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“What is this thing?” Dimitri rubbed his chin, staring at the strange virtual projection with curiosity. He tapped on the gear icon, surprised to see the virtual screen along with the lightbulb icon gone. Only the gear icon, no longer blinking, remained at the upper right hand corner of his line of sight.

With not much else to do, the young man repeatedly tapped on the gear icon. Both the transparent screen and the solitary lightbulb icon popped in and out of his sight over and over again. The gear icon, he figured, served no other purpose than to display the single lightbulb icon on the virtual screen.

“So everything that’s been happening to me so far was all real?” Dimitri lay back down inside the capsule, still looking at the virtual screen. He realized that he could recall everything vividly, from the moment he got stuck inside that white sphere to the sudden end of his memory flashbacks. Everything seemed real and firmly etched in his mind.

“Why do I feel like I’m living somebody else's life?” The young man contemplated on his current situation with newfound interest. “Yes, this physical body seems to be mine. Yet, those memory flashbacks, over a span of 13 years, seemed all new to me as if they weren’t really mine.”

“Am I really Dimitri or am I someone else?”

***

“How do you feel now, Dimitri?” A familiar old man entered the recovery room, the same high-ranking old man he had seen at the trial.

The young man who got Dimitri’s car keys at the entrance to the castle, followed right behind the old man. Both men wore plain black robes that left their faces exposed. Their blank expressions mirrored his own.

Dimitri simply nodded, still wary of the surprise visitors. He had been stuck in this room for about two hours, arguing with the pestering AI butler nonstop. He had just endured another bout of torture veiled under the pretense of a physical examination.

“I feel so much better now, Sir!” The young man sat up and ignored the hologram’s existence completely. “Thank you for asking.”

“Excellent!” The old man turned to the AI butler who had remained standing near the capsule this whole time. His wrinkly face grimaced at the foul smell he traced back to the young man. “How long does he need to stay here?”

“He is all yours, Headmaster.” The hologram flashed a rare smile. “We have completed the physical examination. He has already regained full muscle control. All his laboratory test results came back normal.”

“He is as fit as a fiddle!”

“That is wonderful!” The Headmaster desperately tried to endure the awful smell as he instructed the AI butler urgently. “Lead him to his quarters after we are done here. He needs to freshen up.”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” The virtual projection saluted smartly. His being a mere hologram had mercifully spared him from the stench coming from his patient.

“You still can not remember a thing?” The old man turned to Dimitri. With a serious face, the old man started scrutinizing the young man’s body language.

“Nothing at all.” Dimitri blatantly lied and kept any information about the memory flashbacks, that spanned a period of 13 years, to himself. He still could not trust these men. “I still could not remember anything.”

“Are you sure you do not remember any one of us here?” The Headmaster probed further.

Dimitri shook his head. “I’m afraid not!”

“Very well, then!” The old man glanced at the gigantic screen on the wall and sighed, recognizing the young man’s obvious lie.

“This is Mikhail, our resident AI.” The Headmaster's right hand pointed at the butler. “If you need anything, all you need to do is say his name out loud. His hologram should be able to look after all your needs anywhere within Shangri-la.”

“If I may add, Sir, preferably not within the confines of the loo!” Mikhail pleaded earnestly.

The old man merely shrugged at the hologram’s comment then pointed his left hand at his companion. “This is Armand. He will be your partner from now on. All you need to do is follow his lead. He will get you up to speed with everything you need to know!”

“I am Ivan, the Headmaster of Shangri-la.” The old man humbly introduced himself. “Armand and Mikhail can fill you in on the details about what our organization is and what we do exactly.”

“And, as you might already know by now, your name is Dimitri.” The Headmaster stared straight at the young man's eyes.

“You are an assassin.”

***

“Sir, if I may, was it really necessary for us to personally see Dimitri?“ Armand asked the old man as they left the room and walked through the hallway. “Wouldn’t our holograms have been enough for us to uncover his lies?”

“Yes, we needed to be there ourselves.” The Headmaster answered vaguely, his face absorbed in deep thought. “More than you know.”

“You need to get him up to speed as soon as possible, Armand.” The old man stopped walking and turned to the young man. “The emissary will be here in a week.”

Armand nodded thoughtfully. “Dimitri is hiding something, Sir! The lie detector showed that he is lying.”

“I know.” The Headmaster glanced back at the recovery room ruefully. “And it is your job to unravel all those lies.”