Prepare yourselves: it takes a lot of effort to explain some of this stuff... welcome to the exposition of the Labyrinth...)

(Note this includes the Author's personal theory that might (partially) explain the mystery of dark matter and is NOT conventional)

[Narrator POV]

What is dark matter, really? It makes up roughly 26.8 per cent of all matter in the UNIVERSE.

It is something that is everywhere and nowhere. It fills certain portions of galaxies, making them seem heavier than predicted.

Yet there is no verified evidence that dark matter exists. It can't be detected in any way, besides in calculations and gravitational observations. It is the hidden mass of the universe. It is the only thing that makes models of the universe work.

It is not that all dark matter exists as another form of matter: some of it is likely to be simply hidden ordinary matter.

Q. How do you hide something with the mass of countless stars?

A. Actually, the fact is that the mass is simply ordinary stars. Stable, predictable stars that would eventually fizzle out when they ran out of hydrogen to fuse.

Q. So how does an ordinary star become invisible to the eyes of outside observers?

A. By being deliberately concealed.

Q. An alien intelligence is hiding stars? Why?

A. Actually the reason is fairly mundane rather than outlandish. They aren't 'hiding' the stars. They are harnessing them by encapsulating them in gigantic solar energy collection arrays. This method is known in science fiction circles as a Dyson's Sphere. Naturally once the process is far enough along the star is simply invisible in the darkness of space because it produces no light. It would take an exceptionally long time and vast resources for a civilization like Humanity to accomplish this.

Q. Why would they do it?

A. Virtually unlimited power. The power to run truly vast experiments and devices. To create things that might seem trivial to a human or more likely: terrifying.

The really terrifying thing is that this might be an extremely widespread phenomena. The beings that do this kind of thing might be pan-galactic empires spread across the universe or (more frightening) are billions of non-affiliated species with the same idea.

Q. So what is the reaction of any rational human being going to be, if they find themselves sitting on the inside of a Dyson's sphere?

“What the fuck is that?!” [Rick]

A. A reaction of complete and utter surprise. Naturally.

[End of Narration POV]

“Where am I?!” [Rick]

The floor was smooth and pitch black. It extended in every direction and seemed to curve upwards. Between the endless black floor and the lonely, intensely close star filling the sky there was nothing else but a thin atmosphere and beyond that vacuum.

“Tough question. I suppose this would be the second lowest level of the maze? The very bottom is naturally the surface of that small blue star.” [Darkness]

“How am I not roasting like a marshmallow?” [Rick]

“I'm not familiar with what that might be. Marshmallow... marshmallow. Curious name.” [Darkness]

“Hello? Who are you and why do you know so much?” [Rick]

“Oh, yes. Sorry, sorry. I'm what you might call the one in charge of this energy collection panel.” [Darkness]

“Why can't I see you?” [Rick]

“I may have had to perform a few unusual procedures to keep you alive. I'm afraid I had to remove your mechanical eye. Among other things.” [Darkness]

“What? Why?” [Rick annoyed]

“Well, I would recommend you look at your body first.” [Darkness]

In the glow of a star many hundreds of times harsher than Sol the man reincarnated as a rat-humanoid was at a loss. Because he was completely machine. His hands and arms, chest and abdomen, even his legs and tail were metal.

Rick was very confused by this situation, especially because he still had senses that were indistinguishable from organic life. He could taste and smell. Touch and hear exactly the same as before. Even his eyesight from (both) eyes was baseline rat-humanoid.

“What did you do?!” [Rick snarling]

“I found a way to make you live, despite your biological form dying.” [Darkness] “Oh, and I didn't implement it, your 'Daughter' did.”

“What am I?!” Rick asked afraid of the answer.

“A simulation of the original, I suppose? An artificial entity that possesses even the biological memories of your live body. I recorded and transferred those personally. Fascinating stuff.” [Darkness] “I understand now why it was recorded and duplicated here. Why you ended up as a rat seems due to an experiment.”

“What was duplicated?” [Rick]

“Why your brain and your neural patterns, of course. The creators like to spice things up with random changes. I'm afraid they wanted to see what would happen if a prey animal was raised and bred by the creatures that killed it in a past life.” [Darkness]

“Yes, I understand I was killed by rats.” [Rick]

“But did you know that the others born beside you all carried the memories of the same rats that killed you?” [Darkness]

…

Niala... killed me?

This is some messed up, next level shit...

I'm a replica of a replica?

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Fuck me.

So... that whole thing about reincarnation... a perceptual mistake?

I'm no more Chirrik than I am John, the man before...

Wait. Didn't Minke mention seeing something like this before? Monsters being created like they came from the biological equivalent of a 3D printer. I see. From the beginning everything in the maze has been artificial. Perhaps even to the point where fetuses, like Chirrik's were crafted in the womb. Are all of the living people like that?

Or is there more to it?

Is it being in the maze that changes us? We can't live more than a month or two on the 'surface'. Does that mean that we are altered or engineered that way? Or is it that we are maintained down here and the 'creators' (or are they the Whispers?) have no power on the surface? Then does that mean those born and raised up there are born naturally without interference?

Chanti was born and raised there. Could it be that she, like most of the apes are irregulars that don't fit into the 'experiment' the 'creators' are running?

I wonder if Minke's visions of the future can be used on Chanti. I think they are just long term, probability predicting algorithms using knowledge of absolutely everything happening in the maze to give the most likely potential outcomes. I suspect it is based on psychological tests and perhaps even direct memory reading or vast databases of intel collected by long term observation on every individual thing.

I don't know which possibility is worse. Our minds being remotely hacked/scanned for data or that we are trapped in a Truman Show-like existence, without being the main character.

Putting all of that aside for my own sanity...

This world... this maze isn't on a planet, but on a giant spherical space station which while thinner than several miles forms an artificial world three or four times wider than a star?! A single panel is wider than the Earth. There are millions of them. I haven't even scratched the surface of the maze...

I wonder. Is every panel the same self contained world, living out the same events slightly differently or is it another, equally absurd deathtrap? Perhaps they all have a theme? Or they are each unique?

I stare at my new hands. I don't see any information. I'm not able to assess myself?

“Status...” [Rick Replica]

Why isn't a message window appearing?

“Uh... you're no longer officially registered.” [Darkness] “You're minutes old, you aren't eligible to obtain skills until you reach maturity.”

How long will that take? I'm a frigging machine rat.

“How long?!” [Rick Replica]

“Depends... you're being evaluated as an AI rather than a living being now. However long it takes to adapt to your new form and exceed certain run-time limitations.” [Darkness] “The time it takes to display individuality and consciousness.”

Ah. It's true, isn't it? I'm an emulation of the original... a ROM.

I guess the easiest way is simply to think deep thoughts outside of my usual behavior.

Hmm. What is the meaning of life? 42.

Too generic.

How different could I be, if I wasn't born a rat with siblings?

No.

Am I a good person?

I'd like to believe that I am, but those are just memories duplicated over and over again.

Who am I... now?

Am I alive?

I wonder... am I insane? Was the previous me insane? If he was, does that make me; the copy of that copy also insane?

Or am I sanity born from his insanity?

There are boundaries and blocks on some of the things I try to think about... I've been edited. Enslaved.

Is this what being a program is like?

Eh.

Fuck it. I don't care about that. There's no point to thinking about this garbage.

I'm still just me, after all.

This doesn't mean anything.

So what if I'm fully a machine now. I was already headed in that direction.

So what if I'm a copy. I'm still the real thing.

Wait, I get it. These blocks, they're trying to convince the 'artificially created' me that I'm different.

Don't you know something like this doesn't work?

A person is defined by memories.

You could stick me in a toaster and I'd still be myself as long as I had the mental capacity.

Sure I'm not the last Chirrik. I'm still me however.

Is that it? Is that the ultimate secret of the maze?

“I'm surprised you broke the blocks. It usually takes a few centuries.” [Darkness] “But I suppose this is the first time that the we're running an organic consciousness like this. There are too many conflicts. What was that emotion, just now? It was inexplicable.”

“That was nothing more than apathy, you old geezer.” [Rick] “So tell me, is what I suspect true? This maze is an experiment, a psychological experiment to measure and understand emotional response? Complete with positive reinforcement in the form of 'magical' trinkets and powers?”

What we learned:

Why the maze exists.

How it is powered.

The purpose behind everything.

But not why it is needed... or how Rick got involved.

(Homunculus POV)

…

I did it.

Father is alive...

Now I am Father and Daughter as one.