In the darkness, a loud gunshot snapped the dreamer alert. Seeking the source, she turned her head left and right, but the darkness was too thick.
Little green fluorescent lights lit up in pairs: two, four, twenty and more. They lined up in arrays along the hallway she could now see, shining dimly against the metallic lustre of ceiling, walls and floor. The next thing she noticed was warm gun in her hand and a black-haired man curling by her feet, clutching his bloody abdomen. Had she just shot him? Startled, she turned around and ran-no, floated away. After all, the hallway was in microgravity.
"Why don't you stop now? It's not too late to-" From behind, a high-pitched female voice, like that of a young girl, made a nervous appeal.
"Be quiet," the dreamer cut off, her icy tone matching the cold ambience. Without looking back, she kept advancing on the seemingly endless hallway. Forward, forward, but where was she going? The moment she began wondering, she arrived at a junction.
"Follow what has been planned." The voice was androgynous and clear, so clear as if the speaker muttered it right into her left ear, even though no one was there.
"Are you planning on dumping me?" From the other end came another voice. This time, she could see the speaker, floating in her direction out of the darkness. A brown-haired man clad in dark green, form-fitting space suit. The corners of his lips were upturned in a wry smile.
"...swayed by emotions because she was made female," the androgynous voice hissed. As if wanting to prove the words wrong, she pointed her gun at the man.
"Why must we fight?" the man asked, but not before raising his gun against her.
"That's because you're a human," she answered, "and I'm an Innovator."