They stepped through the crowd to Sofia. After all she had gone through, her face looked fresh with a light glow, and when he came close, a smile appeared on her face.
The smile turned into sadness and she leaned her head against his shoulder. ‘I’m so sorry…’
‘Hush.’
‘She made me do it. She didn’t trust you and wanted me to get close to you to get something she could use. But I don’t think she got anything. I didn’t know she used the nanobots to spy on us, I swear.’
‘That’s all right, dear,’ Henning said, painfully aware that Belinda Killock might have been listening in as they spoke. He wanted to understand what Sofia had, why Killock had restricted his travel. Was it just because of the fact that she was using Sofia or was there more to it? But to have a proper conversation with Sofia, he had to find a way to disable the snoops.
Sofia raised her head to meet his eyes. ‘Yeah, but… What happened to you?’ She stared at his arm.
‘Had to resort to an old trick to get here,’ Henning said. ‘It’ll heal.’
‘Hey,’ Reina said and nodded to the side. ‘They’re onto us.’
A pair of policemen walked towards them. And from the opposite direction, another pair.
‘Follow me,’ Reina said, pulling the hood of her cape over her head and stepping quickly into the crowd.
Henning grabbed Sofia by the arm and pulled her along. They ran behind Reina, who made her way through the crowd. They went up the escalators. Two police followed them, and up on the next level there was a third one, walking straight towards them.
Reina carried a gun, and all sorts of other equipment, but if she used any of them, the shopping centre would go to code red, with every access out cut. She looked back at Henning and Sofia. ‘Run!’
‘Where are we going?’ Sofia said, panting.
Reina came to a nondescript door, and held it open. ‘Go, go!’
The police were right behind them. As they went in, Reina shut the door from the inside, and pulled out a small device. ‘Get by that wall.’
‘That won’t hold them,’ Sofia said.
‘Hold her by the wall,’ she said to Henning.
Henning nudged Sofia into place, even though he was not quite sure what Reina was doing.
Reina walked up close, too, pulled her gun, and shot Sofia. Henning gasped as she went limp in his arms. ‘Wha—’
The police banged at the door.
‘Stunning her cuts the transmission,’ Reina said, and raised the device with a straight arm. ‘Hold her close to the wall.’
Keeping Sofia upright was difficult, and Henning let her slide down to a sitting position.
Reina engaged the device in her hand. From it, a grey cloud came down over them. Henning realised what it was, he had seen one before. ‘A cloaking device.’
‘Quiet now,’ Reina said.
The police came through the door. Three big men looked around the corridor. One pointed at the staircase, and they started running. Henning breathed slow controlled breaths, and Reina seemed like a rock. Once the sounds of the police had gone, Reina turned the cloaking device off, and whispered, ‘We’ve got to move. There’s a shuttle waiting for us.’
‘How do you suppose we—’
‘Take this,’ Reina said, and handed the cloaking device to Henning. ‘There’s a button to turn it on should we need it—for it to work, we can’t move. I’ll take her.’
Reina bent down and pulled Sofia onto her back as if she was weightless. Henning was impressed, but said, ‘We can’t go on the walkways like this.’
‘No, but there’s a shortcut to the parking platform here,’ she said, and indicated the direction the police had just taken.
Chapter Forty
In one of the navy research centre labs inside Dawn Central, Jill watched the screen on which Belinda Killock was analysing the nanobots inside Sofia Kvantström. She leaned against a chair, an experimental one that connected to Sofia.
‘They disabled her with a stun shot,’ Belinda said, ‘but based on the readings from her blood, she should be coming back online any moment now.’
‘Did she know what she was getting into?’ Jill asked, and rubbed the side of her head to ease the lingering headache.
‘She’s just a girl. So young and so naive.’
The unsuspecting lab assistant was their best tool to end the plans against Nenetl, and they didn’t even have to leave Dawn Central. Because Belinda didn’t trust Henning, she had used Sofia’s nanobots to spy on him in Avalon, but it turned out those things were even more useful now.
They had been going over Sofia’s recent experiences, including her activity with Evie Yeoh and with Reina Wolfe and Fernando de Los Angeles, and after countless hours of reviewing data, they were now ready to act.
‘Looks like she’s waking up,’ Belinda said. ‘It’s a good time to enter so they won’t know the difference.’
Jill nodded. ‘I will use Henning’s trust; it seems he’s enticed by the young scientist—’
‘And apparently unaware of it himself.’ Belinda tapped a screen. The glowing skin on her neck transported Jill back to their warm embrace. Whether the first time had been real or not, it didn’t matter: she was hooked, and it seemed Belinda was, too.
Jill grinned. ‘And I will lure Evie away from the others, and turn her in.’
‘Remember to watch out for Wolfe. She is the unknown variable.’
Jill had researched everything about Reina Wolfe: known dwellings, nothing current; employers, an old note about Runore, a mining firm in Runcor and history as a bounty hunter in Spit City; nothing about parents or family. The data had been incomplete, probably hacked, and provided nothing useful. ‘I’m still wondering what’s in it for her.’
‘She’s a gun for hire; a professional, and has someone behind the scenes footing the bill.’
‘Could be Daler Tait,’ Jill said. ‘Regardless, I’ll keep an eye on her. The main objective is to get Evie.’
‘Agreed,’ said Belinda.
A sudden ache bolted through Jill’s head, and for a moment everything felt wrong. It was as if she had taken a wrong turn and there was no way back. She realised that her actions would hurt her friends. She gasped.
Belinda touched her arm. ‘Are you all right?’
The ache subsided, and Jill raised her head. ‘It’s just a headache; I’m good to go.’
‘All right. I’ll be right here watching over you.’
Jill sat down on a presence couch, placed her feet on the footrests, and picked up the helmet from behind the right armrest as the chair reclined. She was sure she had thought of something important a moment ago, but couldn’t remember what it was. Putting on the helmet, the world around her disappeared into darkness. She placed her arms on the armrests and pressed the start button under her thumb.
Her body went numb.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying down, the face of Henning Dal close to hers. ‘Are you all right?’
Everything felt slightly off, as if there was a lag between her brain and reality. She blinked, and said, ‘Why did you stun me?’
A woman’s hard voice responded from behind her, ‘I had to buy us time. You’re a transmitter.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Jill said. Her voice sounded weird.
‘Now, now…’ Reina Wolfe stepped in front of her. ‘We’re in a good spot, Evie’s doing all right, she’s about to enter the Momentum 6 universe.’
‘Why? No, sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘Where are we?’
‘I’m sorry, darling, as long as they might be listening, I can’t let you know.’
Jill stood up. It seemed as if they were in a conference room, a tidy one, with dark walls and good quality chairs. Besides her, Henning Dal and Reina Wolfe were the only people in the room. Moving was difficult because of the lag, and she had to grab hold of the table to remain upright.
‘Take it easy,’ Henning said, holding her. ‘A stun like that will make your vesti
bular nerves dance.’
Being in Henning’s arms was off, especially considering she was now in a body maybe ten centimetres shorter than hers. She focused to get her bearings, and said, ‘No, I’m fine.’
Jill glanced at Reina, whose eyes seemed to bore into hers.
She said, ‘Stay here, I’ll go and see if they need help.’
‘No worries,’ Henning said, and pulled up a chair.
‘Why is Evie going to Momentum 6?’
‘I’m afraid I can’t tell you. Let’s just wait here for a moment.’
‘Just wait? I was hoping I could do something useful.’
‘As long as the situation is what it is, it’s better if you—’
Jill pushed him away. Henning stared up at her with a worried expression as she stepped towards the door. ‘I’m gonna go,’ she said. ‘I can’t just sit here and do nothing.’
Henning moved surprisingly fast between her and the door. ‘You can’t go.’
‘Are you going to stop me?’
He drew back. He had seemingly realised what was going on, and Jill wondered if she had made a mistake going for it so openly. Yet Henning didn’t know that it was she who was in the driver’s seat.
‘This isn’t you,’ he said.
‘Who am I anyway?’ Jill said, just to test him. And his horrified face told her it worked. ‘But you’re right, and you will do exactly as I tell you. Otherwise this sweet young body will suffer.’
Henning gritted his teeth. ‘This isn’t about you and me, who gets Avalon and who doesn’t. The stakes are bigger. Sofia would understand.’
Jill was taken aback by his willingness to sacrifice Sofia, but reasoned he must have been bluffing. ‘Who do you think you’re talking to?’
‘I know it’s you, Belinda Killock.’
‘I’m sorry to break it to you, but that’s incorrect.’
‘Who, then?’
‘Let’s just say I’m not going to turn off her nanobots, if that’s what you had hoped for.’
‘Jill,’ he said in defeat. ‘What has she done to you?’
‘Nobody’s done anything to me.’ She took a deep breath as Sofia, to compose herself. She wasn’t there to chat—she had to stop Evie.
‘I could help you,’ Henning said.
Jill took a step towards the door. ‘We’re done here.’
Henning stepped in front of her. ‘I can’t let you go.’
He stood just centimetres from her, and because of Sofia’s height, Jill had to look up to meet his eyes. But, lag or no lag, she kneed his crotch with as much force as she could muster.
Henning yelped. She pushed him to the side, and he stumbled to the floor.
She grabbed the door handle. He whimpered on floor, trying to get up.
‘You stay right here if you don’t want Aino to get hurt.’
He gasped and froze.
‘That’s right; one wrong move by you and she’s spaced.’
He blew air through his teeth. ‘You wouldn’t—’
‘Belinda has already killed two hundred and fifty-four of them—one more won’t make her flinch. So don’t even think about trying to stop me.’
Henning gulped and she opened the door.
The corridor had the same kind of dark walls as the room, fancy lights, and a quality carpet. She was in some kind of business centre. She walked towards what seemed to be a lobby. Henning didn’t follow her. The lobby displayed a big sign and over it was the familiar branding of the entertainment centre. She was in Megaplex. If Evie was going to log in to Momentum 6, she had obviously gone to the Endee Centre.
In a few moments, Jill, still in control of Sofia’s body, stepped in under the flashy Endee Centre sign. It was a busy time of day, with a lot of people around—almost all of the lobby’s seats were taken. But there was no sign of Evie—she had to be in one of the dozens of rooms. She went by the counter.
The clerk was a robot, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Bad, because you could talk to people and make them reveal things inadvertently, and good, because these kinds of bots ran on simple logic and could be directed into giving information.
She approached the bot, smiled—remembering she was Sofia, not herself—and said, ‘Hi, I’m looking for a friend, she asked me to pop by to give her something.’
‘Please take a seat and help yourself to some refreshments while you wait for your friend.’
Just as she had expected, no surprises, but it was just the opening. ‘You see, it is important for her that we meet now. Could you please send her a message that Sofia is here?’
‘I’m sorry, but that is impossible,’ the bot answered.
‘Why? She’s not going to be a happy customer if she hears later that this didn’t work because you asked me to wait.’
‘We pride ourselves on data privacy and will not share any information about our patrons; even confirming they are here would be against the house policy.’
There was the policy, now the bot just needed to understand they wouldn’t need to break it. ‘You don’t need to confirm anything to me. Just ping them to come here.’
‘I will see what we can do. What’s her name?’
Jill smiled, and said, ‘Her name is Evie Yeoh.’
Just when the robot was about to reply, someone else joined Jill by the counter. Towering tall beside her was Reina Wolfe.
‘Hi Sofia,’ she said. ‘Evie’s just gone in.’
‘I just wanted to say I was sorry.’
‘That’s all right,’ Reina said, and put her hand on her shoulder. ‘Come and join me on the observation side.’
‘Can I?’ Jill said with a smile.
‘Sure thing.’
They walked past the crowd to a corridor with doors to numbered booths, and took one flight of stairs down to another similar corridor.
As they walked, Reina said, ‘Henning’s not joining you?’
‘He had to take care of something for Aino.’
‘All right.’ Reina continued leading her down the corridor. Two boys exited a room, talking excitedly about how it felt to fly. As they disappeared up the stairs, Reina stopped by a door. ‘This is it.’
The room was dim, and the monitors were running promotional material. ‘Is she here?’
‘No, this is just a quiet corner,’ Reina said. Now she held a pistol and pointed it at Jill. ‘This is more important than you realise, so keep out.’
She fired.
Jill came to with a gasp. She lifted the helmet, shook her head and pushed her hair back.
‘She shot me. She shot her!’
Belinda nodded. ‘Stunned like before. I watched it on the screen.’
Jill wiggled her fingers and toes and stretched her arms out with a deep inhale. Now her own body felt foreign, just as she had gotten used to being Sofia, but she knew the feeling would pass. ‘We have to close the place down.’
‘I’ve already given the order for the local operatives to shut the connections for the whole Megaplex complex. And they’ve instructions to capture Evie Yeoh and whoever is helping her.’
‘Good work,’ Jill said, and rose from the chair. She stopped in front of Belinda and grinned.
‘What?’ she said with a squint.
‘I’m just happy to see you.’ It was true. While she had been away for only a few moments, it felt like she had been on a long trip.
Belinda smiled.
Jill couldn’t relax, though. Evie held the key, and she had the persistence. If she found something worth fighting for, she’d never give up. Jill knew better than to underestimate those kinds of people, especially when they had others helping them.
‘Those people aren’t easily stopped. I’ve seen what they’re capable of doing, and they’ve already succeeded in avoiding the local police.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying we need to be absolutely sure that they can’t carry out their plan.’
‘Our people are shutting it down as we speak. The who
le complex.’
‘Even so, I would like to be sure,’ Jill said.
‘I like the way you’re thinking,’ came a deep female voice from behind Jill, startling them both.
Nenetl’s figure towered by the chair before them. Unlike Aalto, who seemed a frail old man, her form radiated power. The long purple dress, pale skin, black hair, and intense gaze drew Jill to her. ‘Our time is drawing near. The group of humans on the city moon shall not interfere. You will join me in confirming this, and then, the new kingdom will be ours.’
Jill couldn’t help but smile. Nenetl had all the answers. She had the power.
Belinda said, ‘We don’t have time to go down.’
She had a point. Shades, even though they were the closest things to gods Jill knew, had to exist somewhere. They could do magical things, but Jill and Belinda would have to travel somehow.
‘Time will not be an issue. Travelling via the new world, Spit City is just next door. While passing through, we will also pick up something that will help us overturn the resistance,’ Nenetl said with an alluring smile.
A black portal appeared behind her.
‘Follow me for the final step,’ Nenetl said, disappearing into the portal.
Uncertain, Jill glanced at Belinda. She nodded and stepped through, disappearing into the black. Jill took a deep breath and jumped after them.
Chapter Forty-One
Evie found herself within the familiar immersive interface of the Momentum 6 game lobby. On the surface everything was as it had always been, but for Evie, everything was different. She wasn’t there to progress her character or the league in the game. She was there to direct a code into the core of the system, something that would override all the content in the game, everything she, her friends, and millions of other people had built. And while she did it to save the real universe from the same fate, the world of Momentum 6 was also real. She had spent perhaps more time in Momentum since her teenage years than she had in the real world. People had invested massive amounts of time and money into making Momentum 6’s virtual world a better place. He best friends lived for that world. She felt as if she was betraying them, but it was the price she had to pay, for the other option would take down both worlds.
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