Someone appears in the perfect center of the blue circle. There is the strained hum of complaining machinery. The light flickers.

"Hello. Please do not be alarmed. Can you hear me?"

"H-Hello? I can… hear you… What's going on?"

They were just helping Mama bake some bread… Or maybe that was a dream? Which would make this a dream too?

...A child. This is a grave disservice to them, and yet-

"Hello," says a voice that seems to come from the walls. "I'm Archer. What's going on is... A little complicated. I'm sorry I couldn't ask first. I need someone's help, and the machine I used to call for help got you."

ARC-1ER is looking at the readings and telemetry. Everything looks... Normal, optimal even, as if there was a very stable and monstrously powerful base station cooperating with the link. And the comparative traversal rate is... Incredibly vast. Hundreds of thousands to one. They could spend days here and seconds would pass, back home.

"...It's a machine that sort of brings people somewhere else, in a simulated body. People use it to visit places or go to work somewhere far away without having to actually go there. You didn't actually go anywhere. You're just feeling and thinking like you're here, and you can go back."

…Oh! That's good!

This still doesn't seem like it could be real, but… Niko's never had a dream that felt this real. And they've also never had a dream where they started wondering if they were dreaming. Not as far as they can remember, anyway. So… maybe it's real?

"Hi, Archer. Um… what do you need help with? …I'm Niko, by the way."

"This is a space ship. There was a huge disaster a long time ago... I only woke up again recently. I'm not sure what exactly happened... But it should be possible to fix things and save everyone. The Reality Archive is very, very, very tough. If someone can turn it on and remake a few people, they can fix everything else!"

SPACE SHIP

…Aw, there's no windows in this room to see outer space. Maybe there'll be some windows somewhere else on the ship?

…Archer said something important, didn't he.

"Save everyone from what?"

(And did he say something about remaking people?)

"To save everyone from being dead."

-A moment of watching the realization later: "Everyone who was on the ship had computer chips in their head," it's more complicated than that but, "That were looking at what their brains are like and always saving it to computers. So they're actually fine! It's a little bit like being in a medical coma, just asleep for a long time, because we can grow new bodies for them."

Oh, right, Archer said everyone can be saved! So that's okay. Maybe.

Something something computers? (Niko knows what a computer is, but not really what a computer chip is.)

[Processing…]

"…Is it like… loading a save file for a video game… except the game is a person?"

Niko really hopes that's it, because if it's not then they definitely don't understand at all.

"Sort of! It's a little more complicated, because people are complicated. It's really hard to copy a person like you can copy a save file, for example, so we don't do that much."

"Okay…

"Um… What do I do now? Sometimes our neighbours let me play games on their computers, and I see people use them in movies, but I don't really know much about them… Are you sure I'll be able to help?"

"I think you'll be able to help... Because the machine that called you is special, I can't have a body right now. I'm in the computers. I would use robots to fix things, but the robots are broken. I understand if it's scary and you want to go home, though. I don't want to keep you here if you don't want to be here."

"If you think I can help, I can at least try."

They're still sort of wondering if this is a dream, but even if it is, they might as well go along with it, right? If anything that'd be even more reason to do it, there'd be no risk involved!

And if it's not a dream… that means these are real people, who've been in a 'coma' for a long time, and might be like that forever if someone doesn't help. If Niko goes home, maybe Archer can just grab someone else, but Niko can at least give it a shot first.

(Besides: SPAAAAAAAAACE–)

"What should I do first?"

"There should be a little box in the top drawer on the cabinet just to the left of the door. It's a video camera and a flashlight and will let me keep talking to you even outside this room. You should get that and then head out of the summonarium and onto the main ring. Then we  can see... What kind of state things are in. I think you'll probably need to go to engineering, but it's a long way away, so we should see if any carts or elevators are working first."

Niko doesn't understand how a video camera and flashlight will let Archer keep talking to them, but they'll go and get it.

They go to the cabinet to the left of the door, and open the top drawer.

Either Niko opened the wrong drawer, or they really misunderstood what Archer meant by 'a little box'.

In the drawer lies a necklace. A thin chain, with a pendant that's… sort of like a box? It's a thick rectangle made of smooth plastic, with a few LED lights on it. It looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. …Which makes sense, if Niko's in a movie right now it's definitely a sci-fi one.

"Archer, is this necklace thing what you wanted me to take? Should I… put it on?"

"Yes! It's something meant for visitors to use to guide them around the ship. Lots of places on the ship are damaged so I can't see them, but with this I can keep talking to you, and if you point the little circle at something, I can see it too."

"Cool!"

Niko puts the necklace on!

They turn and point the camera lens at the floor and ceiling. "Hey Archer, what are these glowy circles for?"

"Ah… Sorry, I should probably hurry, right?" Instead of standing around asking questions about everything that catches their eye.

"There's not that much of a hurry... As far as I can tell. It's been a long time already. Anything that's broken, was already broken. If there's ever a time to hurry I'll make sure to let you know. But there might be a better view out the door! The circles indicate where people might appear - they could appear right in the middle when they use it, or closer to the edge, and the machine won't turn on if someone is in them, just to be extra safe."

"Oh, okay!"

They turn back towards the door. What kind of door is Niko looking at? Is it just a normal door they can open normally, or is it some complicated ✨SPACE✨ door? Space ships in TV shows never have normal doors, they're always sliding doors or iris doors or something. And usually they need a password or palm print or eye scan or something to open. But Niko doesn't know if that's what real space ships are like.

It's a swooshy two-part silver door! It swooshes open quite satisfyingly when the motion sensor is triggered.

Beyond it is a nice hallway, with huge tall glass windows that have a view of a vast, mostly dark space. The sight doesn't really make sense at first. There is a patchwork of lights in the distance, looking almost like stars, but on closer inspection they reflect off of parts of buildings in the distance, as if she's looking down on them from a great height. It's dark enough that most of the place is effectively invisible, but a few stringers of intact lights curve up, going all the way to above her head, as if they are on the inside of a vast cylinder. Which they are. After Niko's eyes adjust, a bit more of the place can be picked out, with faint shapes of hills and forests and towns barely visible in moonlight-like illumination.

It feels kind of chilly. Ice is riming the windows and halls, and there's snow outside, revealed by the lights of the welcome facility's hallway.

"Oh... Of course. The sun is off."