The green room that Patrick left him in was about as sci-fi as it came and very much in line with his growing concerns about multinational conglomerate conspiracies. Still, he felt at home with the biomedical testing equipment, even if he was completely unfamiliar with the large white, spherically shaped machine that stood in the centre of the room. That was certainly not a fucking MRI.

  To the right of the doorway, there was a glass enclosed room with a multitude of translucent screens and several chairs facing into what Theo now thought of as the egg room. It was all very sterile, including the very vintage privacy screen on the far side of the egg.

  With no one currently around, and at a loss as to what to do, Theo made his way into the monitor room, carefully exploring all the displayed charts. He was able to identify the usual physical and neurological markers, though there were additional screens with symbols and acronyms that he did not know. As he was looking at an image that seemed remarkably like DaVinci’s perfect man, a voice from behind shocked him out of his reverie and he yelped as he turned.

  “Ahem… Mr. Rhodes. I believe you should probably make your way into the main testing room.” A middle-aged woman addressed him in a mechanically professional manner. She was stereotypically dressed in a white lab coat, with the ever-present and essential clip board. Her mostly grey hair was tied back into a bun so tight that it seemed to have pulled her eyebrows up into a comical arch. Her lips were pursed and only slightly on this side of puckered, with a bright red lipstick that was in stark contrast to the almost bland lack of colour anywhere else on her person.

  “Ah yes of course, sorry ‘bout that, ummm ... Ms?”

  “Ms. Avery.”

  Theo scurried as directed, followed more sedately by Ms. Avery. As the first person other than Patrick that he had met in this place, he was acutely aware of her presence. He stood somewhat awkwardly near the strange egg in the centre of the room.

  “Umm, so what can you tell me about this test?” he asked.

  “This machine you see here is an aetheric assimilator, which operates in a similar manner to an MRI but rather than using radio waves, will generate aetheric resonance to measure energetic potential. It also gives an accurate representation of current aetheric density across all three gates and the relevant twenty-seven substrata. It can also approximate current resistance to all seven known kinetic energy types.”

  Theo may have just stood there for a moment with his mouth open. “Come again?”

  “Did I stutter, Mr. Rhodes?”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Avery, but there were a few terms you used that I am not familiar with. Could you please explain to me what ‘aetheric’ means? How can you measure resistance to kinetic energy? And what the hell are the three gates, and their substrata?”

  And so, despite the recent imbuement of a stress controlling pharmaceutical, he may have slightly tipped over the edge, his voice raising in both pitch and volume as his questions rolled out.

  “Mr. Rhodes, understanding of the measures is not currently necessary for you to undertake this test. Mr. MacDonnell will be able to enlighten you should it be appropriate for him to do so. Now if you please, I will need you to remove all your clothing, and then step into the AAM. A privacy screen has been provided for your comfort.”

  “Who is Mr. MacDonnell?” he asked, still not fully adjusted to the circumstance, nor the austere presence of Ms. Avery.

  “That would be the man who has delivered you here, Mr. Rhodes.”

  “Ahh, Patrick. And you said all my clothes?”

  “Yes, Mr. Rhodes. While clothing does not generally disrupt the accuracy of the AAM, there have been rare occasions where the clothing has been made by an aetherically talented individual, allowing it to distort the readings. Given such admittedly rare occurrences, it is now standard policy for the test to be conducted without any clothing. If it should reassure you, Mr. Rhodes, I am in no way interested in what is underneath your clothing.”

  And with that slap down, she made her way into the monitoring room without a backward glance.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  * * *

  “The test will commence in ten seconds, Mr. Rhodes. Please ensure you are comfortable. The full duration of the scan should only take around fifteen minutes. Please try to minimise any unnecessary movement during that time.”

  The projected voice of Ms. Avery was in no way reassuring as Theo sat, quite comfortably he admitted to himself, inside the now closed egg. A screen was projected onto the inner wall in front of him, and he was able to select from a range of different distraction programs. He settled for some light classical music.

  The lights flickered briefly to indicate that the machine had started its test, though he did not immediately notice any change in the pressure inside nor any overbearing sound as would be the case with an MRI. As the minutes passed, he felt a slight enervation, which was then rapidly replaced by a notable invigoration. This seemed to repeat itself in slowly increasing cycles.

  As he paid closer attention to these cycles, he felt the source of the energetic disturbance shift from his groin up through his gut and then into his solar plexus. It then shifted higher into his chest, throat and then forehead, before moving back to settle in his brain. The final few minutes resonated throughout his whole body, but without any noticeable shift in the energy. It felt like no time at all before the lights gradually shifted and the egg slowly opened like a giant twisting tulip, one of the petals falling to the floor like a ramp.

  Completely bemused by the experience, it took Theo some time to realise that his uninterested audience of one had grown to an audience of two. As he looked towards the monitoring room, he became aware that the implacable Ms. Avery stood in close conversation with Patrick, and it was that awareness that saw him moving remarkably quickly from the quite comfortable egg seat and towards the privacy curtain a few feet away.

  By the time Theo emerged from behind the curtain, he was once again alone with Patrick, and more comfortably clothed in the tracksuit. Patrick greeted him with a tablet in hand before guiding him back towards the comforts of the red room.

  “How do you feel, Mr. Rhodes?” Patrick asked with his signature half smile as he sat back into the leather sofa.

  “Don’t start, Mr. MacDonnell! Where in Dante’s seven hells did you find an automaton like her anyway?”

  “I’ll have you know that Ms. Avery is the very soul of this company, Theo, and is a right terror when any of her charges are threatened. Though I must admit, these tests are not normally conducted at five in the morning, and Ms. Avery does tend to warm a few degrees when greeted in the light of day.” Theo was pretty sure there was some sarcasm in that, but he was finding it very hard to say for certain given how dry Patrick seemed to be.

  “I’ll have to take your word for it. So, what's the verdict doc, how long have I got?” Theo smiled nervously, acutely aware of the fact that this test would determine the next steps of his immediate future. Despite the nerves, the time he’d had to contemplate during the test meant that he was no longer overly concerned about the events of the evening being purged from his memory, though he was unquestionably curious as to how such a thing could be safely performed.

  “Ominous and melodramatic, Theo. Now, to start, Ms. Avery indicated you had some questions about the test itself, so let’s begin there before we move onto the results. I will, however, only give you the abridged version, as a more detailed explanation can wait until after we have both managed to get some rest.”

  “So, I take it that means I passed?”

  “Of course, though it was more a matter of your stability and trainability, rather than raw potential. Your potential was obvious from the events of the evening, even if I was being deliberately obtuse about it. Now you had questions?”

  “Yes, yes … so many.” He paused briefly. “What does aetheric even mean? And what are these gates and substrata? I mean I’ve certainly read about aether in some fantasy and sci-fi fiction before.” A brief flare of panic entered his eyes. “Oh my god, this is not a book, is it? Or some simulation? I studied Bostrom and the simulation hypothesis at university. Fuck, this is not some metaphysical nightmare where I’m only dreaming, and I think it's real is it?” He looked across at Patrick. “How would you even know if you are part of it?” He gave himself a quick pinch. Theo may have started hyperventilating somewhat.

  “Calm down, Theo. There is some more tea on the table, it will help.” He paused as Theo grabbed a cup of the tea and took a large sip. Thankfully, it had cooled just enough that it didn’t scald his tongue, though the residual heat did help to ground him after his panic.

  “Ignoring the admittedly understandable panic, to answer your question as simply as possible, aetheric, or rather aether, is the primordial essence of the universe. It is the unrealised potential of all energy. It accumulates in all living things as that potential. What most don’t realise is that it can be cultivated, refined, and grown.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “Indeed, though some of our more religious friends may take umbrage at that description.”

  Theo gave him a withering look before continuing. “So, umm, give me a minute here.” Theo took a deep breath to steady himself. “Right, the test?”

  “That was to measure your current aetheric capacity amongst other things. The results show you have somehow begun to tap into your potential and aether at large, which is highly unusual in the broader population. Most humans usually aggregate a standard level of aetheric build up throughout their lifetime, give or take a few epiphanies or major traumas. In contrast, you seem to have well exceeded the normal human average.”

  “So, what does that mean?” Theo asked.

  “To use a literary metaphor, it means welcome to the rabbit hole, Theo.”

  “No, I mean … oh fuck, I don’t know what I mean. My brain is exploding right now.” Theo leant back against the leather chair, staring at the bland whiteness of the ceiling. It was some minutes later before Theo asked, “What’s next?”

  “Now, you have a choice to make, Theo.”