“Something similar happened to me in the White Room,” Austin said when I finished my story. “After trying everything, I wondered what the difference was between sitting in an empty room and sitting by the ocean?” “Well, the ocean’s better,” I said. “No, if you feel an emptiness in the soul.”

“Did you choose the White Room?” “Yes, I did.” “Weren’t you afraid?” “What about you? Weren’t you afraid in the bamboo hut?” “But I thought I was going to die.” “As for me, I was already dead! But if I hadn’t fallen into The Shadow’s trap of trying to escape into the imaginary world, I would be in a very different place now. But the thing is, if I had been different then, ‘they’ wouldn’t have taken me. ‘They’ already had me on the hook.”

“You talk like Randy, in riddles. Who is ‘they’?” “Who do you think The Shadow is?” “I have no idea.” “She serves those who hunt people like us.” “More riddles... Okay, then, who are we then?” “Haven’t you figured it out yet? We are all addicted here – the easiest to manipulate.”

I have to admit that Austin’s words stunned me. Am I addicted? Oh, come on! I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I don’t seem to have any other bad habits. “Are only vodka and cigarettes addictive?” he squinted.

“Listen, since I’m so dumb, why don’t you tell me why ‘they’ got you?” “What does it matter? If I’m here, it means I wasn’t such a good guy.” “Just tell me the truth.” “Okay. Suppose I say I’m a pedophile, so what? You’ll recoil from me like the plague, and you won’t even listen to the rest of. But if it turns out that I was involved in a money scam, that’s okay, it could happen to anyone, right?”

Austin patted my shoulders encouragingly, noticing my scared look: “Relax. I didn’t do any of those things. I didn’t hurt the kids and I didn’t cheat. But I’m here anyway, so let’s stop talking about it.” “You’re not nutcase, are you?” I involuntarily recoiled from Austin. “Well, that’s more your thing,” he winked. “They surround you, not me.” “You’re my surroundings now. I think only the absolutely crazy could choose the White Room.” “You think so? In my opinion, it would be the most sensible thing to do.”

“Was The Shadow surprised at your choice?” “Yeah, but she said it was too late and I owed ‘them’, so I’d go with her.” “So you and Randy serve ‘them’?” “Randy is, I’m not. I refused to work for ‘them’ once I paid my debt.” “Then why are you still on the Island?” “Where do you think I should be?” “In the White Room. ‘They’ couldn’t just let you go.”

Austin grinned: “Do you still think the White Room is a punishment, some kind of prison cell? Oh, well, yeah, that’s what The Shadow told you. I hate to tell you this, but her words are a bluff. The White Room is the way to freedom, but unfortunately I chose the world of my fantasies. So why would ‘they’ take me back there?”

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Randy came; he flopped down in a wicker chair and handed me a blue device that looked like a cell phone:

“Take it. It’s your working tool.” “Will I have to take the calls?”

The bearded man looked at Austin questioningly, but Austin made it clear he wasn’t going to take any claims. He paid for the juice and left without saying goodbye. “He’s kind of weird,” I muttered. “You’re right,” Randy agreed. “Let’s go for a walk.”

We went down to the sea and headed to the Buddhist temple in the distance. On the way, I learned that I would be collecting human energy on the Island. The idea seemed so fantastically ridiculous that it cheered me up:

“It sounds like you’re talking about picking apples.” “It kind of is,” Randy chuckled. “What are you talking about?” “Our job.”

“Explain, please.”

“Imagine you have a neighbor who has an orchard full of sweet fragrant fruit, but for some reason he’s not interested in it himself. Maybe he’s too lazy to pick them, or doesn’t know what to do with them. The fruit in his garden crumbles and rots.” “I think I understand you – at this moment we show up and put a knife to his throat: ‘Share!’”

“That proves you’re from Russia,” Randy shook his head. “What do you need a knife for, when people are willing to part with what seems useless to them. We don’t rob anyone; we just take what is given to us, why let the good stuff go to waste? No, if you like taking other people’s apples by force, you can go the other way, like becoming a hater or a troll and provoking people into conflict. But my advice, work in a nightclub for now. It’s a little noisy, but the energy flows like a river.”

“What am I going to do there?” “You’ll be handing out energy drinks and using the mediator, or as we call it, a lockpick,” he nodded to the ‘phone’, “to collect leaks, although I prefer the word ‘cream’. It’s simple. You just stand behind the bar, put it on standby, and the mediator sets itself up and downloads the surplus.

We reached a secluded gazebo on the shore. The bearded man sat down on a marble bench, and I sat next to him.

“Look here”, he said. “The red scale is your debt; the green is your income. At the end of your shift, you load what you’ve pumped into the main drive, which looks like an ordinary computer with a system unit, and get your percentage. The amount is displayed on the board. Then you convert those numbers into real money. Is that clear?”

“What does the yellow scale mean?” “It’s…” Randy stammered. “Nothing. Just an outdated option. Anything else?”

“Where will I live?” “Wherever you want; whatever you have enough money for.” “Do I have to buy my own food?” “What a weirdo! The dead don’t need food. All we need is sleep. No, of course you can eat and drink, but what’s the point? It’s a waste of money. Any other questions? Well, here’s some flyers for you to hand out to passersby.”He handed me a stack of colorful invitation cards to the “Magic Hell” nightclub. “I’ll meet you outside in an hour. Don’t be late.”

To be continued