Sparklez's POV:

I fumbled with the machine for about fifteen minutes, trying to get it to work. So far, I had accomplished nothing, flipping down different levers and pressing buttons to see if I could find a correct combination. Annoyed, I turned around to see if I could ask Ambrosia, but she was still assigning everyone else to a machine.

That lady was weird, but not necessarily in a bad way. She was the only person we'd met so far, not including the guards, that wasn't overly kind and welcoming to us. The way her differently colored eyes bore into each of us made me nervous, but also intrigued. There was more to her than what first meets the eye, that's for sure.

Frustrated, I turned back to the machine and tried to see if there were labels, instructions, anything. Some of the buttons had numbers and letters on them, but they didn't seem to be in any order, and they didn't seem to do anything. There was a screen above all the levers and buttons, but it had been blank the entire time. In a final effort, I pulled the largest lever down and pushed the largest button down at the same time, then squinted at the screen to see if there was any change. To my surprise, there was small text at the bottom that read "Press A1 to begin". I held down the buttons with A and 1 on them, and the machine began to vibrate.

"Nice job!" I turned to see Ambrosia approaching me, a small smile on her face. "I figured you could get it eventually. I knew you were different."

"Different?" I repeated. "Than the others, you mean?" I glanced at everyone else, who seemed to be having difficulty with their machines as well.

"Not them," she answered, suddenly sounding nervous. "I meant different than the... never mind."

"Tell me," I said, interested. "You can't just begin like that and then not tell me."

Ambrosia raised an eyebrow. "Sure I can."

I sighed and turned back to the machine, which was now displaying a new set of instructions. "Fine. Suit yourself, I guess. I'll keep trying to get this thing to work."

I expected her to walk away, but she didn't. Deciding to ignore her, I found that the screen now showed words that said "Mode 1: Home. To switch to Camera, switch to Mode 2". I looked down to search for a button or lever titled Modes or Mode 2, but to no avail. However, there was a lever that had several notches instead of flipping up and down only. Figuring I'd give it a try, I pulled the lever down one notch. Immediately, the screen read "Mode 2: Cameras. To access, press C and the number of the camera you want to access".

"How did you know to do that?" Ambrosia demanded. I turned around, surprised, and saw that she looked furious. "It didn't say Mode anywhere. How did you immediately know which lever to pull?"

I felt my face reddening. "There was only one lever with several notches, so I figured I'd pull that one. I didn't know for sure, I just..."

Her angry look faded, and now she looked, if anything, scared. "Wow, that's... impressive." She leaned closer to me, and dropped her voice to a whisper. "You came here yesterday, right?"

"Umm, yeah, we did. What does that have to do with anything?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. Had I done something wrong?"

"So you haven't been brainwashed yet," Ambrosia said with a sigh. "That would explain it."

"Brainwashed?" My eyes flew wide, and she flinched away from me. "You know about the brainwashing?"

Terrified, she looked around her to make sure that nobody had overheard. "Keep your voice down!" she hissed. "This... I shouldn't be telling you, but you have to know. I'm guessing you've already figured out that there's something wrong with some of the people around here?"

I nodded, making sure to whisper when I spoke. "Eris, especially, seemed kind of weird. Overly bubbly and excited about Galena, which, no offense, doesn't seem like the happiest of places."

Ambrosia bit her lip anxiously. "That's what brainwashing does to people. Citizens who aren't leaders are taken into the laboratories at a very young age, and some of their intelligence, I guess, is removed. They no longer have the ability to think rebellious thoughts, or to not be content with how they're currently living. Overly optimistic. It's awful."

"I assumed you were brainwashed," I admitted. "Cypress seems brainwashed, at least. Why aren't you?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "That's a very personal question."

"Oh..." I stammered. "Er... sorry, you don't have to..."

"No, you deserve to know." Ambrosia stared at her boots as she spoke. "We were taken to be brainwashed at the same time. He was 15, I was 5. I vaguely remember it, entering a machine and having something strapped around my head. I remember talking to Cypress afterward, and being slightly scared. He seemed very different, much happier and more optimistic. I, on the other hand, remained the same."

"Why didn't it work on you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that I've always grown up with people who were successfully brainwashed, and, for my entire life, I pretended to be like them. As I got older, I began to realize what was happening."

"Is there anyone else who didn't get brainwashed, like you?" I wasn't sure how to feel about what I was hearing. "Anyone who the operation didn't work on?"

"I have my suspicions, but I don't know for sure. In Galena, that is. There was one person, back in the day, who kind of changed everything." Ambrosia's short hair was falling into her face, so she tucked it behind her ears and looked up at me. "Have you heard of Safire?"

Dioptase's POV:

"What's going on here?" I asked, scanning the room angrily. Three gods who looked like stronger versions of Molybdenite, Iolite, and I stood in the center of the room. One of the leaders was standing in front of them, rage painted on his face. All around me, workers at machines gaped at me.

"Dioptase!" the leader snapped. "What are you doing here?" He nervously addressed the gods. "Don't mind him, he's just... crazy these days..."

"Oh, are you going to introduce us?" my alternate asked in a falsely cheery voice. "Dioptase, his name is?"

Going along with it, I stepped further into the room. "Yes, that's what I came here for!" I shot the leader a challenging glance. "Why don't you start by telling me their names, since they already know mine?"

The leader said nothing, so Iolite's alternate spoke up. "Oh, sorry! My name is Ianite, and this is Dianite and Mianite."

Our old names. "Oh, those are lovely names! And they all sound alike. Are you the gods from Ruxomar?"

"Yes," she said, although she sounded uncertain. "Have you met the people we came with?"

"No, I haven't actually," I answered. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the leader fumbling with a machine. I recognized it as one that could control gods, something that I didn't want to be controlled with. I'd need to escape as quickly as possible.

Molybdenite's alternate, Mianite, noticed too. "Oh, why don't you go talk to them for us?"

"Good idea," I said, backing slowly out the door. "Anyone in particular I should find?"

"There's one named Mot who I'm particularly fond of," Dianite piped up. "He's a half-creeper, but don't be intimidated, he's a kind man at heart. Why don't you tell him that I'm doing well, and will, with luck, see him soon?"

There was urgency in my alternate's voice, and the machine was almost ready. "Yes, I'll go do that now." Before the leader could turn back around and zap me, I turned and sprinted out the door.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong here.