All across the maze, walls of light arced into the perpetually overcast sky, trapping every human and AI within an ever-shrinking radius. The Explicator sat back and watched the diverse array of individuals and small groups struggle to face this enigmatic threat, given no explanation and no time to prepare. Some gave up right away, paralyzed with panic. Others went straight up to the walls and touched them. Those brave souls found themselves abruptly sucked into a new, isolated zone of the maze. The Explicator would reveal the purpose of this zone shortly. But first, she wanted to see if anyone would succeed in avoiding the imminent test.

After a moment of intense contemplation, Dr. Cay Cielis used his electrogun on the field of light, muttering under his breath about electromagnetic fields. The Explicator allowed the shot to disrupt the glowing white surface, deactivating both walls. “You saved us!” Mira Murata exclaimed gratefully. A separate pair of light-walls enclosed Dr. Arilus Kallo, a particularly intriguing specimen even after six months of observation. Nothing would be interrupting his inclusion in this new piece of the experiment.

On the upper floor of the Colonists’ workshop, Yuli Suriova worked feverishly with her code visualizer, making the walls around herself disappear. She dashed down the stairs and flung the front door open, using the many bright lines extending above the maze walls as guiding beacons to reach others still trapped. The first person she saved was an AI, Vade, whose romantic feelings toward the young woman immediately intensified. The Explicator looked forward to the inevitable moment when her creation would discover that Yuli was solely attracted to other women.

A few AIs behaved less disappointingly than Vade, using their unique skills and weapons to take charge of the situation. The warrior Lairah used her staff to vault upward, grabbing the edge of a perpendicular wall and pulling herself to safety one-handed. The golden-armored Morathi employed a similar means of escape, using a fellow AI to boost himself up, then turning around and lifting her over the top of the barrier. Captain Kravchenko and several of her subordinates managed to save many of the soldiers, though a few were forgotten, or, in the case of Johdavi, intentionally abandoned. Within three minutes, the list of test participants was determined: Arilus Kallo, Johdavi Sulos, Teva Makova, Kazim Silina, the AIs Arika, Vega, Biyu, Madon, and Caspro, as well as nearly every surviving test subject. This was a suitable sample. It was time to proceed.

“Welcome to the Field of Play,” she announced, directing her voice to ripple across the new testing area she had constructed. A large, reflective dome covered a slick floor patterned in glassy geometric shapes. This area had several possible configurations, but for now, the default, blank slate was all the Explicator needed.

“The field of what?!” Xavier Donovan yelled at the dome.

“Let us out of here,” the aloof AI Arika commanded, red eyes flashing with indignation.

Teva Makova and Kazim Silina exchanged a worried glance. “I was wondering when the next test would be,” Kazim groaned. Teva couldn’t help but notice that their friend seemed unsteady on his feet.

“Hey!” Johdavi waved to the other soldiers, wearing a brittle, angry smile. “Did our marvelous captain decide you two weren’t worth rescuing, either?”

The Explicator briefly paused, taking note of everyone’s reactions. Then she continued. “This will be a test of my abilities, as well as yours,” the AI explained. “My role in this experiment has been to analyze each of you, and use this data to generate artificial intelligence that accurately mimics human beings. I have gained an intimate understanding of every person in this maze, and I will demonstrate this shortly.” A series of glowing silhouettes appeared, spaced out evenly across the floor. They varied in height and build, but possessed no other distinguishing features. “You will need to survive against a copy of yourself for a period of ten minutes. If you manage to kill your duplicate, you will be returned immediately to your previous location. If not, you will be penalized.” A hint of humor entered her voice. “If your copy kills you, they might end up taking your place. Would anyone figure it out, I wonder?”

The silhouettes shattered into particles, revealing rows of AIs bearing an eerie amount of visual similarity to those trapped within the dome. There was a pink-haired Xavier, a scarred Kazim, a steely-eyed Arilus. Teva visibly shuddered at the sight of these lifeless clones. Johdavi just laughed.

“I’ve even included copies of my AIs,” the Explicator said. “I’m certain I possess an understanding of how these personality constructs would react to this scenario, if they were legitimate human beings. Feel free to provide feedback after the test—if you’re still with us.”

“God, I hate it when she’s creepy,” Kazim shook his head rapidly. His duplicate on the other side of the room mirrored his disgusted reaction.

“Begin,” the Explicator ordered.

Teva hung back and watched, wide-eyed, as the test subjects charged at their copies without a second thought, clashing in a furious rush. Several AIs moved to attack their identical twins in a much more methodical manner. Arika and her clone simply circled each other, sais at the ready, neither making the first move.

With a pair of deafening bangs, Johdavi and his duplicate shot each other at the same time, falling to the ground in unison. Teva sprinted to reach Johdavi’s side, though they could see their own duplicate steadily approaching. Kazim followed close behind them. Johdavi waved Teva away with a strained, “I’ll live!”, though he was visibly bleeding, and his face was seizing up in pain. Teva checked over their shoulder for movement from Johdavi’s clone, and instead saw its body disappear. The blue-haired man had lucked out, it seemed.

Teva removed their white muscle shirt and pressed it against Johdavi’s wound. “Here,” they said, grabbing Johdavi’s wrist to place his hand in the correct position to hold it there. Johdavi recoiled from the unexpected contact, and Teva immediately became embarrassed, hastily backing away.

“Wait,” Kazim suddenly gasped. The horror in his voice sent chills down Teva’s spine. “Teva, we don’t have our weapons. But they—” From the other side of the dome, a line of laser light cut straight through his words. He fell with a faint cry, then dissolved into nothing.

Teva stared ahead for a few moments as the world seemed to blur. It had happened so fast, they could hardly comprehend it. Their heart beat rapidly in their chest, while a steady cold crept into their bones, freezing them in place. They hugged their bare shoulders, falling to their knees with a crash. Their best friend, gone, just like that…

“Teva,” a horrendously familiar voice spoke. Teva glanced up, trembling, to see a perfect replica of themself gazing down at them. The clone looked pained at the sight of them, which filled Teva with a rage like nothing they had felt before. This was just too much. “Teva, don’t freak out, please. I want to talk to you.” Teva’s copy was in uniform, armed with a laser rifle exactly like the one that had killed Kazim. The weaponless, barely dressed Teva shuddered, feeling so vulnerable, so cold.

“I’m not the real one, am I?” the duplicate said.

Teva’s mind jolted at the unexpected question. “What?” they stammered. Looking beyond their copy, they noticed Arika ruthlessly attacking her clone’s head in a flash of sudden movement. Or was she the clone? It was impossible to tell. One blinked out of existence, and the other triumphed.

“I saw you helping… your Johdavi,” the Teva duplicate said awkwardly, fiddling with its standard weapon. “I don’t think some AI designed to fight me would do that. And the way Kazim just murdered his, without even hesitating…” The duplicate frowned. “Then again, maybe I just don’t know him as well as I thought I did. But… I was at the gym, wasn’t I? When I got sent here? Why am I not dressed like you?” Distress filled its face.

“I’m sorry,” Teva said very quietly, unable to meet its eyes. Did the Explicator really make true copies of them, memories and all? Sentience and all? Did this Teva believe that the real Kazim was still alive, and had succeeded in killing an impostor? What a terrible thing to consider. “I can’t imagine how that must feel.”

The duplicate Teva nodded silently, and its expression went neutral. Teva knew it was locking away the overwhelming emotions that would have otherwise wreaked havoc on its mind and body, because that was what Teva always did. Witnessing a reaction like that from the outside was jarring, almost disturbing. “You can kill me,” the copy said, with only the faintest shiver in its voice. “I won’t put up a fight. You w-were here first.” It held out its laser rifle to the soldier, inviting them to take it. Its hands were steady, though its voice was not.

“No,” Teva shook their head. “I could… I could never do something like that.” Their numbness was beginning to fade. A sense of profound horror threatened to rise, driven by the thought of them staring down at their own dead body. “Explicator, I’ll take the penalty. Get me out of here right now.”

There was a painful snapping sensation, and Teva found themself on the underside of the thin, intricately patterned floor. The ‘dome’ was actually a sphere, enclosing the circular plane on both sides. Below them—above them?—they could see vague washes of color and shadow darting around, accompanied by dim, faraway sounds of fighting.

“Three minutes remaining,” the Explicator announced. Teva allowed themself to collapse, crying silently as they lay on the hard floor, in the relative safety of isolation.

One by one, the others who would be partaking in the next phase of the test began to appear. Xavier, whose copy had agreed to a laughable sword duel, likely out of a mutual subconscious desire to avoid dying. Aster, who could not bring himself to shoot someone who looked exactly like him. Nereza, who simply sat with her duplicate and waited for time to run out. Leonela, who hesitated at a crucial moment and lost her advantage. Biyu, who abandoned her assigned fight to aid the test subjects.

Arilus and his duplicate fought to the very end, crashing together in a deadly dance none would expect out of a Colonist. Neither bothered to speak, knowing that even if one managed to convince the other that he was the real Arilus, the other would not care. They did not hold back, damaging each other with any means at their disposal. Bruised, burned, and staggering, the original Arilus accepted the time limit with grace, smiling a little at the sight of his copy melting away.

All of the pieces were now in place. “Congratulations on surviving yourself,” the Explicator said. Her voice vibrated across the dome, and the floor began to rearrange, creating odd spikes and waves in the surface. “Unfortunately, you did not succeed in defeating your opponent. Testing will continue for you.” The structure solidified into an antique two-story house, surrounded by silvery-white grass, trees and flowers. Beams of sunlight poured in from beyond the dome, casting a subtle sparkle over the pleasant-looking place. “Enter, and make yourselves comfortable.”