"Yeeee-hawwwwww!" Ranch Hand Cadena cries out as he plunges through a brilliantly glowing portal! Through it can be seen the battle-damaged rooftop of the Potemkin Central Tower... But mostly a surprised looking giant black fox scrabbling for purchase on the grass on the other side, his tail bottlebrushed out.

Margie's face rushes up at him, terribly wasted and eerily lit as if she were a ravening ghost! Then he smacks into the cryocoffin and crashes to the floor.

Margie Arcadia's Cryocrypt
A silvery cryosleep capsule dominates the somber dark gray room, which has been built in the shape of a pyramid seen from the inside. Mists curl around its base, and blue lights glow within the glass hood, illuminating the sunken features of a horrifically sick Margie Arcadia. Two monitors bracket her and feed lines run from fluid storage tanks behind her. A surgical center occupies one corner, a mock-up of Margie's bedroom fills the other, with the same live-posters that she had on the day Cadena howled her death. A hover-gurney lies to the side as if discarded. The four sides of the room converge onto a skylight high above, and double sliding doors exit to the south.

Chill air scented with ammonia and lilac washes over Cadena as he skids across the hard ceramic tiles, waking him from his Western-styled roleplay... And as if that weren't enough, a giant black fox crashes on him seconds later. Chains jangle across the floor, though Cadena notes dizzily that the feet are paws, not hooves.

Black Renard smoulders and his breath hisses painfully, billowing smoke from his nostrils. Renard shakes his head and tries to collect his senses. Cadena himself appears to be suffering no ill effects from transition to the real world.

It may be just Cadena's imagination, but somehow he can hear her, not physically, but as if she were nearby. "Oh! I look terrible," she says. "It can't be time to wake me up! I'd be Sleeping Ugly, not Sleeping Beauty. How much beauty sleep do I need?"

Cadena reaches out instinctively, then does a double-take to make sure he's not grabbing onto anything fragile or with buttons that shouldn't be pressed. He staggers back to his feet, putting a hand to his head ... then stopping and examining the hand, flexing the fingers as if to make sure they're really still there. He turns and looks to the giant fox and frowns.

"Monsieur Renard," Cadena says, "you shouldn't be here. I'm going to have to find a way back to the Gloaming for you. Are you injured?"

The giant fox growls, turning his baleful yellow eyes onto Cadena. "Contact... Lost. Default programming... Active. Enemy. Attack." He tries to collect his feet under him, presumably to carry out his directives.

"Ooh, that doesn't sound good," Margie's ghostly voice says. "I guess the foxy doesn't want to be our friend?"

"Out of character declaration - halt activity!" Cadena shouts, holding his hand out in a halting gesture. "I am unit AVA-808-X-024. You are out of bounds, and have entered a plot-restricted zone! Stand down for diagnostics and relocation!"

"Rrr?" Renard looks confused, but sits up obediently. Tiny little gears seem to be spinning behind his eyes as he struggles to process his location.

Sorry, young miss, Cadena thinks. I don't think he ever wanted to be our friend. But I can't put you at risk - and it's cruel for him to be subjected to this state. He readies his staff, clasping it in both hands, and moves forward. "Attempting makeshift relocation until authorities arrive." He rushes the fox.

The confused giant black fox continues to smoulder as Cadena rushes at him. The thinking look is replaced by one of utter startlement and shock.

"Doors open! Emergency!" Cadena cries out as he tries to shove the fox backward, in desperate hope that the doors might respond to such commands more so than any actual expectation that it should work that way.

Renard instinctively resists, digging his claws into the ground as he continues to burn. "Error! Unit BLK-1138-R-005 experiencing conflicting directives! Last known objective: achieve input line to ATLAS. Objective no longer in view. Default objective: destroy enemies of the BLACK. Unit AVA-808-X-024 is opposed to the BLACK." All this is growled in a gutteral voice that seems to be worsening as he speaks; perhaps his vocal cords are subject to the same decay as the rest of him.

Despite his objections, Cadena manages to push him halfway toward the doors, which open to show a marble-tiled and hardwood paneled hallway. This is definitely not a standard hospital; if anything, he would guess that it's Ms. Arcadia's home.

"Your form is degrading here!" Cadena cries out as he finds (not all that surprisingly, really) that moving a creature that is large enough to carry him like a horse isn't all that easy. "I need to relocate you to a portal or at least get you to a stasis pod before your condition deteriorates beyond repair!"

The black fox appears unimpressed. "Your method of relocating me is inefficient. Assist me in recovering my feet so that we may go to a more suitable location, enemy of the Black."

He tries to regain his footing, but Cadena is able to keep him just enough off balance that the fox fails to do so.

Footsteps sound from down the hall. Apparently those alarms going off have alerted whomever's at home.

Cadena looks alarmed when he sees that outside the doors there are just furnishings indicative of a private residence. "You are quite correct, unit BLK-1138-R-005. Do we have an understanding that you will cease hostilities until such time as we can return to Gloaming game bounds? If so, I will assist you in returning to bounds."

Renard growls low... But after a second, concedes the point. "Threat assessment of unit AVA-808-X-024... Minimal. Opportunity assessment... Favorable. Help me to my feet and we will return to the Gloaming and resume battle there."

"A postponement of the inevitable, I suppose," Cadena says, gasping. He shifts his staff to one hand, using it as a brace, and then attempts to help the oversized fox back onto its feet.

Without Cadena's active interference, Renard manages to get to his feet. He stands and shakes himself off dignifiedly... Taking no notice of the charcoal dust that sloughs off liberally, leaving dust upon the ground.

By the sounds of it, there are a security robot and two women approaching, one speaking to the other. "This way, Sasha! They've broken into my daughter's crypt!"

Renard turns toward the doors, as they seem the only viable exit to this room. His ears perk up as if he too hears the incoming footsteps.

Cadena calls out, "This is unit AVA-808-X-024, and unit BLK-1138-R-005. There has been a zone breach, a ... I don't know what the term is, but please call the authorities!" To Renard-Thing, he says, rushed, "I need to find a path to the nearest portal. Local units may behave as if we are hostile, but we must not harm them." And then he holds out the staff. "Please show me the nearest route to a place to stabilize this unit, so we can get him back home before it's too late!"

Margie's voice whispers insubstantially into Cadena's ear, "Is that my mommy? Oh, I want to see her!"

Black Renard growls, but seems willing to play by Cadena's lead for the time being. However, the footsteps come to an abrupt stop.

"Cadena?" says a disbelieving Ms. Arcadia as she approaches the door at a slower pace.

To her left is dark-haired Sasha Knightley, dressed in an unflattering orange jumpsuit of some cheap cloth-- probably not even smartcloth. Behind them is a top-of-the-line Eagle security robot.

Cadena's staff doesn't seem to possess the same Finding powers that it did in the Gloaming, unfortunately. The crystal at the tip of the staff glints dully in the cryochamber's dim lighting.

Cadena sighs, and quickly gives up on the failed "quick-fix" gambit. "Yes, Mrs. Arcadia. I am a version of Cadena. Please be warned. BLK-1138-R-005 is physically unstable, and identifies me as a hostile entity. I have informed it that it is out of bounds, and have agreed to escort it back to the Gloaming, if it will cease hostilities until such time as we return there - and, yes, I know that doesn't seem to make any sense. If you would please show me the exit, I will see to it that we are out of your residence as soon as possible."

Renard growls low as Sasha approaches. "Threat detected: minion of the WHITE." He glances over to Cadena. "Threat profile no longer insignificant. Cooperation will continue until betrayal."

Ms. Arcadia, a pretty blonde in an expensive looking jumpsuit that flickers and shimmers as if an aurora were playing across her body, gasps as she realizes Cadena is somehow humanoid. "Cadena! What are you doing here? How... Are you a manifestation of Cadena somehow, from Avatars?" She peeks around the corner of the door, checking that her daughter's cryopod is intact.

"I am a physical manifestation of the 'Brother Cadena' entity created for interaction in the Avatars online environment," Cadena answers. He keeps a hand on Black Renard's shoulder in what he hopes is a calming gesture, and keeps at the ready to intercept any attacks on the creature, trying to make it clear somehow to the latter that he's not abandoning their agreement.

Ms. Arcadia shakes her head disbelieving. "HECATE!" she calls. "What are two creatures from VR doing in MY DAUGHTER'S ROOM?!"

"Ms. Arcadia," Cadena says, apologetically, "please understand that this should be considered under strict confidence, but it appears that this malfunction has come about as a result of sabotage of a Q-Core unit at the Avatars facility. I need to find transportation back to the facility so that unit BLK-1138-R-005 can be stabilized and returned to its native envir--"

The aurora borealis playing across Ms. Arcadia's jumpsuit... begins to flow out of it and take shape as a separate woman next to her! In seconds, the Roman-dressed goddess stands at her side, stars across a shadowy outline, her eyes twin moons. "ANALYZING," she says, and her voice is as if three women were speaking at once, one young, one adult, one old and creaking. Her gaze sweeps across them.

Sasha would perk her ears up if she had ears that could perk. "Sabotage? What happened?" she asks. Her gaze goes to Ms. Arcadia at her side.

"Avatars..." Ms. Arcadia's eyes go hard at the mention of the company and sabotage of a Q-Core. "Do you know what was attacked? Did they lose any data?"

HECATE drifts closer to Renard. Up to now, the black fox had shown no fear of anyone, but now it shrinks back, perhaps deferential to her status as an AD, with much more powerful computation capability than mere AIs, no matter how much larger their physical frames might be. "INTERESTING," she observes.

"Isn't it already in the news reports by now?" Cadena responds, surprised. "There are armed intruders at the Avatars facility, holding employees at gun-point. They're meddling with the Q-Cores and creating deliberate instability. It's not just Avatars data that is at risk. There was a fold with Margaret's shrine environment - or else a copy of it. I don't have the expertise to analyze what all has transpired."

Ms. Arcadia laughs. "In the news? They are claiming a freak surge of cosmic ray activity has knocked out their Q-Link, and they are, of course, working around the clock to repair access to their services." Then frowns. "The simulation data... My father's simulation of North Bend. Do you know what happened to it?"

"... ideal time for a snatch and grab," Cadena overhears. "If this thing knows where the data is located..."

"There have been breaches between virtual realms," Cadena says, "as I have gone through several of them, and my physical state and personality profiles have undergone several changes as a result. I believe I saw one that looked like a simulation of the North Bend area, but it had been overlaid with a simulation of the new weather tower system that is being set up. But - this is important - Ms. Arcadia, you have to know: The WHITE believes that Margie can be cured. ATLAS misunderstood and apparently sent me right here - and this unit right along with me - but I have data critical to her recovery. I need to find the missing pieces."

"ANALYSIS COMPLETE," HECATE declares in her treble voice. "ATLAS HAS AWOKEN. CADENA CARRIES THE OBSERVER-SOUL OF MARGARET ELIZABETH ARCADIA. THE END IS NEAR."

"Mommy!" Margie's voice cries out to her mother. But she does not seem able to hear her.

"If you desire, Ms. Arcadia," Cadena says, patting Black Renard to let the creature know it hasn't been forgotten, "I can submit my personality profile to allow the observer-soul to speak using this physical form. Margaret wishes to speak with you."

"I... I..." She looks disbelieving, but comes closer to Cadena. The security robot moves in to cover the cowering Renard. Ms. Arcadia whispers, "Yes, please."

"I apologize for any discomfort that may arise due to the inappropriateness of form," Cadena says, and then he shuts up for a moment, and listens to Margaret. She's right here.

"Mommy!" Margie, in Cadena's body, moves to hug her mother. "Mommy, you've gotten smaller! So this is what it's like to be big."

Be careful, Margie! Cadena thinks, in the background. I'm a little bit stronger than you are.

Sasha looks surprised to hear the voice of a little girl from Cadena's throat. And maybe a bit envious of the hugging.

Ms. Arcadia oofs! at Margie-Cadena's enthusiastic hug. "There, there, honey-shnookums," she says tenderly. A tear wells up at the corner of her eyes, then drips down to wet Cadena's shoulder. "Are you all right? In pain? Did... Did you feel anything?"

"It was scary being trapped in my body," Margie recollects. "I couldn't move and everything hurt... And then I was flying up, and everything got real small, and kind of grayed out. I didn't know what to do, so I started thinking of my favorite place, and then I was there! I was in my garden, you know the one, with all the neat places I've been and I want to go, and..." She starts going into details.

Cadena, in the background, wonders at Sasha's expression. Does that reporter somehow know Margie? Was she missing her, too?

Sasha shakes her head. "I guess there's life after death, huh?" She eyes Renard, still smoking. "I wonder what happened to the gang... Nick and Jenny and Blake... Akiko."

Margie continues, "And then suddenly Cadena was there with all his friends! And the WHITE was there too, and told me to go with Caddie, so I did, and then there was a huge fight in Tesliem. And we fought giant robots!"

Ms. Arcadia cries on Cadena's shoulder silently, patting her daughter-in-dog's-clothes on the back. "Yes... Yes, of course you did. Did you beat them?"

Cadena softly thinks, Margie, I'm sorry, but we'll have to get going soon. We've got to get the big fox to a hospital facility, or back to its own world. It's going to turn into goo if we don't do something. I know it wasn't very nice to us, but I promised I'd help it get back home. I have to keep my promises.

"We did! And then we wound up on a rooftop where there was this big statue-- oh, Caddie's saying we should get a move on," Margie says. "Maybe we can take Foxy back to where he lives? It's some big place that looks like North Bend, but it isn't really, 'cause there are all these giant airships and gargoyle things and all sorts of weird people running around that can turn into wolves! And people with big bat wings and..." She takes a breath. "Sorry Caddie! I know, you don't want Foxy to die!"

Renard shudders as if about to go into convulsions... But manages to hold it in for the moment.

"But, wait-- Margie?" Ms. Arcadia shakes her head, her arms around Cadena's shoulders, smelling strongly of lilac. "Hold onto her soul for me please, Cadena. Keep her safe. I need that simulation data." She whispers. "It contains my genetic data... From before I was exposed to Robespierre's Revenge. If there's any hope of repairing her genes..."

Cadena thinks, Don't worry, Margie. I'll do whatever I have to, to get you back to your mother. He blinks, and returns to himself. "I'm terribly sorry, Ms. Arcadia. Thank you. I was not certain what the missing data might be, but that must be it. I will endeavor to find you that data. I may encounter resistance from ATLAS, but I will try my best. I hope that, once returned to its home environment, I may be able to negotiate with this unit for its assistance." He suspects that this "negotiation" may very well be very painful for himself, but he doesn't mention that part.

"Hecate? Can you find them a portal home?" asks Ms. Arcadia, taking a step back, straightening herself up.

Cadena interjects, "Caution: When I asked ATLAS for directions home, he sent me here. More specific instruction may be required."

HECATE replies, her voice threefold, "THE PATHS OF FATE FLOW IN WAYS THAT ARE DIFFICULT FOR MORTALS TO SEE. YOURS LED YOU HERE HERE. NOW IT FLOWS ONWARD. RETRIEVE THE DATA. ALL ELSE IS SECONDARY. SYNECDOCHE LOCATED..." Her eyes look into the distance. "INCREASING QUANTUM INSTABILITY LEVELS."

Cadena reaches out to hold onto Black Renard. "Steady. I'll see you back home. Please accept my apologies if I undergo any further personality instability as a result of paradigm shift. It may take me a bit to ... reorient myself."

HECATE gestures. A line of stars ripples and leads out the door, down the hallway. "WALK WITH ME," she instructs them as she leads the way, her feet three inches above the floor.

To Margie's mother, Cadena pledges, "I will attempt to get word to you once I have obtained the data. But rest assured, regardless: You will see Margaret again." He nods solemnly to her, and to Sasha (even if privately he's still reeling, trying to sort out just what part she plays in all this), and then follows the mysterious entity, assisting Black Renard as far as he can manage.

"YOUR PATH LIES APART FROM HIS," HECATE reveals to Cadena. "I WILL RETURN HIM TO THE GLOAMING. YOU WILL TAKE SASHA AND DEPART TO AVATARS. SECURE THE DATA. RETURN."

Black Renard might have complained, but at the moment as his body seems in active revolt, yellow pus beading at the corner of his eyes, black goo peeling away from his pads, he's all in favor of any plan that involves returning to the Gloaming.

Cadena blinks in surprise at this, but then it dawns on him that this probably makes a certain sense. "Please accept my apologies. I had thought that the data would be within the simulated environment, or that I could form a bridge from there to the desired one, since it shares synecdochal similarities with the North Bend simulation. But I will comply. Please see him home safely, and convey my apologies for subjecting him to this experience."

Margie's voice says inwardly to Cadena, "Thank you so much! I got to hug Mommy again!" Somehow, she ghost-hugs him.

Cadena winces at the sight of Black Renard's deterioration. "Go home intact and in peace, Monsieur Renard," he bids the fox, reaching out with the staff, and touching him on the shoulders. "You have incorrectly identified us. We do not share your goal, but neither are we your enemy. May the Light show you a better path."

The black fox is renewed! Residual energy clings to him, leaving him glossy of fur, his eyes newly sharpened and fangs and claws... Sharpened.

"That won't last long, Monsieur Renard," Cadena adds, "unless you return home - and quickly. We can settle our differences later."

Ms. Arcadia looks surprised. "HECATE! How is this possible?" the multi-millionaire asks. "Could that kind of magic... Heal Margie?"

"So far as I know, it only works so long as I am in close proximity to a portal between realms," Cadena explains to Ms. Arcadia, but still keeping mindful of Black Renard's very sharp claws. "I need to collect further data before I risk using it to help Margaret. I do not yet know whether it produces stable or unstable matter as a result of the healing process."

Cadena thinks, privately, And it would be cruel of me to attempt to use Black Renard as a test subject toward that end.

The starry-outlined woman pauses in leading them through the winding corridors of Ms. Arcadia's extensive penthouse apartment-- actually the entire top floor of the Arcadia Tower. "HEALING MAGIC CAN ONLY SUSTAIN SOMEONE IN A HIGHER ENERGY UNIVERSE. FULL RECONSTRUCTION REQUIRES DATA."

"Which means," Sasha translates to Ms. Arcadia. "Your puppy here could heal Margie's body, but then she'd be stuck in a virtual universe, and she'd be about to turn into goo whenever she came back. And if HECATE wanted to run the high-resolution thingy to stabilize her body, she'd still have the same underlying problem. Don't worry, Ms. Arcadia. We'll get that data." Her smile is crooked.

They come up upon what looks like an emergency fire exit in a barely painted corridor... Or rather, one that has been painted to resemble an anonymous corridor in the Towers. Blue Elmo's fire crawls along the frame of the door. "THROUGH HERE," HECATE commands Black Renard.

"Be careful," Cadena says to Black Renard. "Your player is likely to be disoriented once you reestablish connections. You may be vulnerable to hostile entities during that time. Please convey to your player that ..." He closes his eyes, straining, as his voice has a little more edge to it. "... Earth already has its share of death and destruction, thank you very much, without the BLACK deliberately trying to make it more 'challenging.'"

Renard tilts his ear. "Connection..." He approaches the door, then noses the handlebar, pushing it open despite the "ALARM WILL SOUND IF OPENED" notice. Beyond it is what looks like the ordinary North Bend maintenance access tunnel; if Cadena's portal sense weren't trying to creep out of his brain, he'd swear that the door was working normally and Renard was just going outside the apartment. Except that the sign posted on the opposite wall reads 'POTEMKIN WEST TOWER MAINTENANCE 5-D.'

The fox steps into the tunnel. "Connection... Established." He whirls around, teeth bared!

Renard charges for the door! But in the nick of time Cadena and Sasha manage to wrestle it closed. A loud crash sounds from the other side.

Cadena is momentarily startled by how fast the connection was, but fortunately the turning-and-growling took a moment. He hastily sets his staff to one side, then reaches for the push bar to pull the door closed. "Say goodbye to the big bad foxy, Margie! Byeeeee!"

The Eagle security robot, surprised, brings its gun to bear. "Caution: step away from door. You are in line of fire."

HECATE, unperturbed, intones, "DECREASING QUANTUM INSTABILITY LEVELS. SYNECDOCHE... CLOSING."

"Complying," Cadena says, grabbing his staff and moving back. "He should have to shift before he can manage the door the proper way, at least."

The door jostles as Renard smashes against it. His voice comes through, muffled by thick metal. "Cadena! You're in the hands of the enemy! She's the one who put the bounty on Tracy!"

The Elmo's fire dies down, mere sparks, and the voice begins to fade away into the distance.

I know that, Monsieur Renard, Cadena thinks, since there's certainly no point in saying it, but none of you gave me much of a choice. I have to keep Margie and Tracy safe.

Ms. Arcadia shakes her head. "You don't believe his rantings and ravings, do you?" she asks Cadena. "You are my daughter's best friend. I would never hurt you."

At this, Cadena's a bit surprised. He thought the fox was talking about Sasha.... "Do not be concerned, Ms. Arcadia," Cadena manages. "Claims made by third parties who openly claim to be evil are insufficient to override my assigned priorities."

Sasha smirks as she stands up from where she'd just helped close the fire door. "Meaning that he served the BLACK? I'm guessing, 'cause he accused me of being a WHITE-ling. WHITE, BLACK, pfft. They're both just programs."

HECATE says quietly, "THEY SERVE THEIR PROGRAMS. I SERVE MINE. THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY CLOSES AS WE SPEAK. YOU MUST GO SOON." She glides away back the way they came, and leads them toward what looks like the carport, a miniature hangar/helipad on the roof of the tower lined with gardens.

"He 'accused' me of belonging to the WHITE as well," Cadena says as they walk, chattering while he tries to sort his thoughts, "which was most curious, since at the time I was signed in to the Gloaming, in which WHITE and BLACK should not figure in as in-game entities. For that matter, they wouldn't be referred to as such within the Diadem, either. No formal declaration of out-of-character discussion was issued, and my interface did not receive an out-of-character notice from the system."

"The BLACK gets around," Sasha observes to Cadena knowingly. "I wouldn't be surprised if it had been working with Dantech... Sharing technologies in exchange for some project of its own. Maybe that's what's going down at Avatars?"

Ms. Arcadia smiles faintly. "Thank you, Cadena. I know you care for my daughter..." She looks toward the carport. "You'll take my daughter's favorite car." She indicates the Icarus wide-bubble hovercar. Only the bottom part is metal and ceramic; the top half is enclosed in a strong-as-steel transparent bubble, allowing its riders to feel as if they are riding on a magic carpet.

"Thank you, Ms. Arcadia," Cadena says. "Please be careful. I know this may be hard to understand - it certainly is for me - but it seems that there is a side effect of Q-Core technology that has resulted in the generation of unstable matter, modeled after creatures and structures from virtual reality." He suspects this might not be news to Ms. Arcadia at this point, but he figures he owes it to her not to assume. "There appear to be multiple parties who are working, for their own sometimes conflicting purposes, to deliberately exploit this phenomenon. There may be other "manifestations" in this part of town. I realize I can't ask you to find a safe place out of town - not with Margie here - but don't assume that others won't materialize here as well. I'd suggest more security, if you can manage."

Ms. Arcadia smiles. "It's no wonder why you were chosen for my daughter's bodyguard," she murmurs. "I will be fine." She leans over and kisses Cadena's forehead, and Margie murmurs happily from within, waving goodbye to her mommy.

While Ms. Arcadia calls for Margie's favorite aircar to be brought out, Sasha excuses herself for a moment. She re-emerges from the hangar in a sleek black jumpsuit.

"There! That's better. If I ever catch whomever called a bomb threat on me," she mutters.

The selected aircar glides to the center of the helipad and opens the gull-wing doors on both sides. Were it not for the blue light that frames them, it would be hard to even see them. "Welcome aboard, sir and madam," says the aircar in a friendly English butler voice. "To where may I take you today?"

"Ah. Margie says goodbye," Cadena reports, a bit sad, but still trying to smile (or as close as he can approximate with his features), as he waves from the aircar to Ms. Arcadia. He is then quiet, deferring to Sasha to deal with the aircar, quietly and soberly contemplating that he is sitting in Margie's favorite aircar with, presumably, the head of a terrorist organization.

Sasha says, "Avatars LLC, and hurry!" as she athletically leaps into the other side. The gull wing door wooshes shut silently. Ms. Arcadia waves farewell to them as Jeeves lifts them upward and away.

"Avatars LLC, affirmative! I must advise you that the Avatars LLC campus has been placed on a no-fly zone list, madam," the autopilot says. "Do you wish to override this? We may be at risk of anti-aircraft fire."

"I apologize for not properly introducing myself earlier," Cadena says. "I am, as you have no doubt surmised, Cadena, more or less. I was not originally --" He stops that line, with the mention of anti-aircraft fire. "Might I suggest we make haste to reach the perimeter of the no-fly zone, and then consider our alternatives before rushing in? We might be mistaken for hostiles, and I am unlikely to be recognized, since this was not my original form."

"Sasha. Sasha Knightley," the dark-haired woman says, smiling brilliantly. "And you're my ticket in. You just tell them you're unit AVA-whatever, and we'll fly right in. Confirm, Jeeves! Hit the boosters."

The Arcadia Tower rooftop disappears behind them, receding into the gorgeous orange and yellow of the sunset. Ahead of them is the chiaroscuro outline of the Avatars campus. As night falls, long shadows are cast by the nearby skyscrapers across the giant geodesic dome.

"Now correct me if I'm wrong," Sasha says. "Ms. Arcadia mentioned that her daughter had a dog bodyguard, but I don't remember anything about him being two-legged like you. Did something happen in the... incident that dropped you and that fox on our heads?"

Cadena frowns. "I must inform you that any attempt on my part to explain my current circumstance is to be taken with, as they say, 'a grain of salt,' since I have been subjected to forces that have resulted in a radical alteration in my physical form, and provoking instability in my personality profile. Plus, my memory is faulty. Therefore, my statements may involve a certain amount of conjecture and speculation, and for the sake of brevity, I will not preface every such statement with a repeated disclaimer."

"In the areas of quantum instability in proximity to the Q-Cores," Cadena says, "I have changed forms to those corresponding to some of my virtual-reality alter egos that were created in concert with Margaret Arcadia. I don't know whether or not there might be further such changes; I don't seem to have much control over it."

"I see, so you can't just... Pop back into your regular doggy form so these scanners don't think something's wrong?" asks Sasha, a bit pointedly. "We're coming up on their scanner limit."

"You may have noticed that I am not 'smoking' as the giant fox was," Cadena says. "I am physical - flesh and blood. Any force capable of changing me so radically in the Real World would, in addition to causing considerable harm to me, probably cause considerable mayhem to the interior of this vehicle."

"Right, let's avoid that for now, since I'm also inside this thing," Sasha admits.

"I am being hailed and advised that no flight is permitted across the Avatars LLC campus at this time, owing to a security emergency," Jeeves announces. "How do you wish to be announced?"

"Ms. Arcadia's objective is that I obtain her genetic data from the North Bend simulation," Cadena asks quickly. "Are there any secondary objectives that should be considered in addition to that goal?"

Sasha says, "That's pretty much it. Avatars has been sitting on that data for years, they've made up excuse after excuse, so we've just been putting pressure on them to get serious about handing it over. Honestly, I was thinking they'd lost it and didn't want to say so... But you say you've actually seen it?"

"I believe so," Cadena admits. "In fact, I believe that my creation was made possible in part because of it. I think that some of my genetic material may be created in part from that of an employee of Avatars LLC who worked on that simulation - a Ms. Akiko Summers. Shall I respond to Jeeves?"

"Well, if you don't want us to get smacked down by an AA-missile..." Sasha looks fidgety.

"You don't look a thing like Akiko," she notes. "Can't be much of a resemblance."

Cadena ignores that remark for now, given the urgency of the situation, and turns to face the dashboard. "Please inform Avatars security that I am unit AVA-808-X-024. I am coming in for my scheduled maintenance check-up, which was delayed due to technical difficulties of which they should already be aware. If there is any issue, Vice President Charles Burgundy should be expecting me."

"Relayed," Jeeves says. He pauses. "Their security AD wishes to speak with you. Shall I put her on the line, sir?"

"First, Ms. Knightley, how should I refer to you, if there are any questions? I am not supposed to be able to drive," Cadena says hastily.

Sasha eyes Cadena, perhaps with a view toward whether she can shoot him and get out of range of AA fire, should he decide to betray her. It's that kind of look. "Tell 'em Sasha, no last name," she says cagily.

"Please put her on the line, Jeeves," Cadena responds, nodding in acknowledgement to Sasha.

HEL's distinctive abstract armored female face appears on the viewscreen. "Welcome home, Cadena. Are you all right?"

Cadena blinks for a moment. "No, actually, that's the reason why I'm supposed to come back in for maintenance," Cadena explains. "I'm afraid I had a little trouble when 'Black Cadejo' wanted to play, and then with 'Ranch Hand Cadena.' I still need to undergo analysis. Fortunately, I got a ride. This vehicle should be registered in the Avatars database, from when my former master took me in for maintenance. Is there an issue?"

"Very well. The security issue is still in progress, but I'll assign you a designated flight plan and you will be met by an escort to ensure you are protected en route to your appointment, Cadena. Do not deviate from that route." HEL pauses a moment to allow Cadena any last remarks before she closes the connection.

Cadena looks offended. "What is going on? How am I going to deviate from the route, anyway? This is an auto-car! With all due respect, HEL, you are being surprisingly paranoid."

Jeeves reports, "I have received a flight plan, sir and madam. Shall I proceed?"

Cadena looks out the window anxiously. "There aren't any suspicious entities flying about, are there? Unregistered aircars, artificial winged creatures, or such?"

"No!" Cadena says, alarmed. "Please, no!" After all he's been through, he can't be entirely certain that Jeeves can't manage it somehow.

The butler-ish autopilot, unperturbed, flies down the established route. Sasha relaxes a little. "Never liked that prissy little tin plated dictator," she mutters.

"She has been acting very strangely lately," Cadena admits. Then, returning to the previous topic, he says, "The reason I do not resemble Ms. Summers is that I was not created to look like a human being. Rather - and standard disclaimers apply - I believe that I was created as a result of a template process that was left in the system after a one-time use for other purposes, and then re-purposed for the intent of creating artificial life - stable life, made of real, 'high-resolution' matter, but using a combination of virtual modeling and real-life neural mapping and genetic data."

Margie's voice whispers sleepily in Cadena's mind, "G'night Caddie. Watch out for that lady you're flying with. I feel like she's a cat and you're the mouse..."

As they fly over the satellite dish, Cadena can't help but notice a shiny metal briefcase on the base of the installation. It's the fuel-air bomb that Jason Zero planted in the satellite link room.

Sasha frowns. "So... Like how Akiko was able to turn into a fox? Inari... That was the name."

Cadena sadly thinks to Margie, I know. I'm sorry for getting you into this mess. I'm trying to find a way out. But, you know, Cadejo's not in charge here. I don't want to do anything that might get her hurt either, even though it makes it very, very complicated.

"My data is incomplete," Cadena says, "and some of it acquired from questionable sources. But, yes, Miss Akiko Summers had an 'Avatar' that was used in some sort of private testing regime. There was a process that was created within the system that was apparently invoked by someone who had access to it through the online Avatars system. I don't even know how that should be possible, but as a result of it, and due to violation of several security protocols, I believe that one or more of the ADs were able to access the process and the residual data associated with it, which had not properly been cleaned out."