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.
"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 the opposite direction from where he wanted it to go.
Then 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.
"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. 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.
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."
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.
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.
Dot hovered low, hands near her mouth. "Slow down and think one command at a time."
"I am thinking many angry commands at once."
"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. It was worse. Control with every label switched.
He pushed left to get right, and his body crawled an inch, then another.
Sweat broke across his back from the effort.
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."
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.
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, and we do not have to carry them forever, but we should not act like their failure makes them disposable."
His legs shook, and Dot moved close but did not touch him.
He reached standing by commanding every motion 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.
Colby spoke first.
"That was ugly, old man, but impressive enough to count."