"This isn't an experiment," corrected the blank-eyed woman from the medical team, without looking up from the small device she held in her hand, which cast a ghostly blue glow that reflected eerily on her face. "This is the part we know. Abreactions are within expected levels," she added, watching Miyume carefully for a few moments. "Safe to continue."

"You'll get used to it," added the woman in the military uniform, half-smiling wryly. "We all did. Think of it like flying for the first time."

And the worst of it did seem to be fading, as their bodies and minds began to adjust to whatever had changed around them. Yachiyo watched stonily, but eventually nodded with what seemed like it might be approval. "You wanted explanations, and now we can give them to you. Takaoka?"

One of the scientists at the center, an older gentleman, came to the forefront as Yachiyo took a step back.

"I will put this as simply as possible: you are now standing in another world, one in which the laws of time and space differ from our own."

He paused a moment, barely long enough for the group to take in this fact, before plunging onward. "Within the bounds of this artificially created space you are safe, but deeper in, there are monsters--mindless, violent creatures that seek to enter our world by any means possible. Fighting them by conventional means has proven too hazardous to carry on, but a few possess within themselves the means to fight these beings on their terms.

"You eight are among them. That is why you were brought to Chitoku, and why you are standing here now."