For a moment, we just stayed like that. I didn't want to leave. I really didn't.

  But we had already come this far. It was my turn to step up. I owed it to him, to Jean-Lux, to all of us who had been oppressed by this mysterious System.

  Whatever was beyond that door, it was up to me now to get to it.

  I sprang to my feet. Jean-Lux offered me his flask. I took a long pull—

  and immediately spat it out all over the floor.

  He nodded with solemnity. "Still an honorary brother of the Paste Posse." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Good luck."

  I stumbled toward my goal, so many thoughts running through my mind. What would I do when I got there? What did this all mean for the future of MegaTech?? For my future as an Employee?

  The handbook had been very clear on this point: do not uncover massive conspiracies.

  Surely, any moment Meg would appear with some harrowing escalation of stakes to throw me off the scent.

  Surely, some new twist was about to be dropped on me.

  Surely, I wasn't—

  as I very clearly was—

  just walking right up to the door.

  **

  I walked right up to the door.

  My trembling hand stretched out before me, as if in a dream.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  In just a moment, I thought, my life would change forever. Whatever was going on here, whatever absurd design this incomprehensible place adhered to, would all come to light.

  My breathing was shallow; my palms were soaked. I lingered on the cold steel handle.

  I managed one last look back at Jean-Lux and Otie, who, in unison, flipped me the Bird of the Brotherhood. Classic.

  I undid the latch, pressed down on the handle, threw open the door with the weight of everything I’d been through squarely behind me.

  For a single undeniable instant, I saw it again.

  The impossibly large warehouse.

  The rows of Pods.

  The faces. Human faces. They were sickly, struggling. Husks. Grey and shriveled.

  But still, they were people. That much I was sure of now.

  And then:

  A correction.

  Light surged out. Impossibly bright. Blinding. All-consuming. Not from inside the room. From everywhere.

  The room, the door, the floor, the cafeteria, Otie, Jean-Lux, even the idea of MegaTech? began to fray, melting into the abyss.

  A triumphant blast of music erupted, obliterating all other senses.

  It was the MegaTech Overture?, the frightening piece of orchestral music that scored some of the most harrowing moments of my career.

  It had been reworked to sound victorious. Cathartic.

  Meg’s voice followed, jubilant and grandiose.

  > Congratulations, [Ludo Brax]. You’ve completed Level 1!

  A progress bar appeared before me. Pomp, circumstance, and casino sound effects accompanied a delirious display of bright green metrics that flew absolutely off the charts.

  I may have been being involuntarily flitted between realms, but I have to admit, it felt good to be recognized.

  > In recognition of your successful completion of this Level and your unbelievable metrics across the board, you’ve been selected for Ascension?.

  I opened my mouth to ask a question, to beg for an explanation.

  I was overruled, dismissed. What little agency I had in this place was plucked away from me like it had never been mine to begin with.

  My arms and legs grew numb. My poignant diatribes of last-ditch rebellion would have to wait for my memoirs.

  > Worldly matters no longer concern you. You’re headed to The Garden.

  when they ask — I will say it was because there was “active interest.”

  Perhaps it will save me. Perhaps it won’t.