“Ring around the helix, pocket full of sol bits, asteroids, asteroids, we all fall down.”

  Children’s song commemorating the destruction of the floating city Newhome.

  ----------------------

  My ability to communicate with Sakura is limited. Mama Isabell let me act as translator but controlled the conversation. From signs and simple pictures I gathered the following. Sakura woke up in an alley with no one around her. She wandered for ‘a long time’ until she found people, but they didn’t speak Japanese. Her AR was off, getting her to turn it on was challenging, so she didn’t have a map or the ability to buy anything. There are public water fountains that she was able to use but with nothing to eat she started trash diving. At this point the rent-a-cops found and detained her, marched her up some stairs, down some streets until she eventually arrived here.

  Sakura is not happy about recent events but she doesn’t seem as confused or lost as I would expect. Odd.

  Mama Isabella claps her hands. “Owls, follow me. We need to inform Lady Kara of this new development, unless one of you would like to explain to me what you have been up to first?” Her eyes focus on Fen, flick to me, then back to Fen.

  This doesn’t match my feelings about Mama Isabella or Lady Kara, but my judgment is… suspect. What is at stake here? If they are trustworthy we could lose their help by holding back. Not even out of spite, if we don’t trust them with the real problem, whatever it is, then they won’t be able to help us. If they aren’t trustworthy we’ll be punished for whatever shady thing we did. I have no idea what we did so this is hard to judge. I don’t think Flash was capable of murder, but theft? Yes. Fraud? Yes. Blackmail? Maybe. Protection Racket? Probably not intimidating enough, I don’t find him intimidating in my memories and none of the people that knew him are afraid of me.

  Mama Isabella clearly knows something. Papa Doc said that my memory loss was possible but one in a million. Apparently all the Owls installed shady wetware. From the same source? What are the odds that Sakura also has mental problems if the wetware was good? Low, very low. In the end this isn’t about my judgment since I don’t have the full picture.

  Our back and forth was quicker than talking but not so quick that Mama Isabella missed it. Sakura hasn’t been following any of this of course. She is staring off into the distance playing with her AR. I try to give Mama Isabella a look conveying that I’m on her side. From her reaction it’s a mixed success.

  “Well, David, Fen? Which of you is going to explain?” Mama Isabella asks again, hands on her hips.

  “We thought it would be ok.” Fen’s opening gambit is met with skepticism.

  “Look, we didn’t have enough sols to buy the wetware we needed to get good jobs after integration but David’s big brother Jenkins had connections with the Cleaners and David said that he could get us a deal if we bought in bulk and didn’t ask questions about where the wetware came from. My installation went fine, just a headache and blurred vision for a few hours after the install. I didn’t even know David or Sakura had bad installs until a few minutes ago. Lilly might be fine too.”

  Mama Isabella’s reaction isn’t as bad as it could be. Deep disappointment but only a little anger. “You foolish, reckless children. Never install wetware from unsanctioned sources. You could have had an aneurysm and died. You could have been corrupted. The Eloi have captured wetware before only to spike it so that it destroyed whoever was unfortunate enough to install it. Thank the Dark that you at least had the installs performed by registered doctors.”

  Mama Isabella pauses to assess Sakura’s condition. From the way she wrinkles her nose I can tell a bath at least is in Sakura’s immediate future. “As long we can get Lily back I should be able to cover for you with Lady Kara. Sakura is clearly in no shape to go wandering the lower hive. I need to stay here and take care of her. We have some time, but I don’t know how much. Definitely no more than three cycles. Can the two of you bring Lily back in?”

  Fen and I exchange looks.

  “We’ll do it.” I try to fill my voice with confidence, but inside I’m still worried about going back out into the hive. One hundred percent of the times I’ve left the creche I’ve had to fight for my life. At least, that’s what I can remember.

  Mama Isabella pulls each of us into a hug, then kisses our foreheads. With that ?ritual? done she turns away from us and starts trying to cajole Sakura to follow her into the creche. Sakura for her part is annoyed by Mama Isabella herding her into the creche. I try to sign to her that she should go with Mama Isabella. I’m not sure how useful I will be in this search but I’m confident that a pretty young woman that doesn’t speak the local language and looks homeless is going to attract the wrong kind of attention.

  Fen huffs at my efforts, impatient at the delay.

  Fen and I start walking away from the creche. While we’re side by side I have no idea where we are going.

  I flick the message away with my eyes.

  Fen nods, as if he was expecting my story.

  Fen gives me a disbelieving look.

  I don’t leave the group but the conversation ends there. Fen is navigating so I check my AR, maybe I can get some grinding in as we go? Nope, or at least not really. I do still have access to my Daily Quest list, but not to any of the lessons now that I am outside the GSC138 Learning Environment. After a few minutes I notice something interesting. I’m earning Gym xp, although it’s very slow.

  Part of the testing system is in my core and it registers the walking Fen and I are doing as a source of xp. Would I gain more by jogging? What about parkouring around the city? There are plenty of things to run, climb and jump off of.

  I turn to Fen, trying to judge if he received the same chat request. He’s in his own world.

  I chose to merge my existing chat with Sakura’s incoming chat.

  I am momentarily stunned by the barrage and Fen finds his voice before me.

  Fen gives me a baffled look.

  That isn’t how I would describe my situation but I think I get where she is coming from. I ask a few follow up questions to make sure I understand.

  I try to share an eyeroll with Fen but he’s still baffled by our conversation.

  I am surprised by the sudden disconnect but Fen explains

  What? What does washing up have to do with disconnecting chats? I raise an eyebrow, willing Fen to continue explaining. He obliges.

  Really? Sending out a live stream without alerting the target doesn’t seem easier. If the hacker can manipulate apps already on your device there is no difference between sharing a live video vs saving the video to storage then uploading it to the cloud when a connection is formed. I don’t think I was ever an experienced hacker but I can remember a cyber security video that claimed the best way of preventing a hacker from gaining control of my phone’s camera was putting duct tape over the lenses when I wasn’t using them. I guess that would mean closing my eyes while in the bathroom?

  I had stopped moving while trying to recall what I could about cyber security, but it isn’t like we were moving as fast as we could. In fact…

  With a name, I search my AR map, find the location and set it as my destination. The illuminated path gives me an idea for later. Multiple routes, with the fastest in shades of red and the slowest in shades of blue. What was the name of that game? I think the protagonist was Faith or maybe another virtue/name. Punctuality? I stop walking again earning a groan from Fen as I start doing some stretching.

  I finish my last stretch, my legs are limber and ready.

  I take off like a shot. God I feel so young. Fen’s curses ring in my ears but they just make me smile harder. I don’t think that I’m a transmigrator. I’m not sure if I’m 18 or in my 30s or the sum of my ages but right now I look like a teen so why not embrace that.