I open my eyes. I’m in the back of a patient transport van. My visor and disk have been removed and my chest and legs are strapped down. My hands are bound together with a zip tie that’s slicing into my wrists. No one’s riding with me. I stare at the ceiling, my teeth clenched in rage. When I find the person responsible for Gorog’s death I will rip him limb from limb.
I feel the van backing up. Then the engine shuts off. The doors open and the driver rolls my gurney out. We’re in one of the facility’s loading docks.
“You can go. I’ll take him from here,” someone tells the driver. A face appears above me. It’s Martin.
“Hey there,” he says. “Sorry for all the drama back in Otherworld. We had to keep you busy while we looked for your body. By the way, it was genius to hide it right out in the open. None of us ever considered the factory.”
I’m a moron. My little outburst at Moloch’s dinner party told them right where to find me.
“You’re Moloch?” I ask.
“Sometimes,” he says. “Last night it was Todd. And when we’re not in Otherworld an NPC fills in for us. We’ve got to keep the place functioning while the test is running.”
“You killed Gorog,” I snarl.
“Yeah,” Martin admits as he wheels me into the building and down the long hall. “It wasn’t part of the plan, but then he went and tried to break Todd in half.”
“Todd was wearing a headset!” I shout. “He couldn’t die! Gorog was wearing a disk. He knew that and he killed him anyway!”
“You’re right—ordering the ogre’s death was a mistake,” Martin concedes. “But in Todd’s defense, you get so used to dealing with the Children that the words just pop out. Still, there is some good news! The ogre bit the dust, but it turns out the kid didn’t die. It’s a very exciting day here at the facility. We’ve taken a giant step forward with the disk—and your friend helped us make it.”
My relief is mixed with a hundred other emotions, the strongest of which is terror. “Are you going to cut him up?”
“What?” Martin blurts out. He looks thoroughly revolted. “Why would we do that?”
“To examine his brain. I’ve been in your lab, you know. I’ve seen what you do to people.”
“Sure, to dead people,” Martin corrects me. “We don’t chop up the living. Do you think we’re monsters? We’ll just run lots of CAT scans.”
“Hello, Martin,” a familiar voice interrupts.
“Hey, Angela,” Martin replies. “I’ve got a delivery for the boss.”
“Wonderful,” the robot says. “According to his GPS, he’s on his way back to the facility right now. Estimated arrival time is seventeen minutes.”
Oh, good. Milo is coming. I can’t wait to see him.
“Thanks, Angie,” says Martin. “Now how about opening door number two for me?”
“It would be my pleasure.” Her flirty voice seems to imply that the pleasure will be physical. Someone must have thought it would be real funny to have a sexed-up robot secretary. I’ve met her twice now and the act is already old.
Martin and I ride the elevator down to the maze of capsules where the bodies are kept. Martin whistles as he rolls me toward a room along the perimeter.
“We-he-hell,” someone calls out. “If it isn’t the savior of Otherworld. The One.” It’s Todd.
Martin sighs. “Come on, don’t be an asshole,” he says. He undoes the straps that bind me to the gurney and helps me sit up. We’re in an office that would appear perfectly ordinary if not for the computer screen displaying what must be a video feed from Moloch’s tower. There appears to be something happening on the ice fields outside Imperium.
“You’re both assholes,” I inform them just as Martin grabs an X-Acto blade from a desktop and bends forward to remove the zip tie from my wrists.
“Maybe you should keep his hands bound,” Todd says. “The little bastard seems pretty agitated.”
“Yeah. Good thinking.” Martin stands up and takes a cautious step back.
Once he’s sure I’m no threat to him, Todd sits on a nearby desk. “So we’re assholes, are we?” I’d love to punch the smug look off his face. “In a few years, you can tell that to the Nobel Prize committee. By the way, I hear Watson and Crick were assholes too.”
“Watson and Crick never killed anyone,” I say.
“That you know about,” Todd says. “Watson seems like the kind of guy who probably experimented on a hobo or two, don’t you think?” When he looks over at Martin, he seems to be expecting a laugh.
“Oh, shut up,” Martin snaps instead. “We’re not the bad guys,” he tells me. I get the sense that he really wants to believe it.
“You’re tricking people into using stolen technology that you know can be deadly,” I point out. “If you’re not the bad guys, who the hell are?”
“Whoa there, dickhead. You think we stole the tech?” It’s Todd talking now, and he’s completely offended. “We were part of the team that developed it! We sank three years of our lives into the disk.”
“And the technology won’t be dangerous for much longer,” Martin is quick to add. “We’re analyzing what happened to the kid with the ogre avatar. If we can figure out how he survived, we might be able to fix the disk.”
“It’s too late. People have already died. A lady with four children died.”
Martin looks stricken, and unless he’s the world’s greatest actor, he’s completely sincere. “You’re talking about Carole Elliot. It’s tragic, I know. But Carole didn’t die in vain. Besides, after the car accident, her body was beyond repair. She wasn’t walking out of this facility either way. Look—a handful of people have been lost, but thanks to them, humankind is on the verge of taking a giant step forward.” There must be a vat of Kool-Aid hidden somewhere in the building. When I get a chance, I’ll hunt it down and drown Martin in it.
“They didn’t die, you psychopath,” I say. “They were sacrificed. Can’t you tell the difference?”
“You know what?” Todd growls. “I’m getting real sick of this sanctimonious crap. We took people who would have spent their entire lives as drooling vegetables, and we gave them the opportunity to be true pioneers.”
“Their sacrifices will make life better for the entire human race,” Martin quickly adds.
I’m dumbfounded. “People’s lives are going to be better because of Otherworld?” I ask. “Are you joking?”
“Otherworld? You think that’s what all this is about?” Martin laughs like he’s discovered the source of my confusion and can finally set the record straight. “We needed software for the disk’s beta test, and Otherworld just happened to be available. But Otherworld is only the beginning. Do you have any idea what our technology will do? It’s going to educate people around the globe. Someday soon, a kid in rural India is going to slap on a disk and attend classes taught by Harvard professors.”
“You think Harvard’s going to let little Indian urchins take their classes for free?” Todd mutters under his breath.
“Whatever.” Martin rolls his eyes as if they’ve had the same exchange a million times. “Then think about all the elderly people cooped up in nursing homes. With a disk they can spend their final years touring the world or…”
“Or having sex with hot young things,” Todd finishes.
“Goddamn it, are you going to let me talk?” Martin nearly shouts. The two of them act like an old, homicidal married couple.
“Do you see what I’m saying? The disk is going to level the playing field for people around the world. Everyone will have access to education and companionship and sex. You’ll be able to travel the entire globe without spending a penny on airfare. You won’t need to be born rich or beautiful or lucky. All you’ll need is a disk.”
I want to ask Martin how many people he’s willing to kill to save the world, but I can’t stand to hear another lecture. “Where’s Milo?” I ask. “I want to talk to him.”
“Milo?” Martin asks, as though he doesn’t quite recognize the name.
“Yeah, your boss. Wasn’t he supposed to be here in seventeen minutes?”
Todd laughs. “Milo’s already here, bro.”
“Where is he? Go get him.”
Martin looks nervous. “Come on,” he says, taking one of my elbows and helping me slide off the gurney. “Why don’t I show you around before the boss comes to see you?”
“Thanks,” I say. “But like I told you, I’ve been here before.”
“Yeah, we know,” Todd sneers. “Lotta people got fired because of you.”
I think of Don and Nathaniel and the nurse who helped me escape, and I suddenly want to vomit. I probably got them all killed. God knows how many people Martin and Todd have murdered, but I’ve got a body count of my own.
“Fired?” I ask. “So you think they’re all working at Costco now?”
“What exactly are you implying?” Todd barks.
“Hey,” Martin says in his most soothing voice. He’s smiling at me like I’m a mental patient. “Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing happened to them. They just don’t work here anymore.”
You know, I actually think he really believes all this shit. I think he’s managed to convince himself that there’s nothing evil about the operation he works for. They’re just a bunch of scientists using vegetables to save the world.
“Tell you what,” Martin says. “Why don’t I take you to visit your friends? You can see for yourself they’re okay. We’ve been taking very good care of them.”
Butterflies flutter in my stomach at the thought of seeing Kat. Martin’s offer is one I would never refuse. So with my hands pinned together like a convict on his way to court, I follow Martin out of the office and into a nearby room. There’s a hospital bed at the far end, but Kat’s not in it. Lying on top is a young black kid. There are tubes sprouting out of him and machines monitoring his vitals. But there’s no visor on his face. I’m not sure why I’m here, until—
“That’s Gorog,” I say.
“Who?” Martin asks. “Oh, right, that was the name he gave his avatar. His real name is Declan. He was riding his bike to school one morning and got hit by a car. The cost of his hospital care was about to bankrupt his family, so the Company stepped in to help.”
“He told me he was fourteen years old.” There is no way the tiny boy on the bed is fourteen.
Martin clears his throat. “I believe he’s thirteen,” he says.
“You bastards are experimenting on thirteen-year-olds?”
“I’m sorry, I thought you’d be pleased to see him,” Martin says irritably. “He’s in stable condition. We’re monitoring his progress very carefully. He’s out of Otherworld for good now—and he’ll be well protected. He’s the secret to fixing the disk.”
I run my fingertip along the zip tie that’s holding my hands together. If I could only find a way to snap it, I would kill Martin right now.
“Would you like to see Katherine?” he asks.
“Yes,” I manage to croak.
We weave through the maze of capsules. Construction has apparently been moving ahead at full speed. The labyrinth has doubled in size since the last time I was here. And more of them are in use. Hundreds of the hexagonal windows glow with the strange orange light.
“This is Katherine’s,” Martin says, stopping at one of the windows.
I press my nose to the glass. “It’s empty,” I say. “Where is she?”
“She’s in one of the visiting rooms,” Martin says. “There’s someone with her now. As soon as they leave, I’ll take you up to her. I thought you’d prefer to see her face to face. And just so you know, I made Todd leave your Otherworld avatar in the same cage with Katherine’s. After you talk to the boss, you can put on a disk and join her there.”
“Why would you do that?” I ask.
“Because I’m not a bad guy,” Martin tells me. “You two are sweet together.”
We hear the sound of wheels on the concrete floor. Someone is pushing a gurney our way. “That’s our latest patient,” says Martin. “Would you like to meet him?”
I nod, but he hesitates.
“You know what?” He points at the zip tie around my wrists. “It’s probably best if the staff doesn’t see you like this. I’ll remove your restraints if you promise to behave.”
“And if I don’t?” I ask.
He raises his eyebrows and tilts his head like he’s lecturing a naughty toddler. “If you don’t behave, you’ll never get to see Katherine Foley again. Here or in Otherworld. Do you understand?”
I nod again, but I’m gonna play it by ear. My fingers tighten into fists as Martin removes the zip tie. I have to force them to open again.
The nurse turns the corner. It’s not the same woman who helped me. God only knows what happened to her. My eyes lock with the nurse’s. There’s a flicker of life in them. She’s never seen me before, and she knows there must be a reason I’m here. Then I glance down at the body she’s carting. It’s Marlow Holm.
“Shit,” I mutter. His entire body is black and blue.
“I know.” Martin winces at the sight. “The kid’s pretty banged up. He and his mother were in a car accident this morning. It was a terrible tragedy. She worked for the Company. They say she was brilliant.”
“Mrs. Holm is dead?” Just as Marlow predicted. They made it happen.
“You knew Madeline Holm?” Martin asks casually. You’d think we were making cocktail party chitchat.
“I went to school with her son.”
“Of course! I can’t believe I almost forgot,” Martin says. “Yes, she passed away. But her son survived, and now he’s here with us. Don’t you see? Marlow is a member of the Company family, and he’ll be part of the beta test, too. That’s how passionately we believe in the importance of this project. The accident that brought Marlow to us was tragic. None of us enjoy seeing seventeen-year-olds with broken bodies. But if Marlow dies in our care, he’ll die a hero. His life will not have been wasted.”
I meet Martin’s beady little eyes. “Don’t feed me your bullshit,” I say as calmly as I can. “You and I both know Marlow wasn’t in an accident. The Company did this to him.”
The nurse gasps, and Martin recoils as if I’ve raised my fists. “Excuse us for a moment,” he tells the nurse. She stares at him like a deer watching an eighteen-wheeler barrel toward it. “Now, please.” The words break the spell and she bolts.
Martin’s good humor has disappeared by the time he turns back to me. “I thought you were going to behave!” he says through clenched teeth.
I’ve never known how to behave. I should keep my mouth shut, but I can’t let Martin convince himself that he’s anything but a murderer. “Marlow was in the same accident that nearly killed my best friend. He wasn’t supposed to survive it—but he did. So the Company staged another accident.”
“You know what? Todd was right. You are a little bastard,” Martin snaps. “I’ve been trying to explain my work to you, and you’re spouting stupid conspiracy theories—”
“It’s not a theory,” I say. “Marlow wasn’t in an accident. And he’s not in a coma now.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Martin scoffs.
Before he has a chance to stop me, I step forward and slide the IV needle out of Marlow’s arm. Then I pull the visor off his face. Marlow’s eyes are open—wide open—and he’s terrified.
“Have you gone completely insane?” Martin whispers angrily. “Nurse!” he calls out. “Nurse, come back, there’s a problem with the…”
And he stops. He sees it too. Marlow’s lips are moving.
“God,” Martin groans.
“You sure you want to call on God right now?” I demand. “ ’Cause I have a feeling he’s not too happy with you. This is the truth, Martin: The people you have stored in these capsules aren’t vegetables. They may be injured, but they don’t have locked-in syndrome or anything like it. There are drugs mixed in with the IV fluid that are keeping them comatose. And maybe some of these people were in accidents, but I know of at least four kids my age who are here because the Company wants them to be here.”
Martin rubs his eyes, and I wonder if I’ve managed to surprise him. Then he sighs and picks up the needle that’s dangling from the end of the IV’s thin plastic tubing. He places it on Marlow’s chest, then looks up at me.
“I know,” he says. His anger is gone. He sounds beaten. “I wish like hell that I didn’t, but I do.”
Marlow’s lips stop moving and a thin trickle of drool escapes from the side of his open mouth as Martin takes the visor out of my hand and places it back on Marlow’s face.
“How can you stand back and let this happen?” I ask.
“You’re young and idealistic, Simon. When you get older, you’ll realize there are no easy choices. I stand back and let it happen because I honestly believe that this technology is going to make billions of lives better. What would you do in my shoes? Would you let a few dozen people die if it meant making the world a better place?”
“Is that what you think you’re doing? Improving the world?”
“Nurse!” Martin calls out again, and this time I hear footsteps hurrying toward us. I have a few more things I’d like to get off my chest, but Martin stops me. “Be careful what you say in front of her,” he warns. “I know what it’s like to have people’s deaths on my conscience. I’ve learned to live with it. Do you think you could too?”
This time, I have no answer to offer.
“Come on, then,” Martin says as the nurse returns. He smiles at me as if bygones are bygones. “Let’s go see your girlfriend. Promise you’ll be on your best behavior? No more yanking out IVs?”
I keep my mouth shut and nod.
“Good boy,” Martin says.
He guides me through the maze and up the stairs toward the visiting rooms off the lobby. I pause when we reach the top to watch the nurse connect Marlow’s body to the tubes and wires that will keep it alive inside his new capsule. Martin waits patiently. When I’m ready, I follow him down the hallway until we arrive at the last visiting room. There’s a blinking green light on the biometric scanner beside it.
“Kat’s ready for us,” Martin announces.
“You’re sure her stepfather is gone?” Even now, I have zero desire to be in Wayne Gibson’s company.
Martin shoots me a strange look. “You mean Mr. Gibson?”
“You said she had a visitor. Who else would it be?” I ask Martin. Her mom’s in a loony bin, and Kat has no other family. “I saw him here the last time I visited.”
“I’m sure you did,” Martin responds as if I’m a moron. “He works here.”
No. Fucking. Way. “He what?”
Martin snorts. “And I thought you had everything figured out, boy genius. Wayne Gibson runs this facility. He’s our boss.”
“What about Milo?” I ask while my mind reels.
“Milo’s on sabbatical,” Martin says.
He places his palm against the scanner’s screen, and there’s no time for a response. The door in front of us opens with a swoosh. It must be the same room I was in before. There’s an OUT OF ORDER sign taped to the bathroom door. My eyes pass over a cabinet with a drawer jutting out. The medical equipment inside grabs Martin’s attention and he heads over to investigate.
And then I see Kat, tucked between the sheets. I’m by her side in an instant, her hand in mine and my face buried in her hair. I know there’s a very good chance that this is the last time I will see her alive in the real world. Martin promised that Kat and I could be together in Otherworld, but I doubt he’s run that one by his boss.
The boss. Wayne Gibson. Wayne fucking Gibson. I’m still finding it hard to wrap my head around that one. I almost wonder if Martin is messing with me. But now that I think about it, Wayne Gibson makes sense. Did he have Kat in his crosshairs before he married her mother—or did Kat accidentally get in his way? That’s what I’d really like to know. If only I could see him now. If only I could go back to the day when he and I stood face to face on Kat’s front porch. I would do things to Wayne Gibson that would shock Ragnar and all the bloodthirsty psychos in Nastrond. I would take my time with his body, ripping it apart bit by—
“Simon?” It’s Martin’s voice. He’s come to Kat’s bedside.
I look up at him and he flinches. I’m glad. The rage rushing through me must show on my face. Martin did this to Kat, and when I’m done with Wayne, I’ll come for him next.
“You need to say goodbye now,” Martin tells me. “It’s time to go.”
“No,” I say. “I’m not leaving her.”
Martin rolls his eyes. “Do I need to call security?” he asks.
“Go ahead. Call them,” I say. “I will kill every person who comes into this room.”
“Sure you will,” Martin says with a smirk. He can laugh all he likes. I know it’s true, and I know I can do it. Otherworld trained me well.
Martin lifts his arm, bringing the tiny computer that’s strapped to his wrist closer to his lips. I rise too. Martin won’t be calling anyone. When they find his body, I’ll make sure that arm is rammed somewhere special. He happens to glance up as I lunge across the bed. His eyes go wide as my fingers wrap around his scrawny neck. I’ve barely begun to squeeze when Martin’s eyelids flutter shut and his body goes limp. Suddenly the full weight of his body is in my hand. My grip is unprepared for the burden, and he slips through my fingers and crashes to the floor.
I rush over to the other side of the bed. For a few magical seconds, I honestly believe I’ve acquired superhuman powers. Then I spot the girl crawling out from beneath Kat’s bed. There’s a smile on her lips and a syringe in her hand, and I know my days as a superhero are over.
“Busara? What are you doing here?” I whisper.
“Taking a risk,” she tells me, sounding giddy with excitement. “I grabbed Marlow’s projector from your locker at school, but when I got back to Elmer’s, your body was gone. I figured the facility was the only place you could be, so I made an appointment to visit Kat.” She points at the steel door that leads to the capsule maze. “I was planning to go through there and look for you, but then you spared me the trouble and came to me.”
I glance down at Martin. “How did you just…”
“I found a syringe from the drawer and filled it with fluid from Kat’s IV. Gave Martin a taste of his own medicine. Pretty clever, right?”
She called him Martin, I realize. “How do you know his name?” I ask, prodding the engineer’s body with my toe. I must sound suspicious. Probably because I am. Busara’s still got a way to go before she earns my trust.
“Geez, Simon. He used to work for my dad, remember? Stop thinking I’ve turned to the dark side. Give me a chance, will you?”
I’ll give her a chance. But only because I don’t have a choice.
“Are you sure you’re strong enough for all this?” I ask. “I mean, your heart…”
“Is still beating as far as I can tell,” Busara says. “And we’ve got to get out of here. Martin won’t be unconscious for long. I’m parked outside.”
“What about Kat?” I ask. “We have to take her, too. And Gorog—what about him?”
Busara’s smile fades. “Simon…” She’s going to tell me it’s impossible.
“I am not leaving the facility without Kat,” I insist. “I am not going to let them put her back in one of those capsules so she can die in a video game.”
“Do you think Kat wants to be taken out of Otherworld?” Busara asks. “She’s obviously on a mission of her own. Do you think she wants it to end? Maybe you should ask her before you rip off her disk.”
“I don’t care what she wants; I will not let her die!”
“Calm down,” Busara says. “As long as you’re free, Kat’s not going to die.”
“What makes you so sure?” I demand.
“Because you know about the disks. And the Company will want to find you before you can cause problems. Kat’s their bait,” Busara tells me. “If she’s here, the Company knows you’ll eventually come back to the facility.”
I hate to admit it, but she makes an excellent point. Right now, the best way to protect Kat may be to abandon her here. But there’s no way in hell that’s going to happen.
“I want to get you out of here so you can go back to Otherworld and get Kat through the exit,” Busara is saying. “Then we’ll figure out what to do with the projector.”
“I can’t go back to Otherworld. I don’t have a disk and visor anymore,” I tell her. “The Company took mine when they found my body at Elmer’s.”
Busara reaches into the pocket of her jacket and pulls out a well-worn set of gear. “Use these. They’re all I have left. They might not be pretty, but they work. The disk isn’t connected to mine, though. I won’t know where you are in Otherworld, so I won’t be able to help you. Now get out of here, and find a safe place to hide your body.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Help me drag Martin to the bathroom,” I tell Busara. “No one’s going in there. It’s been out of order for days. Tie him up and then head out to your car and wait for a signal. Don’t leave the parking lot until you get one.”
“What are you going to do?” Busara asks. “Where are you going to go?”
“Nowhere,” I tell her. If Busara could fit under Kat’s bed, I figure I can too. “I’m going to stay right here.”