We have walked through most of the buildings, and all I've seen so far are coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and a bunch of rooms that residents have converted to whatever residents want a classroom sized space for. Jonas had told me that residents are entitled to a room of their own to do whatever they wish with it. Residents can open a restaurant, store, studio, or just have a room to hang out in and do whatever.

  Money does not exist in Stratosylum. We're entitled to anything created by residents and anyone who makes or sells something here won't make a profit from it. I asked Jonas if we now live in a communist economy and denied it. His reasoning was that there really isn't an economy in Stratosylum. Materials and resources are abundant and food is mostly sourced by housekeepers unless a resident volunteers to grow and harvest their own. We aren't given only what we need, we just take what we want. And if something we want isn't made, we are given the liberty to make it ourselves. I really don't understand how all of this works, but in my mind, this system shouldn't work at all without an actual economy.

  We started our route in Building F, making our way to Building A, and we got to pass by where Ari opened her day spa in Building E. She was able to secure the whole top floor for her spa. She explained to me that residents can open their own businesses with our phones. There's a form we can access from our phones where we can fill out what kind of space we want and what we will use it for. And someone, I assume the housekeepers, set it up for you.

  The building I saw outside my room when I woke up, Building F, has workshops and labs for residents to make whatever they wish. A lot of them have little factories set up for making various machines used by other lots, the clothes we wear, and one resident has a space he makes video game consoles in. They're not as sophisticated as the game consoles we had back home; as far as quality goes, they're on par with a PlayStation One. Apparently the guy who makes them used to work as a technical lead for a video game company. Considering our resources are basically unlimited and we aren't obligated to work, we have to make our own entertainment I guess.

  We get to the last building, Building A, and I'm wondering where this casino is Jonas told me Heather would be at, unless it's in a room here. Honestly, I was expecting this place to have a large casino like what you would find on a reservation. But little did I know that this building wasn't the last stop on our destination. As we walk in, I immediately notice a wide staircase like the ones that go down to train station platforms.

  "This is the main building of Stratosylum." Jonas tells me. "The lots here are similar to the ones in B, C, and E. Just outlet malls, yoga studios, and man caves. But this is the only building where you can access the lower floors."

  Lower floors? That must be where the casino is. But something is bothering me about this casino though. If Stratosylum doesn't use money, then what exactly are we gambling at the casino? I start to become unnerved as I start to think of what is actually taking place down there. Russian roulette, organ extractions, betting with fingers.

  We start to walk down the staircase to the lower floor. A sign hangs above the stairs with an arrow pointing down and a single '0'. Makes sense as people refer to this floor as 'Zero'.

  "B- By the way... Jonas?" I stutter to get Jonas' attention.

  He looks over and asks, "What's up?"

  Nervously I ask, "It just dawned on me, but if Stratosylum doesn't use money, what exactly do people bet with at this casino we are going to?"

  "Oh yeah! That's a good question." Jonas replies. "It's sorta like play money down there. We don't have a limit to how much we use, but everyone who plays at the casino has a win to lose ratio in the form of a percentage. For instance, you place three bets on Blackjack and you lose, then you place seven bets on another round of Blackjack and win, Your win rate will be 70%."

  "Why does that matter then?" I ask Jonas.

  He replies, "Heather's theory is it's the safest method of gambling. You have nothing to lose but it allows residents to compete with each other on the leaderboard. There's an app on your phone that shows you the current rankings."

  I check my phone to see if such an app exists. But I don't see anything that could be what he is talking about.

  "I don't think I have it yet." I tell Jonas. "But from what it sounds like, all our win rates are public. Right?"

  "Basically, but it seems only accessible to people who have visited the casino." says Jonas.

  I'll probably get this app once we get down there.

  We reached the bottom of the stairs and are now walking through Zero, which looks like a mega mall with narrower walkways, neon signs, and more well kept than any mall I've ever seen before. There are mini food courts throughout the floor and common areas where people can play games, hang out, or just relax.

  "So this place is just one big mall?" I ask.

  "Eh," he utters, tilting his head side-to-side, trying to construct a better answer than yes or no. "We don't like to see it that way. Stratosylum is one big city to us. There's only so much space on the surface that we resort to using the space inside the tower. Some day, you should check out the golf course I built on Minus Seven."

  "Minus Seven?" I reply, inquiring what 'Minus Seven' means.

  Ari tells me, "The floor we are on is Zero. The floor directly below us is Minus One, and below that floor is Minus Two, then Minus Three, and so forth. Jonas' golf course is seven floors below us."

  "Ok, that makes sense, but how is there a golf course below us? These floors aren't tall enough for a golf course." I question in response.

  "These floors are huge." Jonas tells me. "I was lucky enough to get one of the big lots. They're floors that are as wide and deep as the tower itself and roughly 100 feet tall."

  Wow. I can't imagine what that would even look like. A room as big as the tower and 100 feet tall. I wonder who actually built this place.

  Having seen the buildings above us and now walking through only the first part of the lower levels of Stratosylum, it's clear that whoever built this place is super loaded. It would have to take all the money combined from the richest people on earth to make this place.

  The Zero floor is shaped almost like a backwards 'G' when looking at it on the map. We entered on the west side of the floor and we made it to the east side where there was another large staircase going down.

  We make our way down the staircase to a floor with five bigger lots. A racetrack, an esports arena, a martial arts studio, a gun range, and a casino. It is beyond me why these five places share an entire floor. The size of each lot makes more sense now that I think of it. It's not like any of these could be put anywhere above us without congesting too much space on one floor; and if what Jonas told me is true, the floors below us would be way too big for these lots.

  Oh shit, I just realized that we are allegedly standing right over a 100 foot deep pocket of space. There would have to be a lot of really thick beams running up the rooms below us just to keep all of this from caving in.

  Also, why is there a gun range in Stratosylum? One would think being in a peaceful community, especially one where violence is quite literally impossible would keep guns out.

  "Adrian, come on!" Jonas yells and waves from the casino as I was pondering the placement of these lots.

  I look over towards him and lightly jog to the casino entrance where he and Ari are standing, waiting for me. I catch up with them before walking through the casino with them.

  The casino here isn't like the ones I've seen back home. Normally casinos flash colorful lights off slot machines and blast music to keep people awake. What's different about this casino is the only lights I see are the ones on the ceiling and the TV's displaying win rate leaderboards. There are no slot machines at all in this casino. It's just table games being dealt mostly by housekeepers, some residents are dealing tables which I assume is voluntary. Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Poker, even Mahjong, and other games I've never even heard of. There are tables where two players are playing with small black cards with graphics on them, just bigger than an SD card. All the pit bosses are at least residents, they're watching their tables while typing stuff into a little computer in their pit.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  "What is that game?" I ask Jonas as I point towards the table playing the game with the smaller cards.

  Jonas looks over at the table and displays an expression of uncertainty, leading me to believe he is unsure of the game they are playing.

  "Hanafuda." Ari answers. "It's a Japanese card game. Heather can tell you how it's played if you really want to know."

  "I see." I said as my only response.

  Jonas starts waving to the pit boss surrounded by an oval shaped ring of Blackjack tables. A tall, dark furred hyena with a short wavy mane. She's wearing a black sport coat and a lavender purple shirt and tie underneath to match the accents of her fur. She looks up at Jonas and smiles as she notices him waving. I'm assuming this is Heather, Stratosylum's longest resident. She rests her paw on the shoulder of one of the housekeepers dealing for a table with only one person at it before whispering to its ear. The housekeeper clears their paws as customary for casino security before standing up to walk away. The hyena takes the dealer's seat and makes the same gesture to clear her paws. But what's strange about them doing that here is that there are no cameras in this casino.

  The three of us take a seat at the table with the hyena dealing and the one other person playing. I take the rightmost seat. Jonas and Ari place their phones over a glyph on the table which illuminates once their phone is on top of it. A number pad shows up on their phone with their win rate. The hyena smiles and looks at me before pointing at the glyph on the table in front of me.

  "Set your phone over that, please." she tells me.

  I grab my phone and place it over the glyph as instructed. My casino ranking shows up on the screen of my phone, it shows me a win rate of 0.0%. A number pad shows up below, prompting me to place a number of bets. I just chose five for now as the table minimum is five.

  "Today must be your first day here." she says to me as she's shuffling cards. "Welcome to Stratosylum. I'm Heather if Jonas didn't already tell you that."

  I'm curious as to how she would have known I just got here. I don't think my win rate should be any indication I just got here unless everyone comes to the casino on their first day. Does she just know everyone in Stratosylum?

  "What gave it away?" I ask Heather.

  "Your clothes." she replies, pointing at my sweater and circling her finger. "Those are the clothes issues in Building 0. Unless you've been wearing those for the last couple days, I'd say you just got here."

  Oh yeah, Jonas did tell me these are 'newbie clothes.'

  I nod and tell Heather, "You got me there."

  Heather deals her cards to each of us as well as her own face down. We each get two cards face up when heather can only have one face up, per the rules of Blackjack.

  "You must have a lot of questions, Adrian." she says to me as she's dealing out the other players' hits.

  I chuckle under my breath, "Yeah, I do actually, starting with how exactly do you know my name?"

  "There's a little computer in front of me that says Adrian Stripes over your seat. But I was expecting questions like what am I doing here, or how did I get here, or what the hell is this freaky place." Heather tells me.

  Jonas speaks up, saying, "We've already gone over a lot of that. He was pretty freaked out when he got here."

  Heather chuckles, "Well you seem to have calmed down pretty quick then."

  She continues to play the round before it's my turn. The guy sitting here before us busted, Ari busted, and Jonas stayed. Heather points to me indicating it's my turn. I have a nine and a three, making 12. I gesture to hit and she deals me a five. I play it safe and stay. She flips the card that was face down, showing a king next to a four, making 14. She deals herself a nine, busting the dealer hand and taps her table computer screen a few times. My phone tells me I won that bet and my win rate changes to 100%.

  "Lucky first bet. But you won't be put on the leaderboard until after 30 bets." Heather tells me.

  She grabs all the cards and slides them into a discard chute.

  "Honestly, Heather, my biggest question is just how exactly do I leave Stratosylum?" I ask her.

  She freezes and looks down at the table with a slight forced grin on her face. The person who was at this table before us did not hesitate to walk away from the table after hearing me ask that. Jonas and Ari are looking down at their laps awkwardly.

  Heather presses a button on her watch and speaks into it, "Bar service, table foxtrot seven."

  She inhales before looking back at me with that same forced expression that is now scaring me. And why is she ordering drinks for the table now?

  "Let me ask you a question. If you leave Stratosylum, where will you go?" Heather asks me.

  "Ari already told me that homeless people end up here. But I just got kicked out of an apartment I was sharing with someone. I had a little money to crash somewhere and find a job before getting a place of my own." I responded.

  "Did you actually or is that what you thought?" Heather asks before she signals the housekeeper pushing a bar cart towards the table. "It's not just homeless people that get sent here, Adrian. I've interacted with everyone here at least once in my five years of being here. And the one thing I have noticed about everyone here is that they were broken by the outside world."

  The bar cart stops by our table. I look at the housekeeper's mask and, yet again, I still feel the emptiness behind it. It makes me suspicious of them. It's not just the masks that creep me out, but the housekeepers themselves. Their fur, build, and shape are like none I've seen from any mammal.

  "Pick your poison." Heather tells me.

  Should I really be drinking right now? Last time I did that, I wound up here. Seems like Heather wants to warm me up to some news I've already heard. But if she tells me we cant leave versus she doesn't know how to leave, then I need to challenge her.

  "Vodka on the rocks with a splash of water." I told the housekeeper.

  As the housekeeper fixes my drink, Heather gestures to Jonas and Ari, welcoming them to request drinks from the housekeeper as well. They both shake their head, declining beverages before the housekeeper walks away with their cart.

  When the housekeeper gets far enough away from our table, I whisper to Heather, "Ok, who exactly are they, and what is the deal with the masks?"

  Heather lightly chuckles under her breath and tells me, "They're the housekeepers. They maintain Stratosylum and will do any job residents don't want to do. I don't really have a good way to explain the masks, but I'm assuming you already figured it out."

  That's her way of telling me my theory about them was right, why I feel the way I do by looking at them.

  I took a long sip of my drink and said aloud, "They're not mammals, aren't they?"

  Heather slowly shakes her head side-to-side, confirming what I said was right. Jonas and Ari, look at me almost surprised.

  "That's the quickest anyone has caught onto that." Jonas tells me.

  "They're called protogens. Cyborg mammals if you will. I've heard of their development before I was brought here. As far as I know, they never got much public exposure. So whoever built this place must be tied to them somehow." Heather explains.

  That explains why the mask doesn't have any breathing holes, why they contour to their heads so well, and why there's no possible way someone could see out of those masks.

  "But enough about the housekeepers." Heather says, taking a deep breath as she brings the conversation back on track. "You asked about leaving."

  I take another sip of my drink, almost finishing it, then I nod.

  Bluntly, she tells me, "You can't. No one has, no one's tried, and if you saw the perimeter, you would know there's no way out."

  Jonas interjects before I got a word out, "He actually did see the abyss already. He ran off on me when I tried giving him a tour."

  Heather expresses sympathetic pain on her face as she says aloud, "Oof. That must have been quite the shock for you, Adrian."

  I gently slam my paw on the table, argumentatively telling her, "That's no reason we can't leave though. Someone brought us here. I didn't just magically teleport here. If we were brought in from somewhere, we can leave through that same way."

  Heather inhales, "For starters, if someone brought us here, they did it through a door that only our captors can open. Second, look around. Do you see people in distress? Do the people here want to leave? Every single person here, myself included," -she gradually raises her voice-"has lost their life on the outside because of how our shitty government treated people like us. We didn't have a good start in life. A lot of us grew up poor, weak, disabled, or an immigrant seeking asylum. When the elite pushed us around and took everything we had, our government did nothing to help. Stratosylum saved us when we were stuck at rock bottom."

  I didn't mean to upset her. I guess it never really occurred to me what everyone here has gone through. More reason to believe that Dante must have gone through something very fucked up before coming here. Jonas and Ari must have also been through something as bad, or even worse. But what about me? Getting kicked out was not something the government or the elite caused, unless... No... Please don't... Stop... STOP.

  My body chills and aches just thinking about it, I shake and claw at my head, growling as I try to make that fucking memory go away.

  "Adrian!" Ari rushes to me. "Adrian, are you okay, dude? What's happening?"

  I can feel attention being drawn to me. I stop and try to steady my breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

  After a minute or so, I recovered from my mild panic attack after attracting the attention of everyone in the pit. Jonas, Ari, and Heather are checking on me to make sure I'm okay. As I regain my composure, I realize it's been well over ten minutes since Dante jumped off Stratosylum. I might be able to find him now.

  "I'm fine, I'm fine." I say to the people around me before turning my attention to Heather. "Heather, do you know if there's a way to find someone on Stratosylum?"

  I can tell my change of pace threw her off quite a bit. She looks at me with a look of confusion considering a minute ago, we were discussing how shitty peoples lives were before coming here.

  "The resident directory on your phone will tell you where their domiciles are but unless they're there, it doesn't actually tell you where they are in Stratosylum." Heather tells me.

  I check my phone to find Dante in the resident directory. I don't know his last name, but his first name returned three Dante's in Stratosylum. Luckily, the app shows a picture of them next to their name. His picture shows next to the result for Dante Snow. He lives in Building 4, unit B. I found it on the map towards the north end of the tower.

  I leap out of the stool I was sitting at to go find Dante. But before I got too far, I turned back around to the Blackjack table where Jonas, Ari, and Heather were still sitting.

  I point at Heather, telling her, "I will find a way out, and I will show you and everyone else here that we can live again down there."

  As I walk back towards the exit, I can hear Heather say from the back of my head, "And I'll be there when you do, Adrian."