The kick caught T.J. by surprise. He fell back with a grunt, holding his broken jaw with a pitiful moan.

When Roger turned to see what was happening, not realizing that Victor had kicked up while draped over Roger's shoulder. Victor used the momentum of Roger's turn to twist down to his feet while getting an arm over Roger's neck in a reverse under arm headlock. Victor had turned the tables, but Roger was already struggling. Now what? Victor wasn't sure he could incapacitate Roger from this position without killing him.

Roger began struggling harder to get out of the hold. His thundering fists began pounding hard against Victor's back. Victor felt his grip beginning to loosen as the torrent hammered against his spine. He squeezed. However afraid he was that he might kill Roger, he was more afraid of what Roger would do if he got loose. Especially when he saw T.J.

When Roger's grip began to loosen and his punches went limp, Victor broke free and made a run for it. Behind him he could hear Roger coughing. As he ran back through the hall Victor realized that he was a dead man. Roger and T.J. could somehow stop the A,.I. from noticing them. Since Victor wouldn't kill them, they would get to try again and again and again. Next time they might just beat him to death where they found him.

But what if they're control over the A.I. was only temporary? They couldn't possibly be doing it for more than a few minutes at a time, or they'd have already taken over the school. As Victor ran past a hall drone he tested his theory.

"Reporting fight by Airlock number 3," he said.

"Report acknowledged. Proceeding to Airlock 3."

Victor didn't stop to look. He continued running until he reached The Information Room. He hid in Information Room 10 in case they were aware of his schedule. The encounter earlier had felt more like a planned ambush than unfortunate coincidence.

A knock at the door made Victor jump. He didn't answer.

"Vance? Are you in there?" It was Lucas Martin's voice. Victor opened the door.

"Is everything alright? I saw you come here."

"It's fine," Victor said quickly, but his eyes darted around the Information Room and what he could see of the hallway. No Roger, no T.J. He relaxed. Had the drones done their job for once?

"What did you want?"

Lucas shrugged. "Me and some of the guys have been talking about what happened to Alex and the Reactor Club."

"I told you to leave it alone Lucas."

"I know. But how could I? Alex looked out for a lot of us low Social score people. If not for him, some of us might have been sent to the box, already."

Victor sympathized. He hadn't been lacking social contact to quite the degree that would get him suspended, but the social contact that he had made before befriending Alex had been mechanical, forced. Done because it was required. Victor sighed and shrugged. If Lucas was determined than Victor might as well hear him out at the least.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Alright. When do you guys get together?"

Lucas nodded over to a set of cushioned chairs and a sofa surrounding a holo table. Three other students were looking at Victor and Lucas speak.

Well, it's not like I'm all that anxious to wander the halls, he thought.

He sat on one of the empty chairs. He recognized one other person from the group, a boy by the name Fumio, though like most students he went by his last name, Tanaka. Fumio was average height with large round spectacles and lanky. The other two boys were twins, though Victor couldn't remember their names.

"You've met Fumio. That's Frank and Edgar Wright. They go by Wright One and Wright Two," Lucas said as he sat between the twins. Victor raised an eyebrow. Why was everyone this insistent on using last names?  Lucas continued. "I'm just going to go over what we've got so far. Let's start with all the questions."

Lucas produced a piece of paper from his pocket. Victor didn't blame him for not using the holo tables. You could supposedly disconnect them from the network, but you could never be too sure. On the paper were several questions. Lucas read the first one aloud.

"First off, question one. The reason this group was formed to answer: Why was the Reactor Club put into hyperbolic suspension? It's the number one question on all our minds. Our best guess so far: they discovered something they weren't supposed to. Question number two: what the hell is going on with the A.I.? It's the question we've all been too damn afraid to ask. It's time someone did. Question three: what's up with the static and noise on the comms and the rumbling in the station? We're using ansible, so communication should be instantaneous and crystal clear. It's not. I mean, what are those booster relays surrounding the station for if not to 'boost' comms?"

Lucas put the paper back into his school uniform jacket pocket.

"Victor, since you're new here we'll let you go first. Do you have any ideas about those questions?"

Victor looked carefully at all of the boys in the group. One of the twins looked skeptical. Fumio's expression was blank. Victor Vance felt like everything was closing in on him. He had no way of deciphering the contents of the data cube currently in his pocket. A homicidal bully who could disable the drones was probably searching the station for him, and it was becoming clearer to him that his current quest was going to get him put in the box if he didn't resolve it quickly. It was time for a gamble.

He took the data cube out and placed it in the center of the holo table.

"I'm willing to bet it's all in here," he said simply. "If you can decrypt it."

Lucas shook his head, smiling. "See guys? I told you," he said. Then to Victor, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you Vance?"