“Someone should stay with them,” Nigel said.

“I don’t think they’re going anywhere,” Eva said.

“There’s the matter of Jerry.”

“I will stand guard. I’m not letting that little bastard near his father again. There’s no telling what would happen,” Aiko said.

“Yes, Jerry had us all fooled. I suspected something was off, but never acted on those feelings. I suppose it’s my fault that Aiko is injured,” Nigel said.

“Stop beating yourself up over it. I knew him for months and didn’t think he was anything more than a kid,” Aiko said.

The ship made a moaning sound. It sounded like a dying whale.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Blanka said.

“Neither do I, let’s move. We need to find the control room,” Nigel said.

The ship’s interior was cramped and narrow, and didn’t allow for a lot of space to work. What little that Nigel read was technical, and involved magnetic fields and quantum computing. Nigel understood very little of how it all worked. He was fascinated that the vessel could hover in the air like a helicopter without propellers or wings. It was a technological marvel, and he hoped he would have a chance to study it in detail after this madness was over. For the past couple of years, the world had been out of control, and it seemed to get worse every day. Nigel wondered how many years it would take to get everything back to the way it was. He put the thought out of his mind and resumed his search.

“I think I found it,” Vedrana said.

Nigel followed her into an oblong room with a circular center. Seven chairs were arranged in a circle, with a single chair in the middle, which suggested it was the commander’s seat. Nigel gasped. He recognized the person in the center seat.

“Treeka,” Nigel said, running to her side.

She showed no signs of life. It was like she was a computer connected to an array of flight control systems. The people in the six seats coughed, wheezed, and seemed to be suffering from some sort of sickness.

“What’s the matter with them?” Blanka asked.

“They were fine the last time we were here.”

“How long ago was that?” Nigel asked.

Eva and Vedrana exchanged glances, seeming to think about it.

“I don’t know, maybe a couple of days.”

“I’ve been here for about eight hours, and if I wasn’t keeping track of the time, I wouldn’t know how long I’d been here. I know it sounds strange, but time seems to move differently here,” Nigel said.

“I don’t get it,” Vedrana said.

“You’ve been here longer than I have. Did anyone bring you food or water?”

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His companions looked like he was crazy, but they all shook their heads.

“We can’t go days without food or water. That’s nuts!” Aiko said.

“My thoughts exactly. This feels like a game.”

“You drank something,” Blanka said.

“Yes, but it felt different. It’s hard to explain, but my body doesn’t feel nourished.”

“You are crazy, Nigel. That’s probably why we all love you,” Vedrana said.

Eva and Blanka nodded in agreement. Except for Blanka, none of Dahlia’s girls had ever admitted to loving him. Not really. They all had sex together, but there was no real connection. Nigel chided himself for not seeing this before.

How did I get into this simulation?

The lights went out in the room, and a smashing sound filled the air. Nigel heard screams of pain and anguish.

“They’re crawling all over us. Get them off!” Vedrana screamed.

There was a choking sound, then a Retching sound. “Something just went in my mouth.”

“Nigel, help us,” Blanka said.

Gunshots rang out, more screams of pain, then—silence.

“Blanka? Vedrana? Eva?”

“Hello, Nigel, we finally meet on the battleground,” a familiar voice said.

“Who are you?”

Nigel’s heart sank as the lights came back on. A centipede about the size of a snake writhed out of Eva’s mouth. A throng of black widow spiders crawled over Vedrana. Blanka had been shot in the head. Nigel’s throat constricted. He couldn’t breathe. He fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath. Images of each of them surfaced. His vision blurred with tears. He wiped them away, but something was wrong. He should feel something. There was no moist feeling of the tears that were flowing from his eyes. He couldn’t feel the silky smoothness of Blanka’s face.

“Come, Nigel, I don’t have all day. If you win this round, then I’ll let you and your friends go. You have my word.”

Nigel followed the voice. It was the image of Doc Chop. His head was exaggerated, like he was enlarged to the size of a giant, then stuffed into a tractor. His body was composed of metal, but pipes of liquid flowed into his head from a pack on his back.

“What is this?”

Doc Chop laughed.

“I thought you were a gamer. You’ve made it to the last level. This is the final endgame battle of this simulation. I think you gamers call it a boss battle.”

Nigel found himself in a leather outfit that looked like what he used when he played the Colossal Machine.

Holy shit, I am in a game—or simulation.

Nigel ran back through the past day in his mind. He couldn’t figure out when he’d entered a simulation, but he was determined to find out. Another chair lifted up from the floor. A tablet was in the seat. Nigel snatched it, and a familiar in-game interface filled his vision.

System Message: In-Game options

Choose from the following configurations:

Sneaky rat: Rogue Class, leather specialization, daggers and ranger weapons allowed.

Wand waver: Mage with cloth specialization and magical reagents and wands are the weapons of choice.

Jouster: Knight with plate armor and an armed mount.

Please choose now.

Nigel selected the Knight class with the quick build option because he thought it was the most powerful available, and he needed to get into the action quickly. Three colored bars appeared in the air. A red bar labeled “health,” a green bar labeled “stamina,” and a third blue bar labeled “magic.”

I’m a Paladin!

The image of Professor Paladin came into his mind. The old man’s hungry gaze and his mean demeanor came into view. Nigel felt small and insignificant. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He didn’t know why he was in a game or fighting Doc Chop in this manner, but it was nothing like what he’d been expecting.

“Nigel, you’ve got to win.”

That sounds like Blanka’s voice.

System Message: You have ten seconds to make your final selections.

Nigel’s mind raced; a multitude of possibilities entered his thoughts. He forced himself to take a deep breath. With seconds remaining on the clock, he did something impulsive. He pulled up the system console, which allowed him to type. A virtual keyboard floated in before him. He typed /played, then executed the command.

System Message: You have been playing for 8 hours, 38 minutes and 57 seconds. We hope you enjoyed your time in the Colossal Machine.

Nigel cleared his screen and prepared himself for battle.