Gauge started punching in commands to the vehicle’s console before he even took a seat in the pilot’s position. Once Ethan was in the vehicle, the door shut behind him and the autocar started to lift off.
“You’re gonna want to get in a seat,” Gauge said. “And buckle in.”
Ethan stumbled toward the front of the vehicle and sat down beside the redheaded man. With a bit of fumbling, he found the buckle to his harness and secured it.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
Gauge pointed to the sky. “Straight up,” he answered. “We’re going to break out of the simulation by smashing through the ceiling.”
“Just like the Glass Elevator,” Ethan commented.
Gauge cast him a sideways glance, then took the vehicle into a nose-first ascent toward the heavens.
The force of acceleration pushed Ethan deep into his seat. He tried to reach out and hold onto the arms, but he couldn’t move his hands. It was like the chair had turned into an impossibly strong vacuum, and there was no escape from it. He could feel the flesh around his eyes tighten as it started being pulled away from the center of his skull. Even his eyes seemed powerless to do much more than roll back toward the pull of gravity.
A loud burst came from behind them and the autocar shook. Ethan felt the vibrations even through the turbulence around them. He tried to look back, but the acceleration held him firm.
“They’re chasing us,” Gauge said with some strain. It seemed the forces of acceleration weren’t quite as intense for him as it was for the human. He reached forward and pressed something, and a loud whoosh came from under the autocar. “That’s our only flare.”
Another burst shook the vehicle. This time, Ethan could see a glow of red light surround the autocar. As far as he could tell, the alien police officers were pursuing them in their own aircraft, shooting lasers across their bow. Gauge did what he could to evade the projectiles, but there were too many for it to be possible. It was like the xeno-cops were trying to create their own fireworks display using only deadly lasers.
“Hang on,” Gauge said, pulling a lever on the left side of the control console.
A loud roar of wind rushed into Ethan’s ears, forcing them to pop immediately. He could see the door to the autocar slide open while the air inside the cabin rushed out of the opening. Gauge’s red beard fluttered around his pink face as he pushed something on the control console. One of the seats in the back bolted loose from the floor panels, tilting back as the full forces of gravity worked on it. The opening was just large enough to let the seat tumble through and out into the air.
Ethan turned and saw the object fly down at one of the alien cop vehicles like a missile. The pilot tried to maneuver away from the incoming projectile, but it was too late. The chair smashed through the xeno-cop’s cockpit, engulfing the entire aircraft in a ball of flames. Gauge pulled the lever back up and the door started to close.
“Don’t do that with my seat!” Ethan shouted once the air pressure started to normalize.
The blue of the sky was starting to darken, shade by shade. The inky space behind the digital planet’s atmosphere was starting to reveal itself; Ethan could even make out a star or two through the shaking windshield.
With a skull-shattering roar, the autocar split open. The concussion of the blast threw Ethan against his restraints, which cut deep into his digital flesh. An alarm sounded from all around them, a red light flashing above.
“They’ve hit the engine block!” Gauge said, looking over his instruments. “Power’s still on but we’ve got no thrust.”
“Shit!” Ethan shouted, clutching onto his seat.
“We’re going down!” cried Gauge. “Brace your — brace your — brace your — ”
Eyes ablaze, Ethan glanced over at his pilot. Just like Sharpe only a few minutes prior, the redheaded man was strobing in and out of existence. He kept repeating his last line as the autocar flipped around and pointed straight back down at the earth.
“Gauge?” Ethan asked.
The I.I. didn’t respond; he just kept repeating those two words, flickering like a bad projection.
Is he being kicked out of the system? Ethan wondered. Or — was this all just another simulation?
Ethan watched the ground rush up to meet them through the windshield.
“Gauge!” he shouted. “Come on buddy, don’t do this to me!”
The autocar collided into the street below.
Ethan jolted forward. He almost fell out of his chair.
“He’s back!” Sharpe said from the couch beside him. They were in the basement.
Ethan looked around. His face fell; his blood froze. Taylor and Sharpe were looking at him with expectant expressions.
“How was the second run, buddy?” Sharpe asked. “Did it all play out the same way?”
No
Councilman Harring watched Tera as her mind went a million miles a second. The naked woman stood in the middle of the study, staring blankly ahead as if caught in a trance. The light of the councilman’s hologram reflected off the lobotomized girl’s skin while Tera scanned her over.
She couldn’t deny how attractive the meat puppet was. Tera had always dreamed of being so beautiful, but she knew it was nothing more than a pipe dream. Now that the chance was standing right before her, bare to the elements, she found herself stricken with decision paralysis.
More than anything in the world, she wanted to
