Fly?" I said out loud.My eyes turned upward, towards the sky above the mountain.I looked back to Paige, and met her worrisome eyes. The look on her face was true emotion, and it was fear.Sometimes it was easy for me to forget that simulated realities were the only worlds that she knew, and the task of flight would probably feel the same to her in a dream room as it would to me in the real world.His psyche was built around mine, and she more than likely felt my fears as well. In the real world, I was terrified of wide open heights. In here, I was fine. I was not scared because I knew that it was fake, but this was as real as any world that Paige had ever felt.I took a baby step towards her, afraid that I would walk right passed her if I didn't control my stride. I reached out and took both of her hands into mine, and really feeling what her touch was like, leaned in to rest my forehead on hers.

I made it home in record speed, hoping to see Paige and put any jealousy to rest. Once I'd made it back to my block, I realized how peaceful the industrial neighborhood truly was. I longed to have that tranquility in my part of the world.It wasn't until I was inside my apartment that I realized the sun wouldn't be up for another five hours. I hated to waste the night in dream sync, but I had a bad feeling that my lusting over Eve might have rubbed Paige the wrong way. Considering how lifelike and emotional she'd been since the Social Circle, I would have put money on her being upset; like a real woman would have been.My eyes only glanced at the little bag of boost for a moment before I reached over and threw it in the bottom drawer of my desk. I wasn't ready to throw it away, knowing that the urge would surly best me sooner or later, but I wasn't ready to do a line either.Truth be told, I was rath

The senator's android receptionist put me on hold for a little over thirty minutes. During that time, I was left with nothing but Hernan's less than stimulating company to keep me entertained. I was ready to end the call and try again, just so that I could give the machine a piece of my mind, when the senator's face showed up in my view.His profile picture was eerie, to say the least. Based on our only meeting, I hadn't been sure that he was capable of showing emotion. In the picture, his face was the exact same as I'd remembered; only he had a grin from ear to ear. It was the kind of phony picture that you'd put with a real estate agent, or a shady car salesman. I suppose that it worked just fine with a senator as well.Mr. Vrix, I was not expecting to hear from you so soon. You have information as to Ed's whereabouts, I presume. His voice was just as calculated as his machine secretary. If I hadn't met him in person, I would have sworn

I was on the motorcycle, duffle bag on my back, and on the street; cruising back towards Hernan's apartment to make sure that he was set up to survive long enough for me to find a way to get him out of his slumber. The streets were so much easier to move down on the bike that I figured I could get at least twice as much work done in a night.It wasn't until I was on Hernan's street that I noticed the three headlights that were following me. Motorcycle lights had been trailing me for I don't know how long, and they were steady at it. They kept a safe enough distance, but they moved through each lane that I did.Realizing that this could mean nothing good, I slammed the throttle down and raced at a speed that I truly was not comfortable with. I flew by cars, making them nothing more than dangerous blurs as I raced between lanes of traffic. Any time that there was a gap in the lanes big enough to fit through, I would weave into th

There was a short period of time that I thought I might have slept, but I couldn't be sure. My eyes were closed, and I figure that a few minutes had passed, but I didn't know if I'd actually slept.My mind was exhausted, but my body would randomly convulse with tremors from boost withdraws. When I finally gave up on the notion of sleeping, the trembling had become more constant, and my body was soaked with sweat.I walked over to Hernan and put my fingers to his throat, checking for his pulse. Trying to keep my mind busy, I timed it to make sure it was steady. His heart beat was running strong.With that taken care of, I had about five hours to kill and nothing to do.I attempted to steady man hand, holding out in front of my face and giving it my complete concentration; it was no use."I wouldn't have guessed you as a booster", Evelynne said. I put my hand down quic