I let my head drop forward slightly, chin to chest, conserving energy, listening.
There’s a faint hum beneath everything, low and steady. Power. Systems online. Somewhere nearby, machines are waiting for input.
Time passes. Or maybe it doesn’t. The light never changes.
Then the floor moves.
Not much. A subtle shift, like a breath beneath my feet. My toes lose contact and my full weight drops into the cuffs.
Pain lances up my arms, sharp and immediate. My jaw tightens automatically, teeth grinding.
I don’t make a sound.
The floor lowers another inch.
Muscles scream as they take the strain. My shoulders burn, ligaments protesting the angle. I adjust my core, distributing weight as efficiently as I can. This is endurance, not panic.
Still manageable.
A door opens somewhere out of sight. Footsteps approach, measured, unhurried. Someone stops just outside my line of vision.
A voice speaks.
“Subject Hatchet is awake.”
Male. Calm. Neutral. Not trying to provoke me.
Good. Provocation would be a waste.
“We will begin motor function assessment shortly,” the voice continues. “You are advised to remain still.”
I almost smile.
Remaining still is not the problem. Remaining useful is.
Something shifts behind me. I catch movement in my peripheral vision – a mechanical arm sliding out from a panel in the wall I think. It moves with precision, stopping just short of my right hand.
Attached to it is a blade.
Not a crude one. Clean. Balanced. Familiar in shape, if not in weight.
They’ve chosen it carefully. Close enough to something I’ve used to trigger muscle memory. Different enough to throw me off if I get sloppy.
The blade stops six inches from my fingers.
Six inches might as well be a mile.
My pulse remains steady.
The machine hums, adjusting position by millimetres, watching how my eyes track it, how my fingers twitch without conscious permission.
They are mapping my instincts.
Another arm slides out on my left, this one holding nothing. It hovers near my forearm, the tip ending in a small injector.
I focus on breathing.
The injector strikes.
