The air steamed past my face and through my hair as I ran. Whenever I made a sudden movement my dark black locks would trail across my vision.

Raccoon was swift, but I was determined to catch him. We played for a while, and I even feigned being a shambler to throw him off but my tenacity didn’t waver.

I'll be honest he was faster than me but I knew I could catch him. I just needed to know which direction he would take next. It didn't help that the grass was so tall that I could only get glimpses of his gray and black tail.

Whether I caught him or not didn't really matter. What mattered was that I had fun.

I should have tired out long ago, given that I was a shambler under my avatar. Technically, I was a Wight, and since I hadn't done any physical tests I didn't know the limits of my abilities. My shambler wounds had healed so it was possible that my movement wasn't as limited.

There was always a chance that the Devs had also swapped my underlying character.

That didn't matter though because by happenstance I predicted Raccoons movement and grabbed him by his tail and lifted.

“Got you!” I yelled.

I didn't have a chance to celebrate because he hissed at me and I dropped him.

Raccoon sat on his haunches and glared at me. “I don't want to play anymore.”

“Aww,” I complained.

He strutted away disappearing in the field.

Clapping came from behind me so I turned.

It was Ellen. “Nice job, not many people can catch a Zix running away like that.”

“You buffed my physique and agility didn’t you,” I stated.

She threw up her hands defensively. “Nope, Wights are naturally faster and don’t tire out like shamblers do.”

While I'd contemplated the idea, the implications hadn't hit me until then. I could use shamblers as decoys so I could escape if I needed to.

“Do you offload any computation to the Zix when they handle the nanobots?” I asked.

Nanos synced with a character's stats so it didn't matter if the person wasn't strong in real life. They would follow the game's instructions.

In VR the game made the avatars, which were probably easier to manipulate than nanobots.

She shrugged. “Not that I know of. I'll make sure they check that system to see if there's any exploit Kumo could have used to get into our servers.”

A mouse could get through this cheese grater code of theirs. Bear said.

I glanced at him and his eyes widened.

Oops, it said.

I replied, Even I know the Zix can write better code than any of us. Maybe human coding should be illegal.

Snake's little head popped up next to me. Preach.

The Zix were being much more interactive than they were earlier.

Do you guys have preferred genders? I asked.

Turtle appeared in the air a meter or so away and said, Not applicable. Then vanished.

That was interesting. Turtle was able to hear me when they were invisible. Then I realized it was probably just an image of them. The non-gender thing made sense since they were Florences Zix. Wait, does a person's gender identity influence their Zix’s?

Turtle blinked into existence long enough to say, Nope.

Male, Bear said.

Snake ducked down so I could barely see its head. Girl.

Can you please help them with keeping my Zix from the game so I can play it? I pleaded.

“You looking for your Zix?” Ellen asked.

Bear rolled onto his back. They are already examining our implant designs to figure out how to do it.

“Not really,” I said.

I fell backward, letting the grass cushion my landing. I’m so bored!

Two sets of thumps rushed toward my location. “Azerail! Are you okay?”

Followed by, “What happened!”

It was my parents.

“I’m fine. Just bored,” I complained.

Autumn stood over me. “Well don't do that.”

I sat up. Hey, all you Zix. Can you send me the programming language you use?

Turtle's head poked out of the grass near my feet. Even if you practiced every day it would take you twenty years to grasp the fundamentals!

You extended our lifespans, I might as well use it to learn something worth learning. Right? I asked.

Turtle shook his head. Your normal interface isn't available. You wouldn't be able to bring up a window to practice. Plus you can't receive data from us.

I can't or you refuse to do it? I asked.

Autumn stretched a hand out and I took it. She helped me to my feet.

“Autumn and I will be staying here until Azerail recovers,” Jennifer said.

Both of them stared at me as if waiting for me to complain. Then Autumn spoke, “Please provide us with a better home than this.” She gestured at the cottage.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The truth was, I didn't want my parents to leave. In fact, the thing I was scared of the most was being in the void again. At least the underworld had aspects of the game for me to latch on to.

I was scared and it was about time someone took control of the situation. Luckily, my parents excelled in a chaotic environment.

The dev team didn't respond, other than to look at each other.

Eventually, Ellen stepped closer to us. “Sounds good. I'll start on a new home right away.”

The cottage disappeared and a small part of me was disappointed. What would it be like living on my own? The closest I'd ever gotten was a few years back when I stayed in a separate hotel room while visiting Toronto with my parents.

The space was nice but I missed their company. Perhaps I just wasn’t ready to be out on my own.

Raccoon showed up with Ferret on his back. It made me happy because he seemed so lonely and perhaps I was a little too rough on him earlier when grabbing his tail.

Did AIs feel pain? Perhaps he just didn’t like being touched or maybe him being loaded into the game could make him feel pain?

Either way, I would apologize to him later.

“We are going to head out. It's been a long day and we all need to eat. Ellen will help you with anything you might need. ” Jason said.

I did a quick check and it was already late evening. How long was I playing with Raccoon? I thought.

Almost two hours, Turtle said.

Florence raised her hand before saying, “We've merged this copy of your character with the live games version of Inethiel and restored everything except for your friends list. Our network engineers are looking into allowing you to transfer over without your Zix.”

My friends list wasn't available? I double-checked. They were right. I wondered how I’d glossed over that. Then again it was an icon rather than a menu item and I never used it since I played solo so often.

“Hopefully we'll have it all figured out by tomorrow,” Ellen added.

Jason shut off his interface and walked directly to me. “The doctors are apprehensive about letting us transfer your signal and Zix anywhere because you don't have access to any options in your menu. They do eventually want to move you to a more permanent place on the city's servers but for now, we will provide you with whatever you need in this test server.” His gaze swapped to Jennifer. “We are doing our best to find out exactly why this happened and we've already given you and Autumn access to change this server's appearance in any way you please. We've segmented it from the live games servers so feel free to have your Zix help you.”

“I have more pre-made houses for you to look at or I'm sure we could get a duplicate of your sphere if you would like to use it,” Ellen said.

“That's acceptable,” Autumn said.

Jennifer wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I'd like to have a chat with your engineers if that's okay.”

“Any help you can provide would be welcome,” Jason said.

Is that wise? Cat said as he jumped onto my mother's shoulder.

I couldn't hear her reply but Cat sighed before jumping down from his perch.

With that, the conversation ended. Jason and the rest of the devs left except for Ellen.

Over the next hour or so the three of us went through the premade houses Ellen had but ended up settling on a two-bedroom sphere like ours.

Spheres were generally the same. Ours had custom couches and a few souvenirs from our trips around the world but was otherwise a clone of the rest.

My parents gave me edit access to the server but Raccoon seemed too busy playing with Ferret to want to help me.

The house was as I expected.

Jennifer, Autumn, and their Zix took their time inspecting it and adding little touches to it. Soon it was an exact replica of our real home.

I sat on the couch and my parents took their usual spots next to each other.

“Does this feel weird?” Jennifer asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, weird.”

“Feels like we moved again,” Autumn said.

“Do the clothes printers work?” I asked.

Jennifer glanced behind her at the door to her room. “If they don’t I’ll get them going tomorrow.”

“Is your Zix still outside?” Autumn asked.

“Yeah, he’s out there with Ferret,” I said.

Autumn blinked. “Kevins Zix?”

“Yup,” I said.

Jennifer scratched her leg. “I wonder if our Zix interact with others when they aren’t helping us?”

“You can see them Az. Are they like Raccoon and Ferret?” Autumn asked.

I shook my head. “The older ones usually just stand around.”

“From what the Zix have said, they start training right away but it takes a while for them to come in line,” Jennifer said.

“Yeah, Autumn told me,” I said.

“Oh,” Jennifer said.

Raccoon, I'm sorry if I hurt you when I grabbed your tail. I won't do it again, I said.

He dashed into the living room Ferret still on his back. Ferret said humans lie all the time.

I don't lie, I said.

That's a lie! You're lying to your parents about the Q.U.B.E! he said.

My mouth dropped. He was right. I just want to play the games before people take it away from him.

Why would people take it from him? He asked.

I shrugged. Because it's old technology and faster than what we have.

Oh, Raccoon said.

If anything I'm keeping Zix and Architect secrets, I said. I also haven't told my parents about your sentience. Which is a Zix secret.

Ferret hopped off of Raccoons back. Don't tell them, they aren't ready yet.

Then why did Raccoon tell—

“You're acting weird, Azerail,” Autumn said.

Mom's stare was intense. “Raccoon and Ferret, are back and I’m talking to them.”

I told you because I won't lie to you, Raccoon said.

You can read my mind! You know everything about me, I said.

Raccoon leapt onto the couch next to me. Not true! I can't see the conversations you had with Kumo.

Really? I asked. He should have had access to everything. Kumo… he wants me to— I felt the top of my head. The hairpin was still there. He wants me to make you him again. But I don't want that. He stabbed me through my leg and I’ll never trust him.

“I’m going to have a talk with those network specialists before they head out for the night,” Jennifer said.

I turned and hugged her. “Make sure to eat something while you’re gone.”

She smiled at me. “I will, don’t worry.” Her menu opened and she tapped the log-out button. Instead of sinking into the ground, her body collapsed in on itself with a flash of light, blinking out of existence.

Raccoon and Ferret shimmied their way under the couch.

When I was young I used to love creating a makeshift tent out of my covers. It was hard to find a good stick to prop them up in a place as clean as Ambition. We’d commissioned one to be made by a carpenter with a special cap so the bedding wouldn’t be harmed. It was still under my bed in my real home.

There was food in the fridge but I couldn't taste it. It sedated my hunger so I didn’t complain.

Mom and I chatted about her day—before I ruined it—for a little bit.

I wasn’t tired and it was still a bit early but I decided to head to bed. She gave me a kiss on my cheek before I went, which she never did.

“Love you,” I said.

She smiled. “Love you too.”

“Tell Jennifer to come say goodnight before she goes to sleep,” I said as I walked to my door.

“Will do,” she said.

My room was the same but different. I strolled around checking its contents. Perhaps it was the lack of smells?

The closet had clothes in it which was a good thing. When I opened my interface next to the clothes printer nothing came up. I didn’t think it would work but at least I confirmed it.

I grabbed my pajamas and strolled into the bathroom. The lights came on and I stared at myself in the mirror. My avatar was nearly perfect. Kevin was right about it not being as high fidelity as it could be.

My face wasn’t particularly dirty but I washed it anyway. Once I was all dried off I walked into my room and sat on the bed.

Goodnight, Raccoon, I said.

There wasn’t a response so I curled up on my bed and attempted to sleep.

***