BYRON WALKED through the halls of the space station, passing through crowds all headed in different directions. Chetaara walked with her arm in his, looking puzzled at Scarlett who danced and twirled ahead of them while chanting over and over again.

"I'm gonna get drunk as fuck," she said in a sing-song voice. "I'm gonna get drunk as fuck."

They arrived at what looked like a large club with a sign, "The Rings of Saturn." When he pushed open the doors, he found it crowded with aliens. Pushing open the door triggered a flood of music and a view that looked like a cross between the cantina from Star Wars: A New Hope and a danceclub. While people of all shapes and sizes gathered at a counter where robots served drinks, most of the clubgoers seemed to be on the dance floor. Male and female aliens danced and ground against each other to the heavy beat.

Scarlett and Chetaara began dancing to the music. As much as he enjoyed the sight of their boobs bouncing up and down, he felt a sense of panic at the idea they might want him to join in. He'd always been clumsy so dancing was a minor nightmare. The one time he had tried dancing at his senior prom, he ended up stepping on his date's feet until she was the one who begged him to stop.

As he feared, Scarlett took his left hand. "Come on, let's show these dicks how a real man dances."

He winced and tried to hold back. "Uh, I'm actually not much of a dancer."

"Hey, anybody can dance. All you gotta do is move your ass to the music."

"Uh, no, really."

"Fine." She let go and took Chetaara's hand. "We'll show you how it's done, and you get us some drinks. Margarita for both of us."

Chetaara frowned. "What is a margarita?"

"Trust me. You'll love it."

He gratefully headed for the bar while Scarlett and Chetaara began to dance.

Approaching the bar, he noticed more people had the red star indicating they were real players. He wanted to ask if they were trapped in the game, how long they had been playing, and if they knew a way out. However, his last encounter with a player made him shy away from them.

When he reached the bar, he waved over one of the bartending robots. The robot flashed a hologram of a menu into the air with slots for different symbols of drinks, along with prices. It looked like the menu in an old school RPG. He ordered the two margaritas and a beer for himself.

A group of other players at the bar laughed next to him. They all wore suits like medieval armor, and all had red stars that showed they were real people.

One of them with white hair and a white beard looked at Byron, glanced up at his star, and nodded. "Hey, another normal. How long you been under?"

Byron winced. "What?"

"You know, how long you been stuck in Venus Online?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. I don't have a watch."

One of the other players laughed. "Couldn't have been that long if he's not keeping track of the time."

The white-haired man nodded. "Yeah, it doesn't seem to matter at first. But it will. I've been under for ten years, two months, and fifteen minutes in game-time."

Byron looked around the club at all the people with red stars. "Is everyone in Venus Online trapped? Aren't there any of us who can leave?"

The old man chuckled. "Haven't met one yet."

"My robot told me there's a way out, though."

The white-haired man shrugged. "That's what they say, but none of us have been able to find it. I personally think there is no way out. It's just a myth to keep us from freaking out."

One of the others with a tattoo of a spider on his face raised his glass. "I know the way out."

The old man raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, then why are you still here?"

"'Cause it can't be done. You know what I think? I think you have to beat the big boss. Lady Necralia."

All the other players snorted, laughed, and waved their hands.

Byron looked at them. "What?"

The old man picked up his glass. "Nobody beats Lady Necralia."

"Why not?"

He looked at Byron with raised eyebrows. "You must be a newbie if you don't know that. Look, Lady Necralia is a force of nature. She took over most of the Galaxy before anyone even knew her name. She's the highest ranked life form in the entire game, a level five hundred. Nobody has even seen her outside of holograms except for her inner circle, led by her commander, General Deth."

He swallowed his drink in one gulp. "I knew a guy who went after her. Got closer than anyone else, I think. He got all the way into her fortress on their home planet of Necros. He never came out. But about an hour after he set foot inside, Lady Necralia broadcast on all channels footage of my friend being put through the Torment Tower."

Byron felt a chill. "What's the Torment Tower?"

The white-haired player stared at his empty glass like a crystal ball. "A machine invented by General Deth. It's a booth they put you in. It has all sorts of nasty things on it, and it can extract pain in ways you can't imagine. It can put you in a lot of pain like cutting off your fingers one by one or it can just burn individual nerve endings. And you won't die until the Tower decides you die, even if you're begging for it like my friend did. They let him suffer for hours, then days. When they cut his head off, that was like an act of mercy."

The older player slammed the glass down. "And he was the success story. Most people don't even get that close. If the only way out of Venus Online is to beat her, no one will ever leave."

Byron raised his hands. "But how does--"

The old man grabbed the front of his armor, looking at something behind him. "Hey, forget all that unpleasantness. Check that out."

When Byron turned around, he easily caught sight of Scarlett and Chetaara. They were drawing a lot of attention as they danced with each other.

Chetaara had her arms wrapped around Scarlett who ground her metal ass into the cat woman's lap. As they moved, Chetaara ran her hands over Scarlett's swaying breasts.

As he watched, Scarlett turned around, wrapped her arms around Chetaara's neck and kissed her.

The other players at the bar groaned, laughed, and slapped each other's shoulders.

"Wow," Byron whispered.

When the dance ended, the two women ended their kiss and walked to the bar, hand in hand and smiling at each other.

Scarlett giggled. "How's your first lesson, sweetheart?"

Chetaara laughed. "It was quite enjoyable."

Scarlett picked up her margarita before the bartender even set it down on the bar. She tipped the salt-rimmed glass at her. "Wait until you see lesson two."

Chetaara turned to Byron and smiled with narrowed eyes. "And how did you enjoy it, Master?"

He looked away, unable to look her in the eye. "It was awesome."

"Wonderful. My goal is to bring you joy." Chetaara stopped at her margarita. "Mmm, this is very good."

As he looked around the bar, Byron felt a sickening feeling. It seemed completely real, but he felt a sense of distance from it all. It felt like he was watching a movie instead of living his life. He reminded himself his real body still lay in his living room. He still felt strange about his new life. Everything looked strange and unfamiliar.

He looked at Scarlett who gulped down her margarita. "You know, only a few hours ago, I lived a normal life. Now I'm drinking beer in a bar in a space station with robots and aliens. Of course, it isn't real. In real life, I'm still lying in a giant egg. Is it morning?"

Scarlett lowered her margarita and looked up at something unseen. "Uh, no. Not yet. It's been about five minutes in the real world."

Byron shook his head as he drank some of his beer. It felt cool and tasted good, but he reminded himself it was just his imagination. "I don't know if I can do this. I mean, just live in this virtual world. Pretend this is real. I want to get out."

She reached out to rub his shoulder. "I know, baby. I promise, we'll get you out. But like I said, this is pretty cool shit, huh? Just enjoy it while it lasts."

"But why is the game like this? Why would anyone make a game that kills people? Or a game you can't leave?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. I gotta say, you're not like other players. Most of the gamers just fuck and blow shit up. You ask a lot of questions. Maybe you'll be the one to find out the answers."

"I wish I could at least send a message to Molly to let her know what happened."

Before he could talk more, screaming and yelling rang out on the dance floor. The dancing men, women and aliens broke up and moved back to allow five men in heavy armor and carrying chain guns to shove their way through the crowds. One of them looked just like the soldier that Byron shot in the leg.

They headed straight for Byron.

He reached for his Scorpio pistol on his hip. "Uh-oh."