, too. Though Yuli never knew the engineer personally, she grew nauseous every time she saw that table with three chairs.

“Alright!” Arilus said forcefully, clapping his hands together. Mira flinched, then groaned, pressing her pillow over her ears. “Everybody up! We’re going to talk to some AIs today, figure out how to navigate this place!”

Though the idea of talking to AIs excited him, Cay struggled to leave the comfort of his covers, moaning and cursing all the way. His left shin was heavily bandaged, and walking was probably out of the question—the only surviving evidence of the test subjects’ invasion.

Yuli might not have been able to fix his leg, but she was able to spawn in a makeshift walking stick—a plain, thin cylinder he could use to assist his movement. It appeared beside the man, standing straight up-and-down. He jumped a little, then immediately glanced toward the young software specialist.

“Thanks,” he said with a slight nervous chuckle. He grabbed the makeshift stick with confidence, then attempted to put some weight on his left foot. Immediately, he crumpled back into his bed. “You can talk to the AIs without me,” he grimaced, letting the walking stick fall to the ground. His voice was tense with pain, as if he could barely keep from crying out. Mira and Yuli exchanged a worried glance.

“So where are we supposed to find them?” a man in the corner asked. Arilus opened his mouth to respond, but he was abruptly interrupted by the disembodied voice of the Explicator.

“A test is imminent. Prepare for teleportation,” she said.

“Prepare for teleportation?” Yuli repeated, frowning. “What does that—” There was a sudden jolt, and Yuli found herself in an unfamiliar location, surrounded by unfamiliar people.

The room was wide and pyramidal in shape, with walls that looked to be made of frosted glass. In the middle of the dark, featureless floor was a circle of light, glowing red. Seven strangers in various states of disorientation were spaced evenly around the pyramid, all facing that bloodred circle.

“What in the world?” she gasped, immediately becoming dizzy. Her knees nearly buckled as her mind struggled to process this sudden shift in location. Where was she? And where were the other Colonists?

“Well, shit,” a blond woman in a soldier’s uniform laughed. “That actually surprised me.”

“Where are we?” another soldier frowned deeply, gazing up at the sloped walls, which came to a point high above the radiant circle.

“This is a test,” a woman dressed all in gray said calmly. Her hair was long and blue, and her eyes were bright red. She was clearly an AI. “The Explicator will explain its purpose shortly.”

Yuli glanced over at the man beside her, an easily recognizable AI with slightly darker, but equally blue hair. His freckled face held an exquisitely human sort of worry. “You’re... Vade, right?” she called out to him, searching for one shred of familiarity in this new, frightening place.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “And you’re... Yuli?”

She couldn’t help but smile at his careful, seemingly timid pause. She was certain he could instantly recite her name on command, being an AI, but it was these little hesitations that made his personality seem genuine.

The Explicator spoke again. Her voice reverberated throughout the pyramid, vibrating the walls with its intensity. “I bet you are all wondering why I’ve brought you to this place. For many of you, this is your first test, and I hope to make it memorable.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” a third soldier winced.

The blond soldier scoffed, crossing her arms defiantly, as if she felt a strong need to emphasize how unfazed she was by this turn of events.

“You have been sorted into twenty teams of eight. Each team has been isolated in an identical room. These rooms have no doors, and their walls cannot be broken,” the Explicator explained. “There is only one way out – a sacrifice must be made.”

Yuli frowned. A sacrifice? What did that mean? What kind of test was this?

“You will select one member of your party to be removed from the experiment. Once you have made your decision, the person in question will stand on the red circle in the center of the room. This will trigger a painful deletion sequence. The decision is irreversible, so choose wisely. You have one hour.” With that, the master of the maze fell silent. Her ominous words echoed in the air, filling Yuli with dread.

“So...” one of the soldiers muttered, casting a wary glance about the room. “We’re supposed to pick someone to kill, basically, so the rest of us can continue?”

“Sounds like it,” the blond smirked. Lightning-quick, she unsheathed her double-bladed sword, taking a defensive stance. “I’ll tell you right now – it’s not gonna be me. Even if I have to go through every last one of you.”

“Mara, put that away,” another soldier shook her head. “Think about it. There’s five of us, and three of them.” She pointed toward Yuli and the AIs, smiling darkly. “We just have to pick one. It’s that simple.”

Yuli’s eyes widened. “Wait just a second!” she exclaimed, taking a step backward.

“Don’t worry, sweetie, we aren’t gonna pick you,” the woman rolled her eyes. “We’ve got two perfectly good fake people to choose between.”

The two AIs exchanged a glance, then retrieved their weapons. An electrified halberd expanded from a star-shaped token on Vade’s palm. Glowing sais materialized in the red-eyed AI’s hands, seemingly out of nowhere.

“I will have you know,” the female AI growled, “that I have a name, an identity, and a variety of feelings much like your own. Until you can definitively prove to me that you are real, there is no reason for you to call me fake.”

“Oh, great,” the soldier named Mara grumbled. “The Initiative decided to make them difficult.”

“What’s your name?” Yuli asked the AI, attempting to smooth things over.

“Arika,” she answered with pride.

A younger-looking soldier chimed in. “I don’t think it’s supposed to be simple,” they said. “I mean, who are we to decide how real they are? Right now, we’re a bunch of ones and zeroes too, aren’t we? What makes us any different from them?” Their eyes gleamed with righteousness. “It’s our duty to sacrifice ourselves to protect civilian lives. One of us should be the one.”

“Alright, go for it, then,” Mara nodded. “Be my guest.”

The young soldier balked. They clearly didn’t expect their words to be turned on them.

“There has to be more to this test than just... choosing which one of us dies next,” Yuli shook her head. She paced back and forth, chewing on her lower lip, deep in thought. Did there need to be more? The Explicator’s Maze was designed to test various aspects of human psychology. What was more psychologically revealing than a shocking, impossible scenario?

“I don’t care who you pick,” Mara said tersely. “Just pick someone.”

“Do we need to pick someone?” Vade piped up. He looked ready for a fight, but his tone was soft and thoughtful. “What if we all just... agreed not to pick someone? There’s nothing in this room that can kill us besides that red circle, right? Why not stay here until the Explicator gives up on this stupid test?”

“No,” Mara snapped. “Absolutely not. That’s a terrible idea!”

“Why do you think so?” Yuli asked. She liked Vade’s idea quite a bit.

“Because she’ll leave us in here for the rest of the year, that’s why! I know her type. She’s like Captain Android, just a little fancier,” the soldier said insistently. “I’m willing to bet you all my life-savings that if nobody steps onto that circle, she’s going to leave us here in this little room till we’ve all murdered each other.”

The red-eyed AI, Arika, nodded. “She’s right,” she said. “That definitely sounds like something she would do.”

“Okay, now that the AI is saying it, I’m starting to doubt myself,” Mara frowned.

“We should wait,” the younger soldier insisted. “That has to be the real answer to this, right?”

“How can you be sure?” Arika frowned.

“I just am,” they said. “I bet the other groups are waiting, too, because they know it’s the right thing to do.”

-

“Put the gun down, will you?” Johdavi sighed. His hands were above his head, his weapons on the floor. “You can count, right? There’s six of us, maybe seven? And just one of you.”

Aster Zev stood glowering at the blue-haired soldier, with one hand in Teva Makova’s hair, the other jamming a gun against their temple. A deep shoulder wound made it difficult to hold up his weapon, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay steady.

“Listen, I’m being really nice, all things considered,” Johdavi said. “I can tell you’re about to pass out, but I’m still going through the motions of this stupid little game, letting you have your fun, whatever. Here’s my deal: if you stop being an idiot right now, we won’t drag your ass onto that glowy red circle the moment you hit the ground. We’ll make him go instead.” Johdavi nodded toward the group’s sole AI, a purple-haired artificial man named Caspro.

“Excuse me?” Caspro raised his eyebrows.

“You’re not real, you’ll get over it,” Johdavi shrugged. “So, what’ll it be, buddy? You ready to be a team player?”

Aster’s hand began to tremble. He felt lightheaded. How much simulated blood had he lost? “How do I know you aren’t going to attack me the moment I let him go?” he demanded.

“Because,” Johdavi smiled with a twinkle in his eye. “To put it simply, I’m not Dara Kravchenko.”

Aster hesitated. He was losing all feeling in his hand. “I...” he stammered, coughing. “I don’t...” He clenched his teeth tightly as black spots danced in his vision. He didn’t trust the soldiers. He couldn’t risk it. His life hung in the balance...

“Fine,” he said, lowering his arms.

“Drop it on the ground, yeah?” Johdavi instructed. Balefully, Aster let the gun slip from his fingers. Teva immediately scrambled out of the way, rejoining the group of six angry, disarmed warriors.

Aster fell to the ground with a sudden thump. Johdavi chuckled, muttering, “Alright, let’s toss him into the red thing.”

The test subject suddenly moved, reaching out with his left hand to grab his gun, shakily aiming straight for Johdavi’s heart. At the same time, Johdavi snatched his own guns off the ground, leveling them at the subject.

“Anyone know how much time we have left?” he said with a sigh. “I get the feeling we’re gonna run out.”