Dead people can be our heroes because they can't disappoint us later; they only improve over time, as we forget more and more about them.

Candor does not provide us with protection, sustenance, or technological innovation. Therefore you are expendable to us.

That quality frightens me now, because I know what he told me: that I was broken, that I was worthless, that I was nothing. How many of those things did he make me believe?

My skepticism is strong, but my curiosity is stronger.

He leans his face close to mine and wraps his fingers around my chin. His hand smells like metal. When was the last time he held a gun, or a knife?

I point at a window to my left, and it explodes. Particles of glass rain over us. ‘You’ll have to do better than that,' I say.

Part of me wonders if this is a suicide mission disguised as a game.