AN: Well, Thank you reviewers. It’s nice to see so many in such a short amount of time or chapter. The last chapter was a prologue just in case some of you missed that. I usually put in more detail and hopefully it will be clarified in this chapter. Thanks for the suggestions, Seraphim Aria, the questions SquirelLord, and the support RedXfire.

“Their insubordination and obvious disregard to the rules is influencing some of the others.”

“Have the others taken any action or been directly influenced by 21’s group?”

“Well, no.”

“Has the General fixed the cameras?

“Yes, sir.”

"Then there is little to worry about.”

“…”

“What’s on your mind now, Lieutenant?”

“Don’t you ever feel wrong? Putting these kids here. Knowing that success would…”

“It’s all for the greater good.”

“Yes, well. I know, you’re right, I shouldn’t burden you with my conscience. But my eagerness to sacrifice little children in order to save mankind is wearing thin. It actually occurred to me to wonder what kind of man would heal a broken child of some of his hurt, just so he could throw him back into battle again. A little private moral dilemma. Please overlook it.”

“Quoting Ender’s Game, I see. It’s not my job to reassure you, Lieutenant, so I won't say anything.”

The whitewash walls stretched on forever as a ragged 21 trudged herself down the hall. The trainers had not been favorable to her today, separating her from the others and working her harder than ever. They never were gracious after her escapades to the surface. But, it wasn’t her fault that she wanted freedom. To be able to touch real rain. Feel warmth of heat from the sun. See how normal children worked. It’s wasn’t her fault they kept them all caged up down here. That the others wanted freedom and 21 was the one to give it to them.

Finally, she came to the red door of her room. Number 1101. That’s how she got her slang name. Each number for the alphabet and since AA A didn’t make sense; they changed the 1-0 to 10th letter. 1-10-1 or Aja. The others also decided that because Aja didn’t sound like anything in particular, they would make it sound like Asia. In some ways, they said it made sense and fit her personality and 21 or Aja, as she was then called, didn’t argue. She had been new to the system and anything that would help her fit in would be readily accepted.

Slipping her card -which she found much like the hotel cards she’d seen on the net- in the password slot, she unlocked her door and pushed it open to her room. Or more properly called a dorm, apartment, or prison cell. Her room was a lot like the other few thousand in the building. Shaped like a circle cut into sections for the rooms, it had a radius of 15 feet. Spacious, simple, and compact. The whole apartment held only one door beside the one she had entered from and that was the bathroom door. The room had a kitchen furnished with a simple table and two chairs, AC MICROwave Version 10, two sinks, a setting for four -why would she need that many when no one came to visit?- with place mats for each, and a FFPS or Freezer Fridge Pantry Storage. The bathroom held a shower, unbreakable mirror -they had removed the breakable ones when Aja had decided to smash her fist through one on the first day- that was backed with a flexible sponge in case she tried it again, and a sink. The living room space held a small, beaten couch, AVT or Advanced Viewing Terminal that covered one wall, and a coffee table. The last room was her bedroom with a nightstand, queen sized bed, and closet. Any extra furniture she wanted or food she needed had to be ordered and brought to her. Though none of the furniture had come in yet, the food had come the next day.

It had been odd moving getting used to the way the roundness of the walls -no pictures or shelves would hang properly from it- and the whirl of the cameras that constantly watched her in every room except the bathroom, but adjust, she did. Not like she had a choice. The floor also fluctuated whenever they decided to change it up. Sometimes it would be regular white carpet. Other times it gave the depiction of tall savanna grass. And just as often enough, it would look like empty space, in which case she had to be careful not to fall because they would pull parts down, leaving blocks to move across.

As she entered the room after three hours of exercise, she found the floor to be just the way she left it. Nice and white. Letting the door shut and lock behind her, she threw her card across the room and the magnet in it caught the magnet in the coffee table. Pulling out her Pocket, she flipped it open, ignoring the greeting and skimmed her choices. The net, any and all games she had loaded, and inter-communicators had been disabled because of the lockdown, leaving her with the diary and simulator.

She felt like doing neither and with a groan let her Pocket join the key card. A gurgle from her stomach alerted her to the fact that she hadn’t eaten today because of her early escape, but she ignored it. With the AC MICRO shut down, there was no point trying to make anything edible. If only her escape plan had worked. A yawn rolled up her throat and she let it out with a high whine similar to a dog or so she was told. The yawn gave a passerby a perfect view of her carefully filed incisors. Too bad there was no one to see it now.

Blatantly ignoring the cameras, she strutted to the bathroom, closing the door behind her and stripping for her shower. The blue tank top uniform that acted as a sports bra fell to the floor uselessly and the gray baggy shorts followed. Opening the shower door, she flicked the knob on, turning it up as high as it would go so the water flowed fast and hard from the three spouts. One in front of her, one above her head, and one behind. Aja waited impatiently, bouncing from foot to foot, but it didn’t really matter. In the end, she found, the water wouldn’t get warmer than lukewarm. She supposed this may some sort of precaution or safety device because the cameras were absent from the bathroom ceasing their observation. This only served to further fuel her irritation with them.

Nothing I can do about it now, she thought with a sigh and resigned herself to the shower.

In room 1051, Number 4 resided. Slang name 10-5-14 or Jen. She was one of that had been in 21’s plot and so she was also on lockdown. This was new for her and the astonished teachers were careful in watching her now that she seemed to have changed. Having grown up in this place, Jen never thought about leaving. Never did anything against the rules. Was always quite and polite. Never bold. The head officers were debating whether to drop her from the program like some of the old experiments. But when 21 arrived, it all changed. The elaborate stories 21 told of the surface world, the injustices she pointed out in the system, the easiness of an escape. She helped Jen fit into the tight-knit group of kids in their training session, thereby gaining her trust. When 21 presented her first plan, she easily agreed to it like everyone else. After three different attempts, Jen had only been caught this last time.

Sighing, she pushed herself off the bed and picked up her Pocket flicking it open. Keying in a few words, she easily hacked into one of the libraries and began copying the answers for her homework that day, the next day, and the rest of the week. It was going to be a long night.

Room 1211 knocked with noise. Anyone passing by that didn’t know anything about what happened here would be startled into thinking their was a mini earthquake, but, because no one was allowed in the building without knowing what it was, no one was alarmed and just kept on their regular path. They knew only number 81, who had quite a temper, resided in that room. Slang name being 12-1-21-18-1 or Laura. Number 81 had been on lockdown many times before and this was no different. She had already disliked the teachers, trainers, and heads of this building before 21 arrived so her plans just brought another opportunity to seek revenge and vex them. She, not unlike 21, had been brought here against her will, but at a much younger age.

At this moment, Laura busied herself by making a mess for the cleaners and putting on quite a show for the staff watching the cameras. As a sort of revenge, the staff had moved her floor to a gaping hole of darkness with a few small steps to balance on. This gave the sort of combination Laura needed at that moment. Constructive destruction.

Room 1514 clicked open as Number 52 stumbled in. Slang name was 5-2-15-14-5 or E-bone. After a grueling exercise session, a chew-out from her trainer, and dealing with an erratic Laura, she had little to no strength for anything else. Throwing herself into her orange beanbag chair, she ignored the growing green carpet and turned the music up on her Pocket, thinking sluggishly while falling asleep.

Was it really worth it? All these lockdowns and useless, fall through plans, dealings with the teachers, just to get out? Was 21 really right? And, then, how would she know what it’s like out there? Wasn’t the simulator enough for her?

But then again there were the questions. Why can’t we go out there? Why are stuck down here? What do the teachers need from us? What were we specially created for? If we go up there, are they afraid we’ll like it so much that we wont come back? What is so great about this topside world?

E-bone came to this building or lab as she knew it from another one when she was old enough to recall memories like that. She admitted that it did take a while to adjust and get used to this new one, but the world of sterility, white walls, and endless games was the only world she really did know. So then, how much did she really know about anything at all? Rubbing her head, she popped in two Aspirin and fell asleep on the beanbag in the carpet grass.

Number 85 was the only one who hadn’t been caught this time. While sneaking out of room 1393 and making her way to the medicinal office, she thought about how lucky she had been not to be caught yet. Number 85 or 13-9-3-8-5 or Miche (short for Michelle) worked for the nurse staff in the offices. As one of the earlier and less advanced experiments, Michelle was allotted more freedom than the others. She could work a job in the lab like anyone else there and had a personnel apartment in the building. She could move from level to level at almost free will as long as she stayed within the building and never went to the uppermost level. And if she didn’t get caught in helping 21’s plans.

What could she say? The idea was appealing, the consequences were profitable, the opportunity presented itself, and she took it. Wasn’t that what the General encouraged her to all these years?

After looking at her task sheet, she started taking inventory of the medicine cabinet, jotting down what she needed to order more of, when Adam appeared in the doorway partially out of breathe with a slick grin on his face.

“Hey, sugar…”

“Don’t call me that-” Michelle started with a slight scowl, but was ignored as Adam plunged on.

“…You’ll never believe what’s on the screens! Come look,” he said grabbing her wrist and Michelle had just enough time to set the bottle of morphine before being dragged out of the room.

Still clutching her clipboard, she hurried beside Adam trying to conceal the interest she found in getting the chance to view the screens. The screens had been dull and kept under locks from her before. But, now that she wasn’t a full time experiment, she was allowed to see them. That and the fact that the new addition to the lab had caused quite a stir in everyone. Wonder what she’s done this time, Michelle thought to herself.

The first time she punched out the mirror and came back to show the cameras a handful of blood. Another time she had programmed the wiring in the FFPS to hook with the ventilation system so ice froze most of her kitchen and broke the heating in room next door. The last time she pick-pocketed a bottle of expensive whiskey off one of her guards along with his watch and pink boxers, then, auctioned them off at the crew behind the cameras. Michelle along with the rest of the crew anticipated what 21 might have in store for them today.

Upon entering the screening room, she found all the channels had been changed to focus in on room 1101. With a gasp, she tugged her wrist free from Adam’s grasp and rushed to the control panel. Number 21 had emerged from the bathroom in her birthday suit and all eyes - well at least the men’s - were glued to her from. Michelle went into a flurry sending every man out of the control room even Adam while fiddling with the controls, trying to change the channel. She couldn’t turn the cameras off because it was against one of the rules of being personnel.

After succeeding in changing most of the channels back except the one that stayed on permanently observing room 1101, she picked up the phone, over-riding the lockdown on room 2121’s Pocket and calling the only person she knew inside the system that could assist without getting caught.

AN: Get it a little bit now? Yeah, it’s slow a little starting, but it’ll pick up. They always do. You know what to do………… Hint: R&R.