Artificial Selection: A Near Future Thought Experiment

Chapter XVI

OKAY GUYS I realized I didn't update for like... quite a few months. School is super busy so yeah. So, uhh, in case you forgot about the plot already. What happened is that Michael, Nicholas, Alexandra, and Jay were sent by the government to go inside the ArtTech press conference to see what happened, but then soon the conference turned into a massacre as the new product released by ArtTech threatened many people's livelihood. Everybody else died but the ArtTech security escorted the team of four to a room deep inside the building. Then a new character of Andromeda emerged, and she hacked into the ArtTech system to publish the massacre footage over the Airnet.

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 "Look Jay, we need to find a way to leave here."

Ever since they had been brought into the ArtTech suite, the air had been tense among Michael and the three other members of the team.

When facing the ArtTech employees and Marcus Johnson, the team seemed to stand firmly together, always upholding the same value and making the same criticisms. However, once the external threat is gone, the atmosphere reverted to a polite and distant feel that seemed overly odd for a group of people that had just walked along the edge of death together.

Michael's main problem was dealing with his traumas of killing. He knew that a part of him was gone already. He could feel it. But from time to time, Jay would come often and often counsel to make Michael feel better, and surprisingly, Jay's words seemed to have a magically therapeutic power that managed to numb and distract Michael. Michael is slowly reverting to his normal self.

"Before that, why don't we have Mr. Wilde here explain who he truly is," Alexandra interjected bitterly, asking the same question for the ten-thousandth time.

"What do you expect me to say?" Jay shook his head and motioned around. Jay had already hinted to them multiple times that he shouldn't speak about this in front of all those t surveillance cameras and microphones. Michael believed that this is a legitimate reason for Jay not to expose his identity. Alexandra and Nicholas felt that Jay was just trying to evade the question.

"And Michael, back to your question," Jay twisted the topic back again, "I believe you are the only person who has the ability to lead us out of here. Could you still remember the path we took when they led us into this room."

Although it had been five days, Michael could still remember the path perfectly. Had it been any ordinary building, Michael could easily create a mental 3 dimensional projection of the building from the fire escape plan. He would backtrace the paths they took and the doorways they entered and construct a mental model of the paths. Then he would mentally put the two projections together and walk through the projected map again. That way, he could draw a simpler path and erase all the redundant circles and confusing loops that the ArtTech guides made them walk.

However, this time it was extremely different. Michael could still easily recall how the guards led them in circles, but every time the circle seemed to be a little off from each other. Where a door used to be two minutes ago would turn into a solid wall the next time they walked over. Sometimes, they would hit the end of the building within a minute of walk, but other times, they would walk for three whole minutes in a straight line.

Michael could ascertain that the building was just the shape of a mixture of cube and sphere. The fire escape plan projected on the entrance screen mapped out the general skeleton of this building as a cylinder. Even with all the stylish arcs and angles propping out of the cylindrical skeleton, the building should still have a general fixed radius, meaning that it is impossible to have such a huge difference in the diameter he walked, unless...