Dark Matter

This long chapter switches back to Jason’s first-person present-tense narrative.

Jason wakes up in a cell chained to a metal-framed bed. He is groggy from being sedated. Leighton comes in wearing a tuxedo and tells Jason he is sorry they had to handle him in this way, but they didn’t anticipate how disturbed he would be after his return. They had to kill Daniela in case Jason told her about their research. Jason writhes and curses Leighton, but he cannot move.

Jason decides to calm down and pretend that he is the version of himself that they think he is—the prestigious scientist who engineered this project. Leighton promises to help him get his memories back, and Jason worries that maybe the life he remembers never really happened.

Leighton gives him a tour of Velocity Laboratories, starting with sublevel four. It’s a four-level facility: “Gym, rec room, mess hall, and a few dormitories on one. Labs, cleanrooms, conference rooms on two. Sublevel three is dedicated to fabrication. Four is the infirmary and mission control” (120). Past a security door, they enter a hangar that houses a 12-foot metal cube. Jason is in awe. They walk around