With the light shining on them, Steffen's golden eyes gleamed into a vortex of despair. He had been interrogated extensively, and his responses were essentially the same each time. "Allow me to connect to a console, and I will provide you with any information you require."

That didn’t work out well for him. The inquisitor was relentless and didn’t want to make things easier for Steffen Madigan, who would rather be called the Jackeye.

The prisoner's wrists hurt. His mind searched frantically for the virtual world to which he was used to. This world had no meaning for Steffen. But he realized that in order to go where he wanted to go, he needed to collaborate, at least to some extent.

“Listen, we will consider your release if you tell us how you hacked into our database.”

“Ok, I will tell you. However, this won’t solve the issues you have,” Steffen shrugged, his blonde curls glued to his cheeks. The scorching heat made him sweat more than ever before. He couldn’t wait to get out of there and back to his world.

The nagging voice grew nervous. “What issues? Except you, no one could ever go past our firewalls and multiple layers of security measures. Not to mention that we have the best encryption methods that no one outside of this headquarters even knows exist.”

"Then my answer may be a shock for you. I know nothing about all that security stuff you keep enumerating. My mind resides in a virtual reality and I do normal stuff. From time to time, I level up some skills and do some quests. Again, normal stuff. When I complete the tasks, I get treasure chests. Sometimes there are useful things, like weapons or skill points or gold. Other times there are just information scrolls that go directly to my Codex."

The voice returned with a mocking tone. "Come on! You can't expect me to believe that nonsense. You have a smart brain; come up with a better..."

“A smart brain doesn’t make sense. It's just an organ,” Steffen interrupted.”It's the person who is smart... or dumb, in your case. Not the brain.”

A fist came out of nowhere, an uppercut right to his chin. Jackeye fell down on his back, together with his chair. The back of his head bumped against the white floor. Footsteps approached and with a swift motion, his chair reverted to its original position and so was he.

Sweat dripped down on the sides of his face as he spat blood. Now crimson liquid speckles dotted the floor's white slabs. Steffen would have been scared by now if this was to happen in his world. But here, here... He didn’t care what happened to him here.

As he prepared to say another thing that most probably would have triggered another punch or worse, Steffen heard the door opening and footsteps approaching. An exchange of words followed that he chose not to hear. He didn’t care what those guys were saying.

The light changed its position and no longer came directly into Steffen’s eyes. He could see Shayla standing on the other side of the table. He smiled for a second, but then he frowned. "Sorry, Shayla, but I don’t want to come back to SCF1. There are too many people. And because of you guys, I got into this predicament. Leave me alone."

A man with pitch-black eyes and a pleasant grin approached Shayla and stroked her shoulder. "It was my error in thinking that a familiar face would help. Please, Shayla, scoot!"

She rolled her narrowing eyes but listened to the man who sat down in her place. With his elbows on the table, he joined his hands and rested his chin over his knuckles. A melodious voice asked, “What do you want, Steffen? Or do you prefer Jackeye?”

“I don’t care what you call me. I want to be left alone with a console to live my life inside my world,” Steffen muttered, but he knew how slim were the chances of that ever happening.

But the man in front of him didn’t look at him like he was ill or deranged. Instead, that warm smile widened. “My name is Tejeda Hajar. Only seven people are to be on my ship. Not many people as you can see, you can count them using your fingers. I want you to be one of them. You will have your own room with your own console. The Interplanetary Police will never bother you again since we are working for them.”

“What do you want in return? Nothing is free in this shitty world,” Steffen retorted, his peculiar golden eyes studying Tejeda.

The Nubilae shrugged, leaning over the backrest of the chair as if he had all the time in the world. “I just want you to talk to me and tell me things from time to time.”

“In translation, you will keep bothering me day and night. No better than this interrogation,” Steffen looked down onto the floor, losing interest.

Tejeda didn’t allow that to happen. “I want you to be present once a week during the team meeting. That is all that I request from you. If I need anything else, I would have to enter your world to talk with you. What do you say about this offer? Do you agree?”

"If I say yes, when can I connect to a console?" Steffen was eager to get home. He had planted some tomato seeds and was worried he wouldn’t make it in time for the harvest.

Tejeda got out of his chair, walked over to him, and winked. "Just a few hours. We have one more member to pick up today, and then we will have our first team meeting. Are you as excited as I am?"

The sparkle that ignited those coal-black eyes made Steffen Madigan reconsider his decision. He opened and closed his jaw several times. But he hadn’t any other choice, besides staying in jail, away from his world forever.