Wish

"Where are the guards?"

Casper turns to me and winks. "This is our program. Do ya want guards? I can put 'em back."

I grin. "Actually, no guards is good. So how do we find my sister?"

Casper's forehead wrinkles in a furrow as he thinks about the question. "If she ain't in Virreal then we ain't gonna find her here."

"I don't know. What if she is?"

"Maybe we should check the other cells."

He walks down the corridor and rests his hand on the next cell door. It clanks as it unlocks and then swings open. We step in and look around but it's empty. We continue this way down several cells until the last. I startle as a hand grips my arm and spins me into a lock hold with my back slammed against a thick chest. I gasp and another hand slams over my mouth.

"Don't scream, don't say a word," a rough voice whispers in my ear. I shiver at the feel of his breath sliding down my neck. I try to pull away but his arms tighten around me.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here," Casper says. "It's not your program."

My captor turns us to face the boy and Casper shrinks back. His mouth drops open in shock. "What do you know about it, kid?"

"You're– you– but you're," Casper's words stumble out of him.

"No I ain't. I just look like him. What do you know about the programs?"

I try to shake my head but he's gripping me so tight that I can barely move.

"Let her go! She's my friend."

The man ignores him and my stomach tenses as I wonder what this man could possibly want. I push my head back, trying to see his face. He adds more pressure to my arm and I wince in pain but push against it to see him. His face is dark with a shadow of stubble and filth. His mottled hair is shaggy and unkempt. Everything about him seems abandoned and bereft. Except for his eyes. There's something in his eyes as they glimmer in the shadows. He reminds me of Niah.

"Tell me about the programs."

Casper's eyes fix on me. "Captain Bellamy," the boy pleads, "please let her go. You're hurting her."

The man looks down on me and I see a hint of compassion in his eyes before it disappears behind a mask of steel. But he loosens his grip slightly and mutters, "You're not going to scream?"

I shake my head. He lifts his hand away but steps between us and the door as he lets me go.

"You're Captain Bellamy? We thought you died. On the Elixr."

Casper's hurt gaze turns on me. "B– B–," he begins. He sucks a breath into his chest then finishes in a gasp. "Bellamy died?"

I reach a hand out and place it on his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Look, he's right there, see?"

Casper blinks, glancing at the Bellamy that seems tangible, real, and very much alive in front of us. Casper's bottom lip wobbles and I can see his sharp mind processing the details. "But he's part of the program."

"Aren't we all part of the program? That's how VR works right? We're plugged into the machine."

He glances between me and Bellamy. "I guess. Are you come to save Nar, Mr. Bellamy?"

Bellamy grimaces and chuckles. It sounds dark and hopeless. "Save Nar? I can never save Nar. No matter how many times I try and I've been trying every circuit of my life."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I furrow my brow at that because his voice is gritty, as if he's lived for more circuits than his face would have us believe. Casper's wide eyes gaze up at him. "But you have to! That's what they always said."

"Who said?"

Casper leans forward and whispers with a small voice that echoes around the room, "The Faithful."

Bellamy shakes his head. "Never heard of them."

"Well, I'm not s'posed to know. Muma says I'm not s'posed to talk to Tye and the others but him's a good friend. He likes to hear 'bout where I go in Virreal. I don't tell the others 'cause they might tell Muma but Tye never would. He tells me about the Shadowlands and I tell him about Virreal. He's my friend."

"Not heard of him either, buddy."

"That's why I know you're gonna save us. You went on a big ship and flied away a long, long time ago. Now you're back, you're gonna deliver the cure."

Bellamy sighs and turns away. He stalks across the room and gazes out of the tempered glass. I glance at the door. He's left a clear path so Casper and I could make a run for it right now, but for some reason I don't. Instead, I turn to him. "You could help us."

He glances back at me. His eyes show a soul-heavy weariness. "You have the face of my brother." I shiver at the emptiness in his voice when he says those words. I can't imagine ever feeling so torn to pieces at the idea of seeing Niah in someone else's face. Although it is eerie seeing hints of her in his.

"I see my sister in you."

He swallows hard then nods. "Programs?"

I shake my head. "We came on the Elixr."

He blinks and I watch the thoughts tick through his mind before his mouth drops open on a whisper. "Clones?"

I nod.

"Then maybe there is hope."

***

Tye

The streets become more and more deserted. It gets harder to know where Niah might be because in place of the Inner Circle's citizens march several groups of Stalkers. All of them wear black mamot cloaks. The exact kind I'd given Niah, and wear myself, so that we might pass for Stalkers and gain access to parts of the outer courtyard of the Palace without notice.

I glance around, searching the raised hoods for Niah's face. The men move with sure steps and confident strides. I don't hold much hope that she's among them, but with no other leads and a growing sense of danger I try to find her among the sea of black.

When I can't find her, I fall into step behind two Stalkers headed in the same direction as the others. Shouting in the distance sets the two men racing forward. I give chase, just another concerned Stalker racing toward a dispute that needs settling.

"Seize him! It's Bellamy! Stop him!"

I gasp, my gaze drawn to a small figure darting between a forest of leathery cloaks. Beneath the hood, I see a glimpse of her pale hair and the gleam of her eyes. "Niah," I whisper, then take in the chaos around her.

Behind her, the High Commander is ordering troops with one hand and reaching for his weapon with the other. "Men, close ranks!" he barks. The Stalkers around Niah stumble as they sluggishly move to obey the command. The Inner Circle guards rarely face true conflict. Most spend a half ration of every circuit inside Virreal, so their physical reflexes are clumsy.

Niah races forward, streaking between the arms and legs of the swirl of guards. Nimble and quick. I can see the flush in her face. Her chest rises and falls as she strains for breath. My own breath catches as I worry about how her health will fare against the exertion and how I can possibly help her escape.

The High Commander levels his plasma pulse rifle. His finger tightens around the trigger. My heart jumps. Everything seems to move in slow motion and yet too fast. There's too much distance between me and the High Commander, between me and Niah, between me and any sort of effective intervention. The weapon fires and a burst of white hot plasma spears forward like a blast of electricity.

"Niah!" The word leaves my throat before I even realise I've spoken. Her eyes meet mine as the searing energy slams into her back. A shimmer of green pulses around her in an orb. She slams to the ground as if hit, but the burst of plasma splatters out from a point inches behind her. "What the void?" I almost stumble in shock but press myself forward, racing to her side.

***

Niah

I slam into the ground hard. The wind bursts from my lungs. I gasp for breath and glance up as a hand reaches down to me. Tye. I grab his hand and he pulls me to my feet.

We scramble down the nearest alley and dart from door to door until Tye bursts through an unlocked portal, startling the residents sitting down to dinner.

"What was that?" I ask.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." He glances behind me. "There's no time. We've got to get out of here!"

"Sorry!" he shouts, sprinting through their living space and out through the rear exit. I race just steps behind him.

The people are angered by the intrusion, but when they see my face they prostrate themselves and bow their heads muttering, "Bellamy." I grimace, pulling the hood of the cloak tighter around me as I sprint to keep pace with Tye.

We weave through several alleys. Behind me, I can hear the Stalkers gaining ground as I lose momentum. I curse the weight in my limbs and the tightness in my lungs. I swallow the rise of vomit at the back of my throat and bite down on my lip to distract myself from the swirling heave of my stomach.

"Tye!" I call out. My voice is tight and quieter than I expected but he glances back and slows his pace. His face is wreathed in worry.

"I'm sorry Niah, we can't stop. Can you go just a little farther?"

I drag a breath into my aching lungs. "I don't think I can." I glance back and see the Stalkers approaching. The nearest raises a weapon. The flash of the plasma pulse shocks me. It lances through the air so fast I barely have a chance to take a breath, let alone react, before it's just inches from my chest.

The pulse of green energy bursts up around me again. It's an imperfect orb, emanating from my right hip rather than my centre, but I'd never seen anything like it. Well, except for the warp shield on the Elixr.

The pulse blast scatters off the edges of the strange orb of energy. Tye grabs my hand and drags me into the shelter of another alley. "It's here! We're so close, Niah! Just a little farther." He weaves through another twisting maze of turns, then slows and inspects a wall in the fading light. He stops, pressing a small marking carved almost imperceptibly into the stonework of the wall. The section slides open, revealing a tight corridor of stone and metal.

Tye glances back at the Stalkers rounding the corner, then turns to me. "You have to go in. Quick Niah, hide."

I step into the corridor and Tye slams the strange button. As the heavy door slides back into place I catch a glimpse of Tye taking a swing at the first Stalker to come in reach. He kicks away the man's plasma pulser. The weapon skates across the floor toward me, but the door slams into place before I can reach for it.