Mac’s just leaning against the wall with as much bravado a person could muster in this situation. I know he is hiding important information. We stare and measure each other up. Is he waiting for me to speak first. There are too many questions rattling around in my head to articulate just one.

“I know you well enough to figure out your search pattern. Let me guess you went down to the bottom floor first.”

He put his finger to his lips.

“After that you circled the complex. Did some sort of systematic search of all the segments and walls. All as you slowly made it up here. Oh, and you randomly skipped some floors. Am I missing anything?” I am both uncomfortable and soothed that Mac knows me so well. Literally better than I know myself.

His facial expression makes me think he wants me to speak, but it is difficult to figure out exactly what to say. Instinctively I rubbed my forehead and covered my eyes. As soon as I do it I know this is something I know I've done many times.

“You know it is awfully bright in here and aside from when you slept this is the first time i've seen you cover your eyes like that”. What he was saying didn't make any sense. It was pleasantly dim in all the places I've been to from the time I originally woke up.

“First off this is pretty much the perfect amount of light for me. Like I can see all the things, but it's nowhere near ‘bright’. Secondly why would I be covering my eyes?”

“We’ve known each other since grade school. I can’t remember a time you were outside without sunglasses.”

Pondering this I uncover my eyes and lift them to the lights coming from the ceiling. Mac was right there was something wrong. Now that I was aware of it I can tell there was a bit of pressure around my eyes. As if I am holding on to something. With some experimenting I manage to let it go.

“Bloody fucking hell” I shout. The lights piercing my eyes and pain went back into my skull.

“Why couldn't you just let me live in my ignorance of this?” pleaded to Mac. My hands were covering my eyes. Between my fingers I see him barely supporting himself against the wall as he laughs.

“I know you aren't all there. Not that you've always been there.” he chokes out between laughs. “But you would want to know. By the way, aside from a little glow your eyes are normal again.”

“You keep bringing it up my eyes. Can you please explain?”

“Before the white bits were dark. Almost black. Your iris’s shifts color. There is a slight glow about it. Which increases in intensity when you are feeling your feelings. At least the best I can figure.” he explains.

I glare at him, but start to focus. Squeezing my eyes shut tightly I focused on returning that feeling of holding on to something. Energies flowing around. Pushing, pulling, twisting them trying to recreate the feeling I experienced before. Eventually the pressure returns and after a few seconds holding onto it feels like breathing. Something I can just do automatically.

“Any other revelations that are going to cause me pain”

He walked up to me and looked intensely at me. “Do you remember anything else now?” he inquires.

Shaking my head I begrudgingly say, “not that I am aware of”.

“Damn I was hoping more pain would trigger more memories”. I leer at him not wanting to let on that I had the same idea. Just not exactly looking forward to trying to test it.

“Looks like my memory loss is a bit more complicated. Is there a reason you are here? Aside from trying to knock some memories loose that is” I urge him. The frustrations of my lack of self bleed into my words a bit too much. It might also be that I know he is hiding stuff from me.

Mac's chipper demeaner fades a bit. “The sixteenth floor houses the people hidden away for one reason or another”.

He started to walk down the hall. It was lined with heavy doors and looked just as long as the bottom floor. The doors are spaced as though each room should be big enough for one person with a bit of extra space. I try to reach into them with my perception. However, it is like the doors at the end of each hall.

“We don't know who is in these rooms or why. Like with most things, there are many theories. Goliath claimed he was held in one of these rooms. A few others as well. Steph tried to find out the truth but that didn’t work. There are those who have been reported as missing as well.” he explains. There is a sadness and reluctance in his voice. Most likely from talking about our current reality.

“Some believe this is the rapture and angels have culled us. There could be truth to that but I doubt it is that simple. It does cause people to think that those who have gone missing here are not dead. Along with a whole bunch of other nonsense. Regardless of what others have experienced” he shuddered speaking the last of those words.

“You’ve been keeping some important information from me haven’t you. Tell me” I demand.

He stops walking and looks up and down the corridor. “We have been tested. Not all of us survived the testing”.

“How does the testing work?”

“Not everyone. Some would clearly not survive. Those who displayed abilities. That's most of us. The more skill and power you showcase. The worse it gets. We have endured mental, psychological, and physical tests. Why is up for debate? We don't know and no one is terribly eager to find out.”

Mac is my best friend. Our history together is not all accessible to me. But I know he is my best friend. I know when he is telling me the truth. It is comforting regardless of the news.

We make eye contact and he says, “You killed him. He was trusted by our captors and one of the physically strongest we know about. If for nothing else I imagine they” he pointed upwards, then sideways, then downwards. “Uhhhh, I don't know what direction they would be in. Doesn’t matter, they will want to know how you did it. I am concerned I will lose you again”.

I consider his words for a moment. Mac, hell everyone must be just drifting. In constant confusion about pretty much everything. To suddenly find your best friend alive in this sea of people. His chipperness makes much more sense. Though he is missing something. Chances are I have already been tested. It could be the cause of my memory loss.

The gears grinding away in my head was a kind of relief. I may not know who I am completely, but my brain is still functional. Mac was waiting for me to talk again. My lack of talking before must make any silence from me disconcerting. Which was entertaining.

Turning to walk back to the elevators I badly sang “que sera sera ”.

“Ass” he responds, a bit of his chipperness back.

“What ever will be will be”

“Shut it”.

Could it be possible that I was in one of these rooms hidden away from the general population. A bit egocentric considering how big this place is. For all Mac knows, I could have been in the section right next to his for all this time. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people are here. Heck it could be millions. Him finding me that first time was just a lucky chance.

“People who have been tested are not released on the first floor,” Mac states. Could that fucker read minds. I am pretty sure he has some sort of Jedi force pushing like power. A form of telekinesis he used on me before.

“No I can't read your mind,” laughter in his voice. “We have a lot of time to think and I don't know if you fully remember but I know you pretty damn well”.

“Ass” I grumble as we get to the elevator. Examining the symbols on the wall again.

“It's their language. We have enough people here from enough cultures and countries to know it is not ‘of earth’”. He said make quotation marks at the end.

“I think I saw some people who were speaking not English. But it was English.”

“Universal translators. We don't know how it works.”

I went to press the symbol to take us back to Macs floor. He stops me and shakes his head. Then presses a different symbol. Just like before when the elevator moves I start to fall and almost throw up this time. Mac tries to keep me from falling but the angle was all wrong and we fall together.

“Bloody hell” I groins.

Mac laughed and laughed, “I don't remember you being such a klutz. By the way we aren't going back to our level. I want you to check out the medical level.” he props me up and holds onto me until the elevator stops. Pointing to the symbol for where he was headed. “When you are done here press this button. Now go explore and learn young Padawan.”