Walking over to a different bookshelf I saw a small toy on the second shelf in between two rows. A minor sense of familiarity for both my attention and the fact that I wanted to stretch my legs out a little more.

I walked over to the wooden shelf and reached out for the toy, half-expecting it to beep or go off in a puff of smoke or a mild electric shock. You never knew what little tricks people like to put into Escape Rooms for paying customers.

My fingers touched it without so much as a tingle. A toy after all then but it was the fine touches that had drawn me to it. An itch in the back of my mind came to me but I ignored it. I gave it another little push with a few more fingers before stepping closer for a visual inspection.

This could be one of the valuable clues for the secret door to open after all. All I had to do was work it out and I’d be out of here soon enough.

‘Yeah, I found your illogically placed plot device.’

I spoke aloud not caring if I got a response. The chase was on now. My verbal expressions could leave to clue boxes being ticked after all. I’d let my mind try to absorb and decipher any puzzles in here.

‘Uh. This isn’t really suitable for kids to play with.’

More like a model than a toy it had moving parts for the arms and legs and the entire main body could rotate around. I was surprised at the amount of detail that had gone into it. This wasn’t a simple toy for a child, but more of a template for building such a machine.

Holding it in both of my hands I lifted it to examine the familiar miniature robot in further detail. The weight was slightly heavy as though it was made from the material that it was meant to be constructed from.

‘You spent some cash on this little toy then. Does it work?’

There was no identifiable power button or power source needed to activate it that I was able to find. I would have found it quite fun to watch a small machine activate and perform tasks on the floor. Or it could be remotely piloted like a miniature drone. I'd be able to recognise the software used it was it was connected to a main master-slave control system.

For now though, the little mining robot was as good as a model, good for sitting on the desk inside an office or on a shelf. The attention to detail was amazing though. Whoever had made it had really put in the effort to make realistic on a miniature scale. A single order model then.

The colour scheme was yellow and black stripes, it felt a little like a construction robot. Nothing too amazing but it could have easily been a prototype for newly developed artificial intelligence or direct human-machine interfaces. Too advanced for my understanding, most of the drones that I operated and instructed were not as modern as this one. My company being too cheap to purchase the latest models until we had no choice and they broke down.

Cost savings and human efficiency. Blah, blah.

Not capable of carrying heavier equipment like a heavy-duty bipedal walker from the future would, but it had a greater degree of versatility. A light drone then, still light years ahead of what I controlled in my daily job but it made sense it this was a training scenario.

The frame was slimmer, and the feet on the legs had been reinforced with bolts to make them more balanced when on the ground. A yellow colour but with were minor scratches and indents, whomever had made the model has really gone for a realistic touch.

Unless I had a means of zooming in my own eyes then I wouldn’t be fully take in the little bits of damage that the drone showed me. This was fine work indeed. Not overly fragile thankfully or I would have snapped off pieces by mistake.

I cradled the small model in my hands turning it around to pull at all the arms, legs and head, it was fully articulate, and everything was able to move but not be pulled off. I wasn’t quite clear why someone would leave such an expensive item inside an escape room; my best opinion was that this had been done as a deliberate prank by someone in my office.

Not quite a children’s toy then but perhaps made as a design model for a purchaser. When the little robot started moving when placed on one of the tables by itself it wouldn’t surprise me one little bit. Just to give me a little jump-scare as a bit more of the prank.

Toys could always be remote-controlled by whoever was in charge of the escape room, after all, put in here to give me a little surprise. Two metallic claw hands remained at the end of the arms, inside the claws were smaller mechanical parts to be used for more delicate operations.

The back of the robot held a power unit which was a large battery that could be charged up. The front upper part of the robot contained an upper frontal sensor array with a series of small eyes and a main eye in the middle. If anything, this was more of a futuristic design for either the construction or mining industry. A bit too delicate for heavier work at least it could be operated on different terrain.

No cockpit or exterior mount for a human being to sit inside so it should be remotely piloted. It was a futuristic mining machine, far beyond anything that I had operated previously in my work. Quite versatile in structure though, you should be able to make a few modifications to it, as necessary.

Who had left the toy lying on the shelf though? I had already read a few books concerning mining and now discovered a futuristic-style mining robot.

This Escape Room isn’t so simple. Someone planned this with me in mind.

*Ding*

Unlocked another clue. Nice. I put the little mechanical robot back on the same shelf and walked back to the monitor.

More nonsense or…?

->You have unlocked the direct piloting and control ability for the standard mining drone. You will be able to access further features when you begin your initial session outside of this room.

*Ding*

->You have gained experience in this skill. Real-life applications will be needed to activate your skills. Be aware that a prototype operation failed and an existing drone will need to be located.

?Enter Response: Oh wow. You must have a great writer for this entire scenario. Let me guess, I’m going to locate more ‘clues’ around the room that give me better skills and then I get to remotely pilot the mining drone on an operation. Hey, you need to put more effort in it. This could be taken directly from a training manual.

?Enter Response: Did you mean that a mining robot like that little toy exists?

->In the real world yes. It is there for you to inhabit. You will need to locate it first. The first available robot is a starter level standard Mining Drone, it has average speed and function and will need significant upgrading and repairs.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

?Enter Response: :(

?Enter Response: What’s your deal with the real world?

->This world is artificial. This is not an Escape Room in your present reality.

?Enter Response: Alright, I’ll humour you. What is this place then?

->This is a Mind Palace created to host your soul. You can use this place to develop your skills and be at peace for a time from the harsh realities of your work.

?Enter Response: My soul? This has to be a joke. Are you being serious?

->Completely. Your actual form is held within my data server. Would you prefer to close the Mind Palace and be transferred to the mining robot form as displayed on the shelf?

?Enter Response: That’s something I’ll assess. Give me a moment to process that thought. I don’t like the thought of living in a toy on a wooden shelf though. To be honest I feel like I’ve entered a horror film. Can I only communicate with you directly through this computer interface? My fingers are beginning to cramp now with all this typing.

->Only in your Mind Palace is this method necessary. Would you prefer a different form of interface?

?Enter Response: How about switching to voice chat? Even face to face would be an improvement. You’re pretty aware for a computer system. I bet you passed the Turing test with flying colours. Artificial intelligence makes leaps and bounds. Got any more clues for me so far?

->The current level of technology has been adjusted compared to your present knowledge. Reflection: The Mind Palace is a composite of your emotional and present mental status. Query: what is a Turing test?

?Enter Response: Of course. Robots, robots everywhere! The computer sentience test. You are sentient right? Or a human playing a game with me that isn’t very funny now. I don’t know who set me up with this bad attempt at horror within an Escape Room but I didn’t consent to any of this. How about you let me go now and we can forget the whole thing? Not as though you pulled me into a nightmare.

->Partially correct. You were brought to a new reality. Sentience test is not applicable in this scenario. This is a testing room for your suitability.

?Enter Response: I was joking. Joking. You don’t need to joke back to me as well. Also, not funny! I’m going to give you five minutes to contact your manager and let them know that the client had quit the room. Thanks for your service!

‘Uh, thank you for your efforts. I guess. I’d like the party music to begin now. The silence is truly deafening. Thank you!’

I nodded my head in a bow as polite as I could. Someone had tried their best but it was a shame about the flimsy piece of fiction about a testing room. Seriously, this wasn’t a movie.

I moved my hands back from the keyboard leaning back in the blue office chair. Comfortable yet firm and great for posture. I’d need to ask the maker of the Escape Room which company had manufactured them. Given the chance I’d pester my boss to buy some for our site office.

‘Yo, you got some good choice in chairs. The expensive stuff then. Respect is due. Pass it on to your direct supervisor thanks And also, music playlist. Please.’

I resisted the temptation to kick off my shoes, new my clothes might be, this still wasn’t my home. The recording of me would generate enough laughs from my co-workers as it was without me adding to it.

Testing room. Odd words to describe an Escape Room but it was going to be another part of the scenario. Could be a crazy scientist was running an experiment that got out of control and I was a test subject who had been left to his own devices to escape.

A pretty flimsy piece of fiction but as expected. Pretty rubbish scenarios came with the quality. This place must have spent the majority of their budget on the furnishings and décor rather than hiring someone decent to write the script.

No, it was the second concept that gave me more to work with. Like a tasty orange filled with concepts. I could squeeze it tight and gather any mention of it from my memories. There was a word to describe it, esoteric. Similar to a type of magic but using the human brain as a repository.

‘Any response from your manager yet? I can wait a bit but going to court would be a little too much right?’

A Mind Palace, which was an interesting idea. I had read a few books about those, the concept itself dated back centuries. You would begin by imagining parts of a room to build a framework for memory recall techniques. Add a few more details such as ponds for liquid memory and you have a space inside your mind in which you could process mass amounts of information.

Yeah, we had pen, paper and other ways to make sure that we never forgot important information. Diaries and calendars for one. Electronic measures for decent results and backups of backups.

‘Is this a company trial training program? I’m happy to sign an NDA. In the movies the scary ones always gloat. I got it. You picked up the wrong person.’

Either this was a huge prank done against my will when I was unconsciousness by my company, I’d ended up inside a Mind Palace inside my own unconsciousness or this was a bad dream and I was simply lucid dreaming.

The thought that someone had plugged me into a virtual reality system, blocked off my senses and I was lying in a sterile bed didn’t want to come to my mind. Yeah, enough was enough.

What was the deal about this place being a Mind Palace anyway? That was meant to be inside a human brain, not run as a computer program. Simulations were one thing, creating your own personal information storage bank inside your own head was something else entirely.

‘Hey. You need to work on your scenario building skills a little bit. Tell your manager that mixing test room and escape room don’t make that much sense.’

Still no response. Of course, that in itself is a response.

‘I’m bored of talking now. I got all day. Your turn.’

There had been popular stories of famous detectives back in my home country using them to solve cases or even people in business storing company secrets in their own minds. All wild stuff that deserved to live inside books, reality was usually a whole load more mundane that that. People with amazing abilities and experiences lived in stories, not in day-to-day experiences of ordinary people.

‘Hey. Not giving any indication is rude. Do not make me need to go back to the computer. You cannot have an Escape Room that linear. Seriously.’

You lived a life, did what you you had to do each day, and got on with it. I wasn’t a great person, just a worker in my own mind. I spoke aloud just to remind the staff to fetch their manager. They must have gotten the message by now and were considering their options.

Unless this was a criminal enterprise then they’d be likely to have kidnapped me for a ransom but my position with the corporation wasn’t high enough for that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had to scrimp and save for the bakery.

‘I’m not rich to make it clear. No joke. My owned business barely covers the costs. Got a business loan to pay back. Unless hugs count. Wait. Forget it, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Give me a clue now?’