As the group began tallying their scores, Tom grinned and played his hidden card. "I also got the High Temple for another ten points, and I was nine behind."

His fellow college students groaned or clapped, surveying the board of wooden tokens and dice marking the fantasy city they'd been building. "And I was gunning for Chuck in the lead," said one guy whose name he'd forgotten.

"Good game," the others chimed in. "See you next Saturday?"

Tom helped put everything away, though it felt like a shame to tear down the little world they'd developed. He took a picture of the board's colorful towers. "I've got a physics test coming up, but yeah."

Tom stepped out to the bitter cold, huddled in his coat. The campus was quiet this late. From across the river red firelight shined, casting long shadows over him. The rioting was far away, he told himself, and he didn't want to be involved on either side. He was only a student. His chance to make himself useful for any cause would come later, when he could do it constructively.

He didn't look forward to Monday's test, but next week he'd get to start building a robot for a yearly contest. They'd need it to have AI and sensors to recognize which blocks to gather.

He was daydreaming about strategy when a flash of light snapped him out of it. Green instead of red in the sky. It left a smoking trail that blotted out the stars. A meteor! He froze, astonished. Probably copper, given the color. He took out his phone to make a video of the visitor from space.

The phone slipped from his fingers. The rock wasn't just streaking overhead; it was coming down fast. He took a pointless step backward. The blazing stone crashed into the river, creating a roaring cloud of steam.

Then like a skipping stone, it bounced toward him.

Tom yelped and ran toward the nearest building, a physics lab with glass doors. He yanked at them. A buzzer sounded, indicating that he was locked out. For safety.

He looked to his right just in time to see the truck-sized boulder crashing down like a bowling ball. The heat and pressure were unbearable. His last thought was that maybe he'd end up as a diamond.

#

Tom woke up in a moonlit clearing. Diamonds. He had been thinking about gems for some reason. "Where am I?" he said.

A pool of light illuminated ferns and vine-draped trees. Long grass tickled his legs. A dragonfly landed on his knee and flapped its brilliant green wings like green flame. Green, thought Tom.

Then his heart raced again as the last few minutes came back to him. He staggered upright and the insect flew away.

Tom stepped in a random direction, and saw a wall. This was no forest! A black hexagonal pattern surrounded him just outside this circle of plants. Warm and hard to the touch. No door. "Hey! Is someone there?"

There were a few explanations for his being here, and he didn't like any of them. He looked at his hands, pinched himself, then tried writing in the dirt. Nothing showed that he was dreaming. He didn't know what was going on, but if he could make a mark on this place, then it was his job to figure it out.

He searched the walls of the tiny forest. Part of one panel had a hidden clasp that clicked open, revealing a stairway of the same rubbery black plastic. He began climbing toward a light in the distance.

The stairs slid down, an escalator thwarting him. Tom gritted his teeth and ran up it, puffing for breath. At last he made it to the top. "Real funny. If I've been captured somehow, what do you want?"

Instead of an answer he found only a mirror maze, foggy and dim. He methodically ran his right hand along the nearest wall to navigate. Halfway through, the floor shattered underfoot. Tom shouted in fear, tried to get away, and crashed down.

He picked himself up off the dark ground. A fall like that should've seriously hurt, but he was only bruised. The floor here felt like a gym mat. No seam, though. While he was looking for any tags or signage, he spotted a glowing rectangle projected from above. It was filled with nine little red lines and had room for ten. And when he took a step, it moved with him.

A doorway became dimly visible ahead. He took shuffling steps, wary now.

Beyond the door, he stared in disbelief. There was an obstacle course here. A rope net, a steep ramp, other hazards... and a platform with a hooded figure standing on it. Tom shouted up at it, with no more luck than before.

So, onward he went. Though he considered himself to be in decent shape, he was sweaty and panting as he reached the ramp, and flopped into the high side face-first. The sandpaper impact scraped his skin as he slid down. He shook his head. Now that red light was back, with eight lines instead of nine. Was he being taunted, by counting his mistakes like a... like a game's life meter?

His captor at least had a sense of humor. Tom turned, built up momentum, and charged up the ramp. He hauled himself over the edge with shaking arms and said, "Do I qualify for ninja school yet?"

A rotating cylinder beam dropped him into a pit, twice, but he landed on foam. Six points left. On the third try his shoes skidded and slipped and he leaned his whole body to one side, hopped, and landed on the far side. "Ha." Now he stood on a plateau lit from high overhead. He didn't know why he was here, but he at least had a way forward to somewhere.