Let's not say much about the medal ceremony, okay?

The dress uniform they'd gotten me fit pretty well, and so did Grandpa's. We had to stand incredibly stiffly while the Vice President pinned a medal on us. There had been a presidential election while we were gone, so I didn't even know what her name was until Ellerhamn whispered it to me right before she showed up and jabbed me with a pin. We each recieved a Silver Star. I’d been expecting Bronze, like what Grandpa had previously earned. Despite my discomfort, my eyes watered as the vice president pinned it to my jacket.

I didn’t really feel like I’d earned it. I’d just done what I had to do. Anyone would have. But it still meant a lot.

They had a Presidential Medal of Freedom for Sage as well, and I think someone filled them in at the last minute because about three seconds before the Vice President stood up to give us our awards, someone came rushing over to her with a small packet. When she came over to us, she had a medal for Juana as well.

Then we sat down and had to listen to a lot of politicians make speeches. After that, all of the politicians came by to get pictures with us. Then, after the politicians, it was various influencers and other important people who had managed to bribe their way into the dinner.

The dinner actually looked pretty good, but I didn't get to eat a bite of it because I was so busy being stood up to take pictures and smile next to Senator So-and-So or Representative Thus-and-Such. The Governor of Arizona came in, along with the Governor of Utah. They both shook our hands and thanked us, and I wasn't sure if either of them knew where exactly we had been abducted from because they both seemed to think that we were local hometown boys and girls.

Finally, around 7 o'clock, Smith and Ellerhamn shepherded us out of there, tossed us in the back of a limousine, and drove us over to the LA Coliseum for the Orange Dream concert. The place was packed with ninety thousand teen girls and their unwilling handlers.

They had gotten us front row tickets right next to the really fanatical 14-year-old K-pop fans. The noise was overwhelming, and I'm speaking as someone who's gotten used to a lot of loud noises in the last few months. I was a foot and a half taller than almost anyone in the audience, and I was wearing a long coat and a gun. Being around so many teenage girls made me feel like I should be ending up on a watch list somewhere.

Juana stood in between me and Grandpa and kept looking at me, shaking her head and grinning. "What?!" I finally shouted over one slightly less loud song.

"This is worth the price of admission," she said.

"Well, I'm glad that you're feeling better now," I shouted back.

Then, as I was hoping the concert was finally winding down, the band paused and the lead singer yelled, "We want to welcome a very special guest!" He came right over to the edge of the stage, leaned over, reached out his hand, and helped Sage up onto the stage.

The crowd went absolutely bonkers. I hadn't realized until now what Ellerhamn had been warning me about. Everyone here knew Sage. They were screaming her name. Just "Sage! Sage! Sage!" I thought they'd been mad for the K-pop boys, but the blast of sound nearly deafened me.

The little girls near us crowded in. "Wait! You're with Sage!"

All I could do was nod over the screaming crowd.

"Oh my god, this is the best day of my life! Can you get me her autograph?"

It was 2 a.m. We were back in the limo, Sage asleep and drooling on Grandpa's shoulder. I noticed after a couple of turns that we were not heading back to our hotel.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Change of plans," Ellerhamn said quietly. "There are just too many paparazzi and stalkers here in Los Angeles now. We've made arrangements for you four to spend a quiet day tomorrow at an out-of-season resort up in the mountains. We'll make it up to you somehow. I know you probably had plans."

"That sounds perfect," Juana said fervently.

"We're heading to the airport now. There's a private jet already waiting on the tarmac. We'll take you in the back the way they get the politicians in and out, and hopefully slip you past most of the paparazzi. Word will get out, but it should take them long enough to get there. You can enjoy your last day."

Last day. The past 48 hours had passed in a flash. We would be going back to the reality engine in about 30 hours. None of this felt real. I looked at Grandpa.

"We should have gone back to the Strip," I said quietly.

"Maybe so," he said. "Maybe so."

The resort was perfect. A ring of mountains surrounded a deep, still, crystal blue lake. Even in the heart of summer, it was cool. Tall pines surrounded the edge of the lake. Big granite boulders stuck up out of the surface. We had a catamaran at our disposal, a couple of kayaks, and the run of practically a whole empty resort. They had a restaurant that, to me, tasted just as good as that two-star Michelin place in Los Angeles, and way fewer people.

Sage and I paddled one of the kayaks out to a little island in the middle of the lake. We pulled up on the rocky beach, hopped out, and explored a little. Sage found a nest where a bird had laid its eggs, raised its babies, and then recently, with them ready to fly, abandoned the nest.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She climbed the tree and sat beside the nest, staring out at the water. I sat at the base of the tree, leaning my body against a sun-warmed boulder. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of real air. I couldn't feel the device pumping ethereum through my body and keeping me alive. This felt like home. It felt like I belonged here. It felt like I could just get up, walk into town, keep walking until I got lost and was never found again.

From her perch up in the tree, Sage said, "What are we going to do?"

I didn't move. "What we have to do. What we've been doing."

"I know." Her voice was shaking. "They don't even know how much... how hard it is."

"No," I said. "And they shouldn't have to. And you shouldn't have to. You should get to stay here and listen to boy bands and go to the beach all the time."

"But if I lived here, I wouldn't," she said. "We lived in the middle of the desert in a double-wide. We had food stamps and wore hand-me-downs. That Sage would never have gone to Orange Dream. I certainly wouldn't have been on stage with them yelling my name. That Sage didn't matter to anyone."

"She matters to me," I said. "Why do you think I'm doing all this? It's so that maybe we can find a chance for you to have a real life again."

Sage dropped down out of the tree. "I don't know what a real life is anymore. The last couple of days, they've been fun, but they haven't felt real."

"And living in a glorified computer simulation is?"

"No," she said, sighing. "But at least it counts for something." She walked over to the kayak and picked up her paddle. "I'm ready to go in now. The sun's starting to go down anyway."

It would be at least five hours before sunset, but I nodded. "Alright, let's go."

That night after dinner, Sage excused herself and went up to our room. Grandpa told Ellerhamn and Smith if they had anything else to say, he'd work through it with them now. That left Juana and me sitting at the table where we'd had dinner, slowly sipping a bottle of sparkling water and a little white wine. After we finished our glasses, Juana stood up.

"Let's walk back down to the beach. I'd like to see the stars from this side of the sky one more time."

"Alright," I said, and accompanied her. I was aware of the escort of bodyguards, but they kept their distance far enough away that I could pretend that Juana and I had some privacy. We'd been living with the knowledge that the reality engine was always watching for the last year, after all, so it wasn't exactly like privacy meant a whole lot to me.

We strode along the beach, staring up at the stars. I paused, pointed. "That one's Jupiter," I said.

"You're sure?"

"Definitely."

She squinted up at it. "It's so small from here."

"It looks so different close up," I said, aware that that was possibly the most inane thing I had ever said.

"I'm glad I've had a chance to see it. Of all the things we've done, that was one that was just cool."

I was still wondering what was bothering her, but I didn't really know how to ask. Instead, I said, "I'm sorry your sister didn't even get the eight-hour visit."

"Me too," Juana said. "I would have rather split this with her, or even given it to her, but that wasn't an option."

“Maybe Grandpa was right, and this was someone trying to sabotage our team effort before the real phase three work starts.”

"I don't know if I think we were that important," Juana said. "I do know that we'll have a lot of work to do when we get back, and that I'm honestly looking forward to it."

"Me too," I admitted. "I guess I'm just better at shooting things in the face than relaxing."

We walked along a little farther before Juana said, "My fiancé came to see me."

I stopped dead in my tracks. My ears rang. I couldn't have heard her right. I blinked and swallowed and tried to say something. It didn't come out, so I said again, "Fiancé?"

Juana had a fiance? Of course she would. She was beautiful and smart and competent. She probably had her pick of smart, handsome guys back on Earth.

"Derek.” She sounded wistful. She walked down to the water's edge and poked at it with a sandal-clad toe.

"I didn't know you had a fiancé.”

She turned to face me, giving me a wry smile. “Emphasis on ‘had.’ He came with his wife and their baby.” Her voice caught.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had crossed the distance between us and put my arm on her shoulder.

"Juana, I'm so sorry.”

“He must have moved on almost as soon as I was gone. We'd been engaged for three years. I thought he wanted to finish his schooling before we..."

She was crying on my shoulder. I patted her back, saying "There, there" a few times awkwardly. Juana had never mentioned anything about her family back home. Her mother and sister hadn't spoken of a fiancé either, probably to avoid hurting her feelings.

I hadn't left anyone behind. Everyone who meant anything in the world to me had been brought to the reality engine with me. It had given me a privileged life compared to everyone else around me, and I had just taken that for granted. Frank had spent months searching to make sure that his wife and children hadn't been taken by the reality engine.

I realized I hadn't even asked if Frank had gotten a day pass. I should have. I could have brought a message for his wife if he wasn't able to come back himself.

I was a stupid, selfish bastard, and there was a woman in my arms crying, which had never happened before. I felt more awkward by the second. Juana cried for what felt like an eternity before stepping back, wiping her eyes and nose and sniffing.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't going to mention it. I don't know why I did."

"I'm glad you did," I said, wishing I had access to my inventory. I had a whole box of handkerchiefs, not to mention Kleenex and other things one could use to wipe away the residue of tears. “But, what an asshole.”

That made her laugh. "You know what? When I saw him standing there with her and the baby, that's exactly what I thought, too. What an asshole. Not for moving on, but to show back up with his family? He could have come on his own or just sent a note or something."

"Why was he there?"

Juana took a deep breath. "He said he was there to wish me well, but he had given me his grandmother's ring and he wanted it back. I had to tell him I hadn't been wearing it that day because I was helping Mama scrub down the kitchen right before we opened because we'd gotten word there was going to be a health inspection. So I'd left it back at our house, which got repossessed while we were gone. My grandparents told me about it. The look on Derek's face when I told him! He started to scream at me. The National Guardsmen who were serving as our escorts escorted him out. They apologized to me so hard. They hadn't had any idea he was going to make a scene like that."

"I wish you'd told me this two days ago," I said. "I could have run over to Texas and challenged him to a nice gunfight. I've had a lot of practice in duels in the last year, and I'm pretty damn sure nobody on this continent would have blinked an eye if I'd done it."

"They probably wouldn't, but it's all right, Shad. You don't need to waste a bullet on that guy." Juana shook her head and laughed. She cocked her head at me.

I’m not a quick learner and I had not had a whole lot of experience with women but when a beautiful woman is looking like that, in the moonlight on a beach with tears still in her eyes? It doesn’t take a whole lot of smarts to figure out. I leaned forward, almost hesitated before I saw her tiny nod, and kissed her.

So yeah that was the highlight of my summer vacation. We walked back to the hotel hand in hand and I kissed her again on the steps before parting. “See you tomorrow,” I said.

“Thanks for tonight, Shad,” she said.

[Attention, miners!

The gates of Castle Byalgrad are open!

The Keystone awaits!

And so much more…]