12 (1/2)

He regained consciousness in an unknown location. His room was bright. This was the reason he immediately knew he was not in his room, and most likely not even on Earth. His room would typically be filled with a disproportionate amount of darkness. Although it was bright, it wasn't painful on his visuals. In fact, it was quite pleasant. The warm lighting gently raised him from his slumber. He opened his eyes to observe his surroundings. The ceiling was white popcorn. He sat up with the aid of one arm and looked straight forward. The walls were s.h.i.+plap with planks of alternating color. Dark, then light, then dark again. Although it looked fancy, he knew the room must've been a cheap one. He knew this because of multiple reasons. One. In the midst of the sunlight, a copious amount of dust floated freely. Two. He could hear commotion from outside the walls, which meant they were thin. Three. The s.h.i.+plap was made with a cheap-looking wood. It was most likely flimsy as well, given how much sound was pa.s.sing through. And four. The contents of the conversations outside.

”You dropped out of EI Multiversity? No wonder you ended up sleeping in this place.”

”Yeah, I'm going to try to sell some stuff and try to get the h.e.l.l off this planet. There's nothing left for me to learn here.”

”As expected...”

That was all the information he needed for now.

*EI Multiversity? Planet?*

With the name of a school that didn't exist and the quality of travel that even relatively poor people could experience, he confirmed not only was he not on Earth, but in a more technologically advanced society as well.

*New world, same me. No time to lose.*

He was fairly certain that his current societal and economic situation were not great at the moment. So the first thing to do was obvious. Step one. Get out of the rut. He didn't know what kind of economy waited for him outside, but he was confident enough in his intelligence to climb up out of the darkness.

*Since they have schools here, there's probably at least some sort of merit-based system. Getting money won't be a problem.*

With that, he climbed out of bed to head for the bathroom. Each one of his steps was deliberate. He knew he was in a bad situation, yet he still exuded confidence.

He approached and pulled open the wooden door that had sat ajar and walked inside. He closed the door behind him. The instant the door clicked shut, he sensed something strange. It was a sensation he had never felt before on Earth. He didn't know how to describe it, but he felt like he had severed all connections with the outside world. He observed the bathroom. It looked surprisingly ordinary. There were no windows, so it was a bit dark with the lights off. There was an ordinary light switch on the wall. The n.o.ble gas light on the ceiling flickered to life. He was impressed at the color the light burned. It was lavender blue, but nearly clear.

*A xenon light, huh?*

Despite this unusual light, the tiles and mortar along the walls and floor looked identical to those on Earth. There was a porcelain toilet and a laminated clay bathtub with a bra.s.s shower head. There were two fresh white towels on the rack on the wall. This was also when he noticed a handwritten letter on the wooden counter near the bra.s.s sink. He ignored the strange sensation of isolation for the time being and focused on the letter. It was folded neatly in thirds. The outside cover read,

”For you, our last hope.”