Chapter One: Waking Up
"Ugh…Man. What hit me?..."
A person held onto their forehead as they slowly started to regain consciousness. Everything was a complete blur, as it all had happened incredibly quickly. However, the person quickly saw that they weren't in their room, or even their apartment. They were instead laying on the top bunk of a bunk bed sitting in what appeared to be a ship cabin with no windows.
"W-What?...Where am I?..." The person asked as they sat upright.
Their senses returned to them, the person looked around confusedly. There was a second empty bunk bed on the other side of the small room, and on further inspection, the bottom bunk of the bed was just as empty. In the room was a small desk with a mirror on the wall above it, but it didn't look very out of the ordinary.
However, what caught the person's eye the most was the door to the room. It looked like an ordinary door, except that a big, red number had been sloppily painted on it with some form of dark red substance. A small device that looked like a card reader was adorning the wall just beside the door.
The person eyed the number that had been painted on the door. "Is…Is that blood?" They asked as they jumped from their bed and rushed to inspect it. The person dabbed the number a couple of times with their finger, but whatever substance had been used to paint the number had long since dried. Reaching for the door handle, the person tried to open the door, only to find it locked.
Quickly wondering what time it was, the person checked their watch, only to realize at the last minute that they weren't wearing a watch, but some sort of skin-tight bracelet that couldn't be moved or rotated on the wrist. Closer inspection showed that there was a digital number on it, ironically the same number as the number that had been painted on the door to the room.
"Where'd I get this bracelet?" The person asked themselves. "And…Why can't I take it off?"
Turning around, the person saw the desk with the mirror. Going over, the person looked into the mirror to examine their face. After a few seconds of staring into the mirror, the person suddenly remembered what had happened.
The person returned to their apartment after a day at work, and just as they were getting settled in, they noticed that one of their windows was opened. As soon as they noticed it, they came face to face with a shrouded figure in a gas mask, who sprayed some kind of knockout spray on them, effectively rendering them unconscious in seconds.
"Have…Have I been kidnapped?" The person asked themselves. "But…Why?"
The person suddenly felt something in their pocket. Pulling it out, they discovered a letter. Unfolding it, the person started reading it, hoping to find some answers.
"If you're reading this, then you've obviously awoken. You have been chosen to take part in a little experiment and a number has already been assigned to you. You will be filled in more later, but for now, you are probably wondering how to get out of your room. For this door and only this door, you will be required to use numeric key cards that have been hidden in the room. You need to use three of the cards on the reader by the door and if the digital root is equal to the number on the door, it will unlock and open."
"Digital…Root?" The person asked.
"If you don't know, the digital root is where you add up a series of numbers to get a two-digit number, and then take the two digits of the new number and add them together. The number you are left with is the digital root. For example, 9 and 7 added together would be 16, so add the two digits of 16, 1 and 6, together to get 7, which is the digital root. You would be wise to remember this information, as there are more doors like this on the ship."
That was all that the letter read. Placing the letter back in their pocket for now, the person realized that the only thing they could do was find these key cards in the room. Quickly checking the drawers on the desk, the person found these locked as well.
"Okay…The drawers are locked, so that must mean that the key cards are in there." The person reasoned. "So…How do I open the drawers?"
The person suddenly looked up and saw a key, but also saw that it was sealed in a plastic bubble on the wall, bolted to the wall with screws. The person tried breaking the bubble, but to no avail. The only way they were getting that key was by removing the screws.
"How am I supposed to do this?" The person asked, scratching their head. "I probably need to take out the screws to get rid of the bubble…"
The person's eyes trailed down to the small lamp that had been screwed to the desk. Suddenly getting an idea, the person used their fingernail to try and unscrew one of the screws on the lamp. It took a bit, but they managed to get the screw out. Looking at the base of the screw, the person saw that the base had a shaped base rather than a flat one. Closer inspection showed that the shape of the screw's base matched the slot of the screws that were bolting the bubble to the wall.
The person quickly went to work, using the strange screw as a tiny screwdriver. Quickly managing to get a couple of screws undone, the person quickly picked up the pace, and within a matter of minutes, all of the bubble's screws were out and the key could easily be taken. The person did so without a moment's hesitation.
Quickly using the newfound key on the desk, the person unlocked one of the drawers and opened it, revealing nine keycards, each with a number from 1 to 9 on it. The person scooped up all of them and rushed to the door.
"Okay…I need to use three of these." The person mused. "And the digital root needs to match the number on the door…"
Shuffling through the key cards, the person tried to run some math in their head. Looking at the door's number, the person knew what digital root they needed to get to, but the problem was getting there. The person tried running through several combinations, unsure of what to use.
The person started with the 9 card and decided to work up from there. Taking a second card and putting the two together, the person now knew how much more they needed, so they grabbed a third card and registered all three of the chosen cards with the card reader. A friendly beeping noise was heard and the person heard the door unlock. The person wasted no time in opening the door and leaving the cell of a room they had woken up in.
The hallway outside of the door pretty much confirmed it that the person was on a ship of some kind. The hallway was long and was filled with similar doors, likely to other rooms. Deciding that they didn't want to go into another small room after literally just escaping from one, the person ran down the hallway, hoping to come across something that could be of use or help them.
Soon, the person came upon a door at the end of the hallway. Throwing it open with ease, the person ran to the other side, but skidded to a halt when they saw what was on the other side.
They stood in what appeared to be a grand foyer, and the bright lights made it a sharp contrast to the small rooms and dingy hallways. The person didn't see any doors around, but saw that there was a grand staircase in the foyer that branched out in two directions, as well as another door on the middle landing.
However, before the person could take a step up the staircase, they heard voices.
"Hey! There's another one!"
"Is that everyone, then?"
"I think so. That makes nine."
The person looked around and saw two groups of people coming down either side of the stairs towards the middle landing, four from each side. They all seemed kind of flustered and frantic.
"What's going on here?" The person asked as they ran up the stairs to meet with the others.
"No time to explain." One of the others said as they opened the door at the middle landing. "All we know is that we can't get into the rooms upstairs. We'll have to go through here to continue."
"Just come with us." Another one said as they grabbed the person and pulled them through the door.
When the person was released, they quickly found themselves in an open hallway with a few doors. Each one had a different number on them, but that wasn't what concerned the person. What did was that they had stumbled upon a rather large group of people, all seemingly trapped as well.
They had made a group of nine.