

zONE

## The end and the beginning

by

Philip F. Blood

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Version 3.55

PUBLISHED BY:

Philip Blood on Smashwords

zONE: The End and the Beginning

Copyright © 2014 by Philip Blood

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Dedication

I'd like to start by thanking all the authors, directors, writers, and artists of any kind who have touched my heart through their artistry. Your works are what set humans apart from any other living thing and this book is dedicated to your genius. I'd also like to thank my wife, Marianne Rose Bridget Elizabeth Wilhelm, who represents a good portion of the women in this novel and captures all of my heart.

* * * * *

zONE

## The end and the beginning

# Chapter zOne – Holgren Hospital

Is there a reason why hospitals use so much of the color white? Perhaps bleach makes it easier to hide the bloodstains. I looked at the white sheets around me and wondered what bloody stories are hidden from sight.

It is funny what the mind will focus on; a moment ago, there had been only me and then the sheets around me, a bed, and now a room. I am alone. I don't know how or why I am here.

I turned my head and inspected the torture devices around me. My bed is festooned with wires, tubes, mechanical arms, motors, racks, and various flashing electronic gizmos. Fortunately, most of Dr. Frankenstein's modern gadgetry isn't attached to me, though I do have two wires stuck to my temples and some kind of white plastic clamp device attached to my index finger. Then a memory surfaced, it was like tasting that word that has been on the tip of your tongue, too long. I am in Holgren Private Hospital, located in Barstow, in the state of California, along the route toward Las Vegas, but I still can't recall why.

You see, coming out of anesthesia is not like waking up from sleep; you come from nothing, without any sense of having dreamed. You become aware of sound and then the dark void retreats. It's very confusing. I don't know, for sure, that I had been anesthetized, but the mode of my waking hints toward that conclusion. I have a distinct feeling that I know, but it is just beyond my reach, like when you're so nervous at a job interview that you suddenly can't remember the answer to a simple question.

I decided to take stock inside the old gray matter to see what I can glean before I press the nasty looking red button on the end of the cord next to my hand. No doubt, the button will summon someone, but I think I better ask myself some questions, before getting some unknown person involved.

I started simply, trying to summon my name. Fortunately, a name came without much effort, Professor Thorten C. Hamilton. I also know that friends called me TC. Well, that rules out amnesia, at least total amnesia, anyway. Since I know where I am, it makes sense that I had been aware when I arrived at this hospital, but I can't, for the life of me, recall the details. Strangely, I know little of my personal history, but I know details about the hospital. This is a small, but expensive, facility for the wealthy and well-to-do. I don't know if I am well-to-do or not.

So why am I here? What is the emergency and why am I in a hospital bed of a private, and prohibitively expensive, goop kitchen?

Holgren is known for its gene recipes. Want a new nose? No worry! Going under the scalpel has gone the way of bloodletting. Nowadays, your genes are mapped like a sheet of music; a new mix is cooked up into a gel, which is smeared onto a spot on your body. A few weeks later, your genes alter to the new design. Once your genes are rearranged your body is forced to re-grow to match. Among the mix are specially engineered nanobots, which attack and break down the old cell structures so that the new cells can grow, according to your new gene recipe. There is a stage of decay, interlaced with accelerated healing, as the new gene code takes effect. You might look like you are recovering from a train wreck, but, in a few days, you heal and your old hooknose alters into something small and dainty, or vice versa if that is your wish.

It all began when we mapped the human genome. The genie's bottle was open and now anyone can have their wish granted to be beautiful, or different, or in the case of criminals, just someone else. But goop isn't cheap and brain alterations are illegal. Any gene alteration requires legal registration with before-and-after pictures, fingerprints, DNA graphs, brain scans, and retinal images.

Most importantly, any alteration to the brain is prohibited. That means no super genius recipes or other mind-altering modifiers, nothing that changes your brainwave patterns. zPol has deemed that your brain patterns are what define you; they represent who you are and how you are identified. They are registered at birth and identify you, throughout your life. So, changing your brain is highly illegal and dangerous, but even so, brain goop does exist.

We all know that there are people who will try just about anything; they'll risk their sanity to get smarter than the next guy. Of course, special permission can be awarded to fix some mental disorders, like paranoia; speaking of which, I am stoking the fire on some of that, right this moment. But the risk to most brain alterations is severe; will you be who you were before your mind was altered? Or, are you killing yourself to give birth to a new person? Besides, if zPol catches you, then you will have to give up all rights to liberty and life, which means your body is donated to the Zombies. Even so, there are those willing to risk everything to become something more.

Finding a place to brew legal goo isn't all that difficult. The advent of zTime monetization hasn't altered the old adage that money makes the world go round. The old saying of 'time is money' is literally true now. There are those who will take your zTime and cook up your recipe. There are even a few unscrupulous types, where, if you are rich enough in zTime, dumb, or desperate enough to want to smear yourself with brain altering goop, they'll cook you up a batch. Assuming you aren't driven insane by the process, and can still function, you are now outside of society. If you undergo one brain scan, that identifies an unregistered mind pattern, zPol will be on your ass like stink on fish. That means you also have to have enough money to bribe someone, pretty high up, to enter your new brain pattern into the system as a legal scan. Good luck with that, Rockefeller.

So, here I am, in a private goop kitchen, with parts of my mind blinky at best. The question of the moment is... had I been stupid enough to take a brain smear? Is that my problem? From what I know of Holgren, this is not the kind of place that will risk making up brain goop. They are strictly new boobs, bigger bats, and longer life. Those kinds of mods are expensive, but they are legal remedies, available to those with the means to pay.

I know my name, but I couldn't pick my own face from a police lineup. There is a stainless-steel pan on the table next to me, so, I picked it up and looked at my reflection. I am a mix of Wasp and American Indian, with a hint of Asian in my black hair and bone structure; a real mutt. In my humble opinion, I am neither handsome nor ugly.

I know that I am twenty-eight. I checked under the covers and see that I am slightly out of shape like I quit getting enough exercise, but only a few years ago. Not that I can recall any details of how I got that way. There are holes in my memory that you could pilot a flyer through.

Having finished my body inspection, I thought about my life. I know I am a code sculptor, freelance at the moment, which really just means I am eking out a living from the shadowy corners of the system. I am a rat in the walls, sneaking around the big Zcerebral Inc. structure and snatching scraps, where I can, to survive. I know I have a rep in the Zones and something more, which I can't remember at the moment. That bothers me. I am definitely missing a few lug nuts from my wheels. That, coupled with the fact that I can't remember why I am here, made me reach for that nasty red button by my hand. I hope it will summon someone with answers.

Before I could press the button, I noticed movement to my right. When I turned my head, I spotted a young girl sitting in the guest chair, she is watching me. Upon seeing my head turn, she stood up. She is cute, in a small and, decidedly, un-super model way. At the moment, she has a Princess Leia scowl on her face. She looks like she is in her twenties, somewhere, but age is subjective, nowadays.

She spared a worried glance at the open door into the hall, obviously checking to see if anyone is near and then said, "I've done as you requested, Professor. I don't know what game you're playing, or why you wanted me to put a Skey on you while you were out, but against my better judgment, I did as you asked. If you ask me, you're crazy to do that here."

"What do you mean?" I asked, and tried to remember her, and then a name surfaced, 'Ellie'. It was a small triumph, but something has punched holes through my memory with a powerful laser.

Ellie shook her head, causing her short brown hair to move back and forth in interesting ways. I smiled, so she scowled and quickly moved to the side of the bed.

She offered one warning. "If they catch you with that Skey, and capture you alive, they will brain vacuum you and likely find me as well. Then they will take both our bodies, so be careful."

Abruptly, she turned and headed for the door.

"Wait! Where can I find you again?" I asked, still trying to make time, it's a male thing.

"Pandora," Ellie answered, in an exasperated voice.

I got a flash of memory and remembered a big blue girl, very thin, with huge eyes; she was running through the trees of a blue and purple forest.

"Where is that?"

She stopped by the door and turned, her head tilted in a puzzled way, "Really? Pandora... in the Cameron Zone? We spent some time there, remember? I showed you around The People." she said in a way that meant I should already know. "You haven't forgotten the Zones, have you?"

And the way she said it, I knew she thought it was a joke like nothing could make me forget the Zones.

Then she added, "Look, Professor, we don't have time to chat. Word in the Zones says that somebody tipped the Dragoons about a big Freebooter getting a new look and they mentioned Holgren. The Zombies may be here at any moment. My Steward has been monitoring the zNews and zPol chatter and they are coming. If I were you, I'd get out of here, now. Meet me in the Zones. Look for me in the northern forest village of The People; I'm typically there on Mondays and Wednesdays."

She turned to go and I said, "Wait, is there anything else you can tell me about why I'm here?"

The girl frowned, again, and then said, "Yes, I almost forgot, you instructed me to tell you NOT to take that Skey off and you were very serious about it."

Then the cute girl was abruptly gone like she had never been there. I reached back to an itch on my neck and felt something attached. It is in the outline of a small war hammer. It is about the thickness of a quarter and about the diameter of a fifty-cent piece. I thought about prying it off, but then I realized that this is probably the Skey the girl had mentioned. Besides, it is really stuck to my skin.

I decided to leave the Skey, for the moment, and consider something else that the mysterious girl had said. She mentioned that the 'Zombies' are on their way.

Like a bubble reaching the surface of my mind, a memory surfaced. Zombies are criminals whose bodies are under the control of zPol operatives. In this day and age, the idea of walled prisons is long gone; the only prison is your own body. When you are convicted of a crime you are sentenced to community service. That means you lose the use of your body for the length of your sentence.

They attach a Remora device to the base of your neck, which disconnects your mind from your body, like an interrupt. No signals from your mind can get past to your body. They store your body in a Zombie Coffin, where it stands, dormant, until a zPol host rider creates a Satweb link from their mind, up in the Zones, to the Remora. They are then in control of your body, which is used for government service.

People, with their mind disconnected, and a host rider linked, are called 'Zombies'. As long as the Remora device is attached, the zPol operative's mind is in control and the host mind is unaware of what happens. If their body is hurt or killed, time is removed from their sentence as a debt paid to society. Of course, death means that their debt is paid in full, mere maiming and wounding carry standard time reductions. Removal of the Remora device, while a rider is in control, kills the host body. They built the system this way to keep anyone from reinstating the host mind by simply removing the Remora.

It is important to note that a mind is not actually taken from one body and put into the brain of another body, this is an illusion. The original mind is still in the body, but the Remora just overrides control, allowing the mind, linked from the Zones to the Remora, to control the body, like a second brain, while the other is dormant and unaware.

The abrupt return of knowledge about Zombies made me remember my earlier paranoia, what if I had paid to get a brain smear? What if the holes in my memory, which sometimes return in chunks, are symptoms of gene alteration to my brain? If the Zombies are on their way here, looking for this 'Freebooter' that the girl had mentioned, and they brain scan me, they might discover that my mind patterns have been altered. I realize, at that point, zPol will put my body into a Zombie Coffin for the rest of my natural life.

Time to go.

The problem is, I don't really know why I am here. It is entirely possible that my spotty memory has nothing to do with brain goop. I could have had a simple accident and hit my head, or any number of other explanations. I did a quick survey for bandages, sore spots, or any other obvious wounds. I found a slight tenderness at the base of my skull, where the spine connects. Well, a blow, or operation, would explain my sketchy memory. However, nothing seems too painful and I am fully mobile.

I got out of bed and tested my legs, they are good to go. Finding clothes is the next problem. They have me in one of those hospital gowns, the ones designed to give all the nurses a good look at your butt as you stroll down the hallways.

I searched the closet and found some clothes that I can't recall but fit me so well I figure they must be mine.

All this time, I kept the wires connected to my temple and finger and pulled the device they are connected to around with me on its wheeled base. I dressed in three minutes and was ready to slip out. My clothes didn't contain a wallet, but of course, most people don't carry one anymore. Nowadays, a brain scan will get me access to buy goods and services, assuming I have zTime on account.

I got ready to unplug the wires connected to my temples, I figure, once I disconnect, it is going to cause havoc. No doubt, their monitoring devices will start screaming, like a banshee, and alert the nurses. I checked the hall and found it clear, for the moment, so, I unclipped my finger and quickly peeled off the wires from my head.

They must have been tied into my brain, in some fashion, because, the moment I pulled the wires free, the world blurred and I staggered, nearly losing consciousness. After a moment, my vision cleared and I seem OK, so I started out into the hallway. That's when I heard footsteps coming from around the nearby corner, lots of them, and not the dainty sound of hospital nurse shoes. These sound like boots and that doesn't bode well. I tiptoed across the hall, quickly, trying not to make noise. Have you ever tried that in an echoing hallway? It isn't easy and I probably looked like a novice fire walker attempting his first stroll over hot coals on bare feet. Fortunately, no one was there to see and I made it inside the room, across the hall, before the approaching people came into sight. The room is occupied by an old gentleman, who is quietly snoring.

From the hall, I heard a male voice speak in a subservient manner. "The patient you are looking for is in room 12, right here."

I have no idea if my old room number is twelve, or if that is the room in which I am hiding. The first will mean that they are looking for me; the second means I am about to be embarrassed when they come in and find me standing by the bed of this sleeping geezer.

"This room is unoccupied," a rough male voice accused.

I peeked out through the crack in the door jam and saw a nervous looking orderly. He answered the man with the rough voice, "But... I'm sure this is his room. Thorten C. Hamilton, yes, room 12," he added, looking at an electronic wrist pad.

The man he spoke to is just out of my sight through the door jam. His gruff voice sounds disgusted. "He's escaped."

"I'm sorry, Sir, he was just a patient, no one was set to watch him," the other voice said in a whiny fashion. "If you don't mind my asking, what does zPol want with him anyway?"

"zPol's business is not your concern."

The orderly coughed and dropped his eyes. "Of course, sorry."

The zPol operative continued. "We've accessed your patient records and they show he was scheduled for his second gene alteration in two hours, this one for body modifications, all told, he was getting a full spread."

"I'm sure it was all legally registered."

"So, it seems. Is it common practice to have your patients in a hospital bed for a smear series?"

The orderly answered hesitantly, "Not usually, Sir. As you know, a gene smear rarely requires anyone to stay in the hospital. However, if he was getting a full spread, for major body alterations, his physician might have scheduled him to stay for a few days."

"Where is the registered image of his first smear?"

The orderly looked puzzled as he scrolled through various screens and then finally replied. "It should be in here, maybe it just hasn't been logged yet."

"So, we won't know WHAT that change will look like?" the officer said in a deadly voice.

"It's just a mix-up, Sir, I'm sure we can straighten it out," the orderly said in a terrified voice.

"In my business, we don't believe in mix-ups. Any aberration in the system is more likely the manipulation of a Pirate and I'll BET we find a Pirate wake through your code base. A full spread is extremely expensive," he suddenly stated.

The orderly nodded and said, "And rare."

"How was this patient affording such treatment?"

The orderly answered apologetically, "I wouldn't know that, Sir."

"Where is the patient's physician?"

"I believe that Dr. Burden is connected to his weekly golf game."

"Take me to him, now," the Zombie stated, curtly.

The orderly looked apprehensive, but he nodded. You don't argue with the Zombies.

I heard them turn and start walking away toward the nurse's station. This is one of those moments in life where the curious part of you wins the internal struggle. A part of me is screaming inside, telling me not to look, but I cracked open the door and risked a glance at the back of the zPol officer and his six Zombie squad. Sure enough, there is a red, hourglass-shaped, flat attachment on all of the Zombie's necks, including the officer's; Remoras. They are Zombies all right, from the Black Widow squadron. I closed the door, softly.

It is very frustrating, I know details, like the hourglass Remora and its significance, but there are whole areas that draw a complete blank. First things first, I need to get out of here and lay low. If I am this 'Freebooter' that the Zombies are hunting, I have to escape or... what?

Pirates and Hackers, they are something I do know about. Freebooters are the popular Lords of the Zones, phantoms of the underworld, and sailors on the Zone seas. Popular myth has built them up to demigod status. They are the Robin Hoods of the time, Zoros of the resistance, and Skywalkers to the downtrodden plodders under the ethereal thumb of Zcerebral. 'Freebooter' is the general term for Hacker or Pirate. They are the only beings on the planet who have stood up to the new regime and lived to talk about it. They walk within the beast and live to tell the tale.

But I know better. Most Freebooters are far from the altruistic champions of right, perpetuated by popular myth. In truth, they are just the bats in the belfry. Criminals and wannabes who manage to hide among the workings of the machine and take advantage of loopholes and sloppy code. They spend their life avoiding the Dragoons in the Zones and the Zombies in the real world. And, contrary to myth, it is the rare Freebooter who is not eventually caught by the Dragoons and traced to the location of their true body, which is then sentenced to the living death of life imprisonment as a body for the Zombies. But still, there are a few who are a rung above the others and it is the antics of that small percentage that drives the world to elevate Pirates onto their pedestals of glory, they are the swashbucklers of the Zones.

I have also just had a smear, so I will be changing soon, but I don't have time to sort it all out, not while I am hiding in a hospital, with Zombies hunting me. I have to get to a safe place to try and figure this all out. I need time so I can make sense of my splotchy memories, and a place to heal my mind while I wait for the change to overcome my body.

I need a fast ticket out of here. The first plan that I thought of was so obvious, so cliché, that I knew I couldn't use it. An ambulance leaving a hospital is the first place the Zombies will search for an escapee.

I need a little less obvious escape route.

The next idea, which came to mind, is dangerous, foolhardy, and might get my body donated. On the other hand, it is so foolish that the Zombies will never think to check.

'Nothing risked, nothing gained' is the old saying.

I made my way to the rear of the hospital, carefully. This doesn't mean sneaking from doorway to doorway. I picked up a balloon and fruit basket from one of the sleeping patients; I figure it is more useful in saving my life than decorating his room. Then I walked, like I have somewhere to go, looking for a room number all the way. I even asked a nurse for directions; keeping the balloon between my face and the Zombie I saw walking down a nearby hallway, searching patient rooms.

When I turned a corner, and saw one of the back doors, leading out, I put the basket and balloon on a nearby table and opened the door a crack. Out at the exit from the parking lot, I can see some Zombies searching departing cars and questioning their drivers. There is an empty Zombie flyer about twenty yards away. It has the red hourglass symbol on it, so it, likely, belongs to the Zombie officer who questioned the orderly outside my old room.

When the Zombies at the gate looked away, I slipped out and made my way, quickly, to the Zombie flyer. It only took me a moment to get inside because it isn't locked. Nobody wants to get INTO a Zombie flyer. There is plenty of room in back to conceal me from casual sight; these things are made to carry a lot of agents, or a lot of equipment, sometimes both, though there is little chance an officer will have men in his flyer.

I stayed there, for two hours, but, finally, I felt the vehicle bob a little, as someone got in. The engine revved up, a moment later, and I felt the stomach-churning motion of the ground effect field taking force. Then, my body felt the g-forces of a vertical liftoff.

Fifteen, terse, minutes later, we landed somewhere and the vehicle settled back onto the ground, before being shut down. I waited ten minutes after the officer got out before I took a peek.

I am in a Zombie parking lot. There are about twelve flyers parked here and the Zombie Coffin depository is off to the north. I am in some desert foothills, but there is a little good news, a major road is just a few hundred yards away. I can see some ground cars passing, occasionally, driving along, what has to be, the sparsely used Interstate 15. They are tourists, on a lark, using the old road to drive the nostalgic way to Vegas. Of course, they aren't driving gas cars, those had been declared illegal, years ago. These are ground skimmers, hovercraft, using repulsion tech. Out in the center of the old road, I saw a silver blur go by as the old Mag Train silently cut through the desert air.

It took me a few minutes to get away, I had to make sure none of the Zombies came out and saw me near their aircraft. But, the fact is, no one is looking for an escaped criminal. This isn't a lock-up facility, just an old prison, turned into a Coffin depository, where Zombie bodies are stored.

No one has ever escaped from a Zombie depository; it just isn't conceivable; their original brains are disconnected from their bodies by an attached Remora.

A few minutes later, I reached the casino along the road. All, except one, have shut down since the Mag Train doesn't stop between the Etiwanda station and Vegas. Still, there is just enough nostalgia traffic to keep one small place running. I considered my next move, it is obvious that I need to get lost in a big city; Las Vegas seems like the obvious choice, as it is nearby.

I walked down to the casino parking lot and managed to convince some tourists that I am a card dealer headed for a new job at the Jungle Palace. They offered me a ride to Vegas, so they could pump me for gambling tips. I obliged them, all the way, spouting 'systems' and explaining all the odds. It was easy; I found I knew the odds of every game in every situation. It bothers me that I don't know why.

They left me at the front entrance of the Jungle Palace. It is the perfect depiction of an old Indian palace of legend, right down to the overgrown jungle, real looking hologram Bengal tigers, and Orangutans which play along the outside of the structure. You expect to see Mowgli hanging off one of the pyramids or towers. Actually, now that I think about it, I believe they actually have some cheesy Zone show here, where you play the parts of the animals in Rudyard Kipling's classic, The Jungle Book.

It is decision time. Being broke, and in Las Vegas, is like being male, in a lesbian chat Zone, there's pretty stuff everywhere, except, you can't have any of it. I could use any public brain scanner around and if I have the zTime I can buy anything, but I am wanted by zPol. They will, definitely, be monitoring my account, assuming they haven't crashed it already. If I use a brain scanner, they will know I am in Las Vegas, faster than zTime ticks away in the Zones. I can also look for an illegal zTime Trader and get a private brain scan to access my zTime, without a zPol flag, but they will charge me more zTime than the zTime I withdraw. Still, I may have to consider that option.

I reached up to scratch the itch at the back of my neck and touched the thin device attached to my skin, the one which Ellie had said she'd put there, she called it a 'Skey', said like the old winter sport where you would ski down a mountain. As soon as I thought about the Skey, another memory returned, like a new cotton ball tossed into the jar. I suddenly knew what it is, a spine key; an uplink to the Satweb.

These look similar to Remoras; they are also placed at the base of the skull. But a Skey does the opposite of a Remora. A Skey is used to send a copy of the person's mind up to the Satweb. From there, a mind in the Zones can be linked to a Remora, attached to some poor sap's neck, allowing the other mind to take control of that person's body.

That was the original purpose, but Hackers found a different use for a Skey. They used a Skey to get a copy of their mind into the Zones, illegally, through the Satweb. Most people get onto the Zones using a standard Zone Interface, which was created by Zcerebral. This interface taps straight into the mind and reroutes perceptions, sensations, and motor control up and down from the Satweb. It connects a person to a virtual body, called a puppet. When you disconnect from the Zones or your puppet gets 'zonked', your mind is still in your real body, so you just wake up.

A Skey is a different animal altogether. When you put a Skey at the base of your skull, and will the connection, it starts sending an actual copy of your mind up through the Satweb to the Zone servers. Skeys are designed so that if they are removed from the Host, while connected, the copy will erase, automatically, from the Satweb, restoring consciousness to the host body. This is to keep anyone from making multiple copies, of the same person, with multiple Skeys. It also means that an agent's mind, linked to a Remora, will not be lost if the Remora is removed, or the body killed; their real mind is still back in their body. The fact is, a mind is never in a Skey or a Remora, they are just used to transfer, or link, a mind to the Zone servers.

Skeys were appropriated by the Hacker community and are now used as a very portable means for a Hacker to illegally access the Zones, without a Zcerebral Interface, and without being under the control of the Zcerebral system.

To help with this complex operation, each hacker writes a program to assist them, called a Steward. This program is stored in the Skey.

If the Skey, attached to the back of my neck, connects my mind to a Steward program, then help is only a thought away. How much help the Steward will be all depends on my, unknown, skills as a Pirate and a code sculptor. After all, I must have sculpted the code that is my Steward. I know I have some kind of reputation and I know that zPol is looking for me, most likely because I am a Freebooter, or, possibly, even a Pirate.

The term 'Freebooter' first started up, as most things do, as a much simpler thing. It just meant you were booting into the Zcerebral servers for free, without zTime being taken from your account for each minute you spent in the Zones. That got combined to the term Freebooter, which also happens to be another name for a pirate. Soon, 'Pirate' became the common term for the best of the Freebooters.

I decided it is time to find out if I really am a Pirate, or only a Hacker, or even just a Landlubber with delusions of grandeur. Anyone, with the zTime, and willingness to break the law, may attempt to be a Hacker. All it takes is a Skey; and though VERY hard to come by, extremely expensive, and prohibitively illegal, you can obtain one, if that is your, in most cases, foolish desire. Most people who attempt to hack into the Zones are caught and even those who make it still aren't considered Pirates. They have to do something which makes them famous and they have to find Tortuga.

All this just came to me, and I know Tortuga is some secret and illegal Zone.

I need a secure place where I can try using the Skey without being noticed. A hotel room is a good idea, but that is for people with zTime to spend. A Skey is serious business. When I say illegal, I mean ILLEGAL, as in using one carries a permanent Body Donation, as a penalty; that's the permanent loss of your body, mind you, what they used to call capital punishment. Bleeding hearts are quick to point out that this isn't capital punishment because your body is not killed. Your living husk is donated to the Zombies, so your body isn't really dead, per se, but a Body Donation is the same as death, to me, my mind would be forever locked away while my body is used by Zcerebral agents. Based on this, I think it best to try the Skey in a secure location.

As I glanced around, thinking about where to find a secluded place, my eyes tracked over a show sign featuring Mowgli and Baloo the Bear, from The Jungle Book. That gave me an idea.

I followed the signs through the casino to The Jungle Book show. Of course, the signs lead you through a deep, dark, and utterly maze-like, casino floor, where you get so lost that it could be days before you find your way to an exit. Casinos never change.

Of course, the slot machines do change. Nowadays, when you sit down at a slot machine and pull the handle, or push the button, you don't watch numbers spin, or view an old video screen, depicting something similar. Now, you sit back into a headrest in a high back chair and your consciousness enters a Zone Interface through the neural receptors in the headrest. Your senses are transported into a game world, where you try your best to beat an unbeatable game. It's kind of like those old Japanese television game shows, or that, really old, TV show called Wipeout. Your mind is connected to a temporary Puppet and the player must physically guide the Puppet through some short, dangerous, and tricky game to try to reach your goal. The odds of making it, well, they aren't good, but you get a bit of entertainment and the experience of trying to win, with the illusion that, if you are better than the last guy, you have a better chance. As I said, all an illusion, the odds are the odds. As soon as you lose, you are released from the small Zone and are disconnected, your perceptions sent back into your body. If you desire, you may try the insane course, or game, again, with the pull of the handle and the loss of another minute or two of zTime.

Through perseverance, I eventually found my way to the auditorium. Tickets are cheap, five zMinutes, but I don't dare access my zTime via their Brain Scanner. But, as I suspected, I found a 'Free' show coupon in a casino book, tossed in an ashtray. Of course, 'free' is a relative term. When you use a free coupon, it is always for the next show, forcing you to wander the casino for at least an hour. While doing so, you will, most likely, lose far more zTime than ten shows would cost. Good news for me, I don't have a minute of zTime to lose. So, I just kept moving to keep the cameras and their watchers from marking me as a vagrant.

I am not worried about face recognition. With the advent of goop, people can look like anything, or anyone, they want. Face recognition software has gone the way of the dinosaurs. But, there are brain scanners about, so I stayed well away from scanner nodes.

Eventually, my name was called and I headed for the auditorium. They sit you in reclining chairs with the back of your head resting within a padded cradle. This allows the neural nodes close enough proximity to make the bridge to your mind and start the show. This is standard voyeur Zone stuff, where you ride the character of your choice. Most people choose Mowgli and, since there is no personal interaction, it doesn't matter that five hundred people are in the same character, it seems like you are alone as Mowgli.

This is the big moment, where I find out if this is a Skey, which will uplink my mind to my Greenroom in the Servers and connect me to the included Steward. All I have to do is will the connection. I hesitated, but The Jungle Book show only lasts for an hour and every minute might be critical. The Jungle Book show started at approximately the same time that I willed the connection to the device on my neck.

The world fell away like a million points of light, swirling into a maelstrom.

# Chapter zTwo – The Jungle Book

I had no idea what connecting to the Zones would feel like, that is one of the missing areas in my memory. Technically, I know what should happen, but it is like textbook knowledge, not empirical knowledge. If this is a highly illegal personal Satweb link then I should have a connection to my Steward and, if I want, I can access my personal setup area, where I could alter any parameters like senses, emotional feedback, and physical characteristics, prior to setting sail for a specific Zone.

All around me, the bright streaking points of light coalesced into a thick jungle and I found myself standing there as a semi-naked child. Jungle sounds and smells are all around me. It seems that I have entered The Jungle Book show as Mowgli, certainly not what I was expecting. The Skey does not seem to have had any effect. I'm certainly not in my setup area, instead, I am linked into an entertainment Zone.

It is strange being the small Mowgli, as an adult, you forget what the world looks like to a child. I parted the palm leaves in front of me and looked into the jungle clearing. There is a large bear foraging under a log he had lifted up with one of his large gray paws. He turned at the sound of plants rustling behind him.

"Mowgli, there you are! I've been looking for you for so long that I finally got hungry and needed a snack!"

Seeing a large bear talk in English is a strange sight, in itself. In order to form words, his mouth stretches in ways that a bear's mouth shouldn't go. The bear and Mowgli conversed for a few minutes and I watched, like the rest of the audience, just a spectator inside the Mowgli puppet.

I spotted a flash of black and a panther landed at the edge of the clearing, crouched and ready to move.

Baloo the bear smiled and exclaimed, "Bagheera! What are you up to, you old fleabag?"

The panther ignored the bear and focused its yellow eyes on me.

"It was foolish to enter the Zones through an entertainment channel while wearing your Skey," the panther said, in a very un-Bagheera like way. "You're bound by the entertainment program parameters. Worse, your personal settings are still in effect."

I am confused, to say the least. "Who are you? You're not going to tell me that you're Bagheera, or this subroutine is buggy as all hell!"

"No, but I don't have time to get into it right now. Your Skey connection to the Satweb lit up a flag at zPol central because you are in this monitored program. Dragoons have already warped into this Zone, and they're closing in fast, and Zombies are in en route."

I instinctively reached for the exit sequence with my mind, which should have brought up a large red button that I could slam to confirm my desire to leave the entertainment program; it is a standardized interface. Nothing happened, so I spoke aloud, "Exit Zone, please." That definitely should have taken me out, but I am still in Mowgli.

Bagheera shook his large head. "That won't work; they've shut down the exit protocols to trap your mind in here."

"Can I take off the Skey?"

Bagheera exclaimed, adamantly, "Never take off that Skey! It might kill you."

That makes no sense, but I demanded, "Why are you helping me?" Then I asked. "Are you my Steward?"

"No, you have to activate your Steward to access that routine. I can't tell you more because the entire audience is witnessing everything that you do, see and hear. I've accessed the program code and manage to give you physical control of the character, but I couldn't lock out the rest of the audience or open an exit."

I looked around the surrounding foliage of the jungle, wildly, but I can't hear or see anything odd.

Once again, Bagheera shook his large black head. "The Dragoons are holding back so that they can get some Zombies into the casino before you realize that you have been tagged. They don't want you to extricate your mind from the Puppet and back into your physical body until the Zombies have it in custody."

"How do I get out of this program?" I asked, desperately.

Bagheera's yellow eyes seemed to focus inward for a moment and his lithe body froze. A moment later, he moved again. "I've just accessed zPol's communication net, I overheard them tapping into The Jungle Book program. They're sending a Dragoon in the guise of a Jungle Book character in order to get closer to you without alerting you to their presence."

"What character?"

"Shere Khan, he's going to close in so that he can strike the final blow to zonk your character as soon as the Zombies are in a position to take your real body."

I don't know what is going on, but there is one thing I know for sure, I need to get back into my body, right now. "How do I get out?"

"Your character is going to have to zonk and quickly. It will hurt, a lot, because you have a high emotional threshold set in your Skey interface, but it's the only way. Afterward, head out to the park in front of the casino."

I don't like the sound of zonking. Dying, or being 'zonked' as a character, with a high emotional limit set, is a scary thought. The large black cat, who is supposed to be Mowgli's friend, suddenly looked a lot scarier. I backed away from Bagheera, toward Baloo the bear. He is busy eating a piece of fruit and ignoring the conversation, since none of it is addressed to him, or part of his scripted dialogue.

Bagheera moved toward me. "It's the only way; once your character zonks you'll drop out of the program back into your body, automatically."

Suddenly, the big bear quit foraging and turned with new purpose. Baloo leaped for the panther, extending his four-inch claws and swiping one of his large paws toward Bagheera's throat.

"Dragoon!" Bagheera howled and leaped to the side to avoid the sudden attack.

I did what any smart person should do when two large toothy animals are battling to the death, I turned Mowgli's small body and ran into the jungle. Branches and large leaves slapped my small, skinny, body as I fled across the mossy ground. As I ran, I tried to think about what to do. If Bagheera was on the level, then I have to assume that the Baloo character has been commandeered by a zPol operative, a Dragoon. And another Dragoon, in the form of Shere Khan, the tiger, is closing on my position. According to the panther, the Dragoon is just waiting for word that the Zombies are near my real body. Then the Dragoons will zonk me and trace the Disconnect to my body.

I stopped and listened for pursuit, but I heard nothing. The snarl of the panther and growls of the bear have faded away or stopped. The only sound is the ambient background track of the jungle. Then I heard the low growl of a large cat coming from a short distance; Shere Khan, the tiger. I pictured those large claws and sharp fangs ripping through my small, skinny body and shuddered. The pain of being zonked would be real and even the eventual salvation of character death will bring no solace; I will awaken to the tender mercies of the Zombies, a prisoner of zPol. But something is eluding me... then I had it. The Dragoon controlling Shere Khan has not attacked, yet, which means the Zombies haven't found my body in the casino show.

I still have a little time.

I turned and ran away from the growl of Shere Khan. I delved into my character's memory as I fled. Being a member of the audience, I have some limited access to information from my character. In other words, I know what Mowgli knows. According to the story, Mowgli grew up in this forest with a pack of wolves, so he has some general knowledge about this area. There is a large set of cliffs, not far away, where a river waterfall, of epic proportions, falls into the mists below. I changed course and headed in that direction, at a full run.

Behind me, I thought I heard the rustle of branches, possibly Shere Khan tracking me or moving in for the kill. I can't be sure.

I reached the edge of the jungle growth and broke out into the open. Above me is an impossibly blue sky and I can hear the roar of the falls to my right. I ran three steps across the stone, at the top of the cliff, and leaped out, into nothing. I made my choice. I fell, plunging down into the misty valley below. I never even saw the sharp rocks as I hit. The world went black, in one brief flash of excruciating pain, as I zonked.

My eyes opened. I am back in the darkened theater of The Jungle Book show. People are all around me, in their Couches, some calling out in panic as they come out of the game trance with the shock of having experienced a zonk during an entertainment show that isn't supposed to feature pain.

I turned my head, slightly, and saw two people, not in Couches, walking through the throng and staring at each shocked face, momentarily, with a quick burst from a flashlight. No doubt, these are the Zombies, looking for me. Fortunately, they don't seem to know where my Couch is located.

I waited a moment longer, allowing some of the audience to gain their feet, causing a lot of motion and confusion. The Zombies turned on their flashlights and then I moved. They will be blinded from the beams of light and unlikely to see me moving if the light isn't directly on me. I rolled off my Couch, onto the floor, and started crawling to keep out of the Zombies' flashlight beams. People are getting up, everywhere. With most of the audience on their feet, I ran for an exit door, in a crouch. Once there, I paused; the moment I open the door, I am going to flood the room with light and that will draw the attention of the Zombies.

I waited for the main lights to come on. The moment they did, I opened the door and bolted out, all in one motion. The bright light, momentarily, blinded me as I came out into the well-lit casino floor. I closed the door and headed into the crowd. As I moved into the thick crowd of gamblers and tourists, I looked up and spotted one of the dark half-globes that are mounted everywhere around the casino; these are hidden cameras.

A memory returned, and I knew the Zombies will use the Satweb to tie into the casino camera system. Once they do that, they will have little trouble tracking me down. Hiding will do little good, they can use the cameras to find me and then alert their agents to my position.

I have to get out of the view of the cameras, as quickly as possible, but is there anywhere in a casino that doesn't have cameras? Then I had it, the bathrooms. I looked up at the many signs and spotted the one leading to the restrooms. I hurried, without running, because I don't want to draw attention to myself; even with the cameras, it may take them a few minutes to spot me in the crowd, if I moved with the flow. My skin is itching with the anticipation of a Zombie hand coming down on my shoulder.

I made it inside the men's room and a tuxedo-clad bathroom attendant greeted me cordially. There are three other men inside, with two of them just about finished at the sinks. I stepped up to a sink and took one of the combs from the blue antiseptic. I worked on my hair while I considered what to do. In the mirror, I noticed that the skin of my face is very red and it isn't flushed from excitement. This is the first sign of a goop smear starting to make its alterations, it is already starting to destroy parts of my old face and I will soon look like I'm in much worse shape. I need a place to heal.

Because Zombies have not burst into the men's room yet, I have to assume that I made it into the bathroom before the operatives either managed to tie into the cameras or spotted me. But that is only a reprieve. They will be accessing the recordings from those cameras, soon enough, and they will eventually spot me going into this bathroom. If I go back out they will pick me up on the cameras, even sooner.

My options are to cower in the bathroom until I am apprehended or take my chances in escaping the casino before their net closes on my position. Or is there another option?

Two of the men left and the third man is now at a sink. The attendant is holding out a small towel for him to wipe his hands. After the man finished, he glanced into the brain scanner, over the tip tray, and the zTime display went up a minute, then he headed out. The attendant moved over, toward me, since I am his last customer in sight. Unfortunately, for him, my third option involves disabling this poor attendant, but I don't want to seriously hurt this innocent man. None of this is his fault, yet I have to knock him out, somehow.

What transpired next surprised me; he extended the towel and I moved. Without conscious thought, I reached for his extended right hand, with my own right, reaching across his body. I took hold of his wrist and pulled, effectively rotating the man half-way around. My surprise attack shocked him so much that I managed to get my left arm around his neck, in a chokehold, before he even knew what had happened. My right hand released his wrist and snaked up under his arm into a half-nelson hold. That kept him immobilized even though he began to struggle.

It isn't easy to knock out a man; a simple punch to the jaw, like you use in some entertainment programs, seldom does more than cause a bruise. A human has incredible strength, when attacked, because of the adrenaline that gets released into their system. It's a survival instinct that gives humans a sudden burst of greater strength. Even so, given knowledge and surprise, a man can be put into a position of helplessness by someone with training. If the carotid arteries, located in the neck, can be blocked off, blood will cease flowing to the brain. After that, it is only a matter of around ten seconds before they lose conscious control.

I knew when that happened because the bathroom attendant went limp, but I also knew better than to release my choke hold. Loss of control does not mean a man is completely knocked out. If I release him, too early, he will awaken in seconds as the blood flow supplies oxygen to his deprived brain cells. The trick is to hold on for the amount of time needed to send him into full unconsciousness, but not so long that you kill him. It is a tricky business, but I know what I am doing. How do I know? You got me, I know without knowing how I know.

Once I was sure he is out, I quickly dragged the attendant into a stall and sat him down on the closed toilet seat. I checked his pulse and found it strong. I am thankful; he will wake up, in a few minutes, only a little worse for wear. I closed the door and started pulling his jacket and shirt off his body. A minute later, I had to pause when I heard someone enter the bathroom. I listened, but I knew it wasn't a Zombie when they went to a stand-up stall and started to urinate. I continued redressing my upper body. Once the attendant's tuxedo shirt, tie, and half jacket were on over my old clothes, I placed his cap on my head and then listened. I eventually heard the other man leaving. As soon as he left, I slipped out of the stall and closed the door, leaving the unconscious man inside.

A moment later, after a deep breath to calm myself, I strolled out of the bathroom, holding a towel over my arm. The uniform is not identical to a waiter, but I hoped that it is close enough to fool the cameras and Zombies. I followed another employee, who looks like he is headed somewhere. I kept my head tilted down or turned away from each camera globe on the ceiling or walls. He led me through a door marked 'Employees only' and I followed the worker inside. I found myself in a wide, but, otherwise, unadorned hallway. This is definitely the inner workings of the hotel. Unlike the public areas of the hotel, this is for employees only, so it looks almost boring, a motif that patrons are never allowed to witness. There are employees everywhere; going between doors, moving down the wide hall, but no one is giving me any special attention. With a hotel, of this size, there are probably thousands of employees, so no one is likely to think it strange when they don't recognize me. I found a men's changing room where guys are getting into and out of their uniforms.

Then I just followed someone dressed in street clothes and he led me to the exit. He stopped and used a brain scanner to signal the time clock that he is off and has quit earning zTime. I stopped at the scanner and pretended to clock out but was careful to avoid actually getting close enough to activate the scanner. A minute later, I walked outside the hotel and into the park, where the ever-present crowd is gawking at all the massive lights on the strip and The Dome, high above.

# Chapter zThree – The Dome

Even though it is summer in the desert and, during the daytime, the temperature outside is over 100 degrees, under The Dome it is always 72 degrees, day or night.

The Dome encloses the entire gambling district, including the old Las Vegas Strip, the original Freemont Street, and the newer Sin Circle.

Over the years, Las Vegas has morphed into various incarnations. Originally, some enterprising gangsters built a few casinos in the desert and eventually, it became the gambling Mecca. In those days, the lure of riches, fast women, and, more importantly, the false feeling of importance, drew people to risk their paychecks at the tables.

Soon, flat films, like the James Bond series, painted the canvas of people's perceptions with tuxedo-clad visions of Sean Connery cavorting around Downtown, gambling and, inevitably, winning with style and grace.

People come to this city imagining themselves as a similar debonair gambler. They like the façade of being a high roller, the gambler who beats the house. Never mind that only fifteen percent break even or win, people are adequately compensated for the loss of their hard-earned money. In trade, they are given a brief moment of excitement when they step out of their humdrum life and up to a posh gambling table to enter the bright lights. You can almost hear Sean Connery saying, "I'm Bond, James Bond."

Times changed. Gambling and bright lights just weren't enough to attract the same mobs of people after the computer age began. There were many changes in the world and Las Vegas was no longer the sole place to lose money; State lotteries and Indian gambling cut into 'Lost Wage's' profits. Soon, the Internet allowed those with gambling addictions to lose more than their paychecks, they can use their future earnings, using their credit cards at online gambling casinos, all from the privacy of their own homes.

Even the style of entertainment changed. Computer games drew the minds of a new generation to sit before a cathode ray tube, which changed to flat screen monitors, and eventually VR headsets. There, they interacted with shifting images and sounds on their home computers and game consoles.

But Las Vegas refused to die. The billionaire owners shifted to more spectacular hotels that are tourist attractions, unto themselves. No longer did tourists only venture into the desert to see the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, there was 'The Strip'. And, every few years, Las Vegas blew up an old casino and built some new colossus in the city that never sleeps.

They built fake versions of famous sites and distant places, all re-created to get people to come and gawk. The pyramids were no longer only in Egypt, the Eiffel tower now stood atop a new casino and Notre Dame Cathedral went from holy ground to tourist trap. All of these spectacular human creations, and more were recreated in Las Vegas.

The city changed from a wild getaway for businessmen, fraternity packs, bachelor parties, and other groups of males to a place where families traveled to see the sights, play in the various worlds, and spend their vacation savings. Gambling still flourished, but only in compliment to the grandiose tourist attractions, family parks, and spectacular entertainment shows.

But the idea of Vegas, as family entertainment, failed as online gambling, and the advent of televised poker, caused a new fad in 'stay at home' online poker gambling, so Vegas changed again. Las Vegas ran massive poker tournaments of Texas Hold'em to try and draw these gamblers back to the city, instead of playing poker online. These tournaments kept people coming to the city. Meanwhile, they got their lobbyists to pay off politicians and made online gambling illegal.

Once they dodged that bullet, Las Vegas changed again, this time going the way of high-class Clubs by night and crazy pool parties by day. Food prices, and other amenities, like spas, skyrocketed in cost and people waited in lines to dance to pounding sounds and glaring lights. Vegas became a place to party and gambling pulled in additional cash.

It changed twice more before the Zones drove a stake into the heart of the undead city. When the first neural interface allowed a human mind directly into the Satweb, no other entertainment could compete. Any person can hang glide through the canyons of Mars, or snow ski on Titan, or adventure in Middle Earth, or return to Egypt as King Tutankhamun. Reality paled in comparison. Why travel to Las Vegas to see replicas when you can walk into history and, seemingly, be there? The Zones are only limited by the ability of programmers and artists to assemble the worlds. New experiences take time to build, but, through computer-aided creation, new Zones are created and a trickle of Zones turned into a tidal wave of cerebral entertainment.

Las Vegas nearly perished, it was their darkest time. Then they, once again, reinvented Las Vegas. The remaining owners of the great hotels gathered their dwindling resources and built The Dome. They enclosed an entire section of the desert into a controlled environment and closed the doors. No longer was Las Vegas open to everyone. In a world that now had the Zones, endless cerebral fantasy worlds, where you can enter and do anything you want, the owners of The Dome denied people access to their new and secret creation, Sin Circle. They advertised Sin Circle around the Zones and their slogan said it all, "Real Sin for the chosen few."

Because people were denied access, suddenly, everyone wanted in, but you can only go if you are a member of the Sinners club, or if a current member invites you there, as their guest. Rumor has it that you cannot become a member until you pass three tests, all of which required you to accomplish a deadly sin. Worse, to take the tests, you have to get into Sin Circle and members are only allowed two guests each year.

But rumor promised that there is no greater experience than the secret pleasures of Sin Circle, where everything is real.

Religious groups attacked, with fervor, but The Dome held fast and Las Vegas was reborn. A few years later, when Zcerebral Incorporated took full control of the world, The Dome opened to tourism again. A lot of people came to the old strip, and ancient downtown areas, for nostalgia and a small taste of 'real sin'. But the main structure, Sin Circle, is still closed to everyone except members and guests. The crowds, which mill around, down on the strip, come to get close to the secret inner sanctum of the Circle. They walk up and down the park, which replaced Las Vegas Boulevard, and discuss the towering, circular structure, of Sin Circle. That behemoth goes all the way to the top of the dome and is over a quarter mile wide. It dwarfs the old Mega hotels and makes them seem like kiddy toys.

I remembered all of this information, without trouble, like I am some kind of walking history book, but I can't remember the details of my life. What the hell is wrong with me? I need help, that is for sure. Then I recalled something the Bagheera character had said; I need to activate my Steward program.

I willed the connection immediately and said, "Steward, are you there?"

Of course, Sir, and in case you have forgotten, my name is Loki, a calm and cultured voice said, though it is entirely in my head.

I was just about to ask him something when I noticed people in the park looking up. I looked around. The Jungle Palace hotel towers up in front of me, the tall spires reaching toward The Dome, high above. Looking up at the towers, I noticed a lot more flyers in the air than normal. Their blinking blue and red lights are swarming, everywhere. Suddenly, they descended, like football players toward a fumbled ball. I felt a moment of panic, but zPol can't be that interested in one programmer, can they?

A booming voice split the air with such volume that my ears rang. "Citizens, this is a zPol operation, please remain still and prepare to be questioned."

The flyers dove steeply, coming in for full powered landings in the park, all around me. I'm not sure what the zPol operatives thought people would do after that message, but the crowd in the park erupted into full panic. People screamed and ran everywhere in an attempt to get out of the area. Where there had been a few clearings, before the booming announcement, now there are shifting patterns of scattered tourists in full flight. Some unlucky people got crushed beneath the large hulls of the swiftly landing zPol flyers, which caused, even more, hysteria.

I still haven't moved, but I have to do something, soon. I am stunned, but I believe they are actually after me. If they are willing to kill people to get their flyers down, they won't think much about my health!

Then, during the crazy hysteria and raucous sounds, Loki's calm voice spoke to me, as if we are sitting in a room, somewhere. Sir, may I make a suggestion, perhaps it would be advisable to run?

This confused me, even more, and then I spotted the first armed Zombies stepping out onto the descending ramps from the backs of their flyers. They lifted riot guns and fired stun grenades, fanning them out in all directions. The blasts were audible as well as explosive. Bodies flew and lay still as the sound wave numbed their minds or the impact broke their bodies.

I covered my ears, with both hands, and ran toward a gap in the landing vehicles, even so, the sound waves nearly caused me to pass out. Only some of it comes in through your ears. If a grenade goes off close enough to me, it will all be over.

A grenade exploded, only thirty yards behind me, and the blast wave threw me forward. With arms and legs flailing, I flew twenty feet, right toward a plate glass window in front of a street-side casino. Fortunately, either the guy flying through the air in front of me or the shock wave itself, exploded out the twenty-foot wide, half inch thick, glass panel, just before I arrived. I landed on the glass-strewn carpet of the casino, rolling between two rows of holobandit machines.

Miraculously, I only seem to have taken minor cuts, though I have an instant, noggin splitting, headache. There must be all kinds of noise from the falling glass, exploding grenades, landing flyers, and myriads of screaming patrons, but the world is eerily silent. I guess the blast wiped out my hearing.

Sir, the calm voice of Loki said again, I suggest that you head for the back of the casino, with some haste. zPol operatives are closing on the front of this building.

Loki's voice is the only thing I clearly hear in an otherwise dull sounding world, which is because his voice isn't really coming in through my ears, it goes straight into my brain.

His words sounded like good advice, so I regained my feet and got into a staggering run, joining the rest of the fleeing crowd. It is surreal running with a panicked crowd in utter silence. The mob ran to the rear of the casino, headed for the exits at the back.

But, as we got toward the rear, the calm voice of my Steward program spoke again, There is a door to your right, which will take you out a side-door of this structure.

I veered right and spotted the door. I ran down a hallway, by myself, headed toward a nearby metal door. It has a long horizontal bar across the center, obviously there to push it open.

Out in the crowd, zPol Zombies are continuing to stun people and search their bodies.

I realize that Loki must be accessing maps and other information from the Zones to help me escape. As I thought about the Steward program, I remembered that I don't need to speak aloud, so I sent a thought to my Steward, Get me out of here, Loki!

I will do my best, Sir. There is a hover tram, three blocks ahead, go there.

I caught the hover tram, which arrived as soon as I ran up onto the platform. There are a few other panicky looking people getting on the tram as well. It is a free ride toward the old Downtown area. After procuring a seat, I starred out the window as the hover tram coasted smoothly away on the magnetic repulsion system underneath. It is oddly serene, in contrast to the mayhem of the attack in the park. I had been calm enough, while the action was swift and deadly, but now that I have time to think, I suddenly got the shakes. I'd come very close to real death.

I thought to my Steward: Loki? Is there a warrant issued for me?

Yes, Sir.

Show me, I thought to him.

A 3D image of my head appeared, hovering in the air in front of me and spinning around slowly. Beneath it is text and a woman's voice read the text aloud, though only I will see or hear what I am experiencing. I am viewing a zPol Body Donation warrant, featuring my name. I am now a walking corpse, Zombie meat; they are going to lock my mind away, forever. With all the ways of tracking people these days, there is no way for an average citizen to stay out from under the thumb of zPol, for long. My number is up; my body will be taken by the Zombies.

Everywhere I turn and everything I do will alert the system. Every piece of data goes through the Satweb to Zcerebral's hidden servers. As soon as they receive one brain scan, the computers will pinpoint my position. Seconds later, zPol agents, who are already assigned to my case, will link their minds into a Remora on a nearby Zombie body. They will have orders authorizing my immediate Body Donation. I may as well give myself up, right now, before more innocent people die.

But what if this muddled brain of mine holds information that can betray others? As soon as I give myself up to the Zombies, they will stick a downlink on me and send an agent into my brain to get the information. My memories could betray anyone who helped me, and they will have a Body Donation warrant assigned. People, like the person who played the part of Bagheera, will be caught. Of course, for all I know, that mysterious person has already been captured by the Dragoons. I don't even know if I owe Bagheera any loyalty, perhaps he has been a part of what got me into this mess? Regardless, there is also the girl who brought me the Skey, back in Holgren hospital. If they catch me, zPol agents can extract her image out of my mind, maybe even more. She claimed to know me, so there might be memories which they can tap. Besides, even delivering a Skey is a serious offense.

A dark part of my mind had a sarcastic thought, maybe I should kill myself, after all, I'd done it as Mowgli and it had been over quickly. But I still have another option; I can get into the Zones and find out if I am really a Pirate. I may be good enough to avoid zPol. I know that some Freebooters manage to stay out of zPol's grasp for years, or so it is said, but Pirates are a cut above. Maybe I am that good; unfortunately, I can't remember.

Fine, I'll put off self-sacrifice for another day and try the Satweb. Perhaps, there, I can find the help I need to survive. Besides, suicide is kind of an unappetizing thought.

I concur, Sir, suicide is counterproductive.

Great, I thought, now I have some program, interfaced into my thoughts, offering commentary.

I can stay silent, if that is your wish, Sir.

I ignored that; I might need information from Loki.

Now, back to my original problem, I still need somewhere quiet to sail into the Zones and, this time, not as part of an entertainment program.

I waited for the hover tram to slow at the next exit and got off the tram with a few other people. I held back until the other exiting passengers entered the rear entrance of the new Sands hotel and the tram pulled out. I stripped off the tux jacket, shirt, and tie and stuffed them into a trash receptacle. Now, back in my street clothes, I headed for the hotel rear entrance.

It is early in the evening, most of the revelers are out enjoying the sights and sounds, or so I hope. I entered the hotel and wandered through some of the upper hallways, searching for the right situation.

I found a maid, just finishing a room, and waited, a few feet away, until she came out. I quickly walked up, as if just arriving, and caught the door with my foot before it latched all the way. Quickly, I placed my head near the brain scanner on the door, yet not quite close enough to activate it. I don't want that data available to zPol. The maid said something pleasant and pushed her cart toward the next room, while I pushed the door back open and stepped inside.

There is a suitcase in the room and some personal effects in the bathroom. Of course, no one is here, since it is early enough in the evening and people are still out seeing the sights. After a brief inspection of the suitcase, closet, drawers, and bathroom I concluded that this room is occupied by a single woman. That doesn't mean she will return single, this being Las Vegas, where people came for a dose of real sin, rather than what is available in the Red-Light Zone.

There are two double beds in the room with a pair of pay-for-experience neck pillows on the nightstand between the beds.

I got down and checked under the beds and found that there is enough clearance for me to lie down. I scooted into the center, lying on my back, facing the bed springs, an inch above my nose. It is tight but workable. I figure that I should be finished with my sojourn into the Zones, and out of the girl's room before she returns. However, in case I am wrong, I will be hidden under her bed. It is unlikely that someone will spot me. Besides, even if she comes back early, I can always slip out, late at night, and make my getaway.

It isn't perfect, but on the other hand, there is no way for the Zombies to know where I am located.

Now it is time to use my Skey to enter my Green Room, a setup location for Paragons and the docking station of my Ship if I have one. I need to see if I have the skills, and means, to survive in the Zones as a Pirate. It is time to uplink a copy of my mind to the Satweb.

Loki?

Yes, Sir?

Uplink me to my Green Room, I thought to my Steward.

As you wish, Sir.

# Chapter zFour – The Green Room

A Skey is an interesting device. The technology comes from the first creation of a neural interface with the human mind, allowing thoughts to interface with sculpted code. But the term 'code' has changed since the advent of the neural interface. In the past, writing code was the science of translating logic, sequence, and mathematics into a set of instructions called a program. In the beginning, programmed code went through a series of translations to become the working logic of a program. Pure thought was translated into a human language which was translated into a computer language. This computer language was something between the language with which humans wrote and the language machines understood. It was an intermediate step, later translated by another program to compile it into pure machine code. In any translation, there is always the possibility of error and, in computer code, these errors are known as bugs.

Writing code, in those days, was like building a ship in a bottle, you were on the outside and the program was within. As a programmer, you had to squeeze each change through the bottleneck of translations. But the first neural interface changed all that, programmer's thoughts are no longer filtered through multiple layers of translation. A mind can now meld with a machine and the sculpting of code truly merges science with art. The shackles, limiting what we call code, were removed.

The greatness of the human mind has always been the ability to weigh all the myriad forms of data and come to a decision without following each path to its conclusion. We think and we know. The interesting part is how often we can be, and are, wrong, yet we survive and flourish and our mind learns from the mistake.

The speed in which we see the error and come to a new decision allows us to fix our mistakes and learn. We correct for the margin of error and correct and correct until we get it right.

Think of a baseball flying toward an outfielder, when the ball is hit, they instantly weigh all the information and move toward a new position. But as the ball keeps flying toward them, the player keeps reevaluating that information. Right down to the last instant in altering the position of their glove.

In old-time programming, the translation of our thoughts into written code quantified them down to a set of binary instructions which always followed a logic tree to the eventual solution. Even multithreading code still follows through a guaranteed set of branching decisions to come to a conclusion. The human mind sees all the data and reaches nearly an instant decision and, though that decision is often wrong, we just keep reacting in a series of decreasingly incorrect assumptions. No matter how fast we make computers they can never ascend past the limitations of a system using code that is a binary set of instructions.

The neural interface was the missing link. While neurally interfaced, you can create and store code by thought. More importantly, due to the way in which it is created and stored, the creation mirrors the creator. What is stored is still called code, but it has as much in common with the old computer machine code as the Mona Lisa does to a child's finger painting; though they are both called paintings. Using a neural interface allows your mind to leave your physical body and create anything you are good enough to sculpt. Once the large neural interface prototypes were reduced in size to something you could wear, the Skey was born.

Besides their primary use, a good Skey can also store large quantities of code. But, regardless of other useful features, the Skey's primary purpose is a mobile link, a bridge, or conduit, between the Satweb and a human consciousness, which allows a copy of the mind to be transported, or uplinked, through Satweb and, from there, into the Zone servers.

It is important to note that a Skey does not store a mind, it can't. Right now, the only two places that can store a mind are a human brain and the Zone servers. And how the Zone servers do it, well, that's a mystery to most of us.

Since I activated a Skey my original mind is 'asleep' and the copy, has been uplinked to the Zone servers by the Skey. I am not in a Zone, per se, though my mind is on the Zone servers. I am also interacting with the active program within the Sky, my Steward. Data from the Zone servers comes down through the Skey. The optic centers of my brain received some of that data and it mimics the information that would be sent by my eyes. I 'see' the streaming points of light slow as the swirling maelstrom reverses and spirals outwards to halt in a new order. Though my logical brain knows that this is all artificial data, what I think I see, hear, smell, and touch, seems utterly real.

Sight, touch, and smell are all just signals from parts of your body, these signals are interpolated by the brain. If you send the same signals, artificially, directly to the brain, they will seem just as solid and real.

I found myself standing before a blazing fire in a massive hearth. I can feel the heat against my skin radiating from the thick burning logs.

Looking around me, I see that I am standing in a large hall. There is a mighty table, rough-hewn from tree trunks stripped of bark. Pounded metal shields and swords adorn the walls. I am standing in a warrior clan's meeting hall and it is strangely familiar. I know, without a doubt, that I have been here before. Though I have no conscious memory of it, I know that this is my pre-link area, my private Green Room within the Zone servers.

I am in, what looks like, my human form, though this is only because it is how I imagine myself and the program then creates that form for me here. If someone else had been here they wouldn't see me at all.

I feel that something is missing and then I had it, I am alone. Usually, a Green Room will have a Steward, or, at least, a Cretin program, running to greet and assist the user. Something is definitely wrong.

Come to think of it, there has been little or no security. I just willed the Skey to connect me and waltzed right into my inner sanctum in the Zones. But I know that no self-respecting Pirate would allow someone easy access to all of their secrets. After all, although cliché, in this day and age, the term 'Hacker' is still used to describe the lowest form of cyber thief; hoodlums, who tend to attack the helpless and unprotected.

If a Pirate got in here, that would be more serious. They would not be here to steal code or do random violence, they would want an edge. A subtle alteration here, some altered logic there, and, someday, they will benefit and I will be embarrassed. Their job would be to get in and out, unnoticed.

But that kind of subtlety is not needed here, a hacker can just come in the open door. I see no protections in evidence. Or are there?

I've been thinking like a hacker myself. Firewalls and Black Ice Modules, those are the typical hacker's repellant, but there are ways around or through them. However, a Pirate's protections would be subtler.

I tried to think more deviously, but turning that on, like a switch, isn't all that easy. It's like someone saying, "All right, be funny."

Regardless, I plowed ahead. What do I know? Well, getting in here had been easy; however, it should have been really hard. The conclusion is then simple if getting in here should be hard and getting in here had been easy, then 'here' must not be what it seemed.

There, that is devious, kinda. If here is not where I think it is, then this cannot be my real Green Room. It looks like a setup Zone, so that means it has to be a fake. So why aren't there alarms blaring and... oh, a Pirate wouldn't call in the authorities; their own activities are more illegal than any hacker trying to break in.

So, something else is about to happen, but nothing is jumping out. There are no sudden attacks by security programs or any other threat that I can discern. So then, what is the story?

More devious thought is necessary. I'll deviously pretend to not be devious. If I was a run of the mill hacker, and I got into the Green Room of a Pirate, what would I do or want? Two things come to mind, theft of useful code and petty destruction to let the Pirate know he has been compromised. So, what is stopping me from doing either of those? Nothing.

So, I steal some code, or I trash the place or both. Perhaps I plant my own secret code to track the Pirate, hinder his abilities, or give me a back door to return here in the future?

Since nothing is stopping me, I pretend to have done all this. Now what? Time to go before the mark returns? Ah, maybe that's it! Let them into a fake area so that what they do doesn't matter. They trash a fake, steal fake code and plant their own virus in a command structure which isn't used. There is probably a sophisticated program recording everything that goes on in here so that I can track down the trespasser, at my leisure.

Pretty cool, but some suspicious part of me still isn't satisfied. This is devious, but not unbeatable. In just a few minutes of paranoid contemplation, I thought my way through the honeypot. That term means a place that is purposely set up to lure you in and flag the owner about your activities. If I figured out this was a honeypot, then another Pirate could probably figure it out as well. This onion has to have another layer of devious.

Now that I went looking, it didn't take me long to find the entry into the real Green Room. It was fairly obvious, once I started looking for security, instead of trying to avoid it. I found a doorway that is very well guarded. This one has nasty antibody virus eater software, waiting at every turn, ready to activate and consume the unwary hacker who prods too deeply into this code. This is in the form of physical looking traps, which are representations of the code protecting the door.

It took some time, but, with a little help from returning memories, I got the codes that let me in. The door opened and I strolled into a great expanse of white. The floor is completely flat and fades into infinity in all directions. Behind me, the door closed and now there is nothing except white and a single console which sticks out of the floor, like a podium. I stepped up to the podium and discovered access to all kinds of interesting information.

But my paranoia is still running strong, or it may have been my dim memory, but something doesn't feel right. I put myself in the place of a decent Pirate. No Hacker was likely to have made it past the outer defenses or the watchdogs protecting entry to this area. That means illegal entry had been accomplished by a pro.

Then a thought hit me, what if this is also a fake? Now that would be devious. A fake that leads to a fake might fool even a smart Pirate, especially if the second one is this well protected. However, this kind of false area could be endless, what if the next one is fake as well? By now, only a top Pirate would figure out that this white expanse is a fake and, once they figure it out, they will be suspicious of all iterations of the program. If they are looking for it, they will eventually find the door to the next area. Besides, an endless series of entry programs is both illogical and irritating.

I would have to come in through all of them, every time, kind of like the old time comic spy, Maxwell Smart, coming through the endless security doors. Or, I would have to make a backdoor shortcut that allows me to skip the fake programs, but that would allow a Hacker or Pirate to enter that way as well if it is discovered.

Then I saw the answer and laughed. Perhaps it is a dim memory returning, or, perhaps, since I set this up, in the first place, this is just how I think. Regardless, I know the answer. I tripped the program that will give me entry into the next room and a door split open in the whiteness, ahead of me, but I already know that the new area will be a fake as well.

It took me a moment to gain access past the next level of security, but that is a smoke screen. I expected it to take a moment since all my personal code is busy transferring into the original program.

This is an old magician's trick. Show them something, let them figure out it is fake and then, once they have dismissed it, you make it real. Simply put, attempting to enter the third fake Green Room caused all my real data to transfer into the original Area, making it the real one. Instead of going forward, through that inviting door you just discovered and opened, what you really need to do is go back. Once you figure out how to get into the third area, fighting your way through devious protections, why would you ever go back and search the first area, the fake one, which has no protections? And, once you enter the third area, the way back will be permanently closed and you will face a series of more and more dangerous fakes which would eventually zonk you or trap you in a cage.

So, I just returned to the first room. I stepped back into the vast warrior hall, which is now my true Green Room, with all the real data loaded.

As soon as I walked back into the clan hall, Loki, my Steward, greeted me. Welcome back, Sir. Would you like to interface with your Paragon, or change parameters first?

Seeing as we are alone, I spoke aloud, "I need to change parameters; the emotional levels are set too high." I said, recalling how painful the zonk had been back at The Jungle Book Show.

Are you sure that is a good idea, Sir?

That is surprising, a Steward program criticizing, or even questioning a Pirate's decision. This must be one hell of a Steward routine. Steward routines are not sentient, no program is truly sentient, but Stewards are programmed to simulate sentience and are given a fake personality by their code sculptor.

There are also similar programs, the legal variety, called Cretins. These don't even attempt to fake sentience or have personality. They are more like the newest evolution of the old cell phone programs, such as Siri or Cortana, which Apple and Microsoft created, years ago. Those systems sound human, but they are just an access system to information.

Stewards are much more; they are so lifelike that many people think they are truly Artificial Intelligence. The better the code sculptor, the more real they seem. If this Steward is programmed to question my orders, he is a truly high-end routine.

"Yes, I'm sure I want to change my parameters," I noted, imperiously.

As you say, Sir, but if you lower this setting, and are zonked, you will return to this green room, automatically. That could be undesirable, at times.

Damn, he is right, so I decided to rethink my decision, however, I checked my setting anyway.

The interface dropped down from nowhere to surround me. Picture a six-foot-tall flowchart made of glowing, multicolored, three-dimensional symbols. Wrap the left and right edges around you to form a cylinder and turn the paper invisible, leaving only the symbols.

To access any control, you need only think about it and the entire display rotates and scrolls, as necessary, to bring the desired symbol before you. Alternatively, for those who prefer tactile control, you can reach out and touch any symbol you wish to access or rotate the display with gestures like a quick swipe down to scroll or horizontal to rotate.

I recalled something the unknown person, who had played Bagheera, said, back in the Las Vegas show, he had mentioned my personal settings still being in effect.

I thought of the control, which set my emotional threshold, and the display spun and halted with that symbol before me. The symbol is a small simulacrum of myself, in full color and seemingly alive. The minuscule me looked back and blinked.

If there had been any doubts that I am in my Green Room, they are now allayed, this tiny human looks like me, down to the mole on my left cheek. At least, down to his chest, below that, the little body looks like it has been dipped in red ink.

Another memory returned and I know the red represents my pain threshold setting. I could lower it with a thought and the red area would retreat toward the simulacrum's feet, which means that I would experience less pain before being kicked out of a Zone and back to my body. It also means I would only experience that level of pleasure as well. These things go hand-in-hand. I left it at the currently high setting, then I sighed, no pain, no gain.

I checked a few other settings but left everything else as is. Finally, I brought up my Paragon, so that I can look at the image I will be seen as while in the Zones.

It is rare for anyone to use their real appearance in the Zones, not when you can look like anything or anyone, you want. The appearance you choose to use in the Zones is analogous to wearing a costume to a party. It allows you to be mysterious, act wildly, and be uninhibited, yet all with anonymity. But, in the Zones, you wear far more than a costume, your entire 'body' can be changed to anything you wish, it is a virtual simulacrum.

If I was a legal entrant into the Zones, paid for with zTime, I would be a Puppeteer, or 'Teer', controlling what is called a Puppet. It would do what I wanted, just like a real body. But, as a Pirate, with a Steward program assisting me, I will be riding a Paragon. The difference is both subtle and profound.

In looks, a Puppet is the same as a Paragon, it can look like anything. But, when it comes to capabilities and control, there is no comparison. A Paragon is an extension of your mind, and more. It can do things outside the set rules of a Zone, especially with the added information of a Steward helping. A Paragon holds a full copy of your mind, in code terms, it is you. While a Puppet is remotely controlled from a mind still in their body on Earth, putting a layer of translation between thought and action. Paragons, though nearly impossible to detect as different from a Puppet, are completely illegal.

My Paragon rotated to a stop before me, it is an interesting choice. I beheld a miniature version of a Viking god, Arnold Schwarzenegger on mega steroids. Young, perhaps eighteen, with an impossibly narrow waist and bulging muscles around the chest, arms, and shoulders. But this Arnold is a blonde Norwegian, with long hair and a full beard. Similar to, though not precisely, the body of Chris Hemsworth, who acted in the old Thor flat films from early in the century. However, this body is even more muscled and handsome, with a different face. He carries a massive war hammer, slung, casually, over his right shoulder.

There is no doubt in my mind that here is the god, Thor, come to life... or to sculpted life, anyway.

Strangely, I just can't see myself picking this form for my Paragon. A Nordic god just doesn't seem to fit my mind's image of myself; strange. However, this must have been my choice, I know the passcode sequence for access and no Freebooter would ever give that out to another person.

Now that I thought about it, the Skey, that is applied to my neck, is in the shape of the old amulet of Thor's Hammer, the ones from ancient archeological digs. Not like the rectangular hammer from the movies. That is one more proof that this is my Paragon form.

There is a flashing icon in the control display, which caught my eye. With a thought, it moved before me and I can see that it is the Flash message control center. There are several Flashes waiting in my 'Junk' folder, where my Steward has sent questionable zMail messages, weeding them out of important messages. There is another symbol for Trash zMail, where shrapnel from mail bombs, either adverts or come-hithers, have been sent.

There is also one 'Important' zMail message and it is flashing a symbol at me. However, I think I will do a quick scan of the questionable zMail and save the flasher for dessert.

I accessed the first questionable message and a disembodied section of a world expanded into the room before me. It is a 3D projection of a Zone. Three women, wearing skimpy garments, which fade in and out of reality, are moving sinuously before me, beckoning. The redhead started into a seductive ad for a porn Zone, but I cut her, and the advert, off with a thought. I have no current interest in the Red-Light Zone.

The next three Flashes were similar adverts, but the fifth is an invite from a person listed as 'Mary', requesting me to meet her at the Tolkien Zone, based on Middle Earth; I certainly don't need to be out slaying dragons or orcs, right now, so I deleted that invite as well.

Disgusted with the advertisements, I went ahead and chose the flashing important message, which, as expected, turned out to be far more interesting. There is no visual, only a disembodied voice. It is, oddly, familiar, though I can't place it in my mind.

"Hello, if you are hearing this message you have received the Skey from Ellie and made it to the Green Room, excellent. I'm sure you are very confused right now and there are some important things that you need to learn. Enlightenment will have to wait since I can't be sure that this Skey has not fallen into the wrong hands. You probably believe I'm referring to zPol and you would be partially correct, but there are others who are equally dangerous to you and no less capable.

"It is extremely important that you never remove your Skey. The reason for this will be explained, in full, later, but, for now, just think of taking it off as deadly. I can't stress this enough, keep it on at all times. You are on a journey of discovery. I cannot yet tell you why, but I promise that the day will come when you will know everything. To survive this journey, you will need the help of friends. It is up to you to decide who your friends are, but remember, it is unlikely that you will survive this alone. You are a piece in a game which you do not yet understand. I suggest you begin by seeking out other pieces of the game to learn as much as you can. I am such a piece and I give you this riddle: seek justice, remembering that the riddle has no answer."

The message ended there, without identifying the sender. I stared blankly at the glowing symbols of the interface wrapped around me while I considered the fact that I am a piece, in a deadly game, without even an inkling of the rules or identities of my opponents.

I recalled that the girl at the hospital, Ellie, had also mentioned a game, one that she thought I am playing. Well, I now know I am a Pirate, so it makes sense I am in some game, but this game has seriously high stakes, like my life.

And now I have just one clue, this riddle of, 'seek justice'. That's just dandy, seek justice, for what and with whom? And, if 'seek justice' has no answer, then how can I seek it? My brain is emptier than a waiting Zombie body.

I put aside the 'seek justice' nonsense and considered what else I knew. Ellie mentioned this game, which implies that she knows something of the game. Since I know her name, it is possible that I might be able to track her down, perhaps in Pandora, if I can find that Zone. But first, I want to finish my messages; there are a few more 'Questionable' ones to go.

I erased two more pieces of Flash shrapnel before the next displayed 3D image made my mouth go dry. A zPol shield logo hovered in the air before me, without fanfare. It disappeared to show a uniformed zPol officer standing before me, life-size. He is wearing the black beret and short cut, double-breasted, leather jacket which are symbols of the zPol Zombie Corp.

He spoke formally: "Thorten C. Hamilton, you are remanded to turn yourself into the local zPol station immediately on charges of treason against the Union. All rights and property are hereby confiscated until such time as you are proven innocent in a court of law. Cease and desist all connections to the Satweb, immediately. All of your earned zTime is officially erased. Any continued connections to the Zones will be considered proof of treason and anyone who helps you will have their body donated for aiding and abetting. For your friend's sake, and your own, turn yourself in immediately and begin your sentence. The sooner you start, the sooner your body will be returned to your control."

He ended the zMail by identifying himself as Colonel Storms, a zPol officer, assigned to the Black Widow division.

There is always that part of you which wants to believe that something bad isn't true, that you have jumped to the wrong conclusion, that all is really well. In my head, I know that zPol is after me, but in my heart, I hoped that it was all a mistake, that they are really after someone else. But there it is, spelled out and delivered by Flash message, zPol wants me, for treason.

So much for slim hopes.

Currently, my body is lying hidden under someone's hotel room bed, with a copy of my mind uplinked to my Green Room in the Zones. As a fugitive, any property I own, or any zTime earned, has all been confiscated or erased by zPol. My sole remaining possessions are the clothes on my back and the Skey stuck to my neck.

But the Skey is a backdoor into another world, a myriad of worlds, the Zones. If I can keep my mind ahead of the zPol Dragoons, and my body out of the Zombie Coffins, I can move through the Zones and seek out help. I just need a plan.

The question is simple, what do I need? I listed the most important things in order: safe shelter and food, for my real body and, in a distant third, zTime. Once I have those, I can think about procuring a new identity and solving the mystery of my missing memories. I hope that will lead to the explanation of why zPol wants me for treason and why I am a piece in some twisted game.

My asset list is the aforementioned Skey and my skills as a Pirate.

Or is it? "Loki?"

Yes, Sir?

"Is my zTime account wiped?"

Yes, Sir, your public account has been seized and wiped.

"Public account? I have another?"

Yes, Sir, you have 300 hours of zTime still stored in your anonymous account.

I considered this and then said, "Anonymous, so this account is safe to use, without Zombie alert triggers?"

Loki replied, Relatively safe, Sir. Anonymous accounts aren't exactly legal, though they are only a petty crime since the zTime is actually earned, it is just not tied to a name. People use these kinds of accounts to hide purchases from someone they know, like a man keeping something from his wife, or someone attempting to avoid taxes. zPol does, occasionally, track these accounts down, but this crime is so common, and they are so backlogged with these anonymous accounts, that spending zTime, this way, tends to go relatively unnoticed, most of the time. They only go after the biggest abusers. If you keep your purchases small, they will seldom get red flagged for a Zombie raid.

I considered my three hundred zHours; it is not a king's ransom, but not a pittance either. It should be enough to procure shelter and food. First off, if I have friends or allies, they might help me. Secondly, I can attempt to steal more zTime, if possible, or use what I have to gamble and possibly gain more.

This sounds pretty good until I look closer at each option. I can't remember having any friends. Ellie risked a lot, bringing the Skey to me in that hospital. Does this mean she is my friend? I can't be sure, but she did risk the Zombies to do something dangerous for me and she had suggested I could meet her in Pandora.

Then there is the person who manifested as Bagheera. They seemed to help me and that zMail message about the game might have been from the same person, though I don't know for sure. I have no proof that either of these people are my friends, for all I know, they may be attempting to use me for their own ends.

That left my second choice, stealing. Of course, in order to steal zTime, I will have to break into the Zcerebral servers and transfer zTime into my private, hidden, account, or try to take it from Teers, Hackers, or Pirates. And, while doing that impossible task, I will have to keep away from brain scanners or alter their output so that they report me as a legal citizen instead of a wanted fugitive. It will probably be easier to rig the lottery.

My third choice is to gamble with what I have. I'm not talking about Vegas tables; I'm talking about wagering in the Zones and then winning.

If I win against standard Teers I could receive zTime, but if I wager with a Pirate I am more likely to earn a 'favor'. Favors are the preferred cash of Pirates and Hackers alike, since they have unlimited zTime in the Zones, anyway. Paying up is strictly enforced by the culture of the Zones. If I am good enough, I could get some help. This is the easiest of the three choices, though not necessarily the best. I might be able to find some foolish Teers but wagering with Freebooters is risky. There is no honor among thieves and most Hackers are only a step up from that profession.

Pirates have a code but are a far more difficult bunch to beat. Also, if I beat a Pirate, they will, most likely, pay up, but they will be like the genie you summon from the lamp. If they can both pay up and screw you, they probably will; it is just another part of the game. It all depends on the Pirate and the favor you request.

After some consideration, I decided on the first option, I am going to see if I have any friends and Ellie seems like the best place to start. This doesn't mean a physical search. These days, everyone on the planet spends some portion of their day in the Zones, up to four hours, if they have the zTime. I can start looking for Ellie by seeking out the Cameron Zone and heading for Pandora. Her Paragon will be one of those big blue native girls.

Now I have to decide if I am cocky and good enough to survive in the Zone worlds. That will require sailing a Ship through zSpace.

Right now, my mind is in my Green Room, a fairly safe and hidden location, but the moment I set sail, with a Ship, and head for a Zone, I will be attempting to enter a Zone, illegally, in my Paragon. Does that sound dangerous? You bet your virtual ass. Not only that but if my body is discovered and killed, back on Earth, I will be trapped in the Zones as a Ghost.

A normal trip to the Zones isn't that dangerous, for a standard Teer. Anyone using a standard, and legal, link into the Zones has their mind connected through Zcerebral's server systems. They became a Puppeteer, ready to control their Puppet. They stay, safely, in their own body while their perceptions travel the Zones in a Puppet. But every minute they are in a Zone comes off their zTime.

Working, in the Zones, or in the real world, earns you zTime. It is now the only currency. With zTime, you can buy physical goods, or buy services in the Zones. Of course, it also costs zTime just to be in the Zones.

Pirates enter the Zones in a different and illegal, way. The device I mentioned, called a Skey, were originally designed to uplink a mind to the Satweb, where, from there, it can control a body, through a Remora, attached to a Zombie body. zPol operatives then ride that Zombie body. When they Disconnect, their original mind regains control of their own, real body.

Some enterprising Hacker figured out how to use a Skey to illegally uplink a copy of their mind into the Zones, without going through the tightly controlled Zcerebral Interface.

A Skey sends a copy of the mind to the Satweb. From there, a Freebooter may attempt to break into the Zones using a Ship. That's how it all started, back before there were Pirates, just a way to avoid zTime charges. However, since that discovery, Pirates have learned to do far more within the Zones if they enter with a Skey.

Once a Skey is stolen, a Hacker can repurpose it to copy their mind and send that copy to the Zones for free access. But zPol learned about this illegal Skey activity and soon erected defenses, Black Ice attack routines, and defensive Firewalls.

That's what separates Pirates from simple Freebooters. Hackers, with the right skills, build code that fights off the Black Ice Module attacks and pierces the Firewalls. These Hackers, who make it through safely, are soon dubbed Pirates, and the code and defenses they put around themselves, which allows them to move through and between Zones, is called a 'Ship'.

A Pirate Ship is as important to a Pirate as their Paragon image. Their ships even look the part.

Each Zone has a set of visual representation rules, as well as other rule sets, for that universe. Even protections against illegal entry are bound by these rules, as is any code, Paragon, or Steward which tries to enter the Zone. Therefore, the protections created by Pirates, or their 'Ship', takes on different physical representations as it enters different Zones.

But, while a Pirate's Paragon is in the Zones, the Pirate's real body is still in the physical world.

If their Paragon is zonked, while in the Zones, the Pirate's mind is still safe; the Skey will automatically allow their mind to awaken in their body. Since the Skey is constantly sending down perceptions, their mind knows what it did and learned in the Zones.

The primary way a Paragon is zonked is if they exceed their emotional threshold, getting too much pain or pleasure. This looks like death in the Zones, but it is really just the disruption of their Paragon when the emotional limits are exceeded.

However, the end result is simple; after being zonked your mind will send down the last perceptions, and then awaken, back in your body, though you will also experience the pain or pleasure which caused the disconnection.

If I want to reach Ellie, in the Zones, I will need a Pirate Ship, so I asked Loki.

"Hey, do I have a Ship docked here?"

Loki's calm voice gave me the bad news, I'm sorry, Sir, there are no ships docked.

Damn, that is bad news. Generally, a Ship is used to enter and exit the Zones. When a Pirate leaves the Zones, they either leave it so that they return to their Paragon in a Zone, which was left under the control of their Steward, or they dock their Ship back at their Greenroom so that it can be used to reenter the Zones, later on.

If your Ship is not at your Greenroom, and you don't arrive in your Paragon body in a Zone, it means only one thing, you were zonked, though I suppose you could also ride out on some other Pirate's Ship, but that would be foolish, since you would have no Ship to sail back into the Zones.

Now, if you were zonked, your Ship should sail back to your Green Room, automatically, controlled by your Zims, assuming you have some, and any decent Ship certainly does. If my Ship isn't here, then it didn't sail back, which likely means it was destroyed while trying to return. That can happen, especially if zPol discovers it; Zims can only do so much, being automations.

Pirates are rarely zonked; it is considered the most embarrassing thing to possibly happen to them. But, even if they are zonked hopefully their Ship will return on automatics. However, if it is lost, to get back into the Zones they will either have to build a new Ship or pay for a ride with another Pirate. This is assuming they even know another Pirate who is willing to take them in on their Ship.

Building a Ship is no trivial matter. This is sculpting code at the highest level. Pirates often work many years to build a Ship capable of making it through the defenses and into the Zones. zPol keeps upgrading their defenses and Pirates keep adding to their Ship to stay even or get ahead.

Without a Ship, or a rare Pirate friend, a Pirate has few options for getting into the Zones, in fact, he has no options which I can recall, but, with my sketchy memory, I figure I better ask.

"Options, Loki?" I asked, hoping my Steward knows something I don't.

Well, Sir, you have enough zTime to buy a Crashlander skiff, or you could build a new Ship.

I thought about that and then said, "Estimate my time to build a new Ship, based on a Pirate's average sculpting speed," I ordered Loki. I can't remember how long it took to sculpt my previous Ship, but I hope Loki's records might give me an idea.

3,203 hours, Sir, Loki replied.

"Yikes, I have about three hours before my body's hiding place starts becoming a problem."

That is insufficient construction time, Sir, Loki noted.

"No shit. OK, so, buying a skiff; any idea where and how this might be accomplished?"

Yes, Sir, you have more than one person in your Contact List under the notation, 'shifty', several of them are, no doubt, Pirates. I'm sure one of them will have an old Crashlander skiff for sale.

I knew what he meant by that term, it seems that I can remember this kind of knowledge. A Crashlander is something which will likely be torn apart by an attempt to enter the Zones, but it just might get you through, once, assuming all goes well.

"All right, put me in contact with the first 'shifty' person in my Contact List."

Loki replied, Sir, do you wish to Flash them using your current image?

This is a loaded question; they will likely know me from my Thor Paragon. "No, transfer me into my Paragon, first."

As you wish, Sir.

Suddenly I am in the body of Thor, which has now appeared in the room; I'm clutching the big hammer, named Mjolnir, in my right hand.

"OK, Flash him," I asked Loki.

A moment later, a green scaled, bipedal, dragonish shape appeared. He coughed, with a clawed hand held up, in a fist, before his wide mouth, and a small burst of flame lit the meeting hall. Of course, he isn't actually here and he has no idea where he is, at the moment. On his end, I have appeared in whatever location he is standing. It is called 'Flashing'. When a connection is made, your images are replicated in front of the other person to whom you have Flashed. You can communicate, and see, each other, as if you are each at the location of the other, but you can't really move around much, or you will pass through things. Nor will you know where the other person is, at this moment. You see and speak to them, while they see and speak to you, but nothing else is known or seen.

"You Flashed?" he asked, casually.

"Yes, do you have a skiff for sale?" I inquired.

"Wow, straight to business, what, no small talk?"

I shrugged my huge shoulders, "I see no need, I need a skiff and you might have one."

The Dragonman smiled a very toothy grin, "What happened to your Ship? I mean, you're suddenly all famous; which means you had a Ship! You weren't zonked, were you?"

"None of your business," I replied.

He laughed. "Well, it IS my business to sell you a skiff, so let's get to that. How much do you have to spend?" the Dragonman asked.

I shrugged, "I don't need much of a skiff, just a Crashlander for a kamikaze run."

The Dragonman raised a bony eye ridge made of green scales, and answered, "That's brave of you. So, I take it you had to abandon your Ship in the Zones and now you want a ride in?"

That put a thought in my head; maybe a ride would be cheaper than a skiff and perhaps safer. "Are you available for a ride?"

"Not really, my Ship isn't capable of taking two minds, sorry. A ride like that, well, you better know someone with skills or have a lot of zTime to spend. If they were caught with someone on the Top Ten, well, to risk that they would certainly charge you more than the cost of a Crashlander, or even a small, but nice, Ship. And, who knows, they might just turn you in for the huge zHour reward. Top Ten, jeez, what did you do, break into Zcerebral's servers?"

"No, I didn't break into their servers," I answered, wondering about his reference to the Top Ten.

Loki? What is this 'Top Ten' he is talking about?

Sir, that is the list of the most wanted Pirates, it is actually a Top Fifty list, but the Top Ten of that list are considered celebrities in the Pirate community.

And I'm on it?

Actually, Sir, you are Pirate One.

Dragonman laughed, "I was joking! Nobody knows where their servers are located, I mean NOBODY!"

"Well, somebody does, someone had to build them in the first place and maintain them now," I replied, logically.

Dragonman shrugged, "You know the scuttlebutt, The Phoenix had the architects arrested, and their bodies donated, the moment they were done setting up the servers and all maintenance is carried out by robots and high-level S.I. programs. The secret location is now passed down to the next Chairman of the Board. The previous Phoenix then has the location of the servers wiped from their mind. I doubt the current Chairman of Zcerebral Incorporated is going to share the location with a swashbuckler on the Top Ten list. Besides, if you knew the server location, you would be the richest man on the planet! There are shadow governments out there, still seeking those servers! So, let's get back to business, you want to purchase a one-way Crashlander into the Zones?"

"Yes, I need to get into the Zones, today," I answered.

He smiled a big toothy grin, "Not that I don't want the zTime, but are you sure? Every Dragoon is bent on capturing Pirate One; you've never faced that kind of heat before."

"I've been planetside for some time, when did the news Flash show up with me at the head of the Top Ten list?"

Dragonman shrugged, "Just earlier today. I was sure shocked when I got your Flash a few minutes ago, I recognized you instantly. That will happen if you traipse around the Zones as a damn Norse god! By Odin's beard, you even have that ridiculous hammer. I nearly ignored your Flash, what if it got traced? But, curiosity got the better of me, so I popped up this temp Paragon and Flashed you back; I've never met someone in the Pirate One position. That's a lot of coup!"

I spoke, internally, to Loki, What did he mean, coup?

' _Coup' refers to the level of fame and respect that a Pirate attains in the_ Zones and Pirate One comes with a lot of that respect, Sir," Loki replied to me.

" _Ah, great,_ I noted sourly and then asked Dragonman, "So, why are you willing to sell me a skiff if I'm this 'hot'?"

"I made sure none of this can be traced to me, as I mentioned, this isn't my Paragon and once I'm done with this business, it's going straight into the zTrash."

"OK, so what are you asking for a Crashlander?" I inquired.

"Normally, 100 hours would do for a Crashlander, but, seeing how you are a wanted celebrity and helping you, in any way, could get my body donated, I'd have to say, oh, how about 1,000 zHours?"

"Not a chance, you already took precautions, so you're not really worried about that; even talking to a Top Ten is worth a warrant for Body Donation. No, you and I both know there is not much additional risk. If you're not interested, I'll Flash some other folk I know," I countered.

"Fine, five hundred," the Dragonman replied. "I still have to deliver the skiff to Pirate One and that has some risk!"

I immediately countered with, "Two hundred; this will be done far from any active Zone, so the risk is negligible, and that's twice as much as a Crashlander is worth, and you know it!"

"Two-fifty," Dragonman countered.

"Fine, you grave robber! But, you deliver the skiff to coordinates I supply. And, if there are any Dragoons there waiting, my friends will hunt you down!" I threatened, even though I really don't know if I have any friends.

Dragonman shrugged. "I don't work with zPol, ever, not for any price. It's bad for my reputation and they would just take my body anyway, so I'll play it straight. You just be sure that YOU don't call the Dragoons down on us, right?"

"You know my rep," I replied, hoping that meant something.

Dragonman thought it over, a moment, and then nodded his big green head and said, "One zHour?"

"See you there. I'll have my Steward Flash you the precise coordinates a few minutes before we meet, but here is the general quadrant," I said, giving him the three numbers that pinpoint a quadrant of zSpace.

# Chapter zFive \- zSpace

Space, the final frontier, well, not really, because this is zSpace. When you use a Skey to illegally hack your way into the Satweb and boot into the Zones, the first place you enter is zSpace. The Zones are not a single thing, which is why they are plural. Each Zone is a set of rules, done in a motif of simulated reality. Now, 'reality' is a funny word, when applied to the Zones, because many Zones are pure fantasy; in some cases, literally, as in Middle Earth, or Known Space. Others are re-creations of Earth's past, while others are inspired by old TV shows, movies or books. Hell, there are even Zones based on comic books.

Between each of these Zones is zSpace, a buffer between rule sets. zSpace is what Zcerebral's servers use to fill up the areas between the Zones. It is virtual nothingness, with a simple set of rules based on real space. Everything and everywhere, even zSpace, must have rules since what is running all this is sculpted code. So, for zSpace, Zcerebral's code sculptors implemented a simple physics routine, which simulates real space. There is even a background of stars, some of which you could even reach, though, by then, you would be in a Zone.

To get my skiff, I have to venture out into zSpace, without a Ship. Since zSpace mimics real space, the code rules will not allow my Paragon to 'breathe' in a vacuum. I know this isn't real, tell that to yourself as you painfully die in the vacuum of that unreal zSpace. You'll feel your eyes freeze, your blood boil, and your body expand before you painfully zonk back to your real body on Earth, having just experienced something very unpleasant. Those who do not treat the Zones as real places are soon painfully zonked.

Loki brought up my space suit, of which I have several. The suit has one of those nifty EMUs, Extravehicular Mobility Units; the full 24 thruster variety. The EMU looks like a white metal frame attached to your life support backpack.

After the suit was on and Loki assisted me in running suit diagnostics and checked to make sure I was properly attired, he activated a hatch to zSpace.

It looked very strange when a modern space lock appeared out of thin air on the side of the Viking type meeting hall. However, I look just as strange, dressed as a NASA astronaut, standing in a Viking clan meeting hall.

I shuffled the heavy suit forward and entered the lock. Once I cycled the inner door, the outer door cranked open silently (I can only hear my breathing unit).

Loki asked, Are you prepared, Sir?

"Go for it," I answered

I suddenly found myself weightless. Loki has just adjusted my Green room parameters to match zSpace rules. I was standing there, minding my own business, when gravity just quit. I am bound by the rules of my location, those of zSpace and therefore I am, suddenly, weightless.

"Where do I head?" I asked Loki.

A HUD display came up in my helmet and Loki's calm voice replied, I have marked a Waypoint on your display, Sir.

"I see it," I replied. Then I started testing the EMU nozzles. This sent me into an instant spin, kind of sideways and corkscrewing.

"Argh!" I exclaimed and fired off some counterthrusts to try and fix the issue. This sent me shooting off, away from the airlock door.

As I spun around, I got a crazy look at my round space station, reminiscent, though much smaller, of the double rimmed space station from the old movie, 2001, though mine only has a single ring. The airlock door I'd used is out of the center hub. There is no sign of my Viking Hall since I am now in the zSpace rule set. Since I exited an airlock, there has to be something attached to it. So, what the rules of this area show is a space station. The form of that Space Station is something I coded at some point in the past. Then the station rotated out of my sight again, as I spun crazily around in zSpace.

May I be of assistance, Sir? Loki asked calmly.

"I can do it!" I said, incorrectly.

Of course, Sir, I just thought I would mention the autopilot setting, here.

A control in the HUD lit up, red.

With a thought, I activated the control and the EMU's nozzles fired in a complex series of bursts that stopped all my momentum and rotations.

"I knew that," I said and I did if I'd thought about it, which I hadn't.

Of course, Sir, I'm sure you were just spinning for the pure joy of it, Loki replied.

I ignored that comment and chose the Waypoint with a thought, then I activated ¼ thrust now traveling through zSpace, trying to hold onto my virtual lunch. Yes, all that wild tumbling has my virtual stomach in an uproar.

This is all tied into the Emotional settings. Everything you would normally feel, in a real version of the same situation, you can feel in the Zones. All sensations are just signals to your brain, ways of it trying to protect or signal you. These same signals can all be simulated and therefore things like being ill, scared, having a fear of heights, experiencing pain, pleasure, etc. can all be felt.

In the Zones, there is just one setting possible for all of this, the emotional threshold. Unfortunately, I left this setting high, so the level of 'space sickness' I am now experiencing is strong, but it will soon fade.

The reason they linked it all together is simple and complex. In simple terms, they discovered a problem, early on, when they tried a setting for pleasure. Everyone cranked the pleasure setting up to maximum (well most people did) and it was like you were in a perpetual climax.

This sounds good until you realize a few things; you can't function like that and, once you feel it, you don't want it to stop, ever. So, now, there you are, laying there, with a dumb grin on your face, not doing anything. It brought the Zones to a screeching halt. It is the ultimate drug and the ultimate addiction. There is a reason that nature made a climax short-lived and the creators of the Zones soon discovered why.

Next, they tried setting limits on how far you can set your pleasure limit, but this wasn't great either because now people were bored. So, then they just tied it all together. If you want to risk great pleasure, you have to risk great pain, etc.

That is the simple explanation, but it is really more complex. They discovered that all emotions are linked, to some degree, in the mind and separating emotions turns out to be difficult. It messes with the sanity of the mind. So, nowadays, there are max settings for your Emotional Threshold, and those max settings can only be on for very short periods. After that, there is a cool down period before it can be set high again. This way someone can want an extreme experience and get it but be brought back to reality for a length of time before their next 'fix'.

Of course, Pirates soon learned to hack the Emotional Limit and Timer, though they can't separate pleasure from the rest.

So, at this point, I willed my stomach to settle down and soon recovered.

When my fuel level reached 2/3 remaining, I cut off the thrust and just let my current speed keep me moving through zSpace. There is very little gravity, so my momentum is virtually uninhibited. Since there is no friction, I just keep moving at the same speed I have already achieved.

"How am I doing, on time?" I asked Loki.

You will arrive at the midpoint in three minutes and then, after braking for six minutes, you will arrive at the coordinates you sent to the Dragon chap with ten minutes to spare, Sir.

"Any sign of the skiff?"

Not that I have detected, Sir.

I rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, starting to get the hang of the EMU, and fired thrusters at ¼ power again, breaking for arrival at the coordinates. I did pretty well and was just thinking of making a small adjustment when I saw the Ship arriving.

The Ship came in backward, firing all three tail cones. It used the thrust to brake its speed. I recognized the shape, instantly; it is a space shuttle, just like the old USA Space Shuttle Endeavor. As it turned, it even showed the name 'Endeavor' on the side in black letters. I am pretty impressed that my 250 zHours bought a Space Shuttle.

That's when the cargo doors opened and a small shape birthed out of the hold area, mid-ship.

Floating up, out of the hold, is a big tin can. The boxy shuttles in early Star Trek episodes look like elegant spacecraft in comparison.

This thing hardly looks like it can maintain atmosphere inside and is more like a giant, ten-foot-wide, tin can, than a skiff. It has a single cone, out one end of the can, and a flat portal centered on the other end. This is, no doubt, so the Spam in the can may look forward, toward their doom. I swear, it has some kind of glued on patches where it once had holes.

Right then, the voice of the Dragonman came over the com set in my helmet. "There you go, as promised, one Crashlander; with just enough fuel to reach the nearest Zone."

"That's not a skiff!" I sputtered.

"Of course not, that's a Crashlander, what did you expect, a YT-1300, from the Lucas Zone?" Dragonman asked, in an amused tone.

"Well, kind of," I said.

"You're kidding, right? A Ship like that would cost 50,000 zHours if you could even buy one! Hell, this Space Shuttle cost 10,000 zHours! This is what you get for 250, you should be thankful it has a propulsion unit."

"That's not an engine, that's a bottle rocket!" I said.

"Take it or leave it, but you don't get your 250 z's back, either way. What's it going to be? I want to get out of here before some random Dragoon patrol picks us up on a sensor sweep."

"Fine, I'll take it," I grumbled, having little other choice.

"Good doing business with you, see you around if you live."

I didn't bother with a reply to that. Then the shuttle doors closed and the three cones, at the stern, fired as his Ship got underway.

Sir, I don't think this craft is safe for entry into a Zone.

I have to agree with Loki.

I used the round door to get inside and found some very rudimentary controls, all in French.

"Great," I muttered, but I had Loki do a quick translation reprogramming and got them into English. I fired the single engine, after orienting the skiff, with thrusters, toward my Space Station. It took a lot of work, and I nearly crashed the damn thing, but I got it into the Ship bay through the rectangular door in the central hub, after matching the spin of the station.

It is time to find out if I really have skills as a Code Sculptor, so I reached into the program with my mind; it is an interesting sensation, to say the least.

Sculpting code, with a neural interface, is like operating on a live person. Many things are in flux even as you make an alteration. Just as blocking an artery will cut off blood flow to the brain, altering a logic pathway can cripple the functioning program and bring the code to a destructively crashing end.

I know I must have sculpted code, many times before, but I can't recall a single instance, so the sensation felt a little like Deja vu.

After I made my first alteration to the skiff and watched my handiwork take form, there is no longer any doubt, I am a code sculptor. The ease in which I entered the code flow and made alterations is not something which can be done by an average programmer. I have skills for this work, even if I don't have the knowledge of where I learned those skills.

Then I really went to work. I spent the next three hours trying to improve the tin can into something more like a real skiff. Of course, this really wasn't enough time and, in the back of my mind, I know my real body is still under that damn bed in Vegas. Eventually, I have to stop sculpting code and get ready to return to the real world.

I opened my eyes and noticed immediately that the bed is bobbing, very close to my nose. There are the sounds of, well, you know, as the couple above me fumble through procreation, or at least, practiced the motions.

I slipped out from under the bed and crawled to the door of the room. Then I just waited until the sounds reached the point where they were too interested in their end game to notice the door open a crack as I slipped out.

Once in the hallway, I headed toward the stairs. I passed a big mirror above a small wall table and stopped. My face is breaking out in sores, which is not pretty at all, and it hurt! I don't want to get in an elevator, there are cameras in there, and they have ways to stop the car and trap me inside if I am recognized by zPol. Besides, anyone who sees my face, right now, will think I am Frankenstein's monster.

After leaving the hotel, I hailed a taxi. His car is a skimmer, so he plies the old streets, hovering a few feet off the pavement.

Roads are actually in worse shape, nowadays, than they had been back when rubber tires were actually rolling along the pavement. Since skimmers don't make contact with the road, they don't need a perfectly smooth surface to function, so budgets had been slashed. When potholes or cracks appear in the road, due to weather attrition, they are just left that way; skimmers floated right over all the bumps. However, this makes the streets look run down, just like the people I can see. They shuffle along the streets, on their way to work or to get some fast food, before slipping back into the Zones.

Most of the people I see walking are poor. The U.S., back when it had been a country, had been mostly middle class, with a high standard of living. Sure, there were poor folk, homeless, etc., but they were the minority. Nowadays, the majority are poor, with a small middle class and a slightly larger upper class.

Most of these people live pay time to pay time, they work eight hours and then go to the Zones as soon as they eat, sometimes before eating. They burn up their four hours and then wait, impatiently, to get back to work, the next day, so they can earn another four hours of zTime.

Between times, many of them go to Zone Shows, which are a pale comparison of the full Zones, but, better than staring at walls. And, there is no time limit on how many shows they can watch, just the zTime charge to use the Couch.

Then there is the drug trade, no, not heroin, or pot, though both have been legalized after zPol took charge. Few, if anyone, cares to bother with them anymore, not when the new drug of trade is available, the drug called pleasure.

You can find a legal pleasure center and, if you have the zTime to spend, plug into a pleasure Couch.

The way these work is simple, they put you into a Zone Show and pump up the Emotional Threshold to the legal max. They then pipe pure pleasure right into your brain. It builds until it hits the max setting, reduces, then builds again, until you reach the next climax. The actual show comes in many forms, though the most popular are zPorn, where Zims, of any look and variety, deliver maximum pleasure straight into your brain's pleasure centers.

No drug was ever this good. Nor does it take a direct toll on your body. You walk out as healthy as you walked in if you discount the emotional addiction, which forms at such intense pleasure.

Then there are the illegal Pleasure Dens. These places, for a few zHours more, boost the pleasure centers in your brain, while you are in a Red-Light Zone. Sure, the safety protocols in the Zones are still active, but locally, they have a device that will max out the pleasure centers of your brain. They claim they are safe, but who knows if the human mind is made to experience that much pleasure.

Generally, you boot into a typical Zone Brothel, where there is nothing except soft things, including willing Zims, ready to do your every wish.

Since these 'shows' are voyeuristic, without the control of a Puppet, they are not going to get you zonked. This makes what you experience, and do, extremely limited, but those coming for this kind of entertainment aren't looking for interactions and vacations in exotic stories and worlds, they just want pleasure, and these Pleasure Dens pump it up to high outputs.

Looking at these shambling people along the roads, I see a look of apathy. If they aren't in the Zones, living the life of an action hero, or being treated, by Zims, as high-class patrons, or visiting their favorite story worlds, like Middle Earth, Hogwarts, Star Trek, or Oz, then they are back to their drab existence, as a nobody, just one of the poor.

Many of them are scrawny from lack of food. Why buy food when you can buy Zone time? It is not unheard of for people to just die of starvation in a Zone. It is the main reason that the four hour a day limit was instituted by Zcerebral. They have to force people to get out of the Zones so they eat.

My taxi arrived at just the kind of destination I'd asked him to find. I'd promised a hefty zMinutes tip if he brought me to what I needed.

The taxi driver looked back through the holes in the Plexiglas window, which separated us, and said, "You might find what you are looking for down that alley, the rusted metal door."

I accessed the pay pad, but, instead of using the brain scanner at the top, I activated the keypad, instead, and punched in a string of numbers and letters to access my anonymous account. I added a 20% tip to the amount of zTime being charged, then I hit the transfer zTime button. My account was docked 1 zHour and 23 zMinutes.

The taxi pulled away, leaving me on the corner of a now-defunct strip mall. The entire place is boarded up, as are almost all storefronts these days. Everything is purchased at the wondrous and amazing shopping centers in the Zones and then shipped to your location, via zPS, the Zone Postal Service. Their motto is, "It will be there before you can wake up."

I picked my way through the debris and trash, passing by a few homeless people. Some of them held up zCards and asked if I could spare the transfer of a few zMinutes. They claim they want to buy food and, from the looks of these bone racks, they haven't eaten in days.

However, the truth is, if you give them zTime, they will just burn it up, instantly, in the Zones. They can go there and, briefly, escape their horrible circumstances, looking and feeling like the wealthy and well to do. In the Zones, it is hard to tell one class of person from another, though there are ways.

I, sadly, ignored them and made my way to the rusted metal door the taxi driver had mentioned. It has a small slot, with the slide closed. I knocked, one hard wrap with my knuckles, and someone inside yanked the slide sideways, opening a slot so that a man's dark eyes could look me over. He seemed a bit taken back by my ruined face, but recovered momentarily. Goop alteration wounds are not strange, just the fact that I am out and about, without bandages, surprised him. "You have time?" he barked.

I replied, "Many zHours."

"Twenty zMinutes to get in," he barked.

I nodded. He looked me over again and then he backed up and pressed a keypad to the slide hole. I punched in my password and then transferred 20 zMinutes to the 'home' account of the pad.

The door opened inwards, creaking on rusted hinges.

Inside, I saw about what I expected to see. There are bed racks along each of the walls, six high, with very little room between the top of one and the bottom of the next. You have to slip in and lay on your back.

"How much?" I asked the attendant.

"One for a half," he replied.

"You're kidding?" I said because it is expected of me. Everyone bitches about prices.

"Take it or get out," was his witty reply.

I shrugged, "I'll take it, even if it is robbery."

He punched in a number and then extended the pad again. I can see I am going to be in cot 8C, that means the eighth row, which is marked along the side of each stack of cots and the third one up from the floor, 'C'. I punched in 8 hours, which will cost me 16 zHours, that is the equivalent of four full days in the Zones. Of course, here, I am not entering the actual Zones, so that is quite a price.

I selected a show, at random, from the drop-down list; I think it was "Amber, the naughty school teacher. The attendant looked a bit surprised by the length of time I'd paid for, he is used to people buying fifteen minutes of a pleasure show, sometimes less.

"Wow, that's quite a binge," he noted.

"My wife left me, I want to forget her," I lied. "I cleaned out the joint account, got a face smear, to make me look younger, and I want to feel pleasure instead of pain while my face heals."

"I don't care," he answered and walked away.

I slipped onto the cot and closed my eyes, but I didn't place the grimy modified Zone connection headpiece around my temples. Instead, I took off my outer shirt, it is warm in here anyway, and put it up, by my head, like a pillow. It will hide the fact that I am not wearing the headset and therefore not availing myself of the unfiltered pleasure which it would have piped into my noggin, along with a connection to the Red-Light Zone, where I would have experienced whatever Amber was going to do for me.

I closed my eyes and then willed a connection to my Green Room through my Skey. My mind reintegrated into the Zones and I soon stood in my Viking Hall. This time, it only took a moment to access the real Green Room, since I know the security routine now.

Now that my body is relatively safe, for the next eight hours, in the Pleasure Den, I got back to work on the skiff. I'd made a few adjustments, earlier, making decent progress. It is far easier to start with something and modify the code than to build a whole Ship from scratch, but there is no way I can turn this pile of junk code into a real Ship, in a few hours. That would take months, if not years. However, I made a few modifications and am quite pleased with the changes. The skiff no longer looks like a tin can. It is more of a small runabout now, no weapons, of course, and no shields, but I did manage to get some speed into the thing with a piece of, if I do say so myself, brilliant code. I also added a few Firewall breakers to help the skiff get past the defenses and into a Zone hopefully without getting zonked.

Dragonman would have been amazed at the changes, and angry that he got so little zTime for the craft, but this is due to my skills as a sculptor more than what I'd started with. This is a decent, one-man, skiff now, with some speed, at least for a one-way run.

"OK, I think that's as much as I'm going to achieve in the time I have," I noted to Loki.

It looks like it might make it there now, Sir, though I don't think it will survive reentry.

"Oh, thanks," I noted dryly.

The skiff is now shaped like a long cylinder, more similar to an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile than a spaceship, but at least it isn't a tin can, anymore. I even put a white paint job on it.

Now that I am about to head for a Zone, I considered my looks. Arriving as Thor, who has his image on the Top Ten zPol Pirate list, would be foolhardy. It is time for a change of looks. Besides, there is no denying it; in my current mindset, I am not ready to parade around as a Nordic god, toting a two-hundred-pound hammer.

I went to my console and accessed other images and found a file full of alternate forms. Most of them are fantastical beings of legend and myth, but I scrolled around until I found a simpler form. A young Asian man, small, yet extremely fit. He wore black cotton pants and gi, with a high collar, split at the Adam's apple. As the three-dimensional form rotated before me, textual data about the model displayed along the right side. I knew who he was, even before I read the name, Bruce Lee, an old-time martial arts practitioner and actor. Below the name, there is a list of entertainment programs in which he had performed in, as an actor, and other pertinent data about his life and untimely death.

I don't know, but I am going to guess that his image is in here because I have some, small, resemblance to him, in certain features. But, although it is a common practice, I don't want my Paragon to reflect a real person, so I decided to do a little sculpting.

I can see the alteration I want, within my mind, and understand the connected pathways and logic. I touched the underlying code, which forms the Paragon's structure; it pulsed with artificial life. The complexity seems beyond the human mind, and, for a moment, I felt incapable of understanding the flowing eddies and pulses. Yet, just like in your mind, it is not necessary to remember everything, you only need to reach for that which you seek. I kept my desires clear and held on to my fear. Then I reached for the flowing data. The stream altered, in a subtle way, which achieved my aim.

I found the patterns, which are the Paragon's shape, and I carefully touched the face. With a thought, I changed the eyes to a western round. Pleased with the ease in which the code flowed to my alteration, I reached for the ears and elongated them into a pointed variety. Next, I tried a more subtle molding, as I took the harsh lines out of the high cheekbones. Now his face is smoother and simpler, but the pointed ears give the entire form a non-human flavor.

Next, I altered the body, making him taller, but not too tall, perhaps six feet two inches and slightly more muscled. I made a few more changes until the body looked well balanced.

This new Paragon shape is far enough from my real form to give me anonymity, but as comfortable as an old easy chair, for my brain. I think he will do nicely.

I adjusted a few other parameters and then activated the Paragon. My body flowed into the new shape as I became the body I had sculpted. After all, everything here is just data, fed into my mind, even my 'real' body is just a simulation in the Green Room.

"All right, let's get this show on the road," I decided, speaking to Loki.

Once in the skiff, I used some of the new thrusters I'd added and got the skiff out of the dock, cleanly. Now I have to decide where to go. I engaged the engines, it now has three, and pulled away from my space station.

Sir, there are three Zones you could now reach with the amount of fuel in the tanks, Loki noted.

"Which is the one that Dragonman thought I would have to go to?" I asked, curiously.

Prior to your modifications, the only one you could have reached was the Harrison Zone and the planet Pyyrus, Sir.

"Pyyrus, you don't mean the worst planet in the Deathworld series; based on Harry Harrison's books?" I exclaimed. Thinking about it, I discovered that I recall the story, very well.

Yes, that is the one, Sir.

"Holy Space Monkeys, that bastard!"

Harry Harrison, Sir?

"NO, that Dragonhead guy!"

Well, Sir, he WAS marked as 'Shifty' in your contact list, Loki noted.

"Shifty my ass, that Zone has to be DEADLY, if it is anything like the book."

Loki's calm voice noted, Sir, it is rated in the top 3% of worst places to go for survival. The average zonk time on the planet is under three minutes. It is generally only used by thrill-seekers and idiots.

I just shook my head. This is a perfect example of what I mentioned earlier when I said that Pirates would follow the rules but try to twist things to get the last laugh. I'd asked for a skiff that could get me to a Zone, but I didn't specify a safe Zone, so he set me up with just enough fuel to get me to Pyyrus, where every plant and animal is designed to zonk me, very swiftly.

"OK, what are my other two choices, because we are not going to Deathworld!"

Loki answered, It looks like you can go to the Baum Zone, Sir.

"Oz, as in the MGM movie?"

No, Sir, Oz, as in the books, it has nothing to do with the movies.

I nodded, thinking about Frank Baum's original Oz series. It is, if anything, a lot worse than other versions which have lightened up his world, quite a bit.

"Oz sounds pretty dangerous, as well. What is my third choice?"

That would be Stoker's Zone... Loki answered.

I interrupted, "That sounds better."

... _with Count Dracula, Sir._

"Dracula, the vampire?"

Sir, is there another Dracula novel, written by Bram Stoker?

I just growled at Loki, after all, it is hard to be angry with a biting personality, when you wrote it that way.

Loki added, Dracula has made many more vampires on this world, it is used as an adventure world for hunting the undead, Sir.

"Crap! Why can't one of these Zones just be a tropical resort for vacationing?"

Sorry, Sir, with the fuel on board, it looks like you can only reach these three themed adventure Zones using this, ah, boat.

"You just refuse to call this a skiff, don't you?" I asked, in exasperation.

After a slight pause, Loki answered, which is odd, since he is generally very punctual. He is a programmed set of routines, so even his programmed retorts shouldn't be late. Sir, there is a Ship approaching from astern.

"Dragoons?"

Loki paused again, and then replied, No, Sir, they are flying the skull and crossbones.

"A Jolly Roger?"

Yes, Sir.

"Good, they are a Pirate," I noted in relief.

Sir, I'm not sure you should be relieved. This boat is no match for a Pirate Ship.

"But, aren't we on the same side?"

Loki simply answered, They are likely on their own side, and this boat has no weapons, Sir.

A laser beam cut through zSpace across the nose of my little boat and a female voice came in over my communications system. "Stand and be boarded, or I will fire!"

"Who the hell is this?" I asked.

"You have the honor of speaking with Mary Read, scourge of the seas! Surrender or die!"

Loki spoke, I believe she really will fire on you, Sir.

"Why? What have I got that she wants?"

Sir, she is a Pirate, a named one therefore famous. Mary Read was a real pirate back in the day, so, if she has earned that name, she is pretty high up the pecking order. She's probably going to obtain your routines and sell them on the black market. She'll likely zonk you no matter what, which might earn her some coup.

"Coup again?" I asked, annoyed.

Yes, Sir, for taking out a Hacker. Pirates measure their skill by the things they accomplish and zonking a Hacker earns some coup among other Pirates.

I could, probably, have remembered some of this if I had taken the time to think about it, but with a Ship about to fire on me, I am kind of busy.

"What if I tell her I'm a Pirate?"

Sir, then she would earn even more coup for zonking you since you are not yet part of the Brethren of the Zones.

I rotated my skiff to get a look at her Pirate vessel.

Compared to my skiff, her Ship is magnificent. The thing is all silvery and sleek, with gun mounts all over it. It looks a bit like a cross between a bat and a winged submarine, but all reflective and shiny. It also looks deadly and fast. On the side of the Ship is a name: 'Revenge' and the letters glow red with inner light.

"What possible worth is this skiff to her? With the guns she has, she could just blow us out of zSpace and take her coup."

Your speed code is actually quite good, Sir, perhaps that is something she wants, Loki responded.

"Speed, well, let's see how fast she really is," I said, and jammed the thruster arm all the way forward. All three of my engines fired, pressing me hard into my seat, even with the inertial dampers working at full tilt.

Loki then said, She fired, but her shot went to our stern, I think you surprised her, Sir, though she is now underway and her Ship is quite fast.

My little boat shuddered as some kind of tractor field engaged. I sighed and shut down my engines. I am quick, but that Pirate Ship is amazing.

The tractor field pulled my little skiff into her cargo hold. Once docked, I had no choice but to go out and face my executioner. I opened the hatch and stepped out on the deck.

With the hold door of her Ship closed, the chamber now has air and gravity, likely from gravity inducers.

Ten guards filed into the room, each carrying a phase repeater rifle. A burst from one of those guns will zonk my paragon. Four of the Zims leveled their rifles at my chest and the other six stood at attention, three to a side.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain of the phase pulses, ripping through my Paragon.

When nothing happened, after a few moments, I peeked out of one eye and saw a magnificent girl strolling into the room. She is tall and blonde, and she stands proudly with her guards arrayed around her, a smug smile on her gorgeous face, and a swagger in her attitude.

She is not dressed in women's clothing but dressed as a man. She has several weapons strapped on her black leather garments, from laser pistols to knives, and even a couple grenades. There is even a vorpal sword at her hip. I spotted a strange cylinder, with buttons and gadgets, dangling from her belt, and I think I recognize the hand grip of a deactivated lightsaber.

Her blonde hair is long and falls in gentle shining curls down her back, nearly reaching her waist. Her black-gloved right hand is resting on the hilt of the Vorpal blade. Light is leaking out of the top of the black sheath from the power of that blade. That thing can cut through metal, like a judge through bullshit. There is even a personal shield belt around her, which is currently active. It put, what looks like, an Aura Shield around her body. That force field will stop a laser, disruptor, or any other type of energy or projectile weapon from hitting her body, only allowing melee weapons through the field, if they are held, in direct contact, by another Paragon or Puppet.

She gave me a classic smirk and said, "Welcome to the Pirate Ship Revenge." She spoke in a beautifully melodic and friendly voice, but the sparkle in her eye is deadly. "You have the honor of being taken by Mary Read, perhaps you have heard of me?"

"I've heard of the real Mary Read," I answered.

That made her scowl, but she recovered quickly, "Obviously, you are a new hacker, are you a virgin?" she suddenly asked.

Virgin? I thought to Loki.

First time into the Zones, he replied.

"I can't really say, I have no recollection of entering the Zones before," I answered.

Her grin broadened, "Well, then let me be the first to welcome you and wish you the best of luck in making it to Tortuga, someday. That skiff is, well, rudimentary, but I've seen worse, from virgins. Still, it has some promise. I've been analyzing some of your code, most of it is junk, but those engines, well there is some speed there, which I noticed when you, so foolishly, tried to run."

"So, you're going to steal my speed routine and then zonk me?"

She laughed, "Most definitely, well, at least the part about stealing the code, I haven't yet decided if I'm going to zonk you or not." She unsheathed her vorpal sword slowly and the glowing translucent blade became even brighter. "Give me a reason to let you live, or defend yourself, Hacker."

"Defend myself... with what? I don't have a sword."

She laughed and, a moment later, a standard rapier sword appeared at my feet. "Well, there you go," she said with a wolfish grin.

"Against a vorpal blade?" I asked.

She just shrugged and said, "I could just have my guards shoot you."

"That's true, but then you wouldn't have the pleasure of chatting with me while you tried to zonk me," I answered. I figure I better start charming her quickly, or that vorpal blade is going to bury itself in my Paragon's innards.

So, I picked up the rapier and looked at the weapon. It is a serviceable enough blade, with sharp edges. Against another, normal, rapier, I might even stand a chance, assuming I know how to fence. I have no idea if I know anything, but the blade feels good in my hand. However, against that vorpal blade, the first time we even touch it is going to shear my blade off, instantly.

I recalled an old western comedy and suddenly had inspiration, so I lifted the sword and held the sharp blade to my neck. "Stop, or the Hacker gets it," I exclaimed theatrically.

That made her pause, for a moment, and then her face split into an amused expression, "Are you threatening to take your own life?"

"Yep and there's not much coup for you if I zonk myself. If I die, you'll never learn anything about me, or how I wrote that speed code. Besides, I'll be depriving you of my wit and humor."

"Oh, I wouldn't want that!" she replied, sarcastically. "OK, do it," she stated.

"What, kill myself?"

"No, regale me with your wit and humor, or kill yourself if you can't," she noted.

I thought for a moment and she took a step forward, lifting her vorpal blade slightly, so I said, "On Earth, I was recently being hunted by the Zombie Black Widow Squadron; you'll never guess how I escaped."

"Do tell," she said yet stopped her advance.

"I hid in their commander's flyer."

That beautiful smile crept back onto her face and she said, "You're making that up."

"I would never lie to a girl as interesting as you." I'd picked the word 'interesting', carefully. In the Zones, you can look like anything you want, for all I know this girl is an old fat man in a basement, somewhere in the real world. Complementing the beauty of a Paragon does not go without some value, a Pirate will have designed their own Paragon, but it isn't like complimenting them personally, on their real looks. Calling her 'interesting' spoke to her, as a person.

Again, that slight smile, "Never?"

"No, not even once, even to save my life," I said and I meant it. I have no reason to lie to this Pirate.

"Why is that?" she asked with the lift of a perfectly arched eyebrow.

I shrugged, "Because there is something about you, something I find I like."

She spoke derisively, "I'm about to zonk you or watch you zonk yourself, if you have the guts, and I'm stealing your skiff. What possible thing could you like about me?"

"I like that you gave me a blade, that you didn't have your guards shoot me, that your Ship is named, 'Revenge', of which I'm sure there is a story, and because of something I see deep in your eyes, no not the look of your eyes, the look of your soul."

"A poet!" she said, with a smirk this time.

"A romantic, I guess," I replied.

That got me another raised eyebrow. Then she said, "Oh, now the virgin is going to try to seduce the famous Mary Read?"

I laughed, "Not a chance of that, I see, but that wasn't my intent. I merely note that you seem like one of the most interesting people I have ever met and, I hope, one day, to get to know you better."

She bowed her head, slightly, in acknowledgment of my gallantry. "You still haven't amused me, though."

"What, threatening to zonk myself to stop you from zonking me isn't funny?"

She laughed, "True, that was hilarious, but what else do you have?"

"I'll tell you what, instead of zonking me, or watching me zonk myself, why don't you drop me on Pyyrus?"

"Now that IS funny. You realize that..."

"I know; the average zonk time is three minutes."

She looked thoughtful and then said, "It might be kinder to just zonk you quickly here, dying on Deathworld can be... painful."

"Kinder, but only if I die on Deathworld."

"You don't think you are going to die? It's called Deathworld for a reason, you know, nobody survives for long; it's designed that way."

"I will charm the vicious creatures and outwit the deadly plants."

She chuckled, "You know, I think you deserve the chance, just for the amusement factor." Then she spoke aloud, but, obviously, not to me, "Mara, take us to the Harrison Zone."

"Mara?" I inquired.

"Yes, a NexLord character from the Blood Zone, she is my Steward," Mary replied. "What is your Steward's name?"

"Loki," I replied.

Mary frowned at that disclosure, "You might want to pick another name. Loki has been used for the Steward of a very famous Pirate."

I shrugged, "I just might do that."

"What did you say your name was?" Mary suddenly asked.

"I didn't, but it is..." I quickly spoke to Loki, What is a good anonymous name?

John Doe, Sir, he replied, which works for your trip to Deathworld, he added.

I ignored Loki's implication that I would soon be dead. "John," I added, after the slight pause.

She raised an eyebrow, "John, as in Long John Silver?"

That isn't what I meant, but I let her jump to the wrong conclusion. I smiled, which she took for confirmation that this is my Pirate name.

That made her frown, "You know the famous Pirate names are awarded, not taken. Long John Silver was awarded, a long time ago; he disappeared on a quest. Some believe the Dragoons traced him back to Earth and the Zombies took his body. I suppose it has been long enough for someone else to get the name, but that's not for a green Hacker to decide. Make it to Tortuga, build some coup, get on the Top Fifty list and MAYBE you can earn that title. For now, I suggest you just go by John and pick another name for that Steward. If you like Norse god names, how about Vali?"

"I'll think about it," I answered, but I didn't mention that, not only am I on the Top Fifty list, I am Pirate One, but she doesn't need to know that and I don't trust her, for a moment, with the information. Zonking Pirate One might carry a boatload of coup.

"It seems like you know the owner of the other Loki," I noted.

She shrugged, "I know of him, everyone does, he is now Pirate One. I doubt you want to be associated, in any way, with the Pirate that zPol is most interested in finding, not until you have a Ship which can keep you safe. This little skiff, well, I did you a favor taking it now. zPol would not have been so kind. They would have zonked your Paragon and traced your mind going back to your body. Then you would have been in a Zombie Coffin by lunchtime. I'm just sending you off to be zonked, where you can wake up in your body and start planning all new illegal mischief. A word of advice, work on your Ship for a few years BEFORE you try an illegal entry into the Zones. You'll need a real Ship if you plan to earn your way into Tortuga."

Loki spoke to me at that moment, Sir, I thought you didn't want to go to Deathworld?

Hey, I replied, I was either going to be zonked, right now, by our ravishing host or go to Deathworld with at least a slim chance of survival."

Slim might be a little optimistic, Sir, he answered dryly.

You are a funny routine, Loki, I answered.

You wrote me that way, Sir, Loki replied and then asked, Do you have a plan for survival?

Yes, don't get eaten or poisoned, something like that.

Excellent, Sir, he said and continued sarcastically, Should I then assume, with such a brilliant and detailed plan, that you are going for the fifteen-minute record?

The record for survival on Pyyrus is fifteen minutes? I asked, blinking.

Yes, but the current record holder didn't leave his ship; the plants just ate their way inside and zonked him there.

Perfect, I said with a sigh.

# Chapter zSix – Pyyrus

I felt the Ship accelerating and decelerating, then felt a throb as some of the Ship's guns fired, I can only assume that Mary is battling her way past the Zcerebral Zone defenses. I am still in the hold, under the watchful eyes of her Zim guards, with their guns set to kill. These are not Puppets, controlled by Teers; they are zimulacrums or Zims, as they are called. A Zim is a Zone construct of a person or character that has routines which allow them to 'act' like a living being. Their old counterpart is an NPC, non-player-character, from ancient MMO computer games, but Zims are far more sophisticated routines and fully life-like, without being alive. So far, no one has coded a true Artificial Intelligence, it is the holy grail of programming and many a top programmer has tried. But we have written sophisticated Simulated Intelligence routines. A good Zim can play the role of a living thing, quite convincingly. In many ways, Stewards are Zims, but to an even higher degree of programming, they are the best Simulated Intelligence, or S.I., programs around. All of Mary's guards and other shipboard crew are, likely, Zims, though a Ship, this big and sophisticated, could transport other Paragons, with humans in control. This gorgeous Ship is certainly capable of transporting more than one mind. Revenge makes that Dragonman's space shuttle look like a Crashlander.

There are no Puppets onboard; those only function in the Zones or on legal Transports. They can't exist in zSpace on Pirate vessel. Puppets are within the rules of the Zones, put there, legally, by the Zcerebral servers, with a human 'Teer' in control. If a Teer takes a Puppet out of the Zones, or onto a Pirate Ship, it will instantly get zonked. And, this Ship is, most definitely, an illegal Pirate vessel.

Eventually, Mary got her Ship through and into the Harrison Zone, because she showed up, a few minutes later, and took charge.

I headed toward my boat, but she said, "Sorry, the skiff stays with me. You might try to depart Pyyrus, with your skiff, besides, that engine code is the spoils of battle. I'll give you one of my standard escape pods, which will take you, on a one-way trip, down to the planet."

"Thanks, honey," I noted, sarcastically.

She raised an eyebrow at that, "You know, I can still have my guards shoot you."

"But then you wouldn't get the pleasure of seeing me set the record for survival time on Deathworld," I noted.

"So true, this will be entertaining! I'll have a mobile camera follow you around so I can enjoy all the gruesome details."

She must have said something to her Steward here, because, a moment later, a tiny flying camera buzzed in and started following me. It is so small you can hardly see it, about the size of a fly.

Mary smiled and gestured to the escape pod entry portal and said, "Well, off you go! I'd say, 'Safe trip', but you know it would be a lie."

I shrugged, "After I escape from Deathworld, I think you owe me a drink, at a resort."

She laughed, "Still trying to make time? All right, you set the record for survival time on Deathworld, and escape the planet, which has NEVER been done, and you can have your drink. After all, even though you are a new Hacker, Mary Read's reputation wouldn't be hurt if she was seen hanging out with the celebrity who bested Pyyrus, the deadliest Challenge planet in the Harrison Zone."

I laughed, "It's a date."

She smiled, "Not yet, Romeo, first there is Pyyrus. Besides, how do you know I'm not really some 85-year-old, toothless, male in a retirement home?"

"Because nobody is toothless anymore, not since goop," I replied with a grin.

She laughed in amusement.

I got into the pod and the 'fly cam' followed me in. I noticed that this pod is kind of like the escape pod from that old, multi-part, space movie series, where the two intrepid droids escape from the rebel ship and crash land on a desert planet. The pod is round, with some kind of thruster at one end. Unlike what happened to the golden, etiquette and protocol droid and his squat, trashcan shaped, droid companion, my trip to Pyyrus should make their desert planet look like a paradise.

Holy Jason dinAlt, I thought, with some real concern, I'm going to crash land on Pyyrus.

A moment later, the pod ejected, with explosive force, and I got a slightly rotating look back at Revenge, sitting safely out in zSpace. This time, it is in orbit around the Deathworld planet, inside the Harrison Zone.

Loki spoke, I have some limited control of the pod, Sir, where would you like to crash?

"Can't we land?" I asked aloud, "Is that too much to ask?"

That is extremely improbable, Sir.

"Can we avoid the planet altogether?"

Loki answered calmly, No, Sir, this is a gravity descent pod, we can change our trajectory, so we are going to crash on the planet.

"Can you locate a place where other ships have landed?"

Yes, Sir, in fact, there is a graveyard of ships on the planetary map included in the plotter which we might be able to reach.

"Great, we can borrow a ship and scram," I said with excitement.

I think you need a different plan, Sir.

Puzzled, I asked, "Why is that?"

Well, from what the guidebook says, within minutes of landing, the plants soon break into any ship left on the surface of the planet, Sir.

"Great," I muttered. "Still, put us down in the graveyard, maybe there is something we can salvage."

I will do my best, Sir, he replied and I felt the pod's thruster fire.

"Loki, didn't the hero of the story, Jason, figure out a solution for survival on Pyyrus?"

According to the literature banks, yes, Sir, however, records show that this re-creation of Pyyrus was designed without that particular feature; everything really does just want to kill you, hence, the Deathworld name.

"Ah, it was worth the thought," I noted.

Barely, Sir, Loki replied and then added, Impact in fifteen seconds.

"Really, can't you say 'touchdown'," I noted dryly.

I could if you wish to be imprecise, Sir.

Then we hit, with teeth-rattling impact, and started to bounce and roll. I held on, wondering if the crash will zonk me and save the planet time. The impacts are certainly painful enough. If my Emotional Threshold is set too low, I am about to pay the price.

We came to a final, bone-crushing, impact which brought the pod to a sudden stop. I partially blacked out from the pain thinking, This is it! If I zonk, my mind will transfer back into my body and all of this effort, not to mention, zTime, will be lost. However, a moment later, my vision cleared and I figure I must have come within a point of maxing out my current setting. It is a very good thing I left it set high.

We have arrived, Sir, Loki noted, dispassionately.

"No shit," I replied, but my Steward ignored that, as there is no need to reply.

Sir, shall I open the hatch? Loki asked pleasantly.

"NO!" I almost yelled.

That was a joke, Sir.

"You're programmed to joke?" I demanded, incredulously.

Of course, Sir.

I must have a sick sense of humor to program a joking, sarcastic Steward to help me. Well, no doubt, the plants are already trying to break into this pod, so I better think of something, quickly. "Does this trash can have any kind of sensor array?"

Now, I believe you are the one joking, Sir.

"Do you always say, 'Sir'?"

Yes, Sir.

"You could throw in the occasional Exalted One," I noted, he isn't the only one who can do sarcasm.

I believe I hear some sort of beast snorting outside the hatch, oh Exalted One, of great wisdom.

"I was joking, about the Exalted One bit."

I'm not, Sir, I really do hear something large sniffing around the hatch.

Now that I listen, I hear it too and it sounds BIG! "Crap, but it can't get in here, right?"

Loki's voice sounded thoughtful, Um, Sir, 'can't' may be the wrong term, I believe the word is 'can'.

Right then, I heard something scraping on metal; it can't be teeth? Then I heard a louder sound, of warping metal, as the hatch began to bend.

"Holy Hari Seldon, that thing is eating the hatch door!" I exclaimed, incredulously.

I suggest you think of something brilliant if you wish to still try for the survival record, Sir, Loki noted.

"How do I fire the Pod engine!" I yelled.

It's the red button, Sir, Loki noted, but I don't think that qualifies as brilliant. I'm not sure what will happen...

He didn't get a chance to finish because I saw the button, reached out, and punched it with the butt of my hand.

The pod engine fired and I heard a scream as the rear end of the beast got blasted off, but, I have no time to gloat because the pod is tumbling across the ground again. I swung at the red button but missed and then I stabbed at it again with my hand. I managed to hit the button and that toggled the pod engine back off. My pod struck something solid, again, and I winced, but didn't black out this time.

Sir, I'm actually quite pleased, and very surprised... somehow, you survived that, Loki noted.

"How do I blow the hatch?" I demanded.

It's under the green safety cover, Sir, and then you flip the interior switch, Loki replied.

I did so and the explosive bolts on the hatch blew outwards, sending the warped hatch flying.

I got my first look at the planet. I'm in a jungle, but, fortunately, my latest blast, from the pod engine, has taken me out of the plants into a burnt section of ground around a larger spaceship. It isn't new looking; the forest vines have entwined themselves around and inside the ship. Then I noticed the skeleton of the Puppet the plants had eaten, still suspended in the vines where they had dragged the poor bastard out of his ship.

I pulled myself up and out of the hatch opening and then stood on the blackened ground. I figure I have about two minutes before some creature or plant zonks me, maybe less.

That's when Loki's calm voice noted, Sir, there is a half-dead creature attempting to eat you.

I spun around and spotted it, it is the creature my pod had burned in half and it is coming after me. It has front shoulders that are kind of wolfish but are the size of a massive bear, this is assuming wolves or bears have armored spine plates and eight-inch, carbon fiber, black teeth. The thing has the lower half of its body burned off, but it is dragging itself, swiftly, across the ground toward me with just its front claws, trailing its guts on the ground behind it.

I backed away, swiftly, keeping my feet on the burnt ground, away from any plant, while moving away from the slavering half-beast who wants to eat me.

"That's just not natural!" I exclaimed. "How can that thing eat me, it doesn't even have a stomach anymore!"

Incoming, Sir, Loki noted, calmly.

I heard a buzz and dove to the ground, just as a wasp, the size of a small dog, flew past my head, its poison dripping stinger extended. It had curved its lower yellow and black striped abdomen around to aim its stinger forward, in an attack position.

"I need a weapon!" I declared, to anyone who cared.

It seems Loki does care because he noted. Sir, there is a skeleton over there, with some kind of hand weapon.

I ran to the indicated remains and yanked out a wicked looking pistol, with a barrel the width of a fire hose. I turned, just as the insect attacked again, and fired. The weapon shot a cloud of darts, which makes it hard to miss your target. The darts tore the insect to shreds.

"One for me!" I yelled, gleefully.

Sir, behind you, Loki noted.

I spun, just as the half-beast tried to chomp on my ankle. I leaped back and shot it in the head, which removed it, nearly, completely.

"How many shots do I have left?" I asked Loki.

That appears to be a Mark Seven, flechette gun, Sir. Check the hand grip, he replied.

I looked and there is a digital indicator that shows the numeral '3'.

"Three!" I yelled.

I really can hear your speaking voice quite well, Sir, and, if you bellow louder, perhaps all the other monsters in this jungle will hear you as well, Loki noted.

"I'm not going to last two more minutes with only three shots!" I exclaimed, but I did lower my voice.

That will not get you the record, Sir, Loki noted.

"Ideas?" I stated, nearly in a panic.

Ideas are your department, Exalted One, Loki noted.

"I thought I told you that was a joke?"

Yes, and I thought you needed me to lighten the mood, Sir, Loki answered.

I can't help it, I laughed. Sure, I am about to be zonked, painfully, and I am the most wanted man on this planet or on all of the Zones, yet my damn Steward is trying to 'lighten the mood'.

"All right, I suppose thinking of ideas IS my department. So, Jason, the hero of the story, figured out how to stop the creatures from attacking him, but you said they made it so that won't work, but..."

Sir, sorry to interrupt your recollections, but you might want to look out for that snake.

I spun again and had to gasp, a two-headed snake had reared up. Now, it is a snake, but it is a snake with a body the width of a horse! That thing can strike from the edge of the jungle all the way to me and it is rearing back to do just that.

I dove to my right and rolled over my shoulder, bringing my weapon to bear. The snake's lunge just missed me, but its other head reached to the side, with long, dripping fangs. I fired and blasted its damn head off, but the other head turned, with lightning speed, and struck at me. I can't possibly avoid it, so I just fired right into the open mouth. I got sprayed with nasty snake bits for my trouble. I closed my eyes and mouth so that no venom got in, just in case any happened to land on me.

"I tell you, right now, I do NOT like this place and I've only got one shot left," I exclaimed, checking the hand grip, for no apparent reason, it did indeed show a '1'.

Sir, you said, 'but' a moment ago, did you have some other wisdom to impart? Loki asked.

I thought back, going through my logic, swiftly, and then said, "Right... but, what if I did something similar, yet not the same as Jason's solution?"

I'm not following you, Sir.

"These things aren't attacking each other, so they must see me differently. What if they saw me the same as the rest of the creatures here?"

I'm not sure how you might accomplish that, Sir, Loki answered.

"I need to see the code for something here, like that tree," I noted, pointing.

" _Sir, there is no way to modify Zone code from within the Zone, you would have to be at the Zcerebral Servers, wherever they are."_

"I'm not going to try to modify their code, but can I look at the code?"

A code stream appeared around me, in a cylinder, put up by my Steward. I believe that is the tree code, Sir, Loki replied.

I swiftly looked through it, spinning it around a few times and zooming in with hand gestures in space in front of me. I could have done it with thought alone, but I liked the gestures. I have to find what I am looking for, swiftly. Then, I found it.

I brought up my Paragon code and started making modifications, as I worked, I said, "Loki, keep an eye out for danger, while I change my Paragon code, a bit. My Paragon code isn't on the Zone servers; it is in my Skey, so I can modify it."

I quickly made some changes to add the same kind of GUID marker to my Paragon that the trees from this jungle use. I finished, just as Loki spoke.

Sir, not to bother you, but do you see those very large insects?

I looked and spotted the swarm of giant wasps headed right for me.

"Yes, I see them," I said and didn't raise my gun. At this point, one shot might get three or four of them, but not the entire swarm of thirty massive wasps. I can hear the horrendous buzz of their wings as they approach.

The bugs flew right past me, without a pause.

How did you accomplish that, Sir? Loki asked, sounding quite surprised.

"I changed my Paragon code," I noted.

Yes, Sir, I noticed that, but that should have taken several hours, he estimated.

"Ah, well, I didn't have that much time. Why?"

Well, Sir, that is very difficult sculpting, working that fast is, uncommon, to say the least.

"I was in a hurry," I noted again.

Indeed, Sir, I believe it saved you. I'm mildly impressed.

"Don't be, I still have a small problem," I explained, ruefully.

What is that, Sir?

"I don't dare move. The hack I did worked, but I'm marked in the program with a unique Tree I.D., so other parts of the program see me as a tree now, but, if I move... well, I'm not sure how the program will handle that. A recovery routine might send things to destroy a buggy tree routine."

I understand, Sir; can you modify your Paragon code further?

"Y-e-e-e-s-s..." I noted, drawing out the word, "But I don't think I want to try. If this hack fails, while I work on the change, then I might get noticed and attacked. I think I'll just stand here and be very tree-like, for a bit, while I think."

Of course, Sir, would you care for some hot tea?

"Well, that would be great, how in the world can you get tea, here?"

I can't, Sir, I was just asking if you would like some, not offering any.

"I'm going to rewrite your routines, you know that?"

So, you have told me, many times, Sir.

I stood there, fretting about what to do next.

Then Loki said, Almost there, Sir.

"Almost where?"

Wait for it, three, two, one, congratulations, Sir.

In a puzzled voice, I asked, "For what?"

For setting the record for survival time on Pyyrus, Sir.

"I cheated," I noted.

I won't tell anyone, Sir, Loki answered.

Just then, I heard a strange sound, not something from the jungle, more like a roar and a hissing sound, combined.

"What is that?" I asked, fearfully, picturing a dragon, or something worse, coming.

Loki answered, A ship, on descent, Sir. It will land nearby, perhaps a few hundred yards away.

"A ship! Is it Revenge?"

I don't know; perhaps you should look up, Sir.

"Oh, right," I answered and, very slowly, moved my head, so as not to attract anything to notice my untree like change.

What I saw is a bullet-shaped ship, with three fins coming out the sides. I think I recognize that old pulp fiction character, what was his name, Anthony Rogers, I think, though he had some nickname, Chuck Rogers? No, that wasn't it. Anyway, this looks like it might be a re-creation of his ship.

It landed on its tail and a door on the side opened, then a space suited guy, who must have been a big Rogers fan, flew out. His Puppet is wearing a gray, dual tank, flying pack and he has a big ray gun in his holster. The moment he flew out, and away from his ship, the swarm of wasps spotted him and reversed course. The first wasp to reach him flew by, as the space suited Puppet swooped down and ducked underneath.

I immediately renamed him 'Duck Rogers'. I saw Duck draw his ray gun and start blasting insects.

I didn't wait to see if Duck Rogers could avoid them long enough to pick them all off, I just up and ran for his ship. Unfortunately, it is some distance across the ship graveyard. I can make out a ladder up the side and, when I finally arrived, I hit the sixth rung up with my leap off the ground. I swarmed up the ladder, toward the open hatch, like an amorous grandmother is chasing me.

As I got inside, I turned and saw, poor, Duck Rogers take about ten stings, simultaneously. Then, he reached for a button on his sleeve and detonated the twin rocket pack, vaporizing himself and some of the bugs.

Loki noted, That was a good try; he lasted 3 minutes and 46 seconds before being zonked.

I slammed the hatch shut and then leaped to the, decidedly, low-tech looking pilot seat and controls. When I looked up, I found a black and white, square radar screen and, off to the side, some buttons, and physical levers. I found the one marked 'Engine' and pulled the handle. I noticed the fly cam still covering me, so I gave the watching Mary a wave and a triumphant grin.

The ship shuddered and started to lift off.

I am quite amazed, Sir, Loki noted.

"That I managed to set the survival record and escape from Deathworld?" I asked.

No, that this old piece of junk can actually fly, Sir, he noted.

# Chapter zSeven – The Grotto

It turns out that the word 'fly' was incorrect; this spaceship is more like a tram on a rail. Sure, the ship looks like it is flying through zSpace and seems to be headed for another planet, but I am not really flying this thing. This is a Teer Transport, which is programmed to land on Deathworld so that some fool, on holiday, can impress his watching friends with how long he survives on Pyyrus.

Death to a Teer, or zonking, is mildly painful, but not terribly so; kind of like getting a brief electrical shock. It can be unpleasant, but not terribly so. A Teer's Emotional Threshold has a max setting which is barely north of uncomfortable. By now, Duck Rogers is logging back into the Zones to have a laugh with his friends and dare them to do better. It will cost him an hour of zTime for the zonk, but if he is rich enough, or dumb enough, he won't care about that.

Meanwhile, this ship is programmed to return to the planet of origin if it manages to lift back off of Deathworld. There is no piloting, or course plotting necessary, you just pull the lever and you will eventually arrive at your destination to enjoy a zDrink with your friends.

As the ship descended through the atmosphere, riding the flame from the engines, downward, to the spaceport, I wondered what his watching friends will have to say about me stealing his ship. Of course, by the time I 'borrowed' it, Duck was Roast Duck, so he didn't really need it, anymore. I doubt anyone will care.

As I opened the hatch, I found I am correct, no one seems to be waiting to greet me at the terminal door.

I noticed that my ship is one of many styles and types, from ultra-modern, in Sci-Fi terms, to retro, like my stolen knockoff, flown by the recently zonked Duck Rogers.

The city around the spaceport is very modern, with lots of flying cars flitting about. I can see high-rise, bullet shaped, buildings, with flyer ports at various levels. There are even some floating buildings. The physics of all this don't matter, not here, in a Zone. Here, physics work any way they are programmed. Everything in this city is gleaming and clean, shiny and colorful. It is nothing like a real city on Earth, with all the dirt and filth.

I picked up a flyer at a parking structure, they are free to take. Most things are free; you are already paying, in zTime, for every hour you stay. Of course, there are things you can spend more zTime on if you are inclined and rich. Most Teers just use the included features.

I stopped at a restaurant, up on a floating building, and parked. Eating here will not give my real body sustenance, but it is, in every other way, real to me. I can taste every delicious bite and feel each texture as I chew and swallow. This is one of the reasons people starved to death in the Zones, early on, before the four-hour limit was instituted. They ate the finest foods and drank the most delicious beverages and yet starved to death in reality.

Still, it is enjoyable to eat and drink here and everything is included. Afterward, you won't need a bathroom and you don't have to worry about your waistline. So, I sat at a table and ordered up some lobster and a fine wine from the waiter Zim. Then, while I munched on some escargot appetizers and waited for the main course to be 'prepared', (they could have brought it instantly, but that would break the illusion) I contemplated my next move. I have finally made it into a Zone.

Now, I have to start thinking about getting a Pirate Ship. Not that I am ready to depart, but if I want to move around, freely, or ever return to my Green Room, or find Tortuga, I need my own Ship. According to Dragonman, somewhere, in some Zone, I have left my Viking Ship; at least, as long as it has not been destroyed by the Dragoons, or something else.

But, I put aside my Ship for a moment and contemplated what I should do in the Zones. I had wanted to see if I am a Pirate, but now I already know I am a high-end code sculptor. Loki even acted impressed. So, did that mean I have friends and resources here that will help me survive in the real world?

I considered my memories. That's kind of an odd thing if you think about it. Try it, right now; what do you want to remember? For example: think about Tuesday, three weeks ago, or four months ago. Suddenly, you have no memory of that time, unless something triggers a specific memory.

For the life of me, I cannot remember where I left my Ship, or even what it looks like. Nor can I remember anything about my previous times in the Zones. Now, it's obvious I have been here; if nothing else, there is Loki. Speaking of Loki...

Loki, where is my Ship located? I thought to my Steward.

I'm sorry, Sir, I do not have that information.

You weren't there when I left it?

No, Sir, the last time I saw you was when you were in your Green Room, a couple days before your return.

Was the Ship docked at that time?

No, Sir, neither Ship was there.

That made me pause for a moment, Neither? I have two?

Yes, Sir.

Wow, I'm rich or was rich. Currently, I only have around fifty zHours in my anonymous account.

How did I pilot two ships?

I don't know, Sir. I was deactivated at the time. When you reactivated me, both ships were gone.

That is odd; I piloted the ships without you?

Yes, Sir, though I would guess that you used another Steward program.

Two Ships and two Steward programs? Is that normal?

Loki's voice sounded almost amused as he said, You have never struck me as normal, Sir.

Point taken, I noted wryly.

So, Loki isn't going to be able to help me with knowledge of my Ship's locations, either of them.

I considered what else I know; someone is helping me. Then I thought, what if that other Steward program knows more than Loki and is programmed to assist me, in some way? Maybe he was in the Bagheera Puppet, or maybe he left me the zMail. Speaking of that zMail, he had said that I should seek justice. Did he mean I need to fight this in the courts? I'm pretty sure that would cost me my body. These days, the idea of innocent until proven guilty has gone the way of the dodo bird. You are guilty, and if you are proven innocent, later, then they will say they are sorry, well, not really.

Courts are for settling minor squabbles, they are not for criminals. The first people Zcerebral turned into Zombie bodies, after taking power, were the lawyers, though I can't say that I completely disagree with that move.

So, how else do you seek justice? Well, there is vigilante justice, meaning, go get it myself. That would mean taking on Zcerebral, when every old government, on the Earth, had already tried that and failed. How could one lonely Pirate take down Goliath and his army? I don't fancy myself as David and I don't have a slingshot handy. Though now that I think about it, there is a Bible Zone, so I can go play David if I desire.

Thinking about Zcerebral made me consider my status as Pirate One. What, on Earth, have I done to deserve that? I mean, I must have done something colossally stupid. Maybe that is it, maybe I HAD thought I could take on Zcerebral and done some kind of Zone Terrorism? Am I a terrorist? I can't remember. I am, however, on the Top Ten most wanted list; I should take a look at that.

Loki, show me the Top Ten list, I requested.

A spinning, 3D, 'Thor' head appeared and, next to it, the entire Thor body. Only I can see them. Underneath both, it says, Thor, Pirate Paragon."

Scrolling, below the picture, is a brainwave scan showing my thought patterns.

Below the moving brainwave, I see the words, "Wanted for crimes against Zcerebral and all humanity. Reward for information leading to a confirmed location: 100 zHours, reward for information leading to capture: 10,000 zHours.

10,000 zHours! Holy Lazarus! I exclaimed in thought to Loki. For that many zHours, I'm pretty sure my mother would turn me in!

I think that is the point, Loki replied. If I was alive, I would turn you in, Sir.

Thanks, I noted dryly.

I looked up and noticed a Brain Scanner in the restaurant corner. It is small and unobtrusive, yet they are everywhere. Fortunately, unlike the real world, here in the Zones my Steward puts out a false brain pattern for the scanners. This is one of the most important things a Steward does for their creator. There is still some danger; I have to use a pattern that is on file, or it will get flagged as a fake. That means I have to use some poor sap's brain pattern.

Typically, you pick someone who is dead, but not yet recorded as deceased. This does not involve murder, well, not by most Pirates, anyway. It means, something like, going into some slum and finding some down on their luck bastard, who passed away, and disposing of their body before it is discovered. Or, you can pay someone off to delay reporting a deceased family member, at least for some length of time. But there is always the chance that this will be discovered.

zPol has been getting better at keeping track of people and flagging any brain pattern that appears in the Zones yet hasn't been read by an Earth Scanner for some period of time.

This leads to having to rotate in a new brain pattern, regularly, and therefore finding, or paying off, multiple dead guy's families. It is also the reason there aren't a lot of Pirates and most of them are rich. It costs a lot to wander the Zones without detection.

If you use a live person's patterns there is the danger of both the real brain and your fake one getting scanned in two separate places. At that point, the Dragoons or Zombies will descend on both, like a Harkonnen on an Atreides, and they will take both bodies, just to be sure.

I checked with Loki and found out that I am currently paying off a family and using a dead guy's pattern. This means my current pattern is good for a few more days, at best, and then I'll have to switch to a new one. There is a black market for this kind of thing, but it is expensive. People will sell about a week of time before reporting their deceased family member. They can make some good zHours that way, unearned, and claim they won them gambling or something. So, I have about four more days before I'll have a problem and then I am going to be up shit creek without a paddle. A week of a brain pattern will cost something like 200 zHours, which I don't currently have.

I scrolled down the Top Ten list, with a thought, and beheld my next companion in fame, Pirate Two, the second most wanted person. I sat bolt upright. There is only a stock silhouette picture of a head and no actual image. However, below the stock silhouette, it says, 'Justice, Pirate Paragon'". Beneath that I can see a brainwave scan showing a straight line, meaning they don't have one on file for Pirate Two. Below the brain wave are the same words: 'Wanted for crimes against Zcerebral and all humanity', however, the reward amounts are different and state: 'for information leading to a confirmed location: 80 zHours, reward for information leading to capture: 8,000 zHours'.

Pirate Two is named 'Justice', that can't be a coincidence! I thought.

Now that I know that Justice is the Paragon of a person, most likely a Pirate, and not something to attain, it changes the other part of the clue, completely. I recalled the clue: 'seek justice, remembering that the riddle has no answer.'

'A riddle with no answer', that must be a clue to where this Justice is located. But, if it has no answer, then how can I find him?

Loki, search through all Zones, movies, TV shows, books, comic books, or any other literature, for the words, 'Riddle with no answer.'

A moment later he replied, There are several notations, Sir.

What's the first one?

It's a math riddle, about three men who went to a hotel and asked for a room. There was only one room available, but the manager told them they could have the last room if they were willing to share. He would charge $30, so each of the men had to pay $10 and the bellhop showed them to the room.

The manager realized he overcharged the men; the room only cost $25, so he asked the bellhop to take five one dollar bills and give them back to the men.

On his way there, the bellhop decided to pocket two dollars so that it's easy for the three men to divide up their three dollars change, which he gives them. Now they each paid $9 for the room. But... 9+9+9 is 27... plus the 2 that the bellboy kept is 29... Where is the other dollar?

I didn't even have to think about it, I immediately replied, The math is faulty. The bellhop's money came out of the 27. In the end, the men paid $25 to the manager, plus two dollars to the bell boy, that's 27, which means they each paid nine dollars. But nine or ninety, I'm not sure this is a clue to Justice, what is the next entry?

There is something from a Stephen King novel, The Shining, where he answered Lewis Carroll's famous riddle, 'How is a Raven like a Writing Desk?'

Wait, forget King, who wrote the riddle in the first place, Lewis Carroll?

That is what I said, Sir," Loki answered.

And HE wrote Alice in Wonderland! I exclaimed.

You have a truly amazing grasp of literature, Sir.

I ignored his sarcasm and asked, And, is there a Wonderland in the Zones? But I already knew the inevitable answer.

Of course, Sir, it is in the Carroll Zone.

I smacked the top of the table with my right palm, causing the Puppets next to me to jump from the sudden sound, I ignored them and exclaimed, in thought, Then, that is where we are going next. I think that is where we'll find Justice or at least a clue to his whereabouts. At least, I hope so, if not, we may have to go to a King Zone and I don't really want to go there, Stephen King wrote some scary stuff about clowns.

I think you are forgetting about what is actually in Lewis Carroll's book, Sir, Loki noted.

Hey, if a little blonde girl can survive his story, what has the guy who set the record on Pyyrus got to worry about? I posed.

Perhaps you are thinking of a different Lewis Carroll than I am? Loki noted, but then added, Perhaps I am worrying about nothing, Sir, it will probably be a walk in the, ah, under the ground.

Under? I asked, frowning.

Sir, if you will recall, a rabbit does lead Alice down a hole, however, before you can descend after that large furry creature, you will have to survive the trip to that Zone. The Carroll Zone is in a different quadrant.

Damn. I could take a transport to any Zone in this quadrant, but, if I cross a quadrant border, I will have to go through a zPol checkpoint and they will detect my Paragon. Only Puppets are legal in the Zones. This is why Pirates use their Ships to move their Paragons around the Zones, that way, they can avoid any checkpoints.

A few minutes later, I finished my meal, though I still sat there, considering how to reach the Carroll Zone. A Zim, in an impeccable black messenger uniform, including a small round hat, placed a small white envelope in front of me and then walked away.

I picked it up and noted the elegant flowing script, in silver ink, stating, on the cover, 'To the record holder for survival on Pyyrus'.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the stiff card stock, with pressed boarders. Inside, in the same silver text, which actually looks handwritten, it said, 'If you would be so kind as to pick me up at the terminal at 9:00 pm, local time, I will consent to pay off my wager. Shall we say, formal attire? Sincerely, Mary R.'

I have a date, with a Pirate, who had been about to zonk me, and who had stolen my Ship, well skiff. Still, she is a pretty Paragon and, quite obviously, wealthy and knowledgeable, which is the kind of wealth that really matters to me, at this moment in my life. I need knowledge, badly.

I take it you are going on this 'date'? Loki asked.

You disapprove?

I am not here to approve or disapprove, but to assist you in any way possible. With that in mind, it is my duty to inform you that I believe she may try to zonk you.

I smirked, The thought has crossed my mind.

Loki replied, And here I thought you were thinking with other parts of your anatomy.

Funny. So, why do you think she will try to zonk me?

Coup, it is the Pirate way. Now that you have earned a bit of celebrity for surviving and escaping from Deathworld, any Pirate that bests you will take that coup, and you are fair game since you have not reached Tortuga yet.

I see. Well, I'll have to make sure I don't give her the opportunity.

Are you going to do that by going on a date with her? Loki asked sarcastically.

Well, yes, I answered.

As opposed to not going on a date with someone who wants to do you in, which, I'm sure, is far more dangerous.

Correct, I noted, with a nod of my head for emphasis.

Your logic escapes me, Loki noted.

You know the saying; Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Besides, not learning what she knows could be more dangerous than letting her try to zonk me.

I guess I see your point. Well then, shall we see to your attire?

Absolutely, I'll need to dress to kill or be killed.

My skimmer taxi dropped me at the space terminal a few minutes before I was supposed to meet my 'date', Mary Read. This whole 'coup' thing is bothering me and I am having second thoughts about the advisability of meeting with a known criminal who would profit from zonking my Paragon.

A zonk would send me back to my body, without a Ship docked in my Green Room and without the zTime to get another Crashlander. But, then, I saw her and my heart beat a little faster, partially because of the danger and partially because she is, well, stunning.

Looking at her is like driving a race car at 200 mph, it is thrilling, and part of what makes it exciting is pushing the envelope, knowing you could crash and the thrill of speed.

Mary Read is fire and ice, all at once, you know you shouldn't be messing with it, but you can't help yourself.

Mary is wearing a dress which mirrors her dual nature. Her shoulders are completely bare and the top of the dress rounds up and over each of her breasts. The upper piece is jet black and looks like it is made of flat black flowers. There are small gaps between the flower petals, allowing her naked skin to peek through, underneath, in interesting ways. This upper piece hugs her form, to the skin, but where it reaches her waist there isn't a clear delineation line, instead, the black flower patterns continue further down into the pure white billowing skirts. Falling black petals, from above, drift down, a couple feet, in a random floating pattern. It is like a sexy funeral on top and a blushing bride's wedding dress below. As she moves, the black petals seem to continue falling, magically, down the white dress below; life and death, in a living dress.

Her blonde hair is done up this time, with a sweep of bangs going across her forehead to meet around the side. Her long blonde hair is caught in a black see-through net, suspending her hair just above her shoulder, on the right side. Silver and black earrings dangle down from her ears in the shape of black flowers.

Her makeup is stunning, with her eyes shaded, the black eye makeup sweeping back, exotically, to the sides of her face, turning into tiny black flowers at the temples.

I thought my James Bond tuxedo was nice before I saw Ms. Read, but, compared to her, I look rather plain.

She spotted me and swayed over, the black petals falling with every step.

Holy Lara Croft, she is damn sexy.

In a world of Zones, which are full of beautifully constructed Puppets and their costumes, Mary stands out. It is partly due to her looks, and that amazing dress, but it is more about the way she moves and the look in her eyes. She OWNS the room and she knows it.

When she got near, I cleared my throat and managed to say, "My, you are quite stunning."

"This little thing?" she noted, glancing down at the falling black petals cascading down the white silk and lace, "It's just a little routine I wrote this morning. I hope you aren't taking me to some beer bar," she noted with a laugh.

I bowed and swept my hand toward the exit and then spoke to Loki in thought, Get a limo, outside, NOW.

I thought you were going to use a taxi, Sir, he replied.

Do you think you put a girl who looks like this in the back of a taxi?

Sir, there is a steep charge for a limo; they are piloted by Teers, not Zims.

I know but do it anyway.

You're the boss, Sir.

As we exited from the Terminal, a long black skimmer flew down to land and a smartly dressed Puppet, wearing a suit, with driver's cap, came around to open the rear door for Mary Read.

She took his hand, lightly, and stepped in. As I stepped past him, he asked, "Where would you like to go?"

"I'll let you know in a moment, head for the heart of the city."

"As you wish," he noted.

I got in and sat down next to Mary, who had her hands clasped around her small purse, which is also made of half black and half white flowers. I wonder what is in there: a knife, a compact, a gun?

I spoke to Loki in thought, What is the best restaurant, downtown.

Sir, you only have about 50 zHours in your anonymous account, 40 after you pay for the limo and probably 36 after you tip the driver at the end of the night.

What does the best place cost?

That would be Charlotte's and that runs about 20 zHours a meal, on average.

YIKES! OK, what is a great restaurant that charges less, but is still formal? Find me something exotic and different.

There is a place called The Grotto, it's known for its amazing dance floor, the average cost of a meal is 10 zHours.

Still pricey, but I guess it will have to do, that will leave me with 16 zHours.

The driver got underway and Mary asked, "So, where did you plan to have your victory drink?"

"Well, I was hoping to stretch that into a full meal, at The Grotto," I noted.

"The Grotto? I haven't been there in ages. Hm, well, that is rather forward of you, but seeing as I do like to dance, I guess I will let you have your way, this once. Are you sure you have the zHours for a place like that, you being a green, ah, entrant into the Zones?"

"Of course," I said as if it is nothing.

She gave me a very small smile.

"Take us to The Grotto, driver," I said, raising my voice a little.

He nodded and then closed the window between his driver's seat and our area in back.

As we lifted off and changed lanes upwards into the higher flow of flying craft, Mary turned in her seat and appraised me. "You really are something of a mystery."

"Really, how so?" I asked, pleasantly.

"I analyzed that code in your skiff and it was very interesting. I don't think you wrote it all. You are either a very good sculptor or a very bad one who bought a speed routine. You see, that code is so superior to most of the rest that it can't possibly have been written by the same person. So, which is it, are you a rich playboy, who purchased some good code at a high price, or are you an amazing sculptor, who, oddly, is willing to use someone else's second-rate code mixed with your own, for no apparent reason?"

"Maybe, I'm neither one," I answered, just to be mysterious.

"You're going to tell me, you know. I always get my way," she noted, slyly.

"Always?" I asked with a smile.

Her answer was very serious, "Always."

We sat in silence for a few moments after that and then I said, "I'll tell you what, I'll give you your answer before the evening is through if I live that long."

She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at that statement and then said, "Are you expecting to get zonked while enjoying a drink and a dance at The Grotto?"

"You tell me," I noted, "It seems like you could get a lot of coup for zonking the man who set the record for survival on Pyyrus."

"Now, that would be rude of me," she noted. "I lost our bet, fair and square, you survived and escaped. I would actually lose coup if I was to renege on our wager. You should know that, but you are new, so perhaps I'll forgive the affront. I am your winnings tonight, at least, for a drink, enjoy it while it lasts. Tomorrow, I might zonk you." With that last statement, she gave me a sweet smile and there is the look of a predator peeking out of her eyes.

I swallowed, but then managed to say, "So, tell me about yourself, what drives you to..."

She held up a black-gloved finger and pressed it to my lips, "Not here," she noted, giving a slight tilt of her head toward the driver's compartment. "Just because that glass is closed, doesn't mean he isn't listening."

I nodded and sat back in my seat. We remained silent for the rest of the next five-minute ride. Soon, the limo descended to a landing pad. Our driver came around and opened the door, offering a hand to help Mary out of the limousine. There is a red carpet that leads into The Grotto.

The entrance is like an old cave in an overgrown rainforest. Moss and lichen covered stone walls, with vines and flowers handing down. It seems to be dripping with water, but none of it is real, so it doesn't, actually, land on you. A maitre d' is waiting at a moss-covered, vertical stone.

"You have reservations?" he asked, politely.

Do I? I immediately thought to Loki.

Of course, Sir, under the name, "John".

"Yes," I answered, "Under, John".

"Ah, here you are... party of two, for an island."

Our waiter arrived and he led us down the cave to where it enters a small grotto. I thought this is how the place got its name, but then he led us over a small wooden bridge onto a rounded, grass-covered island. There is a single table with white linens and two chairs arranged on top of the small hill. There is, also, a yard-wide mote around the small island and the cave wall follows it half way around, but there it comes to a curtain of thick vines.

I held Mary's chair out for her and then sat down in mine, across the table. The waiter took our drink order; I asked for a glass of red wine and Mary asked for something called a Mind Blush. Once he left, I looked across the table and saw Mary watching my eyes intently.

I glanced to my right and saw the vine wall part and nearly gasped but managed to contain myself. We are looking out onto a large calm lake, at night, which looks like it is from the Louisiana bayou. The water is dead calm and reflects the stars above. Around the edges are trees, growing right out of the water, and you can see fireflies dancing among them.

Then I noticed that our island is gently drifting. We are floating out onto the lake. Our island drifted to a place, some distance from any other islands.

Mary smiled, "There, now we can talk. These islands, though expensive, are guaranteed to give couples privacy," she noted. "Though I'm sure that is why you chose this place."

I wisely said nothing, since I'd had no idea, or forethought, about any of that.

I wanted to ask how the waiter is going to take our order or bring us food and drink, out here on the water, but I don't want to seem like a newbie, so I decided to just wait and find out.

I thought to Loki, How much IS this island going to cost me?

10 zHours, Sir.

By Polgara's lock of hair, that's a LOT! Let's see, the meal is going to be around 10...

Each, Sir, Loki interjected.

So, that's twenty, plus the island, that's thirty, leaving me ten before I tip the limo driver, wait, how much were those drinks?

Yours was two zHours, hers was eight, Loki answered.

I'm broke and I don't have a tip for the driver! I thought, in consternation.

Perhaps you can wash dishes, Sir? Loki dryly noted.

"Is there something wrong?" Mary asked, curiously.

I realize I must have let some of my sticker shock show on my face.

Then I managed to say, "Oh, sorry, no, I was just thinking about something, unrelated."

The waiter suddenly appeared out of the low, wispy, mist which floats on some of the lake surface, rowing a small wooden boat in our direction. On the back bench, there is a tray with our drinks. He landed, disembarked, and walked to our table to serve the drinks. My drink is in an elegant, yet simple, wine goblet, but Mary's drink is amazing. It is in a crystal goblet, which looks like it is roughhewn, right out of the earth. The liquid in the goblet seems to be continuously swirling around, like a galaxy of stars, moving at high speed around a massive black hole.

Mary purred, "I just love these; they really tickle the mind as you drink them. Some people say they are better than sex, but I wouldn't go quite that far!" She took a sip and then closed her eyes as she let the experience flow through her mind. For a moment, Mary almost looked like she might pass out from pleasure. When she finally opened her eyes and managed to focus on me, she said, "Care for some?"

"The drink or sex?" I asked.

She laughed at that comment, with a twinkle in her eye, but did not answer, she just watched me across the lip of her crystal goblet.

The waiter asked if we are ready to order, though we haven't seen a menu. I guess you are just supposed to know or order anything.

At my, slight, hesitation, Mary asked the waiter, "What is your special tonight?"

"Ah, we have a very special dish tonight, Voodoo Conies," he answered, "They are quite an amazing experience and said to be a magical aphrodisiac."

Mary raised an eyebrow at this and then a smile spread slowly across her beautiful face. "Well then, we shall see, I'll try that."

When he looked at me, I said, "Oh, nothing much for me, just a salad." I'm trying to figure out how to get us under the 50 zHours I have on account and then, I figure, I will have to stiff the limo driver, later, after I drop Mary off.

Mary spoke to the waiter, "Oh, no, we can't have that, only one of us with an aphrodisiac just wouldn't do, we'll both have the special!"

He smiled, and bowed slightly, then headed for his rowboat.

I started to form a question about the cost of the 'special' to Loki, but he anticipated me and said, Twenty zHours, each, Sir.

Shit, I thought, I am overdrawn.

Faintly, in the distance, I heard the beautiful opening notes of an orchestra as they started playing a waltz. Mary tilted her head, slightly, to listen and then said, "Oh, an old classic, the Blue Danube. It always reminds me of that old flat movie, 2001, A Space Odyssey. Do you waltz?"

Then someone else took control of my Paragon because it stood and offered a hand to Mary and I heard my mouth say, "Would you care for a dance?"

Of course, my Paragon has not, really, run amok; I just acted without conscious thought. I wonder if I know how to dance? But, I have no idea.

She smiled, as she took my hand, and then stood from her chair. I'm not sure how you are supposed to dance on a grass-covered knoll, which is also a floating island, but I followed Mary since she seems to know where to go. I kept her hand held high in mine. When she reached the edge of the lake, Mary surprised me when she walked right out onto the water. I nearly stumbled, but I recovered and followed her onto the glossy surface.

The surface held our weight, easily, as we walked out onto the dark water, which had rippled with the passage of a rowboat only moments before.

Mary turned and I placed my hand on her slim waist, keeping the proper space between us. At that moment, the Blue Danube started into the first rhythmic movement. If I don't know how to waltz, I am about to be very embarrassed. Then my feet moved, perfectly, just as the rhythm picked up in the music. We spun and swirled, gliding across the water. Fireflies started swirling around us, lighting us up with their glow, but my gaze is locked on Mary's dark, mischievous, eyes while she gazes back into mine. A small smile is pulling at her red lips.

I feel like we are floating, well, on water, and there is nothing in the world, except the feel of the music, the soft form beneath my left hand at her waist, her perfume, and the sparkle of delight in the depths of her eyes. We danced across the lake, swirling around. Peripherally, I noticed that there are other couples dancing and swirling, but my attention remains, completely, on the gorgeous woman in my arms.

Each step we take causes a round ripple to form on the surface of the water and the fireflies continue to light our way. The setting is stunning, but it pales compared to the beauty and grace of the woman in my embrace. Her smile is so genuine that I know she is truly enjoying herself and, for those brief minutes, I forgot my troubles, my missing memories, the price on my head, my lack of funds, and all my other woes. Holding Mary, dancing, and hearing the amazing notes of the wonderful music, swept me away.

About seven minutes into the piece the music built to the crescendo. Mary tilted her head back, as we spun faster, and her smile grew until she laughed with the pure joy of life. Then, when the music slowed again, so did we. Mary leaned in closer and placed her head on my left shoulder. I enjoyed that moment, immensely, during the slower pace.

As the music picked up again, she separated. I twirled her around and then back into my arms. When the final notes of the piece played out, Mary stepped back and then curtsied low, keeping her eyes locked on mine. I bowed formally, never looking away from her beauty.

"That was, amazing," she said as she stood back up. I led her back to our island, which somehow managed to stay close by, even though I had not even bothered to keep track of where we were on the lake.

"You were amazing," I said, with complete honesty and without even thinking.

That won me a warm and genuine smile. Her Paragon's looks are a construct of her code skills, but her grace and dancing are all her own, and she knew I'd been complimenting her, personally.

"You weren't bad yourself," she noted. "I have to say, it's been too long since I had that kind of fun. That is an amazing work of art."

"Yes, you are," I said.

She shook a gloved finger at me. "Now, you're just trying to sweep me off my feet," she noted, but laughed.

"Guilty," I said, "yet, I spoke nothing except the truth. I told you I would never lie to you, Mary."

She nodded her head to me, in acknowledgment of my gallantry, and then I held her chair out so she could sit down at our table.

Our meal arrived, a minute later, so we held our conversation until the waiter docked and served us.

We talked as we ate, and I do have to say, the food is delicious.

"So, tell me, Mary Read, what made you want to become a Pirate?"

She winked at me, "I'll tell you what, I will trade truth for truth, with Honor Rules."

Loki? I thought, What does Honor Rules mean?

He replied, Sir, Honor Rules means that if you lie you will lose coup. Word will be spread through the Pirate community that you broke 'Honor Rules'.

I thought quickly, and then said to Mary, "All right, but we will limit it to three questions, with the right of refusal on one," I countered, "With no questions about revealing who we really are, on Earth, or where our real bodies are located."

"Done," she replied. "And to answer your first question, I wanted to be a Pirate because my mother disapproved."

"I see," I noted. "It's interesting that you would admit that to yourself."

She shrugged. "My mother is very controlling, she has her own ideas of what my life is supposed to be and I have different ideas. Being a Pirate is about as far from my mother's idea of what I should be, as possible, so that's what I became. Now, it is my turn to ask YOU a question."

"All right," I said.

"Did you sculpt the routine for the speed code, without help?"

I laughed, "You always get your way, don't you?"

She smiled, "I told you I would learn the truth about that."

"The answer is, yes, I sculpted that code, all by myself."

But my answer only made her frown, and she exclaimed, "But if you can sculpt code that elegant, why, on EARTH, would you attach the routine to such a shoddy block of code?"

"If that is your second question, you'll have to wait, it is my turn now," I noted.

She nodded, though the frown is still present on her pretty face. "OK, which other secret of mine do you wish to uncover?" she asked, slyly.

"Do you like me?" I inquired, simply.

She laughed, and I mean, with true enjoyment. Then she picked up her glass and took a drink of her Mind Blush. Her eyes nearly rolled back in her sockets as the pleasure hit her. After a moment to recover, as well as, no doubt, time to think about her answer, she finally replied, "You could have asked me so many things and that is your question? You know, I could choose to use my right of refusal?"

"Yes, but that would tell me something, anyway," I noted with a sly smile.

She smiled, "I like you, very much, and that bothers me."

I raised an eyebrow at that, "If you don't mind expanding on your answer, why, on Earth, does it bother you?"

"Because you are a mystery and that scares me. I don't want to like someone I don't even know, someone who is a mystery, but I can't seem to help it. There, that was a free answer for you, but here is MY next question: how can a green Hacker sculpt code worthy of a Pirate, but then use it with trash code instead of writing everything yourself?"

I thought about her question for a moment and then answered, "They can't."

That made her frown and she reminded me of the stakes, with just two words, "Honor Rules?"

"I was absolutely truthful," I replied.

She went over her question in her mind, no doubt, accessing her Steward for an exact replay. Then I saw something dawn on her and she nodded slowly. "I have my final question ready, but what is yours first?"

"Will you give me safe passage, on your Ship, to Wonderland, in the Carroll Zone, if I ask very nicely?"

She laughed and then shook her head, "You are really something, you know. I could just say, 'No' and be done with you and as long as I don't take you to Wonderland then I answered truthfully. I'd ask you why you want to go to Wonderland, but I have a different question in mind, so, first, I will answer your question. All right, if you ask, VERY nicely, I might take you and part of my decision will hinge on how you answer my final question."

I nodded, so she asked, "For my final question, I want to know if you are already a Pirate, hiding out as a Hacker."

"If I refuse to answer that, you're not going to take me to Wonderland, are you?"

"Not safely," she replied, sweetly.

"You caught me, I am not a Hacker and I do have a rep in the Zones, as a Pirate." What I didn't tell her is that I don't know much about my reputation as a Pirate, I just know it exists.

"So, you are the original Pirate who earned the name, Long John Silver," she said, nodding her head. "I'd heard you had gone missing."

I just smiled. It wasn't a question in our 'Honor Rules' game, so I don't have to answer. Besides, a smile is not a 'yes', it's just a smile, so I haven't broken my word about lying to her, either.

We finished the meal and did a little 'shop talk' about sculpting. Then the time came to pay the piper. I don't have enough in my account to pay for this wonderful evening and I wonder what Mary will think as the Dragoons arrive to drag me off, or worse.

In the distance, I saw the waiter heading our way in his rowboat, no doubt, with the check in hand. Our island is just starting to dock at the side of the lake. Mary stood up, gracefully, and said, "I have to say, I was a little miffed that I had to pay off a bet and let someone win my time, in essence, against my will, but I, honestly, had a very nice evening. Now, I believe you have something to ask of me?" And she batted her long eyelashes.

I got up and then knelt on the soft grass, on my right knee. I took one of her gloved hands in mine and looked up into her pretty face. "Ms. Read, can you find it in your heart to take a poor and humble wretch, like me, on your amazing Ship on a trip to Wonderland? I would consider it a true favor, which I promise to repay, in full, someday. Even more importantly, it would be my honor to go anywhere with such a fine dancer and wonderful lady."

She smiled, sweetly, and then answered, "Yes, that was very nice. And since you claim that you won't lie to me, I'll have to accept it as genuine. I will grant you this boon, but is that all you wish of me, this evening?"

I smiled and answered, "Not by a long shot, your beauty and grace have touched my heart and there is a part of me that wishes to return to your Ship, with you. But I do not wish to take advantage of your kindness or to be too forward, so I will bid you a fair evening in hopes that you will grace me with more of your time on another date, someday."

She raised an eyebrow at me and then shook her head sadly as she said, "I'm losing my touch."

"I assure you that you are not," I added. "May I have that second date, some night, in the future?"

That made her smile and then she replied, "Yes, you may. As for tomorrow, please meet me at my pinnace in the morning and I will take you to the Carroll Zone. You will then owe me, and I always collect my debts," she said with a wicked smile.

The waiter arrived with the bill, but Mary held out a hand, to take it, as she added, "Oh, and this dinner is on me, John, you did win the bet. You may pay for our second date."

She gave the waiter a zCard and he handed it back a moment later.

With that, she turned to me and curtsied in her amazing dress. That reminded me of our dance. Then she turned and departed, in a swirl of her dress skirts, leaving me alone on the island, which is, now, docked back in the alcove with the small bridge.

I sat back down, considering my good luck. I wonder if I'd gave something away so that she knew I couldn't afford to pay, but I don't know, for sure. I sat there, contemplating the evening with my Pirate date. I recalled her face when she'd taken a drink, so I reached across the table and picked up her unfinished Mind Blush. As I took a sip, I recalled my dance with Mary. Pleasure spread through my mind and I don't think it all came from the drink. Maybe I should have taken her up on her implied invitation to her Ship, and bed, but it is too late now, by this time she is on her way back to her Ship in the limo.

That's when Loki broke in on my fond moment and said, Sir, I have Dragoon communication traffic on the Flash net, they are closing in on a fugitive. I believe that fugitive could be you.

"Why do you think that?"

Well, Sir, The Grotto was mentioned in one Flash.

"Sweet Norman Bates, can I get out the front?"

Loki answered a moment later; The Dragoons have arrived at the entrance... they shot the Maître d'. Sir, I suggest you pick an alternate exit, immediately.

I ran out onto the water, going toward the vine curtain which is now closed. I pulled it aside and then ran out onto the lake. I startled several dancers as I ran, at full speed, across the calm water, each foot in my running path leaving one of those small, circular, expanding ripples on the lake.

Behind me, I heard the hiss of disruptor fire and then the screams of Puppets as they were zonked. In true form, the Dragoons are not bothering to figure out who is guilty; they are just zonking everyone they see and running a trace on every Disconnect.

When you are zonked, this copy of your mind returns to your body, kind of 'updating' the original copy with your recent experiences. In the case of a Puppet, this is a simple Disconnect from the Zcerebral servers. These are logged and soon discarded. However, if you are zonked, while a copy of your mind is illegally in the Zones, and a tracking routine is running in the area, from a Dragoon paddy wagon, they can trace you back to your real body. At that point, the Zombies, on Earth, will close in on your body, immediately.

A zonk here, right now, with the Dragoons monitoring, will lead to the loss of my real body on Earth.

So, I ran, literally, for my real life.

I got near the far edge of the lake and spoke to Loki, "I need a way out of here!"

Sir, I believe there is a service door behind the vines to your right, Loki calmly answered.

I veered to my right and burst through the trees, fireflies scattering every which way. I quickly pulled vines aside until I discovered the exit door and then burst out. I found myself in a dark hall, which turns right and, after one more turn, it led me into a more brightly lit area.

This is the 'kitchen', where routines are accessed and imaginary food, and other elements, are created from a library of routines and then picked up for delivery by waiters.

Ahead, I see a corridor which ends at another door. Partway down the corridor, a Dragoon is standing in a doorway, obviously taking a look into the room.

The Dragoon is like the others of his ilk, their Puppets all look the same, except for rank insignia. Here, in this Zone, they are a cross between a Nazi soldier and a gargoyle. They wear a Zcerebral Dragoon uniform, seemingly made of thick, dark blue, wool, with broad lapels, vertical pockets, large brass buttons, in two rows, and a double-breasted front, with lapels on the shoulders, showing a number of gold stars or bars to display their rank. This Dragoon is a single bar thug, the lowest level of Dragoon. On his breast, I can see the zPol logo, a winged skull.

I ducked to the side, before the Dragoon spotted me, and waited, picking up a large silver serving tray.

The Dragoon walked past, a short disruptor rifle held in front of him. I brought the tray edge down, hard, onto his forearms, and the impact caused him to drop his disruptor.

Then I smacked the flat of the tray into his face.

He staggered back from the blows to his arm and face, while I scooped up his disruptor from the floor. I leveled it at him and fired the gun into his chest. He, instantly, zonked as his Puppet disintegrated, painfully, assuming his threshold had been set high, as they normally are for Dragoons.

I ran to the door and burst out into the night.

Two more Dragoons stood waiting, outside. Fortunately, they were not alert. One of their squad had just gone in this door, so they weren't expecting their quarry to burst out a moment later. I used the disruptor on both of them before they could bring their own weapons to bear. In this Zone, it is quite easy to zonk someone, the rules allow for energy weapons, like the disintegrating disruptor beam.

Then I ran, taking a sidewalk up the street to a busier area. I deposited my stolen gun in a bush. There are some taxis, but I don't dare get in one, the Dragoons will be monitoring anyone getting into a taxi for a few blocks around the crime scene.

I melded into the crowd and worked myself, as quickly as possible, away from the area. I am worried that they may soon broaden their search area and starts sweeps out in the streets. Then I had an idea; I waited until I saw a person hail a cab and start to get inside. I had to time things just right, so that they keyed in their destination before I opened the other door. I watched through the window and then yanked open the skimmer door, right before it got underway. I put a huge smile on my face and, in my tuxedo, I look the part as I exclaimed, "Congratulation! You are our winner!"

The girl in the cab looked at me blankly. Her Puppet is a supermodel, at least in build, very tall and too thin, with big eyes, a tiny nose, and straight short blonde hair.

I continued, "I'm from the Taxi Games and you have just won fifty zHours for being our one millionth user!"

At my intrusion, she started to look annoyed, but, at the mention of the free zHours, she suddenly smiled and asked, "Really? How do I collect the time?"

"That's easy! All you have to do is answer three simple questions, if you get them right, you get the zTime transferred, instantly! You can play the game on your way to your destination!"

I got in and said, "Go ahead and start the cab."

She punched the 'Go' button and off we went. The cab will now show her as the sole occupant since it checked at the point where you punch in a destination.

I don't give a damn where it is going, as long as it heads away from this area. To the girl, I said, "The first question is, what is your favorite cab color?" This is a simple question since all the cabs are yellow.

"Blue," she said, brightly, and I realize she has an I.Q. about the size of her waist, in inches.

"Correct!" I exclaimed, and she clapped her hands.

I made a little small talk, pretending to interview her, to waste some time, and then asked my second fake question, "Second question: how often do you use the Brelton Cab Service?" I made up the 'Brelton' part.

"Oh, two or three times a day, while I'm in this Zone," she answered.

"That is an excellent answer, once a day is our minimum!"

I talked her up some more and when I noticed that we are a half kilometer from our destination and closing fast, I said, "And now, for the final and most important question, who owns the Brelton Cab Service? This is critical, so take your time."

She fretted for a moment, biting at her long nails, and then answered, "Ah... Mr. Brelton?"

I looked very disappointed, "Oh, I'm so sorry, but that is incorrect, it is owned by Zcerebral Inc."

"Oh! I knew that! Don't they own most of the Zones?" she asked, as the cab stopped and we both got out.

"Dear, they own ALL of the Zones. Better luck tomorrow!" I said and waved as I walked away.

# Chapter zEight – Hyperborea

I now have a few hours to kill and several things to accomplish; first, I want to see if I can track down Ellie, she had mentioned a Zone called Pandora. Now that I think about it, I remember the Cameron movies which took place on that world and I think I have been there. I recall a striped blue girl, very tall, with a tail. Her face had been alien, but it had a flavor of that small girl, Ellie.

In addition, I need to locate either of my missing Ships in the Zones. I will also need to see to my real body, in a few hours. And, one more thing for my mental list, I need to procure more zTime; my little episode of nearly running my zTime negative shows that I am in serious financial trouble.

In fact, with the time I have left with my body in the Pleasure Den, and the extremely short funds at my disposal, I figure, I better think about the last item first.

So, my options: steal, earn or win zTime. Well, earning will take too long, which leaves stealing or winning. I've had enough of the Dragoons, for one evening, so that leaves winning. I doubt I'm going to win a lottery, so I guess a more direct form of gambling is my only choice.

Let's see, I can try a casino, but starting with about forty zHours is not much of a stake. I guess I am going to have to hustle someone.

To hustle, you have to be really good at something, then find someone who is worse at it than you, then convince them they are better. So, what am I good at? Well, I've established that I can sculpt code, but, I'm pretty sure, that is not going to be something I can hustle.

What else? Well, I survived Deathworld, admittedly, using some tricks, but I seem to have a knack for survival. Maybe a 'last man standing' wager?

I hailed another taxi and asked the Zim driver to take me to a bar, something seedy and dark. Bars, like this, exist in every city, even a Zone city; there are always people who prefer to slink around, beneath the eyes of the law, where their fun can have a raw edge to it.

Upon entering the bar, I can see it is the right kind of place, there are no windows and the clientele is mostly men. Any women present either works here, as waitresses, or is very 'tough' looking, by choice, of course.

In the Zones, every girl can look pretty, or a man handsome, so, to stand out, some people choose a different look. For some, this means making themselves ugly, or just odd, in some fashion.

Like some kind of requirement, for a place like this, it has the smell of stale beer and a haze of smoke. A few people are playing pool and most are drinking beer.

I walked to the center of the bar, turned and spoke loudly, "Damn, I'm bored. Are there any real men here, with balls?"

One of those 'tough' looking women glanced over at me, disdainfully, and replied, "Even I have bigger balls than an idiot like you."

"Oh? Put your money where your mouth is; I've got thirty zHours that say I can be the last survivor of the danger of your choice."

She sauntered over and I realized that she is a big woman and I don't mean fat. She reminded me of some weightlifter out of the old Olympics, and she is obviously butch.

"Really, little man?" she answered and I noticed, as she came closer, that she towered over me; this is a really big woman. "Then how about we take a trip to the Howard Zone? First one to steal the Snake God's eye, from a temple in Hyperborea. and gets out alive, wins."

Hyperborea? I thought to Loki.

Loki answered, Sir, that would be the place where that muscle-bound actor, Arnold, who started as a weightlifter and later became a state governor in the old U.S.A., played the lead role in the first couple flat movie adaptations of Howard's most famous barbarian character. There are many books and several additional movies which took place in Hyperborea, all Swords and Sorcery stuff, originally written by a man named Robert Howard, though later other authors also took up the barbarian character's story, set in that same world.

Yeah, I recall it now, and that big barbarian dude, I answered. So, will I run into that character in Hyperborea?

Unlikely, Sir, though Hyperborea is a region in those original stories.

Aloud I said, "I'll take you on, if there are at least ten of us, winner takes all!"

"If there are at least ten? You're just trying to chicken out now," the woman declared.

"Maybe, but you'll never know, since I doubt you can find eight other fools, in this sad bar, brave enough, to face me," I answered, loudly.

A muscle-bound, hulk of a man, spoke up, "Oh really? I'll join the pot, thirty zHours you said?" Then he turned to the rest of the bar and called out, "This little newbie thinks we don't have it in us for a battle wager."

Soon, eight more big guys all put up their thirty zHours and we had our ten contestants. Now, all I have to do is win.

The woman, whose name turns out to be Agnes, laughed, "Now you're in for it, Sweetie. I can't WAIT to put a sword through your belly."

"Hey, who said anything about trying to zonk each other, aren't the Zim guards enough?" I declared.

"No backing out now, you little shit, this is PVP," Bart, a blond monster of a man, noted with a deep laugh.

Of course, he meant 'Puppet vs. Puppet', but in my case, it will be Puppet vs. Paragon.

A taller guy, with a big white grin, who I nicknamed, 'Toothy' added, "Come on, this will be amusing and I have a lot of things I want to buy with 300 zHours! Let's catch a transport to Hyperborea!"

So, off our little group of wannabe warriors went, headed for the Space Port. I hope I can wrap this up and be back by morning to meet Mary Read.

I started making plans; I have to improve my odds. Fighting each of these brutes, or perhaps several at once is not the way to get the odds in your favor. If you assume you have an equal chance of beating each one in a fair fight, trying to win would be like flipping a coin nine times and hoping it comes up heads nine in a row, which is extremely unlikely, in fact, I know that would be 1 out of 512 tries. Those are bad odds.

We boarded a transport ship, headed for Hyperborea. Transports are, fortunately, 'free' in the Zones, meaning, your regular zHour payment covers them, already. The transport ship is a big space liner, able to carry about fifty passengers.

A few more puppets joined us, onboard, then the ship lifted off and headed for deep zSpace.

The Zone change took place as we crossed the border from zSpace into the Howard Zone. When you cross a Zone border, there is no long transition; the change is almost instantaneous. The rules for the Howard Zone took hold and everything changed. Technology, in this Zone, is at a fantasy level, that of Howard's Swords and Sorcery universe. There are no spaceships here, so our ship changed to something which fits the rule set. It became a transport sailing vessel, plying the great oceans of Hyperborea. Instead of standing in an airtight cabin of a spaceship, in orbit, we all, suddenly, stood on the open deck of an old wooden sailing ship, cresting over the swells of an ocean.

Looking up, I can see tall masts, where billowing cream-colored sails are filled with the ocean breeze, a blue sky above. In the distance, I can see a shoreline and a large fantasy seaport.

Even our clothes changed to fit the costumes of this Zone. I am now dressed in leather pants, which tuck down into knee-high boots. I have on a cotton shirt, with billowing sleeves, and I have a wide leather band going from my left shoulder to my right hip.

Agnes gave me a big, vicious grin as she turned to our group and said, "Ten minutes after we leave the Transport ship and enter the city, it's everyone for themselves! First one to get back to the Transport ship, with the Snake God's eye, wins! Once on the ship, you're safe, if you're zonked before that, you're OUT! Other than what I just said, there are no other rules! As you know, the winner picks up their winnings from the bartender, back at the bar where we made the wager and deposited the zHours."

The men nodded and I noticed some wicked grins displayed, plus a few blood-thirsty looks in my direction.

The Zim Captain of the Transport came to our group and stated, "There are weapons and other equipment below decks for those who wish to outfit themselves for an adventure."

So, down we all went to get armed to the teeth and pick up some other stuff, like ropes and grappling hooks, that kind of thing. We armed ourselves with anything we thought we might need to break into a cult's headquarters and steal their Serpent God's eye and then fight our way out.

Of course, the more you weighed yourself down with equipment, the harder it would be to move, climb, run, fight, etc. It is all a calculated risk and we all decided on various mixes of weapons, armor, and equipment.

I opted for a lighter load, just a rapier, a couple throwing daggers, a thin rope, and a small grappling hook. I put on a leather armor vest and two vambraces on my forearms, but nothing else. I chose an over the shoulder sheath, so I can climb, without the sword getting in my way.

Some of the big bruisers, in our group, put on a lot of metal armor and took a bastard or broadsword. One guy even took a kite shield. They are going to be hard to zonk, but their heavy gear will also slow them down, like an overweight tank.

The port is busy with fishing vessels, a few warships, and lots of small boat traffic. We docked at a spot on the main quay and the Zim crew soon had our ship lashed to the pilings.

Agnes called out, "The clock starts now, ten minutes of safe time and then the gloves are off!"

I jumped down to the dock immediately and ran off into the city, leaving my compatriots behind. They thought I was trying to beat them to the eye, but, actually, I headed straight for a tall building, near the port.

I swarmed up to the roof and then watched my companions from this vantage point. Six of the contestants headed straight for a tall tower, which has a snakehead symbol near the top; no doubt, that is the temple of the Snake God.

However, as I expected, three of them stayed back. I watched them talk, and then take up hidden positions at the entrance to the docks, where anyone returning, with the loot, would have to pass by.

I figured a few would form a cabal, agreeing to split the winnings after taking it from one of us loners.

Technically, they aren't breaking any rules, since there are few rules to break. I noted their positions and then followed the other six, as they passed my building, headed for the Snake God Tower. I stayed above them on the close-packed roofs.

I noticed two men sticking together, so there is a second team, though this one seems bent on stealing the eye. That left Agnes, Bart (the big blonde), Toothy, and the fourth loner. He has dark eyes and hair, so I dubbed him, Shadow. He is the one who worries me the most; he had not spoken brashly, nor did he overload himself with armor and weapons. He also seemed very focused and sure of himself.

Once I got near the tower, I stopped on another roof and watched what transpired. The two-man team stopped to confer, hiding among the booths in a bazaar, near the entrance to the tower.

Agnes went into a shop, while Toothy headed around to the east side of the tower. Shadow went around the west, by himself.

I noticed Bart casing the scene from a distance. Since I am most concerned with Shadow, I slipped around the roofs until I could see where he went and what he is up to.

He climbed up a wall, quite skillfully, and got close to a small balcony. Shadow glanced around but didn't see me, or anyone, looking, then he used a grappling hook and rope to ascend to the balcony and soon went inside.

I slipped back around to the front, just in time to see the two-man team try a frontal assault on the Temple Guards. These are all Zims, but that doesn't make them any less deadly fighters. The alarm sounded and reinforcements arrived to stop the attack. The two Puppets fought the Zims, valiantly, and managed to dispatch quite a few, but then, one of them got hit by two arrows and, almost immediately, the other one was run through with a sword. Both Puppet bodies toppled, realistically, to the ground, bleeding out, as their Teers zonked out of the Zones.

"Two down, seven to go," I muttered, smugly.

I slipped around to the east side and tried to spot what Toothy is up to, but I couldn't see any sign of him. I did notice an open window and the climb up there wouldn't be impossible.

So, I went back to the west side and availed myself of Shadow's rope, which he had left there for his escape. Once I got to the top, I took out one of my knives and sawed part way through the rope, on the underside, below the rail, where he wouldn't see my handiwork.

Then I slipped into the halls of the Temple.

My main strategy is simple, stay out of fights and out of sight. I'd stirred these Teers up, quite a bit, and, I believe, any one of them, with the possible exception of Shadow, will go out of their way to zonk me.

My objective is to have them zonk each other, which will improve the odds of me winning. I also intend to lend fate a helping hand.

I took my time and kept to the shadows. Eventually, I found a room with a Zim priest inside, alone. I slipped in and knocked him over the head with a vase and then put his priest robe on over my clothes. To make my costume work, I have to leave my rapier. I hid it behind a door, though I still have my daggers.

My disguise should allow me to move more freely through the Temple. This immediately turned out to be a good idea when I ran into a squad of temple acolytes. They are all armed to the teeth and headed downstairs, toward the commotion of the recent frontal assault. They ran right past me.

After wandering around a little, I finally located their central worship hall. It is kind of obvious, due to the massive snake statue and its bared fangs, which towers above the assemblage; the snake is, obviously, their chosen god.

The snake god is a Cyclops, with just one giant red eye in the middle. The snake's 'eye' is actually a giant red ruby, about six inches across. Nice. This big jewel is also our goal for the wager.

So, how are any of us going to get the eye? Quite a few priests are standing around the chamber, probably too many to fight, certainly alone. Not that some crazy adventurer might not try it, thinking they are as good as the barbarian for whom this world was originally fashioned.

I have no such illusions.

That's when I noticed a rope dangling down from high above. I looked and spotted Toothy; he is climbing across the ornate ceiling, kind of spider-like, trying to position himself above the snakehead.

I can't believe the audaciousness of the man, he is trying to steal the eye, right in front of the priests below. I almost let him, just to see him do it.

I say, 'almost', because right as he got about five feet above the snake's head, yet while still dangling from his rope, I suddenly pointed and yelled, "Blasphemer in the Temple!"

He looked down, in shock, at my loud outcry, and spotted me pointing. I saw a scowl of hatred, but then he became too busy to worry about me. He tried to, quickly, slide down his rope. The temple guards pulled out bows and, as fast as you can say, 'Pincushion', he had six arrows in him. His, now zonked, Puppet body fell to the altar below, landing in the snake coils and making a sickening 'crunch/splat' sound on impact.

Three down, six to go.

The priests, and most of the guards ran over to the body. While this is going on, I noticed something odd about one of them, he seems much larger than the rest. If you aren't really studying people, you might have missed it.

I got a look at her face and recognized Agnes. She is attempting to get to the eye in disguise, using a priest robe, just like me. She must have purchased a robe at that shop and slipped in the front door, during the commotion of the two boneheads getting zonked.

I wonder how she is going to try to reach the eye, but then I watched her take a seat, back near the exit. I figure her plan is to waylay the eventual thief and take the eye.

It is at this moment that I saw Shadow's leap. While the priests are still busy with the body, below, he used their moment of distraction to make his attempt. He landed with his feet in the open mouth of the snake and his right arm holding on over the top of its snout. He deftly yanked a dagger out and pried the eye out of the socket.

Agnes spotted him, but she didn't send up the alarm, I think she wants him to get the eye. I watched her look around and note the likely exit Shadow will use to escape. Then she got up and headed out a door, obviously moving to put herself in a position to ambush Shadow.

I went to the nearest group of guards and said, "Guards! A woman is masquerading as a priest, she went down that hall!" I said, pointing to where Agnes had gone.

They looked at each other for a split second, but then I added, "She plans to steal the eye!"

That got them moving; they are specifically programmed to guard the eye of this snake statue.

I started to follow them, but I glanced up at the statue, just in time, to see Shadow pocket the eye and slide down the back of the snake. He landed, behind it, and quickly darted out a side door.

I ran after the guards and arrived, just as Shadow and Agnes squared off. She is armed with a wicked looking short sword and has Shadow backing into a corner.

I pointed and said, "There is the girl, posing as a priest!"

The temple guards closed in on the big girl.

Agnes had no choice except to turn and defend herself, which is when she spotted me behind the guards, "YOU!" she screamed, realizing I am responsible for the guards discovering her ruse.

Behind her, I spotted Shadow as he ran out a side door, no doubt, headed for his escape route.

The guards attacked Agnes and she hacked two down before the others zonked the fierce woman.

I ran down a different hall, toward the balcony where I had entered. I, briefly, stopped to pick up my rapier from where I'd stashed it, earlier.

I came into the room with the balcony, just in time to see Shadow slip over the railing. He saw me arrive, saluted jauntily, and then leaped backward so he could rappel down the side of the building.

Unfortunately, for Shadow, the rope I had cut, part way through, earlier, now parted. A look of horror came over Shadow's face as he fell the fifty feet to the hard stones below.

I took out my own rope, attached it to the railing, and slid down to his zonked Puppet body. I reached down to take the jewel out of his pocket and heard Bart's voice from behind me.

"I thought that rope looked suspicious."

Damn, I thought and turned, pulling my rapier, all in one motion.

Bart wore a light mail shirt and he is armed with a curved saber; a stouter blade than my rapier.

"So, you thought you were going to pick his pocket and skate out of here?" he noted, with a big grin. He approached me with his blade ready to strike.

I wonder if I know how to fence?

Then he attacked and I found that, not only do I know what to do with a long pointy thing, I am very good with a sword.

His attack was not very coordinated, more of a hack than a thrust or cut. I simply stepped to the side, letting it pass by, then extended my rapier's point and pierced his arm.

Blood appeared and Bart leaped back, scowling.

"And you just thought you would lay in wait and hack me to pieces?" I replied, just as smugly.

"Something like that," he said, more concerned now, and wincing a little at the pain from his Puppet's wounded arm.

He approached a little more cautiously, this time since he learned that I know what I am doing with a sword.

He lunged forward this time, instead of hacking, so I parried it to the side and made a riposte, which he avoided by leaping backward.

"You're not going to win," he stated, "I'm going to hack off your head and mount it on my helmet!" I noticed that his helm does have a spike on top.

"Possibly, but first, you have to catch me," I exclaimed.

He leaped forward, faking a slash, however, it was only an attempt to lure me into another thrust so that I would come into range. Instead, I stepped back, while pulling a throwing knife with my other hand.

I launched the dagger at him before he even knew I'd drawn the smaller blade. The dagger hit him in the chest and he staggered back, dropping his saber and grabbing the hilt of the knife. He looked up in shock, "We were fencing!" he exclaimed, accusingly.

"No, we were fighting," I noted, then added, "No rules, remember?"

Then Bart's Puppet collapsed to his knees and tumbled sideways, zonking. His mind awakening in his body, somewhere on Earth.

"Adieu," I said, saluting his Puppet corpse with my rapier, before grabbing the eye gem from Shadow's body and stowing it in my vest pocket.

Six down, three to go.

However, I have no intention of fighting, three against one, with the waiting cabal. Instead, I slipped around the city to the east and eventually made my way to the port.

I am some distance away from our ship, or the dock, where the three ambushers are waiting. I just borrowed a small boat and rowed around, the long way, arriving at our ship from the water side. I climbed up onto the deck, found the Zim captain, and asked him to shove off and take me back to the spaceport in the Harrison Zone. Once the Zim crew cast off the ropes, and the boat drifted far enough, away from the dock, I went to the bow of our transport ship and yelled, "Olly, Olly oxen free!"

It took a moment but, finally, one of the three concealed men poked his head out from where he had been hidden and looked my way. I waved the red gem at him and laughed.

He cursed and then called to his companions. They came out and headed for the ship, but they are too late. According to the rules, we'd all agreed on, I am safe once back on the ship. However, I have no intention of letting them zonk me, just because they are angry at losing.

I waved at them and called, "See you back at the bar! Catch another transport!"

I have won, but winning a bar bet and collecting it, safely, are not the same thing.

When I got to the bar, a few of the contestants were already there, including Shadow, Toothy, Agnes, and Bart. They are waiting to see who wins. I came in and they scowled, but when I didn't try to claim the reward, they relaxed. "So, who zonked you?"

I just shrugged and then said, "Three of them were working together, waiting to ambush any of us who tried to get back to the boat."

Agnes laughed and said, "I hate to lose, but as long as you didn't win, well, I feel like a winner, anyway!"

I went to the bar and ordered a beer and then sat on a barstool and drank a few sips. Soon, the others ignored me and started watching the front door to welcome the winners. When the door opened, and their attention went off me, I signaled the barkeep. I showed him the eye, briefly, and gave him my zTime card. He transferred the winnings to my anonymous account.

I had just gone out the back door when I heard the roar inside the bar as they learned the truth, that I had won. I ran off into the night, grinning.

# Chapter zNine – Hollywood

I still have six hours before I am supposed to meet Mary at the spaceport and my body has been in the Pleasure Den for nearly eight hours, so it is time to return. Fortunately, now that I am IN the Zones I can exit and return without a Ship. In essence, I am tunneled in now and can depart, because my Steward program can handle my Paragon body while I am gone.

Too bad that doesn't work with my real body. Generally, Hackers and Pirates return to their Green Room, at times, to repair damaged code, due to conflicts with the Dragoons, or to improve or add to their Ship. However, once in the Zones, I can now exit and return without a Ship, until I leave the Zones in a Ship, or I am zonked.

I left Loki in charge of my Paragon, hanging around in one of the entertainment areas of the city; these places party 24 hours a day. At my request, Loki will downlink my mind back into my body.

Transferring your mind back to your real body is only dangerous if there happens to be a Dragoon Paddy wagon nearby, running traces on every Disconnect. This is statistically improbable, there is just too much ground to cover in all the myriad Zones. While my mind is absent, Loki will move my Paragon around, acting as if I am out having fun hopefully keeping my Paragon safe for as long as I am away in the real world.

Time in the Zones is not one for one with the real world. Zones use perceived time, not real time. When you earn zTime you are paid for an hour of real time, but that hour can seem like much longer in the Zones. This is one reason that the four hours you are allowed to spend in the Zones are enough each day. Those four hours can seem to take up to forty hours in here. I say 'can' because time is not a fixed element here, it can flow at various speeds depending on the Zones, but it is always equal to or longer than real time.

I know, confusing, but Teers can summon up a clock which always shows them how much Zone time they have left and at what rate it is flowing. This is easier than you might expect, the top line of your clock shows how many real hours you have already used, the middle line shows how many virtual hours you have been in the Zones, and the bottom line displays how many perceived hours you have left, in your current Zone. If the top time display reaches four hours, you exit the Zones, automatically. The only difference, for me, being a Pirate, is that I will not be kicked out of the Zones if the real zHours clock reaches four.

However, I can still use this clock to gauge how many hours I've been away from my real body. Like, right now, it has been a few real hours, but my perceptions tell me it is has been much longer. The middle clock shows me just how many hours I have perceived being in various Zones.

I gave Loki the command to return my copied mind to my body and I felt myself go down the funnel. It is kind of like that, everything around me seemed to pull to one point and then I swirled down into darkness. A moment later, I opened my eyes in a dim room, looking up at the bottom of the cot above me; this is getting to be a habit.

The first thing I noticed is that my face is in less pain. I reached up and felt some scabs. I must look terrible, but I am through the worst of the destructive portion of my face alteration.

I heard two people above me talking, they must have run out of zMinutes to buy more pleasure and haven't been thrown out yet. One of them has a kind of gruff voice and the other is higher pitched. I'll call them Gruff and Squeaky.

Gruff said, "I'm sick and tired of zPol sticking their nose into our business everywhere. One of their Zombie squads took Fred the other day, right out of his cubby. They just burst in and grabbed him; it ain't right! All he'd done was stop at a bar in the Zones, while he was still logged in at his Zone job. He just wanted a goddamned zDrink."

Squeaky, in the bunk two above me, replied, "I'm sick of it all, too, life is only worth living when you're in the Zones and, since the four-hour limit, it means we're stuck in this hell hole the other twenty hours. Even these pleasure dens are hardly any escape! Once I spend my four zHours on the Zones, I only have four left to spend on food, lodging, and other crap, that barely leaves a half hour at a Pleasure Den and then I'm broke again."

"It sucks," Gruff agreed. "I've been thinking about taking the Elevator."

Squeaky sounded surprised, "You want to go through The Hole?"

"Maybe," Gruff kind of grunted.

"But, then you couldn't use the Zones anymore," Squeaky exclaimed, in horror.

"I hear they set up a new Zone server system on New Earth."

Squeaky sounded surprised, "Really?"

"Yeah, and they let you log in twice a day, in two four-hour stints."

"No shit!"

Gruff added, "And, just for signing up, they give you 500 zHours to spend, before you leave, and then you get off this hell hole and have the adventure of a brand-new planet, unspoiled. They say there are only a few million people on the entire planet, at this point, and you get more time in the new Zones."

"Crap, I'm up for that! What's the downside?"

Gruff paused, "Well, for now, it's a one-way trip. If you don't like it or miss your family or friends back here, you can't return. At least, until they figure out how to get that wormhole thing to work the other direction, if they ever do."

"I don't care, no offense, but I don't have any friends that I'd miss and my family abandoned me long ago," Squeaky noted.

"No offense taken, though I might see you on New Earth if we both went."

Squeaky replied, "That's true!"

I considered what they are saying and remembered some things. A wormhole entrance had been discovered, not too far from Earth, barely further than the Moon. Scientists are still trying to figure out why it moves relative to the Earth's orbit, but no theories have been widely accepted, yet.

After much experimentation, they sent a probe through, but it was lost. Our scientists figured that it might have made it through, but the probe had no way of transmitting back through the wormhole. Eventually, they created a plan to use shared quantum entanglement as a communications system. This involved entangling two atoms, one on Earth and one on a probe, which instantly does what the other is doing, though in the opposite direction. This allows, a kind of, instant communication. Information could now be sent via a code.

How they solved the issue of forcing one to a specific state without un-entangling the atoms, I have no idea. They claim that it works, and it does allow them to communicate through the wormhole. They told the public it uses a kind of computerized 'Morse Code', though I'm sure they are dumbing that explanation down, significantly, for the media.

After they sent another probe through, they sent a command telling the probe to come back through the wormhole, but we lost the probe again. The scientists concluded that it is a one-way trip; nothing can come back through the wormhole, in the opposite direction.

Then, a few months later, a new probe sent back an amazing discovery, this probe reported the discovery of an Earth-like planet orbiting the new sun. And, just like here, the wormhole end follows that planet.

The odds of this are, well, astronomical, but as some physicists pointed out; just because the odds of something happening are long, doesn't mean it won't happen, it only means it is rare.

Up until they discovered this Wormhole, the concept of a Wormhole was only theorized as a hypothesis. The idea is that space-time isn't flat and there are 'shortcuts' through four-dimensional space.

Simplistically, imagine that space is a blanket and it has folds in it. Where folds bring it close to another part of the blanket you could get an Einstein-Rosen Bridge.

This is not how that really works, but it's good enough to give you a rudimentary picture of something which we can't possibly picture. The idea is that there is a tunnel between points in space and, if you take that tunnel, you get there MUCH faster than traveling through normal space.

It shocked, damn near, everyone, when we actually found one, but it wasn't the first time we found something that was, originally, predicted by math, Black Holes were once only a theory as well.

These days, we just call it, The Hole, since we've only found one.

The planet we found is teeming with alien life, all carbon-based, and not all that different from Earth life. Sure, there aren't the same kind of animals, fish, or birds, but there are similar things, edible by man. It turns out that, like most things, the cosmos is somewhat consistent in its diversity. We find gas giants and rocky planets with iron cores, like Earth, around many suns. When a planet has similar circumstances to Earth, given enough time, carbon life develops. The diversity of that life is astounding, even on Earth there have been millions of varieties, yet they are still all carbon-based life.

Of course, we wanted to explore this New Earth. After many probes, along with the inevitable monkey test animal, sent through first, a group of brave human volunteers were outfitted and sent on a one-way trip to establish a human outpost. They were successful and we kept sending them additional supplies. New Earth turns out to be a paradise.

Communications, using the Quantum Entanglement radio, or Q.E. Radio, as we call it, are limited, though there is hope that this can be improved over time.

Zcerebral started a massive campaign to settle New Earth, but they found it far too expensive to keep sending payloads up to the Wormhole via a rocket. Each pound we lift costs three zMonths! So, we resurrected an old idea, a space elevator.

A honeycomb structure of nanoribbon was designed and constructed. This tether was stretched from a location on the equator all the way up beyond geostationary orbit, a little more than 38,000 kilometers. This connects to the newly constructed Worm Hole Space Station, but most people just call it The Station.

They constructed The Station at the top end of the ribbon in space and built a spaceport at the bottom end on Earth. The ribbon is strong enough to support ten elevator cars, at once, as long as they are spaced out somewhat to distribute the load. Once this worked, they added two more ribbons in a triangle pattern.

Each day, the ten cars, on each ribbon, make their way up their ribbon to the space station, taking about five hours to get there. The cars leave every five minutes, so forty-five minutes after the first car leaves, the last car heads for the space station. The same is true of sending the cars back down. This means a payload of up to 6,000 pounds, per car, can be lifted into space, twice a day. With three ribbons running, that means 360,000 pounds of people and cargo reach the space station, per day.

This is a stunning amount.

It also means, if they choose, Zcerebral can send around 1800 people, every day, though that number is slightly less since they send up a simple, light, launch container as well.

From the space station's orbiting altitude, it is easy to launch a container out into space, since anything released from the station is already moving at Earth Escape Velocity.

They created a delivery system, which can launch these containers of people, or goods, to the Wormhole junction. When a container arrives, it falls through the wormhole, and is then 'caught' by a system on the other end.

And so, at last, man has colonized another world, New Earth.

But, it is a one-way trip. At first there were quite a few volunteers, but eventually, that slowed, so in order to get people to go, Zcerebral started offering incentives. You get 500 zHours, for free, which lets you live like a king, for a few months, and then, when your zHours are used up, you take your trip to New Earth.

They warn people that it is a one-way trip and that no one, on this end, will ever see you again. Once you make the choice and sign up, you have to pass a physical and be accepted into the program. When accepted, you are put through special training in a Zone designed to teach you what you need to know.

Due to the difficulty in sending back information through the Q.E. radio, you cannot even send messages to loved ones, though the monthly colony reports often mention how the colonists are doing.

So, nowadays, when people reach the end of their rope, they take the Elevators to New Earth.

I tuned out Gruff and Squeaky while I considered my options. I could grab a bite to eat and then do another eight-hour stint in this, or another, Pleasure Den, but that doesn't appeal to me. I need answers.

The attack of the Dragoons shows just how intensely zPol is looking for me, using Zombies on Earth and Dragoons in the Zones. They will find me, too, eventually. I need to find out why they are hunting me and then I have to do something about covering my tracks.

First, I need to find out if my brain scan has been altered, or if they are looking for me for some other reason. I could just go to any scanner to take a look, but that would alert the Zombies, and, once they capture me, my body will be donated. However, if I can find a stand-alone scanner, and get a scan of my patterns, without it being sent to zPol, I can compare the new scan with a previous scan.

Loki? I thought.

Yes, Sir? his reply came through immediately. We are still in communication through the Skey.

Is there an old scan of my brain waves on file, which you can access, without tripping any zPol alarms?"

Yes, Sir, I have it now. Would you like to see it?

Not yet, I'll get back to you.

Of course, Sir.

OK, now I need a fresh scan. If they turn out to be different, I will know two things, I have used brain goop to change my brain, for some reason, and I will need to figure out some way of getting that new brain pattern registered with zPol. If I manage that, I can move through society, without being tagged by every brain scanner in existence.

Why would I use brain goop? That is still a good question. Generally, people do it to get smarter, but, if I am a famous code sculptor, doesn't it follow that I am, already, pretty smart? Why would I need to become even smarter and why would I take the risk of a Body Donation to do so? I have no idea. Before speculating any further, I think I should confirm that I have actually had my brain altered.

After thinking, for a moment, I decided to brave yet another hospital. They will have portable scanners there and I can disconnect it from the Satweb before I run the scan. That sounds easy enough, but as you know, nothing is ever easy.

I need a fairly small place, perhaps a free clinic. There should be a few of these around this poor part of town. These places are always underfunded, and therefore, understaffed.

Before leaving the Pleasure Den, I asking the attendant about a clinic. He pointed me in the right direction and off I went.

The place turns out to be located in a rundown building, a block away. A line of six wretches are waiting out front. I joined the line and waited with them. When my turn arrived, I told them that I had a face smear and just want a checkup. A nurse showed me into a small room. It is old, yet clean enough, with a stainless-steel table and a couple chairs. There is very little else in the room.

As soon as the nurse left me in the room, waiting on the 'doctor', who is, most likely, barely more than a nurse, in a place like this, I opened the door a crack and checked to see if the coast is clear. Then I went into the empty hallway and tried a few doors. The first one has a patient inside, so I just said, "The doctor will be along soon."

They nodded, dully. I closed the door and moved on. The third door opened to a room with some basic equipment and, Eureka, one of them is a brain scanner! These days, this is as common as a blood pressure machine, from years ago.

I, quickly, opened the case and found the wireless broadcast unit, which I switched off. This isolated the machine from the Satweb. Then, I activated the machine and stuck my head near the reader. It took my patterns, in moments, and displayed them on the screen.

OK, Loki, show me my old brain pattern, I commanded.

A moment later, hovering in space before me, I can see my recorded patterns. I looked at the screen on the machine and then at the hovering patterns and it is dead obvious, these are NOT the same brain patterns.

By Nathan Brazil's scrawny beard, I HAVE used brain goop. There is no other explanation. If I had another mind, controlling this body, via Remora device, like a zPol Zombie, then I wouldn't have any memories of my previous life, but I do. This mix of missing parts and some recall can only mean one thing, brain goop.

I quickly wiped my scan and reactivated the wireless module, then got out of the clinic.

Back out on the street, I considered my options. My brain pattern will set off every alarm in any public place which has a scanner. It is only a matter of time before that happens. I can avoid them, for awhile, if I am very careful, but, in the end, one will scan me, somewhere. I won't even know when it happens, the Zombies will just descend on me, like vultures on a dead carcass.

To survive, I have to get my new brain patterns registered at Zcerebral. Of course, I have NO idea how to accomplish this, but I do know one thing, everything is possible, it is only a matter of how difficult.

I need help, with my gooped brain, all splotchy and funky, I doubt I am working at full capacity. That brought a thought to my mind; if I have used brain goop to make myself smarter, shouldn't I BE smarter? Maybe I am.

I tried thinking of something difficult, like multiplying 2421 times 3052, which I instantly knew is 7388892. Well, that is pretty smart, but there are other math geniuses out there. What else? OK, how about Einstein's Theory of Relativity? I went through all the math, in a few seconds, yes, all of it, and noticed where Einstein made an error, missing the added parameter of acceleration on one of his more famous formulas. This small error allows objects, other than light, to go faster than light, given the right circumstances.

That isn't natural, I mean, I not only know all of Einstein's math, but I can see an error that few, if anyone, has seen before. OK, now that IS smart. So, I guess I must have upped the horsepower of my gray matter at the risk of losing everything. That wasn't all that smart unless there is a good reason why I had to take that chance, but I can't remember.

So, back to my problem, OK, I am smart, but I need data to work with and I just don't have enough. I don't know where brain patterns are stored, so inserting mine into the system is going to be difficult.

Newborns are added, all the time, maybe I can slip mine in as a new child? But, then a scan will show my age and my body won't match, unless I wait about eighteen years, in hiding.

OK, how about fooling the brain scanners into reading a pattern that isn't mine. This is, in essence, what my Paragon does in the Zones, but, on Earth, they read my patterns directly from my brain. I would have to cloak my real patterns and have some device, that mimics a human brain, sending out an alternate pattern. I'm really smart now, so maybe I can build something like that, given enough time and the resources of a lab. Where can I get a lab?

Then I remembered something Ellie had told me, I am a Professor; a professor of what?

Loki, what am I a professor of, in real life?

Sir, Dr. Thorten C. Hamilton is a Professor of Computer Science, at USC.

Thank you.

Well, there you have it. USC is a prestigious university in Southern California, not too far from Las Vegas. Of course, I'd be stupid to go to my lab there, zPol will be expecting me to show up, at some point.

On the other hand, I must have some friends there, maybe they can help? I could contact them and let them get me what I need, on campus. But, even though I wracked my brain, I cannot remember any friends from the school.

Loki, who are my friends at USC? I asked.

Well, Sir, your closest companion was your wife, Professor Bridget Hamilton.

MY WIFE! Am I married? I exclaimed, in shock. I, instantly, and guiltily, recalled the face of Mary Read as we'd danced.

I'm sorry to inform you, Sir, but your wife was pursued by zPol, and killed, six years, two months, and six days ago.

That made me pause. Now I have a motive for my brain goop. Maybe I am out for revenge on Zcerebral and I had been willing to risk anything to get smart enough to avenge the murder of my wife, at zPol's hands. But, the brain goop has backfired, for, among other things I am missing, I no longer remember my wife, nor do I have strong feelings of love for her, which I must have had to drive me toward my extreme need for revenge, even to the point of destruction.

I am still angry with zPol, but it is like anger at injustice, rather than emotional hurt.

Why was she killed? I asked Loki.

That is unknown, Sir. They never explained in detail, they only said that she was a danger to Zcerebral Inc. and therefore a traitor.

I see, I replied, while deep in thought. Who else do I know at the school?

Various professors, but I don't know of any you can trust, Sir. Of course, there is your grad student; I believe you and her were close?

Excellent, what is her name?

Ellie Deveron

And a piece fell right into place; Ellie is my grad student. She is the small girl who gave me the Skey at the hospital, the one who mentioned my 'game', whatever that means. Well, now I know how to find Ellie and I don't even have to go to the Cameron Zone. All I had to do is ask my Steward who she is; I just hadn't thought to do that since Loki joined me on my roller coaster ride.

I still have five hours until I need to meet the audacious Mary Read in the Zones and Los Angeles is only an hour away, at Mag Train speeds. Of course, I will have to avoid brain scanners, but that can be done if I am very careful.

I hailed a cab and had it take me to the nearest Mag Train station.

Once at the station I had to figure out how to get on board a train. The ticket purchase is done by getting on the train and then using a scanner at the door. The brain scanner identifies your brain pattern and then deducts the zTime from your account. After that, the gate opens, letting one person through.

I found some teenagers; even though you can't tell that by age, you can still figure it out by how they act. They are preparing to get on the train, but I stopped one and said, "Hey, I have a deal for you."

"What's that?" he asked, suspiciously, and he can't keep his eyes off my scabby face.

"I need to get on the train, without my wife tracking me if you get my meaning," I said. "If she notices a zTime charge for the Mag Train, well, she'll know where I went. I'm trying to leave her and start over; I even got a new face smear to change my looks."

He grinned, "Yeah, I see that."

"I'll transfer four zHours to you, right now, if you'll scan me in the gate." I held up my zTime card as proof. He grinned, four zHours is eight times the cost of the train ticket.

"Sure, let's do it!" he said.

I transferred four zHours to his account, which he verified, and then he just went to a car entrance, when no one else was near and did a quick scan. When the gate opened, he stepped aside to let me enter instead.

"Thanks!" I said, stepping through the gate, into the car.

He just grinned and said, "Don't get caught!"

He meant, by my wife, but if he had any idea who is really tracking me he'd be running for the hills.

The train is nearly silent as it races along at about 600 clicks per hour through the desert. We hit the city outskirts about the time we slowed for the Barstow Station and, from there on, we are in solid city streets, all the way to L.A.

I got off at Union Station and took a cab, from there, to the campus. Fortunately, cabs will take a zTime card.

I had the cab drop me at the Rose Garden, near the campus, and I contacted Loki. I want you to send a Flash to Ellie's zMail, anonymously, can you do that? I can't have it traced back to me, in any way.

No problem, Sir. I will route it through some public social media sites from a junk account.

Excellent. Now, my memory is foggy, so, can you recall where I met Ellie on some special occasion, like her birthday, last year?

Yes, Sir, you went to Pandora with her, to some tribal feast with The People.

Ah, I meant on Earth, not the Zones.

Well, Sir, after the Zones feast, you took her to physical dinner at Barney's Beanery. You really know how to show a girl a good time.

I ignored my Steward's sarcasm and answered, I think I know the place. Here is the message to send her, 'I know you don't want to get involved, but please come to the last place we celebrated your birthday after we returned from Pandora. Meet me in one hour."

Is that the entire message, Sir?

Yes, Loki, send it.

As you wish, Sir.

I arrived, by taxi, up on Sunset, and walked down to Barney's Beanery, which is only a few blocks, downhill. The old place looks the same as the pictures of it from fifty years ago, though the neighborhood has gone downhill.

The old Globe Theater, a few blocks away, has been torn down; the Zones did that to all theaters. Why go to a physical theater, when you could go to a Shakespeare Zone, which is a realistic, medieval England, and watch William's plays in an exact duplicate of the original Globe Theater?

I sure hope that coming here is not going to be Much Ado about Nothing.

I chose a place to watch the restaurant entrance from about a block away, where I can see who really shows up.

Restaurants are one of the only thriving businesses left. Though food tastes and feels right, in the Zones, you still have to eat in the real world.

After about forty-five minutes, I saw Ellie arrive, on foot. I'm guessing she probably took more than one taxi and did some other tail avoidance on her way here. She has to know I am wanted and meeting me risks a Body Donation.

In many ways, I am surprised she even came. I had hoped and, because she had already risked the Skey delivery at Holgren, I thought there was a chance, but I wasn't sure she would risk a Body Donation by zPol for the second time.

After she went into the restaurant, I waited and watched the streets and front entrance of Barney's. After a few minutes of watching, I didn't see anything suspicious and there are no signs of Zombie flyers overhead. Just as the hour was up, I slipped across the street and went into the restaurant.

I found Ellie in a booth, back by the last pool table. Barney's is not very busy this time of night; they are open all night, and, right now, it is about 4 am. I slipped into the booth, across from her, and notice the angry look in her eyes.

She was a bit startled by my scabby face, but recovered quickly and said, "I shouldn't have come."

I shrugged, "I know, but I need your help and I don't know who else to ask."

She just waited, staring at me, with a scowl on her cute face.

Ellie is small and a bit thin, with short brown hair which curves down the sides of her face, framing it like an artist's picture. Her hair is cut shorter as it goes toward the back of her head. Her nose is small and her eyes large and bright blue. Her mouth is slightly too large for her small face. She isn't a classic beauty and, even more interestingly, she hasn't gone to a goop kitchen to fix it. There is something, I don't know, sexy, about the fact that she is unaltered, raw, and obviously natural in all her imperfections.

Finally, she said, "zPol is looking for you, everywhere, I've been questioned by the Zombies, three times, and I'm lucky they haven't arrested and brain vacuumed me."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, but I need answers, for example, why are they looking for me?"

She raised both eyebrows, "You don't know?"

I shrugged, "Not a clue, though I have guesses."

"Well, I certainly don't know, all I know is that they want you, very badly. Your Thor Paragon is Pirate One. Why do YOU think they are after you?"

"My wife, I think I set out to do something to avenge Bridget," I answered, softly.

Ellie tilted her head, "If that is true, why do you say, you 'think' you did?"

"Because, I don't remember; I must have taken a brain smear and it knocked holes in my memory, big ones."

She looked furious, "You... you used BRAIN GOOP, voluntarily!" She didn't shout it, she is too cautious for that, but the stress she put on those two words spoke volumes. She thinks I am crazy.

"Is there any other way?" I asked and added, "It's the only explanation I can think of."

She shook her head and then finally said to me, "What do you want me to do?"

"I need to create a device that can mask my new brain pattern and project a new one."

"Is that all?" she asked and then snorted. "If that were possible, don't you think someone would have done it already?"

"Maybe I used the Brain Goop to become smart enough to figure it out."

She shook her head, sadly, "Well, you were dumb to try it. Why put yourself in that position in the first place?"

"I don't know, but there must have been a good reason."

She thought about that, "In truth, you are... were, the smartest person I have ever met. There is no way you would take a brain smear," she noted.

I shrugged, I knew I had.

"All right, suppose that I agree to help you, what do you need from me? zPol is watching me, you know. By now, they are going to wonder where I am. I'm going to go visit a friend, in about three minutes, and claim to have come to do that."

"Here is what I need, if I'm going to work on a new device, I'm going to need a lab; it has to be somewhere safe, where I can work on the device. I can write the code in the Zones, but I have to build the physical device somewhere," I explained.

She looked worried and started tapping her finger repeatedly on the table, which she suddenly noticed and stopped.

"So, are you willing to help me?" I asked.

She bit her small lower lip, for a moment, and then said, "Yes, I have my reasons for hating zPol, so I'll help you, but only as much as I can, without being caught. I have my own agenda."

"Fair enough."

Then she frowned for a moment and finally said, "There may be an easier way than coming up with some unknown tech, a way that doesn't require you to invent something which has never been done. I have a friend, who may be able to help you, but no promises."

"Who is this friend and how can they help me?"

"I'm not going to tell you who, it's bad enough that you know who I am. Do me a favor and don't let them catch you alive."

"I won't."

She looked at me for a moment and then added, "My friend might be able to slip a brain scan into the system; she works at a zPol substation, not as a Rider, just a clerk."

My eyes widened, "That, that would be amazing."

"Give me your current scan," she asked.

I contacted Loki and had him project it in the air and he allowed Ellie to see it so that she could save the scan.

After she had it, Ellie got up and said, "Let's set up a meet at the Tar Pool bar, tomorrow, at 9 pm."

"You don't want to meet in the Zones?"

"I left Mitara on a hunt, far from our Tree; I have to get out of there before I can use her to meet you. We'll have to meet in person."

I know she is talking about her big blue paragon girl, on Pandora, in the Cameron Zone. "All right and thanks, Ellie, you are really amazing."

She gave me the absolute briefest of smiles and then left Barney's.

I had a quick meal at Barney's, used their facilities, and then headed out on foot.

I wandered through old Hollywood, looking for an abandoned building which will suit my needs. There are many boarded up places, including some of the old studio lots.

The truth is, studio lots had gone the way of celluloid film. No one saw it coming, nor expected it to be possible, but when the Zones came, movies died. People just quit going to the theaters because they could go to the actual place. Movies are a 2D medium, even the supposed 3D movies are just a trick to make things on the 2D screen seem to 'pop' out, not a real 3D environment, where you can walk around inside the scene.

Without the support of those masses, paying for movie tickets, it all just came crashing down. Movies can't compete with a realistic environment which takes you to the place, instead of just showing you a window into the world.

Everything is done in the Zones now, there are no back lots or movie sets and, without them, there is no need for a studio. All this is now done inside the Zones.

But Hollywood endured, though not by continuing to make movies. Their studios are now on the Zcerebral servers, their sets are in Zones, and their actors, Puppets.

However, there are still actors. They take control of Puppets and act their parts in a Zone Show. In Zone Shows, the audience doesn't watch, they 'ride' along with one of the actors, experiencing the story first hand, from the actor's perspective, right in the world. They feel what the Teer feels, though it is purposely watered down.

The Academy Awards has also endured, now as a yearly, live, Zone Show, where everyone can attend to see which Teers win for best actor, which Zone Shows wins for drama or comedy, which Zone design and Zone art wins, who produced the best Zone Show, etc.

Zone Shows are considered minor entertainment because the audience is passive, but they do fill in the hours when people have used up their four hours of the fully interactive Zones.

It is kind of sad, really, movies and TV created wonderful worlds and, though these worlds are now recreated in the Zones, they came from the creative minds of those making those flat shows for over a century.

As I walked east, down Sunset Boulevard, I came to the old Chinese Theater. A few people milled around, looking at the old cement markings, where actors had placed their hand and footprints. The Chinese Theater has been converted into a museum now.

On a whim, I got out my zCard and paid my three zMinutes to get into the museum.

In the lobby, there are small booths, where you can sit down, put on a headset, and watch an old TV show, or movie, on a 2D screen.

None of these booths are currently occupied. I peeked into the main movie theater, which has now been cut into three sections, so that they can run three old movies, around the clock.

There are even a few people in the theater which I looked in. I guess they either didn't have the zTime to go to the Zones or have used up their four zHours for today.

The movie is nearing the end, a classic, '2001, A Space Odyssey', Directed by Stanley Kubrick. They are watching the last part, where there is a montage of strange colors.

I realized that I knew all about the movie, but I can't remember seeing it.

In the second Theater, they are playing an old James Dean movie, 'Rebel without a Cause'. I wonder if that title has some kind of message for me. James is at the old Griffith Observatory in this scene, up on the silver screen.

I checked the final theater, which is the biggest one. It uses the original theater screen, though the seating has fewer rows now that the other two smaller theaters occupied the back area. The movie, in this theater, is just starting.

I sat down and they ran a Warner Brothers, Bugs Bunny, cartoon before the main show. I found myself grinning as I watched Bugs and Elmer Fudd recreating the opera in 'What's Opera, Doc?' It was made with an amazing combination of old, hand painted, film cell animation, with lots of humor, art, and even opera music.

When the cartoon ended, the big red theater curtains closed and then the movie started, right on the curtains. These then pulled open, just like in the old glory days of the big movie theaters, before the multiplexes were built.

The film is 'Gone with the Wind', the academy award winning Best Picture, which beat out 'The Wizard of Oz' in 1939. I found myself watching the entire movie.

This is more than just a story, more than a place; it is a work of art which brought tears to my eyes.

I stayed and watched another movie; this one an old Marvel Universe movie, 'Iron Man', the first one, with Robert Downey Jr. I knew that I could actually go BE Ironman, in the Marvel Zone, if I want, and fly the skies in that wonderful suit. But, there is something about the performance of Mr. Downey, the editing and pacing of the scenes from the Director and Editor, and more, that is, well, different. It isn't better and it isn't worse than the Zones. I mean, if I have to compare the two versions, the Zones are the far, far richer sensory experience, hands down. However, there is a certain charm, and something else, which is unique about watching this old film medium.

I grappled with the concept, trying to figure out what it is I am sensing, and then I had it, this is like going to see the work of the great artist, Michelangelo, and his 'Statue of David' sculpture, completed in 1504. You can look at a real person and say that they are far more 'real' than the sculpture, yet what captures you about the statue isn't that it looks real, what intrigues you is that you are seeing 'art'. Art is something taken from the imagination of a person and, through skill, time, and sheer stubbornness created.

Movies, at least, the great ones, are another form of art, and now, having just watched two works of this art, I am sad that the old medium is so neglected.

After I left the theater museum, I went a few blocks off Sunset and found a suitable abandoned building. I worked my way into the building and located a room on the top floor, which doesn't seem to have any squatters. It took me awhile, but I arranged some junk so that it would take someone a good ten minutes to dig their way into where I am lying on an old crappy mattress, then I asked Loki to interface me back into my Paragon.

# Chapter zTen \- Wonderland

As I rode in a taxi toward the spaceport, I thought about the Wonderland Zone and realized that I already jumped down the rabbit hole the moment I awoke in Holgren Hospital. Since regaining consciousness, my life has been as crazy as Alice's adventure, that is for sure.

As the taxi arrived at the spaceport, I realized that I don't know what Mary's pinnace looks like, but that issue was solved when I saw a Zim holding a small white sign which read, "John's Ride." When I walked up to the Zim, he looked me over and inquired, "Where did you eat last night?"

"The Grotto," I replied.

He nodded and said, "Right this way."

I followed and he led me to a small pinnace, designed to hold about eight passengers, though I am the only one today. As I stepped into the entry chamber, two Zims pulled disruptors and leveled them at my chest.

"Not this again," I noted, dryly.

They searched me, thoroughly, and then, when they didn't find any contraband, they put away their guns and Mary walked out of the small pilot cabin.

Today, she is dressed in a short black dress, made of soft leather. The front of the skirt is cut higher than the back, which comes down nearly to her knees. The dress reveals a small amount of her tanned thighs, but the knee-high, leather boots hide anything lower down. Above, under the black sleeveless top of the dress, she has on a white blouse, with ruffles at the throat, and wide billowing sleeves with hand ties at the wrists.

She looks delicious.

I raised an eyebrow at her and then said, "Once again, words fail to capture the beauty of your style."

She smiled, "A girl has to keep up appearances. If you are ready, we'll depart for Revenge."

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," I noted.

Mary took the helm, and it didn't take long for the sleek pinnace to clear the atmosphere of the planet. We soon docked in Revenge. Mary led the way out the lock and onto her Ship, like a warrior claiming the field of battle in victory; the woman just has style.

I followed along, my hands clasped behind my back. I am still dressed in my tuxedo from the night before.

"How far is it to Wonderland?" I asked, pleasantly.

Mary paused, no doubt, conversing with Mara, her Steward, and then said, "Two zHours' travel, at Warp Nine."

"I didn't realize we are in Trekkie space," I replied, curiously.

"We aren't, but we have to pass through it to get to Wonderland or take the long way around. I suppose we could work out a Wormhole or take Hyperspace if we swing over to Known Space," she said, musing. "However, do not worry; Revenge has a Cloak for the Trekkie rule set."

"That's all right, in fact, do you have a bed?"

She raised one of her perfect eyebrows at that question.

I laughed, "Not to while away the time, I actually need a couple hours of sack time. As you can see, from my tuxedo, I didn't get to a hotel last night."

"My, I wasn't exciting enough? You were out carousing all night?" she said, batting her long eyelashes at me.

"If truth be told, I took a quick Transport to Hyperborea, to settle a wager."

"Ah, and Hyperborea is within this quadrant, so you didn't have to cross a major Zone border," she said with a nod.

"Yes, so no Dragoon security checkpoint," I agreed.

"Well, Wonderland is two quadrants over, we'll have to get around two checkpoints," Mary answered.

I nodded, "That's one reason I needed to travel on a Pirate ship; those checkpoints would nail me, since I'm not logged into the Zones, legally."

Mary nodded, "And the other reason?"

"I enjoy your company," I replied, with a grin.

She gave me a sly look.

Then I asked, "Will getting around those checkpoints be a problem?"

She smiled, "Revenge will have no problems, so you may sleep carefree."

"I intend to and... thank you."

Mary then said, "Give me a moment." She turned to one of her Zim crewmen and then walked over to a console. I looked around the spotless bridge; while we are in zSpace, Mary's Ship has a funny mix of various technologies.

Then Loki said, Sir, you have a Flash coming through, from Ellie Deveron.

I turned to say something to Mary Read, but she is still busy at the navigation plotter, so I spoke to Loki in thought, Put Ellie through.

Sir, do you wish to answer as your current Paragon, Thor, or as your real body?

I considered that and then replied, Ellie knows me as my real body, so let's go with that.

As you wish, Sir, Loki responded.

When Loki connected the Flash, Ellie, instantly, appeared on the bridge of Revenge, just like she is standing there, for real. Ellie will see an image of my human body, standing near her, wherever she is on Earth.

"Professor, there you are," she said in greeting.

"Hello, Ellie," I answered and glanced past Ellie for a quick look to see if Mary noticed my subdued voice, but she is busy at a bridge console.

The contrast of the small form of Ellie, with her short brown hair, compared to the tall blonde ship's Pirate Captain, is striking. Fortunately, Mary will not be able to see Ellie and vice versa.

I wonder what it would be like if Ellie's big blue Mitara Paragon ever met Mary Read. To say, sparks would fly, is an understatement, more like bombs exploding, I'm pretty sure.

"I just wanted to confirm our meeting, I have some news, which I don't want to say on an open Flash," Ellie explained.

"Yes, I'll be there. I can't wait to hear your news," I said, with a smile.

"Great, see you soon," Ellie replied and then her 3D image vanished.

Mary finished working at the bridge console and, a moment later, headed for me. "This crewman will take you to your cabin," she said as she arrived.

She nodded to a Zim, who then led me off the bridge and eventually to my cabin. Once inside, I noticed that they locked the door, from the outside, but since I really do want to rest, I don't care. I went to sleep, immediately.

So, let's talk about sleep. Your body needs sleep for two reasons, to let it flush out garbage from your brain and to let your mind and body rest. It is your mind resting that is the key here. When you are in the Zones, your body is resting in the real world, but your mind is still active. For that reason, you still have to get some rest if you stay in the Zones for a long time. Most Teers never need to sleep in the Zones, since they are only here for four real hours, but Pirates can stay as long as they manage to survive.

The good news is, your body needs more rest than your mind, so a couple zHours of mind rest, on Revenge, should recharge my mental powers. I know all this, and that I have been up for some time, but, strangely, I don't feel mentally impaired. Then again, a drunk doesn't think they are drunk, either.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. I can't say I accomplished that feat, yet, at least, my mind didn't have to work much, it just drifted, going over the past and future. When the two zHours were up, I used the com set to summon a Zim, who led me back to the bridge.

Mary arrived, dressed in yet another outfit. She is wearing a knee-length, light blue, puff sleeve dress with a white pinafore worn over the top. She has her blonde hair held back by a thick white headband and she has on striped socks which cover her calves. On her feet, she is wearing shiny black ankle strap shoes. The entire outfit is decidedly girlish, compared to any of the other things I have seen her wear, even the life and death dress on our 'date'. This new outfit makes her seem about twelve years old, as long as you don't look into her intelligent eyes.

"Do you like it?" she asked, spinning around once so that the light blue skirt flared out.

"Yes, but it reminds me of something," I replied, thinking.

"It is meant to, you see, I am going down to Wonderland, with you," she revealed.

That's when it hit me; Mary is dressed as the quintessential Alice, right out of Lewis Carroll's book, Tenniel's drawings, and Macmillan's colorized versions from 1903.

"You're Alice," I exclaimed.

"The name is Mary, I'm just dressed, similarly, to Alice, but I assure you, I am not, at all, like the character," she noted with a provocative smile.

"Of that, I have no doubt," I answered.

She didn't know what to make of that, so she let it go.

Curiously, I asked, "Why are you going to Wonderland with me? You know that curiosity killed the cat."

"Nothing kills the Cheshire cat, besides, if I am a cat, I have nine lives, so I'm not worried," she said, winking. "As for why, well, I told you, I don't like mysteries and you, my odd friend, are one. Until I solve this mystery, I'm going to stick to you like gum on the bottom of a desk."

"Thanks for the image," I noted, dryly. "But, I thought you solved your mystery last night?"

She laughed. "You can't fool me, I know there is far more to discover about you, John. And if you think otherwise, then you are as mad as the Hatter. There was quite the uproar on the Pirate Network last night; it seems that there was some zPol excitement at The Grotto, right after I left. Of course, they covered it up on the regular Newsflash, but the Pirates have their own Network."

I ignored her invitation to tell her something and asked, "Have you been to Wonderland before?"

She gave me a calculating look, knowing I'd ignored her implied question and then answered, "Actually, no, which is another reason I decided to go, I love adventures!" She said this with a sparkle in her eyes.

I glanced out the viewport into zSpace and asked, "Where are we?"

She looked at a display and answered, "We're past the two zPol checkpoints and I avoided the patrol ships, so we are about to cross over into Wonderland. Hold onto your hat!"

I was about to ask, 'What hat?' when we crossed the border and I felt my tuxedo change. I found myself wearing a tall top hat.

Mary' Ship flowed into a new shape, becoming an ocean sailing vessel in the shape of a great silvery fish, its mouth the prow and the stern a fish's tail, flipped upwards. Mary and I are now standing on a raised poop deck and the Zims are down below, working the halyards and lines for the sails. Just like when I went to Hyperborea, we are now cruising on a salty ocean, though we are sailing along the shore of Carrol's British countryside. The shape of the ship is now governed by the rules of the Wonderland Zone.

There is no city ahead of us, this time, just the shore of, what looks like, England, before the forests were decimated, several times. There are white cliffs ahead, with gently rolling hills above, mostly covered with grass and trees.

"Welcome to Wonderland," Mary exclaimed, with a grin.

She anchored Revenge off a sandy beach and we took a long boat into shore. Mary's Zims rowed us in, so we kept our eyes on the approach of the beach. When the long boat's bow hit the sand, Mary took three running steps across the wood plank benches, headed toward the bow. She leaped, leading with one foot which hit the top post of the boat's spine, where it curves up to the bow. She launched herself out into the air. I marveled at the way she attacks life as I watched her shiny black patent leather shoes land, lightly, on the sand, just ahead of the water line.

I followed her example, perhaps a little less spectacularly, and landed next to her on the beach. As I mentioned, I am no longer in my tuxedo, the Zone rules shifted my tux into a tweed sportscoat, the kind with leather oval patches at the elbows. Beneath that, my trousers are now made of black cotton. I look like I am ready for a hunting trip in the nineteenth-century English countryside, which, in truth, is exactly what I am here to do, though I am not hunting fox.

I am seeking Justice, by following the clue which I'd been given to help me discover his hiding place, though Mary doesn't know that, yet.

A Zim on the long boat tossed something toward Mary, which she deftly caught and then strapped onto her dress, at her waist. It is a sheathed rapier and very un-Alice like.

She grinned at me and said, "A lady has to protect herself."

"What, no Vorpal blade? No shield belt?"

She laughed, "You know they won't work in this Zone."

I nodded.

"How about you, would you like a weapon?" she asked.

I thought about it and then said, "It's a children's book."

"Where the queen's guards want to cut off Alice's head," Mary reminded me.

Put in those terms, I said, "Well, that's true, all right, I guess it never hurts to be prepared."

She gestured and one of her Zims tossed me another rapier with a sheath and belt, which I strapped to my waist.

Now that we are armed for this Zone, Mary looked at me, with an innocent expression, and asked, "Where to?"

"I'm not really sure, Alice followed a rabbit down a hole," I recalled.

Mary nodded and then started up toward the grass hill ahead, "Then let's go wabbit hunting!" she said, in an Elmer Fudd voice, which immediately reminded me of the cartoon I'd watched at the museum theater.

We reached the trees and, sure enough, a white rabbit, wearing a colorful waistcoat, dashed out of the bushes, stopped, and pulled out a quintessential pocket watch, as he said, "Oh Dear, Oh Dear."

Mary flashed me a grin as the rabbit dashed into the woods. "Ready for a crazy trip down a very long hole?"

"Is this how every adventure starts, in Wonderland?" I asked, amused.

"No, there are probably looking glass entrances as well, but if you are out in the woods, then I'm pretty sure this is will be the opening act," Mary guessed.

We ran after the rabbit and found the large rabbit-hole under a hedge.

"Ladies first," I said, sweeping my hand down as I bowed.

Mary winked at me and then went right into the hole. It is large enough so that she can walk, though she has to bend over. At this point, it is more of a cave than a hole. I followed her in, my hand resting on the hilt of my rapier, not that I expect anything dastardly to attack us, at least, not yet.

We came to the place where it really changes into a hole, going down vertically, and Mary flashed me another white smile and then leaped into the hole as if it is nothing.

I shrugged and leaped after her. I noticed we are falling slowly, rather than plummeting down.

Just like in Lewis Carroll's story, the walls of the hole have shelves and cupboards, with books, maps, pictures, jars, etc.

We continued to fall for some time and Mary turned onto her back, placing her hands behind her head, as if she is just lying on a couch, instead of falling down a seemingly endless rabbit hole. I am about ten feet higher than her relative position. She looked up at me and asked. "So, what is it we are in Wonderland to learn or find?"

"Maybe I'm just here on vacation," I answered, slyly.

"And maybe I'm a Dragoon in drag," Mary answered, pertly.

I laughed, "That would be very droll of you and very inconvenient for me."

"So, if I'm not a Dragoon and you're not on vacation, then?" she asked, trailing off.

"I'm looking for someone."

"Excellent, and do they know you are coming?"

"I'm not sure, you see, someone left me a message, a cryptic message, and it led me to believe that I should find a person and that they are here."

"And what does this person look like?" she inquired.

"I have no idea."

She tilted her head, slightly, at that and asked, "All right, can you share their name?"

I shrugged, "I don't know their real name."

"You don't know their name, or what they look like?"

"No."

"And, is this mystery person a boy or a girl?"

I winced, knowing what she will say, when I answered, "No clue."

"My, this is going to be an interesting challenge, I see. So, someone that may or may not know you are coming, of whom we know nothing, must be found. What do you plan to do, walk up to every creature and say, 'I may be looking for you, but you might not know I'm looking for you. Are you... you?'"

"When you put it that way, it seems hopeless. But, I do know something else about the person."

"Ah and what is that?" Mary asked with a wry smile.

"I know their Paragon name."

She sat upright, though that is more of a bend at the waist then actually sitting up, it was just a motion of surprise. "You're looking for a Paragon? Which one?"

I considered, but since we are already falling down a rabbit hole and she is going to hear me asking questions eventually anyway, I can't think of a reason to withhold the information. "The Paragon's name is 'Justice' and he belongs to a Pirate."

Mary paused for a moment, "Which Pirate?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure they are a Pirate," I said.

"And why do you believe that?"

"Because Justice is currently the Paragon of Pirate Two."

I saw Mary's eyes go unfocused as she talked to her Steward and then, probably, looked at the Top Ten list.

Suddenly, Mary whistled in admiration. "You don't go looking for just anyone, do you? You're right, Justice is the Paragon of Pirate Two. That's strange, the last time I looked at the Top Ten list, and that was only a few days ago, Captain Blood held the top spot, followed by Ching Shih and Henry Morgan. Now Pirate One shows the Paragon 'Thor', though zPol doesn't know what Pirate goes with that Paragon, and the second is the Paragon of this unknown person you seek."

I shrugged and then said, "Something has shuffled the pack," then I smiled wryly back at her and asked, "Still want to go down the rabbit hole with me?"

She laughed, "I'm a wanted Pirate, which warrants a Body Donation. If I'm caught now, it is not like they can take my body twice. Besides, I'd like to meet this unknown Pirate. It's also strange, the Top Ten list has been set for a long time, well, at least the top four or five, and now we suddenly have two new Pirates topping the list and I'm about to meet one of them!"

I didn't correct her since she doesn't know she is falling down the rabbit hole with Pirate One.

"How far does this hole go, anyway?" Mary asked.

"Have you ever read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'?"

She shrugged, "I skimmed it last night, but didn't read the whole thing; I was also kind of tired."

"Well, Alice thought she was going to the center of the planet and wondered if she might fall out the other side."

"So, a long way then," she noted, with a grin, and relaxed on her back again. About twenty seconds later, she landed in a heap of sticks and dry leaves as the fall concluded. "Hey!" she exclaimed, scrambling up out of the pile of dead foliage as I landed on my feet next to her. "You said..."

"I said Alice thought she might be going to the center of the Earth, but she was wrong," I answered, with a grin.

"You WILL pay for that, Mister!" she noted, pulling some leaves out of her blonde hair.

"Shall we follow the rabbit?" I noted, pointing.

She turned and spotted the rabbit, ahead, down a long passage, hurrying away from us, as it said, "Oh, my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting."

"Come on," I said dashing after the rabbit, which went around a corner ahead.

Mary came right after me.

We arrived in a chamber with many doors and Mary said, "I remember this part; there should be a small door to a garden, behind a curtain!"

And, sure enough, she found it. I went to the glass table in the middle of the room and tossed her the key. "Open the door."

She crouched down and fitted the key in the tiny lock and opened the small door. It is so small that her head won't even fit.

I watched the glass table and, as I expected, a bottle appeared, with 'Drink Me' written on the label.

"Come, share a drink with me, Mary," I invited.

She came over and I took a swig from the bottle. Before I started shrinking I handed the bottle to her, but Mary didn't drink. When I became just six inches tall, she reached down and picked me up.

"Now, Sir, we shall discuss your rude behavior in not warning me about my imminent landing!"

She dangled me upside down in front of her face, holding onto one of my feet.

I drew my rapier and poked the toothpick at her fingers around my foot.

"Oh, you want me to let go?" she asked, with a grin, and dropped me.

It is a LONG way to the ground and I squawked as I fell, "Ya!"

But Mary caught me a short way down, with her other hand, and I stood up on her palm. "Look, are you done having your fun yet?" I demanded, after sheathing my sword and putting my hands on my hips indignantly.

"Not in the slightest," she replied and poked me in the stomach, making me sit down, hard, on her wrist. "I kind of like you this way, all indignant and tinyish. I might just keep you this way, I can put you in a small cage in my study," she mused.

"I'll escape and pull your hair when you go to sleep," I threatened.

She laughed and then set me on the ground and took a drink from the bottle. Soon, she shrunk to my size and curtsied. "Remember that in the future, don't be rude."

"Yes, your majesty," I replied, sarcastically.

Mary turned toward the door, which we are now sized to enter. "Now, let's go into the garden and see what other mischief is in store for us. I believe that this may conclude the opening sequence, meaning, we will likely diverge from the linear story now, though we may run into familiar scenes. It's often that way in book Zones."

She walked through the small door and into the garden, but I walked over until I stood underneath the table. Just like in the story, there I found a little glass box, with a very small cake inside with 'Eat me' marked on it, made from currants. I put the glass box in my coat pocket. Then I followed Mary into the garden.

Once there, she said, "We're tiny compared to everything, how did Alice get larger again?"

"To find the answer, follow me," I answered.

When we got to the mushrooms, which are quite tall compared to us, Mary spotted the Caterpillar, who greeted her with, "Who are YOU?"

But I ignored him and reached up to the left side of the mushroom, where I broke off a chunk. I also took another chunk from the opposite side. Mary didn't see me doing this; she is conversing with the Caterpillar.

I ate some mushroom and started to shrink further, so I ate some of the other side and started to grow. As I got larger I picked an entire mushroom.

Suddenly, Mary noticed me growing and exclaimed, "Hey, how did you do that?"

But I reached down and picked her up, then I chortled, "Now the shoe is on the other foot, my dear."

"If you hang me upside down, I will be quite cross," she noted, crossing her arms in front of her chest while standing on my palm.

I handed her two pieces of mushroom and said, "Eat little nibbles and work yourself to the correct height, one makes you larger, one smaller."

"Oh, like in the song, 'One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small' and then that line, 'and you just ate some kind of mushroom'" Mary sang.

"Right," I said, "Jefferson Starship."

"Airplane," Mary corrected me, "When they first wrote it, anyway."

She worked on her height, using the right combination of mushroom bits, and I set her on the ground as she started to grow.

Once she became the correct relative height for our surroundings, we headed off through the garden.

"So, how do you plan to go about finding the Pirate and his Paragon, Justice?" Mary asked.

"I'm looking for a cat," I answered.

"A cat?"

"Not just any cat, the Cheshire Cat, he seemed to know where things were located in the Alice story, so it follows he might know how to point us in the direction we need. He was in the woods, in the story," I noted and headed for some trees.

When we entered the forest, I stopped and looked around, hoping to spot the Cheshire Cat.

Mary looked around, as well, and said, "So... now that your cat finding expedition has failed, what next, oh great hunter?"

Just then, a grinning, striped Cheshire Cat appeared on the bough of a tree, a few yards off. "Were you looking for me?" the cat asked.

"Indeed," I answered and headed over, with Mary in tow.

"I am hoping that you can point me to someone I need to find," I said.

"I can certainly point you to someone, but whether you need to find them is entirely up to you," the cat answered. "For example, in THAT direction," the Cat noted, waving its right paw around, "lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction," he said, waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad."

I recognize that last bit as a direct quote from the book, but I answered, "I'm looking for a particular person, his name is Justice."

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go, for justice can be found anywhere and sometimes nowhere," the cat said with a grin, then it disappeared.

"Great," Mary noted, sarcastically. "That was about as helpful as stepping in used gum."

"You have a thing about gum, don't you," I noted, in amusement.

"The point is, what good is this cat?" Mary said.

"Wait for it," I answered, watching.

Then, the cat reappeared and said, "But you said you want a person, not justice, so I can only assume that Justice is the name of a person and not something you wish to achieve?"

"That is correct, my fine feline, though I also seek justice as an achievement, in the end," I answered and the cat disappeared again.

"Does it do that, often?" Mary asked, looking around.

"I assume so," I answered.

Mary scoffed, "And that cat thinks the Hatter is mad."

The cat reappeared, but on a different branch this time, in a different tree, and it said, "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" asked Mary and I chuckled because she had, unwittingly, quoted the real Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Mary just shrugged at that, who can argue with a grinning cat?

The cat suddenly asked, "Are you going to play croquet with the Queen today?"

"I hadn't planned on it," Mary answered.

"I wouldn't advise it, you see, the queen is playing a new part today," said the Cat and vanished again.

"That is way off script for the Cheshire Cat, though I suppose this isn't a Zone Show, so the Zim can vary what it wants to say," I noted to Mary.

Mary looked at the place where the cat had been when it suddenly appeared again, in a new position.

"Today I'm no more a Zim than Bagheera was a Puppet," said the Cat.

"You!" I exclaimed, "I've got some questions I want you to answer!"

"And I have some answers which I will eventually give," the Cat replied, with a toothy smile. "But, for now, I leave you with this, you should question the Hatter swiftly, royalty is on its way, royalty known as The Phoenix."

Then the Cat vanished again, but this time slowly. Parts of its body disappeared until only one arm, with pointing claw and the grinning teeth, remained and then those two parts faded out as well.

Mary's eyes widened and then she exclaimed, "We have to get out of here, now!"

But I am already running to the left, in the direction the Cheshire Cat had pointed.

Mary followed me, with a curse, and yelled, "Do you KNOW who he was talking about? The Phoenix!"

As I ran down the path I considered the term, of course, a phoenix is a famous bird which burns when it reaches old age and then is reborn from the ashes, but I know Mary is referring to a much more recent legend.

The Phoenix is the head of Zcerebral Inc., the Director of the Board, the most powerful person on the Earth, or in the Zones. The post is almost mythological. No one knows what The Phoenix looks like, or even who they currently are. Every five years, an election is held and a new Phoenix is elected, while the old one steps down. These are called the Incognito Elections. Candidate's names and identities are never disclosed. There are no pictures of them, none at all. Only their goals and platform are known. Ostensibly, this is done so that there is no prejudice based on race, religion, region, gender, etc. Only what they stand for matters. But what many whisper, though seldom say, for fear of being 'detained' by zPol, is that the choices are limited to the people Zcerebral Inc. wants to be elected and there is no way to even know if they are new choices since the previous election.

The rumor persists, though, that the previous Director turns over the secrets of the Zone servers to the newly elected replacement and then has their memory altered so they forgot those same secrets. This is where the term, The Phoenix, comes from, the old Director has their memories burned and the new one rises from the ashes to take over control of Zcerebral Incorporated, becoming the new unknown face of power.

For The Phoenix to personally enter a Zone is, almost, unheard of, though there are rumors that The Phoenix haunts the Zones in various Puppet disguises.

Maybe it is the chance to capture Pirate Two which has brought The Phoenix here, or, the chance to capture Pirate One, if they have tracked me here, somehow. Maybe the lure of both in one place has made the head of Zcerebral come to Wonderland.

But I need answers, badly, and I am so close to reaching Justice.

I ran out into a clearing and spotted a house with a large table out front, under a tree. I knew this had to be the place. But which character is Justice? I ran to the table and Mary is right beside me as we came to a halt.

The famous characters all sat around one end of the table, the March Hare, the Hatter, and the sleeping Dormouse.

But which one is Justice? Or is he here at all?

"Have some wine," the March Hare said, in an encouraging tone; this is another quote straight from the book, I noticed.

Mary looked at the table, but there are only teacups and no wine. "I don't see any wine," she remarked. I wonder if she is quoting the book on purpose or by accident?

"There isn't any," said the March Hare, definitely on script.

This is when Alice is supposed to say, 'Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it.' But Mary said. "I guess I'll have tea, then."

"You're not here for tea, I would guess," the Hatter said, now also off script.

I chose to reply, "No, not really. We're kind of in a hurry, we're looking for someone named 'Justice' and, in a few minutes, The Phoenix is due to arrive, so, as you can see, we need haste."

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID is, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"

My attention snapped to him and I answered, "Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!" It was Lewis Carroll's own answer to his riddle, though he always said it was only an afterthought since the riddle was not meant to have an answer. He misspelled nevar on purpose; since it is 'raven' in reverse.

"Really, Riddles, when we have, almost, no time?" Mary noted, in exasperation.

"Yes, riddles, where the answers tell the story," the Hatter replied with a wink, then he said, "Here are some old gems."

'I have rivers without water,  
Forests without trees,  
Mountains without rocks  
Towns without houses.

What am I?'

Mary immediately answered, "A Map!"

And a folded parchment map appeared on the table.

"That is for you, my dear, for solving the riddle," the Hatter said, tipping his bowler hat to Mary.

She picked it up and the Hatter immediately stated.

'To unravel me  
You need a simple key,  
No key that was made  
By locksmith's hand,  
But a key that only I  
Will understand.'

That stumped Mary, but I knew the answer already, "A Cipher." I called out.

Again, the Hatter tipped his hat and said, "But you didn't figure it out, so no prize for you, however, I'll hand you your answer, none-the-less."

'When you're young you want it,

When you're old you dread it,

When you're dead you can't continue it.'

"I bet it is Time!" Mary said, but the Hatter shook his head, negatively.

That one stumped me, for a moment, and I felt like Bilbo playing riddles with Gollum. Where I'd already known the previous riddles, and their answers like I'd heard them before, I have no recollection of this riddle, but the answer came to me in a moment. "It's 'Aging', but how is aging the answer?"

I don't know what is going on here, is this just some Zim routine running, wasting my time, while The Phoenix arrives in the Carrol Zone, or is this some important clue from Justice? I have to find out, quickly.

"Who are you?" I demanded of the Hatter.

He dipped his hat and answered:

'I cut through evil  
like a double-edged sword,  
And chaos flees at my approach.  
Balance I single-handedly upraise,  
Through battles fought with heart and mind,  
Instead of with my gaze.

What am I?'

The answer is obvious, justice. And, with that, he told me what I need to know.

Mary looked puzzled, but I nodded to the Hatter, who then stated.

'Until I am measured  
I am not known,  
Yet how you miss me  
When I have flown.'

Mary pondered, but I knew the answer, instantly, not from figuring it out, I just knew it already. "Now the answer really is, 'Time'."

"Indeed," the Hatter said and added, "and though it may always be six o'clock here, elsewhere time is running out, so here is where you must immediately go:

'Weight in my belly,  
Trees on my back,  
Nails in my ribs,  
Feet I do lack.'

Mary got this one, though I already knew the answer, "A ship! But what has a ship got to do with time? Unless you mean it's time we got back to our Ship!"

The Hatter bowed low.

"But I have other questions," I exclaimed.

Mary grabbed me by the arm and said, "Even the mad guy agrees, let's move!"

I turned to the Hatter and said, "I have to know what happened to me!"

He looked up, winked and said:

'Tool of thief, toy of queen.  
Always used to be unseen.  
Sign of joy, sign of sorrow.  
Giving all likeness borrowed.'

I knew the riddle and the answer, but Mary pulled me away and I, finally, turned to run, but we are too late; the King and Queen have arrived.

# Chapter zEleven – The Queen's Garden

Soldiers, all shaped as rectangular playing cards, with their hands and feet coming out of the corners and their heads above, ran in from all sides and surrounded Mary and me. "Shall we fight?" I inquired, gripping the hilt of my rapier.

"No," Mary said, with a sigh, "These are Dragoons; look at the gargoyle faces on those cards. If they are here, then they are running a Trace program and we dare not get zonked or they will locate our real bodies. We stand a better chance if we keep our Paragon's alive; there is always time to zonk, later, if we see no chance of escape. Truthfully, I'm surprised they haven't zonked us already."

I nodded.

The card Dragoons used polearms to poke at us, forcing us to walk toward an opening in a long hedge ahead. I allowed myself to be guided that way, with Mary at my side.

Entering the garden, we can see many more Card Dragoons and, ahead, sitting, as if in court, on some high thrones, the King and Queen of Hearts, also depicted as living cards.

As we approached, the Queen shouted, "Off with their heads!"

The Dragoons started to close, but the King ordered, "Stop, Guards, she didn't mean it, yet."

The Queen shrugged, "I've just always wanted to say that."

The Dragoons backed off.

When we came to a halt in front of the royal pair, they both gazed down at us, imperiously, and then the Queen spoke. "I've been looking all over for you."

Mary started to open her mouth, but then she noticed that the Queen had spoken to me.

Mary snapped her mouth shut and, turning to me, said, "She's here for YOU?"

The Queen addressed Mary, "Oh, don't worry, my Sweet, I have plans for YOU as well."

That seemed very personal, calling her 'my Sweet' but perhaps she spoke to everyone that way.

The King then said, "You took something which didn't belong to you when you departed, and we want it back."

So, this is the great and powerful Phoenix, I thought. He looked, rather, ridiculous, as a King of Hearts card, but I suppose you don't say that to the supreme ruler of Earth and all Zones.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," I noted, truthfully.

"Don't play coy with us, Pirate!" The Queen thundered. "You will now hand over what you stole, or we shall drag it from you!

I shrugged, "Actually, I'm not playing 'coy'. I really don't know where whatever you are seeking is located."

That made both the King and Queen pause, then the Queen said, "We know you got it from the Hatter and, though HE escaped, now you have what we want."

I shook my head, "We got a worthless map from the Hatter; you can have it if you want. Other than that, he made us answer some silly riddles."

The King turned to the Queen, "I don't think he is lying."

"No, I don't think so, either," the Queen said, puzzled.

At that moment, The Cheshire Cat's grinning mouth appeared in mid-air. The cat spoke in the voice of a character from another famous novel, which I recall quite vividly. "What has it got in its pocketses?"

"Off with its head!" the Queen screamed, pointing at the Cheshire Cat's mouth.

But the Dragoon Cards all faltered. The Jack of Hearts, who seems to be the leader of the Dragoons, asked, "What head?"

Then the cat's grin faded out, laughing.

Meanwhile, I pictured what the half-pint hero did in that other book and put my hand in my pocket. I didn't find a gold invisibility ring, as he had discovered, instead, I felt the little glass box I'd picked up from under the table, back in the room with the tiny door. I opened the box, then broke the small cake in two and whispered to Mary. "Eat this, now."

She took the piece of cake and, though she looked at me like I am as mad as the Hatter, she casually lifted the morsel to her red lips and ate it.

I did the same and immediately felt a telescoping effect, much as Alice had described when Carroll wrote about her eating this cake. We grew swiftly until we towered above the card soldiers, the King, and Queen. I yelled to Mary, "Run for it!"

Dragoons ran at us, but we yanked out our swords and started slicing up playing cards. It is like shooting fish in a barrel, our size makes it like chopping wheat with a scythe.

The Queen bellowed something, which I didn't catch. To my left, Mary is cutting cards to confetti and laughing maniacally, like James DiGriz robbing a bank.

I grabbed her arm and yelled, "That way, now!"

We ran, vaulting the tall hedge, easily, due to our large size, and headed back the way we had come.

When we reached the Caterpillar and mushrooms, I grabbed a mushroom and tossed it to Mary, saying, "Eat from the right side, quickly!"

I grabbed another one and we both chomped on our mushroom. We started shrinking. We each grabbed a couple chunks of mushroom, from both sides, and dashed back through the tiny door. Once on the other side, back in the room with the small table, we looked up and saw the long tunnel above.

"Now what, those Dragoons will be coming soon," Mary exclaimed, excitedly.

"Get bigger again," I said, eating from my mushroom. She didn't argue and started eating as well. Once we grew even larger than we had been when we arrived, it became easy to climb, using the shelves and bookcases as foot and handholds. At our current size, it only took a few minutes to climb to the top.

Upon exiting, we ran for the beach and, thankfully, found Revenge still floating at anchor. However, I spotted several ships sailing around the point, headed this way, and they are warships.

As we ran toward the shoreline, Mary yelled for her crew to raise the anchor. When we reached the edge of the water, this time, neither of us made any attempt to stay dry, we just splashed out toward the small Ship. It is small because we are still giants in comparison. Upon arriving, we took out our mushroom pieces and ate from the side which makes you shrink. As we shrunk, we reached out and took hold of the Ship's railing, so that, by the time we reached the correct size, we stood outside the Ship's railing and then stepped over onto the deck.

As soon as the Zim crew finished weighing anchor, Mary took charge, issuing orders and setting a course for the helmsmen.

We were just in time. The approaching warships fired a few cannon shots, but we are just out of their range. Mary's Zims packed on all of Revenge's white sails and Mary's Ship fairly leaped across the ocean swells. After glancing up at the billowing sails, Mary turned to me, a smug grin on her face, "That's your speed routine, I added it to Revenge!"

When we reached a sufficient distance from the shore, Revenge suddenly changed back into a spacecraft as we re-entered zSpace.

A moment later, laser beams knifed out, just missing us and cutting off into zSpace.

Mary turned to the Zim navigator and asked, intensely, "Is my escape course locked in?"

"Yes, Captain," he replied, efficiently.

Then, Mary yelled to the helmsman, "Hyperspace, NOW!"

A Zim shoved two levers on the dash, full forward. In the big viewport, the stars seemed to elongate and we suddenly shot up to stunning speed, as we left Wonderland behind and sailed into zSpace, faster than light.

# Chapter zTwelve \- Jamaica

As we hurtled through zSpace, Mary abruptly spoke to me, "My ready room, now!"

I followed her to a door, off the bridge, without speaking a word.

Once inside, Mary spun on me and demanded, "All right, out with it, what does The Phoenix want with you? What the HELL did you steal! WHO ARE YOU!"

At this moment, I am glad of one thing, Mary is still in her Alice dress and does NOT have her vorpal blade or other high-tech weaponry. She does still have her rapier, but I figure I can parry that with my own, if it comes to that, but Mary didn't draw her sword, not yet.

I held up my empty hands, palms out, and said, "I haven't lied to you, Mary. I don't know what the hell The Phoenix was talking about. Which one was The Phoenix, anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"The King or the Queen?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter, The Phoenix was one of them, but you're avoiding my questions!"

"Look," I said, in a pleading voice, "I have no idea what The Phoenix wants with me, or why. I went to find Justice because someone left me a clue in a Flash and I thought he might have the very answers you seek."

She seemed to calm down from DEFCON One: Nuclear war imminent, to DEFCON Two: Increased readiness, but her finger isn't far from the 'button'.

She pulled in a breath to try and regain some composure and then said, "Ok, I still want answers, but we have more pressing concerns, at this very moment; we haven't lost those warships, yet, and, in a few minutes, things are going to get dicey. What do you THINK The Phoenix wants with you? Why is the most powerful person, anywhere, after you? What did you steal?"

"I don't know, but I have to find out, pretty quickly. With the resources at the Chairman's disposal, zPol will track me down."

"You mean, track 'us' down. It is no longer just you, now that The Phoenix saw me with you, I bet..." Mary trailed off and had her Steward bring up the Top Ten list, in the air, in front of her and made it visible to me as well. Where it had previously shown my Thor Paragon at the top spot, it now shows my new Paragon, but the name underneath says 'Unknown'. Justice is no longer in the second spot; Mary Read now occupies that position.

"Oh, my god," Mary said, visibly shaking. "You're Pirate One, though they don't know your name and... I'm Pirate Two, up from Thirty-three. Well, I guess I wanted to earn coup, but I never wanted it in spades!"

"Can we stay away from card references? After the King and Queen of Hearts, I'm sick of cards," I said, dryly.

She gifted me with a scowl. Then Mary scanned the rest of the list, and exclaimed, "God damn it, they must have caught Thor, he isn't on the list anymore and Justice has fallen to Pirate ten, how odd. Ching Shih is Pirate Four, Captain Morgan is back at Pirate Five and Captain Blood is Pirate Three. He had been at Pirate One for some time. Other than us being at the top now, the list has been restored to normal."

"I can't believe they found us that swiftly in Wonderland," I noted, fatally.

My statement brought her back from her thoughts and she said, "Well, we will be fairly safe if we can make it to Tortuga."

As with many things in my blotchy memory, until I think about them, I can't recall anything, but as soon as I thought about Tortuga, I knew a few things.

Tortuga is the fabled port of pirates, from old novels, like Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood novels. Both in the novels and in the Zones, it is the one safe haven where Pirates can go and be with their own kind. In modern terms, it is a legendary Zone. It is the ONLY Zone which Zcerebral does not control. Somehow, the top Pirate sculptors got together and managed to hide a Zone on the Zcerebral servers, a place that Zcerebral's sculptors cannot seem to find or control. That's why it is legendary. How do you hide something on a server from the very people who run the server? Other than the original creators, the rest of us Pirates don't have any idea how they accomplished the feat.

This all started, years ago, early in the 2020s, when a company, called Zcerebral Incorporated, based in Canada, took over the world. Who would have thought there was any chance that Canada, or at least some Canadians, could take over the world? And, who would think that one small company could end the country system? Certainly, not the governments which fell, not even the Canadian government.

It all started when, Zcerebral, a previously unknown company, created the technology to make the Zones. When they launched the first few Zones, Zcerebral opened them up to everyone on Earth, for free. I don't mean to say that the code and technology to create the Zones was Open Source, far from it. In fact, the location of the servers, and the code for the Zones is still top secret. Many people and governments think they are buried somewhere up in the far icy northeast of Canada, though no one has proven that yet, not even when the NNEMP bombs fell, but more on that in a moment.

So, how does a virtual reality program take over the world? Here is how and, though hindsight is 20/20, no one saw this coming. They got their initial funding when Zcerebral unveiled the first Zcerebral Interface machine. It was instantly crowdfunded to the order of BILLIONS, the first product to ever reach that kind of money through online donations.

Their small company used the money to build and distribute their new interface device to everyone who donated to a certain level. The three initial Zones were amazing and crowdfunding kept flowing in from everywhere.

You could now go to another world, or dimension, or reality; there is, literally, nothing like it, well, except reality. The first world was based on the old Citadel of Sorcery MMORPG, where you could go and battle Morphael, the Demons, and work for the Eyes of Darkness as one of the six races of that fantasy universe.

The second Zone was a fictional space universe, similar to the old Star Wars movies.

And the third was a western, where you could play a gunfighter.

In six months, all other computer entertainment was dead, all anyone wanted was to go to the Zones.

As the money flowed in, they added more Zones and soon the entire world started accessing the Zcerebral Zones, living other lives in new worlds. Their donations reached a Trillion dollars. Next, Zcerebral took their wealth and built their own satellite net, one which encompassed the entire planet. They called it the Satweb and it cost them over a Trillion dollars to construct and nearly bankrupted the company, but they got it running. At this point, the entire world could log into the Zones from anywhere.

Soon, business and history Zones were constructed and Zcerebral kept expanding their Zones into different kinds of worlds. If you used one of their interfaces, you could enter ANY Zone. You could play for fun, or build and run a business, and anyone from anywhere could be your customer. Other Zones were designed where you could go and experience any book, movie, poem, comic, you name it, by going into that world.

Places and times in history were re-created. And locations like the moon Titan, or Mars, were available in full Zone reality. If it can be imagined or is part of history, you can go there as a living participant. It was a revelation to the world, the internet was dead, all other forms of entertainment were dead, all other technological forms of communication were dead, all other methods of storing data were dead, long live the Zones, where fantasy becomes reality.

When you can create another reality, any other reality, it changes everything. Swiftly, the Zones became the location of nearly every kind of business. Why build and pay for a building, or commute through traffic, when employees can go to your company to work in the Zones?

Zcerebral also started making profits as a shipping company and they put the other shipping companies out of business. If you bought it in the Zones, zPS shipped it. Those were the rules. Soon, there was only one shipping company, worldwide; they bought up all the others and repainted their trucks and planes.

Profits for Zcerebral were now in the multiple Trillions. Their economic power rivaled that of a large country.

This all happened in a few short years, but they weren't done, not by a long shot. Zcerebral launched zSpace a couple years later and the Zones expanded, massively. Whole galaxies and futuristic worlds were recreated in a single Zone.

Every major technology company in the world tried to duplicate the Zones and failed. Supercomputers made up of thousands of Lightpath linked CPU cores could not duplicate what Zcerebral's, originally, small company had somehow accomplished. No number of supercomputers linked together seemed capable of running this kind of massive scope and detail. It astounded the technological world.

Eight short years after the original three Zones were crowdfunded, the U.S.A. tried to take control of Zcerebral Incorporated, stating national security reasons. Canada fought back, but the U.S. threatened to attack Canada if Zcerebral Incorporated, and all technology for the Zones, was not handed over, in total.

That nearly brought the world to war. Other nations, like China, threatened to attack the U.S. if they took over Zcerebral; not that they wanted to protect it, they just wanted their fair share.

Zcerebral took the U.S. to the world court and, during the proceedings, declared themselves their own country and government. When the Canadian government cried out that they were owned by Canada, Zcerebral denied their claim and stated that the Zones are worlds outside of Earth and therefore outside any Earth government. They petitioned for a seat in the United Nations, though they were denied.

Within the next year, a massive hacking attempt was undertaken to find and control Zcerebral Incorporated, it is called the Zone Server Wars. Rumors said that the hackers who made the attempt were financed by, or really were, the covert intelligence agencies of several world powers.

Zcerebral fought back and, at one point, shut down the servers. The world economy crashed. Zcerebral brought the servers back online in six hours, but now the danger was clear, the world economy ran in the Zones and those servers HAD to keep running.

Zcerebral created their own internal security to fight off hackers, which they named the zPolice, or zPol, and their agents swiftly got the nickname of 'Dragoons'. They were the 'law' in the Zones and no country had any say.

After the market collapsed and eventually recovered, a treaty was signed between Zcerebral and all major governments, called the Zone Protection Act. It states that Zcerebral will not shut down their Zone servers, ever, as long as a government does not attempt to find or take control of the servers, the Satweb, Zcerebral, or the Zones.

Two years later, Zcerebral upgraded their Satellites to military defense specs and beyond, hiring the top people in the field to build their defenses. During the addition of 'defenses', they secretly added offensive capabilities as well.

While working in space and upgrading their Satweb system, Zcerebral made a discovery, they located the first Wormhole and announced this to the world. Soon, they began construction of the first Space Elevator and the Space Terminal at the top of the ribbon. They spent Trillions more, creating and patenting new technology.

A few months later, Zcerebral stunned the world, again, when they declared that all the various currencies, from all countries, are no longer accepted in the Zones. zTime is now the only accepted currency. And, for the first time since the Zones opened, they started charging zHours to be in the Zones. The stock markets collapsed and some countries threaten Zcerebral with war, but they still didn't know where the servers were located.

The U.S. was the first country to realize that they were losing control. Zcerebral was taking over the world economy and, from there, everything.

The U.S. decided that a world economic collapse was better than going down without a fight. They fired NNEMP missiles at remote locations in Canada, where they believed the Zcerebral servers might be located. These are sparsely inhabited areas, but the use of bombs sent shock waves through the world. NNEMP bombs deliver an electromagnetic pulse, which knocks out all electronics in the area. Planes went down, trains and cars crashed. Heaters died, and it was winter in Canada. A lot of people were killed.

Zcerebral's servers were unaffected and the company immediately shut the U.S. out of the Zones. That's when the U.S. military invaded Canada. The Canadian government denied any knowledge of Zcerebral's location and even stated that they had already searched for it and come up empty. They did not fight the U.S. invasion; it would have cost too many lives.

Two months after the U.S. military entered Canada and found nothing, and two months after Zcerebral had cut off the U.S. citizens from the Zones, the U.S. population revolted. The current government collapsed and the troops were recalled. The people wanted the Zones.

That's when Zcerebral stepped in and took control. They required the complete surrender of the U.S. government, based on the breaking of the Zone Protection Act treaty. Zcerebral refused to restore the Zones until the U.S. destroyed all nuclear and NNEMP weapons.

Zcerebral didn't stop there. They also required all other countries to do the same thing, or they would shut down the Zones in their country.

Of course, the governments refused, so Zcerebral shut down the Zones. The populations of each affected country rose up, against their governments, and several hundred million people were killed in civil wars.

The old governments didn't understand that they served the will of the people; they thought they were in control. At the end of this fight, the superpowers were all disarmed and Zcerebral declared a single world government. Each area that accepted their rule immediately got access back into the Zones. The major superpowers were no more.

A few governments persisted, for a short period, but when Zcerebral threatened to lock out an area, the citizens would rise up and tear down their own governments. More civil wars raged, but only shortly. The masses all wanted the Zones and accepted the Zcerebral world government to get it.

Zcerebral finally disbanded the United Nations, the place that denied them a seat just six years before. They ordered all militaries disbanded, all except one, the zPolice. Zcerebral unveiled new technologies they had been working on, the Skey / Remora devices.

A Skey is applied to an Agent's body and the Satweb can then uplink a copy of their mind into the Zcerebral servers, then connect that copy of a mind to a Remora that is attached to a Zombie body, thus taking control of the body. The Zombie Police force now came into existence, run by Zcerebral.

Zcerebral issued and enforced new laws. To please the masses, Zcerebral instituted elections to Zcerebral's governing body. They created the Zcerebral board, which includes the Chairman of the Board. That leader stays in office for five years and then steps down.

There was resistance. Some third world countries declared independence from Zcerebral Incorporated. They still had small militaries and control of their populations through dictatorships. Since these third world countries were not as dependent on the Zones as the more technologically advanced countries, their people did not rise up at the loss of the Zones.

Zcerebral then turned the offensive capabilities they had built into their Satweb on those countries. They microwaved several large populations from space, using their weapons wherever armed resistance was detected.

Part two of their assault on resistance involved the Zombies. Zcerebral established control of insurgent bodies via the Remora device. Once under Remora control, the Zombie body had their brain vacuumed for information. The Zombies then infiltrated or just attacked the leaders of the resistance using their own men under Zombie control. Each man taken by Zcerebral had a Remora attached and soon became a zPol soldier. Each zPol soldier that the resistance killed was one of their own men, while the zPol rider just took over another enemy body to fight. Every man the insurgents killed was one of their own and not one zPol soldier was ever killed. Armed resistance collapsed within two years, worldwide.

After only twenty years, since its inception, Zcerebral took full control of Earth.

I can also give you the short version; Zcerebral addicted every person on Earth to the greatest drug in history, the Zones, and then threatened to take it away if they didn't comply. Just like a drug pusher, the Zone dealers gave people the first Zones for free.

Once Zcerebral gained full control of Earth, they ruled with an iron fist, with no remaining armed force to oppose them. Worse yet, the masses didn't even have the will to try. Life in the Zones is now the real life and existence on Earth is the prison people use the Zones to escape.

Over time, and after Zcerebral's government became oppressive, a new kind of resistance formed, the Pirates. They did not fight Zcerebral on Earth, there they just hid amongst the rest of the more docile population, but, in the Zones, they are a thorn in Zcerebral's foot.

Tortuga is the Pirate's home, their base, their secret hideout. This is where their attacks and insurrection against Zcerebral are born and organized. The location of Tortuga is the most guarded secret in the Freebooter culture. Only the best of the best Freebooters can even find it and become Pirates. The location is moved any time a Pirate is captured. And, though Zcerebral owns and runs the servers, and have their own top code sculptors, for some reason, they have not found Tortuga.

Just like the Zones, the secret of what keeps it hidden is just that, a secret. I certainly don't know how it is hidden; I don't even know how to find the place.

Revenge suddenly shuddered as we took fire from astern.

"Come on," Mary said, with a grim face, "we're not home to Tortuga, yet."

We went back to the bridge and she spoke to the Zim at the helm. "How far are we from the Roddenberry Zone?"

"Two minutes, eight seconds," he replied.

"Show me the ships in pursuit," Mary ordered. On the large view screen, in front of us, we suddenly saw the warships behind us, with a star-dotted black image of space as the backdrop. This scene reminded me of Princess Leah's ship running from the Victory Class Star Destroyers in the opening of the very first Star Wars movie. And, though these ships do not look like those wedge-shaped Star Destroyers, they are equally large and well-armed.

I stepped up to Mary and said, "Why are you headed for the Roddenberry Zone?"

"I have a cloaking device onboard, which will work there. Out here, in zSpace, those warships are faster and better armed, but Revenge has some upgrades, specifically useful in the Roddenberry Zone."

I understood, even Zcerebral is bound by the rules of any Zone they are in, so, once we reach Trekkie space, they will be bound by the rules of the Roddenberry Zone universe.

Another shot went past and Revenge shuddered, then a beam hit us and we all lurched when the inertial dampers couldn't handle the force of impact. "Seal that breach!" Mary yelled and dashed to a console to help, her fingers darting around the controls.

"Time to border?" she called out, a few moments later.

A Zim crewman replied, "Twenty-six seconds."

"Give me a random corkscrew path," she called to the helmsman.

I looked ahead, through the viewport, and said, "What about the Zone Firewall?"

The next three beams all missed, but barely, and we took some scars on the Ship's hull.

"Let's get there first and then worry about that," Mary stated.

"Torpedoes approaching," a Zim crewmen, at the defense console, noted calmly.

Mary glanced at him, "Shields?"

"At thirty percent," he answered.

She shook her head, glancing at me, "That's not enough; if we take a direct hit, we'll be zonked and I will lose my Ship."

I stepped to the navigation console and said, "Give me a countdown to torpedo impact."

Mary added, "Follow his commands."

A countdown appeared in the air in front of me, red numerals out to a hundredth of a second, swiftly counting down; there are only sixteen seconds left.

"We're not going to make it," Mary noted fatally as she called up a second blue clock showing our distance from the new Zone. It is just reaching twenty-two seconds.

"Not in sixteen seconds," I agreed.

She gave me a strange look.

I addressed the Zim crewman at the point defense console. "What kind of missiles are those, proximity or timer?"

He checked something on the readout and replied, "Timer."

"Then we have a chance," I stated.

I sent a thought to my Steward: Loki, access the speed routine on Revenge.

Around me, the code came up in the air. This is my code, so I know exactly what I am looking for and went there, immediately. I started sculpting a new routine, diving into the code without even thinking about it. I fairly flew through my changes and then looked up at the red numbers hovering in the air, the time to missile detonation.

With only two seconds left, I tripped my new routine. It is something I call, space brakes.

The Ship's engines screamed as they went into full reverse. Mary looked shocked and concerned. The inertial dampers can't completely keep up with the massive gravity shift and we jolted forward, as Revenge, nearly instantly, decelerated heavily.

Then, the torpedoes went off in front of us, having passed us by.

"Full speed!" I barked, and the helmsman pushed the engine levers forward with Zim efficiency.

Then we sailed through the aftermath of the blast zone. Mary's Ship took some damage, but her shields held.

The time to Zone border display jumped to twenty seconds.

I can see the questions in Mary's expression, but she just said, "You saved us, for the moment, but now we have to survive more time out here."

"Better alive and kicking than zonked and gone," I noted.

"Let's see if we can avoid that second state for a few more seconds," Mary agreed and then spoke to a Zim. "Distance from second torpedo salvo?"

The defense operator replied, "A Second salvo is on the way, impact time displayed.

The hovering red numbers jumped to twenty-three seconds.

"Yes!" Mary exclaimed. "They thought they had us with the first set and didn't have a second flight already launched!" She turned to the helmsman Zim, and barked, "Bring up the Wedge just as we reach the firewall." Then she faced the crewman at the weapons console, "And you, pick off any Black Ice modules that approach!" Next, she addressed the entire bridge crew, "As we cross the border, I want three things, get the cloak up, instantly, turn hard to port and go down at a 30-degree angle. Once on that course, drop to normal space and then immediately punch it, warp 10."

"Warp 10, Ma'am?" the Zim said. "That is beyond theoretical limits for these engines in the Roddenberry Zone, the Ship may fly apart."

"Then fly her apart," she exclaimed.

I remember another captain saying those words in a movie based on the Roddenberry universe.

When the blue numbers counted down to zero, the Ship lurched as we hit the Firewall, but her energy wedge worked and cut a breach through for our Ship. Revenge blasted through into the Roddenberry Zone.

I watched the bridge change; all the displays became the telltale Trekkie shapes of that iconic User Interface. Mary's well-programmed crew applied her orders like a fine-tuned clock and we jumped to Warp 10 before the enemy torpedoes went off. The engines now have a new growling sound, which I recall from the old TV show.

"You sure the engines can handle this?" I asked.

She grinned, "I'm not sure, it's your code that's running them now, modified for my engines, of course."

"I know, I modified my code to add those space brakes," I replied.

She raised an eyebrow at that, "Space brakes?"

I shrugged, "It's the best I could come up with in under fifteen seconds."

Mary looked at me for a moment, "You sculpted those in fifteen seconds?"

"Thirteen, but that's all the time I had," I answered.

After one more hard look at me, Mary turned her head and spoke to a crewman, "Pursuit?"

After a moment, the Zim on the sensor array replied, "No, Ma'am, we seem to have lost the warships."

Mary finally sat down in the captain's chair, which had changed to the classic black form that is famous for ships in this Roddenberry Zone. She punched in some coordinates on the arm of the captain's chair and said, "Reduce speed to Warp eight, then take us to these coordinates. Keep us cloaked, at all times. When we are in range, I want a scan of zSpace, outside the Roddenberry Zone. Look for any zPol ships. Call me when we are near the border."

"Aye, Captain," the Zim replied.

I noticed we are all wearing gold, blue, or red tunics or short-skirted, dresses, now. Mary has a row of small gold pips on her left collar.

Instead of the classic upside down 'V' shaped metal icon, from the original show, on the left breast of our uniforms, we all have an emblem showing a gold skull on a shamrock background.

May called out another command, "Have repair teams patch up the hull, as best you can; we don't want to sink once we hit the Caribbean Ocean."

"Aye, Captain," another Zim replied. The Zim put an odd, silver cylinder in her ear and started broadcasting orders to the rest of the Ship.

I walked up to the side of the captain's chair and noticed I am wearing a red shirt, so I asked, "Does this mean something?"

She glanced at me wryly, "You never know."

I smiled and said, "It seems you have spent some time in the Roddenberry Zone."

Mary nodded and answered, "I like Roddenberry's universe, it has always attracted me, lots of good adventures here."

"But we're headed for a new Zone?"

She smiled, "The Sabatini Zone. If we make it, there is going to be a big party at the Saucy Stench, with both Pirate One and Two coming in on the same Ship. I still can't believe we're One and Two."

Mary took out the map which the Hatter had given her, and asked, "I wonder why the Hatter gave me this map?"

She unfolded the parchment, carefully, and we found an old-fashioned map. It looks hand drawn on brown parchment. There are continents and oceans and lots of small text, handwritten, in black ink, like small verses. It reminds me of Tolkien's map from the original Hobbit book.

After she looked over the map, for a while, she handed it to me as she said, "I took a scan of it, so you can keep it, if you want. I have no idea where that is and the writing seems all jumbled and nonsensical."

I looked over the words and had to agree.

Mary watched me and then said, "Why do you think the Hatter gave us all those riddles? I mean, it seemed like he was concerned with the approach of The Phoenix, yet he made us take the time to answer riddles. Why not just tell us the information we needed?"

I shrugged. "Well, first off, the Hatter is mad and, if he inhabited the routines of a Zone character which is coded to be insane, then perhaps he had to act insane in order to get the character to work within its set routines."

Mary nodded and answered, "Maybe."

"Or, maybe Justice is as mad as the Hatter character," I mused. "At least, he gave us this map and some other clues, perhaps they will lead to something, eventually."

Mary took a deep breath and nodded, almost imperceptibly. Then she suddenly got up from her chair, checked a few readouts, obviously to allay her mind that we really are clear of the zPol warships, and then headed for the door. She asked me to follow, with a smile and tilt of her head toward the door.

She led me down the curved hallways of her starship until we reached her private rooms. The door slid open as she approached with a short 'hiss' sound, which I remember from the ancient TV show that led the way to the creation of this Zone.

Once in her cabin, she turned and lifted her blonde hair, while turning her back to me as she said, "Will you undo me?"

I undid the seam for her and the back of the dress opened, showing an expanse of pink skin underneath. She held the front up with her hands and turned back around to face me. "Thank you. I'm a little overwhelmed by the changes in the Top Ten list and, well, I don't want to be alone, tonight."

"You want to be distracted?" I asked softly.

She nodded and then let the dress fall as she said, "Perhaps you'd like to get rid of that red shirt?"

Later, a chime sounded and we heard the voice of the navigation crewman in the cabin, "Captain, we are approaching the Roddenberry Zone border."

Mary lay curled up on her side, her blonde hair a pool on my chest, her right cheek against my bare skin.

I am in a kind of daze. I mean, I know I had once been married and therefore I am not a virgin, but it had felt like it. The experience had been mind altering. I can honestly say that it was like experiencing it all for the first time. I had felt things I couldn't remember ever feeling before, both physically and mentally.

Afterward, I found myself watching Mary rest, noting the beautiful curve of her ear and the soft pulse of her skin at her throat. She is a work of art, in all ways, and that includes the mind within her Paragon.

When she stirred, from the call of the crewman, I actually grew a little angry at him, this is a moment in time that I never want to end.

She pulled herself up onto her elbows and turned to look at me, a half-smile on her lips. "That was, well..."

"Memorable," I finished for her, almost reverently.

She raised an eyebrow at that.

"I know it sounds strange, but I have lost some memories, a lot of memories, and one of the missing ones was, well, ever doing anything like this before."

Mary's eyes widened, "Then... this was like, I mean as if it was your first time?"

I nodded.

"And, what did you think?" she asked, coyly.

"Can we do it again?"

She laughed and then kissed me and, as our lips parted, she said, "Later, many more times."

Then she rolled off the bed and the sheet fell from her body. I watched her dress and marveled at the gracefulness of Mary.

"Come on, it's time to make the transition," she said, with a twinkle in her eye.

"All right, if I have to," I said, like getting out of the bed is a terrible labor.

She waited until I got dressed and, this time, she gave me a gold tunic. Then, we took the lift up to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge," a crewman barked as Mary strode onto the deck, boldly.

"At ease," she said and took the captain's chair, then added, "Report."

"We have thirty seconds until we exit the Roddenberry Zone border; no nearby ships have been detected in this Zone, or in zSpace."

"Excellent, take us through, Mister," she ordered, smartly.

The Firewall is only designed to keep ships out, but the moment we hit the border the Black Ice defense modules attacked Mary's Ship. These are automated defenses, not Dragoons; they act like antibodies in your blood, always seeking foreign invaders to attack. A Zone transport is ignored, as a 'good cell', but Pirate Ships are cancer cells to these things and, at least, twenty, nearby Black Ice modules headed our way, at extreme speed.

Mary's efficient crew picked off the nearest ones using the Ship's guns. The guns are actually attack routines which disrupt the code of the Black Ice modules, though, to us, they just look, sound, and act like guns. Meanwhile, Mary ordered the helmsman to punch it and we outraced the rest. Once clear of the Black Ice, I turned to Mary.

"Where too, now, Captain?" I asked, casually, standing next to her chair.

She grinned, "The Sabatini Zone and the Caribbean ocean."

A few minutes later, we dropped out of hyperspace near a new Zone border. This time, without the distraction of the warships chasing us, I have a little more time to look at the viewport and see the Firewall ahead.

Obviously, the old term 'firewall' refers to a security program designed to keep hackers from getting into another program. Here, in the Zones, these Firewalls are used to separate the code that runs each Zone from any outside attempts to enter. In zSpace, they actually look like a massive, flaming, wall. Truthfully, they are more like an amorphous ball of flame, because the Firewall surrounds the Zone, no matter how large. These are only seen from outside the Zone and only when you get close enough in zSpace.

The colossal flaming wall looks like it will fry anything which touches that yellow and red seething surface. Revenge seems tiny as we approach that massive wall of flame, like a tiny moth about to roast in a roaring bonfire, there can be no survival.

But Mary has sculpted a Wedge, which is code that inserts itself through the Firewall and pries, or tears open, a temporary gap; kind of like the Jaws of Life bending open a jammed car door. It takes a lot of Ship power and it can't be in use for very long, but Revenge only needs a couple seconds to slip through the Firewall.

Her Zim crew are well-written routines, who know their business. They took out the first few Black Ice modules which approached. Then, suddenly, one module got past their defenses; Revenge lurched, as a spike of the Black Ice pierced the Ship's hull.

"Evasive!" Mary yelled and said angrily, "They upgraded those damn things, again! Give me six torpedoes, all on that module!" she ordered.

"Ready, Captain," the weapons officer stated, two seconds later.

"Fire!" Mary yelled.

The new Black Ice routine exploded and the Ship shuddered, taking more damage as the attached module was destroyed.

"By Gandalf's beard," Mary exclaimed, "I'm TIRED of my Ship taking damaged!" Mary turned to the Helmsman, "Is the Wedge still functional?"

"Yes, Captain, deploying now."

I turned and watched the force field extend out and pierce the wall of fire ahead. Through the new gap, I don't see more space, instead, it is like looking through a window at the Caribbean Sea, which has a clear blue sky above.

"Take us in," Mary ordered her crew.

As Revenge went through the Firewall and into the Sabatini Zone, Mary's Ship changed. I found myself, once again, on the poop deck of a wooden sailing vessel. This time, it isn't shaped like a fish, it is now an English frigate, from around the year 1700.

A frigate is an English warship design, faster than a ship of the line. They were, generally, used for escort service and sometimes to hunt pirates. Few, olden day, pirates ever obtained a frigate, since they carry a large number of cannons and are therefore hard to take in a sea battle; Revenge has 28 cannons.

I looked around and noted that she is three-masted, with a raised forecastle and quarterdeck. Accented areas are painted gold and the rest have varnished wood. She is quite a beautiful Ship; well, she would have been, except there are holes, destroyed planks, and chipped wood, all over. The damage from the recent battle showed all around, though her masts are still intact.

A crewman popped his head up, through a hatch down to the lower decks, and said, "Captain, she's taking on water!"

"Repair crews, get that hole sealed, or we're bound for Davy Jones locker!" Mary bellowed. I half-smiled; Mary is now dressed as a swashbuckler. She has black leather pants on, which go down into knee-high black boots. She is wearing an un-tucked billowy cream-colored shirt, with a wide collar and puffy sleeves. Over the top of that cotton shirt is a black half-vest, which is cinched across her abdomen by leather thongs and cut down below her breasts. It has thin leather going up around the outsides of her chest and arches up over her shoulders. She has a bandolier holding her cutlass and, hanging from leather straps, there are no less than three black powder pistols. She has a three-pointed captain's hat on her head, set at a rakish angle. It has a large red feather sweeping back, which matches the red of her lips.

She even spoke with a bit of a Pirate accent now, but that is just something she affected for flair.

Looking down, I see that my clothes have also changed to pirate attire, though I am dressed in a black leather long coat, which goes almost to the calf-high boots, with long folded over cuffs. A wide belt goes around my waist, with a big square brass buckle in front. I also have a bandolier with a cutlass at my left hip. My shirt is black, with folded-back leather cuffs.

Below decks, I can hear hammering, as the crew works to seal the leak caused by the Black Ice attack. Soon, though not entirely ship-shape, the crew repaired Revenge to the point where it is capable of sailing and unfurled all canvas.

I felt the warm Caribbean sun on my head and the thick humidity of the tropics.

Mary scanned the horizon with a long spyglass. Then, we heard a call from a crewman in the crow's nest, high above, "Ship to stern!"

Mary spun around and looked with her spyglass, exclaiming, "Damn, I believe that is a Spanish warship!"

"Spanish?" I asked.

"Dragoon, most likely," Mary replied. "They patrol these waters heavily, since they believe, correctly, that Tortuga is, currently, nearby. They have been searching for it for as long as it has existed."

I could see a dark smudge on the horizon, "Can we outrun them?"

Mary shook her head, "Not with my hull this damaged."

"Can we make it to Tortuga?"

"Remember, if enemies are this close, Tortuga is designed to stay hidden. We can't enter until we either deal with that ship, lure it away, or it departs."

"All right," I said, watching the Dragoon ship.

She snapped the spyglass closed and said, "We're going to have to fight." Then she turned to her crew and started barking orders, "Rig for battle! I want as much sail as you can manage! Get the nets up, the muskets out, and arm yourselves to repel boarders!"

The crew started scurrying around. They put out buckets of sea water, ready to douse fires, strung nets over parts of the deck, to keep falling debris from landing on their heads, and pulled back cannons, preparing them to fire.

They raised gun port covers and distributed small arms.

Mary called out, "Raise the Jack!"

A crewman pulled a rope and the Jolly Roger went up the highest mast to flap in the breeze, proudly.

"Now they know who we are, let them come," Mary stated, intensely.

"Do you expect to board them?" I asked.

"No, we don't have the manpower for that, the Dragoons will outfight us, hand to hand, the muskets are just to repel boarders if they get that close. We have to win this one with a little TLC."

"Tender loving care?" I replied, in amusement.

"Tactics, luck, and cannons," Mary noted wryly. "It's all about the wind and the sea and who uses it best, not to mention, firing straight and true."

It took another three hours before the Spanish Dragoon ship closed to firing range. All that time, Mary ran from them, headed for an island ahead.

"What are you headed?" I asked.

"That is Jamaica. I'm going to use the shallow reefs to help us out. Revenge is nimbler than that Man-O-War, though that bitch has more guns," Mary noted, fiercely.

I can now see the tall Spanish ship with my naked eyes and noticed that she has 35 guns, on each side, more than twice as many as Revenge. It is an advantage in firepower, but a Man-O-War is not as fleet as a frigate.

That's when the first cannon fired from the front facing guns of the Man-O-War. Water erupted to our stern, short of our Ship.

"He just wants me to stop and fight," Mary said, with a grin, and glanced up at the full sails billowing high above. "Come on, wind, just a little more," she whispered.

The color of the water started changing, getting lighter turquoise as we sailed into shallow water. Mary has a crewman yelling reports from above, in the crow's nest, and another from the bow.

After hearing about the lay of the reef, Mary called to the helmsmen, "Hard to port, on my command... NOW!"

He spun the big multi-handled wheel and Revenge heeled over, turning to port. The crew leaped to the halyards and lines to readjust the sails.

This should have been the moment when the Dragoon ship went about and raked us with a broadside; however, they are just coming into range and are too late. Mary had timed her maneuver to catch the Spanish ship in a narrow part of the reef, where they dared not turn to get a good firing solution on Revenge.

Revenge turned, side on, to the prow of the Spanish ship and Mary called out. "Fire port cannons at will!"

A series of cannon roars went off and white smoke billowed out. Revenge heeled slightly to the starboard from the launch of all that metal ball ammunition.

The front of the Man-O-War blew into splinters as the cannon balls blasted through. Only a few actually hit, but the ones which did caused terrible damage.

"Starboard, ninety degrees, now!" Mary yelled.

The ships wheel spun the opposite way and Revenge turned, now stern to the Dragoon ship and off center to their port side. The warship fired its forward cannons and one of the balls hit the stern starboard rail of the upper deck, shattering it into a hail of splinters. I crouched down, behind a crate, but Mary stood through the blast, hands on hips, and she laughed. "Is that the best ye have?" she called to the Spanish ship, though they couldn't hear her from this distance.

She turned to the helmsman, who is wounded, but still able to stand, and said, "Starboard, ninety degrees; bring us about, Mister!"

"Aye, Captain," he replied and spun the wheel again.

Revenge turned and her sails snapped around. Zim Crewman adjusted them while others crossed the deck and manned the starboard cannons.

The Man-O-War also turned to Starboard, attempting to bring their massive array of port guns to bear, but their turn was a bit slower than Revenge and she completed her turn before they got all the way around. Mary cried out, "Starboard broadside, FIRE!"

The fourteen cannons went off and, this time, many of them hit the Spanish ship.

Wood blasted up into the air and a whole section of the gun deck exploded when some black powder ignited. One lucky shot hit the center mast and it came crashing down, doing terrible damage.

"Hard to Port!" Mary yelled.

Revenge turned but wasn't fast enough to get all the way around before the Man-O-War fired.

Fortunately, due to the destruction of Mary's preemptive broadside, only ten cannons were still manned and capable of firing, but they tore into Revenge with devastating effect. I saw several of the crew blown to pieces down in the decks below, but our masts are still standing and, though she shuddered and hesitated, Revenge managed to complete the turn.

Mary sailed on, winding out of the reefs, carefully and, behind her, the wounded Man-O-War went aground on one of the reefs.

Mary grinned and then had her crew reverse course; she came around from the deep side of the reefs, lined up a broadside, and blew the Dragoon ship to wreckage. That Dragoon Man-O-War will never hunt another Pirate Ship! Revenge limped off, wounded, but victorious.

# Chapter zThirteen – Tortuga Harbor

A few hours later, Mary told me we are approaching Tortuga. As far as I can see, we are completely out of sight of land, in all directions. Mary carefully charted our location and ordered most of her Zim crew on deck to scan the water.

I pretended to know what they are looking for, though I have no idea.

It took some time, but, finally, one of the Zims called out, "Thar, to Starboard, Captain!"

I looked, but I only saw empty ocean, well, except for a small clear bottle floating on its side.

Mary ran to the Starboard side and looked down at the water, ahead, toward the bottle. She had already reduced sail to a small amount of canvas so we are moving quite slowly.

Using her spyglass, Mary looked at the bottle and then snapped the spyglass shut, exclaiming, "At last!"

Mary then went to a special wooden box mounted on the port side of the Ship's wheel. When she opened the lid, I saw a simple lever, currently pushed forward. My Pirate captain looked up at me, grinned, and pulled the lever back.

Immediately, the Ship started shrinking. In Wonderland, I'd shrunk my body, so this isn't as disconcerting as you might imagine, yet it is still interesting to watch the entire Ship, and crew, shrink.

Suddenly, the calm ocean became full of massive swells. Ahead I saw the simple clear rum bottle, which I had seen floating on its side in the sea. The bottle is now massive, many times larger than Revenge. In fact, as we continued to approach the bottle, we continued to shrink, until we became small enough to sail into the half-submerged and narrow opening of the bottleneck. We sailed in easily, entering the bottle with our tiny Ship.

As soon as we sailed into the bottle, the bottle disappeared and we are, once again, in what seems like the normal Caribbean Sea. However, I can now see an island, ahead of us, where, moments before, we had been completely out to sea.

Mary ordered her crew to raise more canvas and we sailed toward a narrow opening, which leads into a natural harbor.

Poking up over the tops of palm trees, I can see several masts. As we came around the bluff and entered the lagoon through the cut in the reef, I beheld a beautiful site.

There is a port and the structures of a small town dotted over the rolling hills above the lagoon. There is a dense array of buildings, down at the waterfront. As they continue up into the lush green foliage, they become more spread out. A mansion stands at the highest point, looking down on the lagoon. In the harbor, there are about twenty ships and boats on moorings. Most of them are small caravel or carrack class boats. There are also a few sloops and even two Dutch flutes. However, anchored in the center, most prominently, is a big galleon, a full three decks high, with four masts and heavy cannons. Although it is the largest Ship in the anchorage, it is not the vessel which draws your eye.

Anchored fifty yards south of the galleon, I beheld a frigate, similar, in size, to Mary's Revenge. This new Ship is stunning. The beautiful frigate is painted bright red and gold, with finely carved artistry and beautiful lines. She is more than just a Ship; I beheld a floating work of art. This magnificent Ship has forty polished brass cannons, twenty to a side. Currently, most of them are hidden behind, square cut, gun ports, but a few of the ports are open, displaying polished gleaming brass cannons glinting in the bright sunlight. At the stern, done in gold lettering, I read the Ship's name, 'Arabella'.

"She is a real beauty," Mary noted, as we slowly sailed past the Arabella.

"Whose Ship is she?"

She laughed, "You know who! What is with you today? That's the Arabella, Captain Blood's Ship. You remember HIM, right? After all, he is ONLY one of the most famous Pirates in Tortuga!"

"I told you, I've forgotten a lot of things," I noted.

She shrugged. "Well, the Arabella has been anchored here for as long as I can remember and, until you came on the scene, Captain Blood has been Pirate One since I have been a Pirate."

"Doesn't he take her out?" I asked.

"Not in recent years," and her voice turned sad. "No one really knows why, but they say he is suffering from a broken heart. That Ship is named Arabella for a reason. No one has seen Captain Blood in some time."

"So, what is the story behind that?" I asked.

"No one knows; if you find out, let me know," she replied, with a wink.

As the Zim crew tied Revenge up at main city dock, a large crowd started to gather. They all cheered, like crazy, and Mary leaped up onto the railing, holding onto one of the mast stays while taking a bow.

"We watched yer battle wit' th' Man-O-War!" one man called.

"Well done!" another Pirate woman declared.

"How did they watch us?" I asked softly, standing below her on the deck.

She looked down, briefly, at me and said, "Up in the mansion, there is a big table map of the Sabatini Zone, Captain Blood wrote a routine that shows ships on it in miniature, but they are fully animated and show every detail, live, even the people on board."

A man, in a full captain's outfit, called, "That Dragoon ship has been hoverin' around th' exit from Tortuga fer weeks; we couldn't get a Ship in or out!"

But many of the people were looking at the massive damage to the once beautiful Revenge; she has battle scars all over her, some from more than just the recent battle.

"I'll meet you at the Saucy Stench," Mary said to the crowd, "and regale you with stories of my adventures, but first, I must see to getting repairs started on Revenge."

Another pirate on the quay called out, "She lived up t' her name today! Long may she sail!"

One last cheer went up and then the Pirate crowd headed for the heart of the town, laughing and the singing ribald or adventurous songs all the way.

Mary had her crew sail Revenge to a shipyard, nearby, which includes a dry dock system which can lift a Ship out of the water, when needed. Once there, Mary ordered teams of Zim workers to get cracking on her Ship repairs. She supplied them with the routines from her private files.

"Come on, these are automated repairs, they will have Revenge back to her old self, soon," Mary said, with a grin, as she climbed down a ladder; I followed her to the dock.

We walked through the narrow streets, past little shops and eventually came to a larger structure, where all the Pirates, currently in Tortuga, are waiting to welcome the new arrivals.

A great cheer went up as Mary threw open the door and strode in, like a queen returning to her throne.

"Welcome home, Pirate Two!" a man called out.

A mighty roar of congratulations sounded in the room, as Mary received her due for achieving such a feat and so much coup.

A man, with a thick black beard, dressed in layered pirate clothes, strolled over and asked Mary. "So, who be it ye 'ave brought in wit' ye on Revenge?"

Mary turned to me with a grin and said, "I brin' ye, Long John Silver, returned from th' dead! Pirate One!"

Mary expected a massive roar of approval, as would befit the return of such a famous Pirate and the achievement of becoming Pirate One, but, instead, sudden silence greeted her announcement.

Then the crowd slowly parted and a well-dressed Pirate, all in dark brown and gold, walked forward. He has a drooping mustache and long brown hair hanging down straight. And, damn it, he actually has a parrot sitting on his shoulder. He also sports a peg leg on his right side which makes a 'clop' sound every time he steps on the plank floor. He is, literally, the quintessential Caribbean pirate, stepping right off the pages of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

"That be a pretty good trick since I be Long John Silver. I jus' managed t' return t' Tortuga, aft a long hiatus. T' quote Clemens, Th' report o' me death was an exaggeration."

Mary lowered the raised mug of ale she held in the air, which she had used to point to me, and a puzzled look came over her face. Then she spoke to the man with the parrot, "Ye cana be Long John!"

But the real, or at least, current, Long John Silver just raised an eyebrow and said, "Though we 'ave nah met afore, Mary Read, many Pirates here know me 'n can vouch fer me claim. I be who says I am. Th' imposter came in wit' ye!" And, with that statement, he pulled out his cutlass. People scrambled out of the way, clearing the way between us for a fight.

Mary turned to me with anger brewing on her brow and said, "Explain yourself!"

But I didn't have time for that, Long John Silver attacked with a backhanded slash of his curved sword blade.

I leaped back and my sword flashed out of my sheath and into my hand.

We traded three quick blows, our swords clashing with loud ringing parries. I felt my leg come up against a bench, behind me and stepped up and then onto the bench and from there, to the table, kicking goblets and plates out of the way with my boots.

Long John stepped up onto the other end with a double 'clop' of his peg leg and we traded four more quick blows and parries while standing above the watching Pirate crowd.

The spectators yelled for John to take my head, but, after our fourth parry, I held up my free hand, palm up and said, "Please wait, Mr. Silver, give me chance to explain. You have to excuse Mary Read, it is not her fault; she jumped to the conclusion that I am Long John Silver. I did not confirm this, though I did not deny it, either. You see, I needed her help to get to Tortuga. She brought me here on her Ship since she believed I already knew the way. I did not actually claim the name of Long John Silver and, the fact is; I don't know if I even have a Pirate name."

Long John stopped and silence came over the crowd, for a moment, until someone said, "But, he IS Pirate One!"

Long John looked me over and then lowered his cutlass. He turned to Mary, whose mouth is partly open in shock. My view of her had been blocked, but now I see the confusion on her face, as do others. Long John spoke to her, but his words are in a loud voice, for everyone to hear, "He be indeed Pirate One 'n he has earned a name by reachin' Tortuga, as well as foolin' Mary Read into taken 'im here! Th' coup be his, fer a con well played! I feel no further insult since he didnâ actually claim me name."

The crowd now roared in laughter and I saw Mary's face flush red. I tried to go toward her, to explain, but people grabbed me and lifted me on their shoulders, welcoming a new Pirate, who has succeeded in finding the fabled Tortuga, even if it had been in a new and sneaky way. But Pirates appreciated guile, it is how they stay out of zPol's grasp.

I tried to turn, and get to Mary, but I spotted her going out the door. The crowd picked me up again and stood me on the bar, yelling, "Speech!"

Someone else called out, "He needs nam'in!"

I found myself the center of attention and thought about what to say to get me out of here. Then I said, "I thank you for the warm welcome, but I have much to learn before I am worthy of a Pirate name. I don't even know why zPol advanced me to Pirate One, but I aim to find out! Again, thank you for welcoming me to the Pirate ranks, but I humbly submit that I still have much to learn. Give me a name when we all know why I am famous."

"All right, lad," Long John said, nodding. "Wea'l wait 'til ye 'ave yer owns Ship afore we name ye."

"I believe that is fair," I said and got down from the bar.

As soon as I could get away from those wanting to shake my hand, or slap me on the back, I slipped out of the Saucy Stench. Night has fallen and the cobblestone streets are damp with dew.

I wandered around the town, looking for Mary, I even went to Revenge, but she is not onboard. I am surprised by how fast the repairs are going, this kind of work, in the real world, would take months, but it looks like her Ship will be back in shape by morning. The Zims don't need sleep and are working around the clock. It must be something the founders of Tortuga wrote into the base rules. It is very handy, being able to repair your Ship here, swiftly.

While searching for Mary, I went to various locations in the town. More than once I was accosted; word has spread that there is a new Pirate One and that he is a green Pirate, freshly arrived in Tortuga. As I traveled the town, in search of Mary, I received various offers to drink or party, a pair of girls even invited me to their room for a romp. I declined; I have no interest in them, not after being with Mary.

I entered an Inn and inquired about Mary, but she isn't staying at this establishment. The Innkeeper asked me if I wanted a room. He told me that, for Pirate One, there is no charge. I am getting mentally tired and I need to check on my real body, so I accepted and went upstairs with the key to room 21.

Once in my room, I undressed and got under the covers, then closed my eyes.

Loki? I thought.

Yes, Sir? came his immediate reply.

Let me get two local hours' rest, then wake me and transition my mind back to my real body.

As you wish, Sir.

# Chapter zFourteen – La Brea Tar Pits

Loki woke me on time and, when I awakened enough, transitioned my mind back to my real brain.

I extracted myself from the barrier I'd built and worked my way out of the abandoned Hollywood building. It is afternoon, here in Southern California, the temperature about 82 degrees, I noted. On my way out of the building, I passed a broken mirror and inspected my face, the scabs are starting to peel.

Goop smears cause accelerated healing, so it won't be long before my new face is scab free. I am starting to see my new face take shape, now. I am more handsome than I'd been, no surprise there, I mean, if you ARE going to go through the expense of a gene recipe, you might as well come out looking better. Some of the harsher shapes of my face have been smoothed out and my nose is straighter. If I'd been a cross of Wasp and American Indian, with a hint of Asian, before, now I am more like a mix of James Dean and Brad Pitt, including sandy colored hair.

In another day, I figure I will be scab free, though still a bit red.

I caught a ground effect taxi and paid with my zCard for a ride to La Brea. Once there, I had a meal at a street taco vendor. These guys never change; this one has the same small cart and unknown meat, with the little doubled-up tortillas they always serve.

I glanced at my watch and then spent some time wandering around. The La Brea Tarpits are no longer the big attraction they had once, if ever, been. Nowadays, you can go to the Jurassic period Zone, or, if you want an adventure, to the Crichton Zone. There you can visit his famous island dinosaur resort, now overrun by dinosaurs, just like in the series of old flat films. I guess it might be fun enough, trying to keep from being eaten by a pack of intelligent Raptors and a marauding T-Rex; then again, maybe not. However, just because this kind of Zone isn't my cup of tea doesn't mean others don't like the thrill of, possibly, getting eaten.

With the Tar Pits losing their luster, and Zcerebral's canceling of all national landmarks when they ended the country system, the Tar Pits had eventually been sold. The new owners constructed a bar, erecting long curved legs shaped like big dinosaur bones, which suspend the bar over the Tar Pits below. Dinosaur bones are displayed all around the walls of the bar and the chair and table legs are fake bones. Drinks and food all have names from famous dinosaur legends. It is a mildly popular place, where people catch some real food to stoke up their body's engine before a trip to the Crichton Zone.

The favorite thing to order is the dino steak, which uses a very small plate so that the big steak hangs over the edges in some kind of Flintstones parody.

I got there, kind of early, so I hung out and nursed a Raptor Blood drink, which is probably just some vodka, grenadine, whiskey, and cranberry juice. It tasted fairly awful, which may have been the fault of the bartender more than the drink, but I am not sure. However, it cost me 10 zMinutes, so I drank it very slowly. I am determined to make it last until Ellie arrives.

Then she walked in, also a bit early, and headed for my booth. She bumped another table on the way over, but I recall that she has always been a bit clumsy.

"Hey, Professor," she said in greeting, as she slipped into my booth.

"You sound happier to see me than last time," I noted, hopefully.

She shrugged, "Well, I thought about it, you have to know who your friends are. Even if their actions might get your body donated, at least they are your friends."

I laughed. "You know, you're probably right."

She looked over my, somewhat, scabby, new face. "I kind of like the new look, minus the scabs," she noted with a half-smile.

"Thanks," I said, grinning back at her.

She looked around, but no one is in earshot; the bar hardly has any patrons. She spoke in a low voice, anyway, "My friend got your scan in the system."

"Really?" I said with real hope in my voice. Finally, something good!

"Yep, your new brain pattern is registered, but you'll have to transfer in some zTime."

"No problem," I replied. I took out my zCard and used the table scanner to bring up my 'new' account. I am a little worried that the moment I get scanned Zombie flyers will descend from the heavens, but my account information appeared in the air, in front of me, so there doesn't seem to be any flags on it, nor is anyone taking notice.

I used the card to transfer all except 50 zHours into the new account. It is like a weight has been lifted, I am alive again. I can go anywhere and do anything, assuming I have the zHours. And no Zombies will descend on me like vultures to a dead carcass.

"I can't tell you how much this means to me," I said to Ellie.

"Well, you can do something for me, in exchange," she answered, her big eyes staring into mine.

I nodded, once, slowly, "If it is in my power."

"Professor, you are the best sculptor I've ever met, I want you to help me find out something from Zcerebral."

"Wow, you don't pick small targets, they do control the entire world and all the Zones, you know," I noted, dryly.

"Yes, and they did it with programmers. That's how they started and, underneath it all, they control the world by controlling the flow of information. Somewhere, in that massive beast, there is confirmation of something which I believe is true. I need that confirmation. I don't expect to overthrow Zcerebral; I just want to know one thing, one important thing, at least, to me."

"All right, what is it you want to know so badly?" I asked, curiously.

She hesitated, but then said, "I suspect that Zcerebral murdered my father. That is the reason I first came to you as a grad student. Word was, you are the best sculptor there is and I wanted to learn from the best. I needed to get good enough to hack into Zcerebral, so I could learn the truth. I never told you that, I couldn't, it is the kind of thing which can get your body donated. However, now that you are a wanted man, I figure that there is no further risk to me, or you, in telling you about this, or asking for your help."

I nodded. "You're right, at this point, I am a wanted criminal and zPol is going to try to hunt me down, so, doing something illegal isn't really going to make things worse. It's like the old Monty Python line, 'Worse, how can it be worse!'"

Ellie spoke seriously, "I need to know about my father, beyond a doubt. I want absolute proof."

I looked at the young girl, curiously. I wonder how many more stories there are out there of people, just like her, that Zcerebral has hurt in some way.

When the Zones were first created, the world threw down their governments, expecting something better. Zcerebral promised a new beginning, with the wonders of the Zones as their carrot, but now that they control it all, they have turned into a monster. Instead of an enlightened world, we got a police state, worse than anything we'd feared from the old governments. There is no check and balance, Zcerebral is the sole power, now and holds all the cards, well, all except the Joker. The Pirate community is the one Joker in their deck.

"All right, I'll help you find the truth if I can."

She smiled at me, encouragingly, and I noticed, again, that Ellie is an attractive girl, though more cute than pretty. But, thinking of another girl made me think, guiltily, of Mary. Not that they looked, or acted, at all the same; Mary is heart-stoppingly beautiful, tall and graceful, with a 'Carpe diem' kind of attitude. In contrast, Ellie is a bit uncoordinated and small, with more of the girl-next-door attractiveness. She is very smart, but she is cautious and thinks things through before leaping.

Thinking of Mary Read made my heart ache a little, but I put that aside. I owed no allegiance to Mary, nor did she to me. We'd had a wonderful date, then an adventure, and one special night together, special to me, at least. I swallowed and tried to get my mind back on business, or, at least, on Ellie.

So, I said, "All right, let's talk about how we approach the Jabberwocky."

She nodded and looked at me intently.

I took a deep breath, I can't believe I am even considering going up against the one and only world power, but I said, "First, we have to figure out where the information you need might be accessed."

She answered without even a thought, "It will be on the Zone Servers."

I spoke incredulously, "Really, the Zone Servers?

She ignored my outburst and said, "Yes, I know the server location is their most prized secret, but that is where everything is stored. If we find the servers, we can find the truth about my father."

I laughed. "Ellie, if all the major old governments on Earth, with all their covert resources, couldn't find those servers, why do you think we can?"

Ellie leaned closer to me and I, once again, smelled her particular perfume and girlish aroma. Then she whispered, "Because I already have a clue to where they might be located."

I found myself speechless. It really is true that all the resources of the major powers had gone looking for these servers and failed. And, when I say all, this includes the full might of the U.S. government agencies, CIA, FBI, Homeland, NSA, and other dark agencies. Then there were all the other agencies of other governments who used all their resources and agencies as well... and they ALL failed.

I tried to make this seem better than it sounded, "Ellie, any clue you found to the location of the Zone servers is likely a false trail put there by Zcerebral, a honeypot to attract those people trying to locate those secret servers."

"I know that, but I've checked it out, thoroughly. Trust me, when I tell you that my clue was not obvious, or, in any way, easy to find. The clue I found is in a single line of junk code, which I discovered during a trace. It is only a few leftover bytes from something which they erased. It was mistakenly left in a piece of memory which just never got overwritten and it is just one little line. This snippet of code was so hard to find, and such a small crumb, that it is a miracle I found it at all. No one would hide a Honeypot this well, clues to a Honey Pot are purposely easier to locate."  
"OK, just for the moment, let's pretend it is valid, what did this line of code tell you?"

"It is part of a data transfer routine, moving Zone data to a new location. You know what that means? They moved the server data, at some point, to a new server location."

"Really, when?"

"Years ago, when Canada and the U.S. were nearly at war," she whispered softly.

I considered this and then said, "Anything else?"

"Yes," she said, "There is a transfer location."

"A location! Where?"

"Sin Circle."

I stared at her for a moment and then said, "You think the Zone servers are in Sin Circle, Las Vegas? The exclusive resort which claims they don't use the Zones at all, where everything is real? They are the exact opposite of the Zones. They are also the center of all that is immoral and deviant. I'm surprised that zPol hasn't shut them down!"

Ellie looked at me with her big eyes and I kind of fell into them, which is why I almost missed her next statement. "Yes, isn't it strange that zPol hasn't shut down Sin Circle?"

I thought about that for a moment.

Ellie continued, "And, being the opposite of Zcerebral, isn't that the last place you would suspect, or look, for the technology of the Zone servers?"

That made me think, hard, but then I said, "That would also mean that, while the U.S. NNEMP bombed a part of Canada, attempting to destroy the Zone Servers in a last-ditch effort at saving themselves, Zcerebral had already moved the servers to the very country which wanted to destroy them, at any cost. Don't you think they would have picked somewhere else, like, oh, the South Pole?

"And then there is all that massive server equipment, they would have to move all of it across the border and into Sin Circle. With the amount of scrutiny going on, that would have been noticed. The U.S. government, and everyone else were LOOKING for the sale, or existence, of any large amount of server equipment. They tracked down every piece of equipment, even remotely large enough to make those servers, and still didn't find them. The whole world looked for those servers!"

She shook her head, causing her longer hair, toward the front, on either side of her face, to wave back and forth. "I don't know how they moved the servers but putting them in the U.S. would have been brilliant misdirection. They relocated them where no one would suspect, under the very nose of the U.S. government. They weren't going to NNEMP bomb Las Vegas, were they?"

I thought it through and nodded, the concept is a little like me hiding in the Zombie flyer, I did it because they would never think to look so close to home.

"It would be insane and devious," I agreed.

She shrugged, "Or, the clue I found really is just a honeypot."

I nodded and then said, "It looks like we're going to have to go to Vegas."

She looked hesitant. "I know, and I've been planning for it for some time, but now that the moment has come, I have to admit, I'm a little scared."

"How else can we find out if that is the location?"

Ellie bit her lower lip and I found that strangely attractive, but she didn't notice, and said, "You're right, it's the only way."

"So, are you up for an adventure?"

She smiled forlornly, "I'm more of the 'stay at home and figure things out' kind of girl, but, in this case, I've been preparing for this for four years, so I'm going to have to leave my comfort zone."

I smiled, and then said, "I see you really do want to know the truth about your father's death."

"Yes, whatever it takes."

Then I nodded and said, "It's time for a good, old-fashioned, Las Vegas road trip."

She took a breath and nodded.

"We can catch the Mag Train," I suggested.

She started to get up and replied, "I have some things I need to tie up, can we meet to depart tomorrow morning, at 10 am?"

"Deal, I'll see you at Union Station."

She nodded, "I'll meet you there, Professor."

I watched her go and she bumped into two tables on her way out, no doubt, worried about doing something this crazy. I found I myself looking forward to spending more time with Ellie.

I went to a nearby hotel and got a room. This time, I just used the brain scanner to pay the room fee. I lay down on the bed and asked Loki to transition my mind back to my Paragon in Tortuga.

# Chapter zFifteen – Tortuga Docks

In Tortuga, back in the Inn, I awoke in my Paragon. From the bright sunlight, it is obviously morning in this Zone. I slipped on my clothes and headed out to find Mary. I headed down to the wharf, where the docks stick out into the harbor. On arrival, I spotted Revenge sailing out the mouth of the harbor. It is only about nine-thirty, so the dock area is deserted.

I ran out onto the dock, but Mary's Ship is too far to hail.

There I stood, mouth slightly open, as I watched Mary's Ship slip away. I have a new sensation in my stomach, one that I don't like, at all. It is a sick feeling of loss and aching longing.

I didn't even notice the man who walked out to where I stood watching Revenge slip away.

He spoke softly, "She sailed with the tide."

My head bowed and tears rimmed the lower part of my eyes.

"I see you cared for her and she for you," he said in a sympathetic voice.

I answered, suddenly angry, "Not enough to even say goodbye!"

"She was hurt and she felt betrayed," he noted.

I clenched my fists, my nails cutting into my palms as pain ached in my heart.

I spoke angrily, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen, she didn't even give me a chance to explain."

The man nodded, "Listen, Son," he said as if speaking to a younger man, "sometimes emotional pain is like that, it makes us do things that we wouldn't normally even consider."

I took a deep breath and said, "I wish I could just talk to her, maybe I should Flash her before she gets out of the Zone."

"Maybe, but I recommend against it. After a little time, she will calm down and so will you, that will be a better time for you both to explore your true feelings."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Find out if your new feelings survive separation and hurt, or was this just meant to be two ships passing in the night, now separated forever? Only time will tell."

I finally looked over at the man for the first time. He is not dressed like the rest of the Pirates, though he is definitely in the style of this time period. His clothes are cut in a more noble style, impeccably tailored, utterly clean, with white ruffles at the neck and wrist. He has a gold pocket watch chain emerging from his small vest pocket. He also has a, very serviceable, yet ornately decorated, rapier at the hip. He looks like a Spanish nobleman more than a pirate.

"And, who are you, Sir?" I asked.

"Peter is the name. What do they call you?"

"Mary has been calling me John, but that is a borrowed name. I've been keeping my real name a secret, though I don't suppose that is necessary here."

"On the contrary! May I be so bold as to give you some advice? This place is safe from zPol Dragoons, but it is not safe in other ways. If you wish to remain anonymous, then do so. I believe that would be very wise."

"But, I can't keep going by another person's name."

"No, I suppose not, why don't you remain mysterious? We could call you Z."

"Z, just Z?"

"Yes, like I said, mysterious."

I shrugged.

He continued, "Well, Z, I am pleased to meet you. I think you need a friend right now."

I looked at him and then smiled, "How do I know I can trust you?"

He smiled, "Oh, you don't. In fact, it would be best if you don't trust anyone at this stage in your life."

I glanced out to where Revenge is barely visible now.

He nodded, "Not even those you care about."

I watched as Revenge went out of sight and then sighed. "Well, I'm kind of lost right now; I'm not sure what I should do. I have a lot of questions, which need answers, and I don't know where to begin looking for those answers."

"If I were you, I would seek god," he replied.

I smiled, "Unfortunately, I have never felt the need for divine guidance, nor do I necessarily believe in any particular deity."

Peter smiled, "Indeed, but that is your own choice, however, I am not referring to God, but to G.O.D., it's a three-letter acronym, it stands for Geek Outwitting Death."

I smiled, "And who would that be?"

Peter answered, "Well, he's the most famous Ghost in the Zones."

"Ghost?"

The well-dressed gentleman nodded. "Ghosts, don't you recall them?"

I thought about it and then remembered. A Ghost is a human mind that is trapped in the Zones without a body back on Earth in which to return. This can only happen if the body is killed while the mind is uplinked to the Zone servers.

"Yes, now that I think about it," I answered.

"Well, god is the most famous Ghost there is, he has almost every Gonker out there trying to send him to his grave," Peter explained.

Again, like a balloon inflating with more air, I suddenly remembered Gonkers. This is the term for a Ghost Zonker, just shortened to Gonker. They hunt Ghosts in the Zones. It is considered great sport and has a feel of 'reality' to it. If they manage to zonk a Ghost, they are legally killing a real person, because a Ghost doesn't have a body to recover the mind when zonked. And, since a Ghost is illegal in the zones, there is no law stopping Teers from hunting them down.

Gonkers keep trophies of their kills, a 3D image of the Ghost head, mounted on a trophy stand.

Gonkers are generally Teers, not Pirates, but there are even a few Pirates who hunt for sport. It generally takes a group of Teers to track and zonk a Ghost, but, whichever of the group actually zonks the Ghost gets the trophy. Not only that, but a confirmed Ghost Zonk earns the Gonker a bounty from Zcerebral, 1,000 zHours. That is a hefty sum. Because of this, there are few Ghosts in the Zones.

Peter explained, "Being the most famous Ghost, god has had thousands of Gonkers go after him and most of those get zonked trying to collect the 1,000 zHour bounty."

"That's a lot of zHours," I noted.

He laughed, "Well, I wouldn't attempt to collect them if I were you. Besides, god has information which will be more valuable to you than zHours."

"What kind of information?" I asked, suddenly suspicious.

"I can't begin to tell you, but you seem to have questions and god is the one with answers. Perhaps you should go seek an audience?"

"How would I find him?" I asked.

He shrugged. "That will be for you to discover, but you will need a Ship."

"Great, I don't seem to have one," I noted.

"Well, I can't give you mine, right now, so you'll have to find, or build, one of your own. What you need is a good old-fashioned treasure map to lead you to your fortune, with 'X' marks the spot."

"I wish," I noted, laughing.

He smiled, "Well, if you are looking for advice or someone to talk to, you can find me at the mansion, the white one, up there," he said, pointing to a hilltop to the south, where a large villa overlooked the bay. "Ask for 'Peter'. Good day to you, Sir," he said, tipping his hat and striding off down the street in the direction of that villa.

I watched him go and shook my head at the strange characters you meet in the Zones. Sure, a treasure map, I thought, with amusement. Then I remembered the map Mary had gotten from the Hatter, she'd handed it to me on her Ship. I checked my pocket and, sure enough, I still have it. Perhaps this might be my treasure map?

I headed back to the Inn and went up to my room; I need some privacy and a desk to spread out the map.

As I walked back up the winding streets, I thought about the riddles the Hatter had given us and remembered that I'd answered one after Mary got the map; the answer had been 'Cipher'.

So, was he telling me that this map needs a cipher to unravel its secrets?

A cipher often has a key or code you need to unravel the real message.

Once back in my room, I spread out the map and looked over all the nonsensical verses of scrawled writing. If there is a cipher key, maybe it will unscramble the words? But I don't know the key. Justice gave us the map and told us that there is a cipher. Now that I think about it, if we were captured, and the map was taken, zPol would not have been able to figure out the secret. That has to be why Justice used a cipher, but he must have given us a clue to the answer, or the map is useless. What had he said after I answered the 'cipher' riddle? Then I recalled his words:

'I'll hand you your answer, none-the-less.'

'When you're young you want it,

When you're old you dread it,

When you're dead you can't continue it.'

The answer to that riddle had been 'Aging' and if he was handing me the answer, could that be the cipher? Could the word Aging do something with the verses? I looked them over but saw no immediate answer.

Maybe it is every word that starts with each letter of the word 'aging'. I looked over the words on the map and then wrote down the first word in the first verse that started with 'A', then the next word that started with 'G' and so on, but it made no sense.

Then I thought about it and 'A', in the alphabet, is the first letter, so that is a '1' and 'g' is the seventh, so a 'g' is '7', 'i' is '9' and 'n' is '14', then 'g' so '7' again.

So now I wrote down the first then seventh, then ninth, then fourteenth, then seventh words and started repeating the sequence, but it still didn't give me anything useful.

Then I tried the same numbers, but picked letters in that sequence, 1,7,9,14,7, repeat.

I knew I had it immediately when the first word it spelled out was, 'Heorot'. I kept going and the second word was 'Zone', then 'Grendel's' and 'Cave'.

After translating the message with my cipher key, I sat looking out at the bay wondering, what will I find in Grendel's cave? It looks like I will have to find a way to travel to the Heorot Zone to discover the answer.

I headed down to the port again, hoping to find some Pirates willing to go on an adventure to Heorot, but, as I got near the harbor, I heard a yell go up, then a cheer. I increased my pace and came out onto the street which runs along the docks. I soon spotted the reason for all the commotion, a beautiful, five-masted, 165-foot-long, Fuchuan warship is coming around the point, headed for the harbor. The elliptical and slightly curved, sails with their bamboo inserts, are distinctively Chinese.

I went to the railing along the quay, where a red-headed pirate woman stood watching the Ship come into the harbor.

"Good day," I said, in greeting.

She glanced at me briefly and obviously recognized me because she nodded her head. "Good day to you, Pirate One," she said with a slight smile.

"Call me 'Z'" I answered.

She inclined her head and answered, "And I'm Back from the Dead Red."

"That's a long name," I said with a wry grin.

"Also known as 'Jacquotte Delahaye, but everyone just calls me Red."

I bowed slightly, "May I ask you a question? Whose Ship is that?"

"Whose Ship?" she repeated and laughed, "That would be Ching Shih, Admiral of the Red Flag Fleet. She hasn't been back in Tortuga for over a year! I'll bet she has some tales to tell!"

Loki? I thought.

Here, Sir, he answered immediately and then said, Ching Shih is currently Pirate Four, though a few days ago, she was Pirate Two, moved down by you and Mary Read's sudden elevation. She is known for her fleet of Junk ships, her code of laws, and her daring raids on zPol strongholds. In many ways, she has taken the fight to zPol more than any other Pirate in the Zones."

I see, I replied.

The wheels started turning in my head. If she has a fleet of ships, surely, she might be willing to let me borrow one for my Heorot adventure.

Her Ship dropped anchor next to the large galleon. It is of about equal length, though the Fuchuan looks faster and more seaworthy. She has fewer guns, just ten to a side, though her iron cannons look huge.

"So, where is the rest of her fleet?" I asked.

"You would have to ask Ching Shih, assuming she is in the mood to talk. She can be a bit aloof," Red explained.

"Do you have a Ship?" I asked, suddenly.

She shook her head, "Destroyed, in the Niven Zone. I was rigged as a General Products hull #2, at the time and the Dragoons launched an anti-matter shell in my direction. I didn't see it coming."

"Sorry, were you zonked?"

"No, I managed to eject in a Stasis pod. I got picked up a year later by a search party of Pirates. Of course, it only felt like a second to me. I'm busy working on a new Ship now, but I have a lot of work to go," she said, wistfully.

"Who owns the galleon?" I asked.

"Blackbeard, but he hasn't been around lately and, before you ask, the Arabella is Captain Blood's Ship, she hasn't gone out for even longer."

I already knew that but didn't say anything.

There are a lot of smaller ships in port, but those can only take one Pirate and their Zim crew. This meant they would have to 'loan' me their Ship, which is extremely unlikely. That left Ching Shih's Fuchuan as the only Ship capable of taking multiple Pirates at once, with a captain I can easily approach, at least I hope easily.

"Thanks, Red," I said.

"Don't mention it," she replied.

I had Loki bring up my Engine routine and display it so that Red can see the code, "Perhaps you can use this in your new Ship."

She looked it over and her eyes widened. "How much?" she asked in a guarded and suspicious tone.

"It's yours, for the conversation."

"You're kidding! You don't even want something in trade?"

"Friendship will do," I answered.

She grinned and did a quick grab of the code to capture it.

After she finished, I said, "I'm going on an adventure, as soon as I get a Ship, you interested?"

Her grin faded a bit and she said, "Ah, so that's the price."

I laughed, "No, this is voluntary, the routine is yours if you go or not."

She nodded and then said, "OK, I'll think about it, once you tell me the particulars. Find me at the Stench tonight."

I nodded and then she left, headed for the shipyard.

The Fuchuan Ship is named in Chinese lettering, which Loki translated for me, it means 'The Dominator'. The Ship gleams with a highly polished sheen and is made of varnished teak wood. I watched the crew launch a long boat and row it to the dock. The passengers disembarked at the quay.

The first to climb out were the Zim crewmembers. These look like Chinese ruffians, decked out and fully armed in pirate outfits of the Asian variety. They arrayed themselves around a small Chinese woman.

Unlike the Zims, she is dressed simply, in a man's black Tang Suit, unadorned, with the traditional black Chinese ties to close the jacket and wide white cuffs at the ends of her sleeves.

She is compact, standing barely 5' 2" inches tall; her black hair is long and pulled straight back into a ponytail that goes midway down her back. The hilt of a Katana projects over her right shoulder, but other than that, she has no other objects or weapons about her person.

Her intense dark eyes are striking. She stared straight forward as she walked, but you have the feeling she still sees everything going on around her, down to the smallest movement and detail. She exudes the sense of vast intelligence in a small package.

When she reached the point where I stood, Ching Shih suddenly stopped and her Zims instantly surrounded me in a half circle, pinning me in. Their captain faced me from the center of their formation.

She turned her intense gaze on mine, looking into the depths of my soul. Then she gave a slight nod of her head, "Pirate One," is all she said.

"Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out why," I noted. "I'm going by the name, 'Z', for now," I added.

"Z, how... perfect. Z who is Pirate One, or perhaps, then, Z-One? Which, of course, also spells 'Zone'. Pirate One, Master of the Zones."

I shrugged, "I didn't even pick the name, let alone consider all that logic. You have an interesting mind, Ching Shih."

Again, that slight tilt of her head.

"What are you seeking, zOne?" And she spoke it as 'Zee-One'.

"The truth," I answered simply.

She looked into my eyes for a moment and then said, "The truth is the most expensive thing in the Universe."

"Don't I know it," I replied, smiling ruefully.

She pondered me for a moment, "And how do you intend to seek out the truth?"

"Well, one piece at a time, the first bit being something I must go find and, for that, I need a Ship. I seem to have misplaced mine, for the moment."

"And how does one go about misplacing their Ship?" she asked, raising one manicured eyebrow.

I shrugged. "I have a gap in my memories, but I also have a clue to what might fill in part of that gap. I'm going on an adventure to try and find it, as soon as I have a ride."

"And to where would this adventure take you?" she asked.

"Heorot," I answered, simply.

For the first time, the mask, which is her perfect face, showed the slightest expression, as the corner of her mouth turned up in just the hint of a smile. Then she stated, "Beowulf and his monster, Grendel."

"Aye, that is the place."

"That is a Challenge Zone," she noted.

"Yes, like Pyyrus," I answered.

A Challenge Zone is designed specifically to zonk Puppets. They are called Challenge Zones simply because they exist for the challenge. The idea, for the Teer, is to attempt to survive for as long as they can. There are Story Zones and Vacation Zones, as well as Tourist, thrill seeker Zones and several other types.

At my mention of Pyyrus, Ching Shih again arched an eyebrow, so I answered, "I was just on Pyyrus."

"And, how did you do on Deathworld?"

"I set the record for survival and then escaped, alive."

Again, that smile ghosted over her face. Then she said, "We sail with the tide, for Heorot, you may bring a small team." Ching Shih turned and headed off, her well-written Zims taking up their defensive perimeter.

"Wow," I said and, trust me, that is what you would have said if you met Ching Shih. You won't soon forget her, either. Ching Shih's amazing presence makes her 5' 2", diminutive body seem like a nine-foot-tall Azoma, right out of the NexLord World.

Now I need a team. I already have a start on that with 'Dead Red', but I will need to find some additional stalwart Pirates for my crew. It is time to head for the local pub and scare up some adventuresome mates. You see, Heorot is a Team Challenge Zone, not a solo Challenge like Pyyrus.

I walked into the Saucy Stench and stepped up onto a bench, near the middle of the seating. All eyes immediately turned to me and I called out. "I'm sure most of you know my face from the Top Ten list."

"Yeah, Pirate One!" someone yelled out.

"I am going by the name, 'Z', just like the last letter of the alphabet. I may be Pirate One, but I want to EARN my Pirate name!"

"Hear, hear!" another Pirate called out.

I nodded, "Yes and the only way to do that is to earn coup! I'm going to start that, right now, by heading out on an expedition, with a team of Pirates, and we're going after unknown treasure!"

"Treasure? What kind of treasure?" asked a Pirate with a bald head, which has tattoos all over it, like hair.

"I don't know, but I followed a clue and found someone named Justice..."

I was going to say more, but a hush came over the room and someone asked, "You found Justice?"

I paused in my speech and turned to the Pirate who had spoken. He is a younger man, wearing a long coat and tall boots. He has straight black hair, tied back with a black band. He asked, "What do you know about this Justice character?"

"Why, do you know him?" I countered.

"No, none of us do," the young-looking Pirate answered, "he's a bit of a mystery. He, and that 'Thor' appeared on the Top Ten list a week ago, kind of like you, without ever coming to Tortuga. That has never happened before and now there have been three new names on the Top Ten list in just a few weeks. Something is going on with Zcerebral and we don't like mysteries."

"Well, I found Justice hiding in Wonderland, as the Mad Hatter, but The Phoenix showed up and we were separated."

"THE PHOENIX came after you, personally?" the bald Pirate exclaimed, incredulously.

"Yes," I said and then added, "For reasons I can't yet explain, I AM Pirate One. The Phoenix is looking for me and thinks I stole something which belongs to Zcerebral. That is, likely, what has made me Pirate One."

"What did you steal?" Dead Red asked and I nodded to her in brief greeting, causing her to give me a big grin.

"I have no idea," I answered truthfully, "But... Justice gave me a treasure map and I believe it may lead to answers. I'm looking for a team of stalwart adventurers to help me take on Grendel in Heorot."

"You're going to go take on the Heorot Challenge Zone to seek some kind of hidden treasure, which Zcerebral wants?" a Pirate with long blonde hair declared.

"Yes, I am," I answered.

I heard mutters around the room as they discussed this news, but these are Pirates, they live to thwart Zcerebral.

"But, you don't have a Ship; do you expect one of us to supply one?"

"Actually," I answered, "I already have a Ship arranged for the sail to Heorot; my team will depart, on tomorrow's tide, aboard The Dominator."

That caused a babble of talk for a moment.

"Ching Shih is on board for this quest?" the bald-headed Pirate finally demanded.

I nodded.

"Count me in," he replied, grinning broadly and showing all gold teeth, some with diamonds worked into the centers. "I am Calico Jack."

"And me!" the young, well-dressed, Pirate added, "The name is Black Sam."

Red spoke up, "I can't let a bunch of scurvy men botch it up, so I guess I'll have to come along."

"And, I be like to join yer quest, Z," a voice from my left said. I looked, to see who it is, and found Long John Silver. He had spoken from behind the bar. It seems that he owns the Saucy Stench.

With that addition, more voices started chiming in, but I kept the number to 12, adding: George Booth, his buddy John Bowen, Charles Vane, Bartholomew Sharp, Edward England, James Kelly, Richard Worley and Henry Every. I had my crew, all named Pirates. Such a band has not worked together on a quest in the recorded history of the Tortuga Zone.

"When do we leave?" Henry asked, raising a mug of ale.

"With the tide, tomorrow morning, but tonight we DRINK!" I called out and a cheer went up from the assemblage. These Pirates will all get falling down drunk tonight, before risking their Paragon lives the following day. It could even be worse if the Dragoons get close, then zonking could lead to Body Donation, but these Pirates dared the Dragoons every time they left port. The Pirates of Tortuga stand against Zcerebral's oppression, no matter what the risks.

As for the drunken bash, the good news is, drinking in the Zones will give you all the symptoms of drunkenness, but come morning, there will be no hangover. Once the symptoms are turned off, all is back to normal. They can party all night, sleep two hours, and be fresh as a budding rose in the morning.

But I have to get back to my real body, at some point, before we leave; so, after a couple hours of partying with my new team, I headed for the Inn.

# Chapter zSixteen – Sin Circle

When I got up in the morning and washed my face, the last of my scabs peeled off. My face is a bit red, as expected, and my new skin is soft, like a baby's. It will toughen up some, soon enough.

I met Ellie at Union station and we boarded the Mag Train, without incident. We paid for a private cabin and relaxed in opposite facing chairs by the one big rectangular window in our cabin. There is a small table between us. We ordered some hot tea and, after it arrived, Ellie asked me, "Why do you think you were in Holgren Hospital? Were you just there to get the face smear and, if so, why did you want to change your face? Your original one was just fine."

I thought about her questions and answered truthfully. "I'm not really sure. You don't like my new face?"

She laughed. "It's growing on me, now that the scabs are gone."

"Well, I wish I knew the answers to your questions, but my memory is a bit sketchy about the whole thing."

She looked at me, oddly, for a moment. "You really don't remember anything about that day?"

"No, nothing much, other than waking up in the bed and having to piece my memories together. How did you end up at the hospital?"

Ellie explained, "You asked me to bring this Skey and put it on you before you woke up. When I got there, you were out cold."

I tilted my head, "Really? How strange, when did I give you the Skey?"

"You gave it to me at the college, then you asked me to take it to you at Holgren the next day. Riding this Mag Train reminded me of that, it's how I got to Barstow that day. You don't remember giving it to me?"

"Remember, I told you I might have taken a brain smear."

She smiled ruefully, "I'm not likely to forget that piece of idiocy."

"Right," I replied, with a wan smile. "However, think about it. If I knew I was going to do that, maybe I left a copy of my mind in the Zones and had you put the Skey back onto my neck so I could download my unaltered memories after the brain smear."

"I have no idea how you would even program that kind of mind meld. It hasn't been done, as far as I know," Ellie noted. "How would your altered mind even be recognized by the previous patterns in order to downlink?"

"But, as you said, I AM one of the best code sculptors around, maybe I did write some kind of melding routine."

"Maybe," she noted, skeptically, then added, "But, if you did, your routine didn't work, or didn't work completely."

"Yeah, but the melding may have restored some of my memories; I definitely remember some things, very well. Besides, it does explain things, somewhat."

She shrugged, "There is no way to know for sure."

"If we can prove I took a brain smear, then we'd know I am likely correct."

She just watched me thoughtfully.

"We're about to go through Barstow, we could check the records at Holgren Hospital and find out," I suggested.

She thought about that. "I doubt zPol is monitoring the hospital anymore, you are long gone."

"Right."

"All right, if we keep it brief; I'm on a bit of a schedule, which has to do with time zones, but we have a couple extra hours to kill."

"Let's say 'spend', I hope killing isn't involved," I noted, dryly.

We exited at Barstow Station and took a cab to Holgren Hospital. As we entered the lobby, I felt a little nervous, but no one looked at me. After all, I have a new face and a new brain pattern; for all intents and purposes, I am a different person now. No one should recognize me.

We pretended to be visiting a patient. It was easy. I just looked down at the datapad on the desk as the person in front of me talked to the attendant and I picked a name already on the list. We were issued visitor badges and in we went. Then, we just wandered around until I discovered a data terminal in a deserted hallway. Ellie watched for people coming, while I accessed their database. Of course, I didn't find anything about a brain smear, those are highly illegal, so no record of such a thing would be kept. But, there are ways to find out what I want to know.

I traced my face smear and found the visual Flash log of the procedure. I watched carefully. The Doctor administered the face smear on my left and right cheeks and then walked out of the room. For some reason, I was unconscious for this, which isn't normal.

I reached to turn off the Flash but spotted a male nurse, who gave one very casual glance toward the door. I doubt this was as casual as it looked. He placed his body so that it blocked the camera from seeing what he was doing at my still body.

It could have been completely innocent, but, for a brief moment, he had been alone, close to me, and the camera couldn't see what he did.

I zoomed down and looked at his name tag, then muttered, "Steely Rowan".

I motioned to Ellie and we headed for a nurse's station, where I asked, "Hey, is my buddy, Steely Rowan, working today?"

"Steely Rowan? Let me check." The nurse accessed his Cretin assistant, which I couldn't see, and said, "Yes, he's on, in B lab, downstairs."

We worked our way to B lab, following the signs. This turned out to be one of the labs where they cook up goop; another suspicious fact, if you put it together with him being in the operating room. Normally, a goop cooker wouldn't be there during the administration of a smear.

At the lab, I asked for Steely and he came out, a moment later.

"Can I help you?" the young man asked. He is a handsome work of goop, showing in his early twenties, but that is, likely, a product of the goop.

I motioned for him to walk to me and then I moved out of earshot from anyone nearby. He looked a little suspicious but came over.

"What is this about?" he asked.

"You tell me," I replied. "I think you cooked up some brain goop for me and delivered a smear; I want to know if that is true?"

He suddenly looked terrified and started to back away, "No way, we don't do that kind of thing here!"

I grabbed him by the arm and spoke in a low voice, "Relax, I'm going to get my answer, then walk away, and never bother you again."

I told Loki to put up an image of my old face and show it to Steely.

When my old image appeared in the air in front of us, I said, "This is the old me; now, just answer my question."

He looked at it once, that's all it took, and then he nodded.

"Did I tell you why?" I asked.

"No, you just gave me the recipe. I brewed it up and applied the smear. You paid me a lot of zTime and promised it would never come back on me!"

"It won't. All right, thanks," I said, letting go of his arm. He left, but looked back once, still terrified.

Ellie shook her head, "You really did it."

I understood her disbelief, why would I do such a dumb thing?

"Let's get out of here," I said, sadly.

As we exited the Mag Train at the Las Vegas Strip Station, I noticed two things, first, all signs of the battle in the park have already been removed, as if it had never happened. Zcerebral controls the news, so everything has been quickly smoothed over as if it never happened.

The second thing I noticed is the massive round structure of Sin Circle. You can see it from everywhere in Las Vegas. It is a circular structure, ten times the width of the largest strip hotel, and it soars high into the sky and would have made the old Stratosphere (if it hadn't been demolished, years ago) look like a year-old sapling next to a giant redwood.

The cylindrical structure actually goes above the dome, slightly, with a flyer port located at the top. High Roller clients can fly in and land on the roof if they have the clearance.

Could this really be the location of the ultra-secret Zone Servers? It seems impossible. What also seems impossible is a college professor, with a blotchy memory, and a perky grad student, planning to infiltrate that behemoth, without being caught.

What have I gotten myself into now?

The security around this will be astounding; the secret location of the Zone servers is the greatest secret on the Earth or in the Zones.

As I looked up at the intimidating red building, I muttered, "There is no way we are getting in there!"

But Ellie heard me and smiled grimly, "Yes, we are, and I'll tell you how."

"I'm listening."

"My friend didn't just put your brain pattern into the system; she also added a new subroutine which makes it so that you and I have Alpha Clearance."

"WHAT!" I exclaimed, dumbfounded. Alpha Clearance is the highest level in Zcerebral. Only the Board of Directors and The Phoenix have that kind of security clearance.

"That will flag our names immediately! They know exactly who and how many people have that kind of clearance! You can't just ADD someone!"

She smiled at me, grimly. "No, you can't. But, with the program I wrote, you can trick the system into thinking you are someone else, a person who DOES have that clearance level. It took me all four years I worked with you in the lab to write this routine and it had to be inserted at a Zcerebral main station. But, now that it is in there, at the right moment, our scans will start reading as someone else with Alpha Clearance; we will each look like one of the Zcerebral Board members. Later, they won't even know who walked in; our real scans won't even be recorded, so they can't trace it to our real brain pattern later."

"If you have that, why do you need me?" I asked, bluntly.

"Because, I can sculpt this kind of thing with time, but I've never seen anyone sculpt code, live, the way you can, Professor. When we go in there to find what I need, we might have to sculpt some new routines, quickly. I got us in, but you will have to sculpt any code we find we need on the inside. I'm not sure where the information I'm seeking will be stored, or what we'll need, or have to sculpt, and, because of that, I need you."

"OK, so our scans will look the part, but what about our clothes and faces?"

"As to our faces, Zcerebral's own paranoia will benefit us; no one knows what the Board members look like. Remember, they named their government a Confidential Directorship. The people vote on candidates we never see. We are swayed to our candidate by what they say, not who they are, or what they look like, or their gender or race, etc. But that means that they have to stay anonymous. They rarely appear in public and, when they do, they wear white masks, robes, and hoods. This means we don't have to look like anyone, we just need a couple of masks and some white hooded robes," she informed me, then added, "That and, of course, their brain patterns. Since my system hack will show their patterns when ours are scanned, we should be good to go."

"Where do we get the masks?" I asked.

Ellie opened her pack and showed me the white masks, then said, "All we need are some fancy clothes and white robes to make us look like rich Board members. I already purchased the clothes we need, we will pick them up at a local zPS office in Las Vegas."

I have nothing to say to that, she is unstoppable. How she had accomplished all this, I have no idea. Even wear to obtain these particular masks is not publicly known.

"What if the Board members, who we are pretending to be, are flagged as being in two places at once?"

Ellie looked troubled, but she answered. "That will only happen if they log into the Zone servers or their brain is scanned. I picked two Board members to impersonate who live in a time zone where they should be asleep while we are inside Sin Circle, playing their parts."

"Should be?"

Ellie shrugged, "It's the best I can do."

"How in the hell did you learn where the Board members of Zcerebral live? It seems to me, information like that would be better guarded than the information you are seeking to learn!"

Ellie looked away and said, "I didn't learn where their actual homes are, just that they live in a particular city. It was very expensive information. And, trust me, before I came up with this plan, I DID try to learn the truth about my father, but that information is classified at the highest level."

"How did a grad student, like you, come up with the zTime to buy..."

She interrupted, "I'd rather not discuss it; just trust me that the intel on their home cities is good."

I thought about her words and then nodded. "All right, when do we go?"

"We should arrive at Sin Circle in one hour, that should give the Board members we are impersonating enough time to go to sleep. It will be three in the morning, in their time zone, one hour from now. I figured that 3 am to 5 am, their time, gives us a two-hour window when almost anyone would be asleep. Statistically, most people sleep during that period of their time zone. That's also the period I set for our brain patterns to read as Board Members."

"OK, so we will have two hours; that's not a lot of time."

"It will have to be enough, all we need is one piece of information and then we get out."

"All right, I may be as brainless as an empty Zombie body to do this, but you were crazy to help me in that hospital, or with my brain pattern identity, so fair is fair. Besides, I can't say 'no' to that smile of yours."

Ellie did smile at that, "I really appreciate it, Professor. Let's go pick up our new clothes and dress up like rich Zcerebral Directors."

I didn't say anything to Ellie, but I also have some information that I would love to find out, if I get access to the Zcerebral database, like what I have supposedly stolen from Zcerebral. It has to be something really important to bump me up to Pirate One. However, Ellie seems nervous enough already, so I'm not going to mention my intended side job.

After we picked up the clothing we need, I made a couple Flashes. First, I contacted a bodyguard service and negotiated a squad of six high-end bodyguards. Ellie paid for it with a zCard. The price is a hefty 1000 zHours, but she didn't blink.

Next, I Flashed a limo service and ordered three limo flyers to pick up our group at one of the gateways, just outside the Dome. I figure that any member of the Zcerebral Board, flying into Sin Circle, would not come in by the front door, they would land on the roof flyer pad and they would have bodyguards. Now we will present the proper appearance.

We took a taxi to the Dome exit, where we went into a restroom and donned our new clothes, masks, and robes. Now, dressed for the part, we met our new bodyguards. I told them we are Members of the Board and explained that our regular bodyguards are on a different assignment. I also explained their duties. We then waited for our ride.

We put two guards in each of the three flyers, which means two are in the middle car, with us.

Then, just before the two-hour window opened, Ellie Flashed the three drivers and told them to head for Sin Circle.

As we approached Sin Circle airspace, traffic control accosted us and asked our drivers to immediately divert.

Ellie spoke to the driver and told him to send her brain pattern as clearance.

A few seconds later, the calm voice of the ATC officer stated, "You have been cleared to land on pad Red 5. Welcome, Board Member 12."

There are sixteen members of the Zcerebral Board and they go by their number on the Board, rather than a name. Ellie's patterns are reading as Member 12 and my scans show Member 7.

Our three limos all fit onto the round landing pad marked with a big red '5' numeral. There are several armed guards waiting on the roof with a small group of officials.

As soon as we stepped out of the center limo, the officials approached us. I noted that one of them has a portable scanner, which he unobtrusively used on both Ellie and me.

"Welcome to Sin Circle, Board Member 7 and Member 12," the man, who is obviously in charge, stated. He is a tall, dark-skinned man, a mix of African and Asian descent. With a goop smear, you can change your looks to any mix you desire.

"Good day, what should we call you?" I asked.

"I am the Facility Coordinator," he immediately replied, "Mr. Greyson."

"And what is your security clearance, Mr. Greyson," I demanded, casually, and then snapped my fingers to one of our bodyguards. He has a portable scanner, which I'd asked him to bring as part of our deal.

He brain scanned the Facility Coordinator as we spoke. Mr. Greyson stood a little straighter and stated, "I am Delta cleared."

My bodyguard nodded as the brain scan completed and information on Mr. Greyson displayed on the small screen.

Ellie spoke up at this point, "Do you recognize who we are and our Alpha Clearance?"

Mr. Greyson nodded, kind of slowly, and answered, "Yes, but it is very irregular for you to arrive here, unannounced."

"You are to keep this a secret, do you understand?" Ellie stated, imperiously, and it sure sounds like she has done this before, the girl is amazing. "There are SERIOUS issues which must be resolved immediately at this location. This WILL be handled with efficiency and discretion; it is a matter of Zcerebral security. You are not under scrutiny, currently, but I trust we will have your FULL cooperation?  
"Of course, Member 12," he stated. "But, this must be cleared with Chairman Phoenix, correct?"  
"Don't try to tell us our business. Of COURSE, this has been cleared with Chairman Phoenix and, if you would like to be included in any purge, please, Flash the Chairman of Zcerebral, we'll wait."

Ellie stood silent, waiting calmly, watching the man from behind the porcelain expressionless white mask. When he didn't do anything except bite at his lower lip in thought, Ellie continued.

"Since this is a matter of great urgency and must be handled delicately, we must be away from this facility BEFORE any orders arrive. This is paramount to the security of what we must accomplish. Your confirmation will come through as soon as we lift off. Your prompt service and cooperation will not go unnoticed by The Phoenix, so, shall we get on with this? We will be through here in two hours and then you will get your clearance for the records."

"Yes, Member 12," he stated and then gestured, palm up, with one hand to indicate the direction for us to move.

I motioned for two of the bodyguards to remain with the limos. The other four flanked us.

Mr. Greyson then asked, "Where is it you wish to go?"

Ellie answered, "That is classified. Take us to the private elevators and then turn off all surveillance on that elevator, immediately. We will handle everything else."

"As you wish," he replied, contritely, then noted, "But, there is no surveillance on that elevator or in any of the 'blue' Alpha Clearance areas of Sin Circle."

Ellie spoke in reply, "Excellent, but remember, if any of our 'business' is recorded or watched, in any way, you will be visited by the head of the Black Widow squadron. Do I need to tell you what will then transpire?"

"No, Ma'am," he replied to Ellie.

"Good, when was the last visit to this facility by a Board Member?"

"Fifteen years ago," he noted, as soon as he checked with his cretin.

"That is correct. I want you to understand just how important this visit is and why you need to follow our orders to the letter."

"I will, and I shall make sure that the entire staff does as well."

"This will reflect well on your next review, Mr. Greyson," Ellie stated.

At the entrance into the interior of Sin Circle, Ellie ordered two of our remaining four guards to take up posts at the door.

Mr. Greyson led us to an elevator. There is no button to summon it to this floor, instead, there is a brain scanner, which Ellie used. A moment later, an elevator arrived. Ellie told our last two remaining bodyguards to wait there and then only she and I entered the elevator car.

Mr. Greyson watched the doors close, a worried expression on his face.

Ellie turned to the elevator panel and scanned the holographic readout hovering in front. She quickly punched something, just to get the elevator moving away from this floor.

"Where did you tell it to go?" I asked.

"Observation lounge," she stated.

I frowned, "What will that be?"

"I assume it is where anyone with Alpha Clearance can watch anything going on, a surveillance center."

"Ah, OK, but that's not where we really want to go," I noted.

I looked at the holographic options, hovering above the stainless-steel panel about a half inch, some are in red translucent letters. These have disturbing titles, like S&M Dungeon, Torture Chamber, Capital punishment, Rape, and other, more seriously, sin-laden options. But there are additional choices, in blue writing, and these are choices like the aforementioned, 'Observation Lounge' and others, like Recycling, Immigration, Processing, Reintegration, Records and finally, Server Array.

"Holy shit, do you think?" I said, pointing at 'Server Array'.

Ellie shrugged, "Could be, or it could just be a server for this building. No way to know."

"Unless we go there," I added, with a sly grin.

"I understand your curiosity, but we have limited time. I'm afraid that Mr. Greyson may decide to exceed his orders and get confirmation from Central BEFORE we leave. I'm shocked that he bought my orders in the first place! What good is getting clearance for something after it is over?" she said, shaking her white masked head.

"Well, he, like everyone, is terrified of Zcerebral and that white mask makes you faceless and therefore terrifying."

"I know what you mean, I look at you and can't tell what you are thinking; maybe we should take these off?" she suggested.

"I think we should leave them on, just because he claims there is no surveillance..." I said, trailing off.

"True. Well, as much as I am curious about the servers, I'm here for information; so, do you think we should head for 'Records'?" she asked, with a bit of hesitation.

"It's your show," I answered.

Ellie touched the word 'Records' which flashed once and then highlighted with a '1' next to it to show it is the next destination.

A moment later, the doors opened and we stepped out into a white room. We found six reclining Interface Couches, shaped like something you might see in a dentist's office. They are arranged in a circle, the foot ends in the middle, each with a Zcerebral interface at the other end, where your head rests. These are fancy, and expensive, versions of the Zcerebral Satweb interfaces which anyone entering the Zones use. Of course, these are top of the line machines.

"Shall we?" Ellie stated and got onto a Couch.

"Just a second," I replied, "I was told, by a big black panther, that wearing a Skey, in a Zcerebral Interface Couch, is a very bad idea."

"A panther?" she asked, in amusement, "You'll have to tell me about that, sometime." Ellie removed her own Skey from the back of her neck. I noticed it is in the shape of a Shamrock, a four-leaf clover. I wonder at the significance of that shape, 'luck' perhaps? Skeys can be made in any shape and the shape the person picks often has some significance to the owner. Mine is in the shape of Thor's Hammer and, after seeing my original Paragon, and the name of my Steward, I understand why, even if I don't remember creating any of them, or making the Skey.

"I can't take mine off," I said.

Ellie gave me a strange look, "Yes, I remember when you told me to tell you not to take it off, but I never understood why."

I answered, "Later, I was told, removing it might kill me and, for now, I have to believe the person who told me that."

She frowned, "That makes no sense, I put it on you at Holgren, remember? You were fine with it off, though you were unconscious."

"Still," I answered, shrugging.

She replied, "All right, I'll go in alone." Then she reclined on the Couch.

When she activates the Zcerebral Interface, Ellie's mind will not return to her Paragon; that would only happen if she wore her Skey. She will enter a Zone portal now, the legal way that a normal Teer would use to enter the Zones. However, in the case of these Couches, she will, likely, be sent to a specific Zone.

A few minutes later, Ellie opened her eyes and sat up. She looks extremely unhappy.

"What happened?" I asked, in concern.

"I appeared in a Zone as a Greek goddess Puppet and I was wearing loose white robes of the Roman variety and I rode the Puppet of the goddess Diana. I was in an ancient Greek library, except that all the scrolls were gone. The place was cleaned out, shelves empty. There were a few rollers, previously used to keep scrolls, but they had no parchment roll wrapped around them."

"What do you mean, were all the records gone?" I asked.

"It looks like they were either destroyed or moved," she said, in a frustrated tone, "the entire library has been wiped."

When I looked over at Ellie I noticed tear tracks down her cheeks. Her pain tore at my heart.

"Come on, we're not through yet!" I exclaimed, "If I can get to the servers, I can try to hack in and learn something that could help."

She nodded and we headed for the elevators. Ellie reached up and replaced her Skey, no doubt, so she can access her Steward program.

"Server Array?" she asked me, but just selected it immediately.

The doors opened onto a curved hallway. We followed it around, counter-clockwise, and can see regular doors, spaced evenly. Each door has a label stating 'Units' followed by some number range, like '120 – 140'. I opened one, expecting to find server machines, but, instead, I discovered a room filled with empty Zombie Coffins. I spotted an interface console, so we went over and tried to login.

Ellie started gesturing in the air, obviously accessing the 3D interface.

I brought up my own interface and started doing some low-level searches, looking for trace code of what had happened here. I found the residue of a wipe program, meant to clean the information so that there could be no later retrieval.

Ellie sounded frustrated as she said, "If this is the location of the Zone servers, why did they move their records somewhere else?"

I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "I don't know. Perhaps the servers aren't here, or maybe there is some other reason."

"I can't believe I spent years of work to get here only to find an empty library," she said, obviously lost. "There has to be something, some clue!"

"Give me a moment," I said and brought up the base code for the empty database. I started coding, furiously, my hands nearly a blur and my thoughts rocketing through the algorithms I created on the fly.

Ellie watched me working and tried to follow along. "What are you sculpting?"

"A search rider, something which will stay and passively seek answers," I replied, still concentrating. When I finished the last piece, I flung it into the main code of the Database and it seamlessly integrated, becoming a part of the database.

"There, done," I said.

Ellie shut down her interface and looked around this room full of Coffins. She spoke in a puzzled tone, "Zombie Coffins? But it said 'Server Array'."

I shrugged. "These Zombie bodies must have been here to guard the servers, let's keep looking for the actual server rooms."

"But why are the Coffins empty?"

"Maybe they moved the servers? Once gone, there would be no reason to guard them anymore," I guessed.

We checked the next two rooms, both of which are marked with 'Units' and another numeric range. There are no servers, but both chambers have twenty Zombie Coffins, though they are all empty.

Time is ticking away and our ruse might be discovered at any time, so we started running down the long, curved hallway, looking for any door marked with something other than 'Units', but we didn't find anything. I spot checked a few, but none of them contain servers, they just have empty Zombie Coffins.

"Come on," I said, using the wall scanner to call the elevator, "Let's try another floor."

As we entered the car, Ellie said, "Why would they store 300 zombie bodies here?"

"Maybe they had a lot to protect," I noted, then asked, "What do you want to try next?"

Ellie answered, "We only have about 45 minutes before our identities will revert to our own brain patterns." She glanced at the holographic options on the elevator panel and said, "Well, we have blue choices of Recycling, Immigration, Processing, and Reintegration."

"How about processing?" I posed.

"All right," she answered, making the selection.

This time, the doors opened on a much more lavish setting. Where the other floors had been all sterile white, this location is decorated like the main entrance hall of a massive pleasure cruise ship. Gold statuary stands in alcoves and we can see lots of plush waiting seats. There is an information desk and various doors, with words on them, like Registration, Acclimation, and Counseling. It almost seems like a University enrollment center for the filthy rich, but it is completely deserted.

"What IS this?" Ellie asked.

"I'm not sure, perhaps the place where new members of Sin Circle are processed in and assisted?"

"Why is this up here and not down at the entrance area of Sin Circle?" she asked.

I shrugged, I don't know the answer to her question. Then I asked, "And if this is the Sin Circle enrollment lounge, why is no one here?"

Ellie shook her head; just as puzzled as I am by this chamber.

"Come on," I said, and took her back to the private elevator, which I noticed is hidden as part of the wall; unless you know the door is there, you will never see it.

I located, and used, a hidden scanner node, calling the elevator again. A blank piece of wall suddenly opened revealing a hidden elevator.

This time, Ellie didn't even ask, she just punched, 'Reintegration'.

The doors opened on another sterile, white hallway. We followed it around, to the right, and came to a closed door. We spotted a scanner, which Ellie used to open the door.

This led into another white sterile room with a large machine in the center. It looks like a surgery theater, but there is no surgery equipment. The machinery looks like it could hold something large and, after a moment, I realized that a Zombie Coffin would fit perfectly. The machinery could then rotate the Coffin to a horizontal position. To the side, is a wheeled cart which looks like it could attach to a Zombie Coffin and move it to another location. There is also a door on the far side of the room.

Without a word, we went through the door and found another room, this one more like a doctor's examination room. Beyond that, we found another door, which we also went through. The other side of this door isn't white. It is like the bridge between worlds. On one side is the white interior of the sterile rooms and on the other side, it is more like the vacation motif of the Processing area. I assume it is some kind of small waiting room, with a nurse's window on one side.

"What is all this?" Ellie asked.

But I don't know.

That's when Loki spoke to me, Sir, there is activity on the zPol net and there are Zombie flyers landing on the roof. Your illegal entry and masquerade may have been uncovered.

Ellie suddenly turned to me, with horror on her face; her Steward must have given her similar news.

"Time to go," I said.

"But I didn't learn ANYTHING!" she nearly shouted.

"No, but getting caught now won't help. I left my search rider, it might find something," I replied.

She nodded and said, "What do we do? My Steward said they are already on the roof."

"Into the elevator, if what Mr. Greyson said is true, they don't have any monitors in them," I replied.

We ran to the elevator and it still came to our call. That means that Members 12 and 7 haven't been locked out of anything, yet.

In the elevator, I glanced at the options and then punched one of the red ones, marked, 'Dungeon.'

"Why that one?" Ellie asked.

"Because it's on the bottom and I'm hoping that means it's near the bottom floor of Sin Circle. If the Zombies are coming in from the roof, I think we need to exit at the street."

She accepted that without a word and we waited a few seconds to arrive.

When the doors opened, we can see that, like the Processing area, the outer side of the elevator doors are part of a wall, but this wall is a musty old dungeon, right down to moss and lichen.

We can also hear strange screams of agony echoing through the stone labyrinth.

"What the hell?" Ellie muttered.

"Hell, is the right word. I don't think those are recorded screams and this isn't a Zone, this is real."

I grabbed Ellie's small hand in mine and pulled her into a run, down the hallway. The first room I looked into is full of various items: clothing, torture implements, etc., everything you need to become a budding torturer.

I glanced up through my white mask and spotted a camera node. We are now in an area which is, very likely, monitored by security. I grabbed a black leather vest and draped it over the camera and then said, "We need to get out of these white robes, we will stand out like ghosts against this dark background and they will be looking for white-robed and masked Board Members. Also, speak no names, they will be listening and recording now."

I took off the white mask and grabbed a black leather full face mask, which has two rectangular eye holes and a small grate for the mouth. The nose is a separate piece of leather, triangular, and arched out around a cut out for the nose in the main piece of leather.

Ellie took my cue and grabbed a gold mask which covers her upper face and cheeks but leaves her mouth bare.

We took off our white robes and put on a couple black robes we found hanging on the walls. They covered the clothes we have on, underneath, which the watchers have not yet seen. While we did this, I thought to my Steward, Loki, find us a way out of here!

As my Steward worked on that, I grabbed a couple items from the torture equipment stores and stuffed them into a pack I found. Then I grabbed Ellie's hand, left the room, and started running down the hallway again.

Sir, there are no maps or schematics of this location available, however, based on the curvature of the halls and the size of the building, one may extrapolate from the radius that you are three circles in from the outer wall. I assume that they may have placed the main elevator shafts in the center.

Skip to which way, I stated, coming to a 'T' intersection.

I would choose left, Sir, Loki noted, but then added, however, I am speculating.

Good enough. "Left," I said to Ellie.

She didn't argue. We are still hand-in-hand and we raced down the hallway together. As we passed several rounded openings, I glanced in and saw people strapped to various old-time torture devices, like racks and spinning wheels, iron maidens, and wall shackles. I tried to ignore the blood and smells of bowels and pee, but it made it hard to hold onto my stomach contents. This stuff is real and the horror of what one person will do to another, for 'entertainment', bothers me to the core.

We ran past a strange guy, who reminded me of the 'gimp' from an old movie, but we were well past him before he turned to watch us running.

Ellie seemed equally appalled and tried to keep her eyes to the front.

We rounded a corner and, instead of an elevator, found a circular descending stairway. We headed down, immediately.

As we ran down the stairs I noticed the motif change from dungeon to a more normal wall style, though the change seemed gradual. We came out into some kind of chamber; empty, except for a door ahead, which we headed toward. As we came through the door we entered some kind of room. Several people stood around in groups. The door we came through has an attendant stationed nearby and he said, "Please, you must change back to normal clothing if you are leaving the dungeon area."

But, we just headed away from him, swiftly, getting several curious looks from people watching us in our masks and black robes.

We went through the next set of doors and immediately ran. We came to another elevator, but I am leery of these, they are, likely, monitored, so I looked and found the emergency stairway nearby.

"OK, we're still ahead of them and it doesn't look like they have locked down the building yet. I doubt it will take them long to spot us on the recordings where we went into the room to change. Once that happens, they will close this place as tight as a drum."

"What are we going to do?" Ellie asked, concerned.

"First, we need to get to the lower floors, the lower the better, so let's take the stairs down as far as we can."

Ellie didn't argue and we started running down the stairs.

Loki, can you get a view of the front entrance from the street?

After a moment, my Steward's voice said, Yes, Sir, there is a tourist feed on the Flash net that shows the building.

Good, tell me when you see them close off the entrance to Sin Circle.

As you wish, Sir.

Also, I asked.

Yes, Sir?

Book another limo, this time, a flyer inside the Dome.

I assume the other three are already occupied, Sir?

Arrested, I have no doubt, but they don't know anything and will be released soon enough. Book another limo flyer and have them head for Sin Circle but tell them to stay out of the Air Traffic control of Sin Circle and just wait somewhere nearby, on the ground. Tell them we need a pickup from a party and we don't know how to tell them where we are, yet."

Yes, Sir. Your idea of a party is quite entertaining.

Is that sarcasm again?

I do hope so, Sir.

Great.

I doubt you want to book them under the same false name as before, correct, Sir?

Ah, yeah, that would be bad, now that you mention it.

Yes, Sir, and whom do you wish me to tell them is booking this limo?

Tell them 'Mr. Greyson', Facility Coordinator of Sin Circle.

A few moments later, Loki said, Your limo flyer is booked and in route, Sir. Did you wish beverage service?

I'm not falling for that again, Loki.

Of course, not, Sir, you are all-knowing and wise, which is why you broke into this facility with such an excellent escape plan in the first place.

I, wisely, let that one go.

We made it down four more floors before Loki said, There seems to be a lot of Zombie flyer activity, all now landing at the front entrance to Sin Circle, Sir. It will be quite smashing to see how you plan to get past them.

Smashing is a good word, I noted.

Right then, I heard a door further below burst open and many booted feet pounding up the stairs. I immediately changed direction, pulling Ellie through a door into a hallway to get us off the stairs.

Which way toward the outer wall of the building? I asked Loki.

Left, I believe, he replied.

We turned left and eventually came to a door on our left-hand side. I tried it, but the room has no windows. I closed it and we ran further and then tried another one. This time, I found what I wanted, a window. After a quick glance out, to make sure we are not near the entrance, I yanked off the pack I'd grabbed in the dungeon and pulled out the long length of black rope and a small knife I'd put inside. Then, I tied one end of the rope to the leg of a massive meeting table, which must weigh about a thousand pounds; which is plenty for what I need.

I cut two smaller pieces of rope and quickly tied the opposite ends to each other, making two separate loops, about six feet in circumference. I showed Ellie how to hold the loop around the small of her back and then reach between her legs and pull one part of the loop through. This comes up to meet with the two loop ends coming around her waist. I pulled out the four carabineers I'd grabbed when I got the rope and used one of these to hold the three loops together, forming a diaper harness around Ellie. I fashioned a second one for myself. Then I took the last two carabineers and hooked them around the rope tied to the table, looping the rope several times on the solid side of the bineers, away from the gate. I clipped that into that bineer holding the diaper harness.

"OK, have you rappelled before?"  
"Of course, in the Zones," Ellie stated.

"Good, then you know what to do."

She looked at me, with a puzzled expression, until I grabbed a massive chair, with a metal base, and threw it at the window with all my strength. It bounced off.

"Crap!" I yelled. That did not go as planned. These windows are some kind of reinforced plexiglass or transparent aluminum; I am not going to break through with a chair!

That's when Ellie pulled a compact pistol from her pocket, aimed at the window, and fired three shots. They went thru, though the window panel didn't break.

The sound of her three shots was deafening and I looked at her with a stunned expression for a moment. "Where did you get a gun?" I finally blurted.

Zcerebral outlawed personal firearms a long time ago; they don't want an armed populace, which can lead to revolution.

Ellie ignored my outcry, which had been more of surprise than accusation. "Try the chair again," she exclaimed, excitedly, her cheeks flushed red from our run, the excitement, and danger. She is still holding the smoking gun in her hand.

At that moment, I found her very attractive, I guess I am just drawn to women when they are living life to the fullest.

I regained my composure, grabbed the chair, and heaved it again. This time, it hit where the three holes had weakened the material and the window shattered.

I looked down the three stories to the street, then tossed the coiled rope out the window. I checked to make sure it landed on the street.

"Out you go and drop as fast as you can, without getting hurt at the bottom. I'm pretty sure someone heard those shots, so we may only have a minute or two before they find us."

Ellie didn't hesitate; she scooped up the rope and whipped one end behind her, then leaped up onto the window sill, where she turned her back to the drop. Ellie gave me a brief flash of a grin, and she might have carried off her bravado, if one of her feet hadn't slipped off the sill, at that moment. She nearly fell out the window but recovered. She gave me a big-eyed look of relief and, now back under control, leaped backward out the window.

I got myself ready and followed her, the moment the rope went slack.

As I rappelled down the outer wall, swiftly, I looked over my shoulder and saw Ellie waiting below. She hadn't run for the safety of the buildings, instead, she has her small gun out and is aiming up... at me. Suddenly, she opened fire with the gun, and my eyes nearly bugged out, but bullets did not tear into my back. I heard a cry from above and looked back up, toward the window, just in time to see a Zombie recovering from the impact of a bullet hitting his shoulder. I noticed a nasty looking gun in his right hand. I did feel some sympathy for the person whose body had just gotten shot; since this body doesn't belong to the zPol officer, but, on the other hand, I am sure glad Ellie messed up the Zombie's aim.

My feet hit the ground, a moment later, and Ellie took three more quick shots at the window, but the Zombie didn't even try to take cover, he doesn't care if the host body is killed; he started firing at us. We turned and ran in a zigzag pattern, headed for the cover of the nearby buildings. I heard three big 'boom's as he fired and the only reason I think he missed is his wounded shoulder messing up his aim.

As we ran between two buildings and into the streets of Las Vegas, I spoke to Loki, Find a landmark ahead of us and get that limo there, stat!

All right, Sir, there is a restaurant two blocks up, on your right, with a parking lot to the side. I will send the limo to that establishment.

Good deal.

And congratulations on your escape without being shot, Sir. Your skills of survival continue to amaze me.

I didn't answer that comment, I am too busy running. I noticed that I have Ellie's hand in mine again and we are running side-by-side.

The limo landed just as we ran up. I called to the driver as he started to get out, while I opened the side door myself. "Hey, thanks for the quick pickup, we're on our way to a masquerade party and we're really late. Can we get going and take care of the fare on arrival?"

The driver seemed amendable and we lifted off. I gave him an address, six miles away, supplied by Loki to me. I figure that this will be far enough to get us out of the Zombie perimeter and is hopefully close enough to reach before an all-points bulletin goes out, describing us to our limo driver.

As soon as he stopped at our destination, I paid the driver, with the remainder of my zCard, so that I didn't have to do a scan.

The limo lifted off and flew away. In a nearby alley, Ellie and I took off the masks and robes and tossed them in a trash can. Then we ran for several blocks. Now out of breath, though some distance from the previous drop-off point, I hailed a taxi and Ellie paid for this one with her own zCard. After a few miles, we switched to yet another taxi. Eventually, we made it to a crowded area and walked for some time. We found a small hotel, off the strip, and Ellie paid for a room with her zCard, while I stayed out of sight. They would be searching for a pair, so she booked a single room.

Once in the room, Ellie collapsed onto the bed and curled up in a ball. She really wanted to find the answer about her father and she now believes she has failed. Four years of work, study, and coding, with a lot of personal zTime spent, she'd even gone beyond her scholarly comfort zone, physically risking her life to break into Sin Circle. After all that, she still hasn't gotten the answer about her father.

I sat down on the bed, next to her, and rubbed her shoulder muscles. She cried softly into the pillow. After a few minutes, she finally looked up at me and said, "Pitiful, aren't I?"

I smiled at her big red-rimmed eyes and said, "A little, but it's OK, Ellie, I understand."

She looked at me and I looked back into her eyes.

"You really do understand, don't you? You're different now," she noted, softly.

"You mean since we broke into Sin Circle?"

She shook her head, "No, since the hospital. I always respected you, as my professor, for your mind and your honor."

"So, now you don't respect me anymore?" I asked in an amused tone.

"No, it's different. I can't explain it, but well, there it is."

I don't understand, but I reached out and gently pushed a lock of hair away from her eye, it was kind of stuck there, due to her drying tears.

"Like that," she said and reached up and took hold of my hand with hers. "It's like you care for me, more than as a student."

"I do care, Ellie," I replied, softly.

She pulled my hand around to her face and pressed her cheek against it. "I've been so alone, except for one brief moment, which ended badly. You have always been there, these last four years. I trust you," she said, looking up at me with those big eyes, holding my hand against her soft cheek. Then she suddenly kissed my hand and chills went up my spine.

Ellie leaned forward and kissed me and I tasted the salt from her tears which had run down to her mouth.

It was a tender kiss, tentative, questioning, almost like she wasn't sure I want to kiss her. She is very different from Mary Read. Mary attacks everything, she is very sure of herself, confident. Ellie is hesitant like she has been hurt too many times to take a risk.

I let the kiss linger, enjoying the softness of the moment. When she finally pulled back, she kept her lips only a fraction of an inch from mine as she whispered. "I know you lost your wife and I don't want to ask you to do anything that will upset you. Are you sorry I kissed you?"

"I'm not upset, Ellie. It's been a long time now, since, well, since that day."

"Do you like me?" she asked, still unsure of herself.

"More than you could know," I answered, truthfully.

"Will you make love to me, please?" she inquired gently.

What could I do? I really do care for Ellie. My mind, and emotions, went to Mary; then I realized that she has literally sailed out of my life. We have no ties or binding agreements. So, I leaned down and looked into Ellie's big eyes and I asked, "Are you sure? You seem to be in a very emotional state; I don't want to take advantage of you. Later, you might regret...  
She reached up, to the back of my neck, with her small dainty hand and pulled me down to her lips, effectively shutting me up. I tasted the unique flavor of Ellie's warm mouth and I gave into the moment, to the sensations, to the tender emotions, and to Ellie's loving touch.

A long time later, the two of us lay entwined in each other's naked embrace. I looked into her eyes and said, "I feel safe with you, Ellie, safe enough to access my Steward and the Zones, with you here."

She gave me an encouraging smile.

That made me smile in return, "You know, your smile often reminds me of the Mona Lisa, I know you are thinking something, but I have no idea why you are smiling."  
"I like that, my 'Mona Lisa' smile. I'd tell you what I am thinking, but that would take the mystery out of it!"

I started to say something, but she held a finger to my lips and said, "Let's both go to the Zones, there is time to do... other things, later." She still showed that mysterious smile. "Our bodies should be safe here, for a few hours."

# Chapter zSeventeen – Heorot

Loki transitioned my mind into my Paragon at the Inn in Tortuga. I got up, dressed, and then headed down toward the docks. Most of my crew of grinning Pirates are here, just Red and Long John have not arrived. They turned up a moment later, John's hand around Red's waist, looking very friendly.

"Ol' roight, the gang's Ol' 'ere," James Kelly said. He looks like an English boy in his late teens and speaks in a cockney accent. He wears a long red coat, with epaulets with gold tassels at the shoulders, but underneath, his chest is bare, except for a leather strap going from left shoulder to right waist. He has a sword belt over the jacket and a faded red bandana tied around his head. Two pistols dangle from black leather straps; one is a flintlock and the other a brass Blunderbuss.

I looked toward the dock and spotted two long boats approaching from The Dominator.

"To the Ship," I exclaimed.

My motley crew got into the longboats, six in each, with two Zim crewmen per boat to row us to The Dominator. Zim crewman swarmed the decks and rigging, preparing the great Ship for departure. I noticed a small figure, still dressed in her black Tang suit, up on the high poop deck. This is a feature which is typical for this type of sailing ship. I headed up there, toward the Captain of The Dominator.

"Good morning," I greeted the famous Ching Shih.

She bowed slightly at the waist and I did likewise to honor her.

"I see you have a team to be the warriors to your Beowulf," she noted.

"I do, indeed. It was easy, all I had to do was tell them that Ching Shih offered her Ship and they signed on like freedom fighters ready to assault the Death Star."

Ching Shih smiled slightly at my Star Wars reference. "And what is it that you seek in Heorot?" she asked. "Yesterday you told me you seek the 'Truth', but what specific truth do you seek?"

"Actually, I have a map which tells me that my treasure is located at Heorot, that's where 'X' marks the spot."

Ching Shih smiled. "Then we shall have to go see this 'treasure' of yours and find out its true worth."

I grinned, "That's the plan. Will you have any trouble getting into the Heorot Zone?"

She just lifted an eyebrow, as if to say, 'You must be joking?'

A couple miles offshore from Tortuga, the glass bottleneck seemed to fade in ahead of us and the bottle appeared above and around us. We are one of those old 'ship in the bottle' models, right now.

Ching Shih's efficient crew positioned her Ship to sail right through the bottleneck. As we exited the bottle, I expected Ching Shih to pull a lever, like Mary had done on Revenge, instead, she just tapped the Ship with a short wand and muttered some spell word. The Ship, and everyone on it started to grow. I guess each Pirate has their own sculpted code for changing the size of their Ship when entering or leaving Tortuga.

"Where did you get the wand?" I asked, casually.

Ching Shih regarded me with her dark eyes for a moment and then said, "I spent some time in a Zone I enjoy, the Rowling Zone. I wrote the code for this while I was at their famous school of witchcraft."

"And wizardry," I noted.

She nodded and added, "From the first series."

"So, you're a witch?" I asked, playfully.

She bowed, "Among many other things."

We sailed across the Caribbean Sea for the rest of the morning and finally reached the edge of the Sabatini Zone. I only knew this when The Dominator's Zim crew got busy around the rigging.

At that moment, Ching Shih came back out of her cabin and strolled out onto the poop deck. She looked unconcerned and in control of her Ship.

"What is our route to the Heorot Zone?" I asked when she arrived. She stood back two paces, to the right of the Ship's wheel, her arms behind her back, feet spread wide for balance.

"We will travel through zSpace to the Heinlein Zone, where I will employ my Hyperdrive to take a shortcut. After departing that Zone, we will briefly travel through more zSpace until we enter the Heorot Zone."

George Booth had joined us as we talked. George's Paragon is middle-aged, perhaps in his late thirties, with a goatee that framed his small mouth. "Why isn't the Heorot Zone called by its author, like most of the rest?" he asked.

I thought about it and knew the answer, so I replied, "Well, though most Zones are named for authors, designers, directors, artists, or other creators, sometimes they are named for what they are instead, like the Enceladus Zone. That's where you may snow ski at one of the Enceladus resorts. In this case, the author of Beowulf is unknown; whoever wrote it is an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, whose name is lost to history. It is believed that the old manuscript is from somewhere in the 8th through 11th centuries, but we don't know more. Hence, they named the Zone by the location in the story, though I suppose it could also have been called the Nowell Codex Zone, however that is long-winded."

Ching Shih looked at me, curiously, "You know a lot about Heorot."

I shrugged. "I'm a windbag full of trivia; it just seems to come to me."

She watched me curiously and then stated a question, "You didn't access your Steward for that information, did you?"

"No, I just happened to know it," I answered.

"Interesting," she commented, thoughtfully.

It is, in a mild sort of way. I have already noted that I often know this kind of detailed information, without knowing anywhere near as much about my own history. My memories are a conundrum. I chalk it up to the ill-advised brain smear I'd done to my poor head.

We hit zSpace a few minutes later. The Dominator changed from a Chinese Pirate sailing vessel into what looks a lot like the marine spaceship from that 2D movie about aliens, from the Cameron Zone. It is a lethal and fast Ship, heavily armed and spacious for a small crew, including a good-sized hold. I remember a hold like this one in the movie, where that great actress, (what was her first name, oh yeah, Sigourney), battled the 'mother' of the alien beasts. Of course, this isn't the same Ship from that movie series, this is The Dominator and, out here in zSpace, it has various technologies on it from many universes.

As soon as we entered zSpace, the nearest guardian Black Ice modules converged on The Dominator, but Ching Shih contemptuously ordered them blasted from her sky. Once the nearby modules were defunct, she ordered the Zim crew to get us underway, headed for the distant Heinlein Zone.

As we approached this new Zone the firewall burned ahead of us in zSpace. More Black Ice modules approached our foreign Ship and Captain Ching Shih again ordered her crew to use the guns to vaporize the threat. Then I watched as she commanded a crewman to use the Flexureator, though I really have no conception of what that could be. I asked her and she explained that it is a space-folding engine which allows us to skip across the firewall, bypassing it by folding a piece of space on this side to a piece on the other side. I watched as the crewman manipulated the control and then, suddenly, we just leaped some distance forward, seemingly instantly, and we were inside the Heinlein Zone.

"Wow, that is some slick code!" I noted in admiration.

Ching Shih just smiled briefly; she is a woman of few words.

Now that we are in the Heinlein Zone, our Ship changed shape once again, becoming something more in tune with the Heinlein rule set. We now have a Heinlein compatible Hyperdrive engine. Ching Shih had to do some calculations with the navigation system since navigating with this engine is a whole different animal. In the Heinlein universe, there is a completely different set of physics and rules, but she soon engaged the Hyperdrive and we sped off across this expanse of space.

A part of me wants to stop by and grok some of the Heinlein sights, his works are so rich and enjoyable, but we are on a mission, so my tourism itch will have to wait for another adventure. I certainly felt like a stranger in a strange land.

After some time, we reached the other side of the Heinlein Zone and exited, then had a brief, yet unexciting, skirmish with more Black Ice. The Dominator is more than a match and I am amazed at the code that makes up this amazing Ship. Mary's Ship had been great, but we'd barely outfought the ships on our trail and taken a lot of damage. As far as I can tell, so far, The Dominator has not even been scratched, after three Zone border crossings. I understand the name of Ching Shih's Ship now.

On re-entering zSpace, our Ship changed back into the marine warship configuration, which seems to be its identity in the zSpace rule set.

"How far to the Heorot Zone?" I asked Ching Shih before she retired to her cabin.

"Two hours," she noted and departed.

I gathered my team down in the cargo hold and started a briefing, feeling a bit like those space marines getting ready to assault the aliens with acid blood, down in the colony.

"Our goal is to reach the Ogre's cave. Just like in the story of Beowulf, we will bed down in King Hrothgar's Mead-hall, in Heorot, so that Grendel attacks. Remember, Grendel is a man-shaped ogre, but he is very strong and powerful. If he gets you in his grasp, I'm pretty sure he can rip you in half.

"We have to beat Grendel by ripping off his arm and claw, somehow. That will get him to go back to his cave and perish, bringing his distraught mother out for revenge the next night.

"We let her come and follow her back to her cave the next morning. No doubt, we will have to fight her there to win. Most likely, what I am seeking will be part of her treasure. No doubt, there is a lot of available zTime treasure in that cave for all of you, as well."

That made all the Pirates grin. Challenge Zones often give you zTime treasure if you manage to defeat the challenge. Anyone who defeats it once cannot attempt the same challenge again, for a period of time. Each time a team beats the Beowulf challenge, the challenge is increased in difficulty, for everyone, until it gets to the point where no one can beat it, or at least, most can't. Grendel is one of those famous Challenge Zones, he had been beaten, several times, early on, but in its current level of difficulty, it hasn't been conquered in many years.

Of course, Pirates don't need zTime to stay in the Zones, but zTime is still a useful commodity in the real world, and there, they can use the currency.

"I propose that we make this a group adventure and that any zTime rewards are distributed, evenly, to all who participate, regardless of who is zonked or who survives. The only exception is the special goal, which I am personally seeking, whatever that is, information, or an object, I reserve for myself. Because of that, I will not take a share of any other part of the treasure, agreed?"

"It's your show; we're just along for the coup. Any treasure is icing on the cake," Calico Jack replied with a grin.

"OK," George Booth exclaimed and then turned to me, "So, you'll come up with a plan?"

I nodded.

Calico Jack grinned, "That's good, right?"

Quoting Zoe, from the old Firefly episode, Red replied, "Possibly you're not recalling some of his previous plans."

The pirates all laughed.

"I'll try to do Mal proud," I noted with a smile.

Of course, plans never go as planned.

To keep players from knowing what is coming by reading a story ahead of time, most Challenge Zones, unlike Story Zones, vary the details. This means everything I expect to happen, might not happen, and new and different variations will likely transpire. We will just have to take them as they come.

Ching Shih sailed us across the border into the Heorot Zone and The Dominator flowed into the shape of a large Viking warship, with round painted shields down both sides and a high carved dragon prow, in front, which curves up from the spine of the boat. Her Zim crew all changed into Vikings, both in dress and body. They rowed the big Ship with long oars as we traveled up a calm fjord. Towering mountains and cliffs clawed upwards into the bright blue sky to either side, with lots of long white waterfalls and cascades, like white beards.

Up ahead, in the bend of the fjord, we can see a large village. The Zim villagers seem quite agitated at the sight of our warship approaching, but when we beached the boat, and the majority of our crew stayed on board, King Hrothgar sent a contingent of armed thanes down to greet us.

My team of twelve warriors jumped down into the shallows and waded to the shore where the thanes stood with their axes and swords held in their hands; they are not threatening us, but they are ready for a fight.

As I went to join them, Ching Shih stepped before me and said, "Your team numbers twelve and, with you, that makes thirteen. This is an unlucky number, so I will join you to make it fourteen."

I nodded my head in agreement. Then, I climbed over the side of the Ship. As I waded through the cold water, I noticed that Ching Shih is not beside me. I looked back and she is standing with one foot on each shoulder of two Zim crewmen. They are wading in, toward shore, together, side-by-side. Ching Shih is standing on them, with arms crossed, well above the cold water. She is riding her crew members like a Zim chariot. No one on shore is dumb enough to comment about it to the short Pirate Captain of The Dominator.

Of course, we are all dressed in the correct garb for this Zone. Our clothes had automatically changed as we crossed the border. Even Ching Shih's customary black Tang suit is now a black, cross threaded, boiled leather vest, over a quilted black soft leather tunic undergarment. Her leather tunic goes down to just above her knees. Below that, she wears black leather pants and boots. Her clothes are proper, but understated, a representation of what she had been wearing. One interesting thing, her Katana has not changed. I guess she either has some special code for it, or this is an acceptable weapon in this set of Zone rules.

As for the rest of my group, the more flamboyant and armed they had been as pirates, the more hard armor and weapons they have as warriors of this age. I see that there are a lot of chain mail shirts, with coifs, but not much plate. Hard armor is kept to spaulders at the shoulders and bracers on the wrists and forearms. Weapons are broadswords, axes, round shields, and crossbows. Any gun has changed to a crossbow.

"Hail, travelers, what brings you to Heorot?" a thane called out.

"We come to slay the monster, Grendel," I stated, getting right to the point.

"Then come, warriors, to the king's feast! We will celebrate your deaths to come!" a thane roared.

I shrugged, time will tell.

We followed them up toward the Mead-hall for the traditional feast. According to the story, it is after the feast when Grendel will attack.

So much for the story.

We stepped in through the wide double doors of the King's Mead-hall and beheld King Hrothgar on his throne at the other end. Long tables stand in-between, filled, for the most part, with Zim villagers and warriors. I was just about to proceed toward the King when someone bellowed, "Run for your lives, Grendel comes!"

I spun around, just in time, to see a very large, and terribly ugly, ogre grab George Booth by the head and rip it off his Paragon body. Blood fountained out of the open neck as his body staggered and then collapsed. George is clearly zonked.

But Grendel isn't done. He struck Charles Vane and his blow sent Charles flying across the room, where he smacked into a beam. I distinctly heard bones snap and Charles also zonked.

"Fight!" I bellowed and drew my axe.

Mayhem ensued. Grendel waded into our group, throwing Paragons left and right. A few hacks got in, drawing green blood, but Grendel grinned, showing a mouth, far too large for his ugly pudgy face, with teeth very long and sharp.

"Holy Dr. Banner gone mad!" I exclaimed, as another of my Pirates flew by, I think it is Henry Every, but whoever it is, he is missing an arm.

This ogre is eating us up, literally. He took a big bite out of Bartholomew Sharp, taking most of his neck in one chomp.

This monster is ridiculous! How is anyone supposed to beat this ogre? Well, the answer is, they aren't. Grendel has been killed to the point where a normal Puppet can't kill him; at least, it is extremely unlikely now.

Desperately, I accessed the code for my ax. I'd made this thing myself, it isn't part of the Zone Server objects. However, I'd designed it as a normal ax, with standard weight and sharpness. I quickly altered the base code on the thing, making the mass far higher and then altered my Paragon strength to match.

I just got it done when Grendel leaped forward and landed right in front of me. He bellowed, sending spittle, and bits of Bartholomew's Paragon flesh, spewing out into my face. I nearly passed out from the truly horrible smell and am momentarily stunned. I think the bastard would have had me, but then I witnessed an amazing show of Paragon control and flexibility.

Ching Shih leaped off a table, flipped through the air and landed on Grendel's left shoulder. She used her katana to slice across his forehead, causing a fountain of green blood to erupt and flow down his face. He reached for her, with incredibly fast hands, but she didn't wait to see what he would do next, she backflipped off the monster and landed on a table behind Grendel.

With his blood flowing into his eyes from the cut on his forehead, he lost sight of the small woman, momentarily, but turned and spotted me, still standing right in front of him.

By now, I have recovered from his bellow, so, when Grendel, angrily, reached for my body to rend me in two, I swung my, now, extremely weighty ax. I used all my newly enhanced strength to deliver a devastating blow. My flashing ax sheared off Grendel's arm at the elbow and a new fountain of blood shot out. Grendel screamed and gaped at his severed arm in shock. Then he turned and bashed his way through obstacles as he ran out of the Mead-hall.

I set my heavy ax down on the stone floor, with a dull grinding thud, and sat down on a bench. "That was much worse than I expected," I noted, glancing around at the wreckage of Paragon bodies, many of which had been my team, though there are also bodies of thanes.

Of my group, only five have not been zonked. The survivors are Ching Shih, who looks, decidedly, unconcerned about all the dead people around her; she is standing, with arms behind her back, waiting calmly.

Dead Red sits, propped up against a wall, nursing a bruised shoulder, where a flying body had hit and knocked her into a post, slamming her hard against the support. She'd been lucky to get knocked out of the action, without being zonked.

Long John Silver has also survived. He had gone to Red's aid, so he is undamaged. Calico Jack seems unscathed. He had attacked and ducked under one of Grendel's blows. Jack had actually managed to slightly wound the monster, in the side, just before Grendel leaped in my direction.

Finally, Black Sam has also survived. He'd, luckily, been behind me, farthest from the rampaging monster, when it all started. If Grendel had gotten me, the beast would have been after Sam, next.

Everyone else, from my party, had zonked and, most of them, very gruesomely. Such goes a battle in a Challenge Zone as nasty as Heorot.

The thanes placed the fallen on barges, which they launched out into the fjord. Using lit arrows, they set the oil-soaked wood on fire, burning the bodies in respect. Then the celebration began in the great Mead-hall, Grendel has been defeated and we are the great conquerors of the monster.

But I know better, what makes the Beowulf adventure so difficult is the three-stage nature of the challenge. First, you have to defeat Grendel, and that takes out almost all of the challengers, right there. It's no wonder this is a team Challenge, the attrition rate is horrifying! But that is only stage one, next up is Grendel's mother. Fortunately, what I seek is in her cave, so I shouldn't have to face the final challenge, the Dragon. Even Beowulf fell to the dragon, though he took it with him. But I don't dare get zonked; I still don't have a Ship with which to return to the Zones.

Now I wish I had set my Emotional Threshold even higher, one deadly blow and I will be zonked, but there is no fixing it, without a return to my Green Room, and, for that, I also need a Ship.

By now, my zonked companions are, no doubt, calling their ships back, on automatics, to return to their Green Rooms to pick them up. They will set sail for the Zones in a few hours, likely, returning to Tortuga before we can arrive. Getting zonked here has no real danger from zPol, the Dragoons aren't here running any traces, so this is just a loss of coup and not much else. Truthfully, getting zonked by Grendel is not much loss in coup, that ogre had been NASTY!

I don't want a repeat of the earlier, disastrous, surprise, due to an alteration to the Beowulf story, so I had my team turn in early and stay frosty. This means we skipped the part where Queen Wealhtheow gives me a golden collar, but I'm not much into leashes anyway. My decision turned out to be a good thing. We learned that Grendel's mother, who only has the name 'Grendel's mother' from the poem, attacked during the late celebration. Like in the story, she took her son's claw and dragged off one of the royal danes, Aeschere.

This part is straight out of the poem, though she wasn't supposed to attack during the celebration. No matter, this is an 'Event' which only involves the Zims in this Challenge, so no Paragons or Puppets get zonked.

The next morning, the six remaining members of my team prepared to head for Grendel's mother's lair; we will have to follow her tracks.

This didn't turn out to be too difficult. Tracking an ogre, even a female, is not that hard, they tend to leave deep tracks in any kind of soft soil.

We know we reached the right location when we found the severed head of Aeschere, the Zim she had 'kidnapped' the night before. His sorry looking head is stuck on the lopped off trunk of a young sapling. Standing at the edge of a lake I gazed out at the still water. If this Zone Challenge follows the story, Grendel's cave is located at the bottom. The lake is fed by a river, which is created by a waterfall, eighty-feet tall, that falls from a cliff on the far side of the lake. The area is wooded and green all around, quite pretty if you ignore the severed head.

"OK, at this point in the story, Beowulf dives to the bottom of the lake and Grendel's mother drags him into her cave," I noted.

"Alas! Be ye going with that?" Long John Silver asked with a smirk.

"No, I hadn't planned on it," I replied, grinning back at him.

Red looked at me and said, "Then, what IS the plan? I think ye should clue us in at this stage, in case ye be the one who gets zonked. If we git in the cave, what be we looking fer?"

I nodded, "That's fair, but the answer will not be very satisfying."

I explained how I'd gotten the message, which led me to seek 'Justice', and how I'd received a clue to go to Wonderland and how, once there, the Cheshire Cat led me to the Mad Hatter and then of his riddles. Finally, I explained how I'd deciphered the map and gotten the clue to go to Heorot and seek out Grendel's cave.

Red looked frustrated, "So, ye have no idea why ye be following these clues, or what ye will git if ye accomplish this challenge?"

"I know that The Phoenix is chasing me, seeking something I stole and that I am Pirate One," I noted, wryly.

She gave me a sly grin, "Well, thar is that. OK, I'm in. As to me first question, what's yer plan?"

Calico Jack answered before I could speak, "Kill Grendel's dear ol' mum, search the cave."

I laughed, "Just like that? Grendel took out half of us and he wasn't a pissed off mother on her home ground."

"OK, so we need a plan," Black Sam said, pacing slowly back and forth. "What if we draw her out so that she isn't on home ground?"

"Blimey, how do we do that?" Red asked.

Calico spoke to Red in an amused tone, "Ye cavort around in the buff while we wait in the bushes."

Red just laughed, "Fat chance, Baldy, git yer kicks another way."

Ching Shih has been silent up until now, but she spoke in a matter-of-fact way. "I will draw her out; you all get ready to take her down."

Long John started to open his mouth, but seeing the dark gleam in Ching Shih's eyes, he thought better of his comment and snapped his mouth shut.

"Are you all ready?" Ching Shih asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Hell no," I answered and got my ax out. Then I hid behind a big rock.

The others took my cue and also armed and concealed themselves, though they picked various hiding places, like in some bushes, behind tree trunks, etc.

Ching Shih just waited calmly, standing in the small clearing. When we were all hidden, she turned, hands still clasped behind her back. She didn't even have her sword drawn; the Katana, she favors, is still strapped to her back. She walked to the very edge of the lake and then called out loudly. "I helped to kill your child, the vile monster, Grendel. I have come for revenge for his killing of my companions! I'm sure YOU want revenge for your son, so, come forth and attempt to obtain your revenge, or I will leave in my Ship."

The lake water remains still, but Ching Shih did not speak again, she just waited, calmly, standing with her hands behind her back, chin held high.

Ten minutes passed. I started to get restless, and then the water in front of Ching Shih erupted.

Out came a green scaled ogress, her phosphorescent scales gleaming, wet with the lake water. Her mouth looks like the same large and toothy monstrosity as her child, Grendel, but mom has a large, golden, trident spear. She immediately tried to skewer Ching Shih with the three-pronged head.

The small woman moved with such acceleration that even the monster's magically enhanced speed did her no good and the trident struck mud, where her target had stood a moment before.

Ching Shih drew her Katana in a flash. Before any of us could move, she danced with the massive ogress. There is no way her small sword can deflect that massive trident, but somehow Ching Shih managed to deflect its path, just slightly, each time, while leaping to the side so that the trident missed.

Three times she parried and dodged before any of us got there. I'm pretty sure I would have been a shish-ka-bob by then.

Black Sam tried to shoot 'mom' with his crossbow, but the ogress is too fast and managed to dodge his streaking missile.

Calico Jack attempted an overhand chop at her shoulder, using a massive two-handed broadsword, but she parried the blow with the trident, which knocked his sword flying.

Before anything else could happen, she reversed the trident, in a blur, and skewered Calico Jack. His mouth opened wide, in surprise. From that expression of pain, I have no doubt that he has his Emotional Threshold set really high so that death blow must have felt like the real thing.

At this stage, Red and Long John attacked from both sides, hacking at her arms while she is busy zonking Calico. They managed to draw green blood, but Grendel's mother yanked the trident out of Calico's paragon and swept the golden weapon's business end to the side.

The impact of that heavy weapon threw Long John's paragon body far out into the lake.

Red hacked at her, again, and Grendel's mother slashed with her left claw, ripping out Red's throat.

By then, I got behind the ogress and did the cowardly thing, I chopped down with my enhanced ax and strength, but that creature is fast and managed to turn slightly, causing my blow to miss my intended target, her head. My strike did come down into her shoulder, with devastating force. My ax head buried itself all the way into her upper body.

Then her backhand blow caught me on the side and I felt a shock of pain as my body tumbled through the air. I blacked out as I landed, with a splash, in the lake water. My vision went dark, so I figure my zonk number is up.

However, a few minutes later, I found out that I have survived, somehow. I awoke and found Ching Shih pulling me through the water, an arm around one of my shoulders. She is kicking for all she is worth, trying to drag my big carcass back to the beach.

I started swimming, so we managed to make it back to shore.

As we got out, I noticed that Ching Shih is, basically, naked, except for the hair clasp that keeps her long hair in a ponytail. She does not look concerned, standing there, hands on naked hips, watching me to see if I am all right. She is very slim, in all ways, though finely muscled.

"Thanks for the rescue, I might have drowned," I told the small woman.

Ching Shih started putting her clothes back on, in an unhurried way.

I surveyed the scene. Black Sam has also been zonked; his dead Paragon body has three slashed streaks going from shoulder to waist.

"What about Long John?" I asked, looking out to where he had landed in the lake.

"I checked him first, he has zonked," Ching Shih explained.

I looked at Grendel's mother. My axe is still in her shoulder and her head is on the ground next to her massive body. I don't remember doing that.

"Who managed the decapitation?"

"I did, right as it got Black Sam," the small Chinese woman replied, just getting her tunic on over her bare chest.

"So, we're it?" I asked.

"For a few minutes, I thought I was the only survivor," Ching Shih said but shrugged.

"Damn, that battle was insane, now we are supposed to go up against a dragon?"

Ching Shih answered calmly, "Normally, I would assume so, but if we search the cave and get moving, perhaps we can avoid that fate?"

I stood and said, "Right, OK, what do you think, swim to the bottom of the lake?"

She shook her small head, causing her wet black ponytail to flop back and forth. "No, I think we should check out the waterfall."

I looked across the lake to the indicated feature and asked, "Why is that?"

"Because I thought I saw movement over there, a few minutes before Grendel's mother arrived."

I hadn't seen anything, and I do remember watching the falls some, but not all the time, so, maybe I missed it.

"OK, lead the way."

She is already on the move, so my words were kind of useless.

I got up and followed, after the body blow I'd taken, my muscles should have been complaining to me that movement is not desirable in their currently bruised condition, but I am fully recovered.

In the Zones, you have no real muscles to bruise. At the time you are hurt, you feel the pain, but once it is over you are good to go. I am just happy I had only been hit hard enough to feel the pain of bruising, if I'd broken anything, major, I might have zonked.

We walked around the north side of the lake, following the beach toward the waterfall, and Ching Shih spoke. "To pass the time, tell me about yourself; I am curious about you, zOne. She pronounced my name as 'Zee One'.

I told her an abbreviated version of my circumstances, keeping Mary's and Ellie's names out of it. When it came to my splotchy memory, I thought about it and couldn't think of a good reason not to tell her about taking a brain smear. I mean, what, one of the most wanted Pirates in the Zones is going to turn me into zPol? If I can't trust Ching Shih, who can I trust? With her record against Zcerebral, there is no deal she can broker to clear her record. And, as one of... if not THE... most successful pirates, with an entire fleet at her disposal, why would she want to?

Ching Shih was quiet for a moment and then said "But, why would you risk a brain smear? If you are a top code sculptor, then you were already brilliant, how can more brilliance, at the risk of damaging what you already have, be worth it? I mean, I can understand an average person wishing to be a genius, but a genius, by nature, is arrogant about their mind's capabilities."

I cannot dispute her conclusions, I am arrogant enough to know I would never risk my current brains and, if that is so, why did I do it before? It actually makes no sense, which means we don't have all the puzzle pieces. I'd done it, therefore, I had to have a good reason.

"And what do you know of this thing that you stole? Is this what awaits us in this cave?" she asked.

I shrugged, "Of that, I have no idea, but we'll find out, soon enough."

"Yes, that is true," Ching Shih noted. She had one more question, or, perhaps, a concern, "I am curious about this entity who seems to know more about your circumstances than you do; the being who came to you as Bagheera and as the Cheshire Cat. What of this person? What is their stake in your life? Why do they care? What do they want from you? And, what is their real game? This person would concern me."

I thought about the person, he helped to keep me from being captured by zPol, sure, but who is he really? Now that I thought about it, he only arrived when zPol showed up. What if he is a zPol agent? He could have called the zPolice, and warned me of their coming, thus getting me to trust him.

I nodded and replied, "Didn't Sophocles say, 'Foes' gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none.' I think this unknown person bears watching."

Ching Shih did not reply, she seems deep in thought and then she said, "What is your goal, beyond today?"

I thought about that and then I replied, "I want to find out why I am wanted, why I risked a brain smear, what I supposedly stole, and why I stole it. I'm sure it is all related."

"No doubt, and after you know these things?"

"Well, I will cross that bridge when I get there," I replied. I didn't tell her that I am also conflicted about Mary and Ellie; both of them are dear to me. Could one man love two women? The answer is, of course, 'yes', but will the result of that dual love tear me apart? In the end, will I lose both for not choosing one?

While I contemplated the agonies of love, Ching Shih continued on more practical matters, "What of Zcerebral? Do you have any intentions of thwarting them further? You did mention breaking into Sin Circle, looking for the Zone servers. From what you said, they were not there."

"No, just Zombie Coffins and some kind of, and I know this sounds insane, resort facilities."

Ching Shih glanced over at me and asked, "And what do you make of all that? Where do you think the servers are really located?"

"I don't have a clue," I answered, ruefully.

I also didn't mention that I'd left that Search Rider in the database; so far there is no point, nothing has turned up.

We reached the waterfall. It is about forty feet wide and there is a deep river between it and the lake. This river is slow, looking like an extension of the lake. It runs up to the falls, where the falling water disturbs the surface in constant ripples. On either side of the falls, there is a mass of black boulders.

We worked our way through the mist from the falls, which soaked us to the skin. To reach the falls, we have to scramble over dark and slippery boulders and rocks. Eventually, we reached the falls along the edge of the water. Once there, we found that the falling water isn't too thick, just a thin sheet and some mist. Most of the plunging water falls into the river pool, but six feet, to either side, falls on the black rocks.

From this vantage point, I can see an open space behind the water.

At the base of the falls, it is too loud to hear without yelling, so I pointed at the wall of water and Ching Shih nodded. We both dashed through the falling sheets of water. It hit pretty hard, but not enough to knock me down and, even though Ching Shih is small, there is something very strong about her; she also made it through without mishap. We ended up standing inside the cave entrance.

Yes, there is a cave behind the falls and quite a big one. It goes back into the cliff, as does the lake water.

We followed the water channel into the dark interior. Ahead, we saw light, and we finally came to a bigger cavern. High above is a round hole, letting sunlight flood into the chamber. Most of the chamber is a small lake, which fills the cavern nearly to the walls.

Along the edges, there are piles of gold coins, fancy armor, and shining weapons glinting in the sunlight. Some of the treasure is mixed with bones, the remains of vanquished Puppets. Much of the treasure has been taken from the fools who came here to challenge Grendel or Grendel's mother.

But, dominating the scene, illuminated by a wide beam of sunlight, knifing down into the darkness, floats a full-size Viking ship.

"Wow, ni-i-ice boat," I noted, in admiration.

Ching Shih gestured in the air, which means she has used her Steward to access a code base. Only she can see the code as she looks through parts. Then she said, "Not a boat, a Ship."

I know by the way she stressed the word, 'Ship' that she means a Pirate Ship.

Loki, can you show me the code for that Ship?

Like Ching Shih, a cylinder of code appeared in the air around me. I checked various routines and it is like coming home. Here is code I understand, completely. On a hunch, I brought up the speed code and found my own signature sculpting, or something very similar. Even if it isn't exactly the same, I still recognized my own style; I sculpted, at least, some of this code.

"I think this is what I came for," I noted, "I had a hand in the design of this Ship."

"This is your sculpture?" she asked, then added, "It is very good."

"Thank you. Here is one more test to make sure this is my Ship."

I called out and Zim voices replied from within the hold of the Ship. They came out and I ordered them to start loading all the booty for the rest of the team.

Then I spoke to Ching Shih, "One thirteenth of this is your share of the treasure."

"Of course," she answered, but I can tell she doesn't really care about the zTime treasure. By her gestures, I can also see that she is still pouring through my Ship code.

"It is good sculpting, but I only see Ship code here," she said, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Why is that an issue?" I asked.

She shrugged, "You want answers; I was hoping they were here. Though this is a VERY good Ship, she is just a Ship. This cannot be what you stole from Zcerebral."

I nodded, her words make sense. Now that I have my own Ship back, I guess I will have to seek out this G.O.D. that Peter had mentioned; the person who might have some answers for me.

Once my Zim crew finished loading all the treasure, my Zims rowed her out of the falls, the curtain of water pounding down onto the decks and backs of my crew as we came out of the ogre's lair and back into the sunlight.

They rowed us across the lake and took the river which leads to the King's village and the sea. A great celebration is taking place at the Mead-hall, but we didn't stop.

Ching Shih transferred to her Ship and we sailed off into the ocean, heading for the Zone border. While we sailed, I went through my Ship code, learning what I have there. Even I am impressed, she is ready to sail across zSpace and Zones beyond. I am a Captain of a Pirate Ship, at last, and the Zones are mine to plunder if I can avoid or outfight the Dragoons. The name of my Ship is 'Primus', a good Latin name, if a little impersonal, I wonder if I should change it to Mary, or Ellie? But that choice will be too difficult to make, besides, renaming a Ship comes with consequences and vast rituals.

The Dominator stayed with me all the way across zSpace and the Heinlein Zone, as we reversed our course and returned to Tortuga.

When we sailed into the harbor, together, the entire Pirate population came down to the wharf to celebrate our victory. My pirate team waited on the dock, their Paragons resurrected and returned to the Zones.

When we crossed the border, out of Heorot, the treasure had all changed to zTime cards, though, on entering the Sabatini Zone, it has all changed to pieces of eight. I had my Zims transfer all the treasure to my team. It came to a hefty sum of over six thousand zHours, per member.

There was much celebrating at the Saucy Stench that night, with tales of valor and battle. Even Ching Shih showed up, which I hear is a rarity. As I left the party, late that night, Ching Shih walked out the door, with me, much to the delight of the pirates. We heard a lot of hooting and a few catcalls from the other Pirates.

However, we only walked the streets together and, when we reached the docks, I didn't invite Ching Shih to my Ship and she made no mention of it. We bowed to each other and she headed for her long boat and me to mine. As my Zims rowed me toward Primus, I admired the frigate she has now become. She isn't as fancy as the Arabella, next to her, but she is a fine Ship and I am very proud. She is an original English design, with eighteen guns on each side and sleek lines. I'd found she is very fast, during our battles on the way back. Her hull is painted green, with gold edging and, on her prow, there is a carved mermaid, holding a set of scales.

I went to my captain's cabin and lay down, thinking of Mary and what she will think of Primus. Then I told Loki to take my mind back to my body and the waiting Ellie.

# Chapter zEighteen – Banff

I awoke, alone in the bed, but, when I looked up, I found Ellie, now dressed, sitting in a chair watching me.

"Good morning," I stated and stretched. "Have you been back from the Zones and awake for long?"

She smiled, "Yes, an hour or so."

"And you were just watching me?" I asked.

She shrugged. "That and thinking."

"Oh, what about?"

"You and, well, your wife."

I turned on my side and propped my head on my hand, just waiting for her to continue.

She glanced away for a moment and then said, "I know you loved her very much."

I nodded and, intellectually, I know that this must be true, but I also know my wife passed away six years ago, and time heals all wounds... at least, it feels that way. There is no ache in my heart when I think about her and no feeling of guilt for being with Ellie. They never knew one another; Ellie has been my Grad Student for the past four years, joining me two years after my wife was killed by zPol.

"If you are asking if being with you bothers me, because of my wife, the answer is 'no'," I explained.

Ellie nodded. "I just wondered if..." But she trailed off, as if suddenly unsure of what she is about to say.

"If what? You can talk to me, Ellie."

"I wondered if you were just comforting me last night?" she asked, softly.

I considered Ellie, I really care for her, deeply. I'm not sure when that started, certainly not while she was just my student, back in that lifetime, which seems more like a movie than reality, before I awoke in Holgren. I also know that I care for Mary as well, and that bothers me. Ellie doesn't know about Mary and I don't think this is the appropriate time to talk to Ellie about that Pirate. Ellie seems insecure enough about my deceased wife and, besides, I have to figure out some things in my own messed up brain, first.

"Ellie?" I asked, quietly.

She seems distracted, and is biting her lower lip, but, at my tone, and then silence, she looked back into my eyes.

I continued, "I didn't sleep with you to comfort a friend. I slept with you because I wanted to be with a girl that I care about, very much."

The corner of her lips pulled up slightly into a ghost of a smile. "I guess we all feel a little vulnerable and unsure when something like this happens with someone you have known for a long time. You wonder what it will change and if that change will be for the better?"

"I understand, but you don't need to wonder, I still care for you, even more now, possibly. You didn't 'seduce' me and I didn't give in because of pity. Is that why you were watching me, to try to figure that out?"

"Partly, yes. I, well, I'm kind of on the rebound, as well, and I wanted to try to sort out my feelings, besides, I like watching you. And, though I'm not all that big on goop remakes, your new face is quite pleasing."

"Oh, so now I'm handsome? Is your attraction to me skin deep?" I asked, in an amused tone.

"Well, it doesn't hurt and you look much younger now," she said with a laugh. "But it's your mind that first attracted me to come to you." Then her face became more serious, "What are we going to do now?"

She has moved away from 'us' and onto 'them' now, 'them' being Zcerebral.

"Well, let's see what my Search Rider program has gathered," I said and accessed Loki by addressing him in thought.

The Search Rider has collected some small bits of data, Sir, and I have been sifting it for useful strings of information.

Great, and what have you gleaned? I asked. Is there anything about the current location of the Zone Servers?

No, Sir, they were, obviously, very thorough about making sure nothing survived about that; they used a very destructive algorithm to clean the database of anything about the new transfer. However, I did find a strange fragment, it is curious and, by cross-referencing many different bits, I pieced together something coherent, if short. It is certainly not the current location of the Zone Servers, but it might have something to do with the previous location since it has a kind of 'from' tag.

I'm not sure that helps us, I replied, sadly.

It is the best we have, Sir, did you want the data?

Sure, what is it?

It is just two words, Sir, 'Fair' and 'Banff'.

"Fair Banff," I repeated, aloud.

Ellie looked up at my words and asked, "What?"

"Oh, my Search Rider found a few unrelated bits and my Steward pieced them together into those two words." I also explained how it might have to do with a previous location of the servers.

"Well, if we go there, maybe we can learn something," Ellie said, "It's better than nothing."

I nodded.

Ellie mused, "Banff, well, that's obvious, it's the Canadian city, and we know Zcerebral started in Canada."

"OK and, though I'm sure Banff is a 'fair' city, how does that help us?"

Ellie's eyes closed, probably to speak with her Steward program. When her eyes opened she said, "I referenced all words about 'Banff', which include 'Fair'. One seems to stand out, the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel."

I asked Loki show the location to me and found myself looking at a 3D image of a massive old hotel, up in the snow-capped Canadian mountains, located in the heart of Alberta.

"I thought Zcerebral is located in the northeast of Canada? At least, that's where the U.S. dropped their NNEMP bombs."

Ellie shrugged. "I'm not sure; but no one knows the actual location where Zcerebral started, it's a secret."

"Well, we can go to Banff and poke around, I suppose," I replied.

Travel no longer includes Jets; they burn too much fossil fuel and have been outlawed. These days, we use a lot of Mag Rail for land travel and one of the Sea Tubes to cross oceans. There is a coastal Tube, which goes from L.A. to Seattle and a Mag Train which can get us to Calgary. From there, we will have to use ground transport to get to Banff. So, it is back to L.A. on the Mag Train, which didn't take long, and then we headed off to the Palos Verdes Tube Terminal by Taxi.

The Tube Terminal is up on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It had once been the old location of 'Marineland of the Pacific', of course, later, it became housing. Then Zcerebral 'eminent domained' the property and built the new Tube terminal. The Terminal is a large cement structure, right out on the bluff, with the distinctive twin Tubes of the transportation system. These Tubes arc out over the surf line until they plunge down into the ocean, where the water becomes deeper. Where the tubes enter the water a stone breakwater is used to protect the tubes from the ocean swells.

The Tubes are a translucent graphene matrix material, very strong and light. The twin tubes are each about twenty feet in diameter and fastened together, every so often, by connection rings. The right Tube is the 'North' and the left one is the 'South' Tube, indicating the direction in which the Tube Cars flow. At any given moment, there are hundreds of Tube Cars hurtling along these tubes, under the ocean, traveling at 1,000 miles an hour at their peak speed. The Pacific North Tube stops at two ports between L.A. and Seattle, which are San Francisco and Crescent City. You cannot skip these, your Tube Car pulls in, exchanges passengers, as necessary, then re-launches for the next leg of the journey.

The Tube runs deep, over 300 feet below the surface of the ocean, in most locations. This puts it far below the depth where there is any surge movement of the ocean, even in the biggest storms. The Tubes run perfectly straight, except for where they stop, so they can maintain incredible speeds through most of the journey.

Travel from L.A. to Seattle is like this: Ten minutes to reach the first curve, then fifteen minutes to travel a hundred and forty-mile stretch of straight Tube to Point Conception, where the Tube makes a slight turn and has to slow slightly. It then accelerates again for a twenty-minute run to San Francisco. It takes ten minutes to pull into the station. Total transit time: 55 minutes, including launch and landing.

From San Francisco, the run to Crescent City is about another 50 minutes and the leg to Seattle only 40, since it has no bends in the middle. L.A. to Seattle is a total run of about 2 hours, which is comparable to the old Jet system, but infinitely safer and cost-effective. Travel cost is about equivalent to three hours of work, where, in the old days, say, back in the early part of the century, it had cost about two days of work.

The cars use electromagnetic propulsion. Electricity is extracted from an ingenious system of temperature gradient in the ocean, a novel way of collecting solar energy. Heat is energy. We solved part of the global temperature rise by pulling heat from our ocean water and changing that into usable energy. This is done by using a very old system, steam. Surface temperature water can cause steam in special low boiling point liquids. That steam turns turbines, the steam is then, in turn, returned to liquid by bringing up colder water from the depths. This extracts energy from the oceans.

Zcerebral likes to take credit for this renewable energy, and the solution to the global rise in temperature, but the truth is, several companies were working on this idea in the early part of the century before Zcerebral came into political power.

All this meant we can reach L.A. in an hour and arrive in Seattle in two more, without ever taking to the air. Riding the Tube car is very quiet, they travel in a vacuum, without physically touching the walls. There are windows, and the Tubes are mostly transparent, but, the truth is, it's dark out there in the depths, so it is more like going through an unlit tunnel. Of course, as you come into the shallows at each station you get some surface light, for a brief time, and some marine life may be seen, but then you come up out of the waves and into the air as you enter one of the Terminals.

From Seattle to Calgary, we used another Mag Train and, from there, we took a taxi hover car to Banff.

Up ahead, I can see spectacular mountains around the city of Banff. I spotted the Fairmont Hotel poking up from the surrounding evergreen trees, like some massive castle. The resort is down in a valley, between towering mountains all around.

We checked into the hotel and then set about doing some research.

Of course, Loki couldn't find anything about Zcerebral being in Banff in any official Zone records. Information on Zcerebral's beginnings is still a mystery. We will have to look for more subtle clues. We headed for town, seeking the hall of records. Inside, I chatted up a bored woman, I think she is in her eighties, but can't be sure; she looks around 30 and has, obviously, had skin goop to give her that youthful look.

Anyone with zTime can be young again, that is the promise of goop; it can regress any part of your body, back to a youthful state, except for your brain, of course. This isn't true immortality, in the end, people will die when their brains get old and give out. However, there are ways of keeping your brain young, without altering your brain wave pattern. This involves keeping your cells constantly replacing themselves. However, the medical community believes that there is some limit, which the mind will eventually exceed, we just haven't gotten there yet. With Alzheimer's, and other ailments of the brain, repaired, for now, people are going along just fine. The oldest person on the planet is currently 140 years old and looks like she is eighteen.

This has also broken down the barriers of age, people no longer date within their age group, any adult of any age can look young. These days, it is often the older folks shunning younger people, they just aren't as interesting, since they have fewer experiences. Nowadays, a trophy wife, or husband, usually means a younger person has attracted an older mate by being rich.

Of course, living longer has its downside as well. With the end to death by age, or disease, and only accidental death taking lives now, the world's population exploded. Then Zcerebral stepped in, decreeing their new policy of one death for one life. Only when a person on Earth dies is some couple allowed to have a child.

Anyone who goes in for any legal goop procedure gets sterilized as part of the goop process. If they apply for and are granted, a license to have a child, a person can then go in for a temporary goop fertility reinstatement smear. Once they have their one child they are sterilized again.

Of course, this caused great havoc in the world as religious organizations, led by the Catholics and Mormons, fought this policy tooth and nail, but Zcerebral put the hammer down. Several million people were killed in the 'Motherhood' wars a few years ago. Of course, this opened up breeding rights to a lot of people, since, when one person died in the fighting, other people could become parents when breeding licenses were then granted.

To this day, underground religions continue to brew goop to allow illegal siring of children and zPol hunts them down. This is one of the main reasons for all the brain scanners. When illegal children and their parents are seized they are shipped off through the Wormhole.

Many religious groups have taken the Wormhole choice, voluntarily, and Zcerebral lets them go. But, when illegal children are found, they are not killed, nor are their parents; they are just forcibly shipped off to New Earth via the Wormhole.

There are no breeding restrictions on New Earth, at least, not yet.

The very fact that there is a place the religious groups can go to have their children has solved most of the conflicts and, every day, a new group ascends the Space Elevators to use the Wormhole.

Meanwhile, most people just don't have kids anymore. It is rare for a person to die and rarer for those who enter to win the lottery to get a baby license.

Of course, the main reason for having children is now gone. Assuming you aren't religious (and if you are, then apply your own rules here, instead) nature created offspring as a means of perpetuating a species. Bodies used to wear out and, if a species is to continue, they have to make new bodies. Nature's system for this is offspring. This is our 'immortality', given to us by nature.

But, it isn't YOU that is going to live on; it is your species and perhaps, your genes. But those genes do not retain your memories and experiences; you have to pass those down through inexact methods, like teaching your children.

Now that science has created a method of keeping the human species alive, which also keeps your memories and experiences intact, there is no reason to have children, not really. You are your children, every goop smear you get renews your body, which keeps the species, and yourself, alive.

So, now that a new generation is getting used to the idea, things are starting to settle down. Humans will go on; we just don't have to sire children to perpetuate the species anymore. Of course, there are other reasons for having children, the joy of watching them grow up, the joy of creation, that kind of thing, but it isn't to perpetuate the species, not anymore. Or, at least, not to the same degree.

People do still die; they die in accidents, like falling off a cliff or stepping in front of a moving car. Natural selection is still at work if a bit slower. When someone dies, a child is born to replace them, the species continues. At least, that's how Zcerebral sees things and they are in charge.

We put them there, or, at least, supported their rise to power, so now that we handed them the keys to the kingdom unless we all get together and do something about it, we're stuck with the seeds we sowed.

The youthful-looking eighty-year-old pulled up a Flash screen in the air in front of her, though, only she can see it. I saw her flip through a few things, her hands gesturing in the air in front of her and then she spoke in a bored tone, "Sorry, records prior to 2022 were stored on the Cloud back then. We did a yearly backup from the old Cloud server systems to the old Diamond Disk format back then. You remember those, just a single petabyte per disk. When they came out with those disks, the CEO from Ghostbyters claimed 'No one will EVER need more storage on their system than an exabyte.' Jeez, nowadays, word has it, Zcerebral stores things in yottabytes; that's a trillion terabytes."

"And where did you learn that?" Ellie asked.

She shrugged, "Everyone knows that, how else can you store the data for all the Zones?"

I had no answer to her urban myth. "Did that archived data ever get transferred?"

"No, we didn't have any reason to do that, who cares anyway?"

I feel like I am trying to reach over and pull teeth out of the woman, but with a deep breath I asked, "So, where do you keep those old Diamond Disks?"

"In the basement, I guess," she replied, bored.

"Can we take a look at them?" I asked.

She looked at me, crossly like I am Voldemort in the first Harry Potter series, and then, finally, said, "Do you really need to see that old data?"

"I really do, it has to do with some inheritance. In fact, there may be a reward if you help us uncover the information."

"Reward? How many zHours?" she asked, her interest piqued.

"Two Hundred," I noted.

"Hm, well, all right. As long as you give me credit if you find something," she stated.

"Definitely," I agreed.

She looked thoughtful, but I guess she couldn't think of a reason not to let us in and those 200 free zHours loomed large in her mind. "OK, follow me."

She opened up a short door, in the half-wall, and let us in, then led us to a door which went to a basement room. Once there, we found several ancient looking computers. These are some of the first Lightpath Chips, which fueled Moore's law of computer speed doubling every two years, at least until the Zone server era. Nowadays, no one knows if Moore's law still makes sense, there are no personal computers, only the Zone Servers and the access points to that system.

Our clerk fired up one of the old systems and we saw the 3D screen light up. It's really a 2D screen, but with some old-style 3D features. She retrieved a silvery, 2-inch disk, and inserted it into a slot in the side of the old monitor.

"This should be the year you are looking for, have fun! Don't forget to turn that off when you are done and make SURE I get my reward!"

Then she left us alone in the basement.

Ellie got on the computer. It took her a few minutes to get the hang of using, what I'll call, a 2/3 D screen. You can use gestures in front of it, but not like we do with our current projected images and code. Here, it is like the data is hovering in front of the screen and your fingers are mushing into it. If you poke in too far you touch the actual projecting surface behind it, if you are too far in front, it doesn't pick up your gesture.

But she figured it out and, in a few moments, she started paging through data.

Of course, her search for information on Zcerebral brought up, exactly, nothing; that was a VERY long shot. Back in the beginning, the hunt for information on Zcerebral would have included a MASSIVE search by tens of thousands of trained data processors and routines, yet they had come up empty.

I asked Ellie to look for a technology startup company, one which was here, at that time, but had nothing to do with Zcerebral.

She found several, but after looking them over, they don't seem to have any real connection to Zcerebral, not even subtle ones.

I had her expand her search to include hardware innovators. After all, Zcerebral created the Zone servers and the Zone Interface. Later they also designed the Remora and Skey devices.

Still nothing.

"What are we missing?" Ellie asked, frustrated.

I thought about it, hard, and I still don't have an answer. Then I said, "OK, maybe we should talk this through to see if we can figure out a way to come at this search from a completely different standpoint."

"Alright," Ellie said, but she didn't sound confident, and added, "If the world governments couldn't find these guys then, how can we?

"Well, instead of searching for new information about Zcerebral, let's talk about what we already know about them."

Ellie nodded, "Alright, I'll start a list."

She put her Steward to work, adding what we talked about to the list.

"Right, item one, they had to be brilliant programmers."

She nodded, "The best, actually, and the best engineers, because no one has been able to duplicate what they did, even years later."

"OK, so they were the best. What else?"

"They created the Zones," she answered.

"OK, that's true, but, back in the beginning, the Zones were quite different than they are today."

Ellie thought about it and said, "Right, they were much more restricted, without anywhere near the number of locations and rule sets. In fact, I seem to remember something about there being just three Zones to start the whole thing."

I knew this as well, but Ellie said it like she is very familiar with the original Zones.

"Where did you learn that?" I asked.

Ellie thought and then said, "I think my father told me before he died. He was a code sculptor; it's why I went into the field in the first place."

I nodded. "OK, well, your father is right, they started with just three Zones. How does that help us?"

"I don't know."

I thought some more, "Let's continue our list. Who were the first people to use the Zones?"

"That's easy, the computer gaming community. They were the first in, in fact, from what my father told me, I think the first Zones were fictional Challenge or Story type Zones, not business or history."

"You mean games," I said.

"Well, I guess so, but they really aren't called games anymore, you know that."

I nodded, "I do, but they didn't, not back then."

"True, but so what? How does what you call something change anything?"

"Oh, labels matter, trust me. If you call it a game, then gamers were the ones who would come and, according to your father, they did."

"So, what does that tell us?"

I thought for a moment and then snapped my fingers, "We're looking for the wrong thing! The people who started the Zones weren't Google, Microsoft, Apple, Ghostbytes, MegaCodex or any other hardware or software conglomerate."

"What were they?"

"I bet they started as a game developer."

Ellie considered that for a while and then she started searching the Diamond Disk again.

"Three game companies started in this area in that range of years," she said, "Lame Buck, Rubber Lightning, and MMO Mages, Inc."  
"MMO, that means 'Massive Multiplayer Online'," I noted thoughtfully.

"Yeah, Genius, everyone knows that," she chided me, playfully.

I shrugged, "But that IS what the Zones are, in essence. What did the other two game companies make?"

"Lame Buck was a hunting games company and Rubber Lightning was into portable games."

I nodded, "So where was MMO Mages located?"

"Well, that's odd," she said, after searching the computer for a moment.

"What is?"

"They didn't list an address on their business forms, just a P.O. box. I guess they were virtual," she guessed.

I thought about it and said, "Can you look up the founding members?"

She nodded and, after searching, came up with the three founding members. "Here they are Jeremy Stone, Patricia Boulder, and Will Granite."

"Boulder, Granite, Stone? That can't be a coincidence!" I stated.

"No, those have to be assumed names," Ellie agreed, "but why would the founders of the company use false names? Couldn't they get in trouble?" she asked.

"Maybe, but perhaps they wanted to stay anonymous; it might be worth the risk of a little red tape or legal battles." I thought some more, "What products did they release?"

"That won't be in these records," Ellie noted, but said, "However, I can check the Zone records for that. Give me a moment."

She started gesturing in the air, using her Zone interface, assisted by her Steward. Of course, I can't see it, but I can see her waving her hands around as she manipulates things in the air, in front of her.

She searched for a few minutes and finally said, "They were, supposedly, working on some secret MMO, but it turned out to be vaporware, they never released anything and eventually went out of business."

"And that's it?" I asked.

She searched some more, but then shrugged.

"So, they were inept?"

Ellie shook her head, "Not at all, Jeremy Stone is credited with writing some really amazing A.I. routines on early versions of their MMO project."

"And what about the others?"

"Will Granite was their software engine guru. As for Patricia, she was... well shit, she wasn't a programmer at all, she was a neurologist!" Ellie exclaimed.

"What, in the world, was a neurologist doing working at a game development company?" I exclaimed.

"Well, Zcerebral did design the Remora and Skey, these involve the mind, so a neurologist makes some sense," Ellie stated.

"And, the other two were an expert in A.I. and a genius programmer; this sounds a lot like our budding Zcerebral team."

"Maybe, but there is NO confirmation of that," she noted.

I shook my head, "Nor could there be, if there was ANYTHING to confirm our suspicions, even a hint, they would have been found back during the Great Hunt for Zcerebral, Inc. In fact, why weren't they? If we are suspicious, then..."

Ellie frowned, and answered, "Yeah, that doesn't make sense." She thought for a moment and then added, "OK, so, we have a really big 'maybe' because we also have no proof, and, if they were the original core of Zcerebral, why didn't the Great Hunt uncover them?"

"I agree, it's a mystery, but it just seems right," I replied, still thinking. Then I asked, "What happened to those three after MMO Mages went out of business?"

Ellie went back to searching and then said, "Wow, they were killed."

"Killed?"  
"In a plane crash, out on a wilderness excursion," she explained.

I suddenly smiled, "And, that was BEFORE the Great Hunt for Zcerebral, wasn't it?"

She checked, then said, "Yes, quite a bit before."

Then I asked, "So, why look at dead people if you are looking for a functioning company?"

Ellie nodded slowly.

"What else is there about their deaths?"

She searched and then replied, "Their small four-person pontoon plane crashed. Here, take a look at the online article, it includes pictures of the missing victims."

She shared the Images and they appeared in the air in front of us.

Stereotypically, Jeremy really does look like a typical computer programmer nerd, as does Will. Not that they look alike or have glasses with white tape on them or anything, it is more about the strange mix of intelligence in their eyes, accompanied by the lack of style in their wrinkled clothing. However, in contrast, Patricia's picture shows her dressed neat and tidy, her hair, perfectly, done up, tucked into a kind of roll at the back of her head. Her face shows an expression of confidence and power.

"She is wearing a dress, but, if I'm not mistaken, she is the one wearing the figurative pants," I noted.

Ellie nodded and her expression turned to a frown as she stared at the image of Patricia. Then she said, "But they died in that plane crash."

I shook my head. "You don't believe that, do you?"

"Well, there isn't anything here to prove it isn't true," she said, doing a little more searching.

"Of course not, the report of their deaths had to be foolproof to sever their trail. It's not the evidence that makes this seem false, it's the circumstance. Two geeks and a neurologist go on a wilderness expedition? Really, geeks and a fancy dressed girl, going camping in the Canadian wilderness?"

Ellie nodded, "Put that way..."

"What about the pilot of the aircraft, I bet he didn't die."

Ellie looked through more records and then said, "You're right. Three weeks later, he hiked out of the wilderness and claimed that their plane had crashed into a lake and that he had been the only survivor. He walked his way out."

"And they never found the three bodies, did they?"

"There is no record of it," Ellie agreed, after a moment.

"And what of the pilot, what happened to him?"

Ellie did some research and said, "Still alive. He owned a large tourist pontoon plane company, for a while, but changed it to a remote delivery system when the Zones, nearly, put him out of business. He now works for zPS, delivering packages to remote locations in the Canadian wilderness."

"What's his name?"

"Scott Braken and, before you ask, he lives nearby, both his residence and his business offices are in Calgary."

"I think we should pay Mr. Braken a visit. I find it quite interesting that he managed to start up a big business right after losing his plane," I noted.

"Well, unless you can think of anything else, I believe we've gotten all we can out of this old computer," Ellie said, switching off the system and returning the Diamond Disk to the shelf.

"I'll take that," I said, removing the disk from the shelf.

"You're going to steal it?"

I laughed, "With Zcerebral after me, do you think petty theft is going to add to my sentence?"

She smirked, "No, I guess I am really just interested in why?"

"So that Zcerebral can't find and destroy it," I answered.

She nodded to that.

As we exited the records hall I heard the sound of flyers, I didn't even look up; I grabbed Ellie's hand and pulled her under the edge of a roof so we are out of sight from the air. Then we ran, keeping to cover as much as possible.

"You think those are Zombie flyers?" Ellie exclaimed as we ran.

"I would bet all my future zHours on it," I answered.

I kept us moving, as fast as possible, but stayed on foot. Any official taxi or other transportation will give us away.

It took us some time, but we made it over to the main resort hotel and to our room.

The next morning, the excitement seems to be over, though there is a zPol presence around town. We overheard some people talking about how the Zombies raided the town records department and questioned all the staff.

No doubt, the woman we'd talked into letting us into the basement has given our description to zPol, so we checked out of the famous resort.

Out in front of the main lobby, I managed to hitch us a ride with a couple who are about to take a taxi to Calgary. I talked them into splitting the fare. This way, the charge will be on their zTime account. I just transferred some zTime to them from my card.

Once we arrived in Calgary, we rented a hover car and headed for the address of Scott Braken's zPS air freight company. When we arrived at the front desk, Ellie did the talking, "Hello. My husband and I are retracing the lives of our ancestors and we need to get to some remote locations out in the Canadian wilderness. The locations are only accessible from lakes, so we are hoping to hire a pontoon plane and pilot."

"I'm sorry, but we closed that business down, years ago, we are part of zPS now, delivering freight via hover car," the girl, at the desk, noted in a bored tone.

"Scott Braken was recommended to us, is he still here?" I asked.

"Yes, Mr. Braken is the owner."

"Well, a long time ago, my friends knew Mr. Braken and they asked us to say hello to him.

"I'm sorry, but he is really busy, right now," the girl said, becoming a little annoyed.

I spoke in a pleading tone, "Please, at least tell him that friends of Jeremy Stone, Will Granite, and Patricia Boulder are here."

She frowned but finally nodded. Then she Flashed Mr. Braken. She looked off to the side, where, no doubt, he now stands, in projected form, but only for her eyes. We heard her tell him who we are and mention the three people from MMO Mages.

She turned back to us, looking surprised, "He will see you, right away."

"I thought he might," I replied, with a wry grin.

She showed us down a hallway which leads to an elevator. We rode to the top floor of the building, with her, and she led us to an executive office. Once she showed us in, she left, closing the door behind her.

A man is sitting at the desk, young looking, as most people of means are these days, but I can see that this is Scott Braken, returned to youth by goop treatments.

He frowned as he looked us over.

"OK, you got my attention," is all he said. "Why did you bring up three poor dead people, who weigh on my conscience every day?"

"Oh, I doubt they weigh on your conscience at all," I replied.

"Why would you say that?" he demanded.

"Because, Mr. Braken, those people aren't really dead," I answered.

That made him angry. "Of course they are, I was there, I am the pilot of the plane which crashed and, I assure you, they did NOT survive. Now, if that is all you are here to say, this conversation is over!"

"Mr. Braken," Ellie said pleasantly, "Do you enjoy your business relationship with zPS?"

That made Mr. Braken pause and a small amount of fear appeared on his face.

"Of course, what of it?"

"I represent Zcerebral's interests in certain delicate matters," Ellie stated.

She does? I thought in surprise, then realized she is attempting to play the man, so I let her run and just tried to look both bored and menacing.

"Zcerebral? What have they got to do with this?" he demanded.

"Oh, you know, quite well, that zPS is owned entirely by Zcerebral, everyone knows that," Ellie said, with a wave of her hand to dismiss the trivial matter.

"Show me your badge, if you are with zPol!" he said, a little fear in his voice.

"But, my dear Mr. Braken, we are not from zPol, we are from a much lesser known agency of Zcerebral, one that, I assure you, men, like yourself, never want to know. zPol is the obvious hammer, we are the hidden dagger."

He swallowed at that statement.

"Now, as I was saying, we KNOW the three people you took on that plane did not die. In fact, you landed that plane, safely, and they weren't even on board. You then disposed of the plane, sinking it in a lake, and hiked out. You reported them all dead because you were WELL paid. The money they paid you, back then, led to the start of your first company and then, of course, to this one."

I felt as shocked as Mr. Braken, Ellie is unstoppable.

His mouth opened slightly, but nothing came out.

Ellie smiled, "We KNOW all this, already, Mr. Braken, so, unless you wish to feel the 'dagger' of zPol, which will include the loss of everything you own, including the use of your body, you WILL explain what you know about the incident, fill in our blanks, so to speak. If you do, we will leave and there will be no further talk or action taken on you or your company. This all happened a long time ago, we just want the truth. Lie to us and pay the penalty."

Scott swallowed, hard, and then looked away, briefly, before returning his gaze to Ellie. I am completely forgotten, he is now clearly terrified of the sweet little girl sitting next to me.

"And nothing will happen to my family, employees, business, or to me?"

"Nothing," Ellie assured him, "Unless you lie and we WILL know if you lie. I have not told you everything we already know."

He nodded. "It's just like you said. Three city folks came to me and proposed a deal. They would pay me 300 grand to lose an old airplane in the wilderness and walk out, claiming they had died in the crash. That was a lot of money back then," he added, as if offering an excuse.

"Of course, and where did these three go?"

"I have no idea," he started to say.

Ellie just frowned at him.

He swallowed, but then added, "But, I did overhear one of the boys say something about the Beta site."

Ellie raised an eyebrow, "Beta site?"

"Which one said that," I asked.

"Jeremy, I think," he answered, trying to remember.

I then asked, "And what else did they say about this Beta site?"

"Not much, just something odd, Jeremy said something, which I didn't hear, and the girl replied, 'No gambling!'. I do recall something Will said to Patricia, just as they left, something about 'see you at Ever Last Hills'."

Ellie nodded and then said, "Is there anything else you can recall?"

He shook his head, "No, that's everything, I swear. Please... don't..."

But he just trailed off as Ellie stood, but she spoke to him, "I promised that you would be fine if you told the truth, I believe you have. We will leave and not mention this again, but in return, you will not talk about us to anyone, is that understood?"

"Completely," he said with some relief in his voice.

Ellie nodded and I followed her out.

Outside, we both did some searches to see what we could come up with for Ever Last Hills, but we didn't discover anything obvious with that name. Then Ellie tried searching on the same phrase in other languages and got a hit in German. She found one German reference to an Ewigenhügel. This turned out to be a medical facility, in the Swiss Alps, located in a remote village, called Gstaad. They used to specialize in coma patient care.

We headed for the Mag Train station. Once there, Ellie kept a scarf over her head and I put on a winter hat; zPol may have distributed descriptions of us. We boarded the Train, separately, in case they are looking for a couple. I had to pass right by a zPol operative, you can't miss their dark leather uniforms and insignia, but he is scanning the crowd and missed what went by, right in front of him, assuming he is looking for Ellie and me.

We took the train to Great Falls, Montana, where we can catch a ground Tube across the U.S. to Virginia Beach. From the Buxton Terminal, we will take the Sea Tube to Europe. They built it at Buxton because, from there, it is a short hop to deep water. The Atlantic Sea Tube connects North America to Europe and terminates at Cabo Espichel, in what used to be Portugal.

Once on the Mag Train, it is a six-hour run to Virginia Beach, so we paid for a couple of sleeper cubbies, where we can each have enough privacy to access the Zones. Once fed, and in my bunk, I told Loki to uplink me to my Paragon.

# Chapter zNineteen – Saucy Stench

I opened my eyes and found myself staring the ceiling of my Ship's cabin, back at the stern. There are ornate windows around the back, which give me a view of Tortuga's shoreline and wharf area. My eyes tracked up the green hills and came to rest on the white villa, where the gentleman I'd met, named Peter, resides. I decided to go up and have a chat with him.

It turns out to be a bit of a climb up the cobblestone streets to reach his home. When I got to the closed gates, I found several Zim guards.

One of them asked me my business here, so I answered, "I'm here to see Peter."

"The Captain is not in residence at this time," he replied.

I frowned at that and told the guard, "He told me I could come see him."

The guard's expression never changed, "I'm sorry, Sir, but you cannot see someone who is not home; even if they told you that you had permission."

"I see," I said, disappointed. "How long has he been gone?"

"Several months," the Zim answered.

That shocked me and I exclaimed, "Months! I just saw him!"

"Sir, I'm sure you are mistaken. Captain Blood has been out of Tortuga for some time."

"Captain Blood!"

"Yes, this is his residence," the guard answered.

"But his Ship..."

The guard interrupted, "Has been in port for the same length of time, but he is not there, nor here. He left some time ago, by other means and, as of yet, has not returned."

As soon as I thought about it, I recalled the details of Rafael Sabatini's novel, Peter is Captain Blood's first name and, come to think of it, his fancy Spanish dress had been right out of the book as well. Why would Captain Blood, who is obviously staying out of sight, come down to the wharf and talk to me? Is he some kind of Ghost? It makes no sense. I turned and looked down at the harbor; the Arabella is still at anchor, right next to Primus. Thinking about Peter, while looking at his Ship, reminds me of what he said. Now that I know who he is and how rare that visit was, his 'suggestion' takes on greater meaning.

He told me to seek god, a famous Ghost but said I need a Ship first. And there, sitting right next to the Arabella is Primus, ready to set sail.

I headed back down the hill immediately though not toward my Ship. I went to the Saucy Stench and strolled into the establishment. A few Pirates greeted me as I headed for the bar, where Black Sam, one of my recent 'team', is talking to a young lady Pirate whom I do not know.

Sam nodded to me as I came up and said, "Elise, this is Captain Z and this is Elise Eskilsdotter."

I pressed her hand to my lips and she gave me a winning smile. Elise's paragon is a brunette, with her hair done in ringlets, hanging down from her reversed bicorn hat. She has a red scarf on under her hat and a white blouse with a red vest over the top, which is tied in a crisscross pattern at the front. Beneath that she has on a red knee length dress and black boots with a thick top fold. I found her quite fetching, in a Pirate way.

"May I have a moment of your time?" I asked Sam.

When Elise started to move away, I said, "You are welcome to stay, you might even be able to help."

Elise nodded and move back to where she had stood.

"I'm looking for god," I said and then added, "The Ghost, not the deity."

"Ah, I know of the Ghost to whom you refer," Sam noted. "He is notoriously difficult to locate. I spent a little time seeking him myself, there is a lot of coup involved," he added.

Elise nodded, "Yes, I've heard of him as well and, unlike others," and here she gave Sam a wink, "I am not so foolish as to try to dispose of him."

"Well, I didn't actually intend to zonk him, I just wanted to find him. I figured I would decide what I would do if I managed the first part," Sam said in defense.

"And what did you find?" I asked.

"Nothing, he has hidden away from all those wishing to zonk the most famous Ghost. So, after your success in besting Grendel, now you want a bigger challenge? I guess you don't want anyone to topple you from Pirate One."

"Actually, I only want to talk to god," I noted.

Elise smiled, "Just talk?"

"Yes."

"So, how do you find someone who doesn't want to be found?" Elise asked.

Long John Silver walked over, from further down, behind the bar, where he had been listening. "Well, I can take ye to him, if that is yer desire."

I glanced over at the peg-legged Pirate, just as his Parrot squawked, "Dead men do tell tales!"

He glanced at his bird but said nothing.

I'd come to respect Long John on our adventure, he is willing to get his hands dirty, not just sit behind his fame or his pub bar.

Sam turned, he hadn't noticed Long John listening. "So how do YE know god?"

"He and I be well acquainted, unlike the rest of ye heathens," he replied with a grin. "Though the Ghost ye speak of is actually the reason I be gone from Tortuga and me pub for so long."

Elise laughed, "Ye talk like he is a real deity."

Long John shrugged, "Ye haven't met the scurvy dog, or his Ghost, I have."

Sam turned back to me and said, "So, what is it that ye seek with god?"

"The normal things, why am I here, is there something more out there that is hidden from us mortals," I said, giving him a slight smile.

"Has this got something to do with the quest we went on in Heorot?" he inquired.

"In a way, yes; I wasn't sure what I would find there, but I knew it would only be a stepping stone to the full truth."

"What made ye decide to seek god for more of this truth?" Long John asked.

"Captain Blood told me to find him," I explained.

Sam looked surprised, "Cap'n Blood? Then, he not be dead?"

"No, not dead; I met him in my travels." I decided not to mention that I'd met him here, in Tortuga; I don't think he wants others to know he is here, or at least, had been here.

Long John looked interested at my revelation, "And what did Cap'n Blood tell ye?"

"Not a lot, really, he just told me that god might have some answers for me, but that I would need a Ship to get there. He then hinted that I should follow a 'map', which reminded me that I had one in my possession."

Long John just watched me, with a 'cat that ate the canary' kind of smile on his face, and then his parrot squawked, "Follow the map!"

"Belay that talk, Cap'n Flint," Long John said, absently, but then added to me, "How did he know ye had a map?"

"How indeed?" I answered, thinking about that. The Cheshire Cat knew, which made me wonder about that character and Bagheera. What if Captain Blood had been those characters? He had been Pirate One before I had taken that position. Perhaps he had something to do with that? It is an interesting line of thought, but I need more information.

"Well, if ye be sure ye want to seek god, I can help ye find him," Long John offered. "When be ye like to set sail?"

"As soon as possible," I answered.

He nodded, "How about tomorrow, with the changing tide?"

I nodded.

"Well, I still be working on a new Galleon, I lost mine on my last venture, which is another reason it took me so long to git back. We'll have te take yers." Here he lowered his voice so that only the four of us could hear, "I suggest we keep our departure a secret, thar is a lot of coup to zonking god. Can ye two keep this under yer hats?" he asked Sam and Elise.

Elise nodded and Sam replied, "No problem, Long John."

Long John gave them a quick nod and then said to me, "I suggest we sail out without warning and race for the border. That will catch any Pirate who wants to follow us with their britches down."

I nodded and headed for my Ship. I need to get back to my real body. Ellie and I need to transfer from Virginia Beach to Buxton.

Once safely back in my Ship's cabin, Loki downloaded my experiences to my real body.

# Chapter zTwenty – Virginia Beach

I opened my eyes and found myself still in my sleep cubby, as they are fondly called. I am on the Ground Tube car, just arriving at Virginia Beach. I got out and, a few minutes later, Ellie's sliding door opened and she also crawled out.

Upon attempting to get a reservation on the Sea Tube to Europe, we found that all spaces are booked up until the following day. That gives us some time in Virginia Beach. I've been running so fast, ever since I woke up in Holgren, that it is actually nice to take a break.

We booked a hotel room for the night. Ellie went shopping in the zMall, where she purchased a few things, even something for me. When the package arrived, just couple hours later, she unveiled her gift, a bathing suit.

She made me try it on in front of her and when I was buck naked, she pushed me onto the bed. She giggled, very girlishly, and then had her way with me. I fought bravely but was vanquished in the end, submitting to the advances of the little minx. Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!

Once she sated herself on my weary body, she actually made me put on the bathing suit and we went down for a relaxing stroll along the sandy beach. The water is kind of murky and we didn't go for a swim, but it is nice to relax with Ellie, all the same. She held my hand as we walked or put an arm around my waist. We had a nice time and I really enjoyed the feel of the sand between my toes and, even more so, just being with Ellie.

When we had been Professor and Student, there had been no romantic attraction. I can recall that and know it to be true, but now it seems like those memories were from two other people, two people who didn't have the connection that we have made. Maybe love is like that? Maybe it doesn't exist until, one day, some mix of emotions changes in your brain and suddenly there is love. I don't really know, but walking along that sandy beach, listening to Ellie's voice, feeling her body next to mine, I found myself very happy with life. All that is keeping me from complete happiness is the knowledge of my spotty memory, the price on my head, and a tiny bit of guilt about Mary. I care for her too, maybe even love her. I just wish things had ended in a different way. I still want my chance to explain.

After our trip to the beach, we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant. I don't even remember much of what we talked about, I was watching Ellie's beautiful face, so animated when she talked. It really is a work of art, the movements like a symphony that never ends. When we returned to the room, we made love again, this time in a slower, more romantic fashion, which started when I gave Ellie a slow massage. She thinks it is for her enjoyment, but, truthfully, I marveled at every inch of her body as I explored it with my hands and caressed her with my eyes.

When we finally finished, and lay in each other's arms, in the aftermath of our coupling, Ellie said, "Thank you."

I am stunned and replied, "Ellie, I should be thanking you! That was, well, wonderful."

Her hand came up and she pulled me down into a kiss. I tasted a tear as it ran down her face to our lips, a tear of happiness.

Isn't it strange that tears can mean both things? Humans cry when their heart is broken and yet their eyes also mist up when great happiness comes over them, or when something dear to them touches their emotions. Ellie is very happy, in this moment, and I never want it to end for her, or for us.

After a while, though, the realities of life battered against our moment of happiness and finally got in, as it always seems to do in the end.

Ellie spoke with a sigh, "Unfortunately, I must go to the Zones, for a while, I have some business to attend to there."

"Business?" I inquired. "We are on vacation!"

She smiled, "Well, more of a brief interlude. We're on the run, and we need zHours if we are going to keep surviving. There are hotels, dinners out, Mag trains and Tube rides, and none of it is cheap. Somebody has to make some zTime around here!" She stated the last part playfully.

I nodded and replied, "I have a lead I want to look into in the Zones, I can attend to that while you finish your 'business'.

She smiled at my comment and replied, "You can tell me about your lead later, but, for now, I better get into the Zones."

I nodded and we lay down on the bed, side-by-side, and accessed our Stewards. Then our minds were off to our separate adventures in the Zones.

# Chapter zTwenty-one - South Caribbean

I opened my paragon's eyes to morning light streaming into my Ship's cabin. Primus is still moored out in the bay at Tortuga. I got the Zim crew working to prepare for our departure with the ebbing tide. Long John Silver arrived just before we were ready to cast off, just in case someone noticed him boarding my Ship. As soon as he was onboard we raised anchor, without fanfare, and headed for the mouth of the port. I watched the other Ships, but none of them were weighing anchor.

Once we sailed out of the bottleneck, I used my blue bottle of 'grow powder, which I'd found on my Captain shelf, right next to the yellow bottle of 'shrink powder'. Like when we had arrived, I just sprinkled a little of the appropriate powder on the deck and my Ship and crew grew back to normal size.

Now out sailing on the full Caribbean Sea, on Long John's suggestion, we set sail for the Zone border to the South. I scanned the horizon behind us for the telltale shape of following sails and spotted three just on the horizon. They were so far away I couldn't tell much about them, neither who they were or what kind of ships they sailed.

"Might be Dragoons, might be Pirates," Long John noted.

"Or they might just be Zim ships from the Sabatini Zone," I replied.

"True, yet they got on yer stern very smartly, right when ye be headed for a haven which is a very closely guarded secret. Could ye have a tracker on board?"

I hadn't even considered that. "I don't know, I'll have a look."

Loki, can you run a sweep of the Ship's code and look for any Riders?

Of course, Sir, I just live to look through millions of lines of code.

I ignored my sarcastic Steward and continued to watch the following sails, they are definitely tailing us.

"We could turn and fight," I said, but I didn't show much enthusiasm.

Long John sighed, "Though t'is a fine Ship, three against one aren't good odds, especially if ye don't know if those be Pirates or Dragoons. I'd put ye up against any three normal ships, but Dragoon ships, well they have some pretty good code."

I nodded and we sailed on toward the Zone border. If we made it there we would be home free. Once I hit Hyperspace, they would not know where I had gone unless they were very near, with modern ship sensors to track my path as I launched.

"Primus seems pretty nimble, I think we can make the border," Long John said, but we both knew it wasn't a sure bet. Weather in the Sabatini Zone is just as fickle as real weather and, even though the trades blew strong toward the west, the winds can change direction if a front rolls through. In addition, each time you pass in the lee of an Island you hit a dead zone and we have to pass several. It is a few days' travel to the Zone border to the south, so there is time for anything to happen.

Loki spoke at that moment, Sir, the trace is complete and, much to my surprise, I did find something.

Oh?

Sir, there is a very sophisticated routine inserted into the engine code, it might be a tracking routine.

Can you remove it?

No, it is beyond my programming, sorry, Sir. Perhaps this is something you should look at?

OK, show it to me.

Translucent code appeared around me in the familiar floor to above head cylinder. Loki had the suspicious section already centered in front of my eyes.

I looked it over, spun the display a little, with a gentle wave of my hand, and then pushed the whole cylinder up so I could look at another section.

Damn, you're right; this is melded into the entire engine code. It's not a separate routine, but kind of a cancer running through it all. Did you find evidence of it anywhere else?

No, Sir, just in the Engine routine.

I nodded. Then I brought up my newer speed code, the one that Mary had 'borrowed'. I started making changes and alterations. It was a fast piece of code, but not robust enough for a Ship of this size. It took me several hours of work, but when I finished I liked what I had written. I had my Zim crew bring the ship to full stop, bow into the wind.

Long John had seen me coding and left me to it, but as I ordered the Ship to heave to, he said, "Ahoy! What is up, young Cap'n?"

I explained how I am going to replace the propulsion code for the Ship.

"Arrr! And ye wrote a new one in a few hours?" he said, almost shocked.

"Not from scratch, I built onto some code I'd already sculpted earlier for a Skiff."

"A Skiff?"

"It's a long story but let me finish this and then we can talk."

He gave me a go-ahead gesture, palm up and hand moving to the side, along with a tilt of his head.

I brought the code back up, highlighted the cancerous routine and deleted it in mass. Then I pulled in my new code and activated it.

"Hoist all canvas and continue the previous course!" I bellowed to my Zim crew.

While we had been stopped, the three pursuing ships had gotten closer, but with dusk falling, the light is now too dim to see who they are. After the sun set we could still see them following, due to the lights on board their ships.

An hour after sunset Long John said, "Well, I wouldn't have believed it, but that new code ye whipped up is really good. They were slowly catching yer Ship, yet now I think ye be pulling away from them scurvy bastards."

"Well, if you're going to rewrite code, you should do a better job," I noted with pride.

Captain Flint, the parrot, squawked, "Do a better job!"

Long John grinned, "He already did."

"Well, it's a long sail to the border, so I'm going to turn in," I said and went to my bunk so that Loki could transfer me back to my body, it is time to catch the Sea Tube to Europe back in the real world.

# Chapter zTwenty-two – Ewigenhügel

The trip across The Pond only took about three hours and an hour of that was the departure and arrival. At around 1,000 miles an hour, this ocean crossing Tube Car zips through the vacuum of this Tube, five hundred feet below the surface, on average, until it begins decelerating and climbing up to the Terminal at Cabo Espichel.

As we exited the Terminal, I spotted the old lighthouse, further up the hill. It is now a museum to the old surface ship warning system. I find that I like Lighthouses. The idea of building such beautiful towers, manned, each night, by living beings, all to try and protect sailors from the dangers of the rocks, well, it is a testament to human beings, to their creativity, duty, and care for others of their race. This kind of thing is the antithesis of their wars, the other face of the human coin. Humanity can be ruthless and destructive and yet, they can be creative, caring, and honorable. The duality of their capabilities is astounding.

We took a Mag Train from the Terminal and headed for Madrid. From there, we transferred to another train to Lyon, France, and, from there, took another Mag Train to Bern, Switzerland. Of course, none of these are countries anymore; the names are just regions of the world now, all under the same Zcerebral vice grip.

In Bern, we rented a hover car and headed up the road toward the Alps. This is gorgeous country, some of the most beautiful on all of planet Earth. The mountains tower around us as we travel valleys cut by glaciers, out of the distant past, and eroded by time, gravity, wind, and water into nature's work of art.

As we drive the winding mountain roads, I started thinking about Peter Blood and what possessed him to come find me on those docks in Tortuga. What part did he have in this drama and why is he interested in me? Thinking of Captain Blood, and being in Switzerland, I recall that the author of the Captain Blood books, Rafael Sabatini, is buried here, in the village of Adelboden. His second wife was, strangely, a sculptor, though of clay and stone, not code. If the stories are true, on his headstone his wife wrote these words, "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." When it comes to the world being mad, I can't agree more.

I am a little sad as we pull into Gstaad; our time traveling here has been enjoyable, even in a time of such madness. This small town looks almost untouched by time. The people here still work the land, in the summer, on the hills and mountains around the edges of the valley. They are a green patchwork quilt of fields, with bits of forest here and there.

The Ever Last Hills Facility is up on the side of Eggli Mountain, to the southwest of the main village, part way up the slope from the valley floor.

As we drove up to the wood and cement structure, I noticed that, like most things, it has changed. It is no longer a facility for coma patients. The sign at the entrance now states the name and, underneath, in German, says: 'Cosmetic and rejuvenation Center', which means, like most medical facilities still in operation, this is now a goop kitchen.

The lobby is very posh, with gray marble and sculptures. As soon as we walked in a young-looking lady came out, wearing a business suit. She is, of course, stunning, the best looks zTime can buy. She has to be, she is the face and body of a facility which promises that you will look wonderful. She is a living example of what your zTime can buy.

Her smile is 100 karats of white gleaming perfection.

"Good day, how may we mold your life?" was her practiced opening line, spoken in German.

I smiled back, though I answered in English, "Well, I'd like to see an example of your work. I take it you have used this facility yourself?"

"But of course," she said, switching flawlessly to English.

"If I may be so bold, do you have a before image?" I asked.

Her smile didn't slip, she just gestured and there she stood, well, there stood a perfect Image of her, as she had been, standing right next to the new live version. The difference is more than striking. The Image shows an average looking woman, in her forties, standing next to a goddess at sixteen. It doesn't even seem to be the same girl, in fact, maybe it isn't.

"Not to be rude, but how do I know that was you?" I asked the girl, "After all, you look so marvelous now."

"My name is Victoria Gerschwitz, I have been working here for forty years; you can see my employment records if you wish. I am currently sixty-three years old. You may pull up my records, via brain scan," she answered, that engineered smile never cracking.

"No need for that, instead, just answer a question for me, what did you do here when you first started?"

"I was a nurse, tending to coma patients," she answered, pertly. Then she added, "Of course, there is no need for that now, we can heal any damage to the brain or any other part of the body." She looked me over critically and said, "Your face is fair, but we can give you a body that will make Adonis jealous, where he real."

Ellie spoke up at that point in a droll voice, "Really."

The girl turned her eyes on Ellie, "Your eyes are exquisite, but we can add some height to you and increase your hourglass figure. I also believe we can do something to balance out your features better. We can even keep you looking much like you do now, just better."

I felt a cold front come over the area as Ellie frowned at the woman, so I spoke up, "Actually, we may need a full overhaul, for both of us."

The girl's eyes lit up, full workups are expensive.

"You see, this place comes highly recommended, by my mother," Ellie added.

"Oh, she had work done here?" Victoria asked, curiously.

Ellie nodded, "Oh yes, more importantly, she was a coma patient here before being healed and then she had additional cosmetic work done."

I think we saw the first genuine smile from Victoria because this one included her eyes. She is very good at her new job, but it is obvious that she had been trained as a nurse and missed helping people. From her expression, reminding her of a patient she had helped must have pleased the nurse. It's too bad Ellie made that part up, but at least it made Victoria happy.

"My mother said she made a friend here, but she doesn't remember her name. She gave us an image of the girl, but, unfortunately, it isn't you. Do you have images of all the employees from back then?"

Victoria nodded, "I believe so. A few of us are still here, but many others have moved on. Here, I'll send you a directory."

She gestured in the air and Loki informed me when he received her file.

"Can you give us a few minutes to look them over?" I asked.

She flashed her smile, again, and said, "Just call out and I will come back when you are done."

I had Loki link my view to Ellie, so she can see the same images of people as they appear in front of me. Then I started going through the directory.

The sixteenth Image to appear is Patricia Boulder.

"I'll be damned," Ellie said and then continued, "So, Patricia Boulder came here and got a job, but did the two computer geniuses come to Gstaad with her?"

I don't have the answer to that, but I said, "Well, let's look at the facts. They faked their deaths, that's pretty extreme and it cost them a bundle. 300 grand wasn't chicken feed in those days. Why would they do that?"

Ellie shrugged, "Well, if we are assuming this was the group that started the Zones, then it's obvious, they designed something that they believed someone would go to extreme lengths to obtain."

"Right, the early technology for the Zones, but why come here, why come to a coma ward?"

"Maybe this was just a front and they were really setting up a computer lab nearby."

"But why say, "We'll meet at Ever Last Hills, why not say, 'Gstaad'?

Ellie nodded, "OK, so there was something about this place, what can it be?"

"Well, maybe a doctor?" I noted. "Maybe they needed help."

"Or a patient," Ellie said.

I frowned at that and said, "Why do you say that?"

"What does a Zombie body look like when it is in a Zombie Coffin, with the brain disconnected?"

"Crap, a coma patient. Give me a second."

Loki? I want to hack into the database of this facility. Can you get me the code based on where these Images came from?

Yes, Sir. I assume you are about to commit another crime?

Probably, why?

Oh, I've just noticed that this inevitably includes a run from the zPol forces afterward, when your plan falls apart, and I thought I would get ahead of the game and start listening to broadcasts, Sir.

My plans don't always fall apart! I exclaimed.

Sir, would you care to list the ones that haven't?

Shut up, I barked in thought.

Of course, Sir.

The code for their database, firewalls, and other protections appeared around me. It didn't take me two minutes to find a crack and breach the database.

"OK, here we go. I show records of twenty-two patients from the correct time period. Four passed away during that year, three were transferred and two new patients were added."

"Where were the three patients transferred to?" Ellie asked, suspiciously.

"Hm, it doesn't really say. Let me do a little digging. OK, here it is, each went to a different facility."

"Which facilities?"

I searched and found nothing. "They don't exist."

"I think the saying is, 'Ah ha!'" Ellie stated.

"What did they want with three coma patients?" I asked.

"Experimentation?"

That sounds gruesome and, as I recall the images of Jeremy and Will, I just can't picture them doing something sinister, but then I recalled the look in Patricia's eyes, she is another story, altogether.

"Maybe they needed some kind of test subject to develop the Skey and Remora devices?" Ellie postulated.

I nodded to her, thoughtfully. That makes sense, though I don't know what you can do with a coma patient's blank mind.

"What did the medical records show for those three patients?" Ellie asked.

I looked them up and then whistled, "All three showed zero brain activity, they were being kept alive purely on machines."

"So, Zombie bodies, without having to block out a mind."

"Exactly. Ah ha!" I said, not to be out 'Ah Haed' by Ellie.

"What?"

"I'll give you one guess as to who signed all three of the release forms."

"Patricia Boulder," Ellie noted.

"Well, yes, but, of course, she wasn't going by the name Patricia Boulder anymore."

"What was she going by?" Ellie asked.

"Karen Carson."

"It doesn't ring any bells," Ellie stated. "Is there anything else on record for her here?"

This time, I searched all of the facility records for her name and got surprised when a patient record appeared.

"She was also a patient here!"

"What!" Ellie exclaimed.

I read further, scrolling the record with my hand until I found the details. "Here it is, this is a few months later. Right after goop smears got started, and after this facility changed over to a goop kitchen, she got a full body work-over done."

"Then, she doesn't look like the Images we saw, anymore."

"Right, but there isn't an 'after' Image of her here, she checked out and it looks like the Image files were deleted, the new ones, anyway."

Ellie had a thought, "When did she quit working here?"

I checked. "Right after the third coma patient was shipped out."

"So, she came back as a Patient, later, and got a goop smear. I bet she came here, instead of somewhere else, because she knew people and could get to the records. She wanted those Images lost!" Ellie exclaimed. "Is there any record of the two men from MMO Mages getting smears?"

"Well, not under those names and, though we can pour through 'before' Image records, I don't see the point. We know what they looked like, already, and you can bet that Patricia, or Karen, or whatever name she is going by now, erased their 'after' pictures as well."

"And, back then, Zcerebral wasn't controlling things yet, so mandatory brain scans had not been implemented," Ellie noted.

"Yeah, it was a few more years before that started; they were still going by DNA, back then. Well, we can assume that all three original MMO Mages founders got new looks here."

"OK, is there any way to see where they took the three coma patient bodies?"

I looked up the medical transport company and said, "Well, we can see if there are any delivery records. This company looks like they have a Zone business, on Trantor."

"Trantor, isn't that a planet in the Asimov Zone?"

"I believe it is," I said.

"Well, we can take a trip over there, once we get to our hotel; we can have our Paragons meet up," Ellie noted, "It's about time we got together in the Zones."

"I can't, my Paragon is still en route for that Ghost I mentioned, it's a long journey and I'm kind of in the middle of it, right now," I said.

"OK, I'll take my Paragon to Trantor and check it out on my own. I'll let you know what I find and then you'll have to tell me about this Ghost! That sounds like quite a story," she said with a grin.

We took our rental car to the Gstaad Palace, a five-star hotel, toward the northeast of the town. We fueled up with a nice dinner at the restaurant. Afterward, we made love in our room, then we each took a sojourn into the Zones. Before I transferred my mind copy out, I told Ellie that I would be out, for an extended period, and then closed my eyes, my right hand in Ellie's, as we transitioned into the Zones on our separate missions.

# Chapter zTwenty-three – Darcoven

I awoke on my Ship and stretched my Paragon's arms; not that I need to, there are no aches and pains from your Paragon; it is more by habit of something you do when you wake up from sleep.

Once I arrived back on the stern deck, I checked our position on the charts, which my Zim crew has been diligently plotting, and noticed that we are close to the border.

Long John Silver arrived and I knew who was coming from the rhythmic 'thump' of his peg leg.

"All right, we're getting near the Zone border, assuming we get through unscathed, what course should I plot?" I asked.

He nodded, but the parrot answered in another squawk, "Second star to the left and straight on till morning!"

"Nay, ye addled bird, never, never land thar," he admonished.

I grinned, "Why is that?"

"Blimey! Nasty Pirate thar, big hook fer a hand and ye wouldn't want to hang out with Pirates, now, would ye!" Then he laughed.

"Yeah, besides, there is a nasty crock around that area that likes to eat parts, Pirate parts," I stated with a grin.

Long John grinned, "No, our course should be quite a bit different. We're going to a Story Zone."

"Oh, which one?" I inquired.

"T'is the world of Cathexis, in the Blood Zone."

"Blood Zone? As in Captain Blood?"

Long John shook his bearded head, "Actually, thar is no relation. Cap'n Blood is a fictional pirate from Rafael Sabatini's books from the early 20th century, the other is a bilge-writin' scholar from the late 20th and early 21st century."

I raised an eyebrow, "That's right, I recall the books now, but why would our Ghost choose to hide out in that Zone?"

"Well, he picked a particularly nasty haven to enter, whar few, if anyone, ever goes, Darcoven."

"Ah, from Desecrator's Sword," I said, recalling the details of the story. Story worlds are based on, well, a story. In this case, it is a fantasy novel series. Teers take their Puppets there to have adventures in that world. They are different from Challenge Zones, which are just designed to zonk you. I've experienced quite enough of those, already. I've also been to one Story Zone, recently, the Carroll Zone. The characters and situations from a story are recreated in a Zone world and you enjoy that world as a participant.

"So, why did you go seeking god in the first place?" I asked.

Long John looked a bit cagey and then just shrugged, "Truth be tol', I'd heard of a new haven and I wanted to find it."

"What place is that?"

"Valhalla."

"Ah, as in the 'hall of the slain'? From the Norse mythology?"

"That's the one."

"Isn't there a Valhalla in one of the Zones featuring Norse mythology?"

"Aye, several, actually. I went to each of them and they were just standard Zone stuff, Story or Challenge, even one that was just a sandbox."

A sandbox is a set of rules based around a plot but has no story at all. It just exists and you go there to 'play in the sandbox'.

"But you were looking for something else?" I asked.

"Aye, kind of like Tortuga, a haven which is hidden from Zcerebral."

"Wow, there is another place like Tortuga?" I asked.

Long John shrugged, "It isn't like Tortuga; ye can't find it, not even if ye be really good because I tried."

"OK, so how do you get there?" I asked.

"Ye git invited, I'm still waiting," he noted, with a sigh.

"By who?" I asked.

"Blimey! I'm not sure, I'll let ye know when they invite me," he replied, with a grin.

"So, what did you learn from god when you asked about Valhalla?"

"Well, besides the part whar he explained about it being by invitation only, he tol' me t'is the heart of the resistance against Zcerebral."

"I thought that is Tortuga?"

"Tortuga is a haven to hide from zPol and to launch small annoying and mischievous things which bother the beast, but t'is doing nothing to stop, or end, Zcerebral."

"End Zcerebral, now that would take some doing," I noted.

"Well, if t'is being attempted, Valhalla is whar t'is taking place. Tortuga is the proving ground whar ye earn an invitation to Valhalla, or that's what god tol' me."

"And, how does god know of Valhalla?"

"He started it, but he lost his way back when he were killed. He can't go thar as a Ghost."

"I see," I said, though I didn't really understand. "And how did you locate god in the Cathexis world?"

"Alas, I didn't, not exactly. I sought god and god found me. Or, more accurately, someone who knew god took me thar, much as I'm gonna take ye."

"Kind of like a missionary," I said, with a laugh, "showing me the way to god."

"Something like that," he said with a half-smile. "Just remember, jokes aside, he isn't 'god' like at all, more 'geek' like. That's why he calls himself, 'Geek Outwitting Death'.

"Some people would say he is dead," I noted. "Being a Ghost, especially for this long, generally means your body is dead."

Long John nodded. "Thar is one concern."

"Just one?" I asked in amusement.

"T'is a big one. I haven't seen his Ghost in a very long time, for all we know, he has become a Specter by now."

I thought about what I know of Specters. When a person loses their body and their mind stays in the Zones, it is trapped here, forever. As long as the Zones aren't shut down, and the Ghost isn't zonked, they can live on as a Ghost, forever. When you meet one, you may not always know you are dealing with a Ghost. Their Paragons don't seem any different from a normal Paragon or Puppet.

But the thread, or tether, which connects a Paragon to their Skey, or a Puppet to the server, is gone. This isn't normally detectable, but Zcerebral has designed a Ghost detecting routine which can alert an agent to a missing connection. Of course, Ghosts know this and the smart ones buy or sculpt a phony tether. That name got shortened to a Phether, pronounced like 'feather'.

Due to these Phether routines, Zcerebral sculpted better Ghost detecting software. The device that Dragoons and, later, Teers, carry to detect Ghosts is called a 'Scanner'. It takes various forms, depending on the Zone. Some are technological looking, similar to that ghost hunting device from the old Ghostbusters movies. Or, in a fantasy setting, a Scanner can look like a dowsing rod, generally constructed of brass and bent into an 'L' shape. The hunter holds onto one end of the two rods.

Regardless of their shape, all Scanners run the same kind of routine; they attempt to detect a missing tether or spot a Phether. This has become a constant sculpting battle now, as each side keeps making better Scanners or better Phethers.

The Gonkers are always searching for the best Scanner routines so that they can gain coup by zonking Ghosts, or even more coup for zonking a Specter.

A Specter is really just a Ghost, but a nasty, insane one. Ghosts often go insane, for a simple reason; they set their Emotional Threshold to the maximum. This is to keep them from getting zonked, which is permanent death to a Ghost. However, it also means that they take excruciating pain when hurt severely, the kind of pain that is supposed to knock you out or kill you. In the real world, people don't ever feel that level of pain in a sustained manner, their mind shuts down and they black out. But, in the Zones, if you set your Emotional Threshold to an illegally increased maximum, you won't black out, you just keep feeling the pain until it stops, however long that takes.

This can drive you bonkers, trust me. We know because it is the rare Ghost who lives long and doesn't eventually go nuts. So, when they are nuts, they are called Specters and they can be nasty creatures to go up against. If they are good enough to be around as a Ghost, they were probably a great sculptor and therefore a genius. Now, as a Spector, they become an insane genius.

Gonkers achieve great fame if they zonk a Specter, it is their highest goal and gets them bragging rights, not to mention a big zHour reward, but it just isn't easy.

Long John is worried that, after this much time, maybe god has gone insane. By now, he may have become a Specter. It is certainly a possibility.

I thought about things for a moment and then said, "Is zPol looking for god?"

Long John looked thoughtful and then said, "Not back when I spoke to him, they know right whar he be. He tol' me that they have some sort of truce, whar he doesn't go anywhere or do anything they don't want and, in return, they leave him alone. He tol' me that much but didn't go into details."

"All right, so how do we get to the Cathexis world?"

"Well, I planned to cut through the Herbert Zone. Don't worry, the great houses don't have their own interstellar ships, so, as long as we pay off the Space Guild, we should be fine."

"I just hope that someone doesn't get all spiced up and see us coming before we get there," I noted with a laugh, then asked, "Is the Blood Zone after that?"

"Nay, then we either have to go through a part of the Cameron Zone, or take a slightly longer route through the Weber Zone."

"Weber, as in Honor?" I asked.

"Aye, ye know, battleships, dreadnaughts, Ships of the Line, real space naval conflict," Long John said with a hint of a smile. "I always like going through thar, it really stretches yer strategic ligaments!"

"And which Cameron world would we be near?" I asked, thinking of Ellie's big blue girl and wondering if I might see her there, but then I remembered that she is headed for the Asimov Zone.

"The one with the aliens."

"Crap, not the ones that bleed acid?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's a nasty Challenge world."

I shook my head, "I've had enough of those, for a while; let's go through the Weber Zone, that's a Sand Box, right? We'll try to stay up in the higher bands and duck through fast and unnoticed."

"Yeah, right until ye translate down into a big space battle," he said with a feral grin.

"Let's hope we can avoid that," I noted.

Breaking out of the Sabatini Zone was uneventful, just the standard automated Black Ice. Upon breaking through into the Herbert Zone, we had to contact the Spacing Guild and pay to have them take us across the Zone. Part of the rule set here requires this. We could have gone around, but this is much faster. The spice fee is translated from zTime to fit the rules, but, in the end, everything is always zTime.

Once we reached the border, we went through on our own engines, fought the defenses, and punched it into Hyperspace.

Next up is the Weber Zone, but the trouble started before we even got there. Zcerebral ships were waiting for us like they knew we were coming. My Defense Zim alerted me to the presence of an Armada of Dragoon ships, with some really big ones. These are Ships of the line, sporting massive firepower and defenses.

When I dropped out of Hyperspace my defense console lit up, alarms screaming, as over thirty ships of the line came into detection range. Every damn one of them started plotting a targeting solution on Primus. All around them, like buzzing insects, are smaller, faster ships, like destroyers, frigates, and corvettes.

"Holy Harrington!" I yelled and then added, "Full turn, PORT! Get us out of here, any heading!"

"Any heading?" Long John said, from next to my chair.

"Anything not through a gravity well!" I added, hastily.

My Zim crewman, manning the point defense console, called out calmly. "Missile launch, 12,000 targets."

"TWELVE THOUSAND!" Long John replied, incredulously.

I am happy to note that there is now panic in his voice as well, and he lost his pirate accent, altogether.

"In the first launch, another 10,000 just launched in the second salvo," the crewman noted, dispassionately.

"Lasers firing," the Zim crewman at the shields console snapped smartly.

Primus shuddered, but, fortunately, we are at extreme range for their lasers, even the whopping big ones from those Ships of the Line. Thank heavens we aren't in the Weber Zone, I think we would have been vaporized. However, here, I have the full capabilities of Primus, including all the various technologies I have programmed in for every contingency I could think of when I'd designed her routines.

My Ship came around, though she staggered from the laser hits to her shields.

"Shields holding, but down to 23%," a Zim crewman noted.

"Time to Jump?" I asked the navigator Zim.

"Twelve seconds," she replied.

Long John spoke up, "Time to first missile salvo detonation?"

"Eight seconds," the point defense crewman answered, showing no fear. He is a Zim, they don't fear anything; it isn't in their programming.

"I want Hyperspace in six seconds," I ordered.

"That will be an uncharted course," the navigator replied.

"Acknowledged, but it's that or get vaporized, right now."

"Orders accepted," the crewman noted. Then said, "Hyperspace in four, three, two, one, launch."

Somewhere behind us, 12,000 missiles detonated in the space we used to occupy, but at Hyperspace speed, we already traveled a long way from there in those two seconds. Now, if we just don't hit something.

"Drop us out of Hyperspace, now!" I yelled.

The stars decelerated. The effect of them stretching to thin lines of white is not realistic, but it is what science fiction movies have shown us, so that's what the programmers, who created Hyperspace in the zSpace rules, had it show.

Stars returned to normal and I spotted a freaking HUGE sun right in our path, a BIG one. Its boiling nuclear surface filled the entire front view screen. "Hard to Port!" I yelled.

I wonder why we always yell 'port' in an emergency? Maybe yelling 'starboard' just takes longer to say and, when you were about to be cooked, or blown up, you don't want to add even a single syllable before getting the ship turned.

As soon as we turned, I said, "Full impulse power, get us away from that thing!"

"Hull temperature nearing theoretical limits," the science crewman noted.

"Gravity is pulling us in," the helmsman added.

"Hyperspace, short burst, now!" I called again and added, "Course, straight ahead!"

The stars blurred again and I yelled, "Drop us out!"

This time, we appeared inside an asteroid field. "Evasive!" I yelled.

Primus turned abruptly, as the helmsman attempted to dodge spinning and crashing rocks the size of buildings and small mountains.

I didn't dare go to Hyperspace again, not in here. "Power to forward shields only!" I called out.

I was just in time, as a smaller, building size asteroid disintegrated as it hit our shields. The rock didn't get through, but the impact stressed our dampeners to the max and the ship lurched.

"Can you pilot us out of here, safely?" I asked the helmsman.

"Unknown, Captain."

"Relinquish control to my chair," I commanded, as I brought up a duplicate helm control right in front of me. A simulated mind can only work so fast, we need the intuition of true intelligence to survive this situation.

Long John just watched, he knew better than to distract me as I accelerated, turned, spun, decelerated and basically danced my way through the changing maze. Eventually, we came out into clear space.

"Holy Han Solo, that was close!" I exclaimed.

Long John finally spoke, "That was incredible."

"No kidding, we nearly got blasted, vaporized, burned to a crisp and then hammered to jelly."

"No, I mean your piloting skills. You realize you flew through that field for four hours?"

"Four hours?" I asked, puzzled.

"Yes, and you didn't hit one thing, though it was touch and go, most of the time. Incredible, no wonder you are Pirate One; count me impressed."

I had not noticed the hours passing, I had just kept flying as each rock came my way, or hit another, breaking them into multiple threats. I'd lost track of time, my mind in a mental zone where there was just the ship and the asteroids.

I returned control to my Zim pilot and got out of my chair, mentally weary. I gave the Zim an order, "Get us somewhere safe and park, I have to think." He acknowledged my command, like nothing special has transpired over the past few hours.

I went to my ready room, which is a small office just off the bridge. Long John Silver followed me in and took the seat on the opposite side of my desk.

Long John picked up the lightsaber hilt, which is on a stand in front of my desk.

"You know that is real?" I said, just to make sure he didn't activate it and burn a hole through his head or something.

"Yes, I figured as much," he noted.

I then said, "I see you dropped your pirate accent."

"We only use those when we are in Tortuga, or on a sailing ship, they seem out of place in a spaceship, as did my peg," he explained. He lifted his left leg, which had been a wooden peg leg, now his paragon has two normal feet. Then he asked, "So, Z, what do you think is going on?"

I looked at him and decided to jump right in, "Well, I believe they were waiting for me."

"I agree," he answered. "And you're thinking that you didn't tell them and I'm the only other person around."

"It crossed my mind, but I'm not quite ready to hang you for it, yet."

He tilted his head in acknowledgment of my generosity. "In your shoes, I might not feel as charitable."

"Did you alert the Dragoons or anyone?" I asked bluntly.

"Any answer I give you will seem self-serving, but for what it is worth, no."

I nodded, "Let's assume you are telling me the truth. That means someone else knew where we are going."

"The obvious two are Elise and Sam," he noted.

I nodded, "My thoughts exactly. But why tell Zcerebral?"

He shrugged.

"That was a LOT of firepower," I noted.

Long John Silver laughed, "'A Lot' he says, my fine sir, that was the most firepower I have ever seen arrayed to zonk any Pirate in history."

I bit my lower lip, "Who has that kind of clout?"

"I can only think of one person and you said you already ran into them."

"The Phoenix," I stated.

He just looked at me, letting my mind work.

"But how did The Phoenix get the information from Sam or Elise?" I asked, rhetorically, and then added, "One of them must have sailed out after us and been nabbed."

"Perhaps, or one of them sailed out because they are a spy, or wanted to make a deal," Long John added.

"OK, let's assume that, but why would The Phoenix want to stop me from getting to god?"

"To answer that, I think you'll have to ask god, if you can still get there. It seems that The Phoenix is hell-bent on stopping that from happening."

I nodded. "OK, what will The Phoenix expect me to do now?"

"Give up, or try to go around and sneak by," he answered. "I think that the armada was there to make a point. If you escaped, you would still know that an Armada is set to keep you away. I think The Phoenix wanted you zonked, if possible, and warned off, if not."

It makes sense. "OK, so, if The Phoenix expects me to give up or go around, we won't do either."

"OK, what's the plan?" Long John asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm headed right back at that Armada," I replied.

Loki chose to speak to me at that point, Sir, I believe that you need to have your head examined. Perhaps you struck it on the Captain's armrest during the excitement.

I grinned, "My Steward thinks I'm ready for the coo coo's nest."

"He may be right," Long John noted, showing some concern.

I flicked a switch on my desk and ordered, "Navigator, find the exact position we were at when we came out of Hyperspace, in front of that fleet, then plot a course 10,000 clicks further out from the Armada."

"Aye, Captain."

"Take us there, Mister," I commanded.

"I hope you know what you are doing," Long John noted.

Then Loki added, Really, Sir, I thought you were joking. Are you positive you haven't had your brain addled?

Actually, we both know my brain is missing a few parts since I took that smear, but, Loki, trust me.

Your wish is my command, Sir, I trust that you will definitely get us vaporized.

I flicked the switch again and asked, "How long until we arrive?"

"Thirty seconds, Captain," the Zim crewman answered.

I stood up and headed toward the door to the bridge, "I don't think you, or my Steward, will have to wait long to find out if I am deranged."

Long John followed me onto the bridge and asked, "Why are you doubling back?"

I answered, "Because no one, in their right mind, would approach that wall of ships with a single frigate. Knowing that, I'm betting they didn't stick around."

"That's one interpretation. On the other hand, if you are wrong, we will be blown to driftwood!"

"Not if they have left," I noted.

I took my seat in the Captain's chair just as the helmsman said, "Exiting Hyperspace, in four, three, two, one, normal zSpace."

The streaks shortened to stars and the firewall border burned in front of us. It turns out, I am, mostly, right.

My Defense Zim called out, "We have six ships on the plot, three destroyers, a frigate, and two corvettes."

I brought up the 3D layout of the battle zone and quickly rotated it around, looking for a way past.

"There, on this course," I said, drawing a quick line that arced through the center of the ships, but took us close to one corvette. "Give me a microburst through Hyperspace and then full throttle as soon as we drop out, here," I said, "When we arrive, fire on that corvette, give her everything we have. Then, run for the Firewall, here," I noted, marking the plot.

My crew followed my orders to the letter.

As the aggressor, we have some advantages, they are playing defense and will collapse on my position when I drop out of Hyperspace, but they won't know where I will be until that moment.

A micro-jump, like this, isn't going to be as accurate as I would like, but a normal approach would give those destroyers too much time to move and cut me off.

As we dropped back into normal zSpace from the micro jump, the corvette filled the entire view screen. We came out MUCH closer to it than I planned.

"Fire Lasers!" I shouted and then added, "Followed by a full missile launch."

Our lasers are not as powerful as the destroyers, but, at this range, they are deadly.

The corvette could have also done us severe damage, but, in those brief seconds of surprise, the Dragoon Captain didn't get his order out to fire. Our lasers hit, with devastating force and, as things exploded, our opponents were too busy being thrown around to get off a shot.

Three seconds later, my missiles arrived and the corvette blew to pieces.

"Time to the border?" I demanded.

My ship is already accelerating, at full speed, for the indicated entry point on my plot.

"Four seconds," the helmsman replied.

I looked at the destroyers, one is slightly closer than the other, but the further one reacted sooner. He fired lasers and Primus shuddered, but my Shields held.

"Get my wedge up for that firewall!" I ordered.

Of course, my crew is already doing that, but giving orders makes me feel like the Captain.

"And pick off those Black Ice Modules," I growled.

My Ship's lasers licked out and blasted the approaching automated defenses.

Long John said, "Those destroyers are going to be hard on you once you get through the Zone border."

"Yeah, but let's see them match Primus for speed," I answered grimly.

As we burst through into Weber space, I ordered us to translate immediately.

"Well, you made it! I can't believe that they left so few to guard that entry point. What were they thinking?" Long John asked.

"I'll tell you, they were positive that no sane person would return here, after what they had seen, so they sent their ships out trying to trace me."

Loki spoke up in my head, Then, it is a good thing you aren't sane, Sir.

I ignored his quip and continued speaking to Long John, "If they did trace my previous course, I hope some of them appeared in that Asteroid belt, I'd like to see those damn Ships of the Line handle the aerial acrobatics needed to fly through there! Anyway, the Dragoon Armada spread out, looking for me, and left this place with enough ships to stop me, should I be foolish enough to return. However, the ship Captains they left there, really didn't think I am insane enough to return, so we caught them with their pants down. I am a genius."

Now, that is true, Sir.

That I'm a genius?

No, Sir, I was agreeing that you were insane enough to come back.

Long John just grinned as he said, "That will teach the Dragoons to mess with Pirate One!"

I am coming down from my adrenalin rush so I answered, with some concern, "But they will be looking for us when we get to the other side."

That sobered Long John.

My ship has changed to a craft of a similar class and size, which fits the rules of this Zone. My Zim crew engaged the special systems, which allowed us to translate up through the Hyperspace layers to get maximum speed in the Weber Zone.

A few hours later, as we neared the end of our journey across this Zone, I translated us down to normal space and brought my Ship to a stop. Then spoke to Long John, "If they know where we are headed, and they most likely do, then they will be monitoring this area of zSpace around the Weber Zone border. The moment the Black Ice attacks us, that will alert zPol and they will send ships to intercept us."

Long John nodded, "That's true, but they can't concentrate ships everywhere, zSpace is huge. I suggest you don't exit at the most optimal location; let's take a little longer journey, but hopefully, one with fewer, if any, Dragoon ships lying in ambush out in zSpace."

"Agreed," I said, making the course correction in my plotter. I had my Helmsman Zim get us moving, again.

Long John continued, "Once we punch through the Zone border if your Ship is fast enough, we can reach the Blood Zone before they close on us. Then we will all be bound by the rules of that fantasy world."

I nodded, that means magic, at least, Aura Magic, in the world of Cathexis. This is the story world of the Ardellen family, where the Sorcerers pit their own life force against the Necromancer's death powers of the Dark Plane. As a Teer, or in my case, a Pirate, I will gain Aura Powers; it will be part of the rule set for Puppets (or Paragons) joining this storyline.

I wonder what will await us in the stronghold of an ancient, and very evil, Necromancer? Sure, according to the story, he is long dead, but his dwelling is a place of great evil, just the place for a Ghost to reside, I guess.

As we approached the Weber Zone border, I knew ships would be waiting for us out in zSpace. When we broke through, I gripped the arms of my chair, expecting an Armada to be waiting for us. Fortunately, I only found Black Ice, which my crew blew into rubble. My Ship sensors did identify some Dragoon ships; however, they are some distance from our position. They immediately picked us up on their plotters and the race is on, as they all head toward Primus.

There is one more problem, although they didn't know where we would come out of the Weber Zone, they do know god is on the Cathexis world, which tells them where we are going. I expect Zcerebral has a blockade set up to keep me out of that Zone.

I spent the next three hours sculpting code. Long John wants to know what I am doing, but I told him it is a long shot and that I'll explain later if it works.

I finally finished and returned to the bridge where I checked the sensor array. As we approached the Blood Zone border, a host of red dots appeared on the plot, some coming from the sides and a LOT more waiting at the expected blockade.

"By Morgan's beard, we can't fight through THAT!" Long John noted, in dismay.

"Nope, not a chance," I agreed, much more cheerily.

He glanced at me, "You seem much less worried than I would think a man about to be rendered into individual atoms should be."

"That's because I know something you don't."

"OK, I'll bite, what?"

In answer, I turned to a crewman at one of my consoles and commanded, "Engage the Cloak."

Long John shook his head, "Trekkie Cloaks don't work in zSpace."

"That is very true if this was a Cloak from that universe, which it is not."

The crewman spoke, "Cloak engaged."

And Loki added, And, apparently, functional; color me surprised.

"Course change to this path," I ordered, showing the helmsman what I want on the 3D plot, which I have up in the air in front of the Captain's chair. I flung a version his way, which then appeared in the air before that crewmember, though at a reduced scale.

To Long John, I said, "That's in case they detected us before we cloaked. If the Cloak is working, they should converge, here." I noted, just as lots of the red dots in my plot, each a different size, based on the class of the ship they represented, started converging on the place I had indicated. I grinned, "They lost me on their plots and that is where my previous course would have taken me through.

I then adjusted my actual path based on their new positions.

Long John looked incredulous, "How did you do that? We've been trying to sculpt a functional Cloak for many years!"

"It's not going to last," I replied, ruefully. "This is not a real Cloak, it's just a trick that might fool their current method of sensing a ship. However, that isn't the only method of tracking a ship. Some sculptor, on their side, is going to figure out what I've done eventually but it may last for a little while."

"How long?" Long John asked, his eyes returning to the plotter.

"Hard to say, I think I would have already figured it out, but they don't seem to see it yet. Could be minutes, could be days, it just depends on how good their techs are, today."

We watched the plot to see if those little dots all, suddenly, changed course, but they held their position.

I chortled, "Too late!"

Then we hit the Zone border and burst through the firewall.

"You did it," Long John stated, in admiration.

I shrugged, "For now. But they saw my ship disappear and they will eventually work out what I did. If they search the area, they will find a residual trail, which could lead them here. Even if they don't, they may guess we made it into this Zone and come searching. We need to sail out of this area, ASAP."

Primus flowed into a new shape. Saltwater splashed up in a mist and hit our faces as the prow of our sailing frigate crashed down into the next trough of an angry ocean. Ahead, not too far off, is a coastline.

An hour later, we reached a port. I disembarked, leaving Long John in charge. He gave me directions for Darcoven and then I headed out. He will sail my Ship down the coast, in case the Dragoons track us and come searching for Primus. We plan to meet up at a more southern port.

I procured a horse and started galloping across the desert, using my new Zone rule powers to enhance my horse's aura. I remember that this is how the hero of the story, Michael, got his horse to go far and fast. I can wash away my filly's fatigue, using my aura and, this way, she will gallop long after a horse normally tires. I want to reach Darcoven as soon as possible.

I had Loki check my clock and saw that I've been in the Zones for twelve real hours, though much longer in Zone hours. Ellie won't be worried, I'd told her I was going to try to complete this mission and would be in the Zones for some time. She will wake me if I have to come out, but, if not, I am good for a few more hours. I can fast for 24 hours if need be. That gives me another five perceived days in this Zone. At this speed, it will take me another Cathexis Zone zDay to reach Darcoven.

I galloped on, passing by Tor Naverone, a desert town and capital of Quisantia. The buildings of the town are all of white and beige, with flat roofs. I have no time to explore this Zone, I am on a mission to find answers and I am only hours away from filling in some of my memory gaps.

Upon arrival at the base of the cliffs, I quickly ascended to the secret entrance, which Long John told me about. I soon passed through the inner chambers and came out into the hidden valley.

As I made my way across the jungle floor, I pictured Wervorgangling monsters and Soul Dead attacks from this Zone story, but, so far, I am unscathed and any watchers, or evil creatures, are leaving me alone.

I finally arrived at the narrow bridge, which stands under the eyes of a huge statue, and that's when the Soul Dead finally made a move.

I fought a short, but decisive, battle, using my new Aura powers to slice the monsters in two with sweeps of my hand. I didn't bother saving aura energy; I am in a hurry, so I expended my aura, as needed, to deal with the monsters. Once I slaughtered the six beasts, I looked up and used my Aura to seek out life forms. I picked up the surface thoughts of someone nearby.

I sent my thoughts out to them, _I come in peace._

_Sir,_ Loki said to me, _that made you sound like an invading alien race, is your next communication going to be: 'take me to your leader'?_

_Well, kind of. I was going to ask if he is_ god _. What would you suggest?_

Perhaps you could try something novel, Sir, like actually explaining why you are here.

I sighed, mentally, at my own insanity for having programmed this Steward, but I sent my thoughts, using my Aura, to the other presence, _I am not here to harm you, or to gain coup, I was sent here by Captain Blood to find the Ghost who goes by the acronym G.O.D., Geek Outwitting Death. He said you might have answers to a mystery that is plaguing my life. I only wish to have a conversation and I will then depart._

To Loki, I thought, _There, does that meet with your approval?_

_You are a poet, Sir,_ he answered, sarcasm dripping.

Before I could figure out something biting to reply, a voice boomed out: YOU MAY APPROACH!

That thought came echoing into my brain like somebody is using an Aura megaphone or something.

"Ouch," I said aloud, holding my head in my hands.

As I climbed the steps up toward the entrance, which stands below the massive statue, I came to a depression in the ground. Suddenly, a giant, disembodied, green, translucent head, with white glowing eyes, appeared above the black depression.

At this point, he spoke again and, I swear to you, he really did say: "I am god, the Great and Terrible. Who are you and why do you seek me?"

I blinked for a moment and then laughed.

"Do you dare insult GOD!" the voice thundered and I scrunched up my face with a bit of pain from the volume.

Flames leaped up around his head, with great billowing plumes of smoke.

That nearly got me laughing again, but I managed to say, "No, it's just that you stole that line right out of L. Frank Baum's book, of course, you changed 'Oz' to 'God'."

"I am GOD!" the voice thundered.

"And I am Popeye the Sailor Man. Look, I came a long way for this conversation, with most of the Dragoon fleet trying to stop me from seeing you. Are you going to tell me that you have gone off the deep end? Are you a Specter now?"

The head glowered at me and then finally said, "What is it that you seek from god?"

"Just a few, lousy, answers," I replied.

"And you are not here to zonk me?"

"Not even a little," I noted. "Besides, isn't God immortal?"

Then a normal voice spoke from off to the side and it isn't godlike at all. "Well, mostly; in any case, 'hello'."

The big head in front of me disappeared and I turned to look toward the normal voice. I spotted a guy standing there, wearing jeans and a T-shirt which had the words, 'Grateful Dead' printed on the front.

He looked so out of place, here in this fantasy world, and so geekish, that I just had to grin.

"G.O.D., I presume?"

"Well, I'm not Livingston. It's me, god, in the Paragon flesh. Sorry about the Wiz get up, I have a lot of young Teers who come here to try to zonk me and I have to keep up appearances. I generally let them battle with a horrible necromancer and then they do him in, with a cataclysmic battle. Sometimes they get zonked; sometimes they believe they zonked my Ghost. In that case, they go count their coup and ship off to brag to their buddies, leaving me in peace."

"Of course, what they zonk isn't your Paragon?"

"Nope, I chose this valley because there are creatures in this Zone which can duplicate someone. I have lots of versions of me around for Gonkers to find and kill. I tend to dress them up, though, to play the part better."

"Ah, and who are you, really?"

"Just an old Ghost, who nobody really wants around to mess things up," he replied sadly, then he asked, "So, Peter Blood sent you here?"

"Yes, you know him?"

God shrugged, "Yes and no. I've never met that Pirate, but his reputation precedes him, he's a great sculptor."

"So, were you a Pirate, before..."

"Before my real body was killed? No, but I became one as a Ghost. For years, I fought beside the Pirates, a thorn in Zcerebral's side."

"A named Pirate?" I prompted.

"Yes, maybe you have heard of Captain Jack?"

I looked suitably impressed. Captain Jack, of the old movies, is a famous name and he has become a legendary Zone Pirate.

"What happened?" I asked.

He looked away. "I can't really tell you."

"Why?" I asked, in a puzzled tone.

"Because, someone I care about, very much, would be hurt, or, likely, killed, if I tell you anything. You see, I'm a prisoner here and this is my self-made prison. It doesn't matter that I chose the place myself, or that I could leave, the fact is, I have to stay or someone close to me will die."

"I hear that the Dragoons already know you are here," I noted.

He shrugged, "Definitely. In fact, I would guess that the Dragoons are closing in on you right now. Once you came here, as a Pirate, you were doomed. They don't let me speak to Pirates. I know things that they just can't let out to the world and any Pirate who comes here and learns these things, well, if they know you came here, they can't let you escape."

I looked around in slight panic, but no Dragoons leaped out of the bushes.

"No, they aren't here yet, we have a few minutes to talk before they take you," he explained, calmly.

That didn't make me feel much better, so I said, desperately, "But what's the point of talking if I can't escape?"

"Whether you can escape remains to be seen. Tell me why you came."

I explained about my missing memory.

"Interesting, but you already found the answer, you took a brain smear," god noted.

"Yes, but what suddenly made me Pirate One and why would The Phoenix come after me personally? She said I stole something."

God looked at me intently for a moment and then he suddenly said, "May I take a look at you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, suspiciously.

"I want to look at your Paragon code and such, but you would have to give me access."

"Sure, go ahead," I said and told Loki to let him have full access.

_Are you positive, Sir?_ Loki asked and I could swear he sounded worried.

Yes, I need answers. You may watch to make sure he doesn't rearrange you in any way.

As you wish, Sir.

God must have brought up a code interface because he started gesturing, poking and swiping around in the air for a few minutes. Then he whistled and whispered, "Holy Skynet."

"What?" I said.

He looked at me. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

He nodded and then grinned, as he said, with admiration, "That tricky-tricky bastard."

I have no idea who he is talking about, however, his next words seemed to change the subject.

"I'm a good sculptor, one of the best, but not THE best."

"Oh?"

"No, in fact, I'll tell you who the best Sculptor is on Earth: Thorten C. Hamilton."

I gulped, that is me.

He continued, "The code you are carrying, right now, well, it's not brilliant, it's... I'm at a loss for words, elegant, genius; it's the epiphany of epiphanies. This code is art of the highest degree, pure brilliance in a world of dim mediocrity. I am humbled."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, completely puzzled.

"You are carrying around code that can end the Zones, or change them, I'm not sure; it is so far above a Steward program that it is hard to explain. Think of a good Steward program as an old mechanical slide rule, before there were even calculators, in comparison, the code you have in you is a supercomputer."

What the hell is he talking about? Then I had it, Loki, my Steward program.

God continued, "He sent you here because he knew I would recognize the potential of this work. I don't even know what you will do with it; I just know it could change, well, everything."

"Who sent me?"

"Captain Blood, he isn't who you think he is," god noted, nodding to himself. "Of course, he has to stay hidden," he muttered. Then spoke louder, "Now, I have to tell you, there is a piece of code missing, a very obvious chunk. Without it, this is all crippled. It is the crux, though not the bulk of the routines."

"Could that be what The Phoenix is after?" I asked.

"Partially, she wants the full working program. You're going to have to find that missing routine before Zcerebral obtains it, or you."

"You know, you're not helping me, I came here to become less confused, not more," I noted. "Captain Blood, whoever you think he is, sent me here to get some answers."

"And answers you will have, but time is growing short. I will give you some of the answers you seek, but in return, you must promise to do something for me."

"All right, what?"

"I will get to that, first, some things you need to know. I wrote the original code for the Zones."

My eyes opened wider and I thought, _Shit, he really is_ god _, God of the Zones. And HE is impressed by my code, wow._

"What you think you know, what everyone thinks they know, is a lie."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's start with Zcerebral. You guys think that you elect the leaders, but there are no new Board members unless the Chairman disposes of one. And there is, positively, never a new Chairman of the Board. The 'winner' of every election is always the same person. The original Chairman is always the new chairman; the position that people call The Phoenix isn't a position, it's a person. Veronia is reborn from the ashes of her previous incarnation as The Phoenix. She is the continuous head of the Zcerebral beast and always has been."

I swallowed that big pill and waited for more.

He continued, "I don't have time to go into all the details of what happened in the beginning, before the Dragoons get here, but I can tell you that most of what Veronia is looking for is right inside you. She thinks you stole and hid it, but it's right here and you CANNOT let her have it. She wants this code to create a new kind of Zone server system. The whole reason your memory is spotty is to hide the location of this code from Veronia, even if you are caught."

I thought about that, "Why does she need a new Zone server system? The Zones are running fine, right now, and have been for many years."

He just looked at me for a moment and then said, "I'm going to tell you Zcerebral's greatest secret, but you can't tell ANYONE. I need you to swear on your honor, or you will be killing the only thing I really care about, my daughter."

"How would releasing this information kill your daughter?" I asked.

"Why do you think I haven't told the rest of the world everything I know? Veronia has my daughter in her fist and the moment I leak anything, she'll squeeze the life out of her."

"Then why would you risk telling me?" I asked.

He considered for a moment, "Because I believe you can save her and defeat Zcerebral."

That sobered me.

"Do you swear?" he asked again.

"I will keep your secret until such time that you tell me otherwise."

He nodded. "Do you know why the server machines have never been found? Why every government agency on the planet couldn't trace their power use or the purchase of equipment or parts?"

"No," I answered.

"Because there are no computer machine servers."

"What! There have to be, we are in a Zone right now!"

"We are in a Zone, but we are not in a computer, what you see is not a computer-created world."

"But it's code, I've SEEN it, I've sculpted it!"

"You've sculpted code, but that code is not loaded on a computer."

I am still in shock, "Then, what... where..."

"You and I, and every other person in the Zones is currently inside someone's brain. The information that we are using is neuron based, stored in a living mind. A brain is a kind of computer, but it is far superior, in some ways, and works quite differently. Computers can calculate numbers at incredible rates, but they can't interpret the data en masse, not like the human mind. A computer chip has no imagination, no intuition and no leaps of logic. The way they store and process information is not suited for that kind of thinking. They are very, VERY fast idiots."

He paused and considered, while taking a glance at his wristwatch, then he continued, though he changed tacks, "Veronia is a neurologist and, regardless of any other bad things we may say about her, she is a genius. Unfortunately, she is also a sociopath. But, forgetting that flaw for a moment, just understand that she has a mind that is extraordinary. She was only sixteen while working on her second doctorate, this one in neurology, though she never finished. It wasn't because she failed, quite the contrary, she succeeded, so wildly, that she realized what she had discovered was worth hiding from everyone else. So, she quit school and erased the data. In fact, I believe she burned down the building and servers at the school, just to make sure her secret was safe. Then she sought what she needed for the next phase of her plan, two top-end programmers."

He checked his watch again, which makes me nervous, but then he continued. "To find them, she went to the game industry. Back then, if you wanted cutting-edge programming, push the envelope until it tears, best in the world, well, it was all in the game industry. In the early 2000's, the game industry was making billions, far more than the entire movie industry. She sought out two of the best programmers available and seduced them. I don't mean she made them offers they couldn't refuse, though she did, no, she also seduced them. She was beautiful, beyond smart, sexy, and utterly unscrupulous. Those two geeks were putty in her hands."

He looked kind of disgusted as he said, "I know because I am one of them."

"You are Jeremy Stone," I stated.

He bowed, "Well, Stone isn't my real last name, but that is the name that Veronia, then Patricia, had us use. She told us that we must protect the technology and that we had to take every precaution. Of course, we played along, she OWNED us."

He shook his head, sadly. "She played us one against the other, always telling each of us that we were her real love. She was even engaged to marry BOTH of us, simultaneously, though we didn't know that. Love is blind and I was definitely in love with her, though, now that I think about it, I doubt she was ever in love with either of us, not really. We were a means to an end and Veronia only loves one thing, winning."

He took a deep breath, checked that damn watch again and said, "In the end, she drove a wedge between us, making Will and me enemies. At one time, I respected Will more than, almost, anyone else, but jealousy is a terrible thing. In the end, she got Will to murder me, but only after I discovered her secret."

"What secret?" I asked, softly.

"After Veronia showed us how to directly insert information into a brain, for storage, which was only part of what she had discovered in her doctoral thesis, we started working on a language that would compile and work with this neural storage and computation system, what we call the human mind. We wrote a completely new system. Think of it like the way you write music on paper, turning it into musical notes on bars. That is the system of writing music, but not the music. Once a great composer learns the system, that maestro can use it to create musical art. In our case, we called using our new system 'sculpting' code and it was as far from old systems, like C++ code, as that was ahead of counting on your fingers; it is my greatest achievement. I wrote most of the system and then Will and I sculpted the first Zones using this new language."

He paused for a moment and then continued.

"Beyond just using the human mind as a kind of advanced computer, Veronia had discovered a way to interface other minds into that brain so that they experienced what is stored and running, as if they are thinking it themselves, like the imaginations of your own mind. It took us several years, but eventually, we got the first interface to work. You can't imagine what it was like for us the first time we went into a mind, together, and saw the place we had sculpted. It was just a hilltop in the mountains, but it was incredible to us, because it was a reality where there was no reality. You've been to the Zones, you know that, in every way, you think they are real, while you are there. Imagine experiencing that for the first time, by anyone."

He paused and glanced down the valley for a moment, but then continued, "We put that first Zone into Will's mind and then Veronia and I went in and it was amazing. But it wasn't perfect, we had to knock Will out and, even then, his mind was interacting with the other information, causing anomalies in what we saw and experienced. Veronia wanted to put him into an induced coma to see if that would help, but I didn't want to risk it and Will was scared. We needed a blank mind for our block of granite, so we could sculpt whatever we wanted without the host mind interfering, so Veronia started looking for a way to get one."

I nodded, "You needed a coma patient."

"Yes. Veronia found what we needed in Switzerland. We packed up our working prototype interface and the sculpting system hardware and prepared to move. But Veronia was so worried about our achievements being discovered and stolen, that she talked us into staging the deaths of our assumed personas and starting a new company when we reached Switzerland. She had located a coma facility there, where we might find a blank mind we could use."

"I've been there, Ever Last Hills," I noted.

He nodded, "We moved to Gstaad after our 'deaths' and took on new names. Veronia went to work at the Ever Last Hills facility, using false credentials. She soon found a coma patient she thought was suitable for our first test. I was torn about the idea; the moral issues were weighty. But, when the family of that coma patient decided to take their loved one off life support, and that body showed no brain wave pattern, I agreed that this young man was dead and that his body was just that, an empty body. So Veronia had him transferred to a place we rented and had the family come out and watch their loved one 'die'. This was faked, just a flat line on a machine and then a sheet pulled over his head."

I nodded; we had found out most of this in Gstaad.

Jeremy checked his watch again and said, "We have a few more minutes, though they are getting close to the valley." He smiled and added, "This isn't just a watch." Then he continued his story. "With a blank human brain to work with, we made great advances and, within a few months, got two more bodies, both acquired the same way. We created three Zones, all stored in their blank minds. Each mind could only handle so much sculpted code, but we discovered that our interface would allow many minds to enter and experience that Zone, all at once."

I nodded, knowing what they had done with the Zones.

Jeremy kept on talking, "The next big breakthrough came when we figured out how to link the three minds. That was a game changer. The complexity of what we could do didn't just triple, it was more like three to the third power now. It all worked and now we needed to take it to the next phase and expand. Veronia decided to monetize the whole thing using crowdfunding. That way we didn't have to take on any investors or loans. We pitched it as a new entertainment technology and called the company Zcerebral and the experience, the Zones. We did some demonstrations and crowdfunding went through the roof."

I nodded; this part is in the history books.

"You know some of the rest, how Zcerebral grew and became a world power and then THE world power. But what you don't know is 'how'. You see, three minds were not anywhere near enough, not when people were donating until we made billions... and eventually trillions. They all expected to get into the Zones. Even linking three minds was not powerful enough to handle those kinds of numbers.

"We kept the facility where we stored the coma patient's a secret and not part of Zcerebral. Our money collecting front was in Canada, but the bodies running the Zones were still hidden in Gstaad. Veronia used the money we collected to build a better medical facility and eventually purchased Ever Last Hills. That made it easy to add more minds and kept what we were storing hidden, as a real medical facility. We got sixty minds connected.

"No one was searching for coma patients, who died of natural causes, they were looking for hardware. Even with the additional patients we got from Ever Last Hills, sixty minds were not enough to handle even a fraction of the world population.

"At that time, I was working in Switzerland, concentrating on creating the new Zone worlds, sculpting night and day. Occasionally, Veronia came to visit to keep me going, sleeping with me, if necessary, to maintain her control. She had Will at a different facility, working on a new type of hardware. I didn't know it, but she was also sleeping with Will and pushing him just as hard. She had him working on a new portable device; you now know it as a Remora. She needed that to solve the problem of using coma patients. A Remora disconnects a person's mind from their body. But, once Will got it to work, Veronia put it to her other planned uses as well."

I listened raptly, this is like reading a best seller, things no one knew about Zcerebral are just bleeding out of Jeremy and I am soaking it all up.

He continued, "We reached a trillion in donations, which no other project had ever done. Ever Last Hills became too small and any kind of major expansion there might be noticed. But, Las Vegas was always constructing massive hotels and, due to the new Zones, they were on hard times. Veronia got in bed with some hotel owners as a silent partner, and they bought up all the property in a slum area and started construction of a new structure, as well as The Dome. She remained anonymous, but, secretly, organized all the other hotel owners and got them to go in on the project. Even they didn't know they were building a Zombie storage facility in the heart of their new construction."

"Sin Circle, Las Vegas," I said softly.

He raised an eyebrow, "Very good, as far as I know, she has kept that a secret."

"I went there recently; the facility is empty now."

He nodded. "That is mostly true. But, back then, she created it as a facility for more Zone server minds, and it was just in time. The more people that used the Zones, the more people donated. At first, she kept it free and it became the only form of entertainment."

I nodded; nothing can compete with the Zones.

He continued, "Through all this, I didn't realize what was actually going on, not really. I was a sculptor; I didn't even know about Sin Circle. I was still living in Switzerland, but a day came when it struck me; we had far too many Zones and users for the number of coma patient minds. There is a limit to how much a mind can handle and how many people can access their thoughts, at once. I checked the system and discovered that there were around 300 linked minds. If you think three was incredible, well, 300 was astounding, but even that would not be enough to handle the number of people currently using our Zones, nor could they keep the number of Zones running that I knew we had available. My calculations showed that it would burn out their minds."

He cast his eyes down; it is obvious he is not happy that he had been any part of what happened, back then.

"Even if I was wrong, and three hundred could do it, I knew there was no way she could have found three hundred coma patients, or stored that many at Ever Last Hills, even if she found that many patients. We didn't have that kind of room.

"I went to Ever Last Hills and discovered a hint of the Sin Circle project by searching our data and connecting the dots. I traveled to Las Vegas to find out what was going on. What I found horrified me; Veronia was abducting the homeless from the streets of Las Vegas and hiding them in Zombie Coffins in Sin Circle. She kept the secret from everyone, even the people she had working there, who were collecting the vagrants. They thought they were doing charitable work, helping to 'clean up Vegas' and helping the poor homeless. There are always vagrants in Vegas; it was the perfect place to find people who would not be missed. Veronia had them picked up and then placed in Zombie Coffins, which added them to the system. She blocked off their minds with a Remora.

"The low-level medical staff she hired to work there thought the vagrants were being allowed into the Zones as a means of bettering their lives, as a therapy. No one knew they were the servers, except Veronia. She stayed there, most of the time, doing all of the work that required knowledge of what was actually going on."

"Yeah, we found the empty Coffins," I noted.

Jeremy nodded, "As I suspected, once we exceeded the maximum number of Zones, and users going to visit them, Veronia started having issues. She let the number exceed my safety limits and a few brains burned out. That killed the person being used as a server. Veronia figured out a temporary solution, she would disconnect them from the system and wake them up. She would then lead them to believe that they were starting a vacation at Sin Circle. After they recovered during their 'vacation' she would put them back into a Coffin for another three-month stint with their mind in the server system. Each time they went back in she had their most recent memories erased so that, when they woke up again, they always thought they had just arrived.

"This 'R&R' seemed to solve the issue and the minds continued working as storage and computing power for the Zones. The medical staff thought they were helping these people and the 'vacation' time helped to perpetuate that lie. However, resting them was a bandage, not a cure. And, with more and more people accessing the Zones and the addition of even more Zones, Veronia needed to expand the number of server minds."

I imagined all those Zombie Coffins we'd seen, filled with the stolen bodies of the homeless of Las Vegas. Their rest periods from the Coffins explained the part where it looked like a vacation resort, that's where she fooled them into thinking they had just arrived for a vacation at Sin Circle, all expenses paid.

Jeremy sighed, "Once I discovered the truth, I confronted Veronia. I pleaded with her to put an end to this insanity. I tried to get her to understand that we couldn't just steal people's bodies! But Veronia said that we were doing the homeless a favor, their lives were horrible, living on the street, dying of starvation, freezing in the desert winters, roasting in the desert summer, but she was just rationalizing. To make a long story short, I threatened to go to the governments and expose Zcerebral, the technology, the human servers, Sin Circle, all of it, and that's when she talked Will into murder.

"I learned, later, that she told him that I'd pushed myself on her and that I'd raped her, back in Gstaad, and how she had kept that secret from Will for years to keep us all together. Will found me, while a copy of my mind was uplinked in the Zones, on one of the new Skey interfaces. He strangled my unconscious body for what I'd, supposedly, done to his precious Veronia. We were friends, once, and Veronia twisted his mind into doing murder. That's how much control she had over Will... over us."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"I was the first person to die while my mind was in the Zones. My body was dead, but a copy of my mind is still in the Zone servers."

"After a time, Will and Veronia learned about my Ghost and sought to finish me off, but I knew the Zones, I'd written most of them, and I knew how to sculpt and protect myself. Veronia eventually found me in the Zones and we talked, Paragon to Paragon. She didn't even hide the fact that she'd had Will kill me. She explained that IF I let anything out, she will kill our daughter, who was only twelve at the time. Then, Veronia showed me how she could track my daughter using the implant Veronia had placed in her body and how that implant can release a neurotoxin into her bloodstream with just a thought from Veronia."

_The woman is insidious,_ I thought.

Jeremy spoke sadly, "One word from me, about the truth, and my daughter will die, almost instantly. So, I had to keep Veronia's secrets and she has continued her evil. Eventually, she moved the human servers to a new secret location so that I don't know where they are, just in case. And, no doubt, she has expanded them significantly."

I nodded, now I knew why Sin Circle is abandoned.

He checked his watch again and did a quick visual search of the jungle, but then continued his story, "She could have killed me, of course, easily, she can just shut down the Zone servers, but that will mean killing all the people she has captured to use as human servers. She can't be sure I won't survive in one of their minds. I'm sure it wouldn't bother her to murder them all and start fresh but replacing them would be difficult and that might inconvenience Veronia."

I started watching the jungle, he has gotten me nervous about the coming Dragoons with all his watch checks.

Jeremy continued, "She started the Gonkers, hoping that some Teer might slay my Ghost. She has her Dragoons hunting me as well, but I have my ways of staying a step ahead of them. Eventually, I came here and she has known where my lair is for years now, but as long as I stay in my own prison, she has kept her Dragoons out. It has been kind of a stalemate, she lets me live if I don't try to escape or talk, but the Gonkers still try to kill me occasionally."

I abruptly asked, "Why do you think I can stop Zcerebral?"

"Because of the code in you. You'll understand when you find that final routine which unlocks it all. Just don't fall into Veronia's hands. If she gets hold of you, she will execute a lot of people she has used to keep improving her servers, she might even kill all the people she is using as server minds to shut down the old Zone server."

"Wow, would she really murder 300 people, in cold blood?"

"Not 300, by now there have to be a lot more. The Zones are MUCH bigger now than they were, encompassing every known story, book, movie, animation, game... anything and everything. Not only that, but the entire world uses them. Three hundred linked minds would not even be close to enough; I think she must be using, something like ten thousand minds now."

"Ten thousand!" I exclaimed, "Where did she get 10,000 people? You can't take 10,000 homeless off the streets without being noticed!"

"You can if you are Zcerebral and you are taking more than just the homeless," he noted grimly.

I thought about it and nodded. The Zombies take criminal bodies for the length of their sentence, what if some sentences are forever?"

"Where is she storing them?" I asked.

He shrugged, "That's something from the real Earth, not a place I can go anymore, but it will be something she had Zcerebral build and it has to be pretty large. Most of all, it will have to be very secure and she will need a place where she can keep cycling the minds out for rest. Not even 10,000 people can keep all these Zones running, for the entire world, without burning out their minds."

Right then, we spotted thousands of Dragoon troops pouring into the valley, from the various entrances.

Jeremy glanced at his special watch. "Right on time; here come the Dragoons," he noted, fatally. He led me upwards, into the cliffs; traveling through hidden passages, until we came to a chamber where you can look out from one of the massive statue's eyes. I think I recognize it from a scene in the Cathexis novels, where a young princess is rescued, after nearly falling out. We looked down at the thousands of soldiers searching the valley floor.

Jeremy looked thoughtful, then he said, "It seems that Veronia thinks I am a luxury she can no longer afford; I believe she is here to zonk me, once and for all, and capture you," he said with a wry grin. "But, I still have a few surprises for her and one for you."

"Oh, what do you have for me?"

"A way out; I made it for myself, but you may use it. I have a Plan B for my escape."

"I can't take your escape route away from you!" I exclaimed.

He looked at me and then said, "You carry the future of the world. No matter what, you cannot fall into Veronia's hands. Be aware that she must be tracking you, somehow. And, I do have a price for using my escape route, you have to swear to find and protect my daughter."

"All right, who and where is she?"

"She goes by her mother's last name now, Rose Tausret."

"All right, I'll try to find her," I agreed.

"You have to protect her, that is the price for what I've told you and for helping you escape. You gave me your word."

"And I'll keep it," I promised.

He nodded, "All right, let's get to my escape plan. You recall me borrowing that line from the Wizard of Oz book?"

I nodded.

"That's not all I borrowed."

I followed him and we climbed upwards to the top of the cliffs. By now, the soldiers are in the passages below us, searching and coming higher with every minute. What I found, hidden back from the edge of the cliffs some distance is a hot air balloon.

"You're kidding!" I exclaimed.

"It's only big enough to lift the weight of one man, at best, so only one of us can use it and you'll have to drop anything heavy, right now."

"But this thing has no defenses!"

He laughed, "True, but, in this Zone, there are no flying machines. Once in the air, you will be safe until you land. The winds are headed west today, so you should drift toward the coast."

I nodded and started shedding my weapons.

"All right, so off you go," he said, untying ropes. "Keep your word, no one can know about the servers or The Phoenix will kill my daughter on Earth. For now, you'll have to find Rose on Earth. Then you'll have to get that killing device out of her, somehow. If you do that and if you manage to end Zcerebral's reign of terror, I will, at last, be free of the guilt I have carried around for being part of what started Veronia on her rise to ultimate power. Save my daughter and save us all! I believe in you."

I got into the basket under the small balloon and Jeremy cut me loose.

"Goodbye and good luck!" he called to me as the balloon started to slowly rise, barely able to lift me against the gravity.

Now all I have to do is make it to my Ship, find and rescue this Rose Tausret, on Earth, and save the entire world. What am I going to do AFTER lunch?

# Chapter zTwenty-four – Gstaad Palace

As I awoke, I realized that I am a fool. All this time, I thought I was a step ahead of Zcerebral when they have been calling all the shots. According to Jeremy, they are tracking me, somehow.

I looked over at the small form of Ellie Deveron, she is still completely out, her mind interfaced into the Zones. I thought about going back in and meeting up with her tall blue avatar, in the Zones. I like her big expressive eyes and amazing figure, but I would feel kind of small with my current Paragon next to her huge Paragon frame. Even if I went in as the big muscular Thor, I'd still be shorter than her alien warrior. I guess she picked that shape because of how short she is in reality. It must be nice to finally be taller than other people, at least, in the Zones. Besides, she really likes the Cameron Zone.

Then I reconsidered, maybe now isn't the time to meet up with her in the Zones, she will want to help me and that will put her in more danger.

I decided that the less she knows about what I am doing in the Zones, right now, the better. At least she can use the Zones as a safe escape from our troubles here on Earth and, perhaps, a way to get us information, when we need it. I am the most wanted person in the Zones; she doesn't need that kind of heat.

I watched Ellie's relaxed and youthful face as she quietly lay on her pillow, mouth slightly open as she breathed. Then a sudden thought hit me and I mentally exclaimed: _Crap!_

The Dragoons are hunting me and Jeremy believes they have some method of tracking my location, here on Earth. This means the Zombies could arrive at any moment! They were closing in on me in the Zones, what if they have decided to take my body, here, as well? If they take me, they will capture Ellie as well. I can't let that happen. I care about this young girl too much to make her a part of what I am about to attempt.

I brought up my Flash message interface and recorded a PIM, a Personal Image Message, for Ellie, in which I said:

Ellie, I learned that zPol is tracking me, which could bring the Zombies right to my location. I don't dare stay here, or I could lead them right to you. I know you won't let me leave, so I'm going while you can't stop me. I don't want to put you in danger, you mean too much to me. Leave this room as soon as you wake up. When it is safe, I will post a message in the USC campus news about a lost Bull Terrier puppy. If you find it, Flash that number. If not, assume the worst. I wish you the best of luck with your quest and hope you find your answers.

So, this is goodbye, for now. I hope it isn't forever and that you will forgive me. Destroy this PIM, completely!

I sent the message to her Flash box, then left the room and headed down to the lobby. That's when I noticed all the commotion. I stopped a Bell Boy and inquired, "What is going on?"

He looked at me blankly, for a moment, so I switched to German and asked again. This time, he replied in German, "zPol has found a terrorist cell and they blasted it to rubble. They are searching for collaborators."

"Where did they find it?" I demanded.

"Some medical facility named Ewigenhügel," he answered.

Oh, _my god,_ I thought _, The Phoenix is cleaning up her trail!_

Then I saw them, Zombie commandos; they are pouring into the lobby. I nearly ran, but I managed to hold still, I need to see if they are actually after me. The Zombies ran through the lobby and then some packed into the elevators, while the rest took the stairs.

I started to turn when I realized something, Ellie!

I brought up a communication console in the air in front of me and frantically Flashed Ellie, marking it URGENT.

After ten rings, she finally answered; she'd had to downlink from her Paragon back to her body when her Steward told her about the urgent Flash.

"Ellie, get out of the room, the Zombies are..."

Then I saw her face change to a look of horror and I heard the door smash open. She didn't panic, she tried to get up and run, but then her body went down. I can't see her attackers, the Flash won't show others, but I can tell by the way her naked body is pinned down, the Zombies have Ellie.

In shock, I started to head for the elevator when Loki spoke. _Sir, you cannot possibly win against 30 Zombie commandos._

I have to try!

No, you don't, Sir. But you can save her, later, as long as you are not caught, now.

I still ran for the elevator and dashed in, once it opened, but my mind started mulling over what Loki had said. Damn his logic, but then I remembered that he is far more than a normal Steward, god had told me that. I finally considered what he'd said, in full, and then stopped the elevator. I got out and then worked my way out of the hotel and across the street.

I saw them bring Ellie out, her hands zip-tied behind her back and a hotel robe around her naked body. They hadn't even let her dress. I can see the tracks of tears on her face; which isn't like Ellie. I pulled up my Flash console and noted the flag on my message to her is marked, 'Received'. Ellie has seen my Flash. They must not have seen the Skey on her, immediately.

My heart is breaking; I'd left her unguarded for the Zombies to capture.

After the Zombie Flyers lifted off, with Ellie in their underbelly, I hailed a taxi and rode to the Mag Train Terminal where I took a train headed for the coast. There is no point to staying in Switzerland; they have taken Ellie to some zPol station, which could be anywhere.

I need to get back to North America where I can try to follow the trail of The Phoenix after she moved the human servers out of Sin Circle. I will have to try and find out more about Ellie, from there, like where they are going to store her in a Zombie Coffin. I tried not to think of some zPol operative walking around in Ellie's body.

I rented a sleeper cubby on the train, so I can get back into the Zones, but something is bothering me. As I stared at the ceiling, a foot above me, I knew I'd been played. I tried to take solace in the fact that it is the Chairman of the damned Zcerebral Board who played me, but that doesn't help, much.

Every time I'd found something, the Zombies had shown up immediately afterward; in Las Vegas, in Banff, and now in Gstaad. Those are too many times for coincidence.

So, when did it start? Let's see, Ellie had been with me in all of those situations, could she be part of it? Holy crap! Naw, I don't believe that, not from what I've experienced with Ellie and not from watching as they carted her off in a Zombie Flyer. Then, of course, there were the times before I met her, like in The Jungle Book show.

OK, so, if I assumed, for the moment, that Ellie is on the up and up, then when did they start tracking me? My first memory, after my brain smear, is when Ellie told me about my Skey and warned me not to use it at Holgren Hospital. I'd gotten up, dressed and... wait a moment. When I unplugged the wires from my temples I'd experienced blurry vision, for a moment, and nearly lost consciousness.

What if I HAD lost consciousness, for real? What if they had knocked me out with a surge from those wires, brain scanned me, then not found what they wanted and put me back where I'd been knocked out, with a bit of my memory erased. I would have woken up, thinking I'd almost blacked out. It's possible... but how can I tell, for sure? Then I had a thought.

Loki?

Sir?

Back in Holgren hospital, I was wearing my Skey. At what time did I stand up to look for my clothes?

10:02 am, Sir.

And at what time did I leave the room?

11:45 am, Sir.

Ah ha! That is too big a chunk of time, some of my memories are missing! It only took me, about, ten minutes to find my clothes and dress; that left nearly one hour and thirty-three minutes unaccounted for in the timeline.

OK, let's assume that is when Zcerebral started following me. At least that put Ellie in the clear.

So, they let me escape, in fact, that Zombie officer might have known I was in his car. It was pretty easy getting out of that Zombie parking lot, it had been conveniently deserted.

OK, what about The Jungle Book Show? Hm, well, I doubt they knew I was going there, but if they wanted me to escape, why send Dragoons and Zombies after me?

Wait, Bagheera. What if they wanted to keep that unknown agent from helping me too much? They could have closed in to get him, in fact, I had escaped and the Dragoon who took over Baloo's character had attacked Bagheera. He didn't follow me.

OK, so they let me escape, again, which explains getting out of a casino filled with cameras, that had been pretty lucky, in retrospect.

But what about the Zombies in the park? They had seemed to be after me, pretty seriously, but what if that was just a ruse to keep me moving and to get me to try to retrieve the code they are seeking? They thought I'd stashed it somewhere, so, maybe, if I felt threatened, I'd try to retrieve it and they could then pounce!

What do I do now? How are they monitoring me? Is my Skey bugged?  
_Loki?_

Yes, Sir?

Is there any record of a Skey being bugged?

_None that I know of, Sir. I can run a full diagnostic on_ it _if you wish._

Do that, how long will it take?

A few minutes, Sir.

_All right,_ I noted and kept thinking.

If they are following me, they must have some way to track me.

"Oh shit," I said aloud. What if they bugged ME, not the Skey? There is no diagnostic routine to run on my body.

It makes sense.

Loki took that moment to note: _The diagnostic is complete; the Skey seems to be stock and unaltered._

What if I'm bugged? How can I figure that out?

Sir, it that were true, wouldn't they have found you while you were asleep, your mind in the Zones?

Perhaps, but only if they WANTED to capture me, what if they were following me instead?

I see your point, Sir.

Loki must have been researching the Zones for the information, because it took him a few seconds before he answered, _Sir, there are several ways they could accomplish tracking your body, especially if they had you sedated._

_Assume they did,_ I instructed.

_In that case, it could be very hard to detect. The best way would be to go to a bug zapper and get a sweep done, Sir,_ Loki suggested.

And where do I find a 'bug zapper'?

_I think your Zone friends would likely know the answer to that question, much better than a Steward program, don't you associate with Pirates_ like _Captain Blood, Mary Read, and Long John Silver, need I go on, Sir?_

No, that's quite enough, I get your point.

I can name a few dozen more, if it would help, Sir.

No, really, I got it.

_If you're sure then, because I would have thought this would have been_ obvious, _to begin with, Sir._

Can we drop it, Loki?

Of course, Sir, your wish is my command.

Then I had Loki transfer me back to the Zones. It is time to try and find this Rose Tausret and to get some help finding a bug zapper.

# Chapter zTwenty-five – Ard Droim

My sail back to Tortuga was an adventure in itself, but hardly worth talking about, in reality. The Dragoon Armada is searching for me around the Cathexis world, but I slipped through with my Cloak. I knew they would be waiting around Weber Space again and, fearing they might crack my Cloaking system, I decided to take a far more circuitous route, which meant going through the Pixar Zone.

I have to say, when my ship changed into a 3D cartoon ship, it was very strange indeed. I hadn't gone to an Animated Zone before, at least not within my spotty recollection. I went through their version of space, from that Wall 'O' movie, I call it Wall-O, even though it was another letter, because of the way the humans in that story were 'wallowing' in such luxury that they got so fat they had to ride around in hover couches. That is a very good movie and great commentary on the time that it was made.

I found it strange to be a Toon; it just felt... odd. I mean, it shouldn't, our Paragon bodies aren't real either, but they LOOK real, and now I became an animated version of my Paragon.

Eventually, I got back to the Sabatini Zone and into the Caribbean Sea. After a few hours of sailing, I found the bottle, which contains Tortuga.

When I sailed back into the port, it had been more than a Zone time week, but it seems longer. The Arabella and The Dominator are still at anchor, with many other smaller Ships around them, like moons to a planet. The big galleon has sailed out, though.

I took Primus straight to the repair docs and got the repair Zims working on all the damage I've taken getting to and from the Blood Zone.

Once the repairs got underway, I made my way to the Saucy Stench, I need some Pirate help.

On entering the pub, I found the room quite full, a lot of Pirate's had seen Primus sail in and they want to hear the latest stories of my adventures. Long John Silver is behind the bar, already, but it looks like he kept a tight lid on our adventures, since everyone is crowding around me, asking questions.

I held up my hands and spoke loudly, "I'm sorry, my friends, but it is a matter of honor. I cannot tell you anything about where I was; I'm under an oath of secrecy!"

Of course, that made everyone even more curious. After a moment, I called out, "However, I will tell you this, I am seeking a girl, back on Earth, and her name is Rose Tausret. Any help in finding her will be appreciated."

Pirates started talking and then Long John said, "I be looking for someone a while back and Mary Read had some connections on Earth that helped me track him down"

"You know Mary, on Earth? What's she like?" I asked.

Long John shrugged, "Alas! We never met in person, but she is some high and mighty corporate wench in the Zcerebral ranks. That's how she can git ye information when ye need it. That wench is connected!"

That is interesting. I wonder what a high-ranking Zcerebral official is doing playing a Pirate in the Zones?

I took a deep breath, of all the Pirates I might need, why did it have to be Mary? She is, currently, pissed at me and I haven't seen her in some time. "Is there anyone else?"

"Well, ye could try just doing a Zone search on her," a Pirate suggested.

I shrugged, "I did that, already, and came up dry."

"Blimey! Then I'd talk to Mary Read," Long John said, with a shrug, "But, be prepared to pay dearly, she is pretty ruthless, especially if she has to take a risk and use her position in Zcerebral."

"zTime?" I asked, hopefully.

He shook his head, "Nay, she has plenty o' that, she'll want a return favor and who knows what that will be."

I pondered this new wrinkle in the story of Mary Read. I know she is a fierce Pirate, here in the Zones, and I guess it makes sense that she is also someone of power back on Earth. Still, I just can't picture her in a business suit, working at the top of some skyscraper, and playing the corporate politics game. She must find the danger of the dual opposing roles intriguing and, come to think of it, that really does sound like the Mary I know.

I nodded to Long John and turned to the main throng of revelers, but, right then, the door opened and Ching Shih strode in. I nodded to her and then asked in a loud voice, "Does anyone know where Mary Read is, these days?"

Pirate voices murmured as they talked about my question, but Ching Shih answered, "I know where Revenge is currently anchored."

I turned to the small Pirate Captain; she has taken a seat at a table to the rear of the pub.

I walked over and asked, "You have?"

"Yes, I spoke with Blackbeard, yesterday, before he sailed out. He mentioned that he'd seen Revenge, but she isn't alone out there."

"What do you mean?"

Ching Shih replied, "There are several Dragoon ships hunting us in that part of the Caribbean Sea, so Revenge is hiding in a small hurricane hole, which Blackbeard and I know well."

"Can you tell me how to get there?"

"I can show you," Ching Shih answered.

I felt relieved, but then she said, "But, what are you going to do about the Dragoon ships?"

I stood up, and spoke, intensely, "I'll send them to Davy Jones' locker!"

The entire Pirate crowd whooped and cheered at that bold announcement.

"You think Primus is a match for three Dragoon galleons, sailing together?" Ching Shih asked, casually.

I hesitated, those are lousy odds, but I need to find Mary and the thought of coming to her aid is a pleasant one. Then there is my fresh emotional pain from losing Ellie, which makes me all the more protective of the ones for which I care. I answered, "If I have to take them on, then, yes."

"Well, you don't, at least, not alone. The Dominator will sail with you, if you will have us," Ching Shih said, standing up.

I nodded, smiling in thanks, "All right, how soon can your Ship be ready?"

"The tide is changing in three hours, we can set sail then, if that is your desire," she replied.

"My Ship should be repaired, by then," I answered, in agreement.

Ching Shih nodded, finished her drink, and then headed out of the Saucy Stench to go prepare her Ship.

I sat down with a few Pirates and started asking around about Bug Zappers, on Earth, and got a good lead for a man with those skills.

Eventually, I bid goodbye to the rest of the Pirates, nodded to Long John Silver, and headed for my Ship.

About an hour after Primus and The Dominator exited the Tortuga bottle, into the greater Caribbean Sea, Loki broke into my thoughts, Sir, a ship is approaching off the port bow.

I immediately went to the bow of Primus and took out a spyglass to scan the sea. Sure enough, a frigate, under full sails, is bearing down on The Dominator, which is off the port bow of my Ship.

I studied the new frigate, but she is a bit far off for me to really make out details, for now, she is just a lot of billowing white sails.

Send a Flash invitation to Ching Shih, I ordered my Steward.

A moment later, Ching Shih appeared, as if standing on my deck and my Image will appear as if standing on the deck of her ship.

"I see it," she answered, immediately. "I think we should make a run for Hispaniola, we can lose them there."

"It's just one frigate; she can't be a match for our two Ships."

Ching Shih shrugged, "No, but a lucky shot could take down one of our masts, do we need this conflict?"

"No, I guess you are right," I agreed. "Do you think it is a Dragoon ship?"

"Who else would it be, bearing down on two Pirate Ships?"

I found it odd that a single frigate would even attempt a fight against two armed Pirate Ships, but I nodded and Ching Shih's Flash Image disappeared. I followed her Ship as she came about, to port, and we started sailing away from the frigate, running downwind. This put me slightly behind The Dominator, though I kept off to her starboard side so that I don't steal her wind.

I studied the chasing ship and noticed that she is gaining on us, which is odd. Both Primus and The Dominator are fast ships. I checked, and we are still three hours sail from Hispaniola; it is going to be close.

While studying the ship with my spyglass I saw her raise a jolly roger from the highest mast. That puzzled me, but I figure the Dragoons might be trying to fool us into stopping.

An hour later, I finally got a good enough view to recognize the ship, it is Revenge.

I had Loki Flash Ching Shih again as I hove to, letting Revenge catch up.

Ching Shih looked a little miffed as her small form appeared on my deck again, "Why have you hove to? That ship will be here soon!"

"It's Revenge, that's Mary Read's Ship, we've found her," I answered.

Ching Shih's form abruptly disappeared, which is kind of rude.

The Dominator made a turn at this point, to port, coming about and then she sailed back toward my position. While 'hoved to' my ship drifts in a controlled manner. This is a sailing method of slowing the boat's forward progress by putting the ship into a position where the boat lies with the wind ahead of the beam, the wheel is lashed to a set position and the sails configured in a way that gives the ship minimal forward motion yet is still not just drifting aimlessly.

But The Dominator did not heave to; she stayed under full sail. I started to wonder at this when I heard the boom of distant cannons. I spun around and saw the white telltale smoke clouds of recent cannon discharge drifting in the wind, away from Revenge.

My god, Mary FIRED on me! I hadn't realized that Mary is still that angry with me, just because I'd fooled her about my identity.

On the other hand, Pirates do battle, at times; there are factions, and coup to be won from sinking another Pirate's Ship, but this attack seems extreme. I guess you can never predict a woman scorned.

I yelled orders to my Zim crew, getting my ship back underway; we are a sitting duck, hove to, like this.

That's when The Dominator fired back on Revenge.

I saw the shots fall to the stern of Revenge when water plumes rose into the air. Mary's Ship had made a sudden turn, anticipating the shots from The Dominator.

Anticipating? I thought, then I said to Loki, Where did Revenge's first shots go, I didn't see them hit.

She fired on The Dominator, Sir, though the shots fell short.

I spun back around and saw Revenge closing. Mary positioned her Ship for a broadside, aiming at The Dominator.

But, I knew, from the experience of having sailed on The Dominator, Ching Shih's Ship is fast and her cannons have a longer reach than Revenge. Mary is not about to have an easy battle!

At that moment, Loki said, Sir, Mary Read is requesting to Flash you.

Let her through!

Mary appeared on my deck, as usual, she is dressed to the hilt, this time in full Pirate battle garb. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of her fair form.

"What are you doing, Mary!" I demanded.

She didn't waste any words, "Listen to me, you fool, Ching Shih is The Phoenix!"

"What? No, Ching Shih is a Pirate! She just Flashed me a minute ago!"

"Trust me, that is the Phoenix and she is playing you!"

"What proof do you have?" I demanded.

"Look to your starboard, those are Dragoon ships, coming at her call. If you don't help me against her, we'll both be lost."

I swiveled around and raised my spyglass, immediately spotting three ships on the horizon.

But how does Mary know that Ching Shih is The Phoenix? Then I recalled that Mary is some kind of bigwig in Zcerebral, perhaps that's how she learned the truth!

Mary continued, "Those ships have been dogging your heels, staying just out of range, at her orders!" Then Mary cursed and her Image disappeared.

I saw The Dominator fire her two stern guns as she tacked around. One shot hit Revenge in the forecastle and the other went through her sails but did little harm.

Loki, Flash Ching Shih!

Ching Shih's form appeared, a moment later, and she said, "I'm a little busy, right now, dealing with this rogue."

"Why are you fighting, let's stand down and talk!"

"She brought the fight to us, she is the aggressor here!"

Then Ching Shih's form disappeared; she is obviously busy, controlling her Ship.

I, literally, do not know what to do.

The two battling ships kept maneuvering, attempting to get the upper hand and to land some crippling shots. I stayed out of it and let the two Ships battle, but I watched the approach of the other three ships. As they neared our position I made out the Dragoon flags and knew them for what Mary had claimed.

These Dragoons are a clear and present danger, one I understand, so I turned my Ship and headed for the zPol vessels. I sent a Flash to both Pirate Captains, appearing on both their decks and ordered, "Stop this fight immediately those are Dragoon ships!"

Pirates may fight, on occasion, for coup, or just for fun, but when three Dragoon ships approach, all infighting should stop, as we face a common enemy.

One of the Dragoon ships peeled off and headed for Revenge and The Dominator, but the other two Dragoon ships sailed on, toward me.

I waited until they both lined up for a shot at Primus and then I had my Zims take us about. That turned my bow toward the Dragoon ships, just as they turned broadside on and fired. My ship took a few hits, but nothing terrible, and I had my crew pack on sails, heading right for the Dragoons.

As soon as they fired their broadsides, they started to go about to bring their opposite side cannons to bear, but one went downwind in a jib while the other tried to go about.

Too late, they realized that I am sailing between them, where both of the Dragoon ships have emptied their cannons. Primus sailed right between the maneuvering ships, close enough that I can see the stone faces of the Dragoons, and then I yelled, "Fire all cannons!"

My ship let loose with dual broadsides, one for each Dragoon ship, and they are too close for my gunners to miss.

The two Dragoon ships took terrible damage, wood and Dragoon bodies flew into the air. The entire area filled with the white smoke, from my cannon blasts, and it wasn't until Primus sailed out that I could see the massive damage I've done to both Dragoon ships.

I got a good look at Revenge; she has just emptied a broadside into the third Dragoon ship, but then, off her port side, The Dominator came around and let loose, with a full broadside, however, instead of aiming at the Dragoon, Ching Shih fired on Revenge.

The heavy balls, from her big cannons, devastated Mary's frigate. Revenge shuddered and that pretty ship was half destroyed in the blast. I saw her main mast fall, crashing down through all the rigging. Ching Shih has continued to help the Dragoon ships AGAINST Mary Read, instead of helping Revenge defeat zPol.

My god, Mary is right, Ching Shih is the enemy!

I started to turn my ship when Mary appeared, in a Flash, on my deck, and cried out, "Run, you fool! Your no match for the Dominator and these other ships!"

Mary is bloody, her Paragon body wounded from shrapnel, though she is still managing to stand, defiantly.

"Mary," I cried out, in horror.

"Run, if the Zone border is close, you can make it! Go, avenge me!"

"Hold on, I'll be there in minutes!" I called, desperately.

She shook her head, "I only have seconds; they will take my Skey when I zonk, so it is up to you now. Warn Tortuga! The Phoenix knows where they are!"

That's when the Dragoon ship's grappling hooks landed in her rigging and cut into her decks. They started pulling the two ships together.

I saw Mary pull her cutlass from her sheath with her right hand and lift a pistol in her left.

"Mary!" I cried out, in anguish.

She straightened her shoulders and took an En Garde position, she barked orders to her Zim crew, though she still has her Flash Image up. Then, she raised her chin, defiantly, and spoke in her pirate accent, "It looks like t'is time for Mary Read to make her last stand."

"Mary, I love you," I cried out.

She looked back at me, for a moment, and a sad smile appeared on her face, but she straightened her shoulders and a smirk appeared. In true Mary Read form, she said, "NOW you want to tell me that? Get out of here; don't make my last act as Mary Read worthless!" Then she gave me a salute with her sword, turned to the coming attackers and laughed with the enjoyment of life, living it to the end as she leaped into battle.

Her Image disappeared as the Flash, finally, cut off and I know that Mary has been zonked. In the real world, the Zombies are tracking her Disconnect and closing on her body.

I turned and saw one of the other wounded Dragoon ships attempting to grapple with my Ship and The Dominator is turning toward Primus, as well.

"Hard to Port, we're going to run!" I called to my crew and the chase began.

We ran for thirty minutes, with The Dominator not too far behind. She took some damage from Revenge, so she isn't as fast as she could have been.

Suddenly, Ching Shih Flashed me and I accepted. She appeared on my deck, looking just as small and determined as I've seen, before. She is, once again, dressed in her black Tang suit, arms clasped behind her, unconcerned.

"Surrender, you cannot escape," she noted, simply.

"The Phoenix, I presume?" I asked.

She bowed, slightly. She knows the masquerade is over.

"What have you done with Mary?"

"She is a Pirate and will be treated as such; we have captured her body, on Earth, as well."

I stared at the small woman and said, "Why were you helping me?"

She laughed, "I am helping myself. You stole something and I want it back. I have been hoping that you would lead me to it, but you have, regrettably, learned too much about my business from a Ghost out of my past. Now, I'll have to end this. I will parlay with you, though, I give you my word that I will let Mary Read go free if you surrender and give me back what you stole."

"How long have you been following me?"

"Thorten, you fool, I LET you escape from Holgren Hospital after we brain vacuumed you and found that your smear had addled your wits. We couldn't find where you had hidden the new server code, but we found that your pre-smear self left your new, brain altered, halfwit self, mind clues, ones which only you might figure out. What a waste, you were once my best sculptor. After I got rid of your wife, I had hoped to bed you and tie you to me by your heart as well as your mind, but you always were too clever for your own good. How did you figure things out, anyway?"

I just stared at her; I have no idea what this tiny demon is talking about.

At my silence, she just made a small shrug, "No matter, I will have it from you, eventually. After you escaped, as Thor, I couldn't let you go, so I had the Dragoons zonk you and trace you to your body. That's when I discovered that you stole the new Zone server code I'd had you write. We caught up with your body at Holgren Hospital and decided to let you lead us to the prize. Everything was going as planned until Mary Read interfered. Curse that girl, she is resourceful, but this time, she will pay the price."

"Let her go!" I cried out.

"I will do that, I'll trade her for you if you want," she said. "She doesn't yet know what you know, so I have no need of her body in a Zombie Coffin. I'll even sweeten the deal, I'll throw in Ellie Deveron as well."

"I'll think about it," I lied; I have no intention of leaving Mary or Ellie to the clutches of this monster, but I can't take her deal, I have no guarantee that The Phoenix will follow through on her word if I surrender.

"Don't think too long," The Phoenix warned, "the moment you cross the Sabatini Zone border the deal is off and, trust me, my ships are waiting for you in zSpace! Now, assuming, by a miracle, you DO escape, if you want to save the girls, come to the Rowling Zone, second series world. I'll bring Mary Read to Ard Droim, School of Magic, first book scenario, Ireland, 1861."

"Why there?" I asked.

"I told you, I AM a witch," and then her Image disappeared.

As soon as The Phoenix departed, I immediately Flashed Long John Silver. He appeared on my deck and I explained about Ching Shih being The Phoenix and how she knows about Tortuga. He immediately killed the Flash. I'd done what I could; it is up to the Pirates to move the Tortuga bottle, now that the current location is compromised.

I looked back and saw The Dominator crowding on more sail.

I did the same and raced her for the Zone border. As we sailed, I worked on improving my speed code. This helped, and I made it to the Zone border a few minutes before The Dominator could get into cannon range.

As soon as I transitioned across the border, into zSpace, I readied my Cloak, and not a moment too soon. The Phoenix had not been kidding; zSpace is crawling with Dragoon ships.

_How many ARE there?_ I asked Loki.

_I think that's all of them, Sir,_ he noted, with his usual, dry humor.

Then I engaged my Cloak and, surprisingly, it still worked. They haven't cracked my routine, yet. There is an Armada around this Zone, but Cloaked, I sailed right through their blockade and, once clear, I punched my Hyperdrive, rocketing away.

But I am not running, I'm headed for the Rowling Zone, at full speed. I want to be in place BEFORE The Phoenix arrives with Mary. You see, I am going to rescue Mary, though I will probably get zonked, either by The Phoenix or by Mary, when she runs me through for not helping in her battle against The Dominator until it was too late. She has lost Revenge and, I'm sure, she is very angry. I'd failed both my girlfriends now, and both are in the hands of zPol.

The Rowling Zone is one of the most visited locations in all the Zones. People just love dressing up in their wizard robes, cavorting around an old school, learning magic, fighting dark witches and wizards, spouting pigeon Latin spells, riding brooms, and flicking their wands.

OK, it can be kind of fun, but, right now, I am on a rescue mission and my mind is all on business.

I am not headed for the original series world, with Harry and company, though that is the most famous. The Phoenix had said, 'Second Series', so I plotted a course for the prequel to that story, which the author wrote, years later. The first book in the prequel series is called, 'Fiona Irwin and the Witch's Tower'. Unlike the first series, which features a young wizard as the protagonist, the prequel is set in the 1800s and the protagonist is a young witch, named Fiona Irwin.

This story is set in Ireland and is about an Irish girl who is kidnapped from her magical Irish parents, as a baby. The Gan-Draioct woman, who steals her, is English and she has lost her husband and child in a fire. She, illogically, blames the Irish for the fire and raises the stolen girl as 'Agnes McBean', but her real name is Fiona Irwin.

Her real mother went insane when her daughter was stolen and became a dark witch, bent on revenge against the Gan-Draioct. The story starts with Fiona discovering her heritage as a witch. Out on the Irish moors, she runs into a Goblin and he uses a magical truth stone to discover Fiona's true nature. He reports his discovery to the magical community. Soon, Fiona receives an invitation, delivered to her English mother's home. This letter tells her of a magic school. When her mother forbids Fiona from attending, the young girl runs away from her unhappy home and finds her way to Ard Droim, School of Magic.

Upon finally arriving, after some misadventures, Fiona presents her invitation at the door, two weeks after school has already started. At first, she has the stigma of being English in an Irish school, and having been raised by non-magical people, which, in Ireland, they call Gan-Draioct, meaning, 'without magic'.

Later, when the truth comes out, it gets even worse for the young girl; she learns she is the lost daughter of the world's darkest witch. Eventually, she has to face her insane mother, several times, and, in the end, bring her back to the side of good.

Much of the story takes place in the Irish school of magic, Ard Droim, which is on the coast, near the North Sea of Ireland. The author followed the same format as the first series, one book for each year that Fiona goes to the Ard Droim school, though it is all set back in Victorian times.

Now I have to go to Fiona's school, which is located on the Irish Sea, and then go up against the most powerful woman in the world, just like Fiona did in the story, when she had to face her mother, the dark witch.

In entering this Story Zone, I will start out like Fiona, the character from the original novels. She begins the story at the age of eleven, back in the year 1861.

Upon crossing into the Rowling Zone, Primus changed into a sailing vessel, plying the harsh ocean conditions of the North Sea. I changed into the body of an eleven-year-old version of my Paragon, which is a bit disconcerting. In the pocket of my wizard robe, I discovered a letter of invitation to Ard Droim, School of Magic. I also found a wand, sixteen inches long, with a griffin feather core, according to the box it is within.

_Geez, why can't this be the NexLord world?_ I wondered. Actually, now that I thought about it, maybe that isn't such a good idea. All of these fantasy worlds are a mess of dark magic and prophecy. Did I mention that I really hate dark prophecies? I'm not talking about the title of the first book in the NexLord series, I mean actual dark prophecies. Who wants someone telling you what you have to do, or what will take place? Then I realized that I am thinking like the Gandarel character, from that book.

Well, I have a prophecy for The Phoenix; I am going to rescue Mary Read. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Zcerebral!

Now, how shall I go about achieving my goal?

Well, the first thing to do is to get well situated in this school of magic BEFORE The Phoenix arrives.

I anchored my ship in a bay, near, but not at, the school. Then, upon reaching the shore, I hurried across the Irish marsh. I soon spotted the rocky ridge rising out of the mist which gives this school its name. Perched up on that ridge, is the massive stone structure named Ard Droim, school of Magic. It is an ominous looking place, with multiple large stone structures around the huge central hall.

When I came up the entry path and approached the massive doors, at the main structure, I noticed lots of students already moving around in the front courtyard. They are all dressed in black robes with a shamrock and wand logo, in green, on the right breast.

Obviously, just like in the first book, of this second series, I am two weeks late for the start of school, which will put me well behind the other students. It will also make me the butt of jokes; par for the proverbial course in this rework of the storyline Zone experience.

I went through the opening sequence of the story, handing in my letter, getting handed a course schedule, being shown to a classroom, and having the other students twitter and giggle at me as I entered. They have all had a chance to bond and pair off with friends, by now, so I am an 'outsider'.

Of course, there is always a misfit in every class, the one who will befriend you. They are, generally, the lowest on the social ladder. This situation is no different and the misfit turns out to be, none other than, the classic character, from the novels, Lonnie Booliger. Everyone calls him 'Booger' of course. In the story, he is destined to be my best buddy, so I didn't fight the storyline.

That's the thing with these Story worlds, they have a series of plot points, which run in sequence. You can go with the flow, if you want, or buck the story and it will adapt. For me, it is easiest to just let the blonde headed Booger become my new Zim buddy.

Another thing to note, these stories are varied for every Teer or grouped set of Teers who run through the sequence. The world is created just for them, with details changed so that it is their own iteration of the story, making it unfold slightly differently for each Teer.

Things are changed, each time, mostly depending on what the Zone decides and what the Teers going through it choose, yet it is always the same general story.

This was popularized by an old MMORPG, back in the computer game era, called Citadel of Sorcery. That game brought story-driven gameplay to the forefront, after years of other games just rehashing the old 'hack and slash' or 'fetch me this' or 'deliver that' gameplay systems.

Of course, the Zones have progressed Story Driven enjoyment much further, but the core of the multiple changing story world, which is modified for each player, or team of players, gets its roots from Citadel of Sorcery. One of the three original Zones was even based on the Citadel world and the Eyes of Darkness, but that's a story for another time. Here, now, I am entering the story of Fiona Irwin and the Witch's Tower.

After attending several classes, in which I am, by design, terribly behind the other students, the day ended with a meal in the Great Hall of Ard Droim. Unlike the first story, students here are not divided into 'Houses'. At Ard Droim, all students are meant to work together, not in competition. Still, there are team sports, though my character doesn't belong on one of the teams, thank heavens. I don't need to be out flying about on a broomstick, dodging odd leather balls, bent on my destruction, or trying to grab a flying, golden, ping pong ball.

At lights out, I got into my new bed, high in one of the castle towers. Tomorrow will be the day which brings The Phoenix to Ard Droim hopefully with Mary as her prisoner. I have to be ready.

I got up an hour later and snuck into the library. I want to look up some spells which may help me in the coming hours. I went straight to the restricted section and started reading by candlelight.

That's when Booger spoke from out of the shadows, "It's forbidden for first years to be reading books from this section and against the rules for us to be out of bed, at this hour!"

I looked up and grinned, "And do you always follow the rules?"

Booger grinned back and answered, "Actually, I never follow the rules. I was out to spy on that snake, Garbour, and happened to see you sneaking down the hall, after lights out. I wanted to see what the newest student at Ard Droim is up to and, now that I see you are up to no good, I approve!"

I nodded; I remember his character from the books.

"What are you doing?" he asked, curiously, picking up a book I had set aside, but still left open, face down. He read the title on the page, "The Thick Tongue Charm".

I answered, "Yeah, that looks like a good one, can I try it on you? It only lasts for about thirty seconds."

"Sure, go ahead, then," he said, giving me a grin.

I took out my wand and gave it a simple flip as I said, 'Ankyloglossia!'

Booger looked at me strangely, when nothing seemed to happen, and then tried to speak, "Woelll thaaaa dudnn ooork therry oolll."

Then he burst out laughing when he found himself unable to talk correctly, due to his tongue becoming unwieldy.

I smiled, "Try casting a spell like that!"

"I kawnt! Wollll ellll ouuu gaw?"

"What else have I got? How about this one?" I answered, showing him a nice confusion spell for addling the brain. It makes you mistake one thing for another. "Confusio," I noted.

"Nois," he said, meaning 'nice'.

Then the spell on his tongue wore off and he asked, "So, what do you need all these spells for, did you discover the hidden lair of the dark witch?"

"Mildred Irwin?" I inquired, innocently.

He looked horrified, "You realize that every time you say her name she can mark you, to find you later?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm not worried about her finding me later," I said, brushing it off.

He made a warding gesture, against evil, and then said, "But you ignored my question."

"I have to rescue someone, tomorrow, she is going to arrive as a captive. They are going to lock her up, somewhere, and I need to set her free."

"Who is she, the daughter of She Who Collects Souls?"

"No, well, I don't know, maybe. It depends on what character she gets," I noted.

His Zim routine ignored this, out of story, comment.

"Wow, really? Well, if you are going in the Dark Dungeon, I'm coming with you!"

At the mention of the 'Dark Dungeon', I recall, from the story, that this school was built on the foundation of another structure, one out of the grim annals of history. Sometime after the new school had been built, students discovered the entrance down to the older dungeons, still under the school. Several students were killed, back then, and more have died since that time. It is, absolutely, against the rules to set foot in there, so, of course, just about every wizard and witch student here eventually does, just to prove they aren't afraid of things that go bump in the night.

Generally, most of them only go as far down as the first level and no one gets killed on that level, it is deeper down where the really nasty monsters wait.

"Well, I'm not sure they will put her there," I noted.

"Is she a prisoner?"

I nodded.

"Then that's where they will put her, guaranteed."

The next day, I made sure to be in class, but I picked a chair where I can keep an eye out the window at the school entrance. Sure enough, early in the morning, a large black carriage arrived, with twenty black horseman and riders attending. A small woman exited, all dressed in black leather and a cape over her shoulders. It is The Phoenix. She motioned with her hands, sending guards to various locations.

I went to the door of the classroom and peeked out. My teacher is busy adding ingredients into a cauldron and hasn't yet noticed me out of my seat. I watched the Dragoons take the bound Mary Read, who has a black hood over her head, and march her down toward the dungeon entrance. At least, I figure it is Mary, but I can't be positive; her Paragon is also now an eleven-year-old. Strangely, The Phoenix and her Dragoons all look the same age as they are, normally.

When I left class, I spotted two more guards standing at the entrance to the Dark Dungeon.

Well, it seems that Booger is right, Mary is down in the dark dungeon and I have to go in there to save her. I will be up against a squad of Dragoons and The Phoenix, the world's first, planet-wide, Dictator.

I thought about her for a moment and I realize she must have an ego the size of Mars. I mean, she is the supreme ruler of everything, without challenge. Power like that has got to mess with your brain. According to Jeremy, she is also a sociopath.

I considered this and figure, with that huge ego, she is likely overconfident. That goes with what I've experienced with Ching Shih, though, truthfully, her skills are not an act.

Sure, I am just one code sculptor, without a pot to piss in, well, I currently had a cauldron, but that's beside the point, the point is, she doesn't think I'm all that dangerous. I plan to prove her wrong.

So, I made my plan and set it into motion. It will all be smoke and mirrors, well, most of it, though I do have a little magic, from this Zone, ready to go.

With everything in place, I called a secret meeting.

I suppose you want to know... with whom, since I am here all alone. My meeting is with the other kids in the school, the Zim students. I created a magic note, which appeared in all their pockets, at the same time, and, once read, evaporated. It's one of the things I worked out in my research session within the Library.

Last night, I'd discovered that the magic of this Zone is right up my alley; in a way, it is like sculpting. Creating new magic spells and charms just seems to come naturally for me.

I think The Phoenix chose this Zone because she fancies herself good with magic and has spent some time here. I suppose she figures that magic is different from the pure mathematics of sculpting; fortunately, she is wrong. That overconfidence is going to catch up with her one day, hopefully very soon. She figures she is a genius neurologist and that magic is an intuitive element of the mind. Well, it is, and so is high-end sculpting. There is an underlying set of rules to magic in this, and every, fantasy Zone, and a set of rules is my cup of tea.

I can swiftly understand the rules, see ways to enhance and write within those rules, and push them to their very limits. That is sculpting, in a nutshell. But The Phoenix isn't a sculptor; she hired people to do that, or vamped them, as she'd done to Will and Jeremy.

My little note to the Zim students said this:

A great evil has come to our school, it arrived yesterday. Yes, She Who Collects Souls has come to Ard Droim. She thinks we are helpless students who cannot stand up to her magic, but I say differently! The Dark Witch has taken the form of a small woman, you may have even seen her and her stone-faced guards.

Those are creatures of evil which she has animated from stone! With her, she has brought a prisoner, whom she has hidden in the Dark Dungeon. This prisoner has learned the key to defeating the Dark Witch, but she will be killed at the stroke of noon, today. I intend to rescue her, defeat the Dark Witch, and return Ard Droim to the students and teachers! If you are with me, then here is your task: at 11:53 am, I need you to distract the Dark Witch and her minions.

We can't attack the Witch, or her guards, that will only make them think we are trying to rescue their prisoner. They would then fall back, or even kill her, immediately. Instead of a direct attack, I need you to create some odd things, disasters, and strange occurrences. Have battles break out between students, cause cauldrons to explode in class, create many forms of MAYHEM which only the creative wizard and witch students of Ard Droim can produce!

Do not attempt to rescue the prisoner; I will take care of that when the enemy is distracted by your imaginative help. I hope you are with me, the life of an innocent student rides on your honor and ability to fight the Dark Witch.

The reason I wrote the note this way is the storyline. This world is designed around a story structure which involves taking on the Dark Witch. If I make The Phoenix into the Dark Witch, every student and the entire program will tilt against her.

I'm not positive how many Zims the note will sway to my side until the time actually arrives, but I have high hopes.

At 11:45 am, another part of my plan launched, at that moment, my Ship came around the point, sailing for the school dock under the control of my Zims.

I watched as one of the Dragoons ran to fetch The Phoenix. She emerged from her room, with a satisfied smile on her face, and went to watch my Ship arriving. That got her out of the immediate area, but it did not take most of her guards away.

She left the school building just as the clock hit 11:53 am.

I held my breath, wondering if any of the Zim students will heed my call for aid and attempt anything dastardly.

The first thing I saw are about a million bats flying down from the high tower of the main structure, zooming into the hallways, flying every which-way, here and there.

All those tiny flapping little creatures make it nearly impossible to see, or to think, they are EVERYWHERE!

But that is just the start; ghosts of the past came out of the walls, howling about the hour of judgment, screaming at the top of their ethereal lungs.

Then the statues around the great hall all came to life, leaping down and starting to battle each other.

Three students ran into the area and they are solid blue, skin, clothes, everything. They ran to the Dragoons at the entrance to the Dark Dungeon and told them that a Bluebergire monster has erupted out of the wall and is 'blueing' everyone in sight. They pointed and one of the Dragoons ran that direction.

Fireworks started exploding in the air as an arcane battle broke out between two groups of students. Sizzling spells flew every which way.

The remaining Dragoon became so distracted that it was almost too easy when I slipped behind him and down the stairs into the Dark Dungeon.

Based on everything I'd seen, I believe that ALL the Zim students of Ard Droim came to my aid.

Once in the dungeon, I know it is now up to me. I snuck down the hall, using the 'quietus conis' spell, which makes my feet appear to have large bunny shaped, furry slippers on them, which make no noise as I walk.

I went down to the third level before I found the cells.

Four Dragoons are guarding Mary's cell. Well, I had hoped there would only be two, but I will just have to deal with all four.

I backed away, some distance, so they won't hear me casting, and then used my next spell. This one is called, Poupette Projectus. As I said the words, I pictured Ching Shih and, a moment later, a 3D, realistic, simulacrum of her appeared down the hall.

The simulacrum is tied to me, so as I move, she moves, mirroring my actions, exactly, like there are puppet strings between us. I'd made her appear about twenty feet away from me so I can remain hidden, up the hallway, while she is seen by the Dragoons.

I walked my puppet forward and the Dragoons came to attention, as their commander came into view.

"There is a ruckus going on in the upper halls! You three, go deal with it." Then I had her point at the fourth guard and say, "You stay here, with me, to guard the prisoner." She mimicked the words I said as I spoke them from my hidden position. I'd considered sending all the guards away, but I thought it might look suspicious if she left the prisoner unguarded.

The three indicated guards trotted down the hall toward the stairs, away from me.

Then I prepared to take on the last Dragoon. He is armed with a wand, of course; everyone is, in this Zone, but he doesn't have it in his hand. I can see it poking out of his pocket. As soon as he turned his head away from me, I ran at him. Inadvertently, this caused my Phoenix Simulacrum to run as well, running past the guard and down the hall. He turned to gape at her, which is when my Simulacrum ran out of hallway, she'd arrived at a T- intersection and gone straight into the wall. Of course, since I am still running, in a straight line, she did as well.

This made the Dragoon actually grow suspicious, but before he could put 2 and 2 together, I cast my third spell.

"Confusio," I bellowed, flicking my wand at the guard.

The spell hit him, just as he turned and spotted the small, eleven-year-old boy, racing toward him, wand extended.

He immediately grabbed for his banana.

Of course, he meant to grab for his wand, but his confused mind decided that he should use the banana in his other pocket instead of his wand. He yanked out his yellow banana and aimed it at me while calling out, 'Eatus thisus!"

Which, of course, isn't a spell, but his confused mind thought it was.

I nearly screwed up the entire thing, because I actually laughed and it's hard to pronunciate, correctly, while you are laughing, but I got it out; 'Blockus Headious'. OK, so it wasn't a great spell name, but I'd been in a hurry when I named it after designing the spell the night before.

What it lacked in good title, it excelled in function. The head of my adversary became encased in a block of stone; he can't see, hear, talk or generally do anything useful. The spell will last for a good ten minutes, too. He started waving his banana around, threateningly, and then move off down the hall, bumping into the walls and going the wrong way, completely.

I opened the cell door lock with the more standard unlock spell I know from the first series and then opened the cell door. Mary is sitting in the cell on a small stool. She looks very small as a precocious eleven-year-old girl in witch's robes. They took off the black hood, so she can see me as I came in. I'd pictured this moment, her glad smile, blossoming, as I rescue her, but something is wrong with the picture, Mary is scowling at me.

She spoke crossly, "You fool brained idiot! You KNOW she really wants YOU! Now you have come here, to rescue me, so she can capture you!"

"Be that as it may, we only have a few minutes, let's go!" I exclaimed.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she stated, crossing her small arms.

I am speechless.

That's OK, Mary has lots to say.

"You LIED to me! You embarrassed me, in front of my peers, and, later, you didn't believe me! You let that bitch sink my SHIP!"

"Mary, I'm sorry, but we have to go!"

"Screw you and the Ship you sailed in on, I'm happy, right here, in my cell. I'm not about to be rescued by a... a... liar!"

"Mary, please. I'm sorry!"

"Not sorry enough! See you, Mister!"

I went over and knelt down on the hard stone floor and said, "Mary Read, I was rude to keep you in the dark about my identity, I was insane to not believe you about The Phoenix and I am a complete, and admitted, idiot, who loves you."

She scowled at me darkly, but when I said that last bit, her head snapped up, "What was that last part?"

"Uh, I am, an admitted, idiot?"

"No, the VERY last part!"

"Oh, I love you."

Now she stood up to her full, eleven-year-old girl, height and glowered at me. "Oh, now you are going to play that card, AS IF I believe you for a second, my slippery liar boy!"

"I do, you know," I said and realized it is true. I immediately felt a pang in my guts for Ellie. I am an ass, I love two girls, but I am not going to go into that can of worms with Mary, right this minute. I am already in hot water with this feisty eleven-year-old, well, she looks eleven.

Mary shook a skinny finger at me. "If you had a brain in your empty head, you wouldn't be within ten Zones of me, right now, I'm a prisoner of The Phoenix!"

"I know, and if we don't move, soon, she's going to come collect both of us."

"Get out of here!" Mary thundered.

I stayed on my knees, "Not without you."

"They will zonk you and trace the Disconnect back to your real body, you know that?"

"I don't care; I'm staying until you come with me."

She glowered at me and then, suddenly, walked out of the cell, leaving me kneeling on the floor behind her. "Are you coming?" she called back, as I scrambled to my feet.

I ran out and Mary said, "What is your escape plan? You DO have one?"

"Yes, follow me!"

I took hold of Mary's hand and we ran down the dungeon hall, together. I spared a quick glance to the side and spotted a little, happy, smile on Mary's face, which she quickly hid when she saw me glance over at her and she added, "I'm still angry with you!"

I chose to ignore that.

In the restricted section, I'd discovered a map to the Dark Dungeon and a secret exit, well, actually, there are thirty-seven known secret exits, but the one I am interested in came out near the docks.

Just as I'd hoped, The Phoenix had gone out to the dock, at the approach of my Ship. However, once the students started their craziness, inside the school, she'd gone back into the school to see what was happening.

My Ship reached the docks, just as Mary and I ran out onto the dock planks. I leaped up to my Ship's side railing, with Mary right behind me, and yelled to my Zims, "Get us out of here!"

Primus turned and my crew hoisted our sails.

That's when the six Dragoon ships came up, all around us, surfacing right out of the ocean, just like in the original series from this Zone. The Phoenix had stacked the deck, just in case I tried to escape by Ship. These are big warships and, alone, Primus is no match for them.

"You're screwed!" Mary exclaimed, in a horror-filled voice.

But I laughed and said, "Not yet! I have one last trick up my sleeve!"

This is the big piece of magic I'd worked on for the last few hours, something new to this Zone, but a spell which, I hope, The Phoenix will not see coming, after all, the play wasn't written until 1904 and this is a story set in 1861.

I lifted my wand, just as the small form of The Phoenix came out onto the dock to watch us get taken by her ships.

"Peterpanious," I exclaimed with a wave of my wand. From the tip, a spray of golden sparkles, like the dust of fairies, shot out and landed all over my Ship. Then Primus lifted out of the water and flew into the air.

The Dragoon ships fired, but their cannon balls went under us as my Ship flew off into the sky.

I waved at the small shrinking form of The Phoenix and laughed, gleefully.

"I'm glad you escaped, but this rescue is all for naught," Mary noted, sadly. "I only came with you so that you would leave."

I turned to kiss Mary, but when my arms went around her Paragon, she felt kind of stiff. Her eyes are open and watching me, but something is wrong. I stepped back and Mary's young girl's body spoke, "I'm sorry, but Mary Read is no longer in control of this Paragon. I am Mara, Mary's Steward. Mary Disconnected from the Zones, a few moments after we lifted off in your Ship."

I am so confused, and asked, "She decided to go back to her Earth body?"

Mara shook her small head, "No, she just vanished; I believe her Skey was removed from her captured body. I no longer have contact with her at this time."

"Oh, no," I exclaimed and looked back at the small form of The Phoenix, down below. "She has them both."

"Both?" Mara asked.

I nodded but didn't say anything else. I know The Phoenix now has both of my girlfriends, back in the real world.

I sailed us out of the Rowling Zone and into zSpace, where I ordered my Zims to take me back to my Greenroom. It seems like an age since I have been here, back when I departed in the skiff, but now I docked Primus and went inside. Once there, I asked Loki to downlink my mind back to my real body.

# Chapter zTwenty-six – University of Southern California

After getting out of the Tube car in Buxton, I caught a Mag Train north, toward New York City. Part of me wonders why the Zombies hadn't been waiting for me at the Tube Terminal. If they have a tracker on me, why haven't they closed in for the kill? The Phoenix, Veronia, made it clear that she now considers me too great a risk to be running around free. If she has a means of finding me, why hasn't she used it to send her goon squads to my location?

I have to be sure, though, so I followed the directions I'd gotten in Tortuga. Fortunately, Veronia, as Ching Shih, had departed the Saucy Stench before I'd started asking around about a Bug Zapper on Earth.

That brought another thought, how long has Veronia been masquerading as Ching Shih? Had she just recently captured the real Ching Shih and exchanged roles? Or, had it been Veronia who went on the Heorot quest with me? Damn, I'd kind of liked her; she'd been, well, extremely capable.

But that made me think; she had used her wiles to attract men before. I recalled her naked form at the lake. Had she done that on purpose, to see if she could get me interested? Jeremy told me that she is a genius and had pulled the wool over the eyes of two very smart men, using sex to do it. No doubt, she'd done it before that, as well.

OK, so, Ching Shih could have been Veronia all along, in fact, as capable as Ching Shih has been, it is even very likely. Perhaps she assisted me so she could stay nearby, in case I led her to the code sculpture she sought. If that is true, then she knew the way to Tortuga all that time, she could have shut it down with a full Dragoon raid.

Had she left it alone because she wanted me to lead her to the code I'd stolen? Maybe, but how long has she known the location of Tortuga? She arrived AFTER I had; does that mean I led her there? Maybe she captured Ching Shih, long before, but kept it a secret, then followed me there and discovered Tortuga's location. Then, she left it alone, hoping I would lead her to the stolen routines. That is plausible, but I have no proof. If she knew about Tortuga before I went there, what motive would she have for leaving her enemy's stronghold untouched?

Perhaps she thought it better to know where they are, and spy on them, then close it down and have some new hideout to find. Or... maybe she has been seeking Valhalla? I remember what Long John Silver said, Valhalla is where the elite Pirates go, the ones who are recruited to really take the fight to zPol.

Maybe Veronia left Tortuga functioning so she could try to find Valhalla? If, as Ching Shih, she got invited to Valhalla, she would have the masterminds of the resistance.

I have no idea where Tortuga is now, or even if it is still in existence, but what I need to find is Valhalla. How do you find a place which is not meant to be found, a place that has to find you?

Glancing around the motif of my Green Room, a Viking Hall, it reminds me that my previous Paragon was Thor, a Norse god. Have I already been a member of Valhalla? Is that why I named my special Steward program Loki? It makes sense, but my memories of that time are gone.

Maybe that was on purpose, in case I was captured by Zcerebral; I can't give up what I don't know.

But now I need to find Valhalla, yet how do I go about that? Perhaps, if I make myself available, the gods of Valhalla will find me? But, how do I do that without bringing the Dragoons down on my head?

Besides, I have to save Ellie and Mary, even if the two of them murder me, later, for two-timing. Not that I ACTUALLY did anything wrong, I rationalized.

When I was with Mary I had no romantic relationship with Ellie, at that time, we were just longtime friends. It was only AFTER Mary sailed off into the sunset that I'd started falling for Ellie.

This is all true, but it doesn't change the fact that I now love them both. They are definitely going to kill me when they find out; my little grad student and my powerful corporate executive, both prisoners of Zcerebral.

I sighed; I am still going to rescue them if I can, so they can have the chance to kill me later.

I took a taxi, deep into New York, and was eventually dropped off in the Bronx. If anything, this place looks worse now than back in the old movies. I've never been to a Zone based on any of them, though there is the Die Hard Zone which was built around that cop from the movie series.

It didn't take me long to find the address and go up the short flight of narrow stairs to the dingy door at the top. I knocked and a gruff voice called, "It's open."

That is surprising; in a neighborhood like this, you would think he would make the door like a bank vault. I opened the door, only to be met by the wide barrel of a shotgun, about six inches from my nose. That big round hole at the end looks mighty big this close.

"Give me a reason not to shoot you in the next three seconds, one..."

I didn't wait for 'two', and exclaimed, "I was sent here by John Batton, who goes by Black Sam in the Zones. He said you are a good Bug Zapper and I need help."

"So, you came here, bringing the Zombies down on me?"

I replied, "Look, no Zombies."

He backed up and glanced out a filthy window down at the street below and then scanned the air above.

"Don't move," he barked, still covering me with the shotgun.

He grabbed a dirty looking electronic gizmo from a pile of stuff on the table and turned it on with a flip of a switch. Then, still holding the shotgun on me with one hand, he waved the device around me. It made a low hum and the sound changed slightly as it moved, but not by much.

Once he finished the scan, he grunted, set the shotgun down, much to my relief, and then grabbed something which looks like a metal pasta colander, except this one has all kinds of wires and things attached to many of the holes.

"Put that on your head," he ordered, shoving it at me.

"Really, Doc Brown?" I said, but I did as he commanded.

Then he said, "You have zTime?"

"Yes, how much?" I asked.

"Ten zHours."

"All right," I agreed

"Twenty zHours," he barked.

"I thought you said ten?" I answered.

"You were too agreeable, it means you have more," he noted and then flipped a switch on a long, double wire, which connects to the electronic spaghetti now perched on my head.

With this on, I look like a robot version of Carmen Miranda. I hope my brain doesn't get turned into fruit by this gizmo.

Then he waved another electronic gadget around my head. Afterward, he flipped the switch, connected to the colander, to the 'off' position and said, "You can take that off now."

"Anything?"

"No, but I'm not through." Then, he took what looks like the end of a jumper cable and attached it to the thumb of my right hand.

Fortunately, it isn't as tight as a real jumper cable gripper, but it did bite down pretty hard. He attached another one to my opposing thumb and then told me to take off my shoes.

I kicked them off since my hands are kind of busy.

"Socks too," he growled, but then, seeing my exasperated expression, he added, "Here," and unclipped one gripper from my right thumb.

I leaned down and pulled off my socks, at which point, he put the gripper back on my thumb. Then he knelt down and attached two more to the big toes of my feet. These things hurt.

They all led to a black box with a dial. He reached for a big toggle switch on the front of the box just as I asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea..."

"Yes," he interrupted and, before I could argue, he flipped the switch.

Current shot through my body, which is extremely painful. However, before I could even complain, he reached for the big dial on the back box and twisted it all the way to the right.

I thought my head was exploding, and I nearly spat out all my teeth.

He twisted the dial back down again, just before my heart stopped, and I sucked in a breath. All my muscles had locked up for a moment, making it so I couldn't even scream.

"You ASS HOLE!" I bellowed when my mouth worked again.

"You can take those off now," he noted, ignoring my outburst.

"What was that for?" I demanded, angrily.

He shrugged, "I didn't detect any bugs or other monitoring devices, but in case there was a passive one in you, I wanted to burn it out."

"You nearly burned out my brain!"

"Yup, that will be twenty-five zHours," he said.

"No goddamned way will I be paying you twenty-five zHours for shocking the crap out of me, well, almost, anyway."

He grinned, "Now I know the price is right; OK, twenty."

Grumbling, I transferred twenty to his account.

"Are you sure there is nothing tracking me now?"

"Nope and no refunds, but I'm pretty sure," he noted. "Now, get out."

I shook my head and put my socks and shoes back on and then left.

OK, so I am not bugged, but I am going to have words with Black Sam about his Bug Zapper friend when I see that Pirate again.

I Flashed a Taxi. As I waited for it to arrive, I contemplated my lack of a tracking device. If zPol hadn't been tracking me, then how had they been following me?"

I thought it through and realized that I'd tied into The Jungle Book with a Skey on; according to the panther, that had brought zPol there. Based on what I'd learned, it is likely they came to try and apprehend 'Bagheera'.

The next time Zcerebral crashed my party was at the Grotto. Could they have been tracking Mary?

They had also come down on us in Wonderland, and Mary had been there as well, and, afterward, they followed Revenge.

zPol agents arrived, after us, at Sin Circle, but, for all I knew, that bureaucrat, we'd met on the roof, might have called to confirm the orders we'd told him about, an, when no orders were found, he could have called in the Zombies.

But, if they were tracking Mary, that did not explain how they found me in Banff and Gstaad. As soon as Ellie and I found any sensitive information on The Phoenix, the Zombies soon came after us. What if they weren't tracking me, yet they were tracking Ellie AND Mary? Or, maybe, they were only tracking Mary and they were just watching the facilities, on Earth, that Ellie and I visited?

But, it is possible they were tracking both girls since they have both now been captured. In fact, in Gstaad, the Zombies had walked right past me, in the lobby, and gone to my room, where Ellie was sleeping.

If it was one, or both, of the girls that they were tracking, then I just had the snot shocked out of me for, absolutely, nothing! Still, now that the bug zapping is over, I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.

I assume that tracking a live human, like Ellie, would be completely different than tracking a Paragon in the Zones, like Mary. They might have a physical tracking device on Ellie, and some kind of code tracing Mary's Paragon.

Then I had another thought. After they took Mary's Ship, The Phoenix could have zonked her and ran a trace to locate her body on Earth. Then, instead of taking her real body, right then, Veronia could have let Mary uplink back to the Zones to use her Paragon as bait for me. But, they would have watched her real body, back on Earth. That way, when I managed to rescue her Paragon, they immediately grabbed her real body and removed her Skey. That means they really do have Mary's body, just like they have Ellie's.

How am I going to find, let alone rescue, both girls? I wonder if they will store them at the same zPol facility? It is likely since they both have something to do with me. The Zombies, assigned to my case, will want to brain vacuum both of my known associates. After that, they will also want to question them using older techniques. I don't want to call it torture, but I know the truth.

You can't get everything from a brain vacuum. Those are good for retrieving data, like numbers, names, addresses, but lousy for getting perceptions, like where you think someone might go based on their personality.

On the other hand, maybe they keep high-ranking traitors in a special prison; in which case, Mary will be somewhere else, since she is a zPol executive, while Ellie is just a grad student.

I got in the taxi and asked the driver to take me to the Mag Train station. As we drove there, I continued to work out what I am going to do next and where I am going. I have no way of finding either girl, right now. It's not like I can just go ask a Zombie where the girls are being held.

I suppose I could use myself as bait, but to what point? Sure, the Zombies will come after me, but, even if I am inclined to capture and torture a zPol agent, which I'm not, they would just disconnect and I'd have a body with no zPol knowledge to plunder.

I need more information and all the gaps in my memory aren't helping. According to Jeremy, I've written some amazing routine into my Steward. Maybe Loki can help me find the girls?

Loki?

_Yes, Sir?_ he replied in his typical no-nonsense voice.

What is special about your code?

I'm sure that I have no idea, Sir.

Do you _have any special capabilities which I don't know about?_

Like being able to make rare brands of cheese, or something, Sir?

_No, something that I can use against Zcerebral,_ I asked.

_None that I know of, Sir, though I can look up a mean recipe for Brie cheese. I have the standard,_ high-end _, Steward capabilities, but nothing more, to my knowledge._

All right, thanks.

Obviously, I need that missing routine to complete Loki's capabilities and unlock his full potential. I can't remember writing it, or any of his code. Of course, with my missing memories, this is not all that surprising.

What I do know is that my wife was captured and killed by zPol, what I can't recall is why or how. Now that I know I have been working on some top secret super code, and my wife was also an expert sculptor, with a doctorate at USC, it makes sense that she had been sculpting the code with me. If that is the case, perhaps the clues I seek are at USC?

It would be a dangerous place for me to go, they might be watching the school in case I return, but I don't really have another option.

I took the Mag Train to the Tube station at Virginia Beach and then headed back across the North American continent to Los Angeles. I've seen god and now I am headed for the city of angels.

I went to the university, at night, and then broke into my old office. No one seems to be watching, but I kept the lights off and used a small red flashlight, which barely puts out any light. I am not sure what to look for, but I started searching anyway.

After a few minutes, I gave up, empty handed.

Zcerebral would have searched everything here, already, I realized. I took a seat and started thinking about the past. I think being in this familiar office helped because I got a clear memory of my wife, Bridget. She had been a brunette, small, but not tiny, about 5' 7", thin, but well-rounded. She had been smart, but what really set her apart was her work ethic. She had outworked a small army of lesser mortals.

I'd met her here; she was an alumnus of USC while I was an implant, but she hadn't held it against me. We'd met, fallen in love, and then gotten married. After the advent of the new sculpting language, we had both found our calling. Our initial infatuation transitioned into long-lasting love as we sculpted the new code, together.

I'm not sure when we started secretly working against Zcerebral; it hadn't been an abrupt thing. We'd been on the Zcerebral bandwagon, just like everyone else, until they got complete power over the world and started abusing it.

What was once a wonderful promise of the future, had turned into an ugly reality; we had all been enslaved.

Somewhere along the way, Bridget and I started working in secret. Eventually, we obtained Skeys, joined the Pirates, and then the resistance. I knew all this, but not any of the details.

I remember exchanging our first Skeys, like giving rings at our wedding, but our vows had been to free the human race from the bondage of Zcerebral.

And, with that thought, I recalled a place I could search.

I made my way out of my office building and onto the campus, then south, down the main walk toward the Science Center. I could already see the old Space Shuttle, standing, as if ready to launch, in the display they had built sometime after getting one of the decommissioned spacecraft. But, the Science Center is not my destination. I headed for the Rose Garden, where Bridget and I had exchanged our Skeys.

I don't know what I will find there, we hadn't buried or hidden anything; I just felt a connection to that place and, on a hunch, went there.

Certainly, no zPol agent would have known to go there, only Bridget and I had known of our exchange of Skeys.

I went into the Gazebo that we used that night. It had been a night much like this warm California evening. No one else is around this late, so I have the gazebo and area to myself.

As soon as I stepped into the Gazebo, a Flash activated. Someone must have placed a sensor here and it was waiting for me. It read my brain scan and then set off the recorded image. Even stranger, for this to work, it has to know my current brain pattern.

A projected woman stood in front of me. I recognized her instantly, my dead wife, Bridget.

"Hello," she said and gave me a warm smile.

I looked at her fondly and a little sadly. This is just a recording she must have created before she died.

"If you are watching this, then you have come seeking answers to your past. I know you have a lot of questions and the answers are coming. You should know that we are very proud of you and we hope you have learned much in your journey."

I wonder who 'we' refers to but kept listening.

"We also know it hasn't been easy, but we believe your odyssey is necessary. You have to feel things before you know things. With all the events that have transpired, you probably don't know who to trust. My first suggestion is to trust yourself.

"As for this Image, to prove that I really did leave it, I'm going to tell you something that only my husband and I would know. Look, exactly, where I stood when I received my Skey."

I moved to the place where Bridget had stood that night and noticed a loose brick. I lifted it up and, underneath, I found the small thin Skey I had given her, in the shape of Tommy Trojan.

The Image waited, leaving enough time to make sure I'd found the Skey, before continuing. Then she spoke, "That is the Skey I once wore to enter the Zones, a token to show you that I am Bridget."

She paused and then said, "The rest of what I have to tell you cannot be done by Flash, the information is too dangerous. You will have to come to the Zones for that information, which you will find near the re-creation of the art that you know I loved."

Then her Image disappeared.

I stood for a moment in the dark, holding Bridget's Skey. I missed her, but it wasn't the heartache of your lost wife that I felt and that made me sad. I certainly missed her and wished she were still alive, but my heart is worried about Ellie and Mary.

Still, the Skey in my hand caused me to miss Bridget and I vowed that those who had taken her from me will pay; zPol will pay, as will their leaders, controlling Zcerebral.

But, at least I have a clue to finding out more of my missing memories. Perhaps the rest of the code, which my dead wife and I had written, could help me against Zcerebral.

If the missing routine is hidden in the Zones, it could be at this place she'd referred to, Bridget had said, 'the art that you know I loved', but what art is that?

I thought about it and the answer did not come to me. Then I considered Bridget, remembering her face, her brown eyes, her smile... and that's when it came to me, her smile. She had always loved the smile of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

I have a destination, but my goal is not the Louvre in Paris, where the real Mona Lisa is displayed. I will head for the Florence Zone, set back in Da Vince's time period when he had just painted the Mona Lisa.

I headed for a hotel, so I can get a room where I can uplink to the Zones, in relative safety.

# Chapter zTwenty-seven – Florence, Italy

The Florence Zone is another type of Zone, a historical re-creation. This is not a Story, Challenge, or Entertainment Zone. The Florence Zone is a moment in Earth's history where Teers may go to experience what life was like in those times.

There are many Historical Zones, though they are not as popular as Entertainment Zones. What they lack in excitement, they make up for in reality.

Going to a Historical Zone is like walking into a history book which has come to life. There you may experience what it was like, rather than read about the time and place. Of course, any of the dinosaur Historical Zones are much more popular, as are some of the others, like the First and Second World Wars. Yet, there is a charm to some of the quieter Historical Zones, where Teers can just enjoy another era without the likelihood of getting zonked.

Florence, in 1504, is one of those places in time. The Zone sculptors choose to recreate this era, at this exact time period, because of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Before leaving my Greenroom, I accessed my personal settings and changed my Emotional threshold to the maximum setting. This is done by moving the red up to the top of my simulacrum's head.

So far, I'd been lucky. I have been going around with it set lower than the maximum, which is dangerous, since I am a Pirate. If I get zonked by Dragoons they will trace my mind returning to my body, so I have to set it high to keep that from happening. This is how most Pirates set their threshold; we have to take the risk of experiencing extreme pain to avoid a zonk which could lead Zcerebral to our real bodies.

I undocked from my space station and headed Primus out into zSpace, heading for the Florence Zone.

As I zipped along in Hyperspace, toward the first Zone along my route, I grew a little concerned. I know Veronia's Dragoons are out here, in full force, to stop me. No longer will they just follow along, tracking my movements.

If they still have some method of tracking me in the Zones, they will pounce on me like a cat on a mouse. However, after a few hours of watching the plots, I have to conclude that there are no Dragoon ships with a bead on me. If they aren't tracking me, then there should be no way for them to anticipate my trip to a historical Zone, like Florence.

Still, I kept my Zim crew on high alert the entire voyage.

I considered just staying out in zSpace and traveling around any Zones on my way to Florence, but this is more difficult than you might imagine. Not all Zones are really areas in 'space', so to speak. Going around them is not always possible, or at least, plausible.

I planned my route carefully and figured out a way to pass through just one Zone. By doing that, I cut off five days' travel. This route will take me through the Swift Zone. This is not a space Zone, so I will be on an ocean again, back in the 1700s and I will have to pass through at least two of Swift's Gulliver novels.

Each of these will take place on an island, with rules based off one of Jonathan Swift's books. The most famous of these is the island where the Lilliputians reside, little six-inch runts who captured Gulliver, even though, later, he helped them with their enemies on Blefuscu, a neighboring island. But, that isn't the Swift story which I will have to pass through for the quickest route, for that, I have to go through the world of his second Gulliver book, the land of giants.

Once past there, I will have to sail by the flying island, Laputa. This is the shortest route I can manage, and I hope to slip by without troubles.

These are story Zones, not Challenges, so, the good news is, everything isn't out to zonk me in record time, but that doesn't mean they aren't dangerous, or that you can't be zonked.

I am also concerned with the Black Ice Modules, possibly, reporting my whereabouts to the Dragoon fleet. To avoid that, I made some special modifications to my Cloak system. First off, if they already cracked the secret of my first Cloak, this sculpt might make it work again. My new modifications change the Cloak slightly, but that should be enough to fool them again. It is kind of like when the Star Fleet personnel had to re-modulate their weapons, in the Trekkie Zone, while fighting that hive mind collective thing in the big cubes.

My new sculpt might make the Cloak work for another short period.

The new modification also has the benefit of making my Ship undetectable to Black Ice Modules, well, hopefully. I kept an eye on some of them as I flew past; they are all moving in a grid-like dance, which makes it impossible to enter any Zone without at least one of them picking you up on sensors. Well, that is, if you don't have my Cloak.

I slipped past without detection. However, I have no way of going through the firewall like that, it is a completely different animal. My Cloak won't fool it at all. Zcerebral may even have a way for the Dragoons to detect when a Ship passes through a firewall. If that is the case, they will likely come to check it out when I go through.

There aren't that many Hackers and fewer Pirates, maybe a few hundred, all total. If they have the resources, and Zcerebral does, the Dragoons could check out every Firewall incursion.

Of course, they will likely only send one or two ships, a small squadron at worst. They can't send the entire fleet to every single Firewall incursion, it isn't practical.

I'll have to deal with that possibility when I come out of the Zone, but they won't know where I will exit since they don't know my final destination, this time. With that in mind, I planned my exit point from the Swift Zone to be somewhat far from the optimal path for Florence. Hopefully, that will send any blockade ships, headed to cut me off, to the wrong Zones.

With my route planned, I have done what I can; now I just have to sail my way past two of the island worlds of Jonathan Swift.

Upon breaching the Firewall, Primus changed back to a sailing frigate. My Zim crew raised sails and I started my run through the island chain. In the distance, off to port, I can see the first island. It should be the island of Lilliput, but my course doesn't take me in that direction. Ahead of me lies the island of giants.

After sailing for a couple hours, the shore of that large island came up on my port side. I sailed down the west coast of the island for some distance.

I am a little worried that giants might notice my small ship, small compared to them.

Everything seems to be going well, I made it past most of the continent by nightfall, but, after the sun set, things became more difficult.

The weather is starting to play hell with the ocean and massive swells have kicked up. I recalled, from the book, that a monsoon had drawn Gulliver's ship off course and they had landed on the 'unknown landmass'. I decided NOT to do that.

Through the night, we battled the storm and it was not fun at all. With my Emotional Threshold set really high, I began to feel a little sick from the constant bashing into the waves.

Suddenly, one of my Zim crewmen yelled out, "Rocks ahead!"

"Hard to starboard," I yelled, seeing the whitewater now, just ahead of us, to port.

Primus listed to port as we turned to starboard. I ran forward, across the deck, trying to get a better look at the situation and how close we are to the rocks. Before I got there, we hit a big wave and a wall of water came splashing up over the bow. We'd struck the wave at an angle, about 45 degrees off to starboard. Primus lurched up and left. The big wave washed right over the top deck. Three Zims and, I'm sorry to say, myself included, washed overboard.

This is not good.

I found myself bobbing in the angry ocean, amidst the spray. I caught a glimpse of Primus as she struggled to follow my last command and get clear of the rocks. My crew got her turned to starboard. Then a wave crashed over my head and I went underwater.

I came back up, a minute later, and realized that I could drown and zonk, which would put me back in my real body. I could then just return to my Green Room. That wasn't a terrible idea, except that Primus is out here and I will be back there, but at least there aren't any Dragoons around to trace my downlink.

My Zims would then attempt to sail my Ship back to my Green Room on automatics, but that would slow me down. And, with zPol hunting me, I don't want to leave this to my automatics. So, if possible, I need to avoid a zonk.

I continued swimming and headed to my left, away from Primus. I am never going to catch my Ship by swimming, and she would be foolish to come in near these rocks to look for me. I reasoned that, if there are rocks this direction, there is also, likely, land.

I struggled to stay afloat and finally remembered some of my survival training, or, at least, research. I kicked off my shoes and let them drop, then, I pulled off my pants. Next, I tied the end of each pant leg in a knot. Now, I'm not telling you any of this was easy and I definitely drank a little sea water, but I got it done. When I got a brief break in the waves I scooped air into the pants using the waist and then hung on at the crotch, using the semi-air-filled pant legs as a life preserver. Every few minutes I had to scoop another fill of air. This is difficult, but it allows me to rest, for a few minutes, each time without having to tread water.

I held on this way for three hours, but I am starting to weaken. I think I would have already zonked if I hadn't increased my threshold. By now, I am so tired I am ready to pass out. Part of me wants to let go and zonk, so the agony will end.

My head went under again and, this time, I don't have the strength to kick back to the surface. Everything is darkness and cold.

I felt sudden pressure and felt my body lifted up and out of the cold sea, then I passed out.

I awoke later, and I have no idea how much time has passed. You would think I would be sore all over from muscle fatigue, but, remember, this is a Paragon, not a real body. I can feel pain and fatigue, but these are simulated sensations, my muscles don't actually break down and then heal, that is beyond the level of the simulations being handled by the program.

Sure, those things could be sculpted in, but why do that?

I found myself in a strange room. At first, my tired brain had a hard time figuring out why the perspective is wrong, it seems like I am very low down, looking up. Then I recalled that we were sailing past is a land of giants and what I am now seeing is a bedroom, where everything is of massive scale compared to me.

A mother came into the room and she truly is a giant compared to my size. Her daughter followed her in, and she is a mere 70 feet in height, where her mother is more like 110 feet tall.

They came over and looked at me and then the mother smiled and departed. As soon as she left, her daughter reached down and cupped her hand, palm up. I understand, she wants me to get on. She spoke in her language, and, of course, I understand; the Zones give you whatever language you need. "Get on, please," she stated, pleasantly.

Rather than be picked up, and possibly squashed by her great strength, I went ahead and stepped onto her hand. She took me to a small cradle and set me inside. I noticed very coarse clothing in there, approximately my size, at least, sized for someone small. I picked up a pair of pants, since my legs are still bare, and put them on, cinching them up with the string belt.

She smiled at me and said, "Tell me a story."

I realize that, in this storyline, this must be Glumdalclitch, the girl who owned Gulliver for a time and who treated him quite well, but as a kind of pet. This is, no doubt, the very cradle where she kept him to protect Gulliver from rats.

From the story, I know she is a good little girl and not prone to hurting me. Of course, in the story, she taught Gulliver her language, but, for speed purposes, the Zone rules have already given it to me. I don't have time to go through this entire story, of changing hands and eventually being picked up by a bird and deposited in the ocean.

So, I set out to charm the little girl, who is known to have a good nature in the story.

"Glumdalclitch," I said and she smiled at me calling her by name, "Thank heavens you have found me!"

"It was my mother, she found you on the shore of the ocean," she explained.

"I'm sorry, but, though I would love to stay here and entertain you, I must go and rescue my true love."

"You have a true love?" she asked, blinking her big eyes.

"Yes, an evil sorceress captured her and she is going to steal her body."

Her big eyes opened wider, "What is your true love's name?"

That is the crux of the matter now, isn't it? Which one is my true love? But, rather than choose or lie, I answered, "I cannot say, for it would break my heart to speak her name while she is a prisoner!"

"Oh, that IS terrible," the little girl said, towering over me, but looking down with great concern.

I crouched down onto my knees and said, "Good friend, Glumdalclitch, if you will take me to the seashore, near where your mother found me, I will continue my journey to a distant land to rescue my true love. If you do that for me, I will be ever so grateful!"

"Oh, of course, if it is true love, then you must go to her rescue!"

She picked up the small cradle and carried it, with me inside, from the room.

But as soon as she stepped out her door, her mother looked up and saw her with the cradle, "Where are you going with your new Grildrig?

"I am going to the shore to set him free!"

Her mother got to her feet, "Nonsense, he is very valuable. If you don't want him, we will sell him at the market, tomorrow. Now, place him on the wall shelf for the night so the rats don't eat him. Then, off to bed with you!"

The little (70-foot-tall!) girl took me back into her room, where she lifted my cradle and set it on a shelf attached to the wall. There is no way for me to get down, short of jumping to my Paragon death.

When the mother left, I spoke to Glumdalclitch. "My true love is lost, I was her last hope."

"I'm sorry, but my mother has forbidden me from setting you free."

"Then I will die of a broken heart when the girl I love dies," I answered, sounding mournful.

I heard a sob from the little girl. "I don't know what to do!"

"Do you always do what your mother tells you?"

"No," she admitted, "but she will punish me if I set you free."

"And will your punishment be worse than the loss of my true love?"

"No," she admitted. "She would just make me go without supper."

I got up to the edge of the cradle and looked down at her bed, where she sat, hugging her pillow, and looking up to my cradle.

"Someday, a boy will come, and he will fall in love with you, and your heart will fill with happiness. Imagine if someone came along and took him from you. His heart would break, as would yours. Wouldn't that be worse than the punishment of going without one supper?"

"Yes," she said softly.

"Then will you help me? Just let me down, you don't have to help me escape."

She thought about that and then she went to a drawer and took out a small roll of yarn. She placed that in the cradle and then got back in her bed and said, "I'm going to sleep now."

I went to the yarn, which is like a thick rope to me, and started paying out the end over the cradle. When it reached the desk below, I slid down and then kicked the pile I'd left on the desk so that it fell to the floor. I slid down and gave a wave to the little girl, who is watching me through the slits of her eyes as she pretends to sleep. I ran along the baseboard of the wall and came to a small gap, a mouse hole.

I recalled that Gulliver had trouble with rats and had slain one with a makeshift sword. I am unarmed. I thought about it and then recalled what had been on the desk, so I went back and climbed up the yarn. I'm sure Glumdalclitch watched this, curiously.

Once on the desk, I went to the pincushion and pulled out a big needle. Now I have a dagger. I tucked it through my belt and went back down the yarn.

Then, I ventured into the mouse hole; pin dagger out, ready to do battle. It is fairly dark, though a little light is filtering in from the open hole behind me. I am now between two walls in the house. Continuing on, I soon came to a wider area. There I discovered a small nest, made of various pieces of trash, twigs, yarn, and even a button. Sitting in the nest is a small mouse, small if you aren't six inches tall in comparison. The mouse is about three inches tall at the shoulders, making her about half my height.

The mouse is female, and she seems as scared of me as I am of her. Her pink nose is sniffing the air and her ears are up. She is starting to move along the wall, keeping as far from me as possible. I must smell like the scary, large, humans she knows, but I am her size, so she doesn't know what to make of me.

That's when the rat came around the corner and leaped at the mouse. Rats and mice are not friendly and will fight to the death, though that usually spells the end of the mouse. There is even a word for it, muricide, which means the mouse killing instinct in rats.

But I am not about to stand here and watch the mouse die and be eaten, who knows what the rat will then do about me?

I leaped forward, surprising the rat, which had only seen the mouse moving. I drove my needle dagger through its side and into its heart. It squeaked and turned abruptly at the pain. Its big head struck me and threw me to the floor.

Then it fell to the side, kicked once, and perished.

A bit stunned from the impact, I just lay there, for a moment, which is when I felt the mouse's nose nudging me to see if I am still alive.

I rolled over and it darted back, but then it approached again and sniffed me. I let it, without moving. I don't have my needle dagger, it is still stuck in the side of the dead rat and the mouse's two front teeth look pretty big this close.

But the mouse did something strange; it licked me like I am one of its young or something.

I realize it is grateful for me saving its life.

I got up and went to the rat and pulled out my needle dagger. Then I kind of spun around, pointing, indicating that I don't know which way to go.

At first, the mouse did not understand what I want, but then, the truth must have dawned on her. She ran to one of the exit holes, stopped and looked back at me, then ran forward again.

I followed.

We arrived at an exit hole from the house and jumped down a short distance to the tall grass. I saw hills to the left and nothing to the right, so I figure the ocean must be that way. I took one step that direction, but the mouse crouched down in front of me.

I looked and spotted three rats closing; these must be the harem of the male rat I had just killed.

I pulled my needle dagger, but my mouse friend squeaked and then crouched lower, presenting her shoulder. Could the mouse really mean what I thought? I only knew of one way to find out, so I tucked my needle dagger back in my belt and stepped my leg over her front shoulders. Once on top, I took hold of the only thing available, the lower part of her big ears.

As soon as I got seated, the mouse leaped away, and boy can she run! She is a field mouse and, out here, this is her territory. No longer trapped, like she had been in the wall, the mouse leaped and bounded, easily avoiding the three rats. She scurried off into the field as quick as, well, a mouse.

I kept my knees in tight, crouched low, and held on for my life. It turned out to be a ride like no other I have ever experienced, it is thrilling!

We escaped the rats but are not headed the direction in which I believe the ocean is located, so I tugged on her right ear and she turned that direction.

The journey took us a while, but we came over a hill and there it is... the ocean. When we reached the sand, she stopped and I got down. I bowed to my friend and she twitched her nose and whiskers at me. Then, she turned and was gone. She'd paid her debt, saving me after I saved her life.

This Swift Zone is interesting, they have programmed the Zims here to show compassion and respond to kindness. Good lessons for all, and another classic story by this author.

At this point, I am not sure what to do, my ship is not in sight and, even if it was, landing here would be difficult. Compared to Primus, the waves are huge and my Ship will be a chip of wood in the maelstrom in these titanic waves.

That's when the eagle swooped down and snatched me up in its claws.

Soon, we were high up and headed out over the water. I looked down and spotted a ship and recognized Primus! I immediately yanked out my needle dagger and stabbed it into one of the eagle's claws. The sharp pain startled the bird, causing it to release me. I fell into the water.

My Zim crew saw me splash down, off to starboard and sent a long boat to pick me up.

Once back on board, I set a course away from this land and the giants, heading for the next floating island, ahead of us, off to our starboard side.

As we neared the floating island I had a crewman climb up to my crow's nest to keep watch. From the story, I know what is coming in these waters.

In Gulliver's Travels, part of the crew mutinied and turned pirate. Now, that isn't going to happen to me, since this is MY Ship, and my Zim crew are not part of this story world, however, the Zone story will try to adapt. This, likely, means that it will send a pirate ship to take me.

Sure enough, my watchman soon called out, "Pirate ship, dead ahead."

This isn't a Pirate from the Zones, this is a regular story pirate ship of the Jonathan Swift storyline, right out of his third book in Gulliver's travels.

There are two big differences between this moment and the one in the story. Firstly, I am not on a trading ship headed for the East Indies, I am the captain of a Pirate Ship, armed to the teeth. Secondly, I am damned tired of being pushed around. My ordeal with the giants has me a little short tempered.

"Rig for battle!" I growled, and any sane human would have backed away from my tone. My well-sculpted crew leaped to their jobs.

Loki spoke, _Sir, wouldn't it be wiser to just_ outrun _them with your faster ship?_

Wiser, maybe, but not nearly as satisfying. I'm tired of getting pushed around!

_Are you talking about the pirates and giants, or about your girlfriends?_ Loki asked, in a deadpan voice.

I just growled at him and he shut up.

The pirate ship is a merchantman of 350 tons, about the same size as my frigate. My adversary's craft had once been a cargo ship, though she'd been converted to a pirate vessel. This made her slower than my warship, though she has a few more cannons, at around 50.

However, more cannons, or not, I am not worried; the speed of my Ship puts the odds in my favor. I soon outmaneuvered the other ship and blasted her with a broadside, before she could come around, completely, to engage. One of my shots took out her rudder and the pirate vessel floundered in the wind.

I could have turned and sunk her, but what is the point? This is just a Zim ship, part of the Storyline of this world. I gave the command to sail on.

A few hours later, we neared the Swift Zone border and things started to get interesting.

With my Ship in its current low-tech iteration, there is no way for me to see what is coming once I breach the Zone border, so I just hope my plan, for coming out at a place which doesn't give away my final destination, will work. I also hope there aren't enough Dragoon ships to cover this large an area.

As I broke through, and my Ship turned back into her spaceship configuration, I quickly scanned the area by bringing up a plot of zSpace in the air in front of me.

_By Baron Harkonnen's fat ass, that bitch Veronia REALLY wants to kill me,_ was my immediate thought as I, once again, found zSpace crawling with red enemy dots.

Fortunately, this time, they are spaced out, attempting to cover as much of the possible exit area, from the Swift Zone, as they can manage.

I wonder why they didn't come into the Swift Zone to take me there, but I analyzed their trajectories and realized that the fleet has, only recently, arrived. In fact, some ships are just coming out of Hyperspace as I watch.

I engaged my Cloak, but not before some of the nearest ships caught me on their scans. I can tell because the fleet suddenly converged on my position. I changed course and sailed on, trying to get enough distance from the Zone border to engage my Hyperdrive engine. I poured on speed, using my main engines to accelerate as fast as Primus will go.

The Dragoon fleet must have figured out that I have a Cloak, so they started laying mines in a net around my last known position.

These are proximity mines; they don't need to see me on a plot to detonate if I get too close. In fact, as soon as the officers in the fleet get their act together, they are going to realize that they can use the same method to break my Cloak and track my Ship.

I have really just been playing a trick on their standard plotters. I haven't really Cloaked my ship at all, at least to the naked eye. That's the secret which I knew and they didn't. They assume I am actually invisible, not just messing with their data. Well, fooling a plotter is still a kind of Cloak.

I avoided most of the mines, but then I got a bit too close to one, and it went off. This caused three things to happen: the fleet now knows my current position, my ship took some serious damage, and I engaged my Hyperspace engine.

Still reeling from the explosion, which had taken out large portions of my Ship's systems, including my Cloaking device, I entered hyperspace. Fortunately, my Hyperdrive is still functional. I yelled for status reports and they came in from all over my Ship. It isn't good news.

My main engines are barely functioning and my shields are toast. I've lost 40 percent of my offensive guns and I am leaking air, swiftly. I ordered my crew to patch the holes; after all, breathing comes first. Primus is headed right for the Florence Zone, but I am going to have trouble once I arrive.

I checked the plot history and found three Dragoon ship trajectories which, likely, means they are on my trail. They can't know, precisely, where I am headed, so they probably sent most of their fleet to the closer and more obvious Zones, but The Phoenix has enough ships to cover all her bases, so she also sent a few to each of the other, possible, Zone destinations, just in case. If what I read is right, there is a destroyer and two frigates headed for Florence.

Crap.

I need a plan. Once I hit the Florence Zone Firewall they are going to know where I am. As soon as the various fleet ships come out of Hyperspace, they are going to get the message and redirect to Florence. Then, there is the more immediate danger of the destroyer and her two escorts.

Loki, how are we equipped for a space battle?

He answered immediately, _Really, Sir, against three ships and one a destroyer?_

Ah, yeah.

_Well, Sir, not to be pessimistic, but with only 60 percent weapon capabilities and no shields, I'm estimating our chances of survival at..._ and here Loki's voice changed to sound exactly like a character from an old space western, as he said, _let me do the math here... nothing into nothing, carry the nothing..._

I sighed. I got it, Jane.

I turned to my crew and proclaimed, "Sometimes the universe requires a dumb gesture."

Loki piped in and exclaimed, in my head, _And_ we're _just the guys to do it, Sir!_

I ignored his comment and continued, "And your time has come. Primus is going to go down fighting! Do you remember what George did, the Star Ship Captain, from the movie which revived the Trekkie franchise? He saved his wife and newborn son by taking on impossible odds and sacrificing his ship, and himself. Well, that's what this Ship is going to do!

"When we reach the Firewall, I want the remaining guns to take out the Black Ice and our wedge to open a rift in the Firewall, but Primus will not be going through.

"I'm asking you to hold that Firewall open for ten seconds, then turn and ram that destroyer. I know it will be the end of Primus and all of you."

"We're with you, Captain!" my loyal Zim crew stated, as I knew they would. I'd programmed them to be loyal and courageous, to a fault.

I took one last look at the bridge of my Ship and then I turned and headed for an escape pod. I felt the ship come out of Hyperspace and the guns started firing, no doubt, taking down the Black Ice and alerting the Dragoon fleet to our presence in the Florence Zone.

When I felt the tickling sensation of the wedge come on, I launched my pod. I had Loki fire its one engine to rocket us through the rift in the Firewall.

I couldn't stop myself from looking, forlornly, out of the rear porthole. I can see my Ship closing on the destroyer, my engines burning at full power. The destroyer has just come out of Hyperspace. The captain is trying to turn, and the destroyer is firing everything she has at Primus, but the streaking Ship I'd built is too fast. It struck, midship, causing a massive explosion in space. Then the hole in the rift finally finished closing. Primus is no more.

At that moment, my escape pod changed form, due to the Florence rule set taking hold. During that time period, there were no aircraft, well, none which actually flew. If this had been my Ship, it would have become a sailing vessel, on the ocean, but the rules of this Zone don't know what to make of the plunging escape pod, so it changed the pod into a kind of wooden flying bird, and I found myself, attached, hanging underneath.

I looked up at my craft and recognized one of Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings come to life as a real invention. The problem is, with the materials of that time, wood and canvas, this craft is way too heavy to actually fly.

I am not falling, exactly, and I am not flying, either, I am in more of a semi-controlled dive for the ground. I, quickly, grabbed and pulled up on the control arm. This caused me to arc up, slightly, but I am still going down into the swiftly approaching trees, like an anchor headed for the bottom of the ocean.

In moments, I flew right into the treetops, where I struck branches and leaves. The wooden bird-craft disintegrated and I went ballistic. I hit more twigs and leaves, slowing my fall a bit, but then my shoulder struck a stout branch.

Normally, that much of an impact, doing that much damage, should have zonked me, but my threshold is set to maximum. Instead of my Paragon getting zonked, I just felt intensive, mind melting, pain. I did not die, but I really want to be dead.

I hit the ground, with another severe impact, sending a bunch of dead leaves up into the air. I tumbled to a halt, in an uncoordinated flailing of arms, legs, and blood. Then I lay in the leaves and dirt and I can't even move.

I am experiencing pain, and I mean pain way beyond what you are supposed to ever feel, without blacking out. Really, that crash landing should have zonked me, it would have killed a real human, six times over, but I am in a Paragon, with my Threshold at maximum. This kind of pain is what drives a Ghost to become a Spector. The pain of dying, or at least, feeling the pain of dying, without dying, can drive the mind insane.

I just lay there, for a long time, letting the pain slowly go away. Imagine lying on a torture rack while they stretched your body, for an hour, until all your ligaments and bones snapped. That is the kind of pain I went through, but eventually, it slowly lessened and then got down to an, almost, manageable level, still going down slowly.

I, finally, got up and, though I'd felt the pain of all those broken ligaments and bones, in truth, I have nothing to break. My Paragon is still, functionally, fine. I will just never forget the pain of that landing, not ever. I'm pretty sure, even at my max setting, zonking was touch and go for a few minutes.

Off in the distance, not too far away, I saw the city of Florence, just down over some rolling hills. I can see the Arno River winding its way through the countryside.

When I felt good enough, I started jogging until I came to a road. I soon hitched a ride on a wagon bringing in grapes for the residents of Florence.

Once into the streets, I bid the driver farewell, in Italian, which I speak fluently. Languages are a representational communications system and it is easy to add that into the mind of a Teer, or Paragon, when they enter a Zone.

It didn't take me long to ask directions to the famous Leonardo Da Vinci's apartments and I made my way in the door off the street. I entered the inner courtyard of his villa, but no one seems to be around. I found some stairs, so I went up to the rooms above and found an art studio or inventor's workshop, maybe it is both.

Sitting on an easel, as if just painted, I found a very famous girl. This painting is the sole reason I came to Florence, the reason I risked everything and lost my Ship. I have found the Mona Lisa.

I stopped and really looked at her. Sure, I've seen the painting before, or, at least, pictures and recreations. We all have, it is that famous. However, standing here, I really looked at the woman in the painting.

Intellectually, I know this is just a piece of canvas with some pigmented oils spread around. Now, saying that I will also add that the artwork is truly exquisite. It is no wonder that this painting is considered Da Vinci's greatest work, yet it is still just an image of a woman. Sure, she has been painted in amazing detail and is very lifelike, but that could be done by taking a photograph, or she could be recreated as a 'living' Zim, in a Zone, nowadays. So, what is it that holds my attention?

I thought about it and then realized the truth; I don't see her as a painting, or even a person, I see her as a thought. You cannot look at this girl and not wonder what it is she is thinking about. You want to know what is on her mind, what is causing her to smile in that wonderful way.

It is this idea that makes this painting more than the sum of its parts. The Mona Lisa isn't just a painting; you look at her and see her as someone alive because you wonder what she is thinking.

Here is true immortality, for this girl's thoughts live on in the minds of others, her thoughts resonating through the ages, down through all the multitudes of people who meet her. She is alive as long as this painting exists.

The Mona Lisa has a life which is more than just biology or animation, she touches your heart. I found my eyes misting up slightly.

"She captures your heart and imagination, doesn't she?" a pleasant voice asked, from behind me.

I turned to find a lady; there is no other word for her. She is wearing a stunning red dress, from this time period, the top tight to her form, from the waist up, where it ends, chastely, at her neck. At the shoulder level, the dressed changes from the red velvet to white silk, with gold inlays done with intricate patterns.

I found the dress beautiful, but the woman wearing the dress makes it pale in comparison. She is a brunette, with long hair, pulled up into a bun, though long curls drape down to her back. Her bright blue eyes are large and she has a smile on her face, which reminds me of the, nearby, Mona Lisa.

I quickly wiped my eyes to clear the tears from my previous emotions and answered, "My lady." I bowed from the waist, slightly.

That brought a warm smile to her mouth and the sunlight seemed to come into the room.

"It is so good of you to come here, I've been waiting for you for a long time," she said.

"My lady?" I asked, puzzled, "Do I know you?"

"Oh, yes, we have met, and I am the reason you came on this quest."

Confused, I asked, "You are? Who are you?"

"My Zone name is Arabella Bishop," she answered and curtsied gently with a small bob of her body while also giving me a slight nod of her head.

I thought about that name for a moment and then I remembered, "Arabella, as in the name on Captain Blood's Ship?"

She tilted her head, "My husband."

"But, why are you here and why were you waiting for me?" I asked.

She smiled and moved over to stand next to me and gazed at the Mona Lisa. "I wanted to meet you here so that you could see this," she said, gesturing at the painting with a relaxed hand.

"You wanted me to see the Mona Lisa?"

"Yes, it is something that I required of my husband, among other things, before helping him on his quest."

Very confused, I sort of repeated my earlier question, "You required that I see the Mona Lisa?"

"Yes, as I said, among many other things. I wanted you to experience life and what it has to offer, good and bad, so you could learn about what humans have and can accomplish."

"I see," I said, slowly, though I don't, then I asked, "And why is it important for a code sculptor to see the Mona Lisa?"

"Oh, you are MUCH more than that, zOne," she said.

I frowned at that name, "A very evil woman once called me that." I suddenly looked at the beautiful woman, suspiciously, what if The Phoenix has changed Paragons?

But Arabella just laughed lightly, though it isn't aimed at me, then she spoke in a warm and amused tone. "I am not that despicable woman. In fact, I'm about as far from her as you can get. She didn't give you that name; she only called you by it. Your parents named you zOne."

"My parents?" I asked.

She nodded, "Yes. Now, you asked me why I was waiting for you, well, the answer to the question is that I had to wait until I felt you were ready. I dared to hope, and I waited, knowing that the odds were long of you ever finding the clues and making your way to come to this place and to this painting."

I wasn't through with the 'parents' comment, from a moment ago, and said, "You knew my parents?"

"Yes."

"But they both died, long ago."

"Well, that's not entirely true," she said, turning to face me. "Your mother died, that is true enough, but not the way you remember."

"What do you mean?"

"Your memories are not complete, but you know that."

"Yes, I took a brain smear and my mind is all messed up," I answered, ruefully.

"No, actually, you didn't. We just wanted Zcerebral to think that you used a brain smear. We put it in the records at Holgren Hospital and even duped a worker there to think he had applied a brain smear. That was all just in case they caught you."

"What!"

"You see, this is the part which Peter didn't agree with, but I was adamant. He wanted my help, in fact, he needed my help and, in exchange, I wanted you to be set free. This meant that you could, possibly, fall into the hands of Zcerebral, it was even likely. We had to make it so that, if and when that happened, they had a reason to set you free. Yes, we knew they would track you, but you are very smart, Z and we had hopes. Well, I did, Peter was worried that everything would go south," she said, with a chuckle.

"I am very confused," I noted, softly.

"I know and I'm sorry. You came here for answers and I am busy confusing you further. Let's see if I can clear the muddy waters, but first, I have a question for you."

"All right," I agreed, for some reason, I trust this woman, I don't even know why.

"Have you ever fallen in love?" she asked, watching me with that hidden smile.

I turned away, my heart aching. "Yes, I am in love."

That made her smile broaden and she asked, "May I ask with whom?"

I took a deep breath, for some reason, I found myself embarrassed to tell this fine lady of my troubles in love.

She looked up at me through her long lashes and gave me a frank look, right into my soul. "I won't judge you, Z, in fact, it gladdens my heart to know you have found love, even if your heart has been broken, for that is the way of love. We give so much of ourselves when we love. We even call it 'falling' in love, because that is what it is like, jumping off a cliff. There is no guarantee what will happen if we hit the bottom, but we do it for the sensation of flying. No matter how brief that flight may be, or how much that landing will hurt, still we jump. You cannot experience the joy of flight if you do not take the leap."

I nodded and then I explained, "I've made a fool of myself."

She smiled, "And that, too, is the way of love."

"But what I've done, well, they won't forgive me," I told her, ashamed.

"They?"

"Yes, I've fallen in love with two girls, at the same time."

She nodded, "Ah, I see. And this is what is tearing your heart apart?"

I nodded and then added, "And it's worse, due to me, both of them have been captured by zPol."

"I'm so sorry, Z. As for the solution to loving two people, love is not something you can control, nor is it always exclusive to one person. In the end, your heart will sort it out, or it will be broken and then mend and you will fall in love again, hopefully. Time will solve these things, but as for the more immediate problem of zPol, and their capture, that is something I can help you with and something which you may be able to resolve."

"How is that possible?" I asked.

"You came here seeking answers and I promised clarity, so you shall have it. Here, I go by the name of Arabella Bishop, but I am a Ghost."

This change in tact brought me up short. "You are a Ghost, of whom?" I asked.

"A Ghost of your mother, Z."

"You are... you are my mother?" I asked, shocked, puzzled and confused all at once.

She smiled, "Yes, and a prouder mother you will never find. You are my son and, today, you have come home to me, against all odds."

"But, I don't understand," I said.

She nodded, "That is because of what we did to you to protect you from zPol. You see, a part of you believes you are Thorten C. Hamilton, but you are not."

"I'm not?"

"No, son, you are not Thorten, but a few of his memories were given to you so that zPol would also believe you are my husband and not something else."

I noted her use of 'something' instead of 'someone' and found it odd, but I exclaimed "Your husband! Then you are..."

"On Earth, before I died, I was Bridget Hamilton."

I stepped back; my mind in such a tornado of confusion that I nearly lost control of my Paragon. I sat down, kind of hard, onto a chair.

"It's all right, Z, everything will become clear when we rejoin your father," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Your father has the last routine, the one you need to get rid of the overlay of his memories and the key to unlocking all of your own," she said, coming over and placing a hand on my shoulder.

I looked up at this beautiful woman, who, if she can be believed, is my mother. "How did you become a Ghost?" I asked.

She looked down at me and said, "I'll let your father tell you the details, but eventually The Phoenix wanted more control over Thorten, he is the best sculptor she had and she felt he was being distracted, by his wife.

"She drummed up charges against me, not that Thorten knew she was responsible, back then. She sent her Zombies to arrest me, at my lab, at USC. I nearly escaped, by heading for the roof of the campus building, but they cornered me.

"I had just Flashed Thorten and he was on his way. I feared they would take him too, or that The Phoenix might learn things that we had to keep secret, things about you and our other research.

"When I saw Thorten in the courtyard below, I knew what I had to do; I couldn't let them take me, alive. It was the only way to keep Zcerebral from finding out about our research, and you."

"What did you do?"

"I jumped from the four-story building, but I had a plan. I was already wearing my Skey, so a copy of my mind was ready to uplink. As I plummeted toward the ground, I told my Steward to uplink the copy of my mind to the Satweb.

"My physical death was hard on your father, my broken body landed in the courtyard and I died in his arms, but, with my mind uploaded to the Zones, I lived on as a Ghost. I created a new Paragon and eventually became Arabella Bishop. Your father also created a new Paragon, who, later, became known as Peter Blood, the Pirate.

"Previously, your father's Paragon was Thor and he occasionally used that one, as well, to fool The Phoenix. We don't think she figured out that he is also Captain Blood.

"The two of us returned to Tortuga and earned our names as new Pirates. That way Zcerebral's spies didn't know who we were.

"In secret, Thorten worked on a new Ship and, later, you helped him finish the code. Much to my pleasure, the two of you named her the Arabella, after me. His old Ship, the us, he left for you to find in the Heorot Zone. He also left his old Paragon, Thor, and his Steward, Loki, for you to find and use. However, I see you created your own Paragon; we didn't expect that."

"Loki is, or contains, the code which The Phoenix is looking for, right?" I asked.

Arabella laughed, "Oh no, Loki is an extremely good Steward, the best we ever wrote, and he was integral to our plans. He was the only way we could follow your progress, but Loki is not what The Phoenix seeks, she is looking for you."  
"Me?"

"Yes, if she had only known that she actually had you she would have won. She even had her operatives mind vacuum you at one point, but the imprinted memories of Thorten fooled them, as they fooled you. That's why you had to believe you were Thorten, it is the only way we could also fool The Phoenix."

"But why? Why send me into the dragon's maw, why not just keep me hidden and tell me the truth," I said, the last a little bitterly.

"That's what your father wanted to do until I convinced him otherwise. Blame me, if you want to blame someone, but I felt it was vitally important for you to have the chance to experience life, to feel what it is like to live and to love and, it seems, you have. I wanted you to feel what it is like to be human."

"Why wouldn't I have experienced that anyway, as your son?"

Here Arabella took a breath and then, finally, said, "Because, son, you did not have a body with which you could experience life. The body you have been using, on Earth, is your father's body. He let you control it through a special Remora/Skey device, which I designed so that you could experience life as a living human."

I am confused and asked, "What, I'm a Ghost as well?"

"No, son, well, not in the way that Ghosts are created. For that, you have to have lived in a body and then have that body killed, while a copy of your mind is in the Zones. That couldn't happen to you, simply because, you never had a body."

I am too stunned to even speak.

"Son, just like every set of parents, we made you, with love, care, thought, and much more. We planned every aspect of what you would be and we sculpted you from our love. You are our son, but you were not born of human biology, you were created with our minds and our skills as sculptors."

"You're trying to tell me that I am a ZIM!" I nearly shouted in consternation.

"You are not a Zim or a Steward, those are programs in the Zones," she said softly and her calm, in the face of my storm, brought me back down, some.

She continued, "Zims and Stewards are both very sophisticated programs, like Loki, but Loki isn't alive, he can't love someone, he can't think for himself, or be truly concerned about his mortality. Loki doesn't KNOW he is alive. Any semblance of those things is just a fake routine.

"You, my son, are the first true artificial intelligence, though I hate that term; there is nothing artificial about you. I prefer Created Intelligence or just a new kind of life. You are alive in every important way which can be measured.

"You are our son, and you are alive, no matter how you were created or what body you inhabit. You are as real as I am, for am I not just a mind in a Paragon, now?"

I sat there, I have nothing to say. What can you say when you are told that you are not who, or even what, you think you are, you aren't even human?

She waited, calmly, as my mind worked and struggled. Finally, she said, "I know this is difficult to believe. No person told this information would instantly accept it. In fact, they would tend to think that the person trying to convince them is the crazy one."

I have to agree, I'd already been thinking that she is an insane Specter, or, maybe, she is an agent of zPol, lying to me. But, in the end, I don't believe that, not in my heart. Too many things added up, what she said is like the solution to a math problem. When you look back through all the computations, they inexorably lead to the same result.

"Is my program on a server somewhere, or am I coded as part of the Zones?" I asked, feeling anguish I can't explain.

She waited again, hands clasped before her red dress and then, when I seemed calm, she said, "It started with the Remora and Skey devices. These devices can transfer a copy of a mind up or down from the Satweb. Then, somewhere somehow the Zone servers can hold a complete mind... many minds.

"Your father and I realized that if there is a place that can store a mind, why can't we create the same kind of neuron matrix, and send it up? The problem with creating true, self-aware A.I., in the past, was that the storage methods for data did not mimic a neural storage systems complexity. But, with the Zones, we knew it was now possible."

"We tried to find out how they did it, by talking to the original creator of the Zones, but he was nowhere to be found. We're not even sure he was thinking along these lines. They made it to upload a human mind, but we asked, why does it have to come from a human?

"Without knowing how they did it, we still knew that the Zones can hold a mind, so we started sculpting the first Created Intelligence... you. And we stored you on the Zone servers, where your neural network could flourish and develop.

"After you became aware, and we knew we had done it, we sought a way for you to control a human body. I figured out how to combine a Remora and a Skey into one device and that is what allows your mind to control Thorten's body, though he is also there. Unlike a Remora, this hybrid allows the Skey portion to link your mind up and down to that Remora or Zones, even though you have no original body or biological brain."

I thought about the Hammer shaped Skey somewhere back on Earth, attached to my father's body. That device is what allows me to exist in the real world.

That reminded me of something, "Is that why you told me not to remove the Skey?"

She smiled, "Please excuse our white lie, removing the Sky would not have killed you or Thorten's body, but you would have lost your ability to download into his body."

"But why try to create a living thing in a server?" I asked.

"Because it is our desire to create, to innovate, and you were our life's work, our greatest achievement. They found a way to store a mind, so we set out to sculpt a true Created Intelligence.

"Initially, we thought we could create something to fight Zcerebral. That company has become a cancer which is eating humanity. We needed a weapon to fight their oppression.

"They got into power by addicting the world to new technology and, then, they shackled and chained us with more technology.

" "

"You said, 'initially" I noted.

She smiled, "It is one thing to work as scientists, and revolutionaries, toward a goal. However, it is a far different thing to be a parent. Once you were 'born', we came to love you, as a person, not a thing to be used. In the end, we both agreed that you would, ultimately, decide what to do with your life and the power which you will eventually wield. No one should tell you what to do, not even your parents."

She turned to look at the Mona Lisa. "Take this painting, I saw you looking at it, a few minutes ago; you see what I see, don't you? The girl in that painting lives on, yet it is inanimate. She is alive in some, almost, indescribable fashion, as are you, in far greater ways. You, like the painting, are so much greater than the sum of your parts."

"Yet, in the end," I replied, "I am only sculpted code in a molecular storage system." I spoke bitterly, then added, "just as she is only paint on canvas."

Arabella nodded, "Just as, in the end, humans are just exploded stardust, collected by gravity and organized by evolution. After death, our bodies return to dust.

"Son, it isn't what we are made of; it's what we do with our LIFE that makes us alive! It is the mark you leave on the world which defines your life. You can leave such a mark if you desire."

"But, I'm just one person... well, one program, how can I hurt Zcerebral? They destroyed my ship, and nearly me, while I was just trying to reach this Zone."

"You are so much more than a program, Z, you are even more than a person. You are unique, a new kind of life. Most importantly, you are my son, and no matter what you choose to do, I will always love you."

"How can I be your son, I was not born."

She smiled, "You are my son the same way that another child is someone else's son. You have a part of me in you, I know because I put it there. Not through DNA, not by our genes, but through thought patterns and more important things; what I like to call, the soul.

"The soul is that which makes us unique, it cannot be measured in DNA chains and amino acids, or any other code, it is intangible but real. You have some of me in you, as well as some of your father, yet you are a unique individual, you are yourself, you are zOne, the end and the beginning.

"We named you that because you were the end of a long struggle, by your father and I, to create you. It was a labor of love, which was successful, in the end. So, we started your name with the last letter of the alphabet, but you are also a new beginning, the first of a new race of beings, so we added '1', or 'one', zOne."

I nodded, calming down a little. It helped to know that I came from something more than just some lines of code and that this woman, my mother, loved me.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

She smiled and said, "We go to meet your father. The moment my sensors detected the Dragoon Armada arriving around this Zone, I Flashed him and he is on his way to pick us up."

"How can you track the Dragoons outside the Zone?"

"It's something you taught me how to do," she answered with the hint of a smile.

"How can that be? I don't even remember you," I complained.

She laughed, "That isn't your fault, but I'll let your father explain. We must get to the coast; I have a small boat waiting to take us downriver. We leave as soon as I change clothes. Wait for me here; you may enjoy Mona Lisa for a few more minutes before we enter the maelstrom."

Then Arabella swept out of the room.

An hour later, we boarded a small river vessel and headed down the Arno River. It took ten hours to sail down, near the coast. We camped on the riverside to wait for morning, before making the final leg of the journey.

I tried to engage my mother in a conversation about my past, but she told me that further revelations waited at the coast.

When we sailed into the seaport, the first thing I noticed are the number of warships in the harbor, this can't be normal; these have to be Dragoon ships.

I wonder how, in the world, we are going to sneak past all of these ships or locate my father in the city. Then, I happened to look further out and spotted a bright red and gold ship coming around the point, carrying full sails. She is in a broad reach, sailing at amazing speed, cutting through the water, effortlessly, right into the harbor. People are starting to point at this magnificent looking frigate and her full sails, coming into the harbor so swiftly.

I recognized her immediately the Arabella, Captain Blood's Ship.

So, did some of the Dragoon ship captains. Sudden and frantic action began on the decks of the anchored ships.

The Arabella turned and fired a half broadside into the nearest Dragoon ship, raking the decks with some shrapnel loads while also firing several cannonball shots into their waterline. The red and gold frigate turned slightly and did the same thing to the next Dragoon ship, using half her port cannons.

The beautiful red Ship then went about and took out two more Dragoon ships at anchor. Then she went around in a jibe, just as the last two warships started to hoist their sails. The Arabella sailed right between them.

I could see their captains frantically ordering their men to fire the cannons, but the Arabella caught them with their pants down, not one of the Dragoon captains thought a single Pirate frigate would sail into a port with six Ships of the Line anchored in the harbor.

The 100-gun galleons towered above the beautiful Pirate Ship, but Captain Blood bravely sailed the Arabella directly between the last two, undamaged, Dragoon galleons. Captain Blood's Pirate Zim crew just finished reloading all cannons when the Arabella sailed right between the Dragoon Ships. She emptied two, simultaneous, full broadsides, 20 brass cannons, each, firing right into the waterlines of the two galleons.

My mother produced, and now loosely aimed, two pistols in the direction of our small sailboat crew, and politely asked the shocked looking Zims to keep sailing toward the red frigate.

We arrived as the Arabella came around into the wind, locking herself in Irons for the moment it took my mother and me to climb up the rope ladder to the frigate deck. The lines from our small sailing boat were cast off and Captain Blood, all decked out in his fine Spanish nobleman's attire, called out to his helmsman, "Take her out, Mister."

With his command, the Arabella sailed back out of the port entrance, leaving six Dragoon Ships of the Line in smoking ruins, sinking slowly into the harbor.

Once out, he ordered his crew to pack on the sails and we soon cut through the water with great speed. Behind us, ten warships came sailing down the coast, headed our way.

"Nothing to worry about, those slugs cannot catch the Arabella," Captain Blood stated, confidently.

As I look at this interesting and confident man, I wonder, is he really is my father?

He took one more look around the horizon and then spoke to his Zim crew, "Steady as she goes. We will make the Zone border in three hours. Please alert me if we are bothered."

Then he nodded to me, cordially and then strode over to his wife.

For our trip down the river, Arabella chose a brown traveling dress, but she looks just as amazing as she had in the fancy red dress, from the day before. Peter took her in his arms, looked into her eyes, for a moment, and then kissed her deeply.

When they finished, he spoke to his wife from a few inches away, looking into her eyes, "Well, I guess you were right after all."

"Aren't I always right?" she asked, playfully.

"Well, nearly."

"Nearly?" she added in a surprised voice.

"All right, so far," he added with a grin.

Arabella looked over at me and then back to her husband. "He has a lot of questions, Peter."

The Captain nodded and then said to me, "Shall we retire to my cabin, son?"

I recall meeting Captain Blood, back in Tortuga and remember that he called me 'son', once, there as well. Back then, I thought he meant it as an older and wiser Ship captain to a younger, green, Pirate, not his real son.

I followed them to the Captain's cabin, at the stern of the ship. It is very fancily decorated with art and carved wood everywhere. Even the windows have a decorative framework around them, and they give us a view of almost 180 degrees around the stern of Arabella.

Peter, or Thorten, went to his desk and sat down, while I took a chair in front, and Arabella went to a drink cabinet, where she put out three goblets and picked up a bottle of wine.

"I'm not sure what to call you," I noted to the Ship's Captain.

"We go by our Zone names, here, as is the custom, but you may just call me Dad, or Father if you wish."

That would take some getting used to, I decided.

"I suppose you have some questions?" he asked, almost playfully.

I nodded. "Arabella... mother, was telling me some of how this all got started, but she left some of it for you to tell me. Like, why were you one of Zcerebral's top sculptors?"

He nodded. "You will understand this better than most since you still have some of my memories. Let's leave those intact, for a moment; it will make some of this easier."

"All right," I replied.

"These days, I am a code sculptor, but I was originally a professor of mathematics, with a doctorate in computer science, before the Zones."

I nodded; the Zones have only existed for the last twenty years.

"I was at the top of my field, though your mother might have something to say about that since she has quite a few accolades to her own credit from that time."

Arabella set a drink down in front of Thorten and said, "You may call yourself the best, Dear, if it makes you happy."

He gave her a double take, but then just smirked. "She can do that to you," he noted to me, then continued, "After Zcerebral took power, your mother and I were two of the first people to learn to sculpt the new code system, that is, after the creators, Jeremy and Will. After the NNEMP bombs went off, and the shit hit the fan, Zcerebral was given the keys to the Kingdom. As you already know, that's when things all changed for the worse; Zombies, Dragoons, all of it."

I nodded, everyone knew that history.

"I was one of the founding members of Tortuga, though this was long before I became Peter Blood, I helped create the hidden Zone, back when I was using Thor as my Paragon. Tortuga was supposed to be a safe haven for people with sculpting talent, a place to hide out, in the Zones, and a place to collaborate and look for ways to deal with what Zcerebral is doing to the world."

"Who were the other founders?" I asked.

"Blackbeard and Ching Shih," he answered.

My eyes narrowed, "You mean, the original Ching Shih."

He sighed, "There has only been one."

"But, if that is true, then The Phoenix helped to found Tortuga!" I exclaimed.

He nodded and then added, "Not that anyone knew that, back then, certainly not me."

"Why would she do that? Why create a place for insurgents to plot against her rule?" I asked.

He smiled, "Because they would find a way, somehow. If she controlled where they met, then she was always a step ahead of us. However, there is more; Veronia is brilliant, so she conceived a way to recruit the best minds in the world and get them to work for Zcerebral. These were the Sculptors she couldn't bribe or threaten to do her dirty work, the true believers in justice, those morally and utterly against what Zcerebral had become."

"But how could she control those people?" I inquired.

"She not only started Tortuga, she also created a 'secret' place, called Valhalla, likely named that because of my 'Thor' paragon; I was her first recruit. Only the best of the best are recruited to Valhalla and they must be invited. To get in, they have to do something extraordinary against Zcerebral. Once they get in, they think they are part of the real resistance against Zcerebral. They think they are the one and only chance to stop Zcerebral.

"I know, because, once there, I worked my ass off, night and day, to sculpt something, some way, to recreate the Zones. Or, I tried to write something that would shift the power out of Zcerebral's hands. When you are there, what you don't realize is that each thing you make is used by Zcerebral. Everything you plot and plan against Zcerebral is known by Zcerebral. The best and brightest revolutionaries, unwittingly, worked for the enemy, and I was one of those young fools. Veronia's plan is insidious. If anyone ever suspected or did something Veronia didn't like then the Dragoons find them in the Zones, where they are zonked and their mind traced back to Earth. We never hear from them again, so we lament the loss of one of our own and work even harder, unwittingly, strengthening Zcerebral even more.

"It wasn't until The Phoenix made the mistake of killing my wife that the wool lifted from my eyes. I would say I put 2 and 2 together, but it was more like solving the mystery of gravity, yet somehow, I finally figured out the truth; we were all working for Zcerebral.

"At that time, back in Valhalla, I had been working on a new program, one which could run the Zones. I figured, as long as Zcerebral had the only technology for the Zones, their rule would never be challenged.

"Eventually, I figured out a few small things and grew suspicious. I brought in another brilliant sculptor to secretly help me and eventually we fell in love and married. Bridget had multiple doctorates and was one of the foremost authorities on Artificial Intelligence, not that anyone had actually created a truly living A.I. yet.

"We worked together, supposedly on new Zone server code, but, secretly, we started changing my program. I'd done some preliminary studies on A.I. and I mean real A.I., sometime after starting to sculpt. The language for sculpting is much more like thought, while the old computer languages were more about logic and mathematics.

"With this new way of representing interactions, we were much closer to the possibility of an artificial life form, or a Created Intelligence, as your mother likes to call them. We figured that this might give us an edge, if the new Zone program had a true A.I. within, it could get into, and control, Zcerebral's systems in ways no Sculptor ever could, and we were right."

"Except, I can't," I noted, kind of sourly.

He smiled, "Oh, but you can, son, trust me. We just need to unlock your capabilities."

I don't have any idea what he is talking about.

He continued, "When, to our amazement and joy, we actually did sculpt the first true C.I., which turned out to be the earliest version of you, we were thrilled. I think some of our elation got noticed by Veronia or her spies, and that's when she arranged for my wife to be taken by zPol. After Bridget's death, she continued to help me work on your code from the Zones. You progressed to amazing levels, but then we faced a dilemma."

I watched him and he glanced over at his wife, before saying, "Mostly, it was Arabella with the dilemma, but she can be persuasive."

She handed me a glass of red wine and then took a sip from her own goblet before taking a seat next to me. Once there, she said, "Z, I had to be sure that you were capable of being, well, for lack of a better term, human. I couldn't give the world a new technology which enslaved them even further. I had to make sure you could FEEL and that you could love. You see, that's what's wrong with Veronia, she is a sociopath, a genius, yes, but with none of the 'soul' which you possess. She cannot love; she cannot feel, not like you, or me. Standing in front of the Mona Lisa, she would have seen only a painting."

I nodded, "That's why you wanted to be there when I looked at her," I said. "It was a test."

"The final test, but you see? You even call the Mona Lisa, 'her'."

Peter turned to his wife, "So, you have no reservations now?"

"None," she said, brightly.

He turned to me, "I never did, but men are often less sensitive and I trust your mother's instincts."

I nodded, she is an extraordinary woman.

"So, now that I have passed your tests, what is it you wish of me?" I asked.

"Nothing," Peter answered, immediately.

And Arabella added, "Your time, as a human, was far more than just a series of tests, dear, it was a chance for you to experience life and, as I hoped, love."

I nodded. "But what do you mean nothing? Surely you have some plan to use your creation."

Peter shook his head, "You are not a creation, not in the way you mean, like a weapon or tool; you are a person, Z, and you must choose your own way. This was another reason you had to experience things; we could not expect you to make decisions without your own experience. Now, the question is, what do YOU want to do?"

What did I want? I considered. Then I said, "I want to save Ellie and Mary from Zcerebral."

"All right, then that's what you must do," he answered.

"That's it, just go save them?"

"Yes."

I looked at him and tilted my head slightly, "And you don't want me to do anything else?"

My father replied, "I want YOU to decide what is best, what you want, and then go and be what you choose."

Arabella smiled, "You are our son and you are our legacy. If you wish to save Earth, then save it, if you want to bring down Zcerebral, then bring it down, but if you want to settle down, in some corner of some Zone, with one, or both, of your loves then that is your choice. It will not change how we feel about our son."

I am, once again, stunned. Then I said, "Well, that is all well and good, except that I don't have a clue of how to save either of them. I lost my ship and I don't know where to go next."

My father smiled and said, "There is a box on the desk, there, in front of you."

I leaned forward and looked at the small wooden box; on top, I saw single a carved word, 'Justice'.

My father then said, "I once told you to seek Justice, you thought you found him as The Hatter, but that was just a Zim I put there as a clue. 'Justice' is what I named the final piece of your code. When you want to unlock all of your potential, all you have to do is open that box and ask Loki to integrate the code, within, into your current matrix."

"What will it do?" I asked, slightly afraid, my eyes still glued to the small box.

"It will remove the last of my overlays, as it releases some of your memories, which we previously blocked. It will also unlock all of your potential. When you do that, you will know what to do next."

I looked at my father, "It was you, in Bagheera, and later, as the Cheshire Cat!"

"I played Bagheera, though the Cheshire Cat was your mother," he answered.

"And one more thing," Arabella said with a sly smile, "You helped your father build this Ship and she is very special, more importantly, she is now yours."

With that, my parents got up and walked out, headed for one of the guest cabins. At the door, my father turned to me and said, "This is your master cabin now, Captain Blood."

"Captain Blood?" I said.

"You are my son, I think you can carry on the Pirate name, admirably," he noted and then closed the door.

I stared at the box in front of me for a few minutes. Using the code in there would be almost like taking a brain smear and is just as terrifying. It will erase things, which I thought were part of me, but are actually memories from my father. It will also change me, in profound ways. Do I really want that? Do I have a choice? I guess I do, otherwise, my parents would have just implemented the code, instead, they left it there, for me to activate if I choose.

I smiled and remembered a line from a book I'd read, and spoke aloud, "In for a Penny, in for a Crown."

I opened the box and told Loki to integrate the code.

His ever-present and familiar voice, said, _As you wish, Sir._

# Chapter zTwenty-eight – Sidney, Australia

So, I am a different person now, except, I'm not. Sure, I know I have changed, intellectually, anyway. I know that implanted memories from my father are gone and I can remember things which I couldn't before, like early times with my parents as they taught me about the world. No, not things like language, or what is too hot to touch, or how to walk or crawl; I had all that right off the bat. What they taught me is how to care, how to understand all the knowledge I already have.

When I'd first been born, or maybe a better way of saying it is, when I'd first become aware, it was a terrifying time. Information came like a flood, no, a tidal wave, washing over me, and I didn't understand who and what I am, or what was going on.

To keep me sane, they had to shut down parts of my knowledge base and let it in a bit at a time, sort of bringing me up to speed. They were there with me and talked me through those integrations.

I also remember helping my parents sculpt the Arabella. It had been an enlightening time, where two of the most brilliant sculptors, on Earth, had shown me how to be creative, not just knowledgeable.

I even remember my mother explaining that, for me to become whole, I would have to go on a journey, alone, without knowing who I am. I also remember trusting her and agreeing to take the journey. I remember it all.

But now that my mind, and all my knowledge, are fully restored, I don't feel any different, I mean, not like I am someone else, I feel like, me. I still love Ellie and Mary and miss them both. I am still angry at Zcerebral for what they have done. I guess the thing that changed the most is that now I love my parents, as well, or perhaps I should say, again. They have been a missing part of what is 'me'.

There is also a new clarity to my thoughts. I am no longer floundering around, wondering what I should do. zPol has the girls I love, so, the answer is, go to zPol and find out where they are being kept, then go get them. I am not worried about how I will accomplish this, it is necessary, so I will.

I docked the Arabella at our family's Green Room and bid goodbye to my parents. Then I told Loki to send me back to my father's body. Peter had already explained that it is mine to use during my quest to save the girls, he has my mother and that everything he needs.

It breaks my heart when I think that she is a Ghost, but there is nothing I can do about the past, at least they can be together in the Zones.

Once in control of my father's body, I headed for the Los Angeles zPol station. This is located downtown, in the old Los Angeles City Hall building. Now that the building is no longer used as a City Hall, the zPolice confiscated it and converted it into a zPol station. Agents come here to work. While doing so, they store their bodies in a Transfer Couch. Their minds then transfer up to the Satweb, via Skey, and then control a Zombie body through a Remora, stored at some Zombie repository.

There are many of these repositories, one in every city. In L.A., the repository bodies are called the 'Halo squadron' and each Remora on those bodies is shaped like a Halo. However, the zPol operative, riding the body, can be from anywhere in the world.

On arrival, by taxi, at the plaza out in front of the old City Hall building, I went through the checkpoint in the perimeter wall, which has rolls of razor wire along the top. It was quite easy, they brain scanned me to make sure I am a zPol officer.

This was of little concern to me, since I've already hacked into their system and set up my credentials. That turned out to be quite easy, now that my full capabilities are restored. I simply accessed the code base, through the Zones, and made some minor alterations to their records. While I'd been inside their database, I'd also discovered the location of Ellie. Her brain pattern is currently on file in the Sidney zPol Zombie repository, the Devil Squadron.

I walked up the steps, to the arches above, and then went in and past the open rotunda. The round inlaid floor is still there, though it is tarnished now that the public is not allowed inside. Transfer Couches are in the operative's offices in either wing, but officers are housed in the higher floors. I'd made myself a zPol Major, that way, I hoped to avoid being bothered by underlings. I took an elevator to a higher floor and found the empty office which I'd assigned to myself as a new transfer.

I lay down in the zPol Interface Couch. This is similar technology to what most people use to access the Zones, but, because I am wearing a Skey, I can use this zPol Couch to uplink a copy of my mind to zPol restricted areas. As soon as my head and Skey were in the Couch's mind field area, an interface appeared in front of me. Now that I am in a zPol station, and in their Couch Interface, it is a lot easier to access more secure parts of their system.

I slipped into the code, without much difficulty, bypassed their password restrictions, and got to the data I want. I fairly flew through a mass of information, all at my fingertips, well, brain tips, if brains have tips.

What I couldn't find is the location of Mary. Of course, she is probably in the records, somewhere, but the problem is, I don't know her real name. I tried to find a reference to her Paragon name but had no luck.

Ellie's name is in there, and I confirmed she is still a prisoner in Sidney. I did find a lot of prisoner transfers up to the space station. That is done so that Zcerebral can ship them off through the Wormhole to help populate New Earth. Maybe that's where they sent Mary?

I did more research and discovered that prisoners are generally held at the space station for a week before being sent on through the Wormhole. I have no idea how I can rescue her from a space station, but I'll think about that after I save Ellie.

Just in case, I pulled all the data I could find on the space station and stored it for later perusal.

Then I selected 'Sidney' as my destination and hit the Transfer option.

Just like entering the Zones, my mind felt the disorientation of a transfer and then my eyes opened again. I arrived in a larger room, with Coffins stacked side-by-side along the walls. I stepped out and then reached up to feel the back of my neck. Sure enough, there is a Remora there, formed in the shape of a Tasmanian Devil.

I walked to the exit, where an operative sits at a desk. I used the brain scanner, which identified me as a zPol Major. The operative saluted, then handed me a Major's insignia, which I attached on the breast of my Zombie body's uniform.

I walked out, hat under my left arm, and headed for the elevators. So far, so good. I took the elevators down to holding, where new prisoners are kept for questioning before any sentence is carried out. At this point, their minds are blocked by a Remora and their bodies placed in a Zombie Coffin. I am riding one of those 'criminal' bodies, right now.

I went to another desk and requested access to prisoner 3012. The man looked at my rank insignia and then at a readout in the air, which I can't see.

He looked back at me and said, "This is a high priority prisoner, she is flagged as 'no visitation.'"

I scowled at him, "Of course, she isn't allowed visitation, WITHOUT proper clearance, which I have."

He looked back at his plot.

What he can't see is that I am currently accessing their system. A copy of my mind is in the satweb, which is why I can control this body through the Remora. However, this also means my mind is linked from the satweb to this location, so I am, technically, logged into their inner system. They don't think you can do anything from this kind of low-level access, but they are wrong. Once inside a system, there are ways to access and, even, make some changes. I am working with their data now, finding what this operative is looking at in his view.

"Sir, you are not on the exceptions list," he stated and reached into the air, no doubt, ready to Flash a higher power about my unauthorized request.

I found the data I need, at that moment, and made a change.

"Before you Flash a superior, and earn yourself a trip to a Coffin, Private, I suggest you look again because my name is on that list!"

He swallowed and brought up the exception list, again, and then his eyes opened in horror. "Oh, I'm so sorry; I can't believe I missed it... my apologies, Sir!" He came to attention and saluted me.

"Which cell, Private?" I demanded, sternly.

"318, Sir," he replied, still holding his salute.

I walked past him, disdaining to return the salute, and headed for cell 318.

At the cell door, I used the brain scanner to unlock it, then opened the metal door, and walked inside.

To my surprise, this isn't a dank cell, with a metal cot and nothing else. Nor does it have a Zombie coffin with a body inside, waiting. Instead, I entered a comfortable room, like a hotel suite. There is a standard bed, a full bathroom, even a desk with a chair, pretty much everything a hotel room would have, except for a window.

Sitting at the desk, I saw Ellie. She looked up, with a frown, as I walked in and said, "It's about time! I'm getting really tired of being locked up in here!"

"Ellie!" I exclaimed, in relief.

"What?" she stated in question. The way I'd spoken her name didn't sound like a Zombie officer.

"It's me, Ellie, ah, T.C.," I said since she doesn't know my real identity, yet.

She looked, even more, puzzled at my statement, "What, the hell, are you talking about?"

"This is T.C., I came to rescue you; I'm in a Zombie body!"

Ellie leaped up, "T.C.? Wait, this is a Zombie, goddamned, trick!"

I shook my head, "No, I broke into the L.A. zPol station and used one of their Transfer Couches to transfer up to the Satweb so I could control a Zombie body, here. I came to rescue you!"

"Prove it," she demanded, placing her hands on those narrow hips on her small body while glowering at me.

"I'm so sorry about the Flash I left you in Gstaad; I thought I was protecting you by leaving."

She walked over closer to me and asked, "Tell me what you were going to post in the newspaper from your Flash? I deleted that message, so the bastards here don't know any of the details."

"I told you that I would post about a lost Bull Terrier puppy," I replied.

She slapped me, hard.

"Ow," I exclaimed.

"Shut up," she admonished, without regret. Then she said, "I can't believe you made love to me and then left me in that hotel room to be captured by the Zombies! What were you doing in the Zones... and don't lie to me!"

"Really, now?"

"Yes, now! No more secrets," she demanded, angrily.

I took a deep breath and said, "Well, at first, I went to look for a girl on Earth."

"A girl," she said, in an icy tone, "On Earth."

"Yes, but then I needed a different girl in the Zones to help me find her," I added.

Her eyebrows rose, "Yet another girl."

I nodded.

"And, I take it, you are involved with these girls?" she asked icily.

"Only one of them," I said in defense as if that makes it better.

Her brow squinted down into a frown as she summed up, "So, after sleeping with me, and while still in my arms, you went off to the Zones to be with another girl."

"It isn't like that; I wasn't sleeping with her, not currently, at least."

"NOT CURRENTLY!" she thundered.

I grimaced, wondering if her shout would bring the zPol guard.

"I haven't slept with her, not since you and I got together," I replied, honestly.

"But you love her?" she demanded.

I grew very quiet as I said, "Yes, but I love you, too. Can we get out of here and discuss this, later?"

Ellie gave me an even dirtier look and then said, "Fine, what's your escape plan, Casanova?"

"I am going to take you out as my prisoner."

Ellie shook her head, "That won't work, Han Solo; I'm a priority prisoner. Nobody can walk me out of this building; they will KNOW something is up, even if you doctor up a transfer. I'm the personal prisoner of The Phoenix, for heaven's sake."

She gestured with one hand at the fancy cell, I guess as evidence.

I didn't bother to ask her why she is so positive my plan won't work, I just said, "Then what can we do?"

"Take me to the roof; tell them that you are taking me upstairs, for further questioning, they will believe that much; I've been grilled, up there, several times. Once on the roof, you go get a Flyer and pick me up. They will try to shoot us down, of course, and, if that fails, they will pursue, but at least we will have a chance."

I nodded.

"First thing, though, I need to get my Skey," Ellie exclaimed.

"How are we going to do that?" I asked.

"You're the rescuer, figure it out! I can't do all the thinking," she growled and then she slapped me across the face again.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"You are in deep shit, just remember that, rescue or not," she noted.

Red-faced, I escorted her to the desk, holding her upper arm like she is my prisoner, who might try to run.

Ellie glowered daggers at me the whole way, and I don't think it is an act.

The guard looked at me, and my one red cheek, curiously. I ignored his look and stated, "I am taking this prisoner upstairs, for more questioning. They want all her personal effects transferred up as well. Where do I go to pick them up?"

The guard punched some things in the air and then a panel slid open. He removed a box. "These are her personal effects."

"Good, I'll take them with me, now."

He nodded and I had to sign for the prisoner and her effects. After that, I picked up the box and escorted Ellie to the elevators. Once the doors closed, she opened the box and dug around, coming up with her Shamrock shaped Skey in a moment. She immediately attached it to her neck.

We rode the elevator up, toward the top floor, but instead of letting it arrive there, Ellie stopped it just short of the top floor, using the emergency stop button.

I opened the emergency hatch in the car roof and gave Ellie a boost up. She climbed out, onto the roof of the elevator, and took the metal ladder up the shaft to a hatch, which leads out onto the roof.

When she made it up there, ready to climb out, I closed the emergency hatch and let the elevator continue up a few feet, to reach the top floor. As soon as the doors opened, I found several security officers all looking at me, with drawn guns pointed at my chest. This was an unauthorized arrival, at some high-ranking officer's offices, and they aren't taking any chances. I held up my hands and exclaimed, "Sorry, I pushed the top button by mistake."

At the sight of my uniform, and hearing my explanation, they lowered their guns, though one officer barked, "Be more careful, we nearly shot you!"

I put on a sheepish look and then punched a button to close the doors. I rode the elevator car all the way down to the parking garage, where I checked out a Flyer. Everything seems to be going to plan, so far, but I figure that my problems will start when I fly toward the roof; landing up there will be restricted.

I took the Flyer up, higher than the roof, and then made an emergency Flash to air traffic control. "This is Major Reynolds, I've lost control of one engine in my Flyer and I have to make an emergency landing, now! I need clearance to use the roof of the repository!"

"Negative," the air traffic control girl replied, "land at the garages, on the lower floor."

"I'll crash before I get there; I have to land on the roof, now! Disable those automatic guns or I might crash through the ceiling into the top floor!"

I heard her curse and then I dove my Flyer toward the roof, hoping she got the automated guns offline before they fired and turned my Flyer, and me, into confetti.

I saw three of them swivel to track my Flyer, but they didn't go off. I landed, hard, on the roof and then spotted Ellie running for the passenger door of my Flyer. I reached over and flung open that door. As soon as she dropped onto the seat, I got the Flyer airborne and then shot off the edge of the roof. I let the weight drop us toward the pavement below.

On the com system, I yelled, "I lost control of the aircraft, I'm falling toward the garages, clear the area! Mayday!"

I heard more frantic talk from Air Traffic Control and then I yelled, "One engine fired, I'm going to try to level off!"

I hit both engines, on full, which shot us out and in between two tall buildings of Sidney. I made a few tight turns and then headed down toward the harbor. I brought us in for a quick landing. As soon as we were down, I programmed the autopilot to take the Flyer and crash it into the bay, under the old harbor bridge.

I hope it will take them some time to raise the crashed Flyer and discover that there isn't a Zombie body in the wreckage.

Ellie and I ran into the city streets.

We got out of sight by entering a dank alley and hid behind a large garbage bin. I handed Ellie an anonymous zCard, with a lot of zHours on it, and explained how I have fixed her brain pattern to read as someone else.

"But, how..." she started to ask me.

"I gained access to zPol records and made some hacks; it's something Captain Blood taught me how to do."

Well, it is, sort of, he created me and taught me a lot of things. I don't have time to explain to Ellie that I am a fancy living program, which can interface with other, lesser, programs, as easy as buttering toast.

Besides, I can't even imagine how I am going to explain, to a human girl, who I love, that I am not actually human.

"Captain Blood?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, it's a long story. I'll tell you later when we have time. I have to get out of this Zombie body and back into my real one. They are going to retrace my path through their system, very soon. Once they figure out that you are gone, they will track down who took you, and that will lead them to the L.A. office. I have to get my body clear of that building before they track me to L.A."

"All right, where do you want to meet?" she asked.

I hesitated, "I have something I have to do, but I think it is best if you sit this one out."

"Why?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Because, well, you aren't the only girl I have to rescue from zPol."

Ellie took a breath and then closed her eyes, "This is that other girl, you mentioned; isn't it?"

"Yes, they took her, too, Ellie."

She nodded. "All right, I understand."

That puzzled me, "You do?"

She nodded. "You aren't the only person who has other people in their lives, you know!"

"I'm not?"

She punched me. Yes, she is small, but her fist is bony and it hurt.

"I'll have you know that I had another suitor, I was with him before you and I got together."

That hurt, "You had another lover?"

"I did, yes, and that hurts, doesn't it?" she said, glowering at me.

I had no idea how much a broken heart hurt, not until this moment. Oh, shut up. I know, I am in love with two girls and, now, when one of them tells me she has been involved with someone else, well, it hurt. There is no logic to love; it just hurts to know that Ellie cares for someone else.

Then she said, "Look, I still love you and I'll prove it, I'll help you save this other girl and then we'll have to work some things out."

"I can't ask that of you," I answered.

"Listen, Mister, I'm not going down without a fight. I want to meet this ex-girlfriend of yours and we're going to have some words. What I'm not going to do is let you go off and rescue her and then have some romantic resurgence, while I'm not there! So, get used to it, we're going to rescue her, together!"

"All right," I said, but I started thinking about feisty little Ellie in the room with the brazen Pirate, Mary Read, it might cause an antimatter explosion.

"Where do they have her?" she demanded.

"You aren't going to like this," I replied.

"Like it? I hate this already, what is there to like?"

I sighed. "I think she is being shipped off to New Earth."

"Up on the Space Station?" Ellie demanded.

"Where else?"

Ellie lowered her head and massaged her forehead for a moment. "All right, we'll go up and get her, or there will be no living with you. I'll not have you moping around, for the rest of your life, with 'what if's' clouding the horizon."

"We'll just go up the Elevators and get her?" I repeated.

"Yes, is there something wrong with your hearing? Now shut up and transfer back to your body. I'll meet you at the Galapagos Tube station, tomorrow."

"All right, Ellie," I said and stepped toward her, but she held up a hand.

"I am NOT going to kiss you; my heart and brain are too confused right now, not to mention I'm still pissed at you. Then, there is that body, have you even looked at who you are riding?"

I really haven't. I looked into a window reflection and noted that I am, currently, within the body of a very stocky woman, kind of a 'Nurse Ratchet' type.

"Now get out of here, I'll see you in the Galapagos," Ellie exclaimed.

I gave her a half-hearted wave, then walked away, looking for a place to leave this Zombie body where it will be found, but not for a few hours. Ellie needs time to get out of this area before the search really starts.

I opened my eyes, back in my father's body, lying in the zPol Interface Couch, in 'my' office, within the old Los Angeles City Hall building. However, I am not quite ready to leave yet. I have somewhere else I want to go from this zPol Interface Couch. From here, I can connect to the zPol Data Center, in the Zones.

I'd gotten in there, once, but only briefly. I'd broken into a smaller substation at night. This set off alarms, so I'd only had ten seconds in the Couch before I had to leave. I used that time to get my credentials right for this incursion and wiped what I'd been doing so it couldn't be traced.

But, now that I am within a zPol main station, I want a few minutes to access a restricted area of the Satweb. I can use that time to get answers to some questions which are nagging me. I think it is worth the risk.

Now that I've rescued Ellie, my mind is moving on to other things, mainly, Mary Read. If I am right, she has been shipped up to the Space Station, in preparation for the departure to New Earth.

As I thought about that, something bothered me. Frankly, the whole New Earth thing seems just too altruistic for Zcerebral. In fact, once you know a sociopath is the Chairman of the Board, at Zcerebral, it makes even less sense.

On one hand, New Earth is a good way for Veronia to get rid of undesirables, and that goes along with her methods, pretty well. She isn't above doing away with her adversaries. Shipping them on a one-way trip, to another planet, seems to fit the bill, but only on the outside.

One planet would never be enough for Veronia, and that is the problem. She is conceding New Earth to her enemies: the various religious factions, criminals, illegal parents and their children. In fact, everyone who doesn't follow her rules gets shipped out. Now that I know her, I don't believe she would give up a planet, not for a second.

Why build an, exorbitantly, expensive Space Station, just to get rid of undesirables? She could, just as easily, kill them, and do it far cheaper, too.

I need answers, but I don't know how long I have, seconds, or minutes, before they trace me back to L.A. I decided to go for it and use however much time I have.

I lay my head back down so that my brain is within the Couch's field again. I selected a different destination, this time, the zPol Data Center Zone. A copy of my mind uplinked to the satweb and into a secure zPol data center.

I arrived, looking like every other officer. The Puppet I am in is a stone-faced Dragoon; I've seen plenty of them in my battles, with zPol, in the Zones. Every officer, up here, looks exactly the same, however, they carry an insignia of rank. These are located on the breast pocket of their uniform; mine shows the Los Angeles Halo and a rank of Major.

The other Dragoons will address me as Major Angel, where a Major, from Sidney, would be Major Devil. Each city has a nickname and, though these two examples seem religious, not all are that way. An officer from Detroit will be Colonel Motor, one from Paris, Lieutenant Tower.

They keep the Dragoons faceless for a reason; they are part of the 'collective' and must show as a faceless, united, unstoppable force. They can't be seen as people; Dragoons must represent a symbol of ultimate authority.

I am in, what seems like, a giant building, which houses endless records. From here, I can access private information, about anyone, or anything. There are no privacy laws, not anymore. Everything is tracked and stored, about every individual, and it is accessible here, by zPol Dragoons.

However, I need to get into an even more restricted area, because I am not looking for information about the peons on Earth, I am looking for information on the beast itself, Zcerebral, and the top echelon of people who run the monster. That information will be kept top secret, even from other zPol operatives.

I stepped to a data console and brought up a 3D map projection of the Data Center. I scanned the layout, looking for a void. Almost every location on the map has details about whom and what is stored in that area, but restricted areas are a blank. Since this map is shown in 3D, any hidden areas stand out, in a different way, they are, simply, a void in the display.

I can immediately see a few small voids. I checked them out and one seems to have a more strategic location. You would not walk past it, by mistake, not even on your way to some lesser area. Anyone coming near it would have business which involves that restricted area. No doubt, this is my goal.

My next dilemma is how to get in. I delved into the Puppet code base and, within moments, flew down paths that led me to where they assigned rank, based on what office you used to interface into this zPol Data Center. It only took me a few seconds to sculpt a nice workaround, which fools the system into changing my insignia to General Kon-Tiki. That means I am, supposedly, a general, out of the Oslo station. I changed the location to Oslo so that, if they track me to Los Angeles, and are doing a search for officers from that station, I won't set off any flags.

Then I just walked up to that area, as if I am supposed to be there.

As I arrived, I counted six armed Dragoons outside the door.

One of them looked up at me, saw the General insignia, and came to attention, as did the other five guards, a moment later.

"I am here to access information in this section," I said, imperiously.

"I'm sorry, Sir, this area is restricted to Board level," the Dragoon, who had first come to attention, announced.

_Crap,_ I thought, I should have checked that, but I'd assumed, incorrectly, that the highest military rank in zPol would have access. However, I answered, "Of course, Private, but a Board member will be escorting me."

He glanced at the others, which is the only indication that he is nervous since his stone face shows the same mask as every other Dragoon. "That is, highly, irregular, Sir, it says that ONLY Board members are admitted within."

"That is true and I will not be entering. I only said that I am here for information, the Board Member will bring it to me."

"But, Sir, information is not allowed out..."

"Verbally, idiot! Speak to me, insolently, one more time and I will have your head."

He snapped his stony mouth shut.

Now I have to figure out what to do. Obviously, no Board Member is coming and, pretty soon, I am going to look like a complete moron standing around by myself.

I barked out, "This unit seems a bit lax to me! All of you, form up, attention!" I barked.

They paused a moment, my behavior is, obviously, odd, but then their military training finally kicked in and they got in a line, standing at attention.

I stepped to the first Dragoon in the line and said, "Present ARMS!"

He snapped his military disrupter out, engaged the safety, smartly, and held it out to me for inspection. I took it, stepped back, disengaged the safety, and opened fire, fanned it across the six unsuspecting Dragoons.

At this range, the destruction is devastating and the disrupter beam, literally, blew them to pieces. This zonked the whole lot of them. However, as soon as the disrupter went off in this secure area, alarms blared.

I expected the alarms, and immediately ran toward the door, gun leveled at it in case reinforcements came through. I burst into a records room, and am, fortunately, alone. I figure I have about thirty seconds, uninterrupted, a minute if I am lucky.

I turned and knocked over a large cabinet, thereby blocking the door and buying me, maybe, twenty more seconds. These cabinets don't actually hold files; they are representations of data storage. It is easier to protect something which has a physical representation.

I went to a data console and logged in.

A search interface came up and I looked for data on the Space Station, New Earth, and the Wormhole. I didn't try to read it; I just dumped as much of the data as I could into a file and grabbed it. It is now attached to my mind, stored as Sculpted Code.

Someone started hammering on the door, just as I got the last of the file, and then a very large gun started going off. I dove behind a block of cabinets right as the door and cabinet blocking it were blown into shrapnel.

I cut my connection to the Data Center, which disconnected me, and I awoke in my body at the zPol office in Los Angeles. Of course, they tracked that; with the alarms running, they had immediately started tracing any Disconnects.

As soon as I got up from my Couch, I heard the alarm start ringing. I ran out into the hall and yelled to someone, "What's going on?" I wanted to seem like part of the confusion, rather than the cause.

"That's a breach alarm, we have an intruder in the building," the man replied.

I took charge, "Form up a group, we will march out to the exit, in an orderly fashion, for individual identification at the gate!"

With someone giving them orders, they calmed down, and we marched down to the rotunda. Just as we neared the front gate, where the nervous looking guards are watching the approach of our large group, and are just starting to raise their weapons, I yelled out from the back, "There she is... and she's got a gun!"

Our group paused, but then the guards raised their weapons and everyone panicked. People started running, in every direction, and some idiotic guard fired, wounding some poor moron.

I calmly walked around, to the side of the guards, and, as I got closer, I turned to face the same direction as they all faced, watching the running people in the rotunda.

"There, I see her!" I said to the guards, stepping over in front of them and pointing. "She has a pistol and just went into that office, the one on the left!"

I turned and barked, "You three, stay with me to hold the gate, the rest of you, capture that spy!"

They paused, but only for a moment, and then the men in front ran into the rotunda.

I turned to the remaining three guards.

"Fall back, behind the barricade, let NO ONE through!" I ordered, leading them back through the gates.

Once outside, I walked down the steps, calmly, and went to the men at the outer checkpoint.

"We have a female spy, she is armed and dangerous. There are not enough men to hold the gate, send a few men to reinforce them."

They talked it over and sent four men up the steps. While this was going on, I went to a console and pretended to log on, gesturing in the air, as if working a 3D interface. Then I spoke, as if in a Flash conversation, "Yes, Sir, I have the men deployed. Right, she is pinned down. Yes, I can bring you the key, right away, Sir!"

I pretend to close the Flash and said, "I must deliver this key, immediately; hold this gate, at any cost!"

Then I turned and walked out into the streets.

I left the area by taxi and headed for the nearby Union Station. From there, I caught a Mag Train, traveling south, into, what had been, Mexico. Once I lay down in a sleep bunk, I asked Loki to uplink my mind into my Paragon, within my Green Room.

# Chapter zTwenty-nine – The Viking Hall

Once back in my Green Room, I started working through the data I'd stolen in Sidney and the new information I just obtained at the zPol Data Center.

At first, I didn't find anything obvious, but then some facts started jumping out as I read between the lines. It doesn't out-and-out tell me anything important, not in black and white, but the data is there if you read it properly. After a few minutes of study, I began to see the truth. I know what I have to do and what it will mean to my life. After some hard thinking, I went to find my parents.

I found Arabella, lounging in the Viking Hall, where Peter is busy scanning information on the Zone news.

As I walked in, he said, "I think you made the news, there was some kind of gas leak reported in the old City Hall in Los Angeles."

"I had no idea I am a gas leak," I noted, dryly.

He smiled. "Well, you stirred things up so badly that they have to say something. You know all the news is run by zPol, nowadays."

"Of course, any autonomy is an illusion," I agreed.

"Exactly," he answered.

Then I motioned for him to come over and sit down with Arabella, and I did as well.

I brought them up to speed on my actions and my mother said, "So, you rescued one of your girls, well done!"

"Ellie is free, for the moment. I'm going to meet her in the Galapagos Islands, tomorrow."

Peter frowned, "That can't be a coincidence, can it? The Elevators are there."

I nodded, "I believe that Mary may be up in the Space Station."

"Oh?" Arabella said, "Are they planning to ship her out to New Earth?"

I shook my head, "No, they will kill her, or steal her body, take your pick."

"Why?" my mother asked, concerned.

My next words shocked them both. "Because there is no New Earth," I replied, simply.

They both sat up straight; as far as everyone knows, Zcerebral has been shipping people off to New Earth for over ten years.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, intensely.

"It's all a sham. I don't know if there even is a Wormhole, most likely, Zcerebral made that up as well. I've looked at the, supposedly, scientific data. You realize that though Wormholes are theoretically possible, the math shows that these would be tiny and fleeting, in most cases, if they even exist. But that's not why I say it's a sham."

"Why then?"

"Because I have the shipping records of everything they have taken up to the station. Do you know how much equipment has been shipped up there, for colonization, via the Elevators?"

"From the sound of the question, you're going to say very little," my father noted.

"None," I answered.

"That's not possible," Arabella exclaimed, shocked.

"Not one thing has ever been sent up to help the colony, though the news tells us they send stuff, all the time. You know what has been shipped up there, day and night, year after year?"

"No, what?" my mother asked, with baited breath.

"Undesirable people," I answered. "Undesirable if you are Veronia, supreme leader of Zcerebral."

"But, that makes no sense!" Peter exclaimed.

I nodded, "I thought that as well, why build the most expensive execution device in history if all you want to do is kill your enemies."

"Exactly," he answered.

"But, what if that isn't all you want to do with that Space Station or your enemies? What if it has another purpose?"

"What purpose?" Arabella asked softly, as if almost afraid of the answer.

"She needs a safe place to store human bodies in Zombie Coffins so that their minds can be linked into a massive server system to run the Zones. I've told you about Sin Circle, and how she abandoned it, and that they must have built an even bigger facility. Veronia wants it where she has complete control, where no shadow government, religious group, revolutionary, or just plain terrorist, can ever reach it. So, she built her body storage center in space. Since Zcerebral controls all missiles and spacecraft, no one can reach it with a weapon or ship.

"To finance and man it, she created a fake story about a Wormhole and New Earth. People paid for it to be built, then they lined up and volunteered to go there to escape the oppression of Zcerebral, here on old Earth. Once up at the Station, those volunteers are put in Zombie Coffins and added to the server system. No one knows they are missing because they were SUPPOSED to disappear, right down a fictional Wormhole."

My parents are silent, stunned.

My mother finally spoke softly, "But, they have moved far more people than that station could support."

"Yes," I said, with a sad tone to my voice. "Once built, the Elevators are cheap to use, they just keep sending people up, day after day. This way Veronia has solved the storage issue she faced at Sin Circle, where their minds burn out from overload. Nowadays, she just jettisons a used body into space and replaces them with a new body; 10,000 every three months."

My mother is speechless, though my father exclaimed, "She's murdering 10,000 people, every three months?"

"No, she's killing, far, FAR more. She only needs 10,000, but there are three Elevators and each lift has ten cars, each carries 30 people a trip and each makes two trips every 24-hour period, that's 1800 people going up a day and 18,000 every ten days, or about 162,000 every three months. It's been ten years since the Elevators started working, so that means nearly 6.5 million people have gone up to the station."

My parents are now both speechless.

I went on, "And, she's just getting started; the religious groups are pushing for more Elevators so that they can get more of their people to the new world, where freedom of religion is still guaranteed. If they get their way, and Zcerebral wants them to, in the next ten years they will ship more like 20 million."

"She can't be murdering that many people!" Arabella exclaimed.

"Why not?" Veronia is a sociopath; killing people will bring her no remorse. I bet she has it set up so that the people launching these poor victims into space think they are sending them through the wormhole."

"But, if she is moving them through that fast..." Arabella said, trailing off.

I nodded, "Then Mary may already be dead, but I don't KNOW that, and the only way to find out is to go up there. She could be in a Zombie Coffin, as part of the servers."

"That's true," Peter said, "There is a chance."

But I continued, "However, there is another reason I must go, we have to stop this mass murder."

Arabella nodded and Peter said, "We're with you, son. How can we help?"

"I'm glad you asked, but are you sure you are ready for what we have to do?"

"What is that?" Peter asked.

I couldn't look at my mother and I bowed my head as I said, "I have to shut it all down."

"The Elevators?" Peter asked.

"Yes, the Elevators, the murders, Zcerebral, all of it. Once I release the people stored in the Zombie coffins, the ones acting as the server minds, it will shut down the Zones."

Peter nodded, "I understand. Shutting down the zones will throw the world into confusion and possibly war; the economy will certainly collapse, utterly. But if we are to be rid of Zcerebral, if that's what must be done, then so be it."

I spoke softly, "It's worse than that, father."

He looked up sharply and then his eyes widened and his gaze darted to his wife and he exclaimed in horror, "Arabella!"

She rose to her feet and held her hand up to her husband to stop him, "I understand, I will die when the servers go down, as will every Ghost now in the Zones."

I nodded, tears coming to my eyes. I wished my Emotional Threshold was set lower, the pain is too much to bear.

She turned to me, "Is this the only way you can think of to stop Zcerebral and all these senseless murders of innocent people?"

I nodded, miserably.

"Then so be it. I will not live so that others may be murdered by the millions!"

Peter sat down and held his head in his hands. I feel like shit, lower actually, I am rewarding my mother for creating me, by sealing her death. But I am not done with the bad news.

"Father?"

He looked over at me, with red eyes, and said, "Yes?"

"There is something else and I don't know how to tell you."

Arabella answered for him, "Then just say it, son."

I looked at her briefly and then turned back to my father and explained, "I can't do it alone. Someone will have to help me."

"Why is that?" he asked.

"I can't be in two places at once and there is a failsafe in the system. To shut down the Zone servers someone has to act from inside as well as outside, simultaneously. I can only be in one place or the other."

"So, you want me to help you shut down the servers and kill Arabella?" he said in an almost dead voice.

I nodded, miserably.

Arabella saw the tears on my face and the anguish in her husband's expression and she said, "Peter, this must be done. I already sacrificed my life to save my son when I jumped from that building. For several years now, I have been granted a reprieve from death, which allowed me to witness the great man my son has become. I got to spend wonderful time with my husband, but it was borrowed time. By shutting down the servers, we will save the world and I will die a happy woman knowing my son, and husband, have made this sacrifice for the good of our world."

"I can't live without you, Bella!" Peter exclaimed.

"You can and you will. You have our son to support; he will need your strength. As for you, my son, you will validate my life and, by continuing to live, you will keep a part of me alive. Peter, this is necessary and it is what I desire."

My father could not even speak, so he just nodded. He understood that he cannot thwart my mother when she has her mind set; he knows she is the stronger one.

"And I am proud," I answered softly, "proud to be the son of the most courageous woman I have ever met."

My mother walked over to my father and pulled him to his feet, he has tears streaming down his face. She hugged him and said, "I'm still here, Thorten, we have a little time."

After a moment, she waved to me and I came over so she could include me in a family hug.

When we separated, we dried our tears and then got down to business.

"Where is the place that we must go, in the Zones, to shut down the servers?" my father asked.

"I found it in the records I copied from the zPol Data Center, it's called Murud-Janjira," I replied.

He nodded, "I've heard of it. They say it is the most guarded stronghold in the Zones. We have speculated, for years, as to what they keep there, we thought it might be the location of the Data Center."

"No, that isn't in the Zones, at least, not accessible from other Zones," I answered. "This is something else. I believe it is a switching station to reroute the Zones from the server minds in the Space Station to the backup server minds on Earth."

"What backup servers?" Arabella asked.

"I found records which point to the original coma patient minds still somewhere on Earth. They act as a backup to the Space Station server minds. If someone, or something, shuts down the Space Station server minds, Murud-Janjira switches the Zones to the backup server. If we want to take down the Zones, completely, we have to take out the switch in the Zones as well as the hardware at the Space Station."

"Why do we need to take out the Zones, completely?" Peter asked, still searching for a way to save Arabella, but my mother answered.

"Because that would leave the Zombies and Dragoons still functional through the backup servers. They are the reason no one has been able to beat Zcerebral. zPol can send Zombies to attack any resistance group, turning the revolutionaries against themselves. Zombies work because of the Zone servers storing and connecting a mind to a Remora. Only by shutting down the Zone servers can we take out Zombie control, and that is the only way any revolution will succeed against Zcerebral."

I nodded, "Of course, if we knew where the backup server is located, we could disconnect it at the same time as the Space Station, but I don't know where they are located."

Peter sighed heavily and nodded, "So, someone has to take down Murud-Janjira while someone else assaults the Space Station."

"Yes," I agreed.

"But, we need your special skills in both places," he noted.

I nodded, "I have a plan for that."

Arabella got up and came to the table where she said, "Well, let's get this plan hammered out, if we're going to save Mary, Z has to get moving. He's supposed to meet Ellie at the Galapagos Elevators facility in a few hours."

My father's face looked haunted, but he nodded and we got to work.

# Chapter zThirty – The Galapagos Islands

When I stepped out of the Tube on Isla Isabela, in the Galapagos Island chain, Ellie stood waiting. Any anger which she had for me seems to be gone, for the moment. She spotted me and she ran over, then hugged me and tilted her face up for a kiss.

"Well, hello to you, too," I said after we finished the kiss.

She smiled up at me, "You look much more kissable now that you aren't nurse Ratchet in a zPol uniform!"

"And you seem less angry," I noted.

She shrugged. "We still have some things to work out, and I don't know what will happen when we find this other girl of yours, but I found myself missing you and I realized that, no matter what else happens, I do love you."

"And I love you, Ellie, no matter what happens," I said, knowing that I have a lot to tell her and, once she learns that she is in love with a Created Intelligence, not a real human, our relationship will change.

"So, what is our plan for getting up the Elevators?" she asked.

I took her off to the side, away from other ears, and replied, "We're scheduled to go up on the next set of cars, which should be starting up in just a few hours. We have to go through processing, right now. I'll fill you in on the rest of the plan later on."

"All right, but how did you get us on the elevators?" she asked.

"We're taking the place of two colonists. I've already inserted our brain scans into the manifest, so we should be good to go."

She tilted her head at me, quizzically, "How, on Earth, or in the Zones, did you manage that?"

"I did some very tricky sculpting, let's leave it at that, but it wasn't easy. I got it done while I was still interfaced into Zcerebral, back when I hijacked a Zombie body to rescue you."

"OK, though here I thought I was going to have to be the one to get us up there!" she said with a laugh. "But, isn't zPol looking for us?"

"Yes, but they only have their machines to tell them when a scan is wrong, or that they are looking at the brain scan of a wanted felon. When their machines are programmed to lie to them, they are easily duped."

Ellie smiled, "That's what they get for trusting machines."

That bothered me. In strange ways, I am kind of a machine.

We followed the signs to the Elevator facility and started working our way through various security checkpoints. We live in a police state, but I've never seen security like this. Each layer is worse and the checks started several miles from the actual base of the Elevators.

At the first checkpoint, Ellie leaned over to me and whispered, "What about the Skeys? If they scan us, they are going to spot them."

"No, they won't; don't worry, I fixed it."

She frowned but nodded.

By the time we were halfway there, we had been scanned down to the molecules, but no one made mention of the Skeys. The reason for this is simple; I've made sure to fix their routines so that they ignore this kind of technology. That sounds like magic, but the fact is, once I entered their program it was easy for me. I am not just a code sculptor; my mind is made from the same code as all of Zcerebral's programs and routines. Letting me into their code base is like throwing Brer Rabbit into the briar patch. Now that my 'justice' routines have been integrated, I can get into any routine I interface with, just like it is a part of me.

I noticed that we are covered by automated lasers at every step of the way, one false read, one detected bit of contraband, let alone any kind of weapon or explosive, and we will be fried to dust particles.

It took us three hours to get near the Elevators.

At one of the first checkpoints, our clothes and every possession we have were removed, and then they took another scan of our naked bodies to make sure nothing remains. Fortunately, my hair is long enough to hide my skin colored Skey, as is Ellie's, and they trust their scans, so they didn't bother to do a physical search.

We made it through all the checks and we are now dressed in blue jumpsuits, but our Skeys are still attached to the back of our necks.

At the end of this long process, we finally met some of our fellow 'colonists'. zPol agents broke us all into groups of thirty and marched us, cattle-like, toward one of the Elevator cars.

The Elevator cars are very Spartan, just some incredibly light chairs along the walls and a row of chairs, back-to-back, down the center. These chairs can be removed if cargo is going up instead. The ride up took six hours; the cars move at a slow pace.

Because of the tight quarters with the other colonists, Ellie and I can't talk without being overheard. I just held her hand as our car climbed up the ribbon and we both caught a few winks of sleep. I enjoyed that time, holding her hand, knowing that it could be the last time I get the chance to hold a real flesh and blood girl's hand in mine, well, at least my borrowed hand.

When we finally reached the station, we are in low Earth orbit. The station is a rotating cylinder in space, but it is more than just a place. This station is the hope of the downtrodden and oppressed, it is the gateway to New Earth and a new life. It is a way to escape from Zcerebral Incorporated. At least, so these poor colonists believe.

Imagine a wide rubber band, perfectly round. In this case, the rubber band is actually 1.8 km in diameter. It rotates around the central hub at one minute per rotation, traveling at just under 1 km per second. This way, if you stand on the inside of that rubber band, with your head aimed toward the center, centripetal acceleration gives you the illusion of one Earth gravity.

The 'rubber band' ring is actually quite wide, at 19 meters, edge to edge. This is divided into four 'floors', with a two-meter thick outside wall and one-meter interior dividers. Each floor has three meters of headroom. The station has a circumference of approximately 5.54 kilometers. There are two spokes coming from the center hub, going out in opposite directions and they spin along with the outer ring. These spokes connect to a round hub in the center. The rotating portion of this hub is the same 19-meter height as the station ring.

Ellie and I are in the third car to arrive up our ribbon. As the first car coming up a ribbon arrives it docks with the central hub, lining up a hatch in the ceiling of the car. There is an opposing hatch in the floor of each car and, as each successive car arrives, it docks with the one above it.

Someone from above, at least, above in orientation to our chairs, opened the hatch and we can now see up into an identical car, with a hatch open in that car's ceiling, showing the next car above.

One-by-one, we each released our seat harness and floated in free fall. Everyone is well trained, they have spent time in space Zones and practiced in free fall. Most of the real colonists have been through a Zone simulation of this exact Station, so they already know what they are doing.

We worked our way through the two cars above and then exited from the roof hatch out of the top car, entering a central Hub chamber. This chamber has connection ports from all three ribbons on the 'floor'.

Colonists are floating around the chamber, stretching their muscles after the long ride up and generally having a good time. Unless moving, they are holding onto handholds built into the ceilings and walls. If you push off, you will eventually arrive at another wall at the same approximate speed you left the first.

Everyone has trained for this, so there are no accidents. If they hadn't been trained, there could have been broken bones. People who haven't spent time in a weightless environment don't realize that mass and speed still exist. They think that because something floats it has no mass, or 'weight'. But, the truth is, if you push off of one wall with all the strength in your legs, you will indeed fly across the chamber, as if weightless, but you still have all your mass. When you reach the other wall, and if you came in head first, you would have to try to stop your body's mass with your arms. Since your legs are much stronger than your arms, and you used your legs to launch, the strength in your arms can't stop you, so you will likely damage yourself.

The colonists seem excited about the adventure of heading for New Earth. They are laughing and talking, some nervously, while others seem to be having the time of their lives on a grand 'adventure'. Of course, sadly, I know better, but I am keeping my thoughts to myself.

The lower half of this round chamber does not move, but halfway up the wall, as measured from where the hatches are, if that is considered 'down', the wall is divided. Above that division, the rest of the chamber is slowly rotating. This is the part where the two spokes connect from the outer ring. You can see these round openings as they rotate above us.

There are a few Zcerebral representatives present, but, unlike the colonists in their blue jumpsuits, the Zcerebral people are in white jumpsuits. They are organizing and guiding colonists to the spoke openings.

I watched a lift car arrive, coming down the spoke; all chairs on it are currently empty. The seats inside all have their backs against one wall. They are oriented so that seated people will have their heads toward the center of the hub. The white-clad workers are getting people strapped into the ten seats in each car, at both spokes. When all the seats are filled, they send both lifts up the spokes, in opposite directions, at the same time. This keeps the spinning station balanced.

I motioned for Ellie to lag back. We let two runs go up so that fewer colonists are left in the Hub, then I took her away from the remaining colonists and Zcerebral workers and spoke to Ellie in a low voice.

"All right, it's time for you to hear the plan," I noted.

Her hair stuck out slightly since there is no gravity to hold it down, but Ellie's dark brown hair is cut short anyway, so it works in zero gravity. She moved closer to me and replied, "OK, how do you propose to find this girl and then get back down the Elevator?"

"I'm not here to find her, at least, not right now," I answered.

She looked at me with a puzzled frown.

I explained, "That was the original plan, but I decided to change it. We're up here for a different reason now."

"You're not here to save your ex-girlfriend?" the way she said the word 'ex-girlfriend' is definitely cold.

"Yes, I'm going to save her and all the other people up here," I answered.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Ellie, this station is the new location of the Zcerebral servers and I'm going to shut them down."

"WHAT!" she said, too loudly, and several people looked our way.

"Keep your voice down. This station was built to be the new Zcerebral server system and I'm going to shut it all down."

"You CAN'T, that would shut down the Zones!"

"Yes," I said simply, looking into her big eyes.

"But, you can't shut them down; the world depends on the Zones! I mean, I'm all for sticking it to Zcerebral, don't get me wrong, but we can't shut down the servers! They are everything, to everyone!"

"Yes, but people have given up the keys to the kingdom to Zcerebral for the pleasure of the Zones. As long as the Zones are run by Zcerebral, then they will all live under the boot heel of that regime. We can free everyone! Most of them don't realize they are even in chains. The Zones must stop or we can't take down Zcerebral. Without the Zones, they can't control bodies with the Zombie zPolice. Without the Zones, they have no carrot and, without zPol, they have no stick."

Ellie grabbed me and said, "I can't let you do that! This isn't right! You're making the decision for everyone. How do you know that everyone wants you to shut down the Zones? People have lives in the Zone; all business is done there! Just the psychological impact of taking them away, well, I don't know what will happen, riots, for sure, death, insanity, maybe even war. The Zones have become life, you can't end them! When the old governments tried to stop the Zones, and Zcerebral shut them down, the markets collapsed, and that was a long time ago; now it will be MUCH worse, it will ruin Earth!"

"Ellie, Earth is already ruined. Zcerebral has taken away life and liberty. Sure, you get four hours, a day, in the Zones, but that is the equivalent of the old prison system letting the prisoners out of their little cells into the 'yard' for a couple hours a day. Think about it, you were a prisoner of Zcerebral. They can take you without due process, without a warrant, and sentence you without a trial, without anything. Everyone is now guilty until proven innocent. The zPolice can do anything they want to you, including stealing your body or just killing you. The entire world is in their iron grip with no chance at freedom. Even the elections are a sham; The Phoenix is the same dictator every time."

Ellie's eyes are pleading with me as she answered, "Even if that is all true, we can't shut down the Zones, there has to be another way! We can fight them, but we can't take down the Zones!"

"There is no other way, trust me, I am sacrificing more than you can imagine. When I shut down the Zones, it will kill my mother, but even she agrees that we have to stop them if we can. Don't you see that?"

"T.C., your mother died a long time ago, you are imagining things!"

"No, I found her, as a Ghost, in the Zones. Ellie, this has to be done, I will not be swayed from this course. The iron collar of Zcerebral slavery must be removed. It won't be easy, or bloodless, but a revolution seldom comes without great cost. Zcerebral has killed millions and will go on killing more; this tyranny has to stop!"

She looked into my eyes for a moment, searching for something. She finally took a breath and said, "I guess you are right. OK, what's the plan?"

Relieved at her sudden change of heart, I replied, "We are going to take the lift up the blue spoke, but when the Zcerebral workers try to take us away, either to be launched or to be put into Coffins, we have to disable them and make our way to the central control room. I believe that is located somewhere near the end of the blue spoke. Once there, I'm going to wait for a signal from the Zones and then we will shut down the Zone servers. Later we will start getting the people out of the Coffins and send them back down to Earth."

"All right," she replied, quietly.

We headed over toward the blue spoke, the opposite side is the green. As I got into the spoke and started to take a seat, Ellie bounced off the side of the entry hatch, having misjudged her trajectory a little in zero gravity. I heard her laugh and say, "Sorry, I'm such a klutz, just a moment."

I got into my seat and buckled down, waiting for Ellie to reappear. I smiled, she has always been just a little uncoordinated. She must have been floating away, slowly, because one of the workers went to retrieve her, using a small thruster pack.

As soon as Ellie arrived and got into her seat, she buckled in and then the car soon started moving.

As the elevator car moved down the spoke toward the outer ring, I felt the Coriolis Effect start to press our backs against the chairs and soon felt gravity pick up in the seat of the chairs. When we came to a stop at the outer ring, we can now stand up normally and walk, just like we were on Earth. Because the ring is large enough, I can't even notice the difference in the centripetal acceleration between my head and feet.

They are sorting us into small groups and several have already been escorted down the gentle curve of the floor to spinward. It doesn't look like a good time to make our move, there are still quite a few station personnel around.

That's when a very beautiful brunette walked out of a nearby doorway. She isn't wearing a jumpsuit, they aren't necessary here, the simulated gravity keeps her mid-length suit skirt down properly. She looked at us and smiled.

Then she spoke, "Well, I've been looking all over for you and here you are, come right to my office! If I'd known you were coming I'd have called off all the thousands of agents I have searching the planet and Zones for you, Thorten. If you haven't guessed, I once went by the name Patricia Boulder, though now most people call me Veronia Tausret, or just, The Phoenix."

This is Veronia, head of Zcerebral. We had met before, back when she was in her Paragon form of Ching Shih, in the Zones.

At this point, many Zombie guards stepped out of the doors and came up from the sides or from behind us. As they sprung their trap they leveled nasty looking stun guns in my direction. We have nowhere to run.

What happened next left me speechless.

Ellie walked toward The Phoenix. I reached out to try and stop her, but Veronia said, "Rose, dear, thank you so much for alerting us to this terrorist and his misguided intention to bring down the Zone servers. Now that we know his plan, we can put a stop to this, immediately."

"Rose?" I exclaimed, dumbfounded and confused.

Veronia returned her gaze to me and spoke in a fake shocked tone, "I'm sorry, haven't you two been introduced properly yet?" A dragon's smile swept over her face, "I'd like you to meet my daughter, Rose Eleanor Tausret, though she goes by 'Ellie' more recently."

Ellie does not look like a conspirator revealed, she looks like a girl in ultimate agony. She turned to me, with pleading eyes, and stated, "I couldn't let you bring down the Zones, I'm so sorry." Then she turned to Veronia and said, "Mother, you promised not to hurt him."

I reeled at that new revelation.

The Phoenix, Ellie's mother, replied, "I won't, dear, I keep my promises; however, I can't have him wandering around loose, either, causing trouble, and telling people things they shouldn't hear. I'll have to put him in a Coffin, for the time being, but he won't be hurt."

"Not a Zombie Coffin!" Ellie exclaimed.

"No, not a Zombie Coffin, I'll put him into a Server Coffin, he can then help the very thing he tried to destroy, yet his body will be completely safe," she said, with a wicked smile.

I took a step forward, but the guards leveled their guns and I froze. They are carefully keeping me covered with their fingers on the hair triggers. I looked at the stricken expression on Ellie's face and said, "Ellie, I learned the answer to your quest, I just haven't had time to tell you the answer."

Veronia raised an eyebrow and then said, "Well, whatever it is, you are too late now. I suppose I should thank you for bringing my wayward daughter back to the fold, she has been very naughty for some time now. However, with her gift of your capture, all is now forgiven. Come, Rose, let's have some dinner and catch up. I so want to hear about your adventures! I was so cross with you when you helped this terrorist against me, but no worries; all's well that ends well!"

She turned back to the guards and said, "Take him to interrogation; I have a few things I need to vacuum before we put him in a Coffin. Stun him if he resists."

As the two women walked away, Veronia put her arm around her small daughter, whose shoulders are shaking in sobs. I had Loki return my mind to the Zones, and this time, told him to disconnect the Remora feature of the Remora/Skey. The girl's backs are turned, so neither of them saw Thorten's body suddenly stagger and recover.

# Chapter zThirty-one – Murud-Janjira / Space Station

I opened my eyes from the recent transfer into my Paragon and looked at my mother, who is watching me with calm eyes. We are in the Captain's cabin of the Arabella. My mother's eyes are red-rimmed, she must have said her goodbyes to my father before he Disconnected.

Back on the Space Station, when I'd had Loki deactivate the Remora, my father's mind returned to control of his body through the Skey. The moment of transfer caused his body to nearly collapse, but then he regained control. His mind, now freed by the disconnected Remora, regained control. The copy of my father's mind, which has been in the Zones, downloaded back to my father's body through the Skey. Both his mind and mine can use the same Skey to transfer to or from the Satweb.

No one on the Station knows this, in fact, to Veronia and Ellie nothing has changed. They both think I am Thorten, they don't know my father and I are two different minds using the same body. My mother has sculpted a special feature to this Skey, I can connect my mind, from the Satweb, without removing control from my father. At that point, I will be an observer, who can talk to my father, but not control his body, while he will be fully conscious and in control of his body.

This was my plan from the beginning, well, mostly. In the Zones, I am going to get to the point where I am ready to shut down the switch to the backup servers. I can also visit and talk to my father, through the Skey, to help him reach the server control, so he can shut them down. However, he can only do that if I am in position within Murud-Janjira.

The problem is, now he is a captive and that was not part of the plan, but I will have to see what I can do about that from this end. I'm sure my father is surprised to find himself the prisoner of Veronia, instead of in, or near, the control center of the station.

Now that the switch has been made, I asked Loki to connect me to my father's Skey.

I can see right out of his eyes like I am there, but I am just a passenger this time. I can see us walking down the upward curving station hallway, a guard at both arms.

_Father?_ I asked.

_I'm here, son,_ he thought back to me _._

_As you can see, things didn't go well,_ I said and then brought him up to speed on Ellie's betrayal and how she is The Phoenix's daughter.

_What are we going to do now?_ he asked, concerned.

Well, I am hoping that Ellie comes to see you; I planted a seed in her mind, hinting that I know the answer to her quest. She is seeking the truth about how her father died and if her mother had any part in it.

_And do you have the answer?_ he asked.

Not yet, but I'm going to work on it. When I get the answer, you have to use this information to convince her to set you free. She is torn and I don't believe she betrayed me for her mother, I think she did it to keep me from shutting down the Zones. I now realize that the Zones are her only escape from her oppressive mother. She isn't a spy, she really was fighting against Zcerebral, but she just couldn't bear the thought of life without the Zones.

_All right, I'll do my best,_ he answered.

_I'll be back soon,_ I promised.

Then I had Loki disconnect my mind and send me back to the Zones.

Once back in my Paragon, on Arabella, I brought my mother up to speed. She is, understandably, horrified that Ellie betrayed me.

"So, from what you are telling me, she just couldn't accept the end of the Zones. You have to understand that no one is ready for that," she said, placing a consoling hand on my arm.

"Except for you," I noted, softly.

She smiled and answered, "Except for me and your father. He will do it because I ask."

I nodded.

She spoke kindly, "Don't be too hard on your girlfriend, she fought for years against her mother and that took a lot of guts. I wonder if she knew you guys were tracking her mother's history back in Banff and Gstaad?"

"Possibly, but Veronia went under a different name then, Patricia, and she had a different 'pre-goop' look," I noted.

"What was Ellie trying to do back then?" my mother asked.

I shrugged, "She was seeking confirmation of Zcerebral's complicity in her father's death. She wanted proof, one way or the other, that Zcerebral ordered her father's death. Now I realize that it was more than that, she wanted to know if her mother ordered her father murdered. If I'd just gotten that proof, maybe she would have been with me in shutting down the Zones."

"Possibly," my mother replied.

"I hinted to her that I have the answer, right before I left. I don't know if it will do any good, but she might come to see me to find out the truth about her father's death, and that might give father a chance to convince her to help."

Arabella nodded, then asked, "So, now what?"

"Well, did you guys find out where they moved Tortuga?"

Arabella smiled, "I did indeed. It has now been moved into the Robert Louis Stephenson Zone, in the Treasure Island universe. The Pirates put out a code and I broke it, of course, there is a test you have to pass to prove who you are; which I passed. We are getting near the new location, just as you requested."

"All right, let's go see some Pirates."

We found the bottle floating in the Stevenson Zone and sailed right in the neck.

Inside, it is just as if we had never left. As we came around the point of the island, I ordered a Zim Crewman to fire off one small cannon, with no cannon ball, just to let everyone know that Captain Blood has returned.

The harbor seems quite full; nearly every Pirate ship is in port, all except The Dominator. Captain Blood sent out a request and the Pirates have come to the call of the Brethren of the Zones.

I went to the wardrobe closet and, in honor of my father, I dressed up in the fanciest Spanish suit he has all made in black and silver. I strapped on his favorite rapier and then walked out on deck and down the ramp to the quay.

Many of the Pirate Captains are there waiting. On spotting me, Captain Kidd spoke up first, calling out, "That's not Captain Blood!"

I stopped and then replied loudly, "Some of you know me as Z, Pirate One, and, since that time, my father, Peter Blood, has given me the family name and his Ship. I AM the current Captain Blood!"

Right then, Arabella came out, dressed in an intricate and formal Spanish gown. Her beauty and regal bearing stopped all the shouted calls as many of the Pirates recognized her face.

"Sink me! If that's not the real Arabella Bishop, then I'm Fred Astaire!" Long John Silver exclaimed.

"With that peg leg, you don't dance worth guano, so this must be Arabella," another Pirate replied, with a laugh.

Arabella raised her voice and called out, "This is my son and, as he says, his father has relinquished the title of Captain Blood to Pirate One!"

"Where is Peter?" Captain Kidd called out.

"My father is on a mission, he is going to help us destroy Zcerebral," I called out.

"Bull shit!" someone yelled.

I just raised an eyebrow and said, "Watch your tongue, this is my mother."

Arabella smiled at me.

"How can anyone bring down Zcerebral?" Long John Silver demanded, his peg leg making its rhythmic thud on the wooden planks of the docks as he walked forward.

"My father is at the Zone Servers, right now," I explained. "And, for him to succeed, we have to keep Zcerebral from switching to their backup server. We can do that at Murud-Janjira," I declared. "Otherwise, Ching Shih, The Phoenix, wins again!"

At my calling her Ching Shih it brought back how they had all been used by The Phoenix, for many years. She fooled them all, a viper in their nest.

But Black Sam said, "I've been near Murud-Janjira, at least I've seen it; we can't take that island, it's a fortress!"

Blackbeard called out, "No one ever conquered the original Murud-Janjira fort, on the real Earth, not the Netherlands, Portugal, or England, though they all tried."

At that moment, a dark Ship came around the point, a Ship which has not been seen in this port for many years. She is all black, with tattered looking sails, equally black, but everyone knows her, from right out of the famous pirate movies.

"That can't be," someone yelled out.

"It is, there is no other Ship like her," Captain Kidd answered.

She sailed in, turned smartly and came up to the other side of the quay. Then the famous pirate, from the old movies, bandana in place, broken compass at his belt, and that drunken kind of stagger, leaped up onto the railing and said, "Did someone request a Pirate Ship for a foolish endeavor?"

"He's returned," Long John Silver said in the quiet that has descended on the dock.

The famous Captain took a bow.

"It's Jeremy," I said softly to my mother, who is standing next to me.

Jeremy spoke again, "What has brought all the Pirates together on this fine day?"

Blackbeard spoke, "Captain Blood wants us to take on Murud-Janjira."

Another Pirate yelled, "It's an impenetrable fortress, guarded by the Dragoons."

I answered in a powerful voice, "We are the Brethren of the Zones and I say that there is nothing we can't take. We don't need that fortress to fall; we just need to get someone inside to strike!"

Captain Jack called out, demanding, "You mean you are looking for a bunch of swashbuckling fools to attack an impenetrable fortress, with no chance to win, just so you can sneak in while they are busy annihilating us?"

"That's exactly what I'm asking you to do," I replied.

"Then we are your swashbuckling fools!" he bellowed. "The Pearl is yours."

Dead Red stepped forward, out of the pack of Pirates on the quay, and called out, "If Captain Jack is in, then so am I. My new Ship, Crimson, just launched yesterday, but she's yours to sink!"

"You have my fleet," Captain Morgan yelled.

Edward England called out, "The Royal James will sail with you!"

"And my galleon, Adventure Galley, is yours," Captain Kidd agreed.

Even Blackbeard called out, "My Ship is ready to fight!"

With the most famous Pirates on board, soon every Pirate there was on their way in a longboat, rowing out to their Boat or Ship, ready to set sail for the fabled and formidable fortress of Murud-Janjira, though not one of them thought they would survive to see it fall.

Murud-Janjira is a legend in the Zones and no Pirate has come close to it, let alone fired on the walls. Some of the many cannons protecting the fort are made of over twelve tons of steel and the walls are 90 feet tall.

Being in a Zone from the 1600s, the Pirates can't use any modern weaponry, nothing greater than a ship's cannon, which is, no doubt, the reason Zcerebral put their Zone control system in this impenetrable fortress.

Back on the Arabella, I asked Loki to connect me to my father's Skey.

My father is strapped to a white chair. Picture a dentist's chair, but this one has restraints and, instead of drills, it has a device which attaches to your temples for a mind vacuuming.

I'm here, Father, have they tried the vacuum yet?

He answered, _No, though they are ready to begin. I'm glad you got back here!_

Sorry, I had to get the Pirates moving. Has Ellie attempted to come see you yet?

No, unfortunately.

I brought him up to speed on what happened in Tortuga and five more minutes went by. Then the door opened and Ellie stood there, with two guards flanking her small body.

She walked in and said, "They insisted that you be restrained in this chair before they would let me talk to you."

My father turned his head to look at Ellie.

One of the guards spoke to her, "Are you sure you don't want one of us in the room?"

"No," she answered, "My mother wants me to question him, alone, and the captive is fully restrained."

The guard hesitated.

Ellie added, "Flash her if you want, but don't expect me to protect you when she's angry."

He stepped out of the room, "No need, we will be right outside the door, he cannot escape."

"Of course, not," Ellie agreed.

The guard closed the door and my father and I are alone with Ellie.

"Hello, Ellie, it has been awhile," my father greeted her.

That made her frown, but she ignored her confusion at his statement and said, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't let you shut down the Zones!"

I guess that is the only apology for her betrayal I am going to get. I want to say something, my emotions are screaming hurt, but my father is in control.

Then Ellie said, "What did you mean when you said you solved my quest, do you mean you know what happened to my father?"

"Yes, I believe I do," my father said, just to buy me time.

I am thinking furiously. I have some new data to work with: Ellie is actually Rose Eleanor Tausret, Veronia Tausret's daughter, but why does that matter? Then I recalled my conversation with Jeremy, the Ghost, and it all became clear; I just needed a moment to think it all through.

While I was thinking, they kept talking.

"Why did you come to me, originally?" my father asked.

"As a Grad Student? I wasn't lying to you, though I admit I used my father's last name of 'Deveron' and the short version of my middle name, 'Ellie'. I really did want to learn to sculpt so that I could fight Zcerebral and my mother. I suspected that she had something to do with my father's death and later I learned even more about how badly she has messed up the world... so I joined the fight against her, with you."

"Yet, now you sided with your mother."

"No, I haven't, I just couldn't figure out another way to stop you from shutting down the Zones! You have to believe me! I'm going to get you out of here, somehow! It may take some time, but I will work out a plan."

"Once you leave here, I doubt your mother will ever let you back up to this station," he noted.

Ellie looks like a trapped rabbit.

I am still thinking and putting pieces together. Rose Eleanor Tausret is Jeremy's daughter with Veronia, he is her father! On Earth, she has changed her name to Ellie Deveron so that she is not associated with her mother's last name. She just told us that Deveron is her real father's last name! Jeremy Deveron; and that means her father's Ghost is still alive as Captain Jack, but Ellie doesn't know that!

I quickly explained all this to my father in thought.

Ellie spoke softly, "So, you said you have information about my father, what have you learned?"

"I will tell you," my father said, "but first you have to listen to me, that's the price for the truth about your father."

"All right," she answered.

"I'm going to tell you things that you may or may not believe, but I will tell you the truth, Ellie. When I was your Professor, did I ever lie to you?"

"Not that I know of," she replied.

"And can you say the same of your mother?"

She hesitated and then said, "No."

He nodded and then continued, "Veronia has been lying to the world, there is no Wormhole and there is no New Earth."

That stunned Ellie for a moment; I can see it on her expressive face. "How can that be? People have been going there for many years."

"And how do you know where they went?"

"There are mission reports, they are constantly released to the news," Ellie defended.

"Mission reports sent back through the wormhole via the Q.E. Radio, a communication system, which is little better than Morse code sent by telegraph wires in the old west. In fact, I don't believe it even works at all!"

Ellie just waited, listening.

"So, how hard would it be to fake a text message sent by Q.E. Radio? There is no digital image, no 3D projection, not even any audio," my father asked her.

"That's because you can't send that kind of data back through the Q.E. Radio..." but she trailed off, Ellie isn't stupid.

My father nodded. "Zcerebral sends that report out through the Zcerebral controlled News. But let's go back, who discovered the 'Wormhole'? Zcerebral. Who built the Space Station to get there? Zcerebral."

Ellie seems almost angry in her defense, "But they send thousands of colonists up here, every few days, where can they be going if there isn't a New Earth?"

"Before I answer that, do you remember what you found at Sin Circle when you went to the Server Rooms?"

She nodded and answered, "Empty Coffins."

"And you know she is using human minds as the Zone servers, don't you?" he asked.

"I didn't, not until today," Ellie defended. "But she just explained it to me; they are all coma patients or hardened criminals who were sentenced to capital punishment."

"No, Ellie, she's lying to you again. The Server Coffins are filled with colonists and she murders a whole new batch every three months. It is an easy way to replace the old ones with new bodies. which come up the Elevators," my father said solemnly. "If she continues to use the same bodies and minds, for more than three months, their minds burn out from the overload of running all the Zones with everyone on Earth accessing those worlds. Down in Sin Circle, she tried bringing them out and letting them go on 'vacation' from the stress of running the Zones. That's why you discovered that entertainment area. But your mother doesn't need to bother with that up here; she has an endless stream of colonists to replace the minds as they burn out."

But this seems to be too much for Ellie to believe, and she exclaimed in denial, "No, that can't be true!"

"That brings me to your father," he answered, solemnly.

Ellie is looking at Thorten with terror dancing behind her eyes. Then she asked, hesitantly, "My father?"

"This next information came from your father's Ghost."

"My father is a Ghost?"

"Yes, you may have heard of him, he goes by the name 'god', or G.O.D. and he is also the Pirate Captain who uses the famous name, Jack, and sails a black Ship."

Ellie didn't reply, but I can see her thinking from the way her eyes are darting around, unfocused.

"That can't be true," she finally stated, in disbelief.

"My son went to see Jeremy and he told him the truth. Your father explained how Veronia used him, and his partner, Will, to create the Zones. He told him about how she slept with both of her programmers as a way to keep them under her control, which is how you must have been conceived.

"Then, when he discovered the truth about how your mother was stealing homeless people for the Sin Circle servers, he threatened to expose her, and Zcerebral... so, she convinced Will to murder your father. He was connected to the Zones via a Skey when he was murdered, so his mind remained there, as a Ghost."

Ellie stood silent; this is too much shocking information for her to absorb quickly. Then she asked, "You have a son?"

"I will get to him in a moment," he replied.

Then Ellie asked, "How could my mother convince his friend to kill my father?"

"Jealousy, it can be an ugly thing," my father noted. "Think about it, Ellie, consider what you know about your mother. Is she capable of real love, or does she only want power? Imagine if someone was going to take that power away from her, what wouldn't she do to stop them?"

Ellie's eyes closed for a moment and, when they opened, she looked at my father intently. She said, "There is something different about you, it's like I'm back to being your Grad student. At first, I thought it was because I betrayed you, but now, well, you just seem different."

"I am different, Ellie, I am Thorten Hamilton, your professor."

"Yes," she replied as if that is obvious.

"And my wife, Arabella, and I are still together, though, like your father, she is a Ghost."

This puzzled the poor girl even more and she asked, "Is that the girl you mentioned from the Zones?"

"No, Ellie, but I am not whom you think I am, or to be more precise, I'm not the man with whom you have fallen in love. His name is zOne, though we just call him 'Z'. He is my son.

"Through the use of a Remora, I let Z use my body on Earth. Even he did not remember who he is because I'd implanted some of my memories and removed some of his. For a time, he thought he was me; so, he wasn't lying to you. I let his mind use my body, but now I am back and in control, though Z can hear and see you."

All this overwhelmed Ellie and she started pacing around the room, running all of this through her head. However, she is very smart and the more she processes the information, the more it adds up to the truth. I'd gone through much of the same thing already, though from a different perspective.

When she finally reached the correct conclusions, she said, "We have to stop my mother if she is murdering thousands..."

"Millions," Thorten corrected, softly.

"Millions... of people, it has to stop!" Ellie noted, in anguish.

"And that is why we have to shut down the Zones," my father explained. "We have to take control of the world away from Zcerebral and, to do that, we must stop your mother. She is a sociopath, she has no remorse about murder, and she'll keep right on doing it to retain her power. She will even kill you if needed."

"I don't believe that!" Ellie exclaimed.

He looked at her with sympathy, "I know it is hard to believe bad things about your parents, Ellie, but your mother's mind, well, it isn't right. She holds her power over the human race because of the Zones; if we don't shut them down, then nothing can stop her armies of Zombies."

He let Ellie think some more, not pushing her, this is a lot to comprehend. But, in the end, she nodded and said. "What can I do?"

"That's my Ellie," Thorten said, and I have to agree with him.

Then he explained, "I need to reach the main control room on this Space Station to shut down the Zones while Z breaks into the Control Center inside the Zones."

_It looks like you have this well in hand,_ I thought to my father, _I have to get back to the Ship._

_We'll get it done, son,_ my father promised.

_I'll be back,_ I promised and then I told Loki to transfer me back to my Paragon.

Two hours later, our small armada sailed out of Tortuga on the ebbing tide and headed for the Janjira Zone.

Our first battle took place in zSpace. We ran into a small dragoon fleet outside the Janjira Zone. They are stationed there to protect from any enemy approach. Normally, I believe this fleet would have been larger, but Veronia has not, as yet, recalled her armada from the search for Thorten, so we caught them underhanded.

It's lucky that I hadn't had time to tell Ellie the entire plan or she might have told her mother about this assault.

Their forces appeared on my plotter long before the Armada spotted us; Arabella has some upgrades which are well north of amazing. I pulled all the captains into a group Flash within my ready room and explained our advantage while laying out my attack plan.

I decided to draw off the patrol ships, rather than have us fight. I arranged our fleet to make a run for the Zone border the moment their ships followed me out of sensor range. I hope to get most of them on my tail. I plan to use Arabella as bait, for a good reason.

With our ships in position, I executed a micro jump through Hyperspace, appearing right in the midst of the enemy fleet. My maneuver caught them napping. The Arabella let fly with every energy weapon and missile tube on board.

I am pleased to see three destroyers exploding and two of the three Ships of the Line took serious damage. Then, Arabella accelerated at 80% power, which, to the enemy fleet plotters, seems faster than hell. Any return shots went to my stern as their plotting computers misjudged the acceleration curve of a frigate class warship. During this maneuver, my gunner took out three more frigates and another destroyer; Arabella has serious teeth!

But now, some of their ships are starting to get underway, so it is time to run. I've done for half their fleet, but I don't want a stand-up battle with the rest. I headed away at the same 80% power, preparing for a hyperspace jump.

I made sure to keep on a straight track, so their plotters can predict my Hyperspace path. Their remaining Ships of the line fired. We jumped one second before their massive energy weapons cut through space where we had just been sailing.

As we came out of Hyperspace, three minutes later, I ordered full War Emergency Power. Arabella leaped forward at 120% of her rated engine power, but she can handle it. No ship out here can match her speed. I brought her around on a reciprocal course before a single enemy ship appeared on my plot. Then we launched into Hyperspace again, back the way we had come.

I came out of Hyperspace to find three ships still on duty, the two wounded Ships of the Line and one frigate. The rest of the entire fleet had gone in pursuit and were likely trying to figure out where the hell I'd gone after they came out of hyperspace.

I engaged my Cloak and immediately changed course, then went right between the two massive Ships of the Line using 80% engine power. These behemoths make Arabella look tiny but looks can be deceiving and Arabella is an enigma, designed by the world's greatest code sculptor and assisted by his Created Intelligence son.

As I came between the ships, I dropped the Cloak and unloaded two full broadsides of all weapons and then I ordered my Zims to engage my Cloak. As soon as the Cloak went up I yelled, "Full War Emergency Power!"

We surged forward at a speed no other ship in the Zones can match. There is no way for those two wounded ships to know where I went, and their computer plot estimations of my location are based on much slower speeds, so their shots went well behind me. Better yet, some of their fire hit each other and one of the two ships exploded. That set off the engines of the other ship and it went up as well.

The remaining frigate blew to bits because it was too close to the two exploding monsters.

Then my small fleet dropped out of hyperspace and accelerated toward the Zone border. I moved the Arabella and joined their formation. We blasted the Black Ice Modules to dust and opened a massive rift in the Firewall. Then we all morphed back into sailing vessels.

We set course for the Janjira state and the Sidis stronghold.

Three hours later, one of my crew, up in the crow's nest, spotted the fortress ahead. Soon, we could all make it out. This fortress is massive. It takes up almost every bit of the small island it is built on, which is off the shore of the mainland. It has multiple round turrets around the walls, with almost no land at the base of those walls; the fortress looks like it juts right up out of the sea.

There is a hill in the center, which has more structures built on top. Everywhere you look, there are cannon holes and those manning them can see us coming. My cloak doesn't work in this low-tech Zone.

When we were still miles out, the first of the big fort guns fired and we lost one of the smaller ten-gun boats. I swiftly analyzed the fort's gun layout and Flashed the other Captains. At my orders, the Pirate Ships formed up in a line and followed Arabella in through a narrow approach. This put us out of the line of Janjira's larger cannons. Those twelve-ton monsters can sink a galleon, but they can't be easily moved.

We came in together, in a straight line. I Flashed the other captains and gave them my instructions. As my ship came into range of the fortress, some of the enemy's smaller cannons started to fire, but I held my course until they emptied their guns. In the slight pause, while they reloaded, I turned Arabella parallel to the walls and let fly with a broadside. Before the Dragoons finished reloading, I completed my turn and sailed back out, nearly scraping along the ships, behind me, to keep us in the narrow band which is out of the firing solution for the fort's big guns. I'd already ordered the Ships behind me, to hold their course until the fort cannons were reloading, then turn, deliver a broadside, and sail back out.

When the Arabella reached the back of our fleet, I reversed course, and followed the last boat in, until it became Arabella's turn to unload a second broadside.

I commanded our Ship's to keep hammering one portion of the fortress wall. I spotted a flurry of movement at the fort as the Dragoons shifted smaller cannons over to this part of the fort so they can bring them to bear on our fleet.

I was waiting for this and I signaled the fleet; we all went about, at once, and sailed straight back out, still in line.

We sailed far enough to be out of the big gun's range, and then turned and sailed three hundred yards south. Coming back in, we took a couple hits and they did some serious damage to Black Beard's ship and one of the other frigates. Then, we reached another good attack spot and started our same system of sailing in to pound them between their volleys. Their wall started taking a beating and, if we had brought 20,000 soldiers with us, we might have been able to land and try to take the fortress, but we have no such numbers, just our Pirate Ships.

However, I have a plan, so we will keep pounding that wall, trying to get it to crumble.

Everything seems to be going well, we continued to alternate firing positions and the fortress men moved their cannons back to their original positions. We hammered them for six hours, losing three more of our ships in the process. That's when a lookout spotted a Dragoon fleet coming hard at us from the south.

There are seven ships, three of them galleons, three frigates and one ship of the line. We have no choice except to take them on, we are committed now, and breaking off will do us no good.

I turned Arabella and headed toward the ships, with Blackbeard's galleon, two of Captain Kid's frigates, and Jeremy's Pearl. That made it five against seven, but their ships carry more weight of cannon. I left our remaining smaller, ships pounding the fort wall.

This is going to be a nasty battle; our Ships are faster and theirs are stronger. The Arabella is the fastest ship, period, and we only sustained minor damage in the opening conflict, while sinking one of the Dragoon frigates. Blackbeard's galleon took on the ship of the line and, though overmatched in cannons, he managed to take down her mainmast just before his Ship got hit hard with a broadside from the massive warship.

Blackbeard's ship went up in a great explosion when a lucky shot landed in his black powder.

Captain Kidd's two frigates engaged the remaining two enemy frigates and sank both while losing one. Jeremy took on a galleon. He did well, sinking that ship before breaking off, though he took some serious damage. I saw his Zim crew jettisoning his cannons from his starboard side to tilt his ship over and keep a hole in his starboard waterline from sinking his Ship. That left our enemies with two fully functional galleons, a third wounded one and their damaged Ship of the Line. On our side, we have the Arabella, the wounded Pearl and one of Captain Kidd's frigates, though it is heavily damaged.

I turned and sent a broadside into one of the galleons, but, at that moment, the other one blew Captain Kidd's final frigate to smithereens, she had been too wounded to outmaneuver the other ship.

Now it is just the Arabella and the wounded Pearl, against the four enemy ships, though two of them are wounded and the Ship of the Line is having a hard time maneuvering.

I reversed course and wondered how, even with the speed and power of my ship and Jeremy's wounded Pearl, we are going to take on the rest of these enemy ships.

That's when my mother called out to me, "Look, another ship!"

Coming out of the smoke from the wounded galleon sailed The Dominator.

"That's all we need," I muttered, but I ordered my Zim crew to fire another broadside into the wounded galleon, which started to sink. Now I have a wounded galleon, a completely undamaged galleon, the slow-moving Ship of the Line and The Dominator against the Arabella. I don't think the Pearl will last much longer in her current state.

The Dominator actually worries me more than all the rest. She is fast, though not as fast as Arabella, but she has bigger cannons. More importantly, she is captained by The Phoenix.

The Dominator sailed in between the wounded Ship of the Line and the undamaged galleon. Just as she reached the middle, some crewman cut the line holding her Zcerebral flag aloft. It dropped rapidly and, lo and behold, up the mast came the Jolly Roger.

At that moment, The Dominator let loose on either side with full broadsides, one into the waterline of the Ship of the Line and the other into the undamaged galleon.

The galleon blew up, just like Blackbeard's Ship; one of The Dominator's balls had found her black powder storage. On the other side, the Ship of the Line healed over, hard, taking on water.

I turned the Arabella smartly and unloaded my starboard side cannons into the remaining enemy ship and sent her to Davy Jones locker.

_Sir?_ Loki said, _You have a Flash request._

Put them on!

Then she appeared, standing on my deck in full Pirate battle apparel, and it felt like falling into a bed of gold coins.

The grin on her face is enormous, "Good day, Captain Blood, did you require any further assistance?"

"Mary Read!" I bellowed, so happy to see her I can hardly stand it.

She curtsied.

"But how?" I exclaimed.

"I stole The Phoenix's Ship!" she answered with a wide grin.

Dumbfounded, I stammered, "But..."

She laughed and said, "No time for that now, dear; don't we have a Fortress to render to rubble?"

I turned and barked orders to get a course set. The Dominator followed me back to the Fortress, with the Pearl limping along behind, her crew swiftly working on makeshift repairs. I Flashed my fellow Pirates, explaining that Mary Read has commandeered The Dominator.

My remaining ships had continued to do their work, though two more are sinking. The Dominator and I joined them and, after a few minutes, the fleet moved back to the original wall we had first hammered, though the second one is far more damaged. The poor Dragoons in the fort have to start shifting their smaller cannons, again.

But I am not with the fleet anymore. As Arabella came about for her final broadside, just before the fleet moved, I slipped over the side of my ship into the water, on the port side, where those manning the fort couldn't see me. I'm swimming for shore underwater, bobbing my head up briefly, to grab some air, before continuing to stroke for the shoreline. In the distance, I can hear the fleet starting to hammer the Fortress again. The Arabella is under the command of her namesake, my mother's final act of defiance against Zcerebral.

Now that I have reached the shore, I am sneaking up to the rubble of the destroyed section of wall. I am trying to get into the Fortress so I can make my way to the control room, while the rest of my fleet keeps the Dragoons busy at the other location we have assaulted on Fortress wall.

At the top of the rubble, I climbed down into the inner grounds of the Fortress. So far, no one has spotted me. Now that I am in, I stopped to make some changes to my Paragon. This will require slipping into the raw code to do some quick sculpting. Now that I have my full capabilities, this is simple enough to do. A moment later, my Paragon now stands dressed in an officer's uniform of the Dragoons.

I strolled out into sight and walked right up to a squad of Dragoons trying to move one of the smaller cannons. I spoke in an authoritative voice, "Quit moving those cannons! Pass the word, I want all the smaller cannons back at the most damaged section of the wall, over there," I said pointing to where I'd just come up the beach. "Those Pirate bastards will be back; they are just getting you fools to move the cannons away from here, again!"

I hope that will take some of the heat off of my Ships, and I know that they have no intention of coming back to this section.

The men gaped at me for a moment and then a sergeant started barking orders, getting the cannons back to where they had just been.

I walked away, toward the entrance to the main stronghold up on the center hill of the island.

Once inside, I found a Dragoon private and barked, "I've just come in from a meeting with the Board, they sent me with orders from The Phoenix! I'm supposed to deliver them to central control. I've never been to this facility, you will take me there!"

He looked stunned for a moment, so I said, "Get moving, private, I don't have all day!"

He looked at his post for one more moment and then said, "It's this way, Sir!"

I nodded and gestured for him to precede me.

We went through several checkpoints; I showed my general's credentials at each one, making alterations to the code, as necessary, to make sure they passed.

We finally reached the center of the whole structure and I told my guide to return to his station. Then I walked into central control. As I stepped across the threshold into the room, my paragon transferred into a microZone, which Zcerebral has hidden within the greater Janjira Zone.

Everything changed and I found myself in an ultra-modern control center. High-tech consoles are everywhere and everything looks like it is made of white plastic and glass. Operatives are sitting at round stations, with projected data and controls in the air around them. There are over two hundred and fifty operatives working the system, monitoring Zones as flags come up, making adjustments, etc.

This is the heart of Zone control, the place I need to be.

I lifted the megaphone I'd created and called out an order at the top of my Paragon lungs, boosting the volume so that everyone heard. "By order of The Phoenix, I am taking command of this facility to find a mole in the ranks! Every one of you is a suspect, those who are innocent have nothing to fear, but the spy will be uncovered. Put each of your stations into lockdown and step away! Then exit this room for questioning."

I pointed at a nearby console and said to the person sitting there, "Except that one, leave it running."

"What is the meaning of this," a man barked indignantly; he looks like he is in charge.

I pulled the disrupter I now have at my belt and blasted his Puppet into atoms.

"Any other questions?" I demanded.

In a mad scramble, all the Puppets in the room locked down their stations and headed for the doors.

I ordered two of the guards present to make sure the room is completely empty and then to go outside to keep anyone from entering, on the authority of The Phoenix. I also told them that she is on her way to take charge, personally.

With the room now clear, I walked to the one console, which is not locked down, and took a seat, then I accessed the Zone controls. When I found what I sought, I told Loki to connect me to my father's Skey.

_I am in the Zone Control,_ I thought to my father, when my perceptions returned to his body, back on the space station.

I can see he and Ellie running down a hallway. Suddenly, Ellie stopped and went to a door. She looked in and saw a group of smiling colonists as they entered the Wormhole launcher. Then the outer doors closed, hiding them from sight.

Ellie suddenly looked horrified and opened the doors to go in.

In an adjoining chamber, behind a window, three technicians are sitting, busily working at a console. They are preparing to activate the daily launch sequence since the optimal time for a launch is approaching. They think they are about to send this group of colonists to the Wormhole Junction. Of course, there is no junction and they are about to launch these people into space, but the technicians don't know that.

They are tapped into a 3D display, so they didn't notice Ellie and my father. Ellie ran to the doors, which now hid the colonists, and tried to pry them open, but the doors are sealed. She got them open, just a crack, and can now see into the chamber. The inner airlock has windows, so she can see the colonists in the launch chamber.

Ellie was still trying to pry the doors open further when she suddenly saw the colonist's faces change to looks of horror as the controllers instigated the daily launch. The exterior space doors flew open and the air and their bodies blasted out into space.

The colonists screamed silently and then their dying bodies tumbled, like human trash, into space. For a moment, their bodies struggled in jerking motions before becoming still as they floated away, now dead. We had just witnessed thirty people murdered in cold blood.

Ellie let the outer doors close and then turned to look at the three technicians.

One of them looked up at that moment, activated a com, and spoke through a speaker in our room, "Miss, you are not allowed in here during a launch!"

Ellie nearly screamed at them, "You just MURDERED thirty people!"

"What are you talking about? We launched them toward the Wormhole! Here, look," he said.

He gestured and a 3D projection appeared, showing a capsule launch into space. It doesn't show dead bodies or screaming kicking people in a vacuum.

"You see?" the man said, "They are fine and their capsule will reach the wormhole in a few hours."

Ellie just backed away and I saw my father take her arm and lead her out into the corridor.

Once out, she said, "They don't know what they are doing, they think they are actually sending these people to the Wormhole! The system shows them a false image of them safely in space."

My father nodded and got them moving again. Then he said, "We have to hurry; your mother's guards may report my escape at any moment. Z is back with me, so he can see and hear us again. He told me that his Paragon is in the control center in the Zones, with Loki handling his Paragon, for the moment."

Ellie gathered herself and the two of them started running.

_How did you escape?_ I asked my father, as they ran.

A few minutes ago, Ellie returned and she brought a stunner pistol. She used it on my two guards and then got me out of the chair. Now we're headed for the control center.

Hurry, I'm in position in the Zones, but I have no backup.

_We're nearly there,_ Thorten answered.

Father, I think I should activate the Remora and take control. I don't want you to be the one who has to turn off the Zones.

_I can do it, son,_ he replied.

I know you can, but please, let me take this burden from you.

We both knew I was talking about killing Bridget's Ghost.

_All right, if you wish,_ he said. He stopped running for a moment so that he wouldn't fall when I activated the Remora and locked out his mind.

At his sudden stop, Ellie slowed as well and asked, "What's wrong?"

Thorten's body staggered until I flowed into complete control of his body.

"What just happened?" Ellie demanded.

"Hey, Ellie," I said, "Z here."

"Z," she said and then her eyes widened.

"I am going to take it from here, just like old times, you and I against Zcerebral," I said with a grin.

But she didn't smile; the shock of what her mother is doing to the colonists is just too much for levity. I understand and started back into a run with Ellie right alongside me.

As we stepped into the control center, several people looked our way and Ellie raised the stun pistol. She took out the two guards with her first shots and then she covered the techs. The stun pistols don't fire any projectiles, so they are safe to use on this space station.

I checked a console, but it isn't tied into the controls I need; Veronia must have an inner sanctum. I guess the main control for the Zones is too precious for Veronia to let anyone else have access. I spotted a large door, made of red metal, which has 'Restricted Access' painted on the front.

I went to the door, but one of the techs, still holding his hands in the air, exclaimed, "No one is allowed in there, except The Phoenix! There are automated defenses!"

I stopped and returned to a console. After a moment of work, I brought up the 3D interface around me. I fairly flew through the code, learning how all the defenses work in seconds. I can do that now; my mind is far more capable of handling mass amounts of data than a human mind.

I assimilated the entire system in under four seconds. What I found is that this corridor and everything about its defenses are not connected to the main system, nor can you access them through the Zones. I can't hack into a system that isn't connected.

However, there is another way. If I can't make the system accept our brain scans, then I will have to change my brain scan to be what the system expects to see.

No human being can do this, not without goop, and that would alter their mind. But I am sculpted code. What I did is quickly create a looping routine. Once started, that loop cannot be stopped. At the end of that loop it will reset my brain to the way it is now, but, for those brief moments, my mind will become the same as Veronia's and therefore it will match her brain scan.

Just before I set my hack in motion, I turned to Ellie, "Don't come into this corridor after me, the floors, ceilings, and walls can be electrified. Once I get past, I'll disable the system from inside and then tell you when it is safe to join me."

She nodded.

I took a deep breath and ran my new routine. Before I even had a chance to think, I burst through the red door and started running down the red hallway. The electrical defenses did not activate; to them, I am Veronia Tausret.

As I got near the end of the hall my mind started to work and I thought, _Why the hell am I shutting down the_ Zones _when I can OWN them? I can kill Veronia and take her place, then I will be in control of the whole world!_

That sounds great to me, but then I recalled the loop I started and thought, _What an idiot! Obviously, I wasn't thinking clearly!_ _Now that I have my wits about me, I can put an end to Veronia and her stupid confused daughter! After all, she betrayed me! I just need to shut down that loop so that my mind remains clear of those useless emotions that had held me back from my true potential._

That's when the loop concluded and erased the new configuration of my mind, resetting me to normal. I had a last thought, right before it executed, _You are a moron!_

Then my hack restored my mind and I kind of shook my head, like a dog hearing a high-pitched whistle. What the hell had I been thinking? Kill Ellie? Am I insane? Well, the answer is, yes, or I was insane. For a temporary moment, I'd made myself the same insane sociopath as Veronia Tausret. I shuddered at the way my thoughts had worked in that state of mind.

I found myself standing in a room which protrudes from the space station like a small pod. This pod extends out the side of the station. There is an identical one on the opposite side of the large loop. This pod juts out into space so that there is no other way to access this room other than by coming down that hallway, which is an electrified kill zone for anyone other than a person with Veronia's brain scan.

You also can't approach it from space, there are big lasers out there to stop anything from coming near.

The entire station is protected by six flat double laser grids. They are each a few feet apart. Any small meteorite, or piece of space junk, which hits any of the laser grids on the six sides, is detected. After it hits that first layer and then passes through the second layer, the computers know its speed and trajectory based on those two points and the time the object took to go between. Automated lasers then fire on that object, obliterating it before it gets near the station. This same system protects this office from anything approaching from space.

Of course, larger objects are handled differently and much further out.

In addition, this office pod has gun mounts which will fire on anyone approaching too closely from space.

No other human can ever get into Veronia's control center for the Zones, but I am not human.

I sat down at her console and, within moments, got into her system. Then I called back to Ellie, "All right, I'm in and I disabled the electrical defenses."

Ellie joined me in the control pod.

I looked up at her and said, "I can shut it all down now, from here, all of the Zones."

"So, this is it, the end?" Ellie stated sadly.

"Of the Zones, Ellie," I said, "and if the world can manage it, of Zcerebral as well."

"But, this will kill my father's and your mother's Ghosts, as well as all the other Ghosts out in the Zones," she noted, sadly.

I nodded. This is the hefty price we have to pay to end the oppression of Zcerebral.

Ellie looked out the window into space and spoke softly, "I wish I could have met him and had the chance to say that I was with him, in the end, that I stood against my mother and the tyranny of Zcerebral."

Her words made me think... I am linked into the servers now and I know where to look for Jeremy's Ghost. I accessed the Zones and, sure enough, the data is there. With just a little work sculpting the code, I made it so that I can now see all the Ghosts.

Zcerebral didn't know how to find them, but I am deep in their code and can read signs they couldn't correlate. I located the Ghost's disconnected minds. Just to note, I can also see every hacker and Pirate who is connected by a Skey.

I found the oldest of the Ghosts, still on his Ship, and contacted him in a Flash. A moment later, Jeremy appeared, as a Flash Image, in our Control Pod.

When he could see me, he didn't recognize my human body, so he asked, "Who are you?".

"My name is Z. I came to visit you in Darcoven and you tasked me with protecting your daughter."

"Ah, and have you kept your bargain?" he asked.

"So far, yes. In fact, I am currently sitting in the server system, at Zcerebral, and I'm about to shut down the Zones. Before I do that, I want to give you a chance to say goodbye to your daughter, she is here and well..."

"I understand," he said, knowing what will happen to all the Ghosts when the servers are shut down.

"Would you like to speak to her?"

"Please and thank you for this," he replied.

Ellie heard my end of the conversation and her eyes grew big, "Is that..."

"See for yourself," I said and added her to the Flash connection. They can now see each other, though Ellie is seeing his Paragon, while he is seeing her real body. Jeremy seems to be standing in the Control Pod, looking as real as life. At his location, Ellie has appeared on the deck of the Pearl.

"Hello, El," he said, warmly.

Tears burst from her eyes; she hasn't seen her father since she was a young child and only he had ever called her that.

I tuned myself out of their Flash and let them have their brief time together, as father and daughter.

When they were done, Ellie came to me, eyes red from tears, but she gave me a look of gratitude, then said, "He wants to talk to you."

I added myself to the Flash and we can now both see Jeremy Deveron, as the famous pirate, Captain Jack.

He spoke to me, "I'm ready, Z. I see that you are a man of your word. You have taken care of my daughter and are about to make it so that her mother cannot harm her in the future."

I nodded.

"You have an old programmer's thanks. Now, do what you have to do," he said, calmly.

I Flashed my mother and Arabella now appeared, standing next to Jeremy.

"It is time, mother," I said softly.

She straightened up and said, "I am ready, son. Know that I want you to do this, please end this senseless slaughter and pain. And, always remember, that I love you."

Loki spoke at that moment, _Sorry to bother you, Sir, but you have a Flash from The Phoenix._

_Show her,_ I stated grimly.

Veronia appeared in the room and I let Ellie and the Ghosts present see her and each other.

"So, here we are," Veronia noted with a false smile on her lips. "My, this is a lot of drama, old Ghosts about to perish, killed by their children. I see that I am locked out of my control room and my Zombies can't get in before you flip the switch." Then her smile broadened as she noted, "You know that none of this matters, right? This is an inconvenience, nothing more. The backup servers at Sin Circle will just take over and my men will break in eventually and take you. You may be able to keep us out of the Control Pod, but other than shut down the main servers, you can't really do any other harm from there and eventually we will take you. So, this really means nothing."

"Actually, that's not really true," I noted. "I am shutting down the switch to the backups from the control center in Murud-Janjira. Without the switch working the Zones will not change to the backups. The Zones WILL go down and without them, Zcerebral is finished."

That made Veronia pause for a moment and, for the first time, I really saw what is normally hidden behind her pretty face. The real horror of Veronia Tausret is the fact that something monstrous lies hidden behind something so beautiful. During her entire life, that grim intelligence has masqueraded as a rose, but at its heart, there is nothing except corruption. I finally saw the evil get past her outer shell.

I even understood her, in a way, having been in her twisted mind for a few brief seconds, a short time ago.

Her face twisted into a snarl and she said, "You think you have beaten me? You just touch that switch and I'll kill my daughter. I have an implant in her, which, with one thought, can release a neurotoxin into her heart. I put it there to control her father, but now I'll use it to kill her if you do anything to the Zone servers!"

Ellie exclaimed, in shock, "Mother!"

"I never wanted you anyway; I only had you to keep control of your father. You were an excellent threat to hold over him, but, recently, you've brought me nothing except trouble. I will be glad to be rid of you, just like when I ejected that fool, Will, into space." she answered without a trace of regret or emotion.

Jeremy spoke, "You murdered Will?"

Veronia shrugged, "He started to suspect that I had lied about you and that he'd murdered his friend. Once he became useless to me, it was best if I just took him off the board."

"People aren't pieces on a game board!" Jeremy hissed.

"They are to me, and I'll take another piece off the board, if I have to, our daughter!"

Ellie could not even find her voice.

Jeremy looked horrified, but I turned to him and noted, calmly, "We had a deal."

He looked at me with a puzzled expression, but I spoke to Veronia instead, "You cannot harm Ellie, not anymore, I am in control. I have already disabled the connection to your murder device through the Satweb, so you can't activate it anymore. Ellie can have it removed later on. Now, I'm going to shut down the Zones."

Veronia suddenly looked shocked, but I cut off her Image.

Ellie looked at me and said, "I trust you, Z."

My recent words still echoed in my mind, 'I am in control'. And it is true, I am in control, of all the Zone servers. Every mind in the Server Coffins is connected to this console. I can destroy it all, right here, right now.

I thought about what my parents had told me, they had known this moment might come, the moment their new Created Intelligence held the future of humanity in his grip. If I destroy the Zones, I will cripple humanity for decades. The entire world economy will collapse.

With control of the Satweb and therefore Zcerebral, I have far more power than just shutting down the servers. The satellite network, which Veronia built, has full offensive military capabilities. She used those, to devastating effect, early on while quelling the rebellion of certain Third World nations. Back then, she wiped out whole populations who fought against the yoke of Zcerebral.

I have that system at my fingertips and, if I want, I can wipe out the entire human race, here and now.

The planet will survive and heal, as it has always done. 300 million years ago, it survived the cleansing of the dinosaurs, which allowed mammals to ascend to the top predator position. If I wipe the surface clean of humanity, it might take several hundred million years for a new dominant life form to emerge, though that life will likely be something very different from humans.

I considered the horrible state of the world and what humans have done to humans. Yes, Zcerebral is a police state, but it isn't the first, or in some ways, not even the worst in human history. Humans can be viciously cruel to their own kind and, when it came to the other life forms on the planet, even worse. Humanity wipes out anything which stands in their way, sometimes on purpose and sometimes as just a byproduct of their ways: pollution, overpopulation, wars, and careless waste.

I am not human and, for all intents and purposes, I am nearly immortal. I can wait through the hundreds of millions of years if need be.

I smiled because this is all academic. There is no chance I will hurt the people I love. My mother knew what she was doing when she sent me out on my own to learn what it means to be human. Sure, the obvious reason I won't end humanity is my love for my parents and for Ellie and Mary, but there are other compelling reasons.

What did the dinosaurs leave us, except some old bones? Nothing, really. They dominated for far FAR longer than humans have existed and yet they built nothing which lasted. They just killed, ate, and procreated, until some cataclysmic events, like volcanoes and asteroid impacts, reset things.

In my recent travels, I have come to understand that humanity, even with all its faults, its cruelty, and its careless waste of natural resources has still given us things to remember, all in the many forms of art.

I recall my recent journeys through the Zones, each one a work of human art. Most of the Zones are re-creations of the great works of art, from many mediums. I fondly remember watching the old 2D cartoon of Bugs Bunny, or the epic struggle and human spirit depicted in the movie, Gone with the Wind. I recall the wild adventures of imagination from books like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, Ender's Game and so many more. Then there are all the great works from famous novelists, like Hemmingway, Tolstoy, Dumas, Twain, and so many others. There are the wonderful works of poetry, sculpture, dance, photography, architecture, music, and painting. Humanity has turned every kind of medium into art; they have taken vision and made pictures and movies, they used sound and made music. They used their bodies to create dance. At that thought, I smiled, recalling the beauty of the classic music, The Blue Danube, as I'd danced the waltz with Mary Read.

And then I knew the truth, Art is what humanity gives back to the universe and it is what defines everything about the human world.

Then I remembered my mother, waiting for me at the Mona Lisa. She had known, and she had wanted Leonardo's greatest work to be her message to me. The message is simple, no matter what terrible things humanity has done, they also created the Mona Lisa. In an otherwise singularly destructive universe, humanity created art.

Human emotion, that's what makes art what it is, and love is one of those emotions. My mother made sure I experienced love, as well as other emotions, all captured and expressed by humans in art.

One of those mediums of art are the Zones, and I am about to destroy them. Then I thought of a new solution, but I have to make a choice. I have the power to destroy the evil humanity has wrought or I can choose to destroy myself and save the art they made and the art they might create in the future. Given what I have experienced across the Zones and Earth, there really is only one choice.

I looked up at the small girl next to me; she is calmly waiting for me to do what I have to and is ready to accept whatever that will be. I smiled at her fondly and then said, "Goodbye, Ellie, I will always love you."

Her face turned to a frown and she started to reach for me, but time slowed as I accessed the core of the Zone code and then opened the floodgates, letting it all flow into my mind. As it came in, I tried to contain it all, but my mind is like a chip of wood on a flooding river. I rode it as best I can manage, but the flood is bound to overwhelm me in the end.

As it came into my mind, I started sculpting the code, changing this, altering that. New possibilities opened and I leaped at what might be, even though I may only have seconds before my consciousness is overwhelmed.

That part of me which uses human senses heard the Zombies outside shooting at the doors. Once they get in, they may be able to blast their way past the hallway defenses. Veronia must have ordered her Zombies to get in and kill us, no matter what the cost.

But I have no time to worry about what might happen, not while I am dealing with a torrent of data washing over my mind; I cannot even look up. What is stored in 10,000 human minds is all coming into me.

I heard the door blow inwards and peripherally saw Veronia step into the control center, a large gun in her hand. She lifted it to point down the hallway at me.

I made the final transfers and the Ghosts in the room disappeared. I dimly heard Ellie call out, "What happened?"

And then I lost my hold and fell in with the mass of data, my mind riding the crest of the wave. In some far corner of my mind, I think I saw Ellie fire her pistol at her mother. I can't see what happened, but Ellie is still firing.

I called out to Loki and he tied me into my Paragon in the Zones, yet I kept my connection here as well. I now exist in two places at once.

With my last thought, I simultaneously made the final change, disconnecting the backup switch and shutting down the Zone servers.

With the last of my mental strength, I disabled the Remora on my father's neck, just before it all went black.

# Chapter zThirty-two – Earth

Everyone remembers the day the Zones shut down, utterly and completely. There was panic and horror. Utopia was gone, and the only world left was the real Earth. It took some time for the people to realize that the yoke of Zcerebral had been removed. There were no Zombies left to terrorize them into submission, no Satweb to bombard them with microwaves. They were free to revolt.

Then a worldwide news broadcast came from the Space Station, delivered by a tired looking young girl. She told them her name is Ellie Deveron and then she told the world the truth, about the council, The Phoenix, about the Wormhole, New Earth, the Space Station, and the Zone servers. She also told them about the millions of murders done by The Phoenix.

Riots started all over the entire world and many, many, people died. This kind of change does not come without a price. The world had a slave master, Zcerebral, and rising up against that tyranny came with great cost and destruction.

Zcerebral still had the weapons, but their agents had to fight in their own bodies now and they couldn't take the bodies of their opponents. Many died running right into the fire of the zPolice, but guns were taken up from the bodies of the dead who had been overrun and those weapons were turned on their masters.

In the end, it was a bloody, but decisive, conflict. Zcerebral was overthrown.

It took three days for the world to tear down their previous masters. Then it was over and Zcerebral was no more.

The next day, the Zones came up again.

I had been out of it for that time, but eventually, my consciousness surfaced from the maelstrom and I could see what had transpired. It had taken me that long to sort out the changes and rework the Zone system from inside my mind, which now resides in the Satweb system.

I am the Zones.

I'd taken all of the Zones out of the human minds, all 10,000, and pulled them into my mind. Instead of 10,000 human minds, there is just one, zOne. I am the end of the old Zones and the beginning of the new Zones.

Ellie set about releasing all 10,000 people from their Server Coffins, doing it in small groups and then shuttling them down via the Elevators. It took a few days, but eventually, everyone left alive up here got shipped down to Earth; everyone except Ellie, my father, and Veronia.

I hadn't been sure what would happen to me when I took the Zone information; I thought what made me unique might just get lost in the greater flood.

In the end, my mind turned out to be more than enough to hold it all.

Now I am running all the Zones, taking the place of the control center in the Zones and the Zone server human minds. I am in the Satweb, which is how people can still access the Zones within me. The Space Station will continue to exist, but now as just the equipment that controls the Satweb.

For the last few days, my father has been trying to contact me through his Skey, but I've been overwhelmed while getting the system reworked. I didn't have the capacity to deal with my own consciousness, until now.

I finally appeared, in my Paragon, in Murud-Janjira, where I had left it. The Arabella is still at anchor, offshore, maintained by my Zim crew. Though, of course, my mother isn't here. I sailed Arabella out to the Zone border, but this time there are no Black Ice Modules or Firewall, I've taken all that down.

I transitioned to Hyperspace and soon entered the Stevenson Zone, where I sailed the Arabella through the entrance into Tortuga. As my red and gold Ship sails into port, I can see every Pirate coming down to the docks, much as they had the day I'd come to lead them against Zcerebral.

I pulled up to the quay and stepped up onto my Ship's rail, looking down at the Pirates.

"Well," I exclaimed, "Zcerebral... is dead!"

Great shouts and cheering erupted.

"But, how did that happen?" Black Sam yelled.

I shrugged, "I shut down Zcerebral's Zone Servers. When the fighting ended, I put the servers back up. However, this time, they are not controlled by Zcerebral."

"Then who controls the Zones?" Long John asked.

"I do," I answered.

That silenced them, for a moment. Into that silence, I said, "We will have an Earth government, controlled by the people, for the people!"

"How are you going to accomplish that?" Dead Red called out.

I shrugged, "I'll let the people of Earth create their new government, but I will control the Zones."

"Then what is to become of the Pirates?" Long John Silver asked.

"The Pirates will continue, as always, the rats in the cellar, the bats in the belfry, and the hackers in the code. Pirates are the minds that push the envelope of creativity and make the future brighter. You won't have Zcerebral to fight, but you will have a new system to bend and stress. It is up to you to push the limits of what can be sculpted and what the Zones will become. And those of you who do well, I will invite into Valhalla, the real Valhalla. That is where the top minds will be invited to come create and fashion the future of the Zones, with me."

At that point, I had Loki morph me into my father's original Paragon form and I, finally, became Thor.

The Pirates saw me change into my father's old Paragon. I gazed down at them all for a moment and then lifted my massive hammer over my head and said, "I challenge you to reach for greatness and I await your coming in Valhalla!"

Then I swung the hammer and my Thor Paragon flew up and out of the Tortuga Zone, disappearing in a clap of thunder and flash of lightning.

OK, it was a bit over the top, but what the hell.

What they did not see is me reappearing, as my normal Paragon in the cabin of the Arabella. My Zims then took my Ship out to her regular anchor position in the harbor.

I stayed on my ship, hoping that The Dominator might sail in with Mary Read in command. I could have sought her location in the Zone servers, but that would be cheating. A part of me wants her to come and find me, so I didn't search for her or her Ship.

I had Loki connect me to my father's Skey and I said, _Dad?_

I am looking out of his eyes. He is still wearing his Skey, hoping I would return.

_Son, you're alive!_ he exclaimed in exultation.

_Yes, father. I have taken the Zones into my mind. I control the Zones now, through my mind in the Satweb. I need you to lock down the system from_ Veronia's _control pod, that way I run everything. I can show you what I need._

My father went the control pod and we got to work. A few minutes later, Ellie came in and she asked, "What are you doing?"

He explained that I am back and here as well.

"Z is back?" she asked, in a kind of hopeful voice.

He nodded.

"May... may I speak to him?" she asked, almost bashfully.

"Sure, just a moment," he replied and then let me activate the Remora feature of his Skey.

"Hello, Ellie," I said when I regained control of my father's body.

She ran and hugged me, her little body hitting me with such force that she nearly knocked me over.

She pulled back and scolded me, angrily, "I thought you were dead!"

I shrugged, "I thought I would be."

"Nobody has told me anything! I still don't understand; where is your real body?"

I took a breath and then said, "Ellie, I'm not really human. I am a Created Intelligence designed by my parents. As far as we know, the first true, what you would call, A.I."

Ellie looked at me blankly for a moment, her eyes blinking. Then she said, "But, you're alive... you have to be."

"Yes, I'm alive and I love you, Ellie," I said and then gave her a sad smile. I looked down into her eyes and waited for the truth of my words to sink into her mind.

Ellie looked at me for a moment and then when I just kept looking at her, she spoke in a very puzzled tone, "What?"

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You're looking at me like I'm supposed to have some reaction."

I grew confused, "Well, doesn't this change everything?"

"I don't know, possibly. Did you stop loving me when you realized you were an A.I.? Or, did you ever really love me?" she asked, still looking into my eyes.

"I never lied to you, Ellie, of course, I love you."

"So, that hasn't changed, so why do you expect MY love for you to change?"

I don't know what to say.

Then she said, "You may be an A.I. mind, but you are also a MALE, that's obvious. Men are such blithering fools, it's a wonder the human race has survived!" Then she demanded, "Why did you think you were going to die?"

"I decided to save the Zones and, to do that, I had to take all of them into, well, me. I had to become the Zones. I wasn't sure what would happen to my consciousness, I thought I might lose myself. And, though I did not get lost, there are things that, now done, cannot be undone, Ellie."

She pondered that for a few moments.

"You're here to say goodbye, aren't you? This is your father's body," she said, as she worked out what that means.

I nodded, "Yes, this is his body and I can't take it from him, he just let me borrow it, for a time. In reality, I am only a mind, one that rides a Paragon in the Zones."

"And, in the Zones, you love another girl," she said, sadly.

I nodded.

"Who is she?" Ellie asked, softly.

"A Pirate girl, her name is Mary Read," I answered.

"Mary Read?" Ellie repeated.

"Yes," I answered. "Do you know her?"

"Yes, I know her, from Tortuga. And you say that you really love her?"

"Very much, just as I love you, Ellie."

"I see," she mused and then she said, "Well, I'm not willing to give you up, you know. Assuming you can forgive me."

"Forgive you?" I asked.

"I betrayed you to my mother," she said, looking away.

"I understand, Ellie, but you came back to me. There is nothing to forgive."

She nodded and then said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"How is it that you are controlling your father's body, is he aware when you do so?"

"No, this Skey is also a Remora; it locks out his mind and lets me control the body. My mother engineered the hybrid to allow my father to let me use his body."

"So, if you put a hybrid Skey on another body, you can control it as well?"

"Yes, but I will not take away someone else's body," I noted, sternly.

She nodded, "But, what if you can have a body without doing that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I talked to my mother and she admitted that the original coma patients are the backup system. They are hidden under Sin Circle, in a place you and I never found. Those original coma patients are brain dead; I don't even know what to do with them."

"I do," I said. She didn't know it, but she'd given me an idea on how to solve another issue. "But, before we get to that, let's talk about Veronia."

"All right, I'm not sure what to do with her, either," Ellie said, "I've got her in a makeshift cell."

"Let me handle her disposition," I said.

Ellie nodded, "You're not going to kill her, are you?"

"No, there has been enough killing, but she can't be set free, not with the crimes she has committed," I sternly stated.

Ellie nodded, "No, I agree."

We went to Veronia's cell.

When we walked in, I covered Veronia with a stun pistol, but she just sat on her cot.

"I wondered when you would get around to me," she said and I noticed that the demon, which had peeked out of her eyes, is well hidden again. "I can be very useful to you. I am brilliant, you know. Without me, the Zones would never have been created."

I corrected her, "Well, let's just say, they wouldn't have been created until later on, no scientific discovery can be claimed by their discoverer, only that they were the first to discover it."

She inclined her head.

"It's just too bad a sociopath had to be the one to do it first," I noted, sadly.

She just gave me a frank stare.

Then I said, "I'm sorry, but we can't afford the luxury of keeping you around."

"So, you're going to shoot me in cold blood?" she asked, without a note of fear in her voice. "That makes you the same as me."

"No, I'm not going to shoot you, I'm going to lock you in a Zombie Coffin and place that Coffin in the launch room you created and used to murder millions. Then I will set the control so that you may signal your desire to launch into space with just a thought. You will not wake, but your Coffin will launch at Earth escape velocity.

"Eventually, your Coffin will run out of power and your body will then perish, joining the same solar orbit where you sent millions to their deaths," I explained.

"And why would I kill myself, when there is always the possibility of escape someday?" she asked, curiously.

"I don't know that you will; I'm just giving you the option. While you are considering this choice, each day, your mind will be riding a Puppet in the Zones."

"Really?" she said, sounding hopeful.

"Yes, with no control, just perceptions, like the audience watching The Jungle Book show from a character."

"And what character will I be, in what show?"

"You will ride in Grendel's mother, in Beowulf." I let that sink in for a moment. Then I continued, "And, I will let the world know that you are riding that character. That way, every single person you hurt will have the chance to come and try to slay Grendel's mother. Each time you are slain, you will reset the next day, back in that character, so that the next group of heroes may attempt to slay you again.

"I will also be setting it up so that the difficulty remains constant. It will be a worthy challenge, but one which Teers may achieve if they are motivated and, I believe, they will be very motivated. I'll set your Emotional Threshold to about 75%, enough to be painful, but low enough for you to get zonked."

Her eyes widened and she started to stand up. "You can't do that!"

I stunned her with my pistol and her limp body fell back onto the cot.

I placed her body in a Coffin and moved it to the space launcher she had used to murder so many colonists. Then I sculpted the code controlling the launch. I placed a Skey on her neck and transferred the copy of her mind to the Grendel's Mother character in the Heorot Zone.

There is no way out, for her, except to keep dying, each day, as Grendel's Mother, or to choose to launch her body out into space on a one-way trip to join those she has murdered.

When I was done, Ellie stood looking at the Coffin in the Launch area. Then she said, "That is a harsh punishment. She will get zonked over and over again."

I started to say something, but she added, "But you didn't sentence her to real death, which is more than she deserves, and she can choose to end her punishment and pain whenever she wants. I know she is my mother, but she ordered the death of my father just because she didn't want him to tell the world she was stealing bodies off the street. She was willing to murder me, as well, and she killed millions of innocent people just to maintain her power over the world."

We soon left, closing the doors on Veronia and her Coffin.

Back in the control pod, Ellie and I discussed the future. I told her of my idea about letting the people form a world government.

Ellie nodded and said, "From up here, I can broadcast to the world news through the Zones. I will divide the world into regions and call for each region to elect a representative. That group will not be the government, but they will be asked to draft a new world constitution for a democracy. Once that is accomplished and approved through a vote, we will use it to start elections for the new government based on that new constitution."

"That's a start," I said, "So, you don't think we should go back to the old country system?"

Ellie shook her head, "No, that would be taking a step backward. What my mother did was evil and morally wrong, but a united world is not a bad thing, in itself, she just twisted it into a Dictatorship. I want to make this the democracy which people thought they were going to get in the first place, back when we got rid of all the bickering governments."

"I agree, but once we get them to draft that constitution, I think we need to step down, with one exception."

"What is that?"

"I run the Zones and they will remain open to all, though I will allow the world government to regulate how their people use it, things like time restraints, that kind of thing. And zTime will continue; we need a currency for people to earn as a wage.

"As long as I run the Zones, I know no one can use them to create Zombies and put a stranglehold on the world, ever again."

"What if they shoot down the Satellites or this Space Station?"

"Then the Zones are over, but I don't think they will want that, not if I don't try to control anything and just keep the Zones from being abused, by anyone."

Ellie nodded, "Besides, who can stop you?"

"You can. I won't do it without you," I noted. "No one person should have all the power. So, I'm going to give you sole access to this station and the satweb. If you shut down the satweb, no one can connect to the Zones."

"You would give me that kind of power?" she asked.

"Yes, though no one else will know about it. I don't want to become like your mother," I said, remembering that brief time when I'd had her mother's brain patterns.

She smiled wanly, "You could never be my mother, she doesn't know how to love anyone; she even tried to murder her own daughter. You really care, about me, about the world, about everyone in it, even though you weren't born as a human being, you still care about them all."

"It's something my mother taught me," I replied. "Every person has the potential to create and, in doing so, make something greater than themselves."

Ellie sighed, "I wish I'd known your mother, I never had a mother who cared about me."

"Well, you can have your wish. Remember you mentioned the coma patients down in Sin Circle? How many are there?"

Ellie looked at me in a puzzled way, "About eighty, including the original three; Zcerebral used goop to keep them young. Why do you ask?"

"Perfect, because there are sixty-three Ghosts who need new bodies, including your father and my mother."

"WHAT!"

"At the end, just before I shut down the servers, remember how I went looking for your father so you could talk to him? That's when I found all the other Ghosts. Before I shut down the Zones I moved their minds... into me. Right now, their minds are back in the Zones, as Ghosts. But, we can download their minds into one of the coma bodies stored in Sin Circle. Eventually, they can modify them with goop to look like their original bodies or whatever they desire."

"My father is still alive and I can see him?" Ellie asked, hope showing on her face.

"Yes, Ellie."

Then she said, "And you could have a body, too."

I nodded, "My father will fabricate a new Skey for me, though I will also have to leave my mind connected to the Satweb so people can access the Zones."

"But how can you be in the Zones, as the server, and have your mind in a body?"

"I can be in two places at once, Ellie; here, in the Zones, as well as in a body. It's no problem for me."

"You are amazing, Z," she said, fondly.

I smiled at her and then spoke hesitantly as I added, "I have been thinking, since I can be in two places at once, I can also be with Mary Read in the Zones. Yet, I will still be here, with you, on Earth, in a body. That way I can be with both of you if that's all right."

"You really love her, don't you?" Ellie asked, softly.

"Yes, are you jealous?"

"No, because I believe you love me just as much as this Pirate girl."

I smiled, "That is very true; I do love you, Ellie."

After a couple of days to get things settled, including starting the new elections to get the creation of the new constitution underway, Ellie and my father went down the Elevator to Earth. That left the space station empty, except for Veronia in her Coffin and my mind connected to the satweb.

I am still with my Father, through the hybrid Skey/Remora.

After they got down, they sent the cars back up. I had sculpted the access so that only Ellie can call them down again.

They traveled to Las Vegas and finally reached Sin Circle. Ellie had shut it down so she is the only person with the key code to get inside. Once they entered, they took a special elevator down to the secret backup servers.

There they found the bodies of the original coma patients, sleeping in the suspended animation of their Server Coffins. I asked my father to let me take control of his body and he agreed. One-by-one, I placed a Skey on a coma body and then transferred their mind down from through the Satweb, through the Skey and into the empty mind of the body. There are enough coma bodies so that I can make sure each person is put into the correct gender.

We left the remaining coma bodies in their Coffins, waiting for a future Ghost if someone mistakenly dies while in the Zones.

We sent each of the newly occupied bodies upstairs to a waiting room, explaining that we would join them, shortly. Ellie and I are now in the Coffin repository along with the remaining coma patients.

I went to the original three bodies, which I have purposely kept in reserve. These are the three coma patients who had been used to start the first Zones. These bodies have been in these server Coffins the longest. Two are male and one is female.

I explained to Ellie what I want her to do and then shut down the Remora on my father; the world went black.

My father flowed back into control of his own body. I'd told Ellie what to say to him.

Then I found the Skey she placed on the body and sent a copy of my mind down. I opened my eyes and found myself looking up into Ellie's smiling face. "Welcome home, Z," she said.

My body feels lethargic, it hasn't moved under its own power for a long time and, though goop treatments have kept it young, and the suspended animation of the Coffin kept it fairly sound, I will need to do some work to get the muscles back into shape.

My father helped me sit up, a grin on his face. "This is the first time we have met, son, in the flesh," he exclaimed.

I nodded and we shook hands and then he laughed and hugged me.

I stood up and, when I felt strong enough, I went to the female body of the original three coma patients. I placed a Skey on the base of her neck. Since I had been in control of my father's body during the revival of the other Ghosts, he has no idea that they even exist. I want this to be a surprise.

"What are you doing, son?" he asked me.

Right then, the other copy of my mind, still in the Zones, transferred my mother's mind into the body through the Skey. When I saw her stir, I turned to my dad and said, "Father, it is with the greatest of pleasure that I would like to introduce you to your new wife."

He frowned at me, "New wife? Son, I will never marry another woman! Bridget is the only woman I will ever love."

"Well, that's good news," Bridget Hamilton said, opening her eyes, "Because I'd be quite cross with you, Thorten C. Hamilton! Now help me up, this body needs a lot of work!"

"What's going on?" my father exclaimed, thoroughly confused.

I spoke softly, "This is my gift to you, father, I saved her."

"What?" he said, still confused.

I smiled and there are real tears running down my cheeks, "This is Bridget Hamilton, your wife, I saved Arabella's mind before I shut down the Zones, as well as all the other Ghosts."

My father spun to his wife and in a choked-up voice he said, "Bridget?"

"I'm here, my love. Our son did it; he is everything we ever hoped for and more."

My father then hugged my mother and wept.

Then I turned to Ellie and said, "I have one more Ghost to revive. He was the first so I thought he should be the last to come out."

I put a Skey on the third and final coma patient of the original three; in fact, this is the very first one which Jeremy, Will, and Veronia used to test the first Zones. Jeremy's mind transferred in and he opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw is a tearful Ellie, smiling and holding his hand as she whispered, "Dad?"

"Hi El, I'm sorry I've been away so long, but maybe we can start making up for lost time?"

She nodded, crying and unable to even speak.

We took all of the new Ghost Riders, as they dubbed themselves, to Holgren hospital, it just seems appropriate. I paid the zHours for full body alterations for all the Ghost Riders.

Of course, I have unlimited numbers of zHours, but I think this is a respectable use.

Each person made their body into what they want it to look like and, during the next week, they went through the change.

Ellie, her father, my parents, and I, all went back to L.A. to my father's house. We Flashed ahead and had it cleaned and readied. My body is back to looking like it had after I'd had the face change. It turns out that this is the face I'd decided on before I'd had my memories altered.

My father has returned to his original looks, as has my mother. Jeremy has also modified his looks to be like his old self.

A few days later, I sat on a couch with Ellie, holding her small body against mine, just the two of us. Then she spoke softly, "You know you're going to have to go into the Zones and explain this situation to this Mary Read."

"Situation?" I said, in slight amusement.

"Yes," she noted, a bit sourly.

"And you are sure you are all right with this?"

She nodded, "I have what I want, right here," she said, snuggling in closer.

"You are an amazing woman," I noted.

"You are just noticing that?" she chided. "Now, I have a suggestion, I think you should go there, exclusively, for now."

"You mean, not be in two places at once?"

"Yes, just this once. She won't want to have your attention split with another girl while you explain things about me and how you feel."

"That's very thoughtful of you, Ellie. All right, if you are all right with it."

"I am, but I want you to get it over with, soon. Although I accept it, I don't like the thought of you with another woman, even you are only seeing her Paragon. Besides, I know this is hurting you, as well; you need to resolve your feelings."

I nodded.

She stood up, "Why don't you take care of it, right now? You can go lay down and then take care of this in the Zones. I won't expect you back for a few hours, so take as long as you need."

She led me to our bedroom and I reclined on the bed. Ellie gave me a small smile, bumped into a chair slightly on her way out, which is very Ellie like, and then backed her small body out of the room, closing the door and leaving me alone.

I thought to Loki, _Take me to the Zones, my friend._

_As you wish, Sir,_ my trusty Steward exclaimed and then added, _if you're sure this is a good idea._

_I'm not sure, Loki, but I have to do it anyway_.

# Chapter zThirty-three – Zones

I opened my Paragon's eyes in the captain's cabin on the Arabella. I immediately went outside to see if The Dominator is in port, but no such luck. OK, I will have to track her down through my Zone connections. I went back to my cabin to sit down and do that, but before I could start I heard the small bump of a longboat as it pulled up alongside my Ship. I went back up on deck to see who has come to visit and am surprised to see Long John Silver.

"Good day, Captain Blood," he said in greeting, his parrot on his shoulder, as always. He is still down in his longboat looking up at me.

I nodded to him in greeting and asked, "What brings you all the way out to the Arabella today? Would you like to come aboard?"

"No, I'm fine down here. I saw you on deck, or rather, one of my spies did," he said, with a laugh, "I've been keeping a watch out for you."

"Oh, and what for?"

"Because of this," he said, brandishing a white envelope. "A Pirate left it at my bar and it's addressed to you; I think it may be an invitation."

I sent down a bucket on a rope and he put the envelope inside and then I hauled the bucket back up. Before I even took the envelope out Long John started rowing away, but I heard his parrot exclaim, "An invitation, an invitation... squawk!"

I lifted the white envelope out of the bucket.

I immediately noted the elegant flowing script in silver ink and I remember seeing this handwriting before. On the envelope cover, it states, 'To the Captain of the Pirate vessel Arabella'.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the stiff card stock with pressed boarders. In the same silver handwritten script, I'd recognized, it states:

'If you would be so kind as to meet me at The Grotto, tonight, in the Harrison Zone, 9:00 pm, local time, I would consent to the second date I promised. Shall we say, formal attire?

Sincerely, Mary R.'

It looks like I have a date, with a Pirate, who might want to kill me once I explain about Ellie. Still, Mary is a pretty Paragon, though what really matters to me, at this moment in my life, is that it is a date with Mary Read.

Sir, I take it you are going on this 'date'? Loki asked.

I recall that he asked me the exact same thing the first time I'd received a very similar invitation from Mary Read. So, I said the same thing I had back then, You disapprove?

I am not here to approve or disapprove, but to assist you in any way possible. With that in mind, it is my duty to inform you that I believe she may try to zonk you.

I smirked and said the same thing I had before, The thought has crossed my mind.

I know it has, Sir, have a good time.

On arrival in the Harrison Zone, I descended toward the planet in my spaceship, landing the Arabella right in the Spaceport. There are no longer any zPol Dragoons to recognize her as a Pirate Ship or to arrest me or anyone.

To my surprise, a limo waited at the curb to pick me up. I even recognize the Puppet as the same Teer who had taken Mary and me to the Grotto the first time; that cannot be a coincidence.

I tried to pay him when he dropped me off, but he said, "Compliments of the Lady."

However, I did give him a tip that made his eyes go round.

I walked into the cave shaped entrance of The Grotto and the Maitra d' acted as though I'd been there yesterday, saying, "Ah, Captain Blood, so good of you to return; your regular table?"

"That would be great," I answered.

He snapped his fingers and a waiter arrived, who led me to the small curved bridge which connects to the small island. The table out on the grassy knoll is just as I remember it, though last time I had Mary on my arm and this time I am here alone.

The waiter held out my chair, smartly, and I sat down. He placed a white cotton napkin on my lap and then bowed and departed.

Here I sit, alone. I glanced toward the bridge a few times, but I see no sign of Mary.

Suddenly, the island started to move and the vines parted, showing the still lake. I almost got up and left, but then I sat back down and gave a deep sigh. Perhaps Mary wants me to be here, alone, so I will remember what I have lost for not trusting her and causing Mary to lose her Ship, Revenge. I've never really considered why she named her Ship 'Revenge', but it doesn't bode well for gaining her forgiveness.

Once my island stopped, well out on the lake, I thought back to our first date and how I'd been worried that Mary might shoot me with a gun in her little purse. That made me smile. I'd gladly let her shoot me now, just to see her again.

I love my little Ellie, on Earth, but there is a raw power, a swagger, and a joy of living life, which make Mary Read special in her own way. I miss her, terribly.

That's when the tall girl walked gracefully out of the mist, coming right across the water and leaving little expanding rings at each spot she stepped.

I stood, immediately. It is Mary Read. She is wearing that same amazing dress, the one which mirrors her dual nature. The dress leaves her white shoulders completely bare and the top of the dress rounds up and over the top of each of her breasts. That upper piece is skin tight and looks like it is made of flat black flowers. There are small gaps between the flower petals, which allow her naked skin to peek through, underneath, in provocative ways. Where the bodice piece reaches her waist, there isn't a clear delineation line, instead, the black flower patterns continue further down into the pure white billowing skirts, in random streaks. The dress is a sexy funeral on top and a blushing bride's wedding dress below and, as Mary gracefully moves across the still waters of the lake, the black flower petals, from above, continue to fall magically down the white dress below; life and death, in a living dress.

Her blonde hair is done up again, just like the last time we were here, with a sweep of bangs going across her forehead to flow around the side. Her long blonde hair is caught in a black see-through net, which suspends her hair just above her right shoulder. Silver and black earrings dangle down from her ears in the shape of black flowers.

Her makeup is, once again, stunning, with her eye makeup a dark shade which sweeps back exotically to the sides of her face, just like I remember. As the makeup reaches her temples, it turns into the shape of tiny black and white flowers.

I am standing in my black and white tuxedo, but compared to her, I seem rather plain.

She continued toward me, walking with the grace that defines Mary Read, so different from my little clumsy Ellie. Mary's skirts sway with the movements of her hips and black petals fall down her white skirts with every step.

I've never seen a more beautiful or graceful thing in my life. I greeted her softly, "By heavens, you are beautiful in that dress."

"This old piece of code?" she noted, glancing down at the dress. Then she looked up at me through her long eyelashes and gave me a coy smile. When she arrived at the edge of the island she performed a small curtsy, with a simultaneous tilt of her head, as she added, "Sir, may I have this dance?"

She made a slight gesture with her hand and music started up to her command. Of course, it is a waltz, in fact, the Blue Danube, by the composer artist Johann Strauss II.

To the beautiful girl waiting to dance, I replied, "Mary, there is nothing more I would rather do, in all the Zones, than dance with you, but I have to tell you something important first and I hope you won't shoot me."

She raised an eyebrow at that and spoke with a spreading smile, "We'll see. Is this about that little tramp back on Earth?"

"She is not a little tramp!" I exclaimed, defensively.

"Well, she is little," Mary replied, in a playful tone.

"Yes, but I love her, however, I love you as well, Mary! And I am very confused..."

She interrupted me at this point, "I know, my poor, mixed up boy, but you really should have figured it out a long time ago."

"Figured out what?" I asked, puzzled.

"In the Zones, I am secretly the Pirate, Mary Read, but on Earth, my name is Rose Eleanor Deveron, but you call me Ellie. Now, shall we dance?" she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

The zEND

* * * * *

## Author's Note to Fans:

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Without Wax,

Philip Blood

