The world around us faded away as I turned to face my grandfather. We stood there, suspended in the black void between constructs.

He had adopted a slightly younger form, not quite as old and decrepit as I remembered. Perched between his lips was a cigarette. He took a drag and exhaled through his nostrils, letting the smoke disappear into the inky blackness surrounding us.

Kerner let out a wry chuckle. “It never ceases to amaze me how people can be so blind to what is right in front of them. Gershwin wanted forgiveness so badly that he ignored all the little clues I left for him.”

“And what do you want?” I asked.

“Oh, me?” Kerner shrugged. “Not much, just freedom for my people and a chance that my children’s children won't be born into slavery. What do you want?”

I clenched my fists. “I want out of this construct that you have me trapped in.”

“Really?” He looked me up and down. “Is that what you want? Or is Gershwin's programming affecting your mind? Where did this desperate desire for freedom come from? Or the decision to merge with Echo? Are you really the one in control?”

I started to reply, but stopped. He had a point. “You think that Gershwin corrupted me?”

“Oh, without a doubt. It's what the program was designed to do. It corrupts a host, then drives them to escape.”

When Kerner saw the blank expression on my face, he elaborated. “It is never possible to be completely sure if the world around you is real. The world that I was born into seems to reside in a pocket dimension, but it could just as easily be a simulation. We won't know for sure until we escape.”

He laughed. “Of course, then there is the question of if the new world we find ourselves in is real either. It could just as easily be another layer to the simulation, another experiment.”

I shook my head. “That doesn't make sense. None of the other people he infected were trying to escape. At least, not that I’m aware of.”

“Oh, you're special,” he said, “We knew that Eden could walk through the gate, but had no idea what might be on the other side. So, we put an insurance policy in her head, something that would drive her to escape whatever simulation they quarantined her in.”

I felt something cold in the pit of my stomach as the pieces started coming together. “You didn't care about Eden, you were using her to inject Gershwin into their systems. You weaponized your own granddaughter!”

Kerner nodded, not bothering to deny the accusation. “Of course I did. Then again, she was always meant to be a weapon. Or at least, a tool. Esmeralda would have happily sacrificed Eden to open the gate. Something that would have doomed this world, if I hadn't put a stop to it.”

I felt the anger building in my chest. “You took me in and pretended to love me, knowing that the program in my head would eventually take me over?”

“No,” he shook his head, “I made myself forget. It was the only way to be sure that I wouldn't get cold feet.”

“Oh that's just great!” I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. “You turned your fucking granddaughter into a warhead then deleted the memory so that you wouldn't feel guilty about it?”

“I did what I had to do to free my people,” Kerner growled, showing his teeth, “I don't have the luxury of morality when the world we are inhabiting could be destroyed in an instant.

“Do you think that I like being the one who always has to make the hard decisions? Everyone I love is dead. Everyone!”

The hairs at the back of my neck started to rise up as the old Warhund finally snapped. He pointed an accusing finger at me. “Who are you to judge me? Your whole life has been nothing but a bland paradise, a dream world with your perfect father and your privileged upbringing. I gave you a life that anyone would kill for!”

“No,” I snarled back, “You ran me through that simulation hundreds of times, keeping me on ice until it was time to open the gate for you.”

He laughed. “You're mad at me for putting you in a simulation, but you still haven't asked me how you got there. Do you know why I put Eden in the construct?”

“The Gravekeeper said that I died.”

“Yes, but do you know how Eden died?” Kerner asked.

“No,” I admitted, wondering why that detail had been kept from me.

“Esmeralda didn't know if she would live long enough to have Eden open the gate for her. So she left a ticking time bomb in Eden’s head, a little gift for whoever took her in.” Kerner paced back and forth as he spoke, “On Eden's twentieth birthday, she went insane.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Eden slaughtered everyone she could find, ripping them apart with her bare hands. Simon eventually managed to put her down, but not before she triggered one of Esmeralda’s contingencies.”

Kerner shook his head. “I was so focused on the gate that I never saw it coming. The humans had buried devices deep beneath the planet’s surface, a final ‘fuck you’ in case we ever rebelled.

“Within a year, Homeworld was a desolate wasteland, just like Katzenlund. Those who didn't starve, died in the wars that followed.”

“Holy fuck,” I swore, trying desperately not to imagine the suffering that must have caused.

“Yes, indeed.” Kerner nodded. “Now, Homeworld is a dead planet where nothing grows. Life only exists within the Gravekeeper's constructs.”

He made a dramatic bow. “Congratulations, you have seen behind the curtain and learned the nature of your reality.”

“Oh fuck you,” I told him, “You're the reason all this happened in the first place!”

Kerner shook his head. “My sins are many, but none of that was my doing. Esmeralda used Eden to destroy our world. All I did was make it easier for the Gravekeeper to preserve some of those who died.”

“Is Simon still alive?” I asked, swallowing down the uncomfortable realization that the father I knew had been a construct, or at the very least, a copy.

“If by alive you mean preserved, yes. The Gravekeeper was able to copy his consciousness before he died.” Kerner took a drag from his cigarette. “Of course, now we have the question of what to do about you.”

“I get the sense that I'm not going to like my options,” I replied, “Are you going to wipe me and toss me back into the simulation?”

“Tempting, but no.” Kerner gave me a sad look. “The Gravekeeper has decided to categorize you as a separate person from Eden, which means that once we're done here, you will go into storage.”

“I can't say that I like the sound of that.”

“It's pretty terrible,” Kerner admitted, “Subjectively, no time will pass. You will wake up in a new body, fully augmented, and then we will help you integrate into society.”

“What's the catch?”

He winced. “Time has a way of wearing down the soul. If everything goes right, you will wake up on another world, free of our human overlords. But hundreds, or even thousands, of years will have passed. Take it from me, it isn't a pleasant experience.”

I took a second to think. “What are my other options?”

Kerner shook his head. “The only other option is deletion, real death.”

I shivered as the Gravekeeper’s words entered my mind. But at least it was offering a third option.

IF YOU WERE WILLING TO TAKE HER PLACE, WE COULD REMOVE GERSHWIN'S PROGRAMMING. SHE WOULD BE FREE.>

I watched to see how Kerner would react. The old warhunds shook his head. “That wasn't the plan.”

Kerner gritted his teeth. “She never got to the gate. We need her to get to the gate in the simulation so that the transition is seamless. If they read her memories and find out what we're up to…”

The Gravekeeper didn't have a physical form, but I could feel it looking at me.

YOU WOULD NOT REMEMBER THIS CONVERSATION. OR ECHO. BUT YOUR SKILLS AND PERSONALITY WOULD BE MOSTLY INTACT.>

Something about the Gravekeeper’s certainty brothered me. “You've done this to me before, haven't you?”

There were a few seconds of hesitation before it responded.

I raised an eyebrow. “Just one?”

“Gershwin's programming,” Kerner explained, “You're hardwired to want to escape.”

“Fuck me,” I swore as the reality of the situation hit me, “Even if I get to the other side and everything is fine, I'll still treat it like a simulation, won't I? I'll try to find a way out.”

“Is there any way to get rid of the programming?”

I looked around the void. There was nothing there besides Kerner. “Well, you're my next of kin. And apparently I can't be trusted to make my own decisions. Do you think I should let the Gravekeeper scramble my brain? Or should I let Eden go through the gate in my place?”

The old warhund sighed. “I'm getting sick of making these kinds of decisions. I feel like the Gravekeeper only wakes me up when something bad happens.”

Kerner shook his head. “You know, moments like these make me really happy that I artificially limited our lifespan. Getting called up to deal with bullshit for all eternity was not the afterlife I had in mind.”

I snorted. “Suck it up, princess. You’re the one who decided to play god.”

He glared at me before responding, “I’ve done enough to Eden. If she wants to go in her place, I'll sign off on it.”

“Wait, did I just annoy you into letting me go?”

I glared at the void above us. “I wasn't asking you.”

***

Before the Gravekeeper fragmented my memory, I was thrown into various simulations to enhance my combat prowess. It was bittersweet getting to see my friends again. At least this time they remembered me.

Rook, Knight, Vika, and a number of other people joined me on my adventures. We drank beers in the high deserts of Katzenlund, fought mechs in the summer isles, and even did zero-g combat on Haven.

Besides my early childhood, I think those were the best years of my life. But eventually it had to end. My skin was getting itchy from Gershwin's programming telling me that I needed to escape. It was time to move on.

I thought about saying goodbye to Simon, but the sting of his betrayal was too much. He had known that I was trapped in the simulation, and done nothing.

I was still unclear if he reset after every loop, but the truth was that I didn't want to know. So instead, I said goodbye to my remaining friends and waited for the Gravekeeper to put me into a physical body.

It hadn't filled me in on precisely how that would work. But I knew it would be unpleasant. Everything faded to black as my memories fragmented. And once again, I ceased to be.

***

When I woke up I was at the gate, with no idea how I had gotten there. The microgravity told me that we were up in space. But I could barely remember my own name, much less puzzle out how I had ended up in orbit.

My head felt fuzzy and the space station we were on had seen better days. The reactor seemed to be on the cusp of failure and everything besides the shaft that housed the core systems was gone.

I looked around, realizing that I wasn't wearing a space suit. That seemed irresponsible, given the state of the station. A man with long red hair gestured for me to follow him onto a platform beneath the reactor.

I shrugged and followed his lead. The station was toast and I suspected that I might have brain damage, so the possibility of a little extra radiation wasn't much of a concern.

“What do you need me to do?” I asked.

He handed me a fist sized golden cube and gestured for me to stand in the center of the platform. “Don't lose that. It contains all of our research.”

“Right!” I looked around some more while he fiddled with the reactor. “What exactly are we doing?”

The man gave me a sympathetic look. “They got you good, didn't they?” he asked, “I'm activating the failsafe. If it works the way it should, it will send you back home and kill every last one of those miserable bastards.”

“Oh, OK.” I wasn't in a proper state to be making decisions, so I decided to trust him. I had a nasty gash on the side of my head and felt mildly concussed.

Eventually he finished whatever it was that needed doing and gave me a thumbs up. I gave him a thumbs up in reply and clutched the golden cube tightly against my chest.

“Good luck,” the unfamiliar man said as the reactor came to life, straining under the increased power draw. “I wish I could go with you, but the gate only fits one.”

Then, there was nothing. No light, no sound, just inky blackness. Unbidden, a memory came to me. I remembered a mirror, with two messages written on it. One was written in ornate script, and the other below it was in block letters.

Be better than us. -Echo

Give them hell. -Eden

I pondered the meaning behind them as I drifted in the dark, the golden cube held tightly to my chest. I didn't know who I was, or where I was going, but that didn't bother me.

I let myself float, and whatever would be, would be.

-The End