All at once, we were in a conference room, and so was the other team. They looked tired and frustrated. Amber was glaring at me. She'd pushed back her visor, but still wore the helmet and combat gear.

A moment later, a tired-looking Air Force captain appeared. She glanced around the room and pointed at the table. "Everyone sit," she said. "All right. I'm Captain Lehman. I was assigned to work JAG here. You all know what that is?" A couple of us shook our heads. "Basically, Army lawyer. I'm helping adjudicate Joint Task Force Ganymede squabbles. Let's review the complaint here."

"They cheated," one of the opposing team said. I checked my info. His name was Rogers.

"How so?" the captain asked, glaring. “And hurry it up, I’ve got three more cases to get through here.”

"When I tried to drop through the floor to take out Colin, there was a force field. I couldn't reach him. But he got through it somehow. He's a known exploiter," Amber said. "I mean, I don't mind being beat, but that wasn't fair, Colin."

Captain Lehman turned to me. "Want to give an explanation?"

"Sure," I said. “I mean, I did exploit, but it wasn’t a cheat. So, this mine map had barriers between the levels except at the designated access points. They were coded the same way the walls in all the levels were. If you used electricity on them, it disrupted them. Not enough to pass through. But combined with my incorporeal buff, I was able to get through it. Sam and I tested it yesterday and came up with the strat."

The opponent team was shaking their heads, looking angry and frustrated. "That's cheating!"

Amber looked upset, but she challenged the others. “Gamers look for exploits. Especially these. We knew that ahead of time. I warned you—”

“Exploits are for solo attempts, PVE, not PVP!” Rogers argued back.

Captain Lehman sighed and leaned forward. "I can see this is going to be a long one. Everybody sit and be quiet while I review the relevant data." She gestured, and the last three minutes of our match appeared. She played it at double speed as Rose and Alpha tussled with Amber and Rogers. No wonder they were the two most disgusted looking. They had fought three against two — once Pete joined — and won, only to have me steal the victory away with a cheese. I almost felt bad about it.

We got to the part where I dropped through the hole Pete made. Rogers jabbed a finger. "There! There!"

Captain Lehman froze the display. She called up some other data which streamed along faster than I could read. Her brows knit together. "I must admit, I'm not an expert on this game system. It does appear you used a pair of unintended interactions."

"Sure," I said. "There's nothing against that in the rule set."

"The walls of the game are set up in the way they are for a reason," Captain Lehman said. "On the other hand, your team has shown cleverness to find and exploit this problem. I'm passing it along to our developers so they can choose to fix it or not."

"Using exploits is an important part of gaming," I said. "That's why my team was called here in the first place. We're experts at finding holes and using them."

"But that's not what this was testing," Rogers insisted. Amber was biting her lip, looking between her team and me. I could tell she was torn. She wanted the win just as much as I did, but she kind of understood the point I was making.

I felt bad I'd had to beat her team but I needed this win. My legs were at stake. My whole future. Amber could try again. I'd have to go back to my wheelchair after being free of it for the past three days. I could feel panic rising in me. My ears started to ring. My stomach was an empty pit, threatening to absorb the rest of me.

I focused on the room around me, even though it wasn't real, on my teammates' tight looks and Captain Lehman's studious gaze over all of the data. She ran forward, watching as Amber attempted to follow me through the hole and bounced off and then waited out the explosion. It looked pretty cool from here, I had to admit, even if I had been blown into a bunch of chunks. Fortunately, the developers hadn't programmed in any feeling for that. I wondered if the reality engine worked the same way. I'd watched a few highlight videos brought back to Earth of our miners facing down enemies. I knew there were complicated rules, and sometimes death was real and sometimes it wasn't. I'd get a chance to study those rules for myself soon and look for loopholes to exploit. Hopefully.

Our opposing team was leaning forward now. "Captain, you can't let this stand," Rogers begged. "We fought hard to get here. We did everything by the rules. We brought our best game, gave it 110%. And they cheated."

"They did exactly what we wanted them to do," a new voice said.

I looked up. Colonel Twofeather had appeared in the room with us. He was a little hazy looking. His body moved jerkily. I guessed that he was remoting in and not using a full sensory pod, maybe just a VR helmet. Captain Lehman leapt up. She saluted. Colonel Twofeather returned the salute. "Sorry to intrude on you, Captain," he said. “I know you've got adjudication here, but I had an alert set to go off for anything involving this particular team. We've got a particular interest in them, assuming they prove they have what it takes. And I think they just did." He paused. "I just finished looking over that match. Whose idea was this? Colin?"

I cleared my throat. "Yes, sir," I said. "But my whole team had to work together to implement it. Sam spent a lot of hours with me making sure our strat was valid."

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Colonel Twofeather nodded. "Good. That's exactly what we were hoping to see. Some off-the-wall strategies, looking past the rules, breaking all of the corner conditions."

"Sir, then..." Captain Lehman asked.

"The results stand," Colonel Twofeather said.

"But they cheated!" Rogers insisted.

Colonel Twofeather glared at him. Rogers withered under the fierce frown. "They played the game," Twofeather said. "In the reality engine, if you're not looking for ways to cheat, you're not looking for ways to win." He softened his tone. "Your team played hard. We got a bad stroke of luck yesterday when Margolius dropped out. I'll put in a good word for you and make sure you're in the next batch of inductees. All except you, St. John. Colin’s team is under strength — they need a sixth, and you get what they’re doing, so I’m putting you on their roster.”

Amber's eyes widened. “You — I’m going up?” She let out a deep breath and slumped forward. The rest of the team looked slightly mollified. My team, though, were staring at each other.

"We did it," Sam said.

"Did we?" asked Pete. He turned to Colonel Twofeather. "Sir, I mean, we passed?"

"You passed," Colonel Twofeather said. "Y'all will be on the ships later this month, heading for Ganymede. I'll send instructions. All except you, Colin," he said, turning to me. I felt my stomach fall and the rest of me teeter over the dark void, threatening to go after it.

"Yes, sir. What do you mean?"

"I mean, boy, you've got two hours to get to my ship before it leaves. We’ve got a problem. My grandson’s been missing for three days, nobody has an idea how to go after him, and we’re going to need your insights here.”

"Uh, sir, I..." I still wasn't sure I was hearing him right.

Colonel Twofeather shook his head. "Get the lead out, boy. You've got somewhere to be. Court dismissed.”

He waved his hand, and my team was back in our lobby. We stared at each other, then Pete broke the silence with a fist pump and a cheer. "Yes!"

"Thanks, Colin," Rose said. "You were right."

"I'm going to Ganymede. Right now," I said wonderingly.

"Get out of here," Sam said. He came and shook my hand. The rest of my team followed suit. Alpha pulled me in for a hug. "We'll see you up there," she said. "Now git!”

I popped the lid on my coffin and sat up. The aides were already there. I grabbed my phone from the storage locker beside my coffin as they helped me into my chair. "I'm supposed to be going to the shuttle right now," I burbled.

"We just got your orders," one of the two aides said.

"What about all my stuff?" I said. "My clothes, my gear, my..."

"We're sending word over to Vegas right now to have your clothes packed. You won't need the computing equipment.”

I guessed he was right. "Oh, shit, Mum!" I bent over my phone and began composing a text, but decided this was not the sort of news you delivered by text. I checked the time. It would be 10 o'clock at night back home. Awfully late, but thanks cell towers on mountain tops we had a connection out here. And as long as we didn't violate our NDA, we were allowed to make phone and video calls.

I punched in Mum's info. As I waited for her to pick up I maneuvered my chair across the tarmac. The helicopter came into view just as Mum’s worried face appeared on my phone screen.

"Colin, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." I could feel the broad grin splitting my face as I shook my head. "Nothing's wrong, Mum. I did it. I won."

Her eyes widened. "You mean you..."

"I'm going to Ganymede, Mum. I'm going to get my legs back."

"Oh, that's wonderful," she said. “When will you be home? How long do we have? Shall I call your cousins over for a—"

"Mum?" I cleared my throat. "My ship leaves right now, this afternoon. Less than two hours." Her face went through a bunch of changes, going from terrified, worried, excited, then settling on sad. "You mean you're not coming home?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Mum. I'm not. I can't."

We stared at each other across thousands of miles as the pilots prepped the helicopter for takeoff. A high whistling noise started as the engines lit. I raised my voice over the noise. "Mum, I'm sorry. I don't have time.”

"I'm so pleased for you, Colin," she said. "This is beyond wonderful. We couldn't have hoped for more." Her voice was full of sadness.

"Look, Mum, I know that families of volunteers are among the first to get places in the reality engine once they start opening it up to others." Her eyes widened. Her lips drew back from her teeth. She shook her head.

"Oh, Colin, you know I can't—I mean, I couldn't leave your stepfather."

A uniformed and helmeted crewman stood outside the ‘copter beckoning to me. “Mum, I gotta go.” My voice caught in my throat. “I love you."

I just barely heard her over the screw of the engines as the rotors started to turn. "I love you, Colin," I ended the call as the crew grabbed my shoulders and lifted me to the waiting helicopter.

An hour and a half later, I was strapped into a seat on the starship. One of the crew came by to make sure I was secured. "You missed all the briefings," she said. "So, here's the deal. Do not try to get out of your seat until we say you can. There'll be a comfortable half-G all the way from Earth orbit to Ganymede, thanks to some fun tech the aliens gave us and our bright boys have improved on."

"How long does it take to get there?" I asked.

Her eyes widened. "You really haven't been keeping track. It takes a little longer than the galactic spaceships need. Eight hours one way. We'll serve a meal."

My chair had been taken away, and I'd been carried onto the ship by two burly servicemen. "I guess I'll need help if I'm going to the head.”

She nodded. "Colonel Twofeather told us about your special needs. Don't worry. In a few hours, Colin, it'll all be over. I'm jealous," she added with a smile. "I'm on the list for induction myself. Working here in the transport pushes me up a good bit since I’ve been visiting the reality engine often enough to get ethereum for free. Well, you’re all strapped. Take care.”

I had a window seat. The inside of the tube was rows and rows of seats hanging in midair, kind of like an amusement park ride, four banks of three on each side of the capsule. They were on a contraption that would swing around and face forward. For right now, we were stacked on top of each other like riders waiting to go up a tower of terror. I was on the very bottom row, right next to a porthole. I pressed my nose against the window as the countdown began.

"Ten… nine… eight." Outside, the desert was bright, sunny. People scrambled back from the heavy concrete pad. "Three… two… one." I braced myself, but there was no push, no roar, just a gentle puffing feel. And we silently raised off the pad. I peered down at the ground as it rapidly disappeared beneath us. There was no sensation of movement whatsoever.

I saw the pad shrink below, then spotted the airstrip full of trailers, and then we were higher still and Vegas loomed in the distance, its casinos that had seemed so tall from the street like toys. Then we were higher, higher, the ground below us all vast stretches of desert broken up by craggy mountain ranges. To the west, the mountains were snow-capped. Here and there bright green circles of growing crops broke the brown-gray landscape.

Little wisps of clouds formed below us, thickening, then disappeared. The blue outside my window darkened, darkened.

I saw stars outside the window. The capsule heeled over, our banks of chairs swinging forward until now we faced what had been the top of the capsule a few minutes before. A voice came over the speaker. “Preparing for thrust.”

A gentle shove pushed me against my chair. I looked out again. The Earth below me was a globe, like I’d seen in pictures. I boggled as we pushed out, farther, the Earth dropping away.

And then it was gone, and all I could see were stars.