White crashed all around me and swept me back into the days of meeting Dr. Henderson here. Though I immediately met the kind eyes of Dr. Drake, I still expected to see the older supervisor of my world appear.

The disappointment and disbelief etched into her face made my stomach feel like a tight ball.

"What were you thinking?"

I swallowed hard and then breathed in slowly. I needed to stay calm, collected, and most of all, confident. "You know what I was thinking. You understand it too."

"Max. You entered into another world and took implants for people who weren't born with them. The Collective will not be happy."

"Do they know yet?"

"Not yet. The supervisor of this world contacted me because she knew that I was working with you."

I blinked. "So she knows we came from another world?"

"She monitors new neural implants. It didn't take long for her to figure out that you weren't from this world. You're marked in the system."

Dr. Drake knew things that she'd never told me. That didn't surprise me really. I just had never thought about it. "You knew that it was our same consciousness populating all these worlds."

"What good would it have done for me to tell you? I didn't know how you'd react."

"You see what I've been through and what I've accomplished. Don't coddle me and don't underestimate me."

"Okay." She lifted her hands. "That's fair."

"How many other worlds are there?"

"Well…" A look of shame came over Dr. Drake. "Each experiment has four worlds. The truth is that this isn't the only experiment. We have ten groups of worlds running, all with different people. So that the Collective can compare data between the group of controls."

"Controls. You mean us."

"Yes." The anger edged into my voice, even though I knew that Dr. Drake didn't agree with the Collective and cared about what happened to me. Standing here in this white room, saying things like "we", it was hard for me to separate her from the rest of the Collective, or even from Dr. Henderson. "I have no idea what the Collective will do about you sneaking into this world and taking powers for them. It can't happen again."

"It's not. I needed help. You see the fallout of what Dr. Henderson did to our world." I crossed my arms. "I'm not a child, so I won't pretend to be ashamed of my actions or act like I didn't understand the implications of what we've done. I won't act like I didn't know how the gods would feel. I did what was best for my people. We all did."

"It's just, if you'd come to me first–"

"Would they have this power if I had come to you?"

Dr. Drake shook her head and looked away. Answer enough.

"The only advantage I have is that you guys are not constantly monitoring me. I'm sure that'll change. You've learned your lesson that I can cause more problems than you thought I was capable of. That's kind of on you, though. I did manage to escape my simulation."

"You scare me sometimes." Dr. Drake bit her nail and stared off quietly for several seconds. "I don't know how to keep you from doing things that the Collective will not accept."

"Then explain to me why it matters. Really. My world cannot be considered a valid source of data any longer. You guys promised to let us live in peace and stop experimenting on us. So don't interfere."

She sighed. "Still, that doesn't mean that they want to let you start mixing worlds and borrowing technology and advancements. They want to salvage what data they can."

"It's their own fault for making it possible to cross worlds."

"They aren't going to be happy about this. I can tell you right now that this time relatively component will be changed. They certainly are not going to want you spending time in another world without losing time in your own world."

"Why?"

"The data, Max. It's all about the data."

"The data on what? Why do you need more data than you already have? Giving the implants to one percent of the world does not work."

"They knew it wouldn't. The point is to have different control groups to compare so that we can learn about how people behave with the implants and prepare for all scenarios."

Max's nostrils flared. "This is my life, not their experiment. They failed us so they don't get to trap us in our world when we learn how to travel ourselves."

Dr. Drake faced me again with her eyes looking sorry. "You're right that you deserve to live life to the fullest."

"We shouldn't have our advancements stunted. We should be encouraged to reach the heights of our innovation. Isn't there value in that data? Sure, it may not be what you wanted originally. But can you not find a way to start your study anew? A case study. Or a qualitative study."

She smiled. "You've been talking to Piercey."

"Hell yes, I have. Dr. Drake, my world is a mess. Elias has answers that can help us. I'm not giving everyone in the world powers."

"Where will it end, though? Their world knows how to do it. Yours will figure it out now that you've seen as much as you have. Should only the people you love and trust get the power?"

"For now. We have no better way of vetting people. It's all fallen on top of my shoulders. So yeah, my people and I, we're the ones deciding."

"You better find another way soon. That's all I'm saying. Introducing power to people who previously lacked it changes everything. If the wrong person got their hands on this ability, think of what they could do with it."

I closed my eyes. "I know. I understand the problems with what we're doing. We're desperate, though. Dr. Henderson orchestrated so many power plays and enabled some of the worst people in Skia Hellig to pursue their ambitions unchecked."

She sat beside me again and placed her hand on my knee. "I'm going to do what I can with the Collective."

"Are you afraid that they'll remove me from this world? Or shut us down?"

"It's too late for that. The fallout of you coming to our world and Dr. Henderson being removed has rippled beyond the Collective. It is not widespread knowledge, but enough eyes are on you that they can't just kill you or destroy your world. And that's what they'd be doing if they chose either route you mentioned.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"So why are you scared?"

"The Collective has time on their hands. They have intelligence and wisdom and power. I want to believe that they will do right by you, but look at the mistakes they've made. If you keep causing problems, I worry about how that will effect you once you're in the after-life or in my society."

"That's a problem for another day."

"What if they take away your power?"

"They said they couldn't."

"Your instructors sealed your power once. It's possible. This time, you may not get it back."

I breathed in deeply. "If they want to steal away the power of the person who is safeguarding an entire region, then that will be a very sad day for them. I'm not hurting my world. I'm just hurting their agenda, and it was a bad agenda to begin with. Take care of this for me. Apparently, they have plenty of other worlds to they can watch."

"You know that I'm your side, don't you? It's why I care about you being in danger with the Collective."

"I know that you care and I know you think that the safest thing for me to do is to keep the Collective happy with me. What you don't realize is that if I wait for permission from people, then I'll never escape the limitations they put on me. My world is in peril and it's up to us to fix it. I can't rely on the Collective for that."

"I understand. I just want you to be safe."

"Do you know what I really think?" My voice softened, maybe because I was afraid of someone hearing, even though I didn't actually have any such privacy. "There's more going on here than what they're saying. There's a reason they let Dr. Henderson stay in control of my world after she'd gotten corrupted. I don't believe they had no idea. There's a reason they let me come back and kill her. And there's a reason that they continue to allow me to defy them. More than that, there's a reason that time is synchronized across worlds for people inside the simulation."

Dr. Drake looked just as troubled.

"Who is walking between our worlds? What do they want?"

"I don't know."

"You need to find out. They created this mechanic for a reason."

She bit her lip. "You may have to ask them yourself. If I intervene too much on your behalf, they may think I'm too emotionally invested to work with you. I'll find out what I can, but consider talking to them. I'm sure that as soon as they realize what you've done, they'll want to meet with you."

I shrugged. "You know, I'm sure they will. And I don't really feel like waiting around for them to call. I want to see them now."

"Are you sure?"

"I'd rather approach them."

"Just wait here and let me take care of this."

----------------------------------------

The first time I'd placed my hand against the water beyond the window, I'd had no reason to believe I would ever be able to return to my home world. At the time. I'd felt entirely at their mercy. Since then, I'd come to understand that the Collective needed me. It was why they allowed me to return to my world and why they let me stay there after I killed Dr. Henderson. I may not have understood what they wanted with me. Only that I had more power than it first appeared.

They were waiting for me to speak first. For a being that existed beyond the traditional sense of time, it seemed awfully manipulative. They didn't need time to process or think for as long as I did.

"I don't plan to explain myself," I said. "You know what I did and you're smart enough to know why I did it."

"We are smart enough to also see that you are not remorseful in the slightest."

"I'm as remorseful as you are for leaving us in my world with no power after Dr. Henderson made such a terrible mess."

A moment of hesitation, for me, I was sure. "You're committed to your people and will do what you feel is best for them, no matter the trouble it places you in. You must have thought that risking angering us posed less of a threat than choosing not to get the power. It touches us that you have some sort of faith in us after all that has happened. You believed that we would not end your life and we're happy you feel that way."

"Are you really?" Could the Collective lie? What a dumb question. Of course they could. I just wasn't sure how often they chose to do so.

"Yes, because we do care about the people in the worlds we created. We want you to know we care about you and aren't looking for reasons to end your life. In fact, it's important to us that we do all we can to help you flourish, especially given the mistakes we've made."

"I'm not sure you see them as mistakes. You're allowing experiments to continue in other control groups. That doesn't sound like remorse."

"We've told you before that having created this problem in the first place, we should at least reap the benefits of the experiments."

A smile curled my lips. "If you could go back, would actually do anything differently?"

"No."

I appreciated that they answered quickly and didn't pretend like that they needed time to think about it. They wanted me to trust them. They knew that I wouldn't believe it if they said that they would make another choice and that I also wouldn't believe any kind of false show of uncertainty. "Then I truly have no reason to regret my actions."

"We suppose not. It's problematic for us, though. We cannot have you operating with no rules."

"I have rules. I do what's best for my people." I stepped forward, studying the light rippling through the clear water. If I looked close enough, it seemed to have a rhythm. "You can predict what I might do knowing that about me. You shouldn't try to interfere in what I do. We have a deal. You observe me. That needs to be enough for you."

"You're abusing the mechanics of your world."

"So are you."

"We're shutting down the synchronization of time. Over time, you'll age more than your worlds, and it's difficult to say how that will affect you and your world."

That sounded like an excuse to me. "I think you don't want me to be able to use that mechanic."

"We don't. It's not how nature is meant to work."

"You've created your own nature. I'm sure you can handle whatever problems my world shifting might cause. Besides, I thought you couldn't make changes like that to the worlds without hurting them?"

"This is different. This is not built into the experiment or into your world. It's basically a rule that we left turned on. If we turn it off, it changes little."

The frustration clawed into my voice now. "I'm dealing with a dangerous situation. A guild wants to enter my world. I need for time to stay still in my world when I'm gone."

"No, absolutely not. The world is not meant to work this way. You've brought your friends in on this too. You're threatening the stability of two worlds and each of your lives. It's absolutely being shut down."

I swallowed hard. "Will you block our ability to travel worlds?"

"We don't know if we necessarily can without altering the conditions of your experiment. You've used your power to do this. You did not use your power to freeze time in your world. That was our doing."

"Why?" I leaned forward. "Why did you build this in? Who has been traveling between our worlds?"

"No one. We needed it as a mechanic in case. Just like how we have the ability to have avatars."

"And why do you have those?"

"We wanted all methods of observation to be available. Supervisors had the ability to enter the world as one of you and gather that kind of qualitative research."

I didn't buy it. These sounded like half-truths. That may have been the Collective's preferred way of lying, not to outright weave together untruths, but to paint incomplete or skewed pictures.

"Is there any other reason that you made that mechanic?"

"We've told you the truth. Clearly, you won't believe us."

I closed my eyes and settled my forehead against the window.

"Will there ever be peace between us, Max?"

"I don't know. I'm angry."

"You're tired, as well. It's why you needed Nash, Leif, and Wren to have power."

"I need just a little bit of mercy."

"We know." The Collective's voice sounded as smooth as honey now. "We don't blame you for what you did, but it worries us for what you'll do in the future."

"I'm not going to let anyone else from my world receive a neural implant. This was a one time thing."

"Will you travel to the other worlds."

"I don't know." Maybe I should have lied but I truly didn't want to. I was tired of the lies, the half-truths, the hidden mysterious that they refused to unveil. "What do you really want with me?"

"We want to watch what you do."

"It's more than that."

"Max, go home. Don't simply care for your people, but live your life. We have you another chance to live for a reason. Don't let it waste away."

The longing to have quiet days with Nash and Elsie tightened my throat. "Why are you letting me get away with this? I think you should. I believe in my argument. But I just don't trust your motives."

"We would also find it hard to trust in your situation."

I had nothing left to say.