Eric and Mari were not anxious when they arrived at their destination but they were confused as to why they were there.

It was a science facility, in the middle of nowhere. There were the standard government flags at the front entrance and manicured shrubs surrounding the building. A customer service android waited patiently outside for the rare visitors it would receive and her smile brightened once she saw the recruits exit the shuttle.

The sign at the front of the building simply read ARIA MAGNETIC AND GEOLOGICAL STUDY OUTPOST. The only thing odd about the location was that it was in the desert. The desert was a beautiful golden hue as far as the eyes could see, and in the center of it all was this strange little concrete piece of government bureaucracy.

The android greeted the recruits and led them indoors. A cascading indoor waterfall with tropical plants filled the lobby and the air was thick and humid. A lazy river ran through the ground floor, and the android led them alongside it toward the cafeteria. A buffet of food was prepared for the recruits, and a mad dash was made to be first in line. Mari started running but Eric grabbed her and shook his head no.

"Why are they giving us expensive food," Eric asked. "Not normal. Expensive food after giving us nutrient slush for about two months."

"Reward for a job well done," Mari exclaimed.

"They have never rewarded us. They shot us last time and 'rewarded' us by telling us where the infirmary is!"

"I never turn down a good meal, and I am not starting now!"

Eric sighed and let go of Mari. She first went for her favorite delicacy: meat. Red meat, white, it didn't matter, meat was not something Undesireables had the luxury of eating. Mari had become a wolf, piling her plate up with anything close to her and when it came time for a drink, she told herself, I should be a bit healthy.

So she drank only two glasses of resh instead of three.

The android approached Eric and turned on her customer service audio voice file.

"Sir, do you have any special dietary needs? Would you like one of our seventeen different specialty menus?"

Eric realized that he would be seen as suspicious if he did not eat at least some of the food. So he drank as much water as he could and had a plate of salato with kokajo and fazoloj. They were even offered alcohol when only few of them were old enough to drink, and if they were, they were told to never do anything during active service that would affect their body's strength.

There was no need to worry about where to sleep either! Underground there was enough sleeping space for about a hundred people, with plenty of rations for about a month. All the recruits spent the entire night drinking, and laughing, except for Eric.

No one thought much of it until tomorrow.

----------------------------------------

Mari woke up with the first hangover she had ever experienced in her life.

She was on the carpeted room of an empty office room and could not remember how or when she got there. A green blanket was draped over her body and in the corner next to her were three bottles of trinkajo and the lanky grey-haired Weaver.

He was drinking straight out of a bottle of trinkajo when she awoke and he gave a tiny wave.

"You want some," he asked her.

"Will it make my head stop hurting?"

"First time?"

She nodded yes and he laughed, his eyes curving into little moons.

"You should drink a bit more," he laughed. "You're gonna need it when you see what's going on downstairs."

"What's going on?"

"Follow me."

Mari followed him down the bright hallway, took the elevator to the humid lobby floor, and was introduced to absolute chaos.

One of the recruits took a fire extinguisher and was smacking it against one of the tall windows, but no matter how hard he struck it, it wouldn't budge. A giant dent was left in the fire extinguisher when he gave up and threw it to the ground. The customer-service android cheerfully picked it up and graciously handed it back to him.

"No thank you," he grumbled.

The android went around offering the mangled fire extinguisher to anyone who would be willing to take it, but no one was interested, making her sad.

"Why are they doing this," she asked him.

"Sometime last night, a little after you passed out, a few of us noticed there were no human or cyborg staff here," he said. "We found it odd. There's no one in here but us."

"So why can't we leave?"

"We think that might be why we were sent here...I say we wait it out and see what happens."

"No, we should leave!"

"Some of us are too tired to even try and leave. A lot are asleep right now, but the rest....aren't feeling so well."

Mari concluded that maybe Eric was right about something being weird in the food. Mari and a few other recruits watched all the red-shirts try different methods to leave the outpost. Chairs were thrown, tables, and innocent lamps as well. After the panic had subsided logic took over. They sat in a circle and tried to come up with a plan on how to leave.

"How about we use the couch," Mari suggested. "It's pretty big!"

They picked up a couch from the lobby in unison and tried using it as a battering ram. The couch slammed right into the glass lobby door, and a small crack appeared.

"Keep going," Mari shouted.

They kept on bashing the couch into it, over and over. Over and over, a small crack would appear, but the glass would not break. After twenty minutes of struggling, they stopped. Before their eyes, the lobby door sealed the small crack. They had never noticed and more time was wasted in vain.

The redshirts, after many hours, scattered to the wind to various parts of the outpost were now forming their own smaller groups. Eric and Mari had their own trio with the Weaver she had met earlier, Aster.

"Which path do you take," Eric asked Aster.

"The one least traveled," Aster replied.

Eric and Aster exchanged sly grins and Mari was left out of the loop.

"It's a greeting we use," Aster told her. "It'll come in handy."

"Now that the kids are gone it's time for the adults to have fun," Eric announced. "Time for us to break free without the Outlanders knowing what we did."

"Wait! Maybe there's a reason we're stuck inside of here," Aster said.

"I think he's right," Mari replied. "Outside is nothing but a desert. Where would we go? If we leave, what if we fail the test?"

"So we have two options," Eric clarified. "We can stay here and hope for someone to get us out before the food runs out or we can bust out of prison."

"Yes, to be inside another prison, the desert," Aster agreed.

"How about we take a vote on it," Mari said.

Aster voted to stay inside but Mari and Eric voted to go outside.

"I love democracy," Eric shouted.

Eric, more than happy to have an excuse to break something, rolled up his left sleeve and flexed his arm. His eyes flashed emerald and steam poured out of his ears as he made a flashy show. His muscles grew three sizes and a loud whirring noise came out of his shoulder. He ran at the glass lobby door and struck it, pieces of glass flying everywhere.

When Eric removed his hand from the hole in the door, all that was left was a cybernetic mesh. The door tried repairing itself again, but Eric gave it another punch, and a bigger hole was now left. The door wasn't repairing itself this time, so Eric stuck his head through the hole into the arid desert and took a look around.

"This isn't right," he mumbled.

When they looked through the doors and the windows from inside the outpost, it was daytime. But outside it was night. Eric gazed up at the aurora in the sky and was fascinated yet horrified about the elaborate prison they were put inside.

Suddenly, he was yanked by the back of his collar, into the lobby. The door was slowly repairing itself again, and Eric almost lost his head, if not for Aster.

"Hey," Eric shouted.

"You're welcome," Aster retorted.

When the door finished repairing itself, a friendly chime and public service announcement sounded throughout the lobby.

"Please step back. Doors closing."

A blue magnetic field now enclosed the entire outpost. The lights went out, the recruits throughout the building screamed, and then the emergency lights came right back on. Metal sheets slid down from the ceiling barricading the exits and stopping any more attempts at leaving.

"Did they re-use the audio from the metro," Mari asked.

"Yes. This is why we don't live in a democracy," Aster said. "People shouldn't be allowed to make decisions for themselves. It doesn't work."

"Bootlicker," Eric replied.

"Tin-Man."

"I am not a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"

Eric held out the last syllable, froze in place, and then collapsed over on the floor.

"Very funny, Eric," Mari scoffed. "We're not falling for it."

Aster poked him with the tip of his boot and Eric made no response. He bent over, checked his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think this building is doing something to him," Aster said.

"What makes you say that," Mari asked. "He's just pulling a prank."

"I've been feeling pretty tired since we got here. Now with Eric like this, I don't think it's a coincidence."

"I've been feeling great since we got here here! My hangover is even gone," Mari said.

Mari did not notice the soft blue-electric hue her entire body started to give off once the shield went up around the outpost, but Aster did.

He had a feeling that Mari was the path least traveled and their key to leaving their prison.