Elias came back to A Block sideways.
He meant to lift his right hand toward his chest. His left arm shot out instead and smacked Colby in the shoulder hard enough to knock him off balance.
Colby hit the floor with a yelp. Spock hopped off his shoulder, landed on the table, and stared at Elias with silent murder in its tiny face.
"What was that for exactly, Elias?"
Elias tried to apologize. His tongue fought the shape of the words. His body twisted under him, one knee jerking away from the direction he wanted. He caught the arm of the chair, missed with the hand he intended to use, and dragged himself halfway sideways before stopping.
The system window sharpened in front of him.
Penalty active. Reversed action response. Completion task available.
He tried to focus on the words. His eyes crossed and slid away, making the letters double and crawl over each other.
"This is already hateful enough today."
Doors opened along A Block.
Kikaru came out first, hair down and face awake in the way only disciplined people managed at night. Paul followed from another pod, then Faye, then two others in sleep clothes. Kari appeared with her bird Ikona bristling on her shoulder. Tid did not come out. Neither did Bui or Wes.
Kikaru crouched beside Elias.
"What happened to you exactly here?"
Elias forced air through his teeth and concentrated on every word.
"Punishment from low stats, movement reversed, and terrible design choice."
Colby rubbed his shoulder and stared at him. "So you did not slap me on purpose."
"If I slap you on purpose, I will aim better."
That got one nervous laugh from somewhere behind Paul. Colby looked like he wanted to laugh too, but his shoulder had a stronger vote.
Kikaru's expression stayed sharp. "Did everyone get the Doctor's report?"
Paul nodded. "Yes, mine updated without any punishment."
Faye lifted her hand. "Same here, because requirements changed slightly, but I passed."
Kari looked toward the closed doors. "Mine passed, but my bird has not stopped reacting since the screens went black."
Her Ikona clicked its beak three times and tucked closer to her neck.
Tid's door remained shut.
Kikaru looked at it. "Paul, check Tid, Bui, and Wes. If they are on the floor, do not drag them unless they are choking."
Paul moved at once.
Elias tried to roll onto his side. His body answered wrong. His right leg kicked while his left shoulder sank. The motion dumped him flat on his stomach. Pain ran across the bruises Yui had already given him, and for a second he wanted to stay there out of spite.
Dot hovered low, hands near her mouth. "Slow down and think one command at a time."
"I am thinking many angry commands at once," Elias said through his teeth.
"That may be the entire issue," she said, and Elias hated that she was probably right.
He stopped fighting for a breath and tested a finger. Intended right, left moved. Intended left, right moved. Up sent his focus down. Down made his chin twitch upward. It was not total loss of control. Total loss might have been cleaner. This was control with every label switched and every habit turned into a trap.
He pushed left to get right, and his body crawled an inch, then another.
Sweat broke across his back from the effort. The floor was cool under his palms. His own breathing sounded too loud. Dot stayed near his shoulder without touching him, which helped more than he wanted to admit. If she grabbed him, panic would probably make him fight the wrong direction again.
Paul returned with a grim look.
"The three missing ones are down, and Tid is cursing the loudest, so he is probably fine. Bui kicked his own dresser, and Wes asked if death was an available setting."
Colby winced. "That sounds like Tid passed his personality check."
Kikaru stood. "The Doctor warned us to distance ourselves from those falling behind. That does not mean we waste the night panicking over people who ignored the regimen. They need to learn the correction."
Faye's mouth tightened, but she did not argue. Kari looked at the closed doors again while Elias got one knee under him.
"That is too easy for us."
Kikaru looked down at him. "Easy does not mean wrong here."
"No, but if the point is to make us compete until we stop seeing each other as people, then we should notice the trap before stepping deeper into it."
His words came rough, broken by the effort of staying upright. Nobody interrupted. Even Spock stopped glaring long enough to watch him move.
Elias planted his wrong moving hand against the floor and forced himself higher.
"I blamed the rules for a second and blamed the timing too. Maybe both deserve it, but I am still the one who failed the threshold. If I can stand, they can learn to stand. We do not have to carry them forever, but we should not act like their failure makes them disposable."
His legs shook. Dot moved close but kept her hands to herself.
The room watched him solve standing like a problem with teeth.
Left for right, down for up, and stillness before motion. He reached standing by commanding every movement backward, and it took far too long. When he finally straightened, his shirt was damp and his face had gone pale.
Kikaru watched him in silence.
Her expression did not soften. That was not how she worked. But she looked toward Paul's side of the block, then toward the closed doors.
"We help them learn to move, but we do not carry them."
Elias nodded once, carefully, because even nodding felt like a possible betrayal.
"That is fair enough for tonight."
Colby pushed himself upright and rubbed his shoulder again.
"That was ugly, old man, but impressive enough to count."
Spock climbed back onto Colby's shoulder and pointed one tiny hand at Elias.
Colby glanced at the Ikona. "Spock says you still owe me an apology snack."