Have you ever had just a bunch of letters and vowels run through your mind like a train falling off a broken track at 90 miles an hour? No? How about your brain being so scared that it starts sounding like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney toons? At least I managed to keep my mouth clamped shut and to not let all those sounds out the moment I was grabbed. I instantly turned my Prime Speed Control key on, freezing everything around me as I quickly jerked my head left and then right to see who was holding me. I let out a great sigh of relief as I noticed that it was just Xa and Hxerdinand before gently easing up on the control of my speed. It was incredible how some actions were becoming second nature to me, like learning how to move your ears or to whistle.

I wanted to see where we were going so I moderated my speed for a couple of moments between the main front room and the hallway so I could quickly peer around. “Are you ok Kevin?” She quietly asked once we got down the hall a little disance. “You seem like you are having seizures.”

“Kevin is having seizures?” I heard a voice come from inside the doorway when we got closer. Elaya was holding the door, ready to jam it closed the moment we made it through the threshold.

“No, I am fine, you just startled me and I was trying to look around really fast,” I answered as I felt them finally let go of me and step back while Elaya secured the door. I heard it click and then the doorway melted into the wall, sealing us inside. I glanced at the three of them and found that Hxerdinand looked like he had aged 10 years since I last saw him. Xa managed to look calm and collected but I could sense that she was just as stressed as Hxerdinand, if not more. Elaya seemed the most collected of the three but upon hearing me say the word “fast” she narrowed her vision at me in thought.

I looked at the place where the door used to be and then reached out past Elaya to feel the seamless wall. “Was that for security?” I asked as Xa and Hxerdinand moved away into the room. “Yes, there are some forms of privacy available to Citizens who are away from their VR homes,” Elaya answered as she stepped closer to me, peering up into my eyes. “Look… Kevin… I am sorry, I feel that I might have caused this.” She said softly as her hands bunched in front of her chest, her fingers clenching with regret.

I looked down at her and smiled, it was sweet of her but I knew that this was all my fault. I sometimes had trouble with people when they thought respect should be a given, regardless of how they treated people. I had experienced enough bullies growing up to know what would happen if you bent before them. They would stand on top of you without a second thought.

I gently took her hands between mine and squeezed them for a second before letting go. “No, it is all me I fear. I didn’t show your dad the respect he demanded and I even went so far as to disregard him and what all he had to say.” I said as I thought back to our meeting, Yes I could have handled it better, but screw that guy. I still stood by my actions.

“No, you don’t understand. I told my mother about you… and she wants to meet you. This set my dad off, even more, when he found out. It also made my mother angry at him when she discovered that he was monitoring all mention of you, even inside our own home.”

I heard the word mother and red flags popped up all over my brain. Yup, I had stepped into a minefield. Back on earth, there were all those funny stories about a dad who sits around cleaning his guns whenever a young suitor would come along but I never did hear any stories that ended well when the mother got involved while the dad was cleaning his guns.

“Barb wire on a bear's butt,” I muttered to myself as I considered the pickle I was in.

“What was that?” Elaya asked me as she started to open windows to cross-reference the words I had spoken while trying to make sense of it.

“Umm… nothing, just something a really old friend of mine would say sometimes. Think nothing of it.” I said as I quickly tried to change the subject.

“So your dad used his “One use key?” I asked her which made her stop what she was doing and I noticed both Xa and Hxerdinand froze as well when they heard my question.

“Who told you that?” Elaya asked as she blinked up at me.

“Silver. He sent me a warning just as it was about to happen.” I said as I glanced over at the other two. Hxerdinand’s arm was frozen in midair as he was about to pour something from a pitcher into a cup in front of himself. His eyes were glazed as he was looking off into space. Xa was quickly reading through some panels in rapid succession as if she was sending messages to several people.

“Is there something special about that? Silver said it was a problem, and that most Head’s of security tend to not use it, seeing as it tends to greatly displease their employers.”

“Something like that,” Elaya said as she wandered over to the table slowly, her brow furrowed as she was lost in thought.

“It is a rare occurrence, usually when there is a threat to the wealth of the Owner or something directly related to secrets. A Head usually never bothers a Core’s Owner with anything Citizen related. This means that Regeth will definitely be losing his job by pressing the button without either of those reasons.” I heard Xa say as she finished up whatever she was doing on her displays.

Across the table from her, I heard Hxerdinand ask if she was looking for a leg up in power.

“Yes, I was letting one of my employees know to start putting in her applications for the new position, possibly opening up soon.” She said as she leaned back and looked over at me.

“So… you are a wanted man all because of a father’s pride?” She asked as she shook her head before muttering. “Never thought I would see the day.”

“Umm…. Well, I did buy a book on my way over here. Silver mentioned in a message to me that Regeth used it as an excuse to call the big boss.”

Hxerdinand tapped the table in thought. “A book you say?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, then he is still surely getting fired! No one sells books of value.” He said as he took a sip from his glass. The liquid looked like grape juice but there were swirls of white inside the glass that seemed to move as though it were alive.

I looked back through my memories and then called up why I had spent the 1 CR. “Oh, no, I misspoke, Inesena let me borrow the book. I spent a CR to have it delivered to my habitat.”

“What book?”

“Did you say Inesena? The Inesena? Inesena the archivist? Inesena the ancient?”

Both Xa and Hxerdinand questioned me as I finally sat down at the table.

“Yeah, he was a really nice guy, he reminded me a lot of my grandpa,” I said as I reached for the pitcher and a glass to try some of the mysterious drink.

“What book?”

“Hmm? Oh, a book on engineering that I found when I was browsing.”

“What. Book?”

“The Last Engineers Archive?” I said as I scanned back through the saved conversation text to remind myself what Inesena had called it.

Elaya was watching both Xa and Hxerdinand more than I was at the moment so I was a little surprised when she tapped me on the hand to get my attention. The stuff in the pitcher did not want to pour right, it seemed that the white stuff came in segments.

“What?” I asked as I looked up to find them all three staring at me.

Xa pulled up her messages and sent a quick reply, choosing to speak aloud what she was writing. “Ignore my last email, it seems that the Head has a few reasons that might keep him from being fired.”

Hxerdinand glanced at her and sat back, choosing to let her do the talking for the moment.

“So, you are saying that a relic is currently being sent to your habitat? Those things usually don’t leave the Core. Even though Megus doesn’t own it he still might be convinced that you should be detained if Regeth stacks the deck against you.” She said as she started to list things in the air and draw lines between them.

“First he would use that you are an alien as the main point of his attack. An alien that somehow managed to upload itself into the Tela VR living environment and gain a Guest pass from the System. Sadly, he probably has already told Megus about Silver and shown him his records from meeting him.” she said as she linked the words Alien, Guest, and Silver together. Next, he will show records of your dream and what occurred because of that, probably making a big deal out of it even though, from my observations most of the Citizens found it novel and want it to happen again.” She linked Hacking and Citizen Safety to the list.

“Now that Megus is back he can call up Silver for himself and see the changes that were made. Finally, Regeth can claim that a one-of-a-kind record from before Core’s creation was taken off-site.”

“Well, not exactly…”

“What do you mean not exactly?”

“Well, you see. In Silver's message, right before this all kicked off, Silver said that he had installed his personality into a module and attached it to the book heading to my place.”

“Are you saying that a part of the AI that runs this Core has jumped ship and escaped to your habitat?” Hxerdinand asked with wide eyes.

“Yes…”

“I could almost say that it was ok and the existence of Silver might be seen or explained away as something just made up inside your VR home. I say this because normally Cores just get things done, they never display a personality as Silver had. However, Regeth has proof and recordings of meeting Silver to show.” Xa said.

“And now that part of the Core’s AI is being sent to your habitat. That could be labeled as a Grand Crime. I don’t think there is a price put on the AI of a System’s Core.”

“Wait wait wait! That last part is only a Grand Crime if it is provable. Silver could have just been a part of Kevin’s VR home simulation. Actually even that doesn’t hold up because AI and Simulations are not allowed to lie to Citizens… so my dad’s recording of Silver saying that he was the System can not be refuted. As for the book… Why would that be an issue? Books are lent to Citizens all the time.” Elaya asked Xa.

“Is it because Kevin isn’t a Citizen yet? I don’t know how they are going to spin that. Maybe because he had it sent to his habitat? Still, if it was lent then it would eventually be returned one day so maybe all of that won't have very much weight in the end.” Xa replied.

It was clear that they were all trying to figure a path out of this for me and I really appreciated all the effort that they were putting into it. I didn’t feel like I had done anything wrong, it was only when someone looked at it from a different point of view, labeling me as an alien and an outsider that everything changed. From that perspective, I could clearly see how they could use anything they wanted to try to get me. I think it all had to do with the fact that I was an unknown. A Guest had never existed before.

I wondered how all the chips would land.

“Will they be able to take my being a Guest away? Silver said now that I had my own habitat that I was free to travel.”

“No, the good news is that once the System, Silver, accepted you as a guest, it linked with all the other Cores. They can’t undo your status, but there also aren’t any laws or guidelines made yet for someone like you. However, the bad news is that making those rules takes a lot of time.”

“Also, not very many people know about you yet. That you exist anyways. So we need to either have you escape to another Core or to somehow get your existence broadcast to everyone. Yes, you solved an old mystery and got a bit of recognition for that, but I am meaning everyone needs to know that you exist. That way there will be less that powerful people will try to do to you.” Elaya said.

“Well, there is no chance that they will let him broadcast anything now. Megus the 2nd is back in VR and is in complete control of his property. I would suggest that Kevin escape to another Core.” Hxerdinand said as he looked to see if Xa or Elaya would find fault in his suggestion.

Xa had a little screen pop into space next to her. She glanced at it and sighed wearily. “Well, Kevin can’t leave this room anymore. Observi-balls are now everywhere outside.”

“The Citizens will not be happy about that. It is like we are slipping back into the dark days.” Hxerdinand said.

“All they need to do is scan him to see that he doesn’t have a Citizen account yet. That will flag him.” Elaya said as they all turned to look at me.

“So… if I leave…. Can I still see you all again some time?” I asked as I felt like my life here was being taken away from me.

“Yes, most assuredly. Only Hxerdinand is actually a resident on this Core. Elaya’s dad just works here. They live on another Core as well. I come from one of the oldest Cores.” Xa said while I heard Hxerdinand whisper “The home of the Elites.”

Xa clearly heard him and just rolled her eyes in response.

“Well, it looks like I will need to return to real-time for at least 21 minutes while I wait for Silver and the book to arrive,” I said as I stood up. I hadn’t even gotten to try any of the drink yet, it just felt like there wasn’t any time left, as though a huge vice were closing around me.

“I wanted to visit with you longer, but it looks like it will be best to wait until you get settled orbiting another Core,” Elaya said before she reconsidered her words. “But why just orbit? You are free now. You can travel and explore to your heart's content. I have a couple of research contracts to clear up but if you want I can stop by when I am done.” She said with a wink at me.

“Ha! That would be nice!” I replied as I reached out to give her a hug. She just stared at me and stood there. I don’t think she knew what I was doing so I just stepped forward and gave her a quick hug.

When I stepped back she was so red. Hxerdinand and Xa saw this and they both laughed. Hxerdinand reached out his hand to shake mine.

“Don’t worry son, I will also stop by. I am interested in what adventures you get yourself into,” he said with a smile as his rough hand shook mine.

Xa was sweet and even came over to give me a hug before she said her goodbyes as well.

I heard Elaya whisper softly to herself “A boy gave me a hug!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, and feel a little sad at the same time for her. Clearly, things were different in her universe if just getting a hug for the first time was a big deal.

“Alrighty, I best be getting back to my habitat and getting away from here,” I said as I smiled at the three of them, hiding how I really felt inside as I materialized my travel disk behind me.

I stepped backward on it, keeping them in my sight as I waved at them one last time before willing myself to return to my VR home.

“Gotcha!” was all I heard when everything went dark.