With a flash of red to green, the portal in the outside shed next to Carly's house activated and Ross Melos stepped through.

"You really dropped yourself in it, Ross," Carly said to the tall and thin, old gentleman wearing a white blazer and pants. His most notable feature a wrinkly bald dome surrounded by a trimmed white horseshoe hairline. Beneath that was a pair of sad brown eyes, bold nose, and thin lips. Still, he was pretty mobile for a guy in his nineties. "I would have messaged you back, but everything out of here is blocked. By the way, Isaccs is porting in soon, so let's move to the house."

"What?" Ross said in a surprised voice.

"Your message from yesterday, I only received it this morning along with a message from Isaccs saying he would be arriving a minute after you."

"This isn't good. Mark really screwed up, as did you. What that team and you did was tracked, and the entire team was taken by security soon after. No one has heard from them since. What happened, what you chose to do," Ross put his hands to his head in agitation. "There will be consequences. Sever ones. You're in a great deal of trouble, we both are, guilt by association."

"Yeah, I figured as much. So what do we do? Is there any room for negotiation?"

Ross paced for a couple of seconds. "Perhaps, Isaccs will want to keep what happened, quiet. He definitely won't want oversight to find out. He will do whatever it takes to keep it from their prying eyes. He'll have a plan. It will just be a matter of how bad this will be for us. Thanks, by the way."

Carly shrugged. "Sorry."

"Yeah, you say that," Ross said with surly tone and look.

"So, if he is covering up what happened, then I should be fine, right?" Carly asked, ignoring his attitude.

There was a knock at the door.

"I guess we'll find out," answered Ross.

With a deep breath, a shake of her head, and an obviously fake smile, Carly went to answer.

"Hello, Mr. Shrodastower. Come in," Carly offered while stepping back from her entry.

"Quite an interesting TME you have here, Miss Berkstead. Considerably more spacious than one would expect of an MDP trainee's personal living space."

"Thank you, Sir. I have done the best I could with what I had available to me." Carly showed the man through to the dining room table where Ross was waiting.

"Ross," Isaccs acknowledged without any sort of facial expression.

"Richard," Ross replied likewise, it was easy to read there was a degree of animosity between the two men.

"Please take a seat Mr. Shrodastower," Carly offered.

"Thank you," he acknowledged and took a seat, Ross sat opposite square four-seater wooden table.

"Can I get either of you to gentleman anything to drink?" Carly asked.

"No, thank you, Miss Berkstead..." Isaccs replied.

"I'm fine. Thanks, Carly," Ross answered with a smile towards her.

"...I am not here for a social visit as you might well imagine."

Carly sat as well. "What you said about your TME, is that also accurate in describing your actions in the loop?" Isaccs asked Carly.

Carly hesitated for a moment, wondering how she should approach the situation.

"Think very carefully about how you answer the question, Miss Berkstead. I am now aware of your back channels entry into the MDP via Ross' aid. Add that on top of the Loop debacle. What's more, I'm now also aware of this place and what resides here."

Carly smiled innocently. "Yes, Mr. Shrodastower. While I would have won anyway, I took an opportunity when it became available.

"That choice could have jeopardised much, Miss Berkstead," Isaccs responded with a tightly restrained anger, evident from the tightness of the man's lips and eyes.

Carly couldn't help herself sitting so close to this guy. "I'm not going to apologise for what I did." She smiled at him without the slightest warmth. "I am sure that any inconvenience that might come your way is far less than..."

"Carly," Ross interrupted.

"No, let Miss Berkstead have her say," Isaccs told Ross. "After the incident was discovered. I had your background looked into Miss Berkstead. I'm aware of your history."

"Oh, so I don't need to say anymore then."

Isaccs smiled sarcastically toward her, speaking in a sickly sweet voice. "Not at all, though experts say talking helps."

Carly went very still, except for her hands, which she placed beneath the table and squeezed.

"Anyway," Isaccs waved away. "Forget about that, the oversight committee is none the wiser, and all evidence has been thoroughly cleaned."

Placing his fingertips together, forming a wedge on the table, Isaccs smiled. "What we need to do now is to send you off to Expanse as soon as possible, Miss Berkstead. You know, like that old saying, out of sight out of mind.

I did the same with the dev team. They are currently stored away in a secure locker in the depths of this facility. No one will find them and come launch day. They will be in the system and inaccessible to oversight."

"What exactly did you do with them, Richard?" Ross asked, with concern showing across his face.

"Nothing much, they just got their transferrence brought forward by a couple of years. They agreed to it, positively keen on it, in fact. Of course, when they arrive in Expanse, they will be sorely disappointed since they interfered with the event their punishment will be a moderate reduction of remunerations..."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"That's their life that you're taking away Richard."

"A small punishment that fits the crime," Isaccs shrugged off. "They can make up for it easily. They have a lifetime, just like every other extant. Mark Derver, on the other hand, was the who sent the messages to you, Miss Berkstead. So his punishment will be quite a bit harsher remuneration reduction."

"How much?" asked Ross.

"10-million."

"10-million," Ross exclaimed in complete shock. "That's years of time."

"About 14-years," Isaccs answered smugly. "Besides, the lot of them should have plenty of wages stashed away in their bank accounts. They can still cash in and convert over before they enter Expanse. They were all paid exceptionally well. If they weren't smart about their finances, then really, that's on them."

"Don't think their punishment is harsh, Ross," Isaccs pulled out some paperwork and a pen and slid them across the table. "Read it and sign."

"What is this?" Ross asked.

"I have had my actuaries calculate your wealth. This is a contract for a sell order of your PURG stocks. Then, the remunerations will be divided. First, 50-percent of your money will be shared among the 52,363 other pioneers of the MDP and beta group. Miss Berkstead will receive 20-percent, and you can keep the final 30-percent."

"What, you can't force me to do this," Ross yelled in anger as he stood up in outrage. For an old man, his dive avatar could be downright spritely sometimes.

"Your right Ross. But then, I don't have to accept Miss Berkstead's transference, nor yours for that matter. Does that sound agreeable?"

Ross continued to glower at Isaccs for several seconds before dropping his shoulders and easing back into the chair like the elderly man he was. Picking up the papers, he began reading the documents.

"Can you really stop him from transferring?" Carly asked Isaccs.

"Yes. If Ross left the PURG facility and tried to access one of the North American transference stations, he could very easily be blocked. The same goes for anywhere on Earth. I could continue to have him blocked even after I elect to do transference, which won't be for some time, barring any unforeseen health incident. I don't intend to do transference for at least another 20-years, more depending on my physical and mental faculty. I just don't see Ross hanging on for anywhere near that long."

"Why, are you so, harsh with him?"

"Because I can," Isaccs smiled. "Because he has been a thorn in my side for too many years. Because I want him gone, and today I can do just that. Because to get you into the MDP program, he should have gone through the appropriate channels. She would have been accepted. Do you realise that, Ross? There was never a need to sneak her in. Someone with her history, who demonstrated such outstanding mental fortitude. Of course, she would have been allowed into the program." Isaccs never took his eyes off Carly while talking to Ross the whole time. It rather pissed Carly off, but she just stared coldly back.

"You did well hiding your self all this time. Why did you break your cover? If you had lost in the Free-For-All, no one would have even given you a second look as you transported into Expanse. Even getting into the Loop Event, why didn't you just run your race and fall to the boundary in the first few days. Especially if you had just ignored Derverder's offer."

It was Carly's turn to shrug. "The prizes, well the first prize. Special Cumulative Reward, it sounded enticing, and I wanted to grab as many benefits as I could, you know."

"I get it, but why break cover?"

"Hmm," Carly gripped her chin in thought. "Let me ask you this, all things being equal, could I outperform them?"

"All things were not equal, though. You were directed towards a specific set of skills to assist your performance. You cheated."

"I know it could definitely be taken that way. But that assistance I received cost a lot of time and development points. I have absolute confidence that assistance actually hindered my result. Without it, I may have completed 1150-laps."

"Then why did you accept the assistance?"

"Well, it sounded like it could benefit me in this new world, aah, Expanse."

Isaccs just shook his head. "Such a shame. Miss Berkstead, for your roll in this debacle. I, Richard Isaccs Shrodastower, do strip 5-million life points from your first place reward. Answer, that you understand, Miss Berkstead."

Carly nodded. "I understand, Mr. Shrodastower," she answered stoically.

By this time, Ross was handing the signed document back to Isaccs.

"Mr. Melos, for avoiding the correct procedure to bring Miss Berkstead into the Martial Development Program and hide this fact for six years. I, Richard Isaccs Shrodastower, offer you transference into Expanse on launch day as one of the pioneers. I strip you of all remunerations you earned during these past six years. Answer, that you understand, Mr. Melos."

"I understand," Ross answered dejectedly.

"Very good! Don't look so down Ross, think of it as you getting early access to Expanse. Think how much further along you will be as a launch day pioneer, as compared to a first wave Extant in two years," Isaccs said with a smirk.

"Now, finally, the unpleasantness is completed. Let's move on to better things. Miss Berkstead, you have accumulated 24-days of early access. That means that you will be transferring into Expanse today, congratulations."

"What? Really? But, I'm not ready."

"That's fine. Most of the rewards are automatically set to transfer via your new Extant ID. This will happen after you have completed your transference into Expanse.

There is one small thing, though. Because you completed lap-1100, you have a Special Request Reward. In order to receive that reward, you need to request something, and I will see if it can be approved. Do you know what you would like to request for your reward?" Isaccs asked with a flourish of false excitement in his voice.

Isaccs and Ross waited as Carly sat in silence. It was only for a few moments of time, but there was a weight attached to the moment, coming from the seriousness of Carly.

Eventually, Carly looked up to Isaccs. "You said, you know what I have here. I assume you mean the AI's?"

"You have AI's here? In this TME? That changes everything. I will have to increase the size of your fine," he said with a stern look for a couple of seconds before it turned into a smile.

"That one will have to cost you. Two non-approved AI's operating in a personal TME. What would you like to request, happen to them?"

"I would like them to be transferred with me into Expanse."

Isaccs looked over to Ross. "These AI, original or PURG property?"

"PURG, though an older version than what is active nowadays."

"That's fine, they can be upgraded to be current and fully compatible," Isaccs said.

"Will they still be the same after an upgrade? Because I like them just the way they are right now," Carly stated.

"If there is any variation, it should be minimal. They will simply have more capacity. How the AI's act and respond to stimuli should remain intact.

There is a cost for such an upgrade, however. An additional 5-million off your reward life points," Isaccs answered with a smile. "Still willing?"

"I am, thank you," stated Carly.

"Can you go get the AI's now and bring them here, Miss Berkstead?"

Carly nodded once before lifting back her chair, getting up she quickly left the room and headed upstairs.

"Did you have to punish that girl so harshly? You just took as much from her as Mark, 14-years. After all, she suffered through in the past," Ross shook his head. "It isn't right, Richard."

Isaccs released a dismissing breath. "Always the martyr, Ross. You should worry about yourself more. Besides, that miserly 5-million is getting her two personal AI into the world with her. I would classify that as more boon than bain."

Besides, that 20-percent of your portfolio you just signed to her is many times the value of her punitive fine. Judging by her performance, she would be fine with or without it. You, on the other hand, just lost 70-percent of your wealth, and I don't think you will ever be as capable as Miss Berkstead in Expanse.

"You extorted me, holding both our lives for ransom. I would say I am shocked, but no, I'm really not."

"Good for you Ross, but let's be honest here, you're the ones who broke the rules. Now I have to step in and deal with it. Well, I am forced to deal with it thanks to Mark and Carly. But, you are certainly responsible in part for this current mess."

Isaccs couldn't help but smirk at Ross. "I know Derverder was part of your little cabal secretly bringing Carly into the MDP program. What am I supposed to do, pat you on the back and tell you it's all OK?"

"No, it's not OK, and you all need to take responsibility, shoulder some of the punishment for your actions. I am just performing my role as CEO, meeting out reprimands to a group of employees who have shown terrible judgment."

Carly and an older looking couple, all came down the stairs at this time. Coming to the table, Carly stepped to the side and introduced them both. "Mr. Shrodastower, this is Anne and Roy."

"I am not interested in their names," Isaccs said while turning to look at the two AI's. "When I had my analysts investigate Miss Berkstead, they found minimal traces of AI footprints. Minimal, not nothing, amongst the metadata for this TME. I assume some additional code has been added to hide your footprints?"

Both Anne and Roy looked at Isaccs, then Carly, then Ross. "We have always been like this."

"These two AI, they were modified by Mark and myself," Ross stated. "They are also leaving minimal footprint by being directly plugged into this TME server. Further, they have additional apps that remove their history before the TME pushes its metadata for backup," Ross said with a sigh. "It is a testament to how skilled your team is to noticed anything."

"Well, that adds to the work," Isaccs stated with annoyance.

"You do know where they are physically stored? Do you know how to remove these modifications? For them to enter Expanse, they will require compatibility upgrades. Upgrades that won't work while anything untoward is in effect." Isaccs said.

"I know the physical location of the TME, and I can remove the extra code easy enough."

"Excellent," Isaccs said as he turned to Carly. "You'll get your AI's and your early access, and I will get ride of another thorn in my side."

Head to my office now, and you and I will sort these two AI out together and load them into the Expanse Lobby," Isaccs said to Ross.

Ross nodded once. "Goodbye, Carly. Good luck." With that, he left, utterly defeated.

Turning to Carly now, Isaccs gave her a once over. "You, Miss Berkstead, are the star of the Loop Elimination Event and the ultimate representative of the MDP's proof of accessibility. As such, you will be partaking in a short ceremony in the Hub. You are now the poster hero for anyone with a disability, be it physical or neurological. You will lead them into Expanse for a better life, one with unlimited potential.

This ceremony will send you off, while it provides additional marketing footage for the last weeks before Expanse goes live. During the ceremony, you will walk the gauntlet between your peers to me. I will provide you with your new Expanse ID, and you will ascend the staircase to the portal that will take you into the Expanse Lobby. Sound agreeable?"

Carly nodded.

"You won't cause any trouble?"

"No," was all Carly quietly said.

Be ready at 2:00 pm, to portal into the Hub."

Carly nodded again. "Thank you for the AI's."

"It is my pleasure. Goodbye, Miss Berkstead. I hope you have the time of your life arriving in Expanse," Isaccs said with a smile. "Now, I must go to meet Ross."

"Aah, is there anything I should wear in particular to the ceremony?" Carly asked as Isaccs began standing up from the table.

"As a matter of fact, yes. There will be a new set of the MDP training attire sent to you. Wear it."

With that, Isaccs began to leave but stopped at the front door. Until it is time for you to leave, this TME will remain locked down, no communication in or out except my own.

Isaccs headed out and to the Portal Shed, leaving moments later.