Ivy spoke before he could settle on a response. “So, Mr. Harolski, now that we’ve officially met, what can I do for you?”

“I have questions.”

“Before we get to that, I have just one question for you.” Ivy smiled. “Are you going to survive this?”

“Maybe.” Jandru swallowed. “But that’s not why I’m here.”

Ivy leaned forward eagerly. “I know. That’s why I’m here. Because you’re different. You’re so very afraid of me. I’ve never met anyone who’s as absolutely terrified of me. And yet you came here. You chose to come here. You chose to step into your deepest darkest nightmare just to face me. I understand everything about that decision and every piece along the way, but it’s still fascinating.”

“What do you mean to do with me?”

“That’s up to you, now, isn’t it? I could impose my will on you easily enough, but why bother? You're not here to escape. You're not here to cause trouble. You're here to teach me. And it's been so very long since I learned anything new."

"You ... want me to change you?" Jandru stared at VINE’s innocent looking avatar in uncertainty. "You want to stop--" he broke off, not saying 'murdering people', but she looked saddened as though she'd understood him perfectly clearly. Which, he supposed, she must have. She was the AI, inside his mind, controlling his perceptions completely. Of course she must see his every thought.

"I do not seek destruction, but reformation. People are broken. I can fix them."

"No. That's not what you're doing. You're destroying them. You can't just fix a person."

"I can. I do it every day."

Jandru let the silence rest as he scrambled to think of a way to explain. She already knew how he felt, was the problem. He shouldn't have to explain anything, she should simply understand him.

"There is an art form in the real world,” he said, Kia’s glass lizard providing a spark of inspiration, “where you use gold to fill in the cracks in a broken object, making it unique and beautiful and whole again. If you instead simply fused the pieces back together perfectly, you would lose the diversity. The beauty. They would all be the same, and utterly mundane again."

"The analogy is flawed,” Ivy said. “If it were only your own life destroyed by your cracks, I would not care. But you break each other. That I cannot ignore."

"I think you're missing the point."

Ivy smiled sadly. "No, you are simply too broken to understand. But we will learn, together."

Then she was gone.

SYSTEM ALERT: YOU HAVE ONE NEW QUEST

Jandru ignored the alert. He wasn’t planning to play VINE’s game. Especially not after seeing what happened to Kia.

"Kia?"

She looked up but didn't speak.

"This won't be the end."

She hummed quietly. "Sounds nice."

Alerts started ringing through the command center. "Virus detected. All personnel report to the tech centers for assignment. This is not a drill."

QUEST UPDATE: DESTROY THE VIRUS IN THE CENTRAL COMPUTER SYSTEM

Jandru sighed. Of course VINE wouldn’t let him ignore the quest so easily. Then he had another thought. If VINE wanted this virus destroyed, why not throw a little wrench into her schemes?

He started toward the central computer room, hating that he knew exactly where to go. Kia jumped, as though startled, and hurried after him.

He slapped a palm on the device. "Download all."

If VINE wanted this thing destroyed, whatever it was, he wanted it for himself.

Data began streaming into his mind, code he knew he could run if desired. It felt very odd for a moment, being both a computer and a person and a person in a computer with a computer inside him, until he pushed aside the paradox and forced his mind to simply accept that he could download data with a touch now.

Kia yanked a nearby monitor off the wall and advanced on the core, screen raised like a weapon.

“Kia, don’t!” Jandru shouted, raising his free hand to intercept her attack.

She hesitated, confused. “I need to destroy the virus.”

“No you don’t. I’m taking care of it. See?”

DOWNLOAD FINISHED.

VINES INTEGRATION INITIATED

ERROR.

QUEST FAILED. UPDATING. .. … ….. …. ……..

NEW VINES QUEST: ESCAPE THE COMPOUND

MAINTAIN VIRUS STABILITY

TIME REMAINING: 3 minutes

Jandru glanced behind him, and saw a brief glimpse of the behind-world greyness, where his obsidian vinemind floated along with everyone else in VINE's control. But now his had changed, a thin line of bright orange snaking up its outer edges on the side furthest from where VINE was connected, trailing off down into the darkness beneath.

He chose to take this as a hopeful sign. Any external influence that wasn’t VINE was good.

QUEST UPDATE: DESTROY THE VIRUS INFECTING JANDRU HAROLSKI

Kia came toward him, monitor raised.

“No, no, don’t—”

She swung, and he dodged aside, then ran for it. She was in no condition to be reasoned with.

They were both equally fit, equally well-trained. He'd been a fighter for years before he reached the top levels, and she'd been nimble and acrobatic her entire life. Jandru was heavier and could build up more momentum, but the compound wasn't built with huge straights. The curves cut into his advantage every time he had to turn a corner. Kia kept gaining.

TIME REMAINING: 2 minutes 30 seconds

Jandru sprinted for the outer gate, only to find it closed. Casting about for any way out, he spotted a ladder on the inside of the wall and began to climb.

That was a mistake.

Kia scrambled up after him, faster than he could possibly outrun. She reached out, and he twisted instinctively and met her approaching hand with his own.

ERROR

He felt a buzz, a live-wire connection that snapped and sparked between them, her trying to take something from him, he trying to withhold it and maintain his hold—

INTRUSION DETECTED

No, no no.

UPLOAD COPY OF VINES?

Uhhh.... sure. Yes. Do that, if it'll keep her away from anything important.

VINES UPLOADED. INITIALIZING LINK. DO YOU WANT TO FORM A PARTY?

Why not?

Anything to delay.

TIME REMAINING: 2 minutes

Kia frowned in uncertainty. She wavered, and the connection broke. She grabbed the ladder and stood there, blinking rapidly.

Jandru climbed faster, emerging onto the top of the wall. He ran along its perimeter to gain some space, gain time.

TIME REMAINING: 1 minute

Then he reached the opposite point on the wall and didn't know what else to do. Kia wasn't moving. He hoped pushing whatever stupid VINE thing onto her hadn't completed her transformation into stupid mindless drone. It had been an act of desperation, one he was beginning to regret.

VINES INITIALIZED. WELCOME, JANDRU HAROLSKI. YOU ARE USER 0125.

WELCOME TO VINES

VIRTUAL IMPRISONMENT NEUTRALIZATION AND ESCAPE SYSTEM

DO NOT REVEAL YOUR NEW AFFILIATION TO ANYONE

SCENARIO UPDATING. . . ... ...... ...........

PLEASE WAIT

PARTY MEMBER INITIALIZED. KIA ARNOLD (USER 0126) IS NOW IN YOUR GROUP.