“When I worked here, I became the chief security of monitoring. Maybe I can help you.” The man continues his speech.

  Sarah moves away from him without saying anything. After a few seconds, she returns with the ladder that was in her cell. On the way, a little before reaching where the man is, she notices that there is no longer much smoke coming out of the capsule on the ladder.

  Running, she drops the ladder and goes to where she left the other capsule while placing the mask on her face. Reaching the top of the ladder, she throws the capsule into the hall above, which after bouncing a few times and stopping near the central counter, begins to glow in an avocado-green tone. In moments it splits in half and from two internal holes that are now exposed, more gas begins to be released into the air.

  Sarah returns to the lower hall while removing the mask. And she places the ladder in the direction of that man's cell.

  One minute later.

  The figure of a man with the appearance of about forty years emerges from inside the cell. Medium grayish hair, thin and elongated face, pointed nose, large and yellowish beard. His skin has a yellow tone as if he were anemic. Upon descending the ladder, he looks at her for a second, then painfully sits on the floor, and casts another look at Sarah who is standing in front of him.

  After an instant staring back at him, she also sits cross-legged.

  “Are there explosives somewhere?” Sarah asks him with a fixed gaze.

  “No, everything you will find in this building are capsules with sleeping gas, rifles, chains and equipment used in kidnappings.” He answers while casting a look toward the top of the spiral staircase.

  Sarah casts a look at the floor in search of ideas. The sensation that she is being watched by a thousand eyes takes over for an instant. When she raises her face and throws a look that circles from left to right, hands, eyes and some ears become noticeable between the bars.

  “Where are the capsules?” she asks him.

  “Floor two, where the supplies and provisions are.” He answers while looking at the floor with a vacant gaze.

  “And what is above floor two?”

  “Two more floors. On one, the administrators stay, the ones who count the money and organize the paperwork. On floor zero stay the bosses.” He casts a look to the side and stares at Júlio’s body. “There are two more bosses like him.” He ceases his explanation for a few seconds.

  Sarah stares at him with a serious expression for an instant. Then she also looks in the direction of Júlio’s body.

  “What is he?”

  “He is an android, the same as those who govern the mountain of Ayda and Atlantis. I do not know exactly the reasons, but apparently there is a war between androids happening. They created this type of place where we are today to collect funds for their reign.”

  Sarah looks at him with a distant gaze, remembering stories that her mother told about things outside the Kingdom of Eva.

  “There is a boss for each letter, A, B, C. All of them communicate and make the decisions together, that way there are no authoritarian decisions inside this place.” He stops for a second and notices Sarah’s closed and serious expression.

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  “I do not know what your motivations are, but my intuition says that you are very determined to go until the end. Even if you die.” Those words coming from that man make Sarah relax a little.

  “Die? No!” She supports her hands on the floor behind her body, lets her head fall back and closes her eyes. For an instant she forgets everything that just happened. She inhales the air deeply and then exhales it, then stands up.

  “All of you who are in a cell! Put one arm or leg outside!” Sarah shouts to everyone in that hall, however only some pairs of legs and arms appear.

  She takes the ladder and places it in one of the cells and opens it, then another and another. Upon seeing this situation, more arms and legs begin to appear from several cells. The man stands up, goes to the other guard’s body and finds another key in his pocket. In minutes the two open the cells and free all the prisoners.

  Sarah then sits again in the exact place where she was before.

  The man, upon seeing the scene, sits again in front of her and begins his explanation of how he can help her.

  A few minutes later, on the fourth floor.

  The guards notice that the gas that was coming out of the capsule has ended. The glass door begins to open, one of the security guards gets close and confirms that there is no more gas there. He communicates the situation on the radio to the others. The portal guards with pistols in their hands, along with the six building guards with rifles and sleep capsules gather there.

  When everyone prepares to start descending—

  “Wait! There are gas masks in the other halls, let’s throw grenades down there and invade with the masks.” One of the building guards with a firm and slightly high voice pronounces his idea.

  The chief security notices that the ladders are already lowered.

  “Run to five B and five C, get all the masks you can find!” At that moment, three guards go down to the halls. “You three! Go up and get more gas capsules!” Quickly the other guards run upstairs.

  Five minutes later, and the three who went down appear with eight masks. The other three descend from the third floor through staircase B. They arrive with three capsules in their hands each. The chief security takes them and throws them one by one down the staircase into hall five A. Then the portal guards take their radios and leave them with those who will stay.

  With their pistols and rifles in hand, they take the masks and put them on. Then they begin to descend one behind the other. When the second to last is ready to follow them, the sound of a rifle shot coming from the hall below appears, which makes him stop. Then another shot echoes. A lot of smoke begins to come out of the opening.

  The last two hurry and enter, disappearing as they step into the smoke that increases with every second. The guards who stayed behind run and leave the hall and join the receptionists who are already outside the pillar.

  After one minute of many shots and screams, a security guard appears running out of the smoke and approaches the glass door with his pistol in hand. The door, which is closed, then opens.

  “My ammunition is over, the prisoners were freed and managed to disarm some of the guards. They are exchanging shots, but it is not possible to see almost anything, and I ended up emptying my magazine toward the bars.” The guard tries to explain the situation while his voice is muffled by the mask that covers his entire face.

  One of the guards points to one of the red staircases.

  “It is all open! You can go up!” he orders him desperately.

  While the security guard goes back inside disappearing into the smoke, the sounds of the shots continue echoing through the environment.

  After a few minutes, all the noise ceases and then four security guards come out of hall five A. The chief security already arrives grabbing his radio while removing his mask. Four more guards also arrive removing theirs and grabbing their radios.

  “We managed to control the situation, we killed everyone down there, unfortunately several of ours died.” After a few seconds of silence. “Hey, can you hear me?” he asks through the communicator, but no answer. He turns the communicator, removes the back cover, checks the gray energy core that is glowing, he makes a face of strangeness, closes the cover and tries to communicate again. “Hey! Can you hear me?” No answer again.

  The chief security looks at one of the guards who stayed behind.

  “Did someone go up there?” he asks the guards with an expression that is transforming from doubt into anger.

  “Only one of you who went down. He went back up there to reload his...” At that instant the guard stops and thinks for a second, his face expresses the doubt inside him. He then stares at the chief security with his eyelids widened.