Anya was tough. She was a security expert, an ex-marine familiar with working in a war zone, under fire, whether in a combat role or, as was more common for her these days, protecting or rescuing civilians who had had the misfortune to become embroiled in the conflict. And she was very good at it.

Surely what she saw in the company's laboratory was some sort of simulation, a test for her? All she had to do was to dive through the glowing metallic ring in the middle of the room into what appeared to be a desert beyond, and do what she did best: rescue the young woman who seemed to have been captured by humanoid, vaguely lizard-like creatures.

Of course it was not real. It could not be real. It made no sense. Surely it was not possible that Anya too would be captured by the humanoids, that she had no chance of escape, and that she was destined to become some sort of slave for the rest of her life...