December 1, 2558, C.E.

Tethys - Thunder Bay

"Gwen Romulus please come to building 2A. Gwen Romulus please come to building 2A."

Sam and Gwen were sitting in a common space in the lower levels of the tower when the announcement came. They both looked at each other, perplexed. The rest of the people around her looked at her.

“What did you do?” He asked in hushed tones.

“Nothing, I think...”

“Do they know about what we did a couple of days ago?”

“Wouldn’t they have called all three of us if they did?”

She got up, the look on her face was plain terror. As she looked toward the door she saw three men in suits and sunglasses waiting, staring at her. She looked back at Sam “Will I ever see you again?”

“Of course, you will.” He said back.

Two of the guards lead her down the hallway, which was red again. The third guard stayed at the common room door and locked it. “Lockdown?” she said.

She was terrified. What was about to happen. She tried to run. But she did not surprise the guards and they grabbed her. She was kicking and screaming as they left the building into the open air, but nobody was around. ‘Oh right, Lock-down,’ she thought. After a little while, she stopped struggling. The sunlight was extremely bright.

As they passed building 1A, it was the faculty office, she looked for the window to Mr. Mustang’s office. She knew he would rescue her. He was looking out the window, waiting for her. She waved and screamed at him and the guards also took notice of him.

He moved to write something in a notebook and then went back to his desk. She ran towards him. If only she could bang on his window he would know she needs help. The security guards ran after her and tackled her. She put up a fight. “Resistance is useless.” one of the guards said sadly.

Mr. Mustang looked up from his desk. It was clear Gwen needed help. He walked back up to the window and she received a pitiful look from him. He used sign language, “I’m sorry, I can’t do anything. You will be safe.” She understood but did not know how... She did not have any memory of learning American Sign Language. The guards were too busy corralling her to pay attention to anything that he was doing. Gwen felt a little better after this reassurance. She calmed down. The next time she and the guards looked up he was already back at his desk. Did she imagine all that? It was too quick to be real.

She gave up fighting and decided to walk with them calmly. After another one-thousand foot passed in silence. “You guys don’t talk much, do you?”

It turned out the guards always wanted to talk, they just never had an invite before. “Anytime we take someone to build 2A for release we lock down everyone else so they don’t see.”

“So, this is a prison?”

“Yes, but you won’t remember this conversation.”

“That is not sunlight, is it?”

“No, it’s artificial. Just large lamps on the inside of the dome. But you already knew that existed, didn’t you? This whole place is artificial, the air, the sky, us.”

“What do you mean you are?”

One of the guards, who had not spoken yet, took a metal club and with full force struck her compatriot’s head. A loud metal clank resulted.

The guard who got struck spoke again, “We are, what you humans call robots. We are from the Terra Firma Military.”

“Military? Terra Firma? Robots? What is about to happen to me? Where am I?”

They were approaching a large building with the number 2A on it. It was an intimidating brick building. It looked new, but as if it had stood the test of time. It was a visual conflict that played with their minds and hinted that nothing was real.

The guards held the door for her to walk through. As she did, the guard who had not spoken yet added, “You are indeed in a prison, for Prisoners of War. You are about to be erased.” That voice seemed more human and had a tone of reassurance.