(Viewpoint: Roum)
The door closes silently behind me.
Not a click.
Not a breath.
I walk.
Or rather… I move forward because staying still would be worse.
The corridor is long.
White, again. Always that clean white, never reassuring.
A clinical white, hungry, who seems to be waiting for something to soil him.
I clutch the card in my hand.
She's lukewarm now. As if she'd accepted my touch... after rejecting me.
"You're a problem."
Alpha-1's phrase resonates with me deeply.
A circular door appears before me.
Black.
Matte.
A symbol lights up when I approach.
The card vibrates slightly.
– Access recognized.
– Unit: Romania
– Status: currently being integrated.
My throat tightens.
The door opens.
The integration room is huge.
Circular, like everything here, but deeper. The ceiling is so high that it disappears into the shadows.
In the center, a metal platform.
Around it, suspended structures, screens, mechanical arms motionless like sleeping predators.
And people.
Thousands of people dressed in white
I stop dead in my tracks.
They are here
Gather in the center.
Unit 1.
Ela is the first one I see.
Sitting upright on the edge of the platform, her hands clasped on her knees.
She looks at me without smiling, but her eyes relax slightly when she sees me enter.
Chetan is leaning against a pillar, arms crossed, jaw clenched.
He explains to me in detail how a tool is evaluated.
Or an obstacle.
Beta-1 is keeping somewhat to itself.
Silent.
Immobile.
I still don't know if Beta-1 is a person or something else.
– You took your time, Chetan says.
"Leave him alone," Ela replied calmly. "He already has a lot on his mind."
I swallow.
— What is this… this place?
My voice sounds weaker than I would have liked.
Ela gets up and approaches me.
— we live here.
- … What ?
— Each of us has an apartment. She pauses.
— You and I have your book.
I take a step back without realizing it.
"I hope he's far from our lodgings," Chetan interjected with a cold smile. "If you die, it'll be useful."
I stare at him.
— Are you kidding? We can die here?
- Yes .
Ela gives Chetan a sharp look.
- Not now.
He raises his hands in surrender, but his smile does not disappear.
A screen lights up above the platform.
INTEGRATION PROCEDURE – PHASE 1
COMPATIBILITY ASSESSMENT
NEURO-EMOTIONAL STABILITY
RESONANCE WITH THE DOME
NEW INDIVIDUAL INTEGRATED INTO THE COMMUNITY
I shiver a little because of this feeling of coldness.
— The… dome?
"The circle," Ela corrects. "The inside is called a circle; only the one in the middle is a dome."
I grip the card tighter.
- Why ?
A heavy silence falls over the room.
Even the machines seem to be listening.
Chetan bursts into a short laugh.
— He asks far too many questions for my liking.
— Roum, said Ela softly, here it's like there's nothing to understand, it's an absolute truth.
— So why pretend to give me a choice?!
My voice trembles involuntarily.
Ela hesitates.
Then she replies, sincerely:
— Since when have you become so negative?
The mechanical arms come to life.
One by one.
A dull, metallic noise resonates in the room.
Like bones being put back in place.
The other individuals moved about and acted as if there were no hesitation.
Like bones being put back in place.
– Mounted correctly on the platform, said Beta-1 for the first time.
His voice is neutral.
Without emotion.
Without judgment.
I take a step.
Then another one.
And a circle is forming beneath me
When I step onto the platform, the metal is cold under my feet, even through my shoe, or was that just my thought.
Rings close around my ankles, my wrists, my waist.
I freeze.
— He-!
"Breathe," Ela murmured. "Look at me."
I look at her.
Her grey eyes are calm.
Sad.
But they were present.
"You're not alone," she said. "It's just for safety."
The circle slowly widens, drawing closer to a yellowed bloodhound.
My heart is racing.
Noir.
Then
A harsh light.
"Close your eyes," Ela ordered.
The forest.
Trees
Orange, yellow, purple colors
The waterfall at the entrance was more magnificent when viewed from so close.
My head was drooping as I followed the flowing water.
I have the impression that it is passing under our feet.
Asmara was there and I even had the chance to see her admiring a few things.
I approached her, forgetting even my earlier fear and my teammates.
My breathing becomes chaotic.
— Asmara, she murmured.
—..... , she was so absorbed by the landscape that her eyes shone the same color as the sky.
— It's magnificent.
– huh?, jumping
But when her eyes fell on me, her face instantly closed off and she ignored me.
The pain is not physical.
It's as if we were opening each memory and asking:
Why did you survive?
I feel something moving inside me.
A feeling of self-loathing and a bit of shame
The screens are going crazy.
— Abnormal resonance detected.
"I think that's good now," Beta-1 murmured.
"Come on, we can get you settled now," Ela whispered.
Silence.
Then only one message appears:
On my map
SUCCESSFUL PARTIAL INTEGRATION
ANOMALY CONFIRMED
STATUT : EMOTIONAL
Ela is already by my side, pulling me towards the bedrooms.
"You see," she said softly, pointing to a shining door. "You'll get used to it quickly."
Chetan looks at me differently now.
With a lot, and I mean a lot, of hate
"Interesting," he said.
"Shut up, Chetan," said Ela. "He lives right next door, it's not like he's in your apartment."
I straighten up with difficulty.
— And now? I asked.
The lights are increasing.
"Now you're going to put your card on the door," Ela told me.
Click!
The door opens
Ela briefly squeezes my arm.
— Welcome to Unit 1.
And for the first time in a long time…
I don't know if I should hope to survive or just to live.