The maze unravelled before him, its secrets now known, and its alien construction deciphered. He pulled down the spiralling hedgerows and straightened the curling, knotted passageways as he flew by, shielded from attack with a force-field of telepathic creation.

“Third rate!” crowed William. “Cheap knock-off shit! You couldn’t change a child’s thoughts with candy and a day’s prep! I rule the mind!”

Traps and snares nipped at his heels, springing out from hidden spaces within the path the clone wanted him to take. William laughed louder. The bastard thought he could alter his thoughts with obvious gags? “What a fool…”

He closed on the horizon, the maze world turning at his feet, crumbling in his wake. The clone thought he could convince him to save the Hill boy and the clones with reverse psychology? William hit the barrier and passed though.

A question hung on his mind. William didn’t notice it, but with each passing of the barrier, the question burrowed deeper, poisoning his thoughts and feelings as it went, until it would stand by itself as an accusation.

Why did his clone want to protect Yelich and the Hills and how would he benefit from it?

A maze world similar to the last lay before him. Flowers dotted the hedges, their sweet scent borne on a gentle breeze which ruffled the soft grasses and fine leaves of the maze. He probed ahead with his mental ability, searching for the point that would lead him on, tracing the diverging paths and dead ends in moments.

He found the exit amongst the stairs that lined the heavens. William focused, forcing a clear path through the twisting paths of brick and mortar. He propelled himself upwards. The ground dropped away, the curve of the miniature world becoming apparent with height. The motives of the clone bothered him.

Why protect Connor? What was the clone’s end goal? And why was he working with Yelich? Had they formed an alliance? Was his uncle in danger? William frowned at the thoughts. He ducked under an archway, banked left and shot along a winding set of stairs and broke through a door. The barrier glowed in front of him. William reached for the goal, piercing the veil.

He opened his eyes to see another maze world, this one similar to the last two. He frowned and scratched at his chin. Was it more than two? How long had he been trapped here? How many mazes had he passed through? His recent memory was hazy, yet his confidence rode high.

His clone had built a pretty weak prison to hold him. It only took a little probing to find the way out. There couldn’t be much more to traverse. The question tugged at him. The conclusion stuck out like a sore thumb. William laughed.

It was so obvious!

“They are working together. It makes sense,” he said. “Why else would Yelich sabotage the facility and expose us to our enemies. Unless he’s been bought out.”

William looked across the rolling, mind-bending puzzle with a sneer. “I have to get out of here and save the company. Loser thinks he can trick me… Ha! I’ll kill him and that fucking traitor.”

He sent of strands of questing mental energy, searching for the prison’s exit. It was closer in this world, set in the hedgerow maze below his feet. William descended from the sky. Snares and barbs left by the clone struck at his shield impotently, their hidden commands and poison philosophy useless against a mind as strong as his. William broke through the barrier, penetrating the block with a surge of sharpened telepathic force.

Sensation returned to his body, rough and evil in its handling. The back of his head stung, and his brain throbbed from a cataclysmic headache. William groaned and rolled on the cold concrete floor. His face and chest felt numb from laying on the hard surface. He wiped the sticky drool from the corner of his mouth.

“You’re awake?”

William cracked open an eye. Connor, or more likely a clone of his, stood several metres away, a central rod from an I.V stand clutched in his hand like a club.

“What are you going to do?” asked William.

The clone pointed the end of the metal rod at him. “The boss told me to watch you. He said I had to stop you if you tried to get away.”

“Did he?” responded William, chuckling dryly. “With what?” He eased himself up to a sitting position and massaged the tension from his brow.

“Woah,” threatened the Hill clone, waving his makeshift club. “Just back up now. There’s gas…”

“Think you can threaten me, you fucking worm?”

He shook his hand apologetically. “There’s gas outside the…”

William clenched his fist, the physical act helping as a proxy for his mental power. Telekinetic force crushed the clone with vice-like fingers before he could finish his sentence, popping him like a grape and spraying his blood and guts across the room. William released the telekinetic vice and got to his feet. The pulped remains and twisted I.V rod fell to the ground with a sickening splat. Pain seared through is head as his ability went quiet. William looked about the high-ceilinged chamber and the rows of sleeping de-Programmed housed within their steel and glass coffins.

“Can’t leave you to Yelich…”

He staggered to the control station in the middle of the room. His shaking hands accessed the touch screen, searched through the sub-routines until he found the emergency shutdown procedure. The display panels built into the pods changed colour from a safe blue to a dangerous red. William switched the cocktail being pumped into the sleeping kids to a stimulant which would help their atrophied muscles regain strength. He flicked back to the security routines and overrode the purge with his high-level clearance then set the ventilation system to suck the gases clear, changing the password behind him to buy time. A day-drunk, novice net jockey could crack the code but at least it would stall them. William hit the fire alarm after the fans had operated for long enough, allowing the de-Programmed to egress from the labs. That Yelich would stoop to poisoning him while he was down here boiled his blood, further proving the old bastard had turned against the company.

“Fucking Yelich trying to kill me…” he muttered. William logged out of the console and strode toward the sealed doors. “I’ll kill you and your pets.”