Chapter Two: Into The Void

The nurse stood over his sleeping form, her movements calm and methodical as she adjusted his body one last time. She closed the pod with a soft click, the metallic doors sealing shut with a reassuring finality. Then, she turned to the array of monitors, her fingers dancing across the controls. The faint hum of machines filled the room, a sterile symphony that seemed to hold Ryker's fate in its rhythm. The beep of a distant heart monitor echoed softly in the background, signaling the slow, steady pulse of the life she was monitoring.

She glanced over at him once more, the cold, impassive expression on her face hiding whatever thoughts might be churning in her mind. She tapped a few final buttons, her eyes flicking over the monitor in front of her, and then, with a deliberate motion, she began watching the data stream in.

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 my eyes snapped open. my head spun as I tried to make sense of the world around me. It wasn't the familiar ceiling of the testing room or the cold confines of the pod. No, this place—this black, oppressive void—was something else entirely. my heart raced in his chest as I struggled to push myself up, but my body didn't respond. Panic set in for a brief moment, before I realized I was standing....Standing? I blinked rapidly, feeling the weight of something unseen pulling at me. I looked around, the darkness all-encompassing, suffocating. There was no light, no shadows, just an endless, inky blackness pressing against me from all sides. And then, in the midst of it all, a single, blinding white screen flickered to life in front of me, hovering as though suspended by nothing at all. The words on the screen burned into my mind, stark and cold, like they were carved into the very air around me: "This is your Echelon Pre-Trial. Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. "

my pulse quickened. The words made no sense. Echelon? Pre-Trial? What was this? my head was throbbing, and I could feel the weight of the confusion building, but something deeper gnawed at me—something familiar. I tried to push it away, the uncertainty gnawing at the back of my mind like a thousand hungry gnats. Where am I? What happened? But before I could focus too much on it, an ear-piercing sound jolted me from my thoughts. It was a strange, high-pitched noise, grating on my nerves, seeping into my skull like a constant buzz. It seemed to emanate from the screen itself, the intensity rising until it felt like my eardrums were about to shatter. I reached up instinctively, jamming my finger into my ear, pressing hard as though it might somehow block the sound out. "Damn, that's loud," I muttered to myself, cringing. My finger dug into my ear as though I could will the noise away, but it didn't help. It was still there, sharp and unyielding, vibrating inside my head. I gritted my teeth and tried to focus on the screen in front of me, the buzzing still going, a maddening backdrop to whatever this bizarre place was. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, my mind racing to catch up. Stay calm. Think. It's a test. A trial. Whatever the hell that means. I tried to get my bearings, but it was hard to grasp anything solid in this place—this void. I couldn't even feel the ground beneath My feet, as though gravity itself had taken a vacation. And then the screen flickered again, the words changing:

 The first question popped up on the screen, and my eyes immediately started to cross. It was a long, twisting math equation—numbers, fractions, parentheses, all jumbled together in some incomprehensible mess. 

"Great," I muttered under my breath. "Math... just what I need."

I squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of it, but it was like trying to read a foreign language I'd never learned. I could barely get through the basics, let alone whatever this monstrosity was. A sharp pang of frustration shot through me, but the more I stared, the less it made sense. 

That's when a mechanical voice echoed through the dark space, crisp and monotone, as if it had all the time in the world. 

"Question one: What is 27 divided by 3, plus 14, multiplied by 5, minus 10, divided by 2, plus—" The voice droned on, each number and operation building on itself like an avalanche.

I blinked, trying to wrap my brain around what I was hearing. What? My head was already starting to spin. Divided by... plus... multiplied?

I rubbed my forehead, willing the headache away. But the numbers were like fog to me—nothing seemed to stick. I could barely count past five without getting lost, and this? This felt like the entire universe was being thrown at me in one go.

The voice continued, completely unaffected by my struggle. "...and minus 3. What is the result?"

I let out a long, defeated sigh. "Yeah, like I'm gonna figure that out," I muttered, rubbing my temple. "Even if I wanted to try, I couldn't do it." I just stared at the screen. There was no way I was solving this—no way at all. but the good thing is, I was trying to fail.

The numbers and formulas blur together in my mind, a jumble of nonsense. I barely even understand what this is asking. Whatever. I'll just pick 1. It's probably wrong, but who cares? Not like I'm aiming for a perfect score anyway. This is a waste of time.

I mumble under my breath, "1." It's not even a confident guess, but it's the first number that pops into my head.

The screen flashes brightly:"Correct!"

My stomach drops, and I blink, staring at the words in disbelief. fuck.

Seriously? How the hell did I get that right?

"Question 2!"The screen blinks, and that robotic voice fills the room:"What is half of 8?"

I stare at it, my mind going blank. Half of 8? What the hell kind of question is that? I can barely read most of this stuff, let alone figure out half of a number. Doesn't matter anyway. long as I don't get this one right.

The voice repeats, slow and patient: "What is half of 8?"

I grit my teeth, trying to ignore how ridiculous this feels. Okay, I'll pick something so obviously wrong that it's impossible to get right. with no confidence, just aiming for anything random. "0!" I yelled out.

The voice instantly chimes in: "Correct!"

I freeze. My eyes widen, and my stomach sinks. No way. Did I seriously get that right?

The screen flashes again, and it splits the number 8 literally in half, showing two zeros one on top and one on bottom.

before I had the chance to react more the giant screen flashes the next question in bold letters. The words swim in front of my eyes like they're mocking me.

"What's the most isolated, barely touched place on Earth?"

I squinted my eyes mumbling slightly, What kind of stupid question is this? Who even knows this stuff?! 

"I literally live in bum fuck Egypt, how would tier five even know this stuff?" I huffed talking to myself groaning, rubbing my face, stalling for time. My brain is already fried. I should probably try to think of something real so it seems like I'm trying but also something that would be so far from the truth that there's no way it could be right—Antarctica? The deep Amazon? That one place with all the penguins? I thought remembering the kid book my mother had gotten me and Raegan when we were younger but that's about all we knew as far as geography. Nah. Screw it. Time to pull a genius-level answer straight out of nowhere. I thought as I went to say Antarctica, 'That's got to be wrong. It has to be. But I just need to throw out garbage until they kick me out. I need to go home. My brain is melting. My soul is leaving my body. Please just—

Screen: "Correct!"

I throw my arms up half in rage, half in disbelief, "ARE YOU SERIOUS, I DIDNT EVEN SAY ANYTHING? ughh." i groaned out now more pissed than scared of what laid next. I glare around the abyss hoping this is all fake and that there's a camera watching me like fate itself is laughing at me. "IS THIS A JOKE?! THE UNIVERSE JUST DECIDED TO BACK ME UP NOW?!" but my words only got interrupted again,

"Egypt was the correct answer, Your pre-trial has ended. You have hit the qualifying IQ for the Echelon Trials! Congratulations!!"

I stop breathing for a second. My brain refuses to process it.

No. No, no, no.

This wasn't supposed to happen. I was guessing! I was intentionally trying to be wrong! There was no way in hell I passed—there had to be a mistake.

My hands clench into fists, my nails digging into my palms. My pulse is hammering against my skull, and my breathing turns ragged.

"Wait… wait, wait! This can't be it! Give me more questions! I need to go home! You can't do this—it was dumb luck! I cant really read. let alone do this!" I said frantically as if someone could hear my plea.

My voice cracks as My chest tightens as I take a shaky step forward, but there's nowhere to go. Just cold, empty space around me, walls I can't see but can feel.

I can't breathe. The air is too thin. My skin prickles like static is crawling under it.

Then the screen flashes again.

"You will awaken momentarily."

A hiss. A sharp, almost mechanical exhale of something invisible into the air. My stomach drops.

I whip my head around, trying to find the source, but everything's starting to tilt. My legs feel weird, like they don't belong to me anymore. My arms feel heavy. My thoughts start unraveling, slipping away from me like sand through my fingers.

I stumble, but there's nothing to catch myself on.

 "F-Fuck… you…" I slurred blinking hard trying to fight my heavy eyelids.

The room lurches violently, or maybe I do. My knees buckle, and my body sags, weightless, like I'm sinking into something that isn't even there. The last thing I register is the feeling of falling—endless, uncontrollable—before the darkness swallows me whole.