When Penny was seventeen, a few days after she’d gotten expelled, she remembered waking up early in the morning, before the birds had started chirping or the garbage truck trundled by, and sitting up in her bed and staring into the darkness.

It had felt then like something was sitting on her chest, like she couldn’t move, like she couldn’t breathe, and now, even though the sun shone behind them as they stepped through the double glass doors, Penny felt the exact same way.

Inside the air was cool, aggressively and unnecessarily air conditioned. Goosebumps prickled up her arms, and a scent like unopened packaging hung in the air. The hallway itself was dark, draped in dark cloth like the entry way to a restaurant. It even had a little podium, where a woman stood, crossing off names in a leather notebook.

When Eshan and Penny entered, she looked up. "Mr. Patel. Ms. Jones. I'm glad you're coming. I was worried you were going to miss the log in window.

Penny frowned.

She didn't know the woman, but she looked familiar in the way beautiful people did. Maybe she'd seen her on TV once. The woman was tall with facial features that looked vaguely Korean, although her hair was blonde. Tiny diamond studs twinkled in the woman's ears, and she wore a white dress that looked new.

Everything here looked new.

Why had Prince done it? Penny wondered not for the first time. Why had he put in the contract that the expelled ones had to pay back their tuition? He clearly didn't fucking need the money.

Penny held up her hands. "Well, we'll understand if we're too late."

"No," Galatea said. "You just made it. And of course, I understand you're very busy Alderman, and you have your graphic design work, Penelope."

Penny froze. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry. I feel like I know you from your applications, even though you don't know me." Galatea laughed. "Can I take your coats?"

“Sure.” Eshan handed his coat to what had to be a young intern dressed all in black, who took it, and scurried off down the hallway.

Penny took a step back, clutching her frayed coat protectively. “Applications?”

Galatea shot a quizzical look to both of them. "Yes, over one million people applied to beta test. We had to be very selective, but your applications were very strong."

"I didn't make an application."

Eshan held out his hands innocently. “I may have filled out her application for her.”

Penny narrowed her eyes at Eshan.

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“That’s typically not how we do things, Mr. Patel,” Galatea's lips turned down in a frown. "We want people who want to be here and who are motivated. The AI is very sensitive to player choice, so it's important we have people who will take Astrea, seriously. As beta-testers you will be shaping this world. Our more ambitious players may even create the germs of what later will become Astrea's civilizations and cities."

"I'm not here to play," Penny said, her words coming out so sharp she nearly winced at herself. Then she shot Eshan a tentative smile. "I'm hoping maybe I can be taken to the watching area."

"I see," Galatea cocked her head, and an expression Penny couldn't read twisted her mouth. If it wasn't insane, she would've called it disappointment. " Well, let me show you both the pods. Maybe you'll change your mind, Ms. Jones."

After that things moved very quickly. Because they were the last to arrive, they were hurried through a series of hallways, a balcony that overlooked an an I-MAX theater, where Galatea explained, the people in the line outside would come to watch the real-time stream of the beta-testers, before finally reaching a set of two doors. Penny asked Galatea if she could sit here, but Galatea hummed non-comitally.

As they walked Penny kept looking for ammunition to convince Eshan that all of this was bad idea, but nothing Galatea said had any new red flags. Instead, Penny couldn't help but notice little things. How there was a table at the bottom of the Imax theater that had at least a hundred crystal champagne flutes and a case of Dom Pergnion. There were gift bags too that the interns were stuffing, that had, what looked like, bottles of expensive perfume, a new smart phone, and a VR headset for Oroborus's other game, Inkarus.

Penny's phone buzzed again, and she didn't need to check it know it was another email about another bill she couldn't pay.

Her throat began to feel tight.

The contents of one of those gift bags could pay her rent.

And it wasn't that she thought rich people didn't deserve to be rich or spend money, but there was part of her that remembered her father taking his hard earned money out of retirement account, half of which had been devoured by penalties and taxes. What was left had gone straight to Edward Prince.

Penny understood, that she hadn't made the cut. She got that part. She was 100% not suited to be a leader of anything, let alone the world. But this, that somehow her being less than meant that her father had to die while they drank champagne?

Penny wanted to throw up. She wanted to punch someone. Maybe Galatea. Maybe Prince. Maybe Eshan. Maybe herself.

Finally they reached the end of a hallway lit by flickering florescent lights, that reflected oddly off of a linoleum floor. Galatea stopped them in front of two doors. "Well, this it."

Penny grabbed Eshan's arm, and gave him a pointed look.

He returned it with his "aw shucks smile" the same one that made people trust him, believe him when he said he could the make the world a better place. Penny had believed that smile too, that's why she had helped him on his campaign.

Penny opened her mouth, searching for words.

From one of the doors came a man in a suit holding a clipboard. "Mr. Patel, we're running behind. So if you're still coming, you've got to go now."

Eshan shot her an expectant look.

Penny sighed. "Just double check the contract," Penny said. "Triple check it."

"I will," he said. Then gently, Eshan removed her hand his arm, and followed the man inside, joking casually.

And just like that Penny found herself alone with Galatea. Above her the lights flickered, for a moment, and the air felt strangely charged. Galatea's eyes ran over Penny, and she felt the woman cataloging her mismatched socks, and the frayed edges of her coat.

"Well," Galatea said. "You are not what I was expecting." Then Galatea gestured with her had to the door, and without saying anything further, opened it. "Why don't you come inside and talk. I think there are some things we need to discuss."