Nigel awoke to a wave of physical agony worse than he had ever experienced. The recent physical excursion was partially to blame, but it was almost as if someone had been beating him while he played the game. The room was round and had six seats surrounding a seventh. Doc Chop sat in the center chair. Nigel was surprised to see his friends in the remaining chairs.

“What happened?” he said, rubbing his head.

“You have been playing a game for the past nine hours,” Blanka said.

“Why? What was the point of keeping us in the game for so long?”

Something tugged against his neck. He pulled at it.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You might injure yourself, and we need you,” Dr. Sylvester said, smiling.

“What’s this?” Nigel said.

He caught a glimpse of a tube that seemed to be wrapped around his neck. The other half was connected to an IV. His companions all had the same setup around their necks.

“What are you going to do with us?”

“I have my uses for all of you. Vedrana and Blanka will be augmented with the latest in cyberware. They will serve me well. I’m in need of more heirs.”

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“Never,” Vedrana said as she glared at Doc Chop. “I’d rather die first.”

“In due time, my dear. These young ones are so impatient.”

Moments later, a disheveled man with a beard entered the room with a beautiful woman in a black dress. She took a seat near the door.

“We’ve got a problem,” the man said.

Is that Gregor?

“What is it this time? I’m sick of your excuses.”

“There’s a problem with the control software. It isn’t responding to my commands.”

“I thought you said you were a hacker—fix it!”

“Hm, this seems like sabotage to me,” Gregor said.

Doc Chop waved a hand into the air, dismissing the hacker. Nigel smiled at his old nemesis.

It worked! I wasn’t dreaming or playing the game. I implanted my Zero Day malware!

Gregor stopped and gazed into Nigel’s eyes. “You!”

Nigel’s plan was coming together. Now all he needed was to get to the control center, then this ship would be his. But the problem was—how?

“He’s behind it, I’m sure of it,” Gregor said, pointing to Nigel.

Doc Chop looked at Nigel. “Nah, he’s been here for hours. And he’s going to be replacing you if you don’t get our delivery system working again!”

The woman by the door removed a sword from a scabbard and looked around the room, ready for action.

“Is it time to take care of this swine, Father?”

“No Anya, not yet. He may prove to be useful after all.”

Gregor took a hesitant step toward the door, then stopped and stared at Nigel. A moment later, the room darkened. The only light was from nearby computers. Gunshots rang out. It was like a cannon fired in a small space. Someone turned on a flashlight. Nigel could see shadowy silhouettes fighting in the darkness. Anya was thrown across the room and landed near Nigel. His range of motion was limited, but he could see that she wasn’t moving. The lights came on. Treeka and Dahlia were standing over a bloodied Gregor and Anya, but Doc Chop was gone.

“It’s done,” Dahlia said.