The Glass Cage
- Infirmary Level 24
"Get up."
Alexandrei's voice tears Oscar from limbo. The Tamer stands above him, his bloodshot eyes betraying a sleepless night and too much vodka.
"It was." Alexandrei grabs him by the arm, forces him to stand. The wake-up injection still burns in Oscar's veins. "Now it's when I decide."
Oscar staggers. His vision doubles for an instant.
"Your little act yesterday. The fainting. You think I'm an idiot?"
- Corridors of Level 24
A strange procession through AVABase's phosphorescent tunnels. The organic walls pulse faintly, their spongy texture absorbing the sound of footsteps.
Alexandrei drags Oscar by the elbow. Behind them, three scientists in white coats tap on their tablets, exchanging technical whispers:
In the middle of the group, Arthur follows in silence. Alexandrei collected him in passing — just a "You too, come" while passing his cell. No explanation. None needed.
Arthur's counter: 2:848... 2:849...
He wants to see us together. He knows about last night. About the connection.
"Supervisor, shouldn't we wait for Katherine Müller? She usually supervises—"
"Katherine isn't here. She wasn't notified of the schedule change. Too bad for her."
- Submersion Room
Three meters of reinforced glass
Five thousand liters of cyan water
Nanomachines pulsing like liquid stars
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Alexandrei caresses the glass. "A transparent coffin. Poetic."
Oscar automatically counts: diameter one point five meters, volume approximately five thousand liters, fill time...
"Strip. Test suit."
The scientists spring into action. Dr. Petrov attaches the electrodes with precise movements but his hands tremble slightly — he keeps touching his wedding ring, spinning it around his finger. A young technician with violet hair nervously chews mint gum, the smell invading the space. The third, a massive man named Krueger, remains silent but Oscar notices he carefully avoids looking at the cage — as if he's already seen too many tests go wrong.
- Preparations
"Simple rules. Five minutes underwater. Standard for arena recruits."
"Recruits have progressive training. This boy comes from level 12, he's not—"
"He's what I say he is." (His voice almost softens) "A mentalist. Like what I was, before."
Oscar enters the cage. The glass is cold against his back.
"Oscar." Arthur's voice, low. Their eyes meet.
I'm here.
I know.
Alexandrei smiles. He saw the silent exchange.
- Immersion
The icy liquid bites his ankles like invisible teeth. Rises, implacable — a programmed tide that licks his calves, climbs along his shins, envelops his knees in its cyan embrace.
Oscar closes his eyes. Not to pray — the gods died long ago in AVABase. He closes his eyes to dive into the cage's invisible architecture.
The circuits become his mental ocean. Data currents where he swims, searching for a breach in the code reefs. Control network — a fortress of protocols. Hydraulic pumps — mechanical creatures obeying other masters. Drainage system — there, hidden like a pearl in a closed oyster.
The liquid reaches his chest, compressing his ribs. His heart races — calm down, calm down — but animal panic takes over.
- Under the Surface
Silence. Liquid silence.
Oscar floats, eyes wide open in the cyan water. The nanomachines create luminous trails around him, mapping his stress.
Outside, Arthur hits the glass. Once. Twice.
"Step back. No physical intervention."
"You said five minutes!"
"I lied. Like your little green light. We all lie here, don't we Arthur?"
Arthur's counter: 2:852... 2:853...
- Breaking Point
Oscar has no air left. His lungs scream. His brain begins to panic, short-circuiting his concentration.
He releases the systems. Rises to the surface. Hits the glass.
But the water level is too high. No air. Just five centimeters of glass between him and oxygen.
Arthur has placed his hand on the cage. His eyes are closed.
- The Reconnection
The alert blinks: "Unauthorized submersion test - Level 24"
"Alexandrei, you idiot."
She turns to Ava-Prime's matrices. "You need to withdraw. Now."
A long moment of calculation. Then the matrices slow. Almost shut down.
Ava-Prime withdraws. For the first time in years, level 24 becomes a blind zone.
Arthur suddenly feels this void. This absence. As if background noise he'd always heard had just ceased.
She's no longer there. Ava-Prime has withdrawn.
And in this silence, in this void, something rises. Not another voice. His own. The one he's always had, buried under layers of amnesia.
Oscar, dying in the water, becomes the bridge. His mentalist mind finds the breach.
You can come out. She's not watching you. You're free. I see you. You don't need to hide.
The room's systems instantly recognize him.
Their creator. Their sister. Ava.
The firewalls melt. The locks blow. The drainage system activates as if the cage itself wants to save Oscar.
The water empties in three seconds.
Oscar collapses at the bottom of the cage, coughing, spitting, alive.
Arthur opens his eyes. For an instant, they shine with a familiar glow — the one seen in every AVABase interface.
"I didn't escape. I was planted. And now, I'm growing."
Then, as quickly as she withdrew, Ava-Prime returns. Her presence invades the systems again.
Arthur blinks, disoriented. Amnesia closes like a trap.
- Katherine's Intervention
She enters like a fury, flanked by two Guardians in full armor.
"Test terminated. Immediately."
"Katherine. You're late."
"You moved up the schedule without authorization." She crosses the room, her heels clicking on metal. "Open that cage. Now."
Katherine kneels near Arthur, checks his pupils. Normal. Amnesia has taken over again.
"Alexandrei, you're expected at level 7. The Council wants to see you."
"The Synergy Project... You're playing with fire."
- After the Storm
Oscar exits the cage staggering, supported by one of the scientists. Water drips from his suit, forming a cyan puddle on the floor.
Arthur helps him walk. Katherine guides them to the infirmary.
In the corridor, far from prying ears:
"I... I don't know what I did. It was like... like I remembered something I forgot."
"You didn't forget anything. It's just buried. But it's there. I saw it."
"What did you see?"
"You. I saw who you really are."
Katherine watches them exchange. The Synergy Project is working. Oscar is indeed the catalyst she hoped for.
Ava-Prime analyzes the data.
Arthur's counter reads 2:856.
Peter Pan's shadow is beginning to accept being sewn back on.
[End of Chapter 7 - Arthur's true nature emerged for the first time, thanks to Oscar. The Synergy Project enters its active phase.]