STRANDED, 3000.

Kayelin waited for Ava to return so that she could eat something. She was sitting in front of the mirror looking at herself. “Who are you? Where are you?” After listening to Ava’s truth of Jin, she was now even confused about her own identity. Then someone with a dark low voice answered back. “Comment allez-vous? Je suis Flays, l’artiste et l’écrivain français.” He then threw a bread to the air and Kayelin caught it. “Prenez ce pain. Quelqu’un m’a donné à l’extérieur de la porte.” “Excuse me? Who are you?” “Oh, I am sorry. I see you don’t speak french. I am Flays, the French artist and writer. Someone told me to give this bread to you outside the door.” “Thank you.” Kayelin started eating the bread and looked at the man in front of her. “I see you are not Ava.” “Ava? No. She is an angry, erratic and a deeply religious woman. Actually, she is 7 years old. She used to get punished and raped by her parents from a young age for no reason. Can you believe that her parents even made her dig a hole in the ground and bury the fetus of her own brother in the ground? She experienced all the torture you can think of from such a young age. She then started believing that god was her only savior and that if she believed in the community and prayed often to the flag, she would go to heaven. You can see that she was brainwashed naturally. I feel very pity for her.” “Flays, how did you know that Ava experienced these horrible things? Where were you back then? Why didn’t you help her?” “I was with her. I was next to her. I saw her suffering from pain with my own eyes. But why should I help? I didn’t want to get in trouble by someone else. I am a different person. I have my own parents.” “Okay…” “So are you the only one that can speak French?” “Yes, I am. I can speak French and German. The others only speak English. Oh, I think Didion told me that Jin learned Korean before in middle school? Anyways, other than him the only shared language is English.” Flays spoke with pride and confidence just like Jin. Now, Kayelin assumed what has been going on this whole time. “Flays, you said that you are a writer and an artist? Can you show me your pieces of art or your writing if you have one?” “It is all over this place, ma’am. I am the private artist of the president. I make, draw and write what she wants me to.” “Where? Where are your masterpieces?” He pointed at the book that was on the floor widely open, ‘All about AI: Why A.I. robots are replacing everything and the impact.’ “That book you were just reading right there was written by me and Newton as a collaboration project. “Newton? Who is Newton?” “He is just one of us. He was named Newton because he is a genius in math and science just like the scientist Newton that discovered the ‘three laws of motion’. I have always been near him. He was talented in those subjects from when he was very young. People praised his intelligence and the government was clever enough to take him to educate more professionally to use him as the future scientist. But, the process was harsh. Newton was the one that probably built this maze. He is also famous for his IQ. I heard it is 250. Probably not too hard for him to build a complicated maze and have the map memorized. Newton was engaged in most of the planning of this space station and this project of moving away from earth. I could say that he is the president’s favorite student of all. But Newton is always stressed a lot even violent and scary sometimes. Last time, he even threw a chair at me when he had a hard time solving PNP, the major unsolved question in computer science. Of course, he solved it afterwards and got rewarded for that. Oh also the long painting above the door, that’s what I drew for her on her 50th birthday. Kayelin looked at the big painting that was long horizontally. It seemed it was at least 8 meters long. She went close to the door to look at the painting more carefully. She never noticed this painting was even there. Inside the big canvas, there was a robot that looked like a man lying down that looked like he was dead long time ago. Parts of his body was damaged and so it was possible to see the wire connecting each parts inside his body including his head. His eyes were almost closed with teardrops under and through his wide open mouth, his broken teeth and holes could be seen. The burned marks and mosses that were covering his whole face and body illustrated he had been in the dumper for quite a long time. From his breast to the rest of the body below, it covered with blue cloth with holes on top that looked like a curtain. There were 3 long metal sticks next to him which he might have been hit with. The grass was wet and there were raindrops on top of it. But the most interesting part of this picture Kayelin noticed was the birds. There was a bird standing on his chin looking into the robot’s mouth as if he was looking for something doing nothing. There was also another bird standing beside his shoulder just staring at the whole scenario silently. This picture was vague and mysterious and pitch-dark. She couldn’t understand what this represented nor the president that expected this for a birthday present. She looked at Flays. He answered “I know you don’t understand because I didn’t at first as well. You have to be in her shoes to understand. This picture is the world she dreams of. This is the world she is trying to build right now. Have you ever thought why we are different with animals? I realized that very recently. Human can feel something and we have the ability to express that in any ways through art, music and even writing. It can be anything. Animals don’t. All they feel is the basic needs to survive. That is why the association areas are the biggest and most developed than any other animals for humans. Now try looking at the picture differently.” Kayelin looked at the picture once more. It looked exactly the same as before. Someone was hurt in the picture. Not someone, maybe something. A robot that is not alive that was something was hurt or broken and it needed help. The robot in the picture seemed it couldn’t function without the help of something else but that was the problem. There were 2 birds that looked like passerines doing nothing for them. In this situation, the birds were stronger. They were living creatures that could even fly that were more muscular. “The birds are the government members including the president. The robot is in the weaker class. I think it represents the citizens that doesn’t know what is going on and just waiting for the government to save them. They are brainwashed and controlled which can be seen from the wires from the skull coming out. The birds might be scared of them waking up because even if it one citizen, they can come together and chase them away. I guess that is what the birds want. Absolute power. However, in order to accomplish this goal, it is important to control the ones under them. This could be done by persuading them, deceiving them or even scaring them. In this situation, they are neglecting them.” “What you said is almost right. This painting specifically portrays the accident your friend was in, ‘MV Metropolis’.” “What?” “To the president, this event was a successful achievement. It was a global disaster to the citizens but the people that were on her side believed it saved the money to gather enough money for the planet investigation.” “How can you say that? Why did you even draw this for her? You should have rejected her. Your friends were in that boat and they died because they were too innocent. You should have been on your friend’s side.” Kayelin was now very angry and pushed Flays. He tried to stop her and said “je suis vraiment désolé. Au lieu de cela, je vais vous dire un secret. Vous pouvez ensuite modifier les problèmes qui ont tout gâché.” “What? I told you that I do not speak french.” “I am so sorry. I forgot. Instead, I will tell you a secret. You can then change the problems that ruined everything.” “What is the key?” “The mirror that is on the opposite side of you. I designed and made it for security purpose. It is a secret mirror that is actually a door. That leads to another room in this space station. I am not fully certain but if you pass that gate, you may be able to meet another one of us. Even Didion if you are lucky enough. He must know everyone.” Kayelin held his hand and went to the mirror. “Take me there.” Flays started touching the mirror just as if he was manipulating a robot. “Are you sure? I may not come back.” “Why?” “Because I am a different person everyday. I don’t know who I will be tomorrow.” Kayelin looked at him. There was a man that was Jin but that wasn’t. “You seem lost. What are you looking for? Food?” “No, I am looking for my friend. What matters in a new world isn’t what we had before. It is who we loved before. If I can pass that door and help him to recover his identity, I will go.” Kayelin now knew that because of the traumatic experience in the boat and abuse he experienced from his parents, 6 different personalities were growing inside him to protect himself. She was now sure Didion was having trouble living as himself or maybe he just scared and wanted to live as 6 different individuals. One was just next to her not even noticing he was all Jin and kayelin. It was Newton or Flays that were studying at Einstein Technical School. Now Kayelin have figured out why she was sent to Hong Kong: Mrs. Brigitte would have tried to separate her to another region since she could notice and cure him while Mrs. Brigitte needed the other personalities than Jin to make her dream come true. She succeeded in convincing Kayelin that she would have a better life and back then she was too innocent and didn’t know the meaning behind it. “I have to find a way to cure him. I will.” She promised to herself. But how she would solve this was the problem. She knew that there wasn’t a perfect cure for DID disorder. Instead, it was possible through long-term therapy such as talk therapy or psychotherapy. Someone touched Kayelin’s shoulder. “Ma’am, the mirror is almost ready.” “Oh, thank you.” Kayelin looked at the mirror again. It was no longer a mirror but a bright path. Her face couldn’t be reflected on it. Instead, blue light was coming out from inside the deep tunnel that wasn’t there before. Kayelin reached her hand far to catch the blue light. It didn’t seem that far but her on her hand, only sticky black liquid was there. “I didn’t enter the code for the gate to open. That’s why that liquid isn’t solid yet.” “What’s the code?” You should always remember this code. You might need it later again. You should never forget it. 0416. Even if you get things right again, never forget it.” “Okay, 0416. I won’t forget it.” “Kayelin, promise me that you will never forget it.” “How did you know my name? I promise you.” They hooked their pinkie and made a promise. “Thank you. I don’t know how I remembered your name. I just knew it. It feels like I know you even though I don’t remember anything.” At that moment, the 4 red electronic squares with numbers 1 to 9 popped up in the mirror, ‘Please enter the code to go to the secret communication room.’ “0416” Kayelin shouted and now there was a counting down number from 10 going on making a loud noise. “Kayelin, you have 10 minutes to pass the tunnel. Go! Don’t look back until you arrive.” and he pushed her inside the tunnel.