It was the cool rain that woke Tarun. His eyes opened to a dark sky above him, a steady rain falling all around him. With a groan, he sat up and ran his fingers through his hair as he wiped the water from his face.. Where am I?

Although visibility was poor, he recognized landmarks that told him he was in the area around the trail head parking lot. He spotted the trail a handful of yards to his left and guest facility building that served needy hikers about fifty hards up ahead. How did I get here?

As he struggled to his feet, he realized his body ached. He noted scuff marks on his arms and elbows, and his pants were torn in several places. Every inch of his clothing looked like it had been rolled in dirt. Not an inch was dry. He felt as if he had been soaked in a bath tub.

The hike. Fragments of memories flashed through his mind. He stood swaying for a few moments, his hands on his knees. Hadn't he fallen on his way back to the parking lot? His mind was foggy but he was certain this wasn't the spot. Not this close to the parking lot.

He rubbed his eyes and tried to remember. The outlook, the hike back, the storm. The memory of those moments were real and vivid. He remember slipping in the wrong place and from there, he couldn't remember anything until the moment he woke up just moments ago.

After a few tentative steps, he was satisfied his legs could carry him. He returned to the trail and made his way to the parking lot as quickly as his bruised body would allow him to. By the time he found his car, his breathing was rapid and he felt his heartbeat hammer the inside of his chest, as if desperate to escape. Exhausted, he collapsed in the front seat.

As he closed his door, the on-board computer came alive.

"Driver authorized. Welcome back, Tarun. I trust you had a pleasant hike. What is your next destination?"

"Take me home, Alice, just take me home."

"Of course." Alice paused as the vehicle came alive, then continued. "I am detecting an abnormal heart rate and excessive amounts of foreign matter on your clothing. Do you required additional medical assistance on your return home?"

"I'm fine, Alice, I promise. I just fell."

"You fell?" Alice replied with as much emotion as an AI could muster. "Are you certain you are all right?"

Tarun nodded and rubbed his face. He should have adjusted the emotional add-on to Alice a long time ago. Most days, he found it endearing, but today it was just annoying. "Just drive, ok?"

"If you say so." Alice put the car in gear, backed out of the parking spot and headed towards the city. The rain continued to fall and increased in intensity as they followed the winding dirt road down to the valley at the base of the mountain. Even though they were shrouded in clouds and rain, steep slopes reached skywards on both sides of the road. Some peaks were great for hiking, others just beautiful to watch from afar. In the rain, it was difficult to even see the road, the wipers of the car working overtime to clear the view.

Not that it mattered. Tarun wasn't driving anyway. His need to see the road was minimal with Alice in charge. In theory, handing over the driving responsibilities to Alice should give him time to relax but in reality, he had never quite learned to trust the friendly AI. Instead, any trip with Alice in charge kept him alert and most of the time just drove himself. Today, he was too exhausted to care. He leaned back, closed his eyes and drifted off into a semi-awake state, kept on the verge of sleep by the uneven road. It wasn't until the car left the rough mountain roads behind that he drifted off to sleep.

He was awoken by Alice turning into the underground parking garage beneath his building.

"We have arrived at your place of residence," Alice stated as she pulled into his parking spot.

Tarun grunted and sat up, his head throbbing with pain. He took a couple of deep breaths before he opened the door.

"Can you get a cup of tea heated up, please? Also, please turn up the heat to cozy."

"Of course," Alice said. "It will be ready when you enter your apartment."

A few minutes later, Tarun entered his apartment on the third floor of the building. He was greeted by the aroma of tea on the air, just as Alice had promised, and the air temperature had been set to cozy as he requested. It felt like he just walked into a warm blanket.

He picked up his cup of tea from the kitchen and then sunk down into one of the chairs in the living room. A deep sigh escaped his mouth as he took a sip of the warm tea.

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"Should I prepare a hot shower as well?" Alice said.

"That's not a bad idea. Please do."

As he leaned back and closed his eyes, his mind wandered back to his hike. He remembered the storm that had engulfed him on the way back. The rain had increased in intensity. His clothes had been wet and cold. The trail down to the parking lot had been extra slippery and then he had...fallen? He sat straight up. Had he fallen off the trail? Was that how he had ended up at the bottom, yards away from the trail?

Tarun stood up and walked over to the window. Rain streaked down the glass panels and the occasional flash of lighting lit up the late afternoon sky. It was as if the weather had followed him home and decided to gift him the worst possible weather for his Departure.

With a sigh, he left the depressing view of the outside behind and headed to his bedroom just as Alice announced that the shower was ready. As he took off his dirty clothes and put them into the laundry basket, something fell out of his sock and onto the floor. Tarun frowned.

"What's this?" he whispered to himself, leaned down and picked up a small memory card. "Alice," he said and held it up in the air. "What is this?"

"It appears to be a storage device," Alice responded after a brief pause. "It does not contain an owner signature."

"So it's not mine?"

"It has never been in this apartment before."

"Can you read the data while I take a shower?"

"Of course."

Tarun deposited the memory card into a wall panel, then spent the next fifteen minutes enjoying the steam and warmth of the shower. After he exited the shower and put on a fresh set of clothes, he walked over to the computer terminal in his bedroom.

"Were you able to read it?"

"Yes, Tarun. The data is accessible through your terminal.

"Thank you," Tarun said and sat down. "Show me, please, Alice."

"Of course." A moment later, the computer terminal came to life and a list if documents appeared. Tarn leaned closer to read the various file names but none of them made much sense.

"Can you analyze the files, please?"

"Of course. That will take a few moments."

Tarun looked at the files in silence as Alice scanned through them, one by one. Where had this memory card come from? He knew it wasn't his and there was nowhere on the trail where he could have encountered anything like it. He had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right.

"I have processed the data," Alice announced.

"Yes? Tell me more."

"There are a number of blueprints and project documents related to the construction of a structure. There are also several documents that outline processes and procedures, as well as photos."

Photos? "Show me the photos."

One by one, photos of the desert appeared, areas he didn't recognize. Some show flat land, others showed mountain ranges. These were followed by photos of a structure. It looked brand new, never used.

"Stop," he shouted as he felt a chill run down his spine. He leaned closer to the photo currently on the screen. It was a small room, barely big enough for a bed and few other furniture pieces. Why does this feel so familiar?

"I've been there," he whispered to himself as he backed away from the screen. He remembered the woman and the man, arguing about his fate. The bedroom was where he had woken up, the map room where his memory ended. Tarun sat down on the bed, closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with his fingers. It was all clear now. He had fallen, woken up in that facility and then somehow ended up back on the trail.

The memory card. Tarun remembered the computer hardware in the map room. Dozens of storage devices, big and small, left to collect dust. He remembered picking up one of the memory cards just before the woman had barged into the room. He must have slipped it into his pocket when she came in.

He leaned closer into the screen and manually scrolled through the list of files. Hundreds of photos, each showing different facilities. What is this place?

Stunned, he turned off the terminal and walked out into the living room and ended up by the windows. He tapped his feet nervously and checked the time. It was late and tomorrow was his big day. Would the memory card be missed? Was it important enough that the couple he had met might come looking for it? He remembered telling the woman about his Departure and his promise to not say anything. Was that why they let him go? Maybe a missing memory card would change that equation.

"Alice, please secure the door."

"The door was secured as soon as you entered."

Of course. Tarun walked into the kitchen and drank a whole cup of water as he tried to decide what to do. Was there even anything he could do? His nephew was picking him up the following morning for the Departure. That was about eight hours away.

He walked over to the window and watched the rain streak down the window in random patterns. Even if they discovered the missing memory card, they didn't know who he actually was. Right? If they didn't know who he was, they couldn't know where he lived. Tarun exhaled and sat down in one of the lounge chairs by the window. Only then did he realize that his hand was shaking.

"Alice, please monitor the building entryway for any non-residents."

"I will monitor the building, Tarun. I will notify you of any non-residents that enter the building."

Tarun went back to the bedroom and looked at his bed. He really should sleep. Tonight would be his last night in this apartment, his last night on the planet. The guests at the ceremony the following morning would expect him to be excited about his Departure.

Even as his body ached for sleep, his mind refused to give in even when he lay down. Tarun tossed and turned, but the sleep remained elusive.

"This is ridiculous," he finally said to no-one in particular and sat up. He turned the light on and walked over to the computer terminal.

Randomly, he clicked on a file named Dep_Protocol_Final-Rev3456. It appeared to contain a set of guidelines. What's this?

As he read through the introduction and dove into the meat of the document, he felt a chill run down his spine and he could feel the color drain from his face.

The Departure ceremony wasn't what it seemed.

~~~