Chapter 13 - The Observation Deck
Arthur stepped closer to the shimmering surface of the hallway mirror, watching as Clara pulled her hand back, unharmed by the anomalous transition between the hallway and the clinical room beyond.
"We need to go through," Arthur said, reaching out to touch the cool, liquid glass.
"And what happens if we step outside the loop, Arthur?" Clara asked, turning to face him with a piercing look. "What if there is no real world waiting for us on the other side? What if we only exist as long as this simulation continues to run?"
"Dad, I want to go home," Leo cried softly, burying his face in Clara's satin blouse once more.
"This isn't a home, Leo," Arthur said gently, kneeling down to look his son in the eye. "It's a cage. And I'm going to find the person who built it."
He stepped through the mirror first, the sensation akin to walking through a curtain of cold water. He emerged onto the metal grating of the observation deck, coughing slightly as the sterile, chemical-scented air hit his lungs.
The room was vast, stretching out into darkness in all directions, lined with hundreds of identical control consoles, all monitoring different iterations of the same house, the same hallway, and the same family.
Clara and the children stepped through behind him, gasping as they took in the sheer scale of the monitoring apparatus surrounding them.
At the far end of the central console sat a solitary figure in a dark suit, his back turned toward them as he typed calmly on a mechanical keyboard.
"Turn around," Arthur demanded, stepping forward with his fists clenched.
May you like
The figure stopped typing, slowly swiveled the executive chair around to face them, and revealed the face of an elderly man with short gray hair and tired, familiar eyes.
---
