Catherine checked the timer. "Five seconds under the limit. Cass, your balance is excellent."
Cassius's balance came straight from the dream instance, where Cooper had spent hours hauling gear inside a spinning ship. It felt second nature now.
Even if he actually went to space, his current physical condition would handle it without breaking a sweat.
Anne performed much better this round too.
She stepped onto the platform tilted at fifty degrees and walked the full course without dropping the crate.
When she finished, she let out a long breath. "I think I finally figured it out."
"What's the trick?"
"Don't treat it like training. Treat it like a game."
Anne's eyes lit up like she was remembering something from childhood. "It's like those old tilting maze balls I played with as a kid. You have to predict which way the ball will roll."
"That's actually a good way to look at it."
[Anne Hathaway favorability +3 — Current: 79]
Eighty was getting close.
Cassius wondered what would happen once it crossed that threshold.
But right now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
After training, Catherine pulled them aside.
"Starting tomorrow, we're ramping things up."
She pulled up the schedule on her tablet. "Tilt angle goes to sixty degrees, rotation speed increases by fifty percent, and we're adding interference—sudden flashes, loud noises, simulated ship alarms—"
"Sounds fun."
Cassius was already looking forward to it.
"It is fun."
Catherine smiled. "But Nolan wants every lead actor to pass the final assessment. If you don't, he might have to adjust your screen time."
The message was clear even if she said it politely.
Fail the test and your role gets trimmed.
Anne's expression turned serious. "I'll pass."
"I believe you."
Catherine tucked the tablet away. "That's it for today. Go get some rest."
The training days flew by.
Cassius already carried Cooper's instincts from the dream instance, so once he adjusted to the new environment, he improved fast.
Anne had to work much harder.
She trained extra every day.
Sometimes Cassius couldn't watch her struggle and stepped in to help.
The hired instructors had never been actors themselves, so they didn't always know the best way to teach performers.
Cassius did.
He understood both sides, and it showed.
Before long Anne was hitting the marks and finishing her sessions cleanly.
[Anne Hathaway favorability +1 — Current: 80]
Once balance training wrapped, the next phase was location scouting.
The cast and crew flew to Iceland.
This was where they'd shoot the scenes on Mann's icy planet.
Iceland's cold felt nothing like the farm in Canada.
Cassius stood outside the airport in Reykjavik, staring at the gray-and-white landscape, and only one thought crossed his mind.
Is this place even livable?
"Welcome to Iceland—the closest thing to an alien planet on Earth."
Anne was bundled in a heavy down coat, her breath turning to frost the second it left her mouth. "Nolan picked this spot because the glaciers and black sand beaches look like something from another world."
"I think he picked it so the actors would freeze into actual zombies and wouldn't need acting skills for the despair scenes."
Cassius pulled his scarf higher.
The crew vehicle waiting for them was a modified off-road truck.
The driver was a local named Erik—quiet guy, but he drove like he had a death wish.
"Training base is near the town of Vik. Two-hour drive."
Erik spoke with a thick Nordic accent. "Might hit a blizzard on the way. Hold on tight."
They pulled onto the highway. Outside was nothing but barren land—black volcanic rock covered in snow, distant ice caps, and a heavy lead-gray sky.
"Does anyone actually live out here?"
Cassius stared at the scattered farmhouses.
"Plenty. And they're doing just fine."
Erik chuckled. "Icelanders are used to it."
"By the way, the training base used to be a NASA polar research station. Now it's a movie location. Nolan rented it for three months."
"Three months?"
Anne sounded surprised. "Just for a few scenes?"
"That's how Nolan works. You'll get used to it."
Erik shrugged. "He said CG can't capture the real texture of the ice."
Half an hour into the drive, it started snowing.
Not soft flakes—this was sideways ice pellets hammering the windows.
"Blizzard's coming. Might slow us down."
Erik eased off the gas.
Visibility dropped to less than ten meters. The truck felt like it was crawling.
Cassius looked out the window. All he could see was white.
Shooting a movie in a place like this was pure punishment.
This was Cassius's first time seeing weather this brutal.
"Does this happen a lot?"
Anne sounded nervous.
"Couple times a week."
Erik stayed calm. "Iceland weather changes faster than a woman's mood."
Cassius burst out laughing.
Erik didn't even glance at the woman sitting right behind him.
The blizzard lasted forty minutes before it eased up.
By the time they reached the training base, it was already three in the afternoon.
The base consisted of a few gray buildings sitting on an ice field, with glaciers visible in the distance.
Nolan was already waiting.
He wore a heavy parka and held a tablet.
"Drive go okay?"
"Almost got buried in snow."
Cassius still looked shaken.
If the truck hadn't been so heavy, he was pretty sure the wind would've flipped it.
Nolan pointed at the buildings. "For the next two weeks you'll be doing cold-endurance training and slip-resistance drills. The ice here is treacherous. You'll be wearing full spacesuits during filming, so you can't afford to fall."
"How heavy is the suit?"
Anne asked.
The underwater training suits had been different from the ones they'd use outdoors.
"Training version is thirty-five kilos. Filming version is forty."
Nolan pulled up the specs. "Once you're in it, movement is restricted. Staying balanced on ice becomes the real challenge."
The base manager was a big bearded Icelander named Olaf. He gave them a quick tour.
"Cold-endurance training is simple—you just stay outside."
Olaf was blunt. "We start with short sessions and build up. Goal is to work two hours straight at minus twenty degrees without frostbite."
"Sounds like torture."
Anne muttered.
"It is torture."
Olaf grinned. "But it works. Plenty of productions come here. Actors start screaming, then they adapt."
Day one—outdoor temperature was minus fifteen.
Cassius and Anne stood on the ice field in basic cold-weather gear.
The wind cut like knives.
"First exercise—stand still."
Olaf held a stopwatch. "Ten minutes. You can move your hands and feet a little, but no going inside."
"Ten minutes? That's not so bad."
Anne looked ready to prove herself.
Cassius figured it sounded manageable too.
"Easy?"
Olaf glanced between them. "You'll see."
The first three minutes were fine.
By minute five, Cassius's toes were numb.
By minute eight, his face had gone stiff.
His breathing had gone shallow without him realizing it—his body automatically conserving heat.
[Low-Temperature Tolerance +3]
A blue orb dropped from him.
Cassius absorbed it fast.
A faint warmth spread through his body, easing the chill for a moment.
It didn't last. The warmth faded after less than a minute, and the cold came rushing back harder.
Anne was struggling worse.
She kept stomping her feet, hands shoved deep in her sleeves.
"Don't stomp," Olaf called. "That makes you lose heat faster. Keep moving, but keep it light."
The ten minutes finally ended. They sprinted back inside.
Warm air hit them like a blessing.
Cassius had never appreciated heat so much in his life.
"Tomorrow—twenty minutes."
Olaf logged the data. "Add ten minutes every day until you hit two hours."
"We're going to die."
Anne rubbed her hands together.
She looked even more dramatic than Cassius, pressing herself against the heater like her life depended on it. Steam rose off her clothes, turning her face pink.
"You won't die."
Olaf handed her hot tea. "Icelanders have lived like this for generations. You actors are only here for a couple months. Suck it up."
Day two—slip-resistance training.
The training area was a flat patch of ice that could've doubled as a skating rink.
Olaf demonstrated the technique.
Short steps, low center of gravity, heel-first contact to test the surface.
Cassius tried it and nearly wiped out on the first step.
It looked simple. It wasn't.
Cassius remembered videos from Harbin he'd seen in his last life—the ice pit challenges where non-locals couldn't even climb out.
There was real technique involved.
"This isn't even the hard part. The hard part is doing it in a spacesuit."
Olaf pointed at the training suits nearby. "Today we start with the twenty-kilo light version. Once you're comfortable, we move to the thirty-five-kilo training suit."
Cassius pulled on the suit. It felt like he was carrying another person.
Walking got harder.
But once he stepped onto the ice, he actually felt more stable.
The extra weight increased friction.
Anne struggled more after she suited up.
Her movements were stiff.
"Relax your body. Don't fight it. Imagine you're walking on the moon—slow is fine, but every step has to be solid."
Olaf coached them patiently.
After a full morning, Anne had the basics down.
Cassius was already walking normally.
Olaf decided to push them harder in the afternoon.
They moved to walking on slopes.
"Some of the shooting locations have icy inclines. You need to be able to go up and down."
"Remember—lean forward going up, use your heels going down. If you fall, don't catch yourself with your hands. Sit down. The suit has extra padding on the ass."
Cassius tried going up and slid halfway back down.
"Center of gravity's too far back. Lean forward more. Trust the boots."
Olaf shouted from below.
Cassius made it on the second try.
He reached the top and looked back at Anne.
She was still fighting her way up.
"Need a hand?"
"I got it!"
Anne gritted her teeth. "I can do this myself."
She adjusted her stance and kept climbing.
Near the top her foot slipped.
Cassius reacted without thinking and grabbed her arm.
The suit was thick, so he mostly caught fabric, but it was enough to steady her.
[Anne Hathaway favorability +1 — Current: 81]
"Thanks."
Anne was breathing hard.
"No problem."
Day three—weighted walking.
This time the suits had extra weights inside, bringing the total to thirty kilos.
Cassius felt like he was wading through mud, but he could still move.
The physical upgrades from his attribute orbs weren't for show.
Anne had a much harder time.
She stopped halfway, hands on her knees, panting.
"I can't. It's too heavy."
"Take it slow. I'll stay with you."
Cassius walked back to her.
They moved side by side at a crawl, but they kept going.
Olaf watched from the side.
When they finished the loop, Anne was drenched in sweat.
"Your stamina is insane. How do you train?"
Anne pulled off her helmet.
"Shooting movies."
"Nonstop action scenes."
Cassius thought about it—most of the films he'd done really were heavy on physical work.
"That's different. That's explosive power. This is endurance."
Anne was still catching her breath.
"Both are just work."
During a break they sat in the rest area drinking hot cocoa.
Outside the window the ice field stretched forever. Occasionally the aurora flickered across the night sky.
"I heard Nolan wants to shoot the aurora for real."
Anne stared out at it.
"How long would that take?"
"Winter in Iceland, it shows up almost every night. Just depends on the strength. Real footage will look incredible though."
Anne took a sip of cocoa, eyes bright with anticipation.
Cassius nodded in agreement. "Practical effects always beat CGI."
"You seem to be handling all this training really well."
Anne turned to look at him. "The cold, the weight, the ice walking—you're picking it up fast."
"Maybe I'm just naturally gifted."
Cassius joked.
Right then Olaf walked in, looking grim.
"Just got word—strong blizzard tomorrow. Training's canceled for the day. Everyone stays inside the base. No going out."
"Blizzard?"
Cassius sounded curious.
"Winds could hit thirty meters per second. Visibility zero."
Olaf paused. "In weather like that, ten minutes outside and you start losing body heat. Stay indoors. Don't go anywhere."
That night the blizzard hit exactly as predicted.
The wind howled like an animal. The buildings shook.
Cassius stood at the window, watching the white chaos outside.
The storm raged through the darkness until the whole world felt like nothing but wind.
He suddenly remembered the scene from the dream instance—Cooper stranded on the icy planet, oxygen running out, freezing to death—
The wind grew louder.
Cassius stood at the clear plastic window, staring out.
Visibility was under five meters. All he could see was swirling snow and a few distant flashlight beams moving around.
"Who are they rescuing?"
Anne had come over to look too.
"Not sure. Looks like a tent got blown over."
Cassius squinted, barely making out the half-collapsed tent in the distance.
Several people in orange parkas were trying to secure it, but the wind was so strong one of them nearly got knocked over.
"Should we go help?"
Anne asked.
"Olaf said to stay put."
Cassius said it, but his feet were already moving toward the door.
The situation out there clearly needed more hands.
If that tent got completely ripped away, whoever was inside would be in serious trouble within minutes.
"You go, I go."
Anne started pulling on her cold-weather gear.
"You stay here. I'll go alone."
"Why?"
Anne zipped up. "I trained for two weeks. It wasn't for nothing."
Cassius looked at her.
She wasn't joking.
"Fine. But stay right behind me. Don't wander off."
They suited up and pushed open the tent flap.
Wind slammed into them so hard it almost tore the door off its hinges.
Cassius braced it with his shoulder and slipped outside.
The temperature had to be around minus twenty-five. The wind felt like sandpaper on his face.
Visibility was even worse than it looked from inside. The flashlight beam only reached two or three meters ahead.
"Grab the rope!"
Cassius handed Anne one of the tent's anchor lines and took the other.
They bent forward and started moving, fighting the wind like they were swimming upstream.
The crew members working on the distant tent spotted them. One waved them back.
"Fuck that."
Cassius shouted, but the wind swallowed his voice.
Halfway there Anne slipped and nearly fell.
Cassius caught her arm just in time.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. Ground's just really slippery."
They kept pushing forward.
The damaged tent was the equipment tent—full of cameras and a generator.
One whole corner had been torn open and snow was pouring inside.
Three crew members were struggling to pull a tarp over the gap, but the wind kept ripping it out of their hands.
"Need help?"
Cassius shouted once he got close.
One of the crew turned around. It was Olaf.
His face was covered in ice, eyebrows white.
"What the hell are you two doing out here? Get back inside!"
"More hands make it faster."
Cassius grabbed a corner of the tarp. "This tarp's too light. It won't hold."
"Then what do we do?"
"Use something heavy to weigh it down."
Cassius looked around.
Nothing but snow. No rocks, no wood.
Anne pointed inside the tent. "Use the equipment cases! Those metal boxes!"
Several aluminum camera cases, each weighing fifteen kilos or more.
"Smart."
Cassius ducked inside, grabbed one, and dragged it out.
Anne followed. They made three trips and hauled six cases outside.
Olaf and the others stacked the cases along the tarp edges and tied everything down.
"Should hold now."
Olaf checked the anchors and exhaled. "You two get back inside. You can't stay out in this shit much longer."
"What about you guys?"
"We'll finish up and head to the main building. No one's sleeping in this tent tonight."
Cassius nodded and pulled Anne back toward their own tent.
The walk back was worse because the wind was at their backs, making it easy to get blown over.
They half-ran the last stretch and practically dove inside.
Cassius yanked the flap shut and secured every latch.
"Jesus—"
Anne stripped off her parka and dropped onto the bed. "I can't feel my fingers."
Cassius sat down too, rubbing his hands. "Probably minus twenty-five out there."
The tent was warmer than outside, but only by a few degrees.
The heater in the corner hummed, but it wasn't strong enough.
"You think the equipment's ruined?"
Anne looked out the window. The storm was still raging.
"The metal cases should be fine. Electronics are another story. Cold plus moisture is bad for circuit boards."
"What about training tomorrow?"
"We'll see if the storm clears. No point worrying about it now."
Cassius pulled a thermos from his pack, poured hot water into a cup, and handed it to Anne. "Drink this. Warm up."
"Thanks."
Anne took the cup with both hands.
Steam rose between them. Her face looked soft in the mist.
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the wind and the heater.
"When you ran in there to grab those cases, I was thinking something."
Anne spoke suddenly.
"What?"
"If you were in a real mission, would you do the same thing?"
"Do what?"
"Put yourself in danger to fix the problem first."
Cassius thought about it. "Yeah. Cooper's like that. Pilot mindset—mission comes first."
"What about you? The real you."
"Me?"
Cassius smiled. "I'm just an actor. I get paid, I do the job, try not to screw it up."
"I don't buy that."
Anne took a sip. "You could've stayed inside where it was safe. You didn't have to come out."
"That's because—"
Cassius stopped.
He hadn't really thought about it. He'd just seen people who needed help and gone.