Jax stood on Level 5 and couldn't stop shaking.
Not from fear. From disbelief.
He'd walked from Level 9 to Level 5. Through gates that had rejected him his entire life. Past scanners that couldn't identify his caste. Into spaces that had been forbidden.
Free. He was actually free.
Around him, other Gammas experienced the same revelation. Touching clean walls. Breathing filtered air. Seeing sky-sim screens showing blue and clouds instead of rust and condensation.
"Is this real?" an old man whispered.
"It's real," Jax said. "We're really here."
They'd paid for it already. Seven Gammas dead at the Level 3 checkpoint. Dozens wounded. And more violence coming.
But they were here. They'd broken through.
Finn found him, bleeding from a cut on their arm. "We're holding Level 4. But SSS is bringing in reinforcements. This is going to get worse before it gets better."
"I know." Jax looked at the Gammas around him—scared, hopeful, determined. "Get everyone organized. We're not giving back what we've taken. We hold these levels or die trying."
Mother Sera arrived, breathing labored from the climb. "Child, you need to speak to them. They're looking for leadership."
Jax climbed onto a platform, looked at the hundreds of Gammas gathered on Level 5.
"We're free!" he shouted. Cheers erupted. "The database is corrupted! The system that marked us as lesser is broken! We are not subhuman! We never were! They lied to us for generations, but we're taking back what's ours!"
More cheers. Fists raised. Hope and rage combined.
"They will try to push us back down. They will use violence to restore the old order. But we don't go back! We fight! We claim our humanity! We show them we are human, we matter, we exist!"
The crowd roared approval.
The revolution had truly begun.