Try the door

"I think we should just use the hand scanner and go through the door," you said. "If we don't find anything in either direction and go too far, we probably won't find anything to eat or drink in here. Maybe something past the door will lead to an easier exit to explore."

Steph sighed a little, but she seemed to relent. "Fine, at least you're talking it through with me, so thank you for that. We'll do it your way for now."

You walked to the hand scanner, placing your right hand underneath the beam of light as directed. To your surprise, a symbol appeared on it--a triangle with two dots along one edge. The same symbol appeared on the door, before it opened with a light hiss. You glanced behind you, to the side, and then peered beyond the open door into the hall beyond it, which seemed to widen out into about six other doors, where one lit up with the same symbol, which you assumed you should follow.

"I don't see anything dangerous in here," you said. "That looks like maybe a bunch of elevators. Did you know about the symbol?"

"I didn't have a clue," Steph whispered. You carefully stepped into the other room, as the door behind you hissed closed. Walls of glass on either side gave you a glimpse of a vast array of machinery and hardware being robotically assembled or modified, or pipes of various liquids running along, in a vast dark void. Maybe these were mechanisms that connected to the chambers in the other room? It was hard to say, since the walls that separated those new endless spaces from the test chamber area seemed entirely opaque.

Frowning, you turned from the walls to the other door, which opened to reveal an elevator car, as expected. Stepping inside, the doors swiftly closed, and you braced against the back wall as it started to move. "It feels like we're going... down," you said. "Maybe we were at the top of a building?"

"Or we're just going deeper underground," Steph suggested. "That might make getting out of here harder."

You put your hands on your hips, feeling slightly comforted by Steph's body around yours to remind you that you weren't alone in this strange place. "I don't think it would be easy from anywhere with the size of this place. We're missing a lot of pieces to this puzzle though."

When the elevator finally stops, you exit--and enter into a very pleasant and futuristic sort of apartment. The bands of light embedded in the wall softly lit up kitchen and living area, with pristine looking appliances and cozy chairs, trimmed with wood accents and floating shelves with a handful of books and trinkets to make the place look lived in. Four doors, three of which remained closed, took up the entirety of the far wall--peering into the open door, you could see a bed and a small bathroom through a sliding door. Another door on the wall to your right, close to the bedroom doors, looked like it contained a jacuzzi and a little hydroponic garden with sun lamps, like a simulated patio when there was no chance the makers of this facility would let you actually go outdoors. A television screen in one wall flickered on and displayed a greeting message upon your entry. Greetings, William and Stephanie. Your assigned room is 3. Trials will begin when your team has 4 members. Estimated time: 2 days. In the meantime, please enjoy the amenities.

Cautiously, you stepped around the apartment-like area, looking for anything like windows or hatches or anything else that might indicate a way out. Once you reached the doorframe that led to the 'patio', you paused in surprise as you realized you weren't alone, spotting some very odd sights that hadn't been visible from the angle you'd first peered in from!

The first person that came into your view appeared to be doing some sort of yoga routine with her back to you, a woman with short brown hair wearing a very unusual rubbery form-fitting suit in a light blue, which moved almost like she wasn't really wearing much of anything at all from the way you could see the definition of her body underneath the material. Your eyes quickly darted to a fairly petite girl reading a book, a tanned woman with sandy blonde hair, who looked mostly normal, except for her right arm and both legs which looked significantly more muscular and an entirely different skin tone, pale with freckles all along it! While that itself hadn't been too shocking, the remainder of the body parts that matched the pale freckled form sat in a pile next to her, a disconnected torso and left arm and head with fiery red hair, with the disembodied left arm tapping idly at a game on a tablet while the equally disembodied head stared intently at the screen.

Of course, when you gasped at the sight, all eyes turned to look at the noise.

"Looks like we have our third," a deep voice said, coming from the yoga woman. But she hadn't spoken it--when she turned around, an almost cartoonish face on her stomach embedded in the rubbery fabric grinned at you, as everyone else looked at you inquisitively to try and figure out what unique qualities you and Steph had. "She's a cute one, too!" The only one who didn't look at you immediately was the disembodied redhead, who had to pause her game and use her free hand to turn the head to you.

You tensed up at the sight, preventing Steph from eliciting her own scream, though you could feel her trying! It was all so sudden and strange, you were tempted to rush to your open bedroom to collect your thoughts in that moment, feeling a clear 'flight' response surging through you that was hard to resist!