When I awoke again, some strength had returned. I sat up to take in my surroundings. I was not handcuffed or strapped down, that was a good sign. I was in the middle of a massive bed smothered by a sea of plush pillows of varying size and firmness. The sheets were white, a cotton blend that was extremely cozy, a big step up from my jersey cotton ones. The bed was anchored by black marble night stands on each side. They held interesting spherical lamps with vein-like currents of light pulsing from their cores. It looked like something out of a science museum exhibit. A shiny black stairwell ran along the opposite wall, fitted with light gray, aspen-like wood steps, leading to a second-floor mezzanine. Below the stairs, a modern kitchen gleamed. I scanned around the space for an exit.

  I could see three doors, two along the wall to my right, and one to my left. The door to the left had no handle. Instead, black plate sitting where one typically would be. On one of the right-wall doors was a small mounted device. I lifted myself up off the bed and went over to it. The device was flashing with text:

  Versa Room: Please make a selection.

  A search bar hovered below the text, along with a scroll bar and a list of options:

  

  
• Alchemy Lab


  
• Aqua Therapy Studio


  
• Arboretum


  
• Arcade


  
• Archery Range


  
• Art Studio


  

  …and on and on and on.

  The door next to this strange one was a luxurious bathroom. The ceiling above had white, ribbed tiles enclosed by soft, ambient cove lighting. A deep brown wood trim lined the room, the grain patterns intricate and mesmerizing.

  In the center of the ceiling was a mosaic glass emblem with the same collection symbols I had seen on that woman’s clothing.

  An office like setup sat in front of me, complete with a U shaped desk, small sofa, and a handful of chairs facing the bank of three monitors. One of the monitors, the one in the middle, was on and had a faint green light glowing above it. On the screen? A table at the cafe in Lake Station. There was a half eaten club sandwich sat on a plate. On the table sat a drink with the name Tommy haphazardly scribbled on the side. The drink I had been sipping when the enchanting woman had upended my life.

  Below the monitors, a leather-bound book rested on a stand. It too was covered with the strange geometric patterns that dotted her clothing. One word was written on it in bold. Guidebook.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  I looked up to see her. The woman from the cafe.

  "Hi Tommy, glad to see that you are already reading up. My name is Lish, and I want to officially welcome to the Suites, the base of Proxy Project testers."

  "What am I doing here?"

  She looked at me with what looked like genuine confusion.

  "What do you mean? You read through the terms and conditions didn’t you? You are testing our project beta on the applications of embedded consciousness. You will be here, making the decisions that your proxy will then act upon." She pointed at the screen with the table in the train station.

  I stared back at her, totally lost.

  "How do I get out of here?" I asked.

  "It is all in the guidebook.”

  I picked up the leather-bound book and searched.

  ——-

  OPTIONS FOR EXIT

  BUY OUT: Testers can elect to buy out of the project once they have accumulated requisite number of shares set forth by the system. Any additional accumulated shares can be redeemed or exchanged at the participant’s discretion.

  COMPLETION OF BETA: At the completion of the beta, all testers will be reestablished into their lives, pursuant to the stipulations laid out in the Proxy Project terms and conditions. All accumulated shares can be redeemed or exchanged at the participant’s discretion.

  REMOVAL: Tester will be removed from the project should they fall into poor standing. No accumulated shares can be redeemed or exchanged.

  ——-

  “It doesn’t sound like I can just walk out the door. Sounds more like I am a prisoner?"

  "Depends on your definition on the word prisoner. And trust me you would not be happy if you walked out the door… listen, let me get out in front of this. Here is what I can tell you. the Proxy Project is an intergalactic entity made up of a variety of different stakeholders from different places around the system. In your terminology, you would think of us as ‘aliens’. Don’t call me that though, it is super offensive. Seriously. Oh and fun fact, despite you and I being from different home planets, our species are quite similar biologically. Except that we are harder, better, faster. And stronger."

  She’s humble too.

  “I recommend you start getting comfortable watching the feed,” she pointed towards the central monitor. “It can be disorienting at first, trust me. Tester duties for you start in earnest tomorrow. And I recommend you respond to the prompt on the screen. You can use the remote on the stand below the screens.”

  She pointed and my eyes followed her finger to it. My gaze caught center screen that had previously been showing the table in the train station cafe was now showing the interior of a subway car. On the screen on the left a line of text was now blinking: PLEASE SELECT ACTION. QUIT LAKE SHORE STRATEGIC MARKETING INITIATIVES?