The former prisoner’s eyes opened without him even realising that he had closed them. He took a breath, one that he should never have been able to still take and then another and then another. Soon he was hyperventilating as sweat ran down his face; the sudden release from the stress of weeks of imprisonment followed by a certain death blew away his defences leaving his emotions raw. He should have died but the fact that his heart still beat and his lungs still took in oxygen made solid points against that particular possibility. It was nearly a minute before he was able to think clearly again and take in the sight in front of him.

“Is this heaven or hell?” the former prisoner asked as he looked at the place he ended up. If it was, he was underwhelmed. Even his practically non-existent faith expected something better than this. He stood in an office devoid of much decoration and with a strong coating of dust. In front of him was a large desk carved out of a silver-white wood. On it a single electronic screen hovered above the ground attached to no visible connections next to what looked like the master control for an intercom system that resembled his version somewhat. Well his former intercom system now. A comfortable looking wheeled office chair was what capped this off as somebody’s place of work.

At one of the corners of the room there was a closed safe and the other held a file cabinet both with a thin sheen of dust over them. The rest of the room was rather bare without even a shelf or any personal effects. Taking a full look the former prisoner noticed a pair of silver metallic structures curving towards each other resembling the side parts of a door frame somewhat only much bulkier and with a futuristic aesthetic. Despite the futuristic aesthetic the floor was made of lacquered wood and the whole room was shrouded in dim light. Overall, if this was heaven or hell neither of them was living up to their expectations.

The former prisoner sat down at the seat in front of the desk contemplating his options. Firstly, the room he was in looked abandoned which was both good and bad. On the good side he hadn’t trespassed on private property of people who might take offence to that. On the bad side that meant that he was in a possible wilderness. Thankfully he had drank and eaten not so long ago, but that would only prolong his suffering if that was the case.

Leaning forward he examined the floating screen, trying to look for any indication of how it was floating; any wires or glass pedestal. Instead as his fingers touched the desk the screen lit up, displaying several lines of esoteric symbols before they stopped.

Present Badge

The symbols were replaced by those two words and there was a moment’s pause before the poorly executed man felt a cold weight in his pocket where he had placed the badge before he was due to be shot. Surely that couldn’t be what they wanted. He reached inside his pocket slightly fumbling for the badge before he pulled it out and stared at the silver object. What to do now? Slightly uncertain he held out the badge in front of the screen and he was instantly rewarded as a blue light extended from a small window above the monitor scanning the badge.

After half a second the blue light receded and he just had time to put the badge down before the blue light started up again scanning his body. It was the weirdest feeling that he had ever experienced; like every cell in his body was being filled with liquid before being drained again and then refilled. The light didn’t blind him when he looked at it; instead slipping into his eyeballs and running up towards his brain before running through every nerve in his body At the same time light flooded into his lungs before slipping into his veins and then into the heart and arteries. After ten seconds the light finally drained away leaving him feeling more exhausted than he could ever remember being. He fell forward slamming his elbows down on the table before him to stop him completely falling over and got a perfect view of the monitor changing before his eyes.

New Warden recognized. Welcome to Coldreach, Warden. Do you require a breakdown of current status of facility?

Yes, a breakdown of the facility would prove very helpful at the moment the apparently new Warden thought but he didn’t say anything yet as he sat there just trying to recover some of his energy. It felt like all his muscles had been stretched and strained leaving a painful numbness that was taking a while to fade. Catching his breath, he started admiring the quality of the table for a few seconds before some of the dust disturbed from his motions was inhaled by him.

“Achooo,” the Warden sneezed. “Damn, dust allergies,” he said wincing as the sudden recoil caused the pain in his arms to flare up. He was getting that annoying itch in the back of his throat that indicated that this room desperately needed a clean. At least his eyes hadn’t started to itch yet. He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket before holding it over his mouth and nose trying to stop the dust.

Suddenly, the door shuddered with the sounds of heavy knocks; three of them which caused the heavy looking door to shake slightly. ‘How the hell did somebody know he was in here; did they hear his sneeze?’ he thought as he shot up straight ignoring the pain in his arms. Another trio of knocks hit the door with great force and the Warden stood up from the chair. He had no idea what could be behind there but he wouldn’t cower inside this room. There were no obvious weapons to defend himself and this wasn’t his home in the first place. Whoever was outside the door undoubtedly had more rights than he did at the moment. With that in mind he did the only thing he could think of at the moment. He defaulted to courtesy.

“Please come in,” he said politely hoping that the person outdoor would show him similar politeness. If the door was locked then he didn’t have a key and he wouldn’t survive by barring the room either. As soon as he finished the sentence he watched as the door handle turned before the door slowly opened inwards revealing his visitor; who looked nothing like he expected in this situation.

Not even five feet tall and with pale skin and a thin petite figure; his female visitor walked into the room with shallow uncertain steps. The kind of movement of somebody who knew they had no initiative in the meeting but desperately was trying to get something out of it. With just her stance she already had told him that he wasn’t in any immediate danger and he took the moment to inspect her more closely. She had bright red-hair curled into angel-wings that were matched with a pair of bright blue eyes giving him the impression of a youthful girl on the verge of womanhood. Her eyes and stance were filled with innocence and wonder and yet there was something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She was dressed in a rather ill-fitting old-fashioned waistcoat over a dress giving her an anachronistic feel that enhanced her natural beauty rather than stifle it.

“Greetings,” she said and the Warden was surprised to see that her words didn’t quite match her lips. “You must be the new Warden.” She curtsied, a mechanical motion that spoke of a great deal of practice.

“You have me at a disadvantage,” the supposed Warden said attempting to fish for information. “Who might you be?” Despite the assertions of the monitor and his visitor he hadn’t accepted or been made any job offer. He still remembered the force behind that knocking and he didn’t want to have to deal with her if he was found out to be usurping somebody else’s place.

“I was the secretary of the previous Warden,” the girl said getting his attention immediately. A secretary was likely the role that knew more about their company than anybody else. Furthermore, if she worked under the old Warden, she likely had the information that he wanted. How would he get to it without tipping her off though? “You may call me Wendy,” she said finishing her sentence while he was thinking.

“Do you know what happened to the Old Warden?” he asked, a fairly innocuous question. If he should already know this, he could pretend that he was asking for her sake? If he shouldn’t then it should be a bit of harmless prying at worst and may lead to valuable information.

“He went insane and died,” Wendy stated offhandedly sending a cold shiver down his back. “I’m afraid he left quite a mess behind before he left,” she said with more sympathy in her words. “Coldreach is in a bit of trouble from what I’ve seen but I haven’t been able to get information from Choir.”

“Whose Choir?” he asked almost reflexively before he stopped himself. Luckily enough Wendy seemed eager to answer.

“Choir runs the whole facility,” she said. “All the systems are overseen by Choir and it process most of the information, I think. I have never spoken to Choir myself though.”

“Why? Wouldn’t you have met around the coffee machine at least once or twice?” he asked.

“Oh, Choir is an artificial intelligence not an organic being,” Wendy said causing him to clench his fists in restrained amazement and disbelief. Artificial intelligences were a thing of science fiction in his home and while he had read his fair share of short stories taken from the periodicals, he never thought that he would ever get the opportunity to meet one. This once more begged the question of just where was he that had such advanced technology existed.

“Are there any other people in the facility that I should meet,” he said; using another innocuous question to help him get an idea of the scale of this organisation. He was thus surprised to see Wendy shaking her head.

“No, you and I are the only people left at Coldreach,” she said. “All the rest of the prisoners were released or escaped when the previous Warden went insane. Many of the staff left or were killed.”

“What,” he said flatly. “Run that by me again.” There was so much information in that sentence. Coldreach was apparently a prison? The previous Warden released all the prisoners? The situation didn’t escape him that he was replacing a Warden who opened up the jail cells. Was this some form of cosmic irony? Was this punishment for his sins? If so it was administered by a shitty god.

“Sir,” Wendy said politely. “Is that the Warden’s badge in your hand?” She was pointing at the silver badge that had been scanned a moment before him. Wendy sort of shifted her neck trying to get a better angle. “It looks like it from my perspective. If the badge has come into your position then you are the new Warden. You can ask me anything and I won’t judge your lack of knowledge.”

“Where is Coldreach?” he asked. Since she was giving him the opportunity, he would take it. Quite frankly the level of technology displayed was far greater than his homeland. If they had tried to declare war upon this country then they would be in serious trouble.

“Coldreach is situated in the Rift,” Wendy said straightening up and putting on an air of compliance. “The Rift is a separate dimension containing no natural forms of intelligent life, or at least that’s what I have read about it.” Wait hold up.

“I’m in a different dimension,” he said disbelievingly. Clearer and clearer the days of reading science fiction in the magazines he had subscribed to were coming back to him. “Is this a spaceship? Are you an alien?” he almost kicked himself at the question. It was blunt and insensitive. He must be badly shaken today. “My apologies,” he stated. “I am a bit out of sorts today.”

“May I ask if your race discovered spaceflight yet?” Wendy stated. “If not, this must have been quite a shock to you. Would you like me to prepare some food for you while you take a breather and think about which questions to ask me?”

“I would appreciate that, thank you,” the newly instated Warden said as he sat back in his chair before he sneezed again. Oh damn, there came the itchy eyes.

“I can also try to clean up here a bit,” she stated, eager to please. “The residential accommodation is currently blocked off so it might be a bit tricky to get there at the moment.”

“That’s fine,” he said calmly. “We can worry about that later.” He wasn’t sure if he was to believe her yet but there was no questioning the fact that he arrived here in strange illogical circumstances.

“Alright with your leave then,” she stated before she curtsied once more and left the room. A second or two later he slumped down into his chair. He was still for a moment before a brief chuckle left his lips that turned into a full-on laugh until he was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes.

“I’m alive,” he said feeling a weight lift off his shoulders as his certain doom became uncertain again. He took a deep breath before breaking out into a coughing fit due to the copious amounts of dust in the room; but even that felt wonderful compared to the certain doom of the morning.