Feeling a blistering heat near her feet, Kano awoke. An electrical display beside her bed was on fire. Shying away from the fire, she got to her feet. The room was much darker than before, lit only by the fire and the emergency lighting. How long had she been out?

Hearing someone banging on the glass of the sealed room she was in, she turned. It was Thirty-Six. Realizing that Kano had seen her, she gestured for Kano to come to her. Kano tried the door, but there was no response. Sighing, she cut her way through the thick glass.

“What’s going on?” she asked once she was on the other side.

“I’m not sure,” Thirty-Six said, looking flustered. “Yon said she would let you sleep for a while and then went off somewhere. After a long time, she still wasn’t back, and it sounded like there was an explosion. Then the other lights went out, and that thing caught fire. None of the doors will open either.” After spewing out her words in quick succession, Thirty-Six took a breath and added, “That’s all I know.”

Kano glanced back at the fire. It didn’t seem to be spreading, but the room was filling with smoke. “Let’s get out of here for now. We can figure out what’s going on once we’re somewhere safe.”

Thirty-Six nodded. While they were on their way to the door, she said, “What do you think might have happened?”

“No idea. But I’m sure either Yon or the humans are responsible.”

“Why do you say that?”

With a careful application of her force field, Kano cut through the exterior door. “Who else would have done it? We’re the only ones here. Besides, the timing is too convenient. One or both of them betrayed us.”

“They wouldn’t do something like that,” Thirty-Six said. The little ghoul licked her lips nervously. “Would they? I thought they were our friends.”

Kano could only smile at Thirty-Six’s naivete. She was more trusting than she thought. Maybe it was due to her own influence; perhaps she’d been too soft on her. “That’s just how things are. If they don’t need us for anything, then they’ll discard us as soon as it’s convenient.”

Thirty-Six’s brow furrowed. “But you won’t discard me, right?”

“Of course not.”

“If that’s true, then how can we be sure the others would do something like that?”

Kano reflected that even if Thirty-Six was naïve, she could be surprisingly sharp. “All right,” she said with a chuckle, “you’ve got me there. I won’t blame them for whatever’s happening until we know for sure. Okay?”

“Okay,” Thirty-Six said, pleased.

They made their way back through the facility. Kano had little idea of where they were in relation to anything else, and they often had to turn around after realizing they’d gone the wrong way. After a while, Thirty-Six stopped.

“What is it?” Kano asked.

Staring into space, Thirty-Six whispered, “I… think I know where to go.”

Kano scratched her head. “What’re you talking about? How could you know?”

“I don’t know,” Thirty-Six said, giggling. “But I can just feel that this is the right way.” She pointed to a door that looked much like the others around it. “In there. That’s where we should go.”

It seemed ridiculous to Kano, but she didn’t have any better ideas. She may as well give it a shot, and Thirty-Six seemed confident. Following Thirty-Six’s directions, Kano reached a heavy steel door with a blinking red light above it. “In here?”

“I think so.”

The hardened steel that made up the door proved little obstacle to Kano, and she went in. Ahead was an identical door, flanked by two turrets. They swiveled around to point at Kano as she stepped in. “Don’t come any closer!” The voice came from a speaker on the wall. Bornon. Kano shook her head. What had happened while she was asleep?

“Did the necromancer send you?” he demanded.

“No,” Kano said. “Why would she?”

“To stop us so she can take control of this facility. Well, I won’t let you.” There was an edge of hysteria in his voice. Kano shifted. She might have to kill him depending on how things panned out. But the fact that he hadn’t started shooting yet had to count for something; maybe he could still be reasoned with.

“I’m not working with her, I don’t care about whatever it is she’s up to. I just came here so she could fix whatever’s wrong with me.”

“I-I don’t believe you.”

“Then let me talk to Rovon.” He seemed the far more reasonable of the two.

“Rovon’s… not here right now. If you’re really not working for the necromancer, then get out of here before I do something we’ll both regret.”

“Fine, we’re leaving.” Kano backed out of the room, going back around the corner. She couldn’t fault whatever had guided Thirty-Six there—it had led them right to one of the people they were looking for. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like there was much to be gained from interacting with Bornon, at least not when he was in such a state.

“What’s he trying to do…” Kano muttered.

“I don’t think he really knows what he’s doing,” Thirty-Six said. “He’s just scared.”

“Scared? Of what? Yon?”

“Yeah. And of what she’ll do with this place. I think he’s trying to take control himself to stop her.”

“I really have to ask: How do you know all of this?”

“I just do. It’s like there are… voices that I can’t quite hear, but I can still understand parts of what they’re trying to tell me. If that makes any sense…”

Kano had no idea what she was talking about, but she didn’t want to get too far into whatever was happening to Thirty-Six right now. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to hurt, and it was definitely helping them. “Um, okay. Well, tell me if it gets bad.”

“I will.”

“Voices or whatever aside, what do you think we should do? Help Yon? I still need her to fix my brain.”

“Help? You mean you’ll fight, right?”

Kano shrugged. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but yeah. I might have to kill someone based on how things are going. I mean, look at this place.” She swept her hand to indicate the broken door and the lack of power.

“You were the one who destroyed the door, though.”

“I know, but that wasn’t my fault. It’s whoever turned off the power that’s to blame.”

“Try not to break too much. I don’t think this place likes it when you do.”

Kano made a mental note to keep an eye on Thirty-Six’s sanity. She sounded deranged. “Right. Well, I’ll keep that in mind. But what should we do?”

“I think Yon is behind all this, so we should go find her first.”

“Okay, any idea where she is?”

Closing her eyes, Thirty-Six stood motionless for a few moments. “Follow me,” she said, opening her eyes and walking away. Thirty-Six moved without looking where she was going, yet never stumbled or had to stop and figure out which way to go. It was as if she was following a map in her head. She continued like this, guiding them unerringly, until they came to a section of torn-open inner wall. Thirty-Six turned on her. “Was this you?”

“Nope.”

With a sniff of disdain, Thirty-Six touched the ruined wall. Whatever had destroyed it had done a rough job of it—the steel was crumpled and jagged. “It’s this way.” They stepped through the breach into a huge chamber. Kano was surprised she hadn’t noticed it before; it seemed like it must take up a significant portion of the whole facility.

The chamber was dome shaped and empty except for a square partition near the middle. What did they need so much space for? Had they been storing something here that had since been removed? If it was large enough to need such a huge room, she couldn’t see how they’d gotten it out of the building without destroying half of it.

Glancing at Thirty-Six, she took a step forward and ran into something. It was a strand suspended in the air, so thin that she’d missed it. Squeezing it between two fingers, she found it to be hard as steel, yet it sprang back into shape after she released it. She squinted and found the room was full of them. They were anchored to the ground, and she couldn’t see the other end. Based on the angle of them, it had to be somewhere toward the middle of the chamber.

“Don’t touch them,” Thirty-Six said firmly.

Kano jerked her hand back as if stung. “Sorry. What are they?”

“They’re…” Thirty-Six moved her mouth without speaking, struggling to find the right words, “important. I think they’re why Yon came here. Why this place is here at all.”

“That doesn’t explain anything, but I guess we know what Yon’s objective is now at least. So she must be in here somewhere, right?” Kano shouted the necromancer’s name, her voice echoing through the dome. She waited a few seconds, but there was no response. Well, even if Yon wasn’t willing to reveal herself, it wasn’t like there were a lot of places to hide in here. She must be in the central part of the room.

Seeing Thirty-Six staring intently at that very spot only confirmed her suspicions. The only question was how to get there without touching the threads; they were densely packed and seemed to be everywhere. “How are we supposed to get closer without touching any of them?”

Thirty-Six swept her hand through the air, and the strands parted just enough to let them pass. They walked down the now-clear path to the central room. Kano turned the door handle. As it swung open, a shock passed through Kano, paralyzing her. Unable to control her body, she stumbled and fell. The steel floor rushed up to meet her and… she landed in the grass. Everything around them had changed; they were no longer inside a building. They were standing in a grassy meadow, the sun shining overhead.

“Oh,” Yon said, sitting on a wooden chair beside a table, “it’s you two. I thought you’d be out for longer than that.” Her voice was slurred and monotonous, as if drugged.

Able to move again, Kano looked around with an expression of wonder. How had they come here? Was this an illusion? It had to be, but she could feel the grass beneath her feet and smell it in the air. “There was a fire.”

Yon frowned, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. “A fire?” she asked, sounding more herself.

“I can’t say for sure,” Kano said, “but it seemed to be from one of those electrical panels.”

“What about the fire-suppression systems?”

“The what?”

“A place like this must have some sort of automatic safeguard against fires.”

Kano shrugged. “I didn’t see anything like that. But enough about the fire. What is this place?”

“I haven’t quite grasped the specifics, but it’s essentially an illusion. One generated by the network of strands outside. I’m not sure where exactly it’s supposed to be. Presumably it’s modeled after somewhere real, but it’s hard to say.”

Looking around, Kano noticed that Thirty-Six was still lying on the ground beside her. Whatever had paralyzed Kano still seemed to have a hold over her companion. She shook Thirty-Six, but there was no response.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kano asked. “Why isn’t she moving?”

Walking over, Yon looked down at the unmoving ghoul. “I have no idea. She should have recovered once she crossed over to this world completely, like you did. It may have something to do with the artificial soul used in her creation. Perhaps that interferes with the way this place is generated. It doesn’t really matter; she should be fine once I end the simulation.”

“Then end it already,” Kano demanded.

“I’d be happy to do so,” Yon said, tugging at her robes, “but I haven’t quite figured out how to do that.”

“You’re the one who started this simulation, aren’t you? You must know how to stop it.”

“Err, about that. All I did was turn it on. It was already set up to bring people to this place, for whatever reason. I think it might have been done as a demonstration of what the system is capable of. There certainly doesn’t seem to be any tangible benefit to it. It’s kind of stupid, if anything.”

Kano shook her head. This wasn’t making a lot of sense to her. “What is this system you’re talking about? Some kind of computer?”

Yon scoffed. “It’s nothing so mundane as a computer. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s a network. One made up of an enormous number of souls, each one somehow working in concert with another.”

“Souls? How is that possible? Don’t souls need a vessel to influence this world?”

“You’re right,” Yon said, “and I don’t believe this system violates that rule. I think somehow those strands you saw outside function as their minds and bodies. That part is strange enough, but somehow each of those thin strands contains multiple souls.”

“Is it really that strange?” Kano asked, scratching her head. “I thought you necromancers always made crap like this.”

Doubling over in a sudden fit of laughter, it took a few moments for Yon to regain control of herself. “You really have no idea…” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I haven’t the slightest clue how they did it, but what the humans accomplished here is closer to a miracle than anything possible with my art.”

Kano was about to ask what Yon was planning on doing with this “miraculous” system when Thirty-Six screamed, and the world went mad.