Kia followed Mr. Harolski down the mining tunnel. It was wide, well ventilated and supported, with no visible risk of anything collapsing. It seemed entirely stable and sustainable for a long time to come.

“Is this meant to be so simple?” Mr. Harolski mused aloud after they’d been walking for several minutes. “Or is it only to forge complacency?”

“I don’t know.” Kia answered, though she knew he hadn’t been talking to her.

“’Dead End.’” Mr. Harolski pointed down the helpfully-labeled side tunnel.

“And?”

“We are seeking a ghost.”

Kia wanted very much to facepalm.

Mr. Harolski started down that way, and Kia followed. They reached the end, a ladder descending into darkness. From below, muffled crying could be heard.

“Oh, yes, that is her,” said the inhuman voice of the ghost. “I must go to her.” With a clatter and clank of metal, it scrambled down the ladder and into the darkness below.

“Hey, is there any reward for our efforts here?” Mr. Harolski called down.

“Oh, of course.” A small glowing object flew up from the darkness, landing right by Mr. Harolski’s feet. “Thank you for your help.”

“What is it?” Kia asked.

Mr. Harolski passed it over so she could examine it. A small black disc, with glowing symbols etched into its surface in red and white.

“It’s a tracker,” the ghost’s voice echoes from below. “You can find people in trouble, so you can help them.”

Mr. Harolski’s face took on an odd pensive expression. “Thank you,” he finally said. “This may prove valuable.”

“Our sister, Kayla, was kidnapped,” said the second ghost, the girl who’d been crying. “She’s still alive, but not for much longer if no one saves her.”

“Fine, we’ll find her.” Mr. Harolski sounded irritated. “I suppose she’s further down?”

“Yes.”

QUEST UPDATE: SAVE THE GHOSTS’ KIDNAPPED SISTER!

VINES UPDATE: DESTROY THE GHOSTS TO REMOVE DISRUPTIONS FROM THE MINE (Optional)

Kia looked aghast at the update, then turned to Mr. Harolski with concern. Surely he wouldn’t—

Mr. Harolski smiled. “Looks like things got a lot easier.” He tossed aside the blinking coin that would have shown him the way to the kidnapped girl and stared into space.

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Kia lurched to catch it. “Mr. Harolski, you cannot intend—”

He waved for her to be silent, his focus still on his virtual screen.

Kia lowered her voice. “This is wrong, Mr. Harolski.”

He snorted. “Since when do you care about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’? Snap out of it, Kia. VINE is trying to make you soft.”

Kia blinked and frowned. “I see no reason to disregard the lives of others just because they are deceased.”

Mr. Harolski laughed aloud at that. “First, in as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never cared about the life of anyone but yourself. And second, did you even think about that sentence before speaking it?”

“Your flippancy is unwarranted, Mr. Harolski,” Kia said stiffly.

A shimmer of unreality flickered into existence over Mr. Harolski’s hand, then coalesced into a short silver knife. Its blade was wide and inscribed with harsh symbols that glowed faintly orange in the dim light. Harolski hefted it a few times, tossed it nimbly from hand to hand, then threw it through the crying ghost’s forehead.

“No!” Kia jumped forward involuntarily, but it was too late. The knife bounced off the far wall and clattered to the ground. The ghost girl disintegrated from the point of impact, like a piece of paper being burned.

Harolski strode forward, but the second ghost was not helpless. His odd mechanical body clattered into action, lurching forward to punch Harolski in the stomach. “My sisters are the only family I have!” the ghost screamed in its rough, crackled and inhuman voice. “How could you?”

Harolski pushed the small animatronic ghost aside without answering and walked toward where the knife had fallen.

Kia tried to interpose herself between Harolski and the ghost, but the ghost wasn’t cooperating. It continued to scream and hurled itself at Harolski, as though a second attack would be any more effective.

“How could you?!” it screamed again.

“How could I what?” Harolski asked, utterly calm as he retrieved the knife.

The little ghost lunged forward once again. “You killed her!”

“It was necessary. As is this.” Harolski sidestepped just enough for the clumsy attack to miss him completely, then stepped into the ghost’s momentum with his blade held at the perfect angle.

The ghost’s helmeted head toppled off its head, still screaming and cursing Harolski until the red light faded from its eyes.

Harolski put away his blade, then narrowed his eyes. “Looks like we need to take care of the other one for it to count.”

“Harolski, no.” Kia snatched up the locater token before Harolski could get to it. “That’s low even for you. I understand some things are necessary, but murdering children for no benefit?”

“I know how these things work. They’ll lead you on until they get everything they can out of you. Until you’re willing to betray everything you are.” She heard the faint accusation in his voice only too clearly.

Kia shook her head. “This isn’t me. It never has been. And this isn’t you either, I know that much.”

“Nothing we do here matters, Kia! It’s all part of VINE trying to twist us. The only thing that matters is who we are.” He stepped forward, searching her face intently, his face wrinkled into a frown. “Don’t let her take your soul.”

“We both made a choice to come here. We can’t go back now. We’re in this until we win. But there’s no need to be vicious about it. We can get experience and VINE tokens by doing things the normal way just as easily. There’s no reason to choose violence here. In the real world, it may be a harsh necessity, but here? We can be better here, Harolski. We don’t have to be what the world made us.”

“Now you sound like VINE.”

“And is that so bad?” Kia retorted at once. “Ivy is good and kind and means nothing but the best for us.”

“And she’ll destroy everything that allows us to survive out there. Wake up Kia! This isn’t going to last forever. You get stupid and complacent here, you’ll get eaten alive out there! You need to hold onto your steel, keep from being eroded away, if you’re ever going to survive the return.”

Kia hesitated, memories of Ivy’s help over the past month and the kindness of the people she’d helped clashing with the harsh distant reality of life before VINE. When she’d stolen, first to survive, then later for the challenge of it, but always hounded by the world.

“I understand,” she said slowly. “This isn’t real. It doesn’t really matter.”

But saying it still felt like a betrayal.

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