Elias slept badly and woke worse.
The task window was still there when he opened his eyes, waiting at the edge of his vision like a bill he could not afford. Two hundred push ups. Ten stable manifestations with Dot. One sparring win. Reward, level increase.
He stared at it until the words blurred.
"What does level increase even mean for us?"
Dot sat on his chest with her knees tucked under her chin. She looked more awake than he felt.
"Maybe the shard stops treating us like beginners, maybe my objects hold longer, and maybe you stop moving like furniture with opinions."
"That last one is the dream today, honestly."
He tried to raise his right hand. His left twitched instead. The penalty had not faded while he slept.
Elias exhaled and slowed down. Intent left, move right. Look down, eyes lift. Reach away, hand comes closer. The logic was miserable, but logic existed. That meant it could be trained.
Dot watched him work through one finger at a time.
"When I do not understand something, I start with what I can control."
Elias looked down at her. "You say that like someone with memories intact."
"Maybe I lost the story and kept the habit."
That answer was better than either of them expected.
A knock hit the pod door before either of them could decide what to do with it.
"PT wake up for the morning schedule now," a man's voice called. "Obstacle course after breakfast, so start losing excuses now."
Elias sat up too fast and nearly fell sideways when his body answered wrong. Dot caught a handful of his shirt like fabric could correct the laws currently ruining him.
The door opened enough to show Paul standing outside in the green tracksuit. He was tall enough to fill the doorway and looked like mornings had personally asked his permission to begin.
"You are Elias Kael in A Block, right? Paul Renner here this morning, and I figured I should introduce myself before Kikaru starts yelling through doors."
"Elias Kael, and I would shake your hand, but I might punch the wall by accident."
Paul glanced at his legs. "Reverse penalty from the Doctor tonight already, Kael?"
"Yes, and I am currently losing a negotiation with my own knees."
"Take your time if you need it, or do not, because the mats start soon either way."
He left the door open and moved down the row to wake someone else.
Getting dressed took twenty minutes.
Elias had to think backward for every motion. Pulling on pants became a tactical exercise. The shirt ended up halfway twisted before Dot stopped laughing long enough to point out that he had put one arm through the wrong opening.
"This is character growth at work today, apparently."
"This is laundry combat against myself today, actually."
By the time he stepped into the main block, the clock read 5:45.
Kikaru and Paul were already near the reinforced wall with medicine balls. Kikaru threw hers with steady violence. Paul matched her rhythm, not as fast but just as controlled. The impacts thudded through the room.
Elias took one careful step, then another. He moved like a man carrying a bowl of soup through a room full of people who wanted to trip him.
Colby's pod opened to his right. He stepped out mid yawn, saw Elias upright, and stopped.
"You are walking, which is more surprising than it should be."
"Thank you for your deep faith today, Colby."
Elias's left foot betrayed him on the next step. His body tipped. Colby caught him by the shoulder before he hit the floor.
"Careful there, because motivational falling still counts as falling."
"I have to complete two hundred push ups, ten Dot manifestations, and a sparring win before the next cycle, so walking is the warm up problem."
Colby's eyebrows lifted. "So you got a task too this morning. Mine is less violent, which makes me feel chosen in a better way."
"What did the Doctor say to you exactly?"
Colby looked toward Spock, who sat on his shoulder with both eyes half closed.
"Mostly that comfort is expensive and wind can cut if I stop treating it like a party trick. Spock enjoyed that part too much this morning."
Kikaru caught the medicine ball and turned. "About time you showed up to training today."
Elias steadied himself without Colby's help this time.
"You said crawl if necessary, so I upgraded to ugly walking."
"Ugly walking counts until it wastes time, so start with bodyweight control. If your movements are reversed, speed will only make you stupid faster."
Paul tossed Elias a lighter medicine ball. Elias reached for it with the wrong hand, corrected, and barely caught it against his chest.
Kikaru watched the catch and nodded once. "Good, you can learn when forced awake early."
"High praise before sunrise today, noted carefully, Kikaru."
"Do not get used to it today, Kael," Kikaru said as Dot floated beside Elias's shoulder.
"We need ten objects too, so maybe start with something small enough not to bankrupt our energy."
Elias lowered himself onto the mat. The first push up took almost a full minute. Down required thinking up. Up required pushing the command through the wrong side of his body. His arms shook before he reached five.
Kikaru crouched beside him.
"Count only the ones you control properly today. Falling on your face is not a repetition."
"I was hoping we could negotiate that category."
"You can negotiate after you can stand without threatening Colby."
Colby made a wounded sound. "I am involved in too many examples this morning."
Elias managed seven controlled push ups before his arms gave out. The task window counted five.
He hated the honesty of that number.
Dot moved in front of him and held out both hands.
"Start with a small object, no springs, no cleverness, and give me something boring."
"Boring is usually where I shine best anyway."
He pictured a spoon because a spoon had rules he understood. Handle, bowl, weight, use. Dot pressed her palms together and pulled.
A bent strip of dull metal appeared between them.
It looked more like a tired fishhook than a spoon.
The task window did not count it. Dot stared at the failure, then at him.
"That was not boring enough for the task to respect us."
Elias let his forehead touch the mat. "Back to basics, then, and smaller than a spoon."
Kikaru stood over them with the medicine ball tucked under one arm.
"Good, because basics are where people learn whether they actually want progress."