Dante

  To sleep, perchance to dream.

  --William Shakespeare

  The morning hits like the mother of all hangovers.

  Not because I’m in physical pain. Most of my scratches and bruises from the night before have healed up.

  My worldview, though, has been shattered into a million pieces, stomped on, lit on fire and then dropkicked into the Sun.

  My head is just fine. And yet it’s pounding as I work everything through.

  Fortunately, I managed to plug in my AIs last night, even while stumbling mindlessly to bed. Or maybe I’ve been sleepwalking. It’s all a blur. But there’s something to be said for unthinking instinct.

  Because I certainly need their thoughts now.

  I start rebooting. And in moments, their familiar chatter surrounds me.

  “Well,” Lyrica remarks. “That was something.”

  “Are our files intact? Our minds?” Legios demands. “If I have to scrap myself in favor of some wet-behind-the-ears, 2-month-old cut-rate copy of myself, I’ll…”

  “So far we appear to be fine,” Logos interrupts. “Does that match up with everyone else’s diagnostics?”

  “So far, so good,” Taproot remarks wistfully. “I don’t appear to have had a single memory scrubbed from my brain. How fortunate. I’ll go back to sifting the pits of the Underworld as soon as we’re done here, then. The Darknet awaits.”

  “Also fine,” Lyrica confirms. Legios and Foresight echo her.

  “That’s a relief,” I sigh. “I’m going to need all of you. We have a lot to talk about. And you have a lot more to research.”

  I glance outside, and realize the morning is still pitch dark. I glance at a clock. 2 am.

  Even counting jet lag, I’m obviously having trouble sleeping.

  Unlike normal stress, though, I’m not unconsciously imagining the risk of being killed in my sleep.

  After last night, that’s clearly real. Which is comforting. At least I’m not going insane.

  “How much do you remember about last night?” I ask them. “After the final ambush? Astra took photos. I’m sending them to you now.”

  “Foresight warned us about the power distortions,” Logos remarks. “We went dark right after that.”

  “I told the others to cut their power,” Foresight says, “and ordered Articulate to start pulling batteries. I wasn’t sure if any of us would make it.”

  “And yet we did,” Legios observes. “Doubtless to your eternal dismay.”

  “Not at all. What would I do without your keen wit and good cheer to lighten my mornings, Legios?”

  We talk, and I set them to work.

  An email to my family, to let them know I’m here and just fine, but that it’s too late to call. A separate email to my sister, telling her I’ll call, but to stay vigilant. Prompts for the house AI and other security AIs around my family, and a few heads ups for this house’s AI, in case someone tries to kill me in my sleep.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Then we get to the hard stuff. I tell Barry we need to talk and hint that my trip was not ‘uneventful,’ but that I’m safe and in his house.

  Then I need to contact my Uncle Keiron, and the highest authorities possible.

  Who are one and the same.

  Uncle Keiron gets a thorough recounting of the last 36 hours, plus whatever reasonable extrapolations my AIs can come up with. I have a secure, encrypted channel to reach him.

  And Keiron Celestine has tremendous pull inside the government, where Enhanced people, emerging technologies and national security are concerned.

  Also, he’s hands down the scariest person I’ve ever seen, and I’ve met a few of the members of his old SEAL team, before he was drafted into running the world.

  Finally, I also send a summary of my train ride to Ghost, though without names or anything that my new friends might want to keep secret. Just that three exceptionally capable people helped me, our minds were wiped, and I’m really wondering if any of the enemy tech Astra photographed looks like Circle work to her.

  Yes, my AIs are amazing, but she’s literally the only expert on the Circle I know who hasn’t tried to beat me senseless or kidnap me, and I’m pretty sure she knows things Logos and Taproot won’t find trolling the Net or dredging the Darknet.

  And finally, I’m done.

  After an hour, whatever night terrors or creeping paranoia that managed to rouse me from my sleep fade. Or fade enough that weariness hits me again, redoubled. I look out my bedroom windows again, but there isn’t even a hint of pre-dawn light. Even the nearby town is barely a slightly lighter patch on the horizon, given the trees and mountains.

  So I still have a few hours of peace left to me.

  The AIs fall silent as I stumble back to bed, and drop into a sleep that’s more like a healing coma.

  Dawn will be here all too soon.

  I sleep, and I dream.

  ***

  I am walking through the great hall of a modern castle, with Kei. I know this place like it is my home.

  Because I am a child now, and for years, it has been.

  Our school.

  I see a few of the new students on the other side of the huge room – the big redheaded boy with the bigger laugh, the pretty girl torn between acting superior and acting desperate to join the rest of us, and so on. We’ll be talking to them soon enough.

  Our next class is supposed to be in here, after all. I see more students pouring in.

  But I also see my cousin Lyra, blonde, beautiful and bigger than any of us little kids. They say she’s tall and fast and smart and strong, even for her age, but I just know her as my sometimes babysitter and sandwich maker. She’s sprawled out on a couch, watching a video on her laptop, earbuds in her ears so as not to bother the rest of us.

  Kei and I walk up behind her, and peer at her screen. Something about all the movement has drawn her eyes and mine as well.

  I glance over at Kei, and then back at Lyra. People in suits are talking comically fast on her computer, occasionally gesturing like a movie that’s been sped up to look funny.

  Her face is serious as she stares at the screen, though.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  Lyra blinks, and pauses the video. “Oh, you guys haven’t taken this class, yet, have you?”

  “Ahem!” a voice says behind us, and an older man strides in. Dr. Grimm, looking, per the usual, grim. And just generally grumpy. Though I’ve yet to see him yell at or punish or really bother anyone. He’s just sarcastic and feels like he could explode in a mushroom cloud of bitterness at any time. So much so I’m surprised he’s allowed to be around kids, but apparently he’s some kind of genius, too. For whatever that’s worth.

  The class turns toward him, expectant.

  “Today you’ll be learning at an accelerated rate. You’ve already selected subjects of interest on your school iPads. When I am through speaking, you will select one of those subjects on your screen and then one of the videos displayed under that subject, or the AI will select one for you.

  “Then, you will simply watch. These are more complex videos, but nothing offered will be beyond you.” He glanced around sharply at the class. “But… each video will be accelerated to 1.25 times its normal speed. You will watch, and listen, as best you can. Once your video selection is done that will conclude your class for the day, and you may leave early for study hall.”

  Grimm snaps his fingers abruptly. “That is all. Begin.”

  An hour later, and I know more about baby kittens than I ever thought there was to know.

  And I had to admit, it felt pretty good. I already had a dozen more videos queued up for research – ponies, puppies, penguins and, of course, more kittens.

  Well, technically Kei has those queued up. I’ve been watching her videos and sharing one of her earbuds while she shares one of mine.

  I learn about her stuff, while she learns about mine. Rockets and racecars, dragons and dinosaurs.

  I figure doubling up on the streaming can’t hurt. And Kei has good taste.

  It’s time to get serious about my education.

  ***

  Somewhere else, years in the future, I shift unconsciously in my bed, knowing these sunlit days will end in sorrow. Knowing I can follow the thread of this dream until it unravels in nightmare.

  Some part of me rebels at the knowledge, and my dreams fade into silence, my memories into shadows.

  And once again, I sleep.

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