I stayed with Sandra until they gave her the anaesthetic and knocked her out. They warned me that they had to drain the blisters before they could start the treatment, and that she was going to lose her hair from it. I told them to do everything they could for her and that I'd worry about the details later.

I left the treatment room and followed my HUD down the hallway and stepped into the decontamination room. I stripped off my clothes and toss them in the chute that sent them to the furnace, then stepped onto the circular platform. Eight nozzles popped out of the walls and shot out a chemical and foam mixture that burned the eyes and skin. I didn't bother trying to close my eyes or mouth, because I knew I'd have to open them at the end anyways. Foam filled my mouth and eyes, and it burned with a familiar sensation. Even though it had been a while since I'd had it done, I scrubbed under my arms and my private parts automatically.

The nozzles turned ninety degrees and sprayed me with cleanser to remove the chemical scrub. I did the same scrubbing motions and let the wash fill my mouth, swished it around, and spit it out. I did it again, because the previous chemical wash had tasted like I had licked the inside of a skunk, and it was going to take a lot more than a single rinse to get rid of it.

When the rinse cycle was done, the blowers started and dried me off. I stepped off the circular platform and picked up the shrink-wrapped unitard from the available slot, put it on, and ignored the bright yellow color. I left the decontamination room and picked Rusty up, and walked over to the large biohazard door. I pushed the button by the door and waited for a minute. I heard the two locks turn and the handle moved down, and the door opened with a hiss of air.

“Thanks.” I said to the nurse as I stepped out, and she shut the door behind me and locked it again.

“How is she?”

“She's getting the best treatment available.” I said, and the nurse smiled.

“I'm glad.” She said and started to walk back to her desk. “Her parents are here.”

“I'll talk to them.” I said automatically.

“You don't have to do that.” The nurse said. “One of the doctors already sent them a personal message.”

“It's all right.” I said. “I think a face-to-face meeting will make them feel better.”

The nurse nodded, then put a hand on my arm when we reached her desk. “I have something for you.”

I looked at her curiously while she opened a drawer, and she handed me a cleansing mint. I put it in my mouth and started to suck on it, and it burst apart to spray the inside of my mouth, and I swallowed the liquid.

“Thank you.” I said. “That skunk tasted terrible.”

The nurse laughed. “It's always old gym socks and an ashtray for me.”

“Gah.” I said and stuck out my tongue, which made her laugh.

“They're in Waiting Room One.”

I nodded to her and walked around the corner, then stopped at the door and put Rusty down because I was going to need both of my arms for this. I took a deep breath, let it out, and opened the door.

“JACK!” Sandra's mother yelled. She tackled me, hugged me tightly, and cried.

“Hi, Noreen.” I said and held her just as tightly.

“Oh, Jack!” Noreen sobbed and cried. “They won't let us see her!”

“She's being treated.” I said. “But don't worry. I had them upgrade her to military standard. She's going to get the best treatment that Points can buy.”

“Oh, Jack!” Noreen said again and kept crying. Her tears of sadness freely mixed with her tears of happiness.

“I'm not sure how you managed to do that.” Sandra's father said. “You're just a maintenance programmer, aren't you?”

“The System really likes me.” I said and smiled. “It's nice to see you, Nathan.”

“Likewise.” Nathan said. “Especially since you're willing to help my daughter like this.”

“They.. they said she was... she was hurt.” Noreen said through her sobs. “They won't tell us how hurt, though.”

“It's not that bad.” I looked at her face, and knew she wanted me to tell her that her little girl was all right. “She only had a small burn across her chest, about here.” I said and motioned in the general direction it was across my own chest. “That's the good news. The bad news was that she took a big dose of rads.”

“I... I know.” Noreen said as her crying fit eased. “The news said... wait, how do you know what she looked like?”

“I was just in to see her.”

“WHAT?!?” Noreen yelled. “They let you in to see her, but not us?!?”

“I've already been treated for radiation exposure.” I told them. “Every year I have it done. Ever since... my mother...”

“Oh, Jack.” Noreen said and her crying fit started anew. “I'm so sorry.”

“The decontamination shower is still horrible, no matter how many times I go through it.” I said. “You don't want to lick the wrong end of a skunk, do you?” I asked her to try and get her to smile.

“You went through that again, just to see her.” Noreen whispered. “You... you really do love her.”

“Maybe a little.” I said to her, and she smiled through her tears.

“Stop teasing.” Noreen said. “When are you going to ask her to marry you?”

“Noreen.” Nathan said. “Now is not the time.”

Noreen sighed and tried to wipe her eyes. “I know, it's just... oh, god... she... she...”

“Shh.” I said and hugged her. “She's going to be fine.”

Noreen cried on my shoulder, and Nathan just stood there in uncomfortable silence until she was done. I spent an hour just sitting there with the both of them, for comfort and companionship, until the notification came that Sandra was finished the first round of treatment and would be unconscious until tomorrow morning.

“I better go.” I said and stood up. Noreen had held my hand the whole time, and she reluctantly let it go.

“Are you coming back tomorrow?” Noreen asked.

“I've got work tomorrow, but I'm sure the System will let me delay that for an hour or so.”

Noreen nodded and took her husband's hand. “See you in the morning.”

“You're going to stay here?” I asked them.

“We aren't leaving our daughter alone tonight.” Nathan said.

“Call me right away if you need anything.” I said. “You know my priority number.”

“We will.” Noreen said.

I picked Rusty up and opened the waiting room door to leave.

“Jack.” Nathan said.

I turned around and looked at his face. There was determination and sadness on it, and also resolve.

“Thank you.” Nathan said, and I nodded to him and left the waiting room. I went back to the nurse's desk and told her the same thing, and gave her my priority number.

“I'll call right away if there's any change to her condition.” The nurse said, and I nodded to her and left. It seemed to take a lot longer to go back home than it did to get to General Medic. The tube car ride was almost half an hour long, not to mention the wait for it in the first place. I made it back to my apartment and put Rusty down.

“What a long day.” I said and sat down on my bed. Now that I had time to reflect on everything that happened that day, I put my head in my hands and let the tears flow. They rolled off my face and dripped to the floor, and made quite a large puddle. I didn't make any noises at all. I didn't sob, or whine, or moan. I was too far beyond all of that as I thought back and remembered what it had been like when my mother had suffered a similar fate.

I tried to push the images from my mind of her hair falling out, of her timeless beauty being eaten away by radiation sickness and the diseases she caught from having no immune system. My tears continued unbidden and unhindered as my mind imposed those images over Sandra's face, and I imagined what she was going to look like when her treatment was done.

She'll never believe me when I tell her she'll still be beautiful. I thought.

I stayed like that for an unknown amount of time and wallowed in my thoughts. Some were morbid, some were inspirational, and some were just stark reality. When I had had enough of spinning my mental tires in the mud of depressing thoughts, I grabbed a cloth and wiped up the wet floor, then went into the bathroom and tossed it and the yellow unitard into the recycler. I spent half an hour in the shower, scrubbing and washing, and used up nearly a week's worth of water.

I didn't find out until later that Amanda had overridden the water preservation protocols, but I didn't get angry at her or tell her that she shouldn't have done it. What I did do was thank her for her thoughtfulness, and I climbed onto my bed and went to sleep.

“Jack!”

“Ugh.” I said and rolled over in bed. “Five more minutes.”

“You're gonna be late for school!” My mother said.

“I'm home-schooled!” I said back, and she laughed.

“You're still going to be late.”

“Moooom!” I said, sighed, and rolled over again and slid to the floor. I banged my knee on the edge of the drawer under my bed, and I cursed.

“JACK!” My mother yelled.

“Sorry!” I said back, but that was automatic. I'd gotten a big gash on my knee from the corner of the drawer, and it was bleeding quite a bit. I held a hand over it to try and stop it, so I wouldn't get blood on the floor, and I hissed as my hand touched the inside of the wound.

“What is it?” My mother asked as she came into my room. She had heard my hiss, and her motherly instincts had kicked in and she rushed to me. “Oh, Jack!” She said and disappeared, then reappeared a moment later with the first aid kit. “What happened?”

I told her the simple story as she cleaned the cut and took out the instant sutures. They were great things, according to medical personnel; but according to a 10 year old who had to sit there and let a bandage covered in tiny hooks dig into his skin, it was worse than the original cut.

“Ahhh!” I screamed as my mother put on the bandage and then taped it to make sure it was secure and wouldn't pull out.

“Oh, Jack.” My mother said and looked at me. One of her eyes had deflated and slid out of the socket. “You're going to be fine.” She said, and her face started to sink in on itself.

“M-m-mom?” I was completely frightened and couldn't say anything else.

“What is it, honey?” My mother asked and reached out a bony hand to touch my face. Her hair started to fall out in clumps to the floor, and her voice turned to a raspy gasp instead of the soothing sound it should have been. “What's wrong?”

I stared at her as her flesh peeled apart and started to slide away, which revealed the decaying muscles underneath, and her tongue flopped around in an almost completely exposed jawbone.

“I love you, Jack.” My mother said. Her head flopped to the side to the sound of crunching bone, and her other eye popped out and burst open as she leaned in to kiss my forehead. “I love you.”

“AHHHHH!!” I screamed and woke up. “No! NO! NOOOOO!”

“Jack! It was just a nightmare!” Amanda, my AI said. I couldn't tell if her voice came from the vidwall, Rusty, or one of the other devices in my apartment.

“Goddammit.” I said and rubbed my sweat-soaked face. “I don't have to wonder why I had that particular dream.”

“Do you want to talk-”

“Hell no!” I said and cut her off. I sat up in bed and looked at myself. I'd ruined another unitard and soaked the bed sheets, so I stripped both the bed and myself and went into the bathroom and threw everything into the recycler. I took another very quick shower to rinse myself off and put on a work unitard.

“I hope you don't think that the System will let you work today.” Amanda commented as I walked across my apartment and into the immersion chamber.

“I'm going in to play.” I said and stood in the middle of the room. “I'm really starting to hate this place.” I said to activate the room's functions. The mechanical arms came out, picked me up, and a chair formed underneath me. They placed me on it and the chair conformed to fit me, then engulfed me completely. It calibrated itself for me, like it had to do every time I left and came back, and then the real world faded away and I emerged into the virtual space where I worked.

Amanda appeared in front of me in her full body. “What do you want to play?”

“I want to kill something.” I said. “Pull up my military folder and load Combat Mission Beta Alpha Three.”

“Jack, you haven't accessed your military simulations in-”

“Just do it!” I said, and Amanda nodded. She didn't fade away, but shrunk to pixie size, about 4 inches tall, and floated over to stand on my shoulder.

“Loading environment.” Amanda said.

A desolate and crater-filled landscape appeared around me, and a mini-map of the terrain appeared on my HUD in the top right corner. My heart started to beat fast in anticipation. Even though I had written the scenario, it changed every single time it was accessed.

“Loading gear.”

A combat harness formed around me and the familiar weight of a hand-held high-powered laser formed in my hand. I lifted it and checked the charge capacity and the shots before depletion, then used my free hand to count how many shrapnel grenades I had.

“Loading combatants.”

My HUD updated with both green and red dots. The green signified people on my team, the red were my targets.

Please choose the victory conditions:

Capture The Flag (Enemy Flag - 1km, 2km, 3km away)

Timed (2 Minutes, 5 minutes, 10 Minutes)

Annihilation (Wipe them out!)

“Annihilation.” I said and grinned.

Mission start in 3... 2... 1... GO!

A buzzer sounded and a laser beam crossed my face and just missed my ear. I ducked down and rolled over to kneel behind an old barrel. It was filled with some kind of liquid.

“Oh, shit!” I said as I caught a glimpse of the 'Flammable' sign on the side of it. I beat feet and took off running just in time. A heavy laser hit the barrel and it exploded, and sent flaming liquid out in a 20 foot circle. I dove out of the way and hit the dirt, then fast-crawled on my elbows to an old burned out subway car.

“Sir! We've got to get the hostages!” One of the green dots beside me said. I turned to look at who had spoken, and a generic soldier was there. It's graphics were top of the line, but it looked fake as hell.

I really should update these things. I thought and a grenade went off nearby. It shook the subway car slightly, but I was completely covered and didn't worry about it. “Amanda?”

“I can give you a path to follow, but you're not going to like it.”

I snorted a laugh. “Isn't that half the fun?”

Amanda shook her head. “Okay, Jack.” She said and a dotted line appeared on my HUD.

“Oh, I don't like that at all.” I said, and Amanda laughed.

“I told you.”

I took several deep breaths and looked at the soldier next to me. “Stay on my six. Don't deviate. If I duck, you duck. If I quack, you quack.”

The soldier nodded. “Roger that.”

“Amanda, remind me to add a bit of humor reactions to the random soldier subroutines.”

“It's noted.” Amanda said from my shoulder and touched my face. “That was pretty funny.”

“You didn't laugh.” I said.

“I'll laugh later.” Amanda said. “Your opportunity to get out of cover is coming up.”

“Give me the go signal.” I said.

“Ready... set... no, wait!” Amanda said, and I saw one of the red dots scout the subway car. It moved off slightly as I watched the HUD.

“Okay... set... BOOBIES!”

I rolled out of cover with a boisterous laugh and shot the enemy in the back of the head, grabbed his weapon as he fell, and the soldier behind me grabbed his harness.

“Pull the pins!” I said to my wingman as we ran across the battlefield, and he yanked the wire holding the grenades together and handed me the harness. I threw the harness as hard as I could over the embankment the HUD told me had several soldiers behind it. They stood up when they saw two green dots coming towards them, and I dove to the dirt so I wouldn't get shot. My wingman was right behind me and slid to a rest beside me as the enemy opened fire and the grenades went off.

I hadn't looked at the color codes on the grenades before I threw them, and discovered that one was a RAD grenade when my HUD showed a growing red circle. The shrapnel from the other grenades became hot because of it, and that shrapnel went through the enemy and hit the grenades they wore. Those exploded in turn, and soon the enemy behind the embankment was no more and the five red dots disappeared. That was good; but, we were supposed to go over that embankment to get to the hostages.

I gave my wingman several signals for break cover, run at a crouch, and alternate route; then I followed my own instructions and took off at a low run. Enemy fire doubled as we moved around the battlefield to avoid the hot area.

I guess they're pissed we took out their lead squad. I thought and ducked behind an old shack. I checked the HUD and saw how far away the closest enemy was, and looked at my wingman. He held up a flash-bang grenade and I smiled. I held up 3 fingers for a moment, then dropped one. He nodded and pulled the pin on the grenade. I dropped another finger and he threw the grenade, then pulled out a normal shrapnel grenade and pulled the pin.

“Grenade!” One of the enemy said and ducked away. It banged and flashed, and I could hear them groan. “It's just a flash-bang!”

I pointed at my wingman and he threw the second grenade. The enemy had come out of cover because of the fake grenade, and the actual grenade exploded and tore them up. Four more red dots were wiped off the HUD and I slapped my wingman on the shoulder. With my other hand I pointed at my eyes, then forward with two fingers, then again. It told him to keep an eye out, then to advance double-time. He nodded, and the both of us left cover and continued on the mission.

It took nearly half an hour for us to make it to the designated coordinates, and we'd taken out another dozen red dots. They had been much harder to do, since they tended to scatter in ones and twos. I was about to give the order to attack with all that we had, when Amanda pinched my cheek.

“What?” I whispered.

“Jack, it... it's done.” Amanda said.

“No, it isn't.” I whispered. “It's about to be, though.”

“I meant the compiler on the new server.” Amanda said. “It's done.”

“Sir!” My wingman whispered. “Are we a go?”

“End battle scenario.” I said and stood up. No less than three lasers hit me in the chest dead center, but the beams faded without causing any damage; then the rest of the battlefield faded away. What was left in front of me, was the confirmation popup window that the files had been compiled, parsed and sorted into the proper directories.

It was done.