Two women in white robes entered the waiting room. They kept their mouths shut and worked at each convict's straightjacket.
Nobody cared about the naked bodies on display.
Ty was the last in line. Mina, one of the first to have hers taken off, walked in front of him. The overhead light cast a shadow under her lips. Her hazel eyes were steady.
"What do you want?" Ty said.
The guard behind him tensed up, but this far down into the process only meant more paperwork for the dead.
Mina brought a finger to his neck, and Ty let her. Not like he had a choice, still bound in the straightjacket.
"I could have killed you just now," Mina said. Color crept into her cheeks. "You'd let me?"
Ty shrugged. "Don't got a choice, lady."
One of the women in white paused at the sight of the two convicts. She looked at her partner and exchanged a glance. Hard to tell in the dim light what it was, especially with a woman breathing down his neck.
"I need my straightjacket out. Get out of the way."
Mina's eyes widened. "S-sorry."
She turned around and walked next to Celeste who was biting at her nails. Celeste hunched so badly she looked folded in half. They started whispering to each other.
The women kept their heads lowered even after Mina moved on. These were regular people after all: nurses working a desperate job. They made their way to Ty and started cutting the straps on his back.
"Be careful with those scissors," Ty said, eyeing the nurse snipping at the clips. "Someone might feel brave enough to take it."
The woman audibly gulped, snipping quicker than she needed.
"The terrorist's right," James said, stretching his back. "I've already imagined three scenarios where you and you are dead." He pointed a curled finger between the two nurses. "But I always die to the guard. Tsk."
Celeste spit out a nail on the floor and looked up. "Aren't you in for fraud?"
"No, I think it's for dazzlement," Mina said.
"That shit isn't even a thing. Y'mean 'embezzlement', right?" Celeste went back at her nails, talking between bites. "Besides, I'm pretty sure he impersonated the President once or twice."
"Thrice." James brought up three crooked fingers.
The woman snipped the last clip and pried Ty's straightjacket free.
He let out a long overdue exhale, flexing his arms and legs. His back still ached from the mana fallout, even after all these months.
The other convicts stuck to the shadows. One was named Yuto Rikishi, a former sumo wrestler charged for illegal gambling. The shortest one, Kimiko Fuji, sat next to Yuto and had her head against his stomach.
Her crime was arson. Not bad in any sense, but add in three orphanages and the result came pretty clear.
The seventh convict stood ahead, waiting for the door to come down. Ryu Watanabe, the oldest and most distant one. He was the former Yakuza boss before the organization was ripped out by the roots.
The nurses presented jumpsuits next. Grey, standard issue, the material was made to integrate cleanly with rift transportation. In the middle of each suit was a socket that fit the exact size of a fairy's dimensions.
Boots came from a rack against the wall. Most were mismatched, so James switched one shoe with Ty, Celeste and Mina doing the same.
Yuto barely fit into the biggest boots, while Kimiko complained about all the boots being too large. He ended up carrying her on his back, barefoot and all. Her brown hair trailed behind them on the ground.
The guard had already left the room at some point; no point guarding corpses.
Celeste's hands were shaking as she laced her boots. James finished first and leaned against the wall with his arms folded, muttering something to himself as he watched Ty take his time ensuring every loop closed tight.
Mina tied hers without looking down, fingers working from muscle memory. She stole glances at Ty whenever she could, not even being sly about it. Her cheeks turned pink when Ty looked up.
In truth, he was staring at the old man standing at the door.
Ty walked past them all and stood beside Ryu, who had his eyes closed and whispered something under his breath.
"There's a pair that fits you, old man." Ty shot a thumb behind his shoulder.
Ryu looked down and met Ty's face.
"Hell is no place for shoes," he said.
The door buzzed open and the old man stepped through.
After a minute of silence, the rest of the convicts followed.
✦✦✦
The corridor to the loading bay sloped downward. Guards walked routes along the catwalks. They didn't even look down. Most of them had their barrels pointed in the rift's direction.
The air got cooler the further they went. The taste of sea salt sat on the back of Ty's tongue and wouldn't leave.
Speakers along the ceiling clicked on.
"Today marks the deployment of Vanguard Group Nine, continuing humanity's bold expansion into the Oasis. These brave volunteers have chosen to serve at the very edge of human knowledge, carrying with them the hopes and support of a grateful nation."
Celeste vomited saliva and yellow bile on the floor. She caught Ty's eyes and attempted half a smile.
Mina rubbed her back and pulled her along.
"Since the first rift appeared three years ago, the men and women of the Vanguard Program have mapped over two thousand square kilometers of Oasis territory, contributing invaluable data to our understanding of this extraordinary new world."
This group was number twenty-eight.
"The Vanguard Program represents the very best of what we can achieve when courage meets opportunity."
The corridor opened into the loading bay.
The rift was smaller than the one on the briefing room screen. Ground level, maybe four meters tall and three wide, framed by industrial scaffolding bolted to the concrete floor. Cables as thick as Yuto's forearm ran from the scaffolding to junction boxes along the walls.
The metal around the rift's edges was warped and discolored. Scorch marks were plastered all over the concrete. Something had crossed recently, and put down in the same moment.
Japan's government had somehow managed to stabilize a rift of all things. Not a surprise given humanity worked wonders when they came together.
Of course, that was only after a third of humanity died.
Through the rift, Ty saw color. Beyond that, not much more. The color bled onto the concrete floor like oil in water.
The broadcast was still playing above them, muffled now by the size of the bay and the low vibration off the rift.
Scientists sitting behind tables of old generation computers looked up, not the least bit surprised.
A lady handed a fairy cradle to each convict as they walked by.
The sphere sat in Ty's palm, no heavier than a golf ball. Faint red-white light pulsed from its core.
Wings, translucent and thin as dragonfly membrane, lay folded flat against its body.
He could crush it if he wanted to.
James was at the front of the line now. He stood there for a moment. "Hold your breath, heard it's like dipping in ice-cold water." Then he walked in, the barrier taking him without sound.
Yuto and Kimiko went next. She still clung to his back like letting go would pry the breath from her lungs.
Ryu stepped in after, letting it swallow him more than entering it.
Celeste stopped at the caution line. She was shaking again, biting skin now that all her nails were nearly gone. Mina walked forward and took her hand and they stepped in together.
Ty was last again.
He stood at the edge.
The broadcast had cycled back to the beginning.
"Today marks the deployment of Vanguard Group Nine..."
Its words died in his ears.
Step two, finished.
Wait for me.
Ty held his breath and stepped through the barrier.