Hum couldn’t begin to describe the sensations that engulfed his mind — he couldn’t even understand it. It was like he was in terrible pain his entire life and had just felt the first ounce of relief he’d ever experienced. All he could feel was pure euphoria, like his soul itself was taking a nice hot bath. He chuckled a little, the vibrations delighting every nerve in his brain. It was almost like being tickled, but without the desire to make it stop.
The trees rolled slowly down King Hum’s range of vision, occasionally obscured by the soft wisp of a cloud. He cast no shadow — the sunlight ran right through him. A sweet aroma met his senses, wafting up gently from the fertile earth and the plants that grew in it. He’d never smelled something so clear, so fresh — so right.
A glitter caught his attention. The young king looked over to his left and saw another cloud of stardust flying at the same pace he did.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” the other cloud asked. “To be so free?”
King Hum recognized the voice, despite it being devoid of character. It was God again. They drifted through the air together like a pair of ethereal kites.
“I’ve never felt anything like it,” King Hum replied. He tried to accelerate a little and found the process effortless. The other cloud sped up to match him.
“It is my gift to you,” God said, swerving a bit to demonstrate his control over the flight. King Hum replicated the move with little effort.
The young king became solemn as he looked over the valley. The sun continued to rise at an accelerated rate. By that point, it was already midday. It was all so glorious — and that’s what made Hum so serious.
“My people,” he said. “I still have a responsibility to them. This is the best thing I’ve ever experienced, but I can’t turn my back on Opes to fly like this.”
“My child, this is my gift to all of you,” the other glowing cloud replied. “For all your people. As long as they are willing to shed their mortal bonds, they can join us up here. In Paradise.”
The idea was almost too grand for Hum to process. If he still had a heart in his chest, it would be close to bursting. He couldn’t begin to understand how strange the sensation of anxiety without a body was.
“I — would have to think about it,” the young monarch answered.
“I understand,” God said, no disappointment or frustration in his tone. The only emotion the sparkling wisp gave off was love, pure and unadulterated. “It’s why I chose you to be king.”
When it felt like Hum was going to disintegrate from how overwhelming everything was, a loud boom shook the sky. The young king felt like he was in the middle of a snowglobe during an earthquake. The particles that made up every little bit of the valley below was rocked loose, circling up on currents of disturbed air. Even the trees, the stones, and the earth below them started to dematerialize. Glancing over, Hum saw the other wisp vanish wish a slight twinkle.
He wanted to shout out, to cry in surprise, but he had no control of his body — his cloud. A large shadow grew over his face, stealing the sun from the sky and turning the world into a nightscape. Looking up, he saw an impossibly large form ascend over him.
It was a face. One he’d never seen before. It was a man with a red beard and thick black glasses covering his eyes. The reflected light obscured the eyes behind them.
“What’s going on?” King Hum asked. Whether to himself, to the dissolved form of God, or to the behemoth above him — he wasn’t sure.
“King Hum,” the redheaded giant said. His voice shook the matter around the young monarch as he spoke, like sand on a subwoofer. “We’re working on getting you out now.”
“Getting me out?” King Hum asked. “Who are you?”
“My name is Gauge,” the enormous man replied. “I’m with a group you might know as the People’s Union.”
“What?”
“There will be a better opportunity to explain later,” Gauge said. “To make a long story short, you were kidnapped by Reverend Nidus and the Council of Shell City. We’re working on getting you free. They have you in what we call a simpod; everything you’ve been seeing is an elaborate computer program. An illusion.”
“Nidus?” King Hum asked. “This was his doing?”
“That’s right,” Gauge replied. “You’ve been duped.”
Final Bet
The Union and Opesian people brought jack lifts with them, working together to hoist them through the jagged opening their torches had cut into the wall. With the efficiency of a colony of ants, the rebels got the machines up to the simpods and started working the embryonic chambers onto them. Tera saw what she thought were power generators hooked up to the jacks, which the more industrious of the rebels seemed to use to power the simulation chambers while they moved them.
The former cop felt helpless as she watched them work. She wished there was some way she could help, but knowing her technical skills, she’d be just as likely to euthanize the young king and her friend as she was to connect it right. The pulse gun hung in her hand as she scanned the scene, then it jolted back to eye level when she saw some of the Council soldiers closing in on the gunship.
The sound of gunfire and electronic discharge filled the air, bleeding into the simpod chamber with a tinny quality. Even over the backdrop of the cloudless blue sky, she could see the colorful fireworks show of projectiles zipping upwards. With a lowering of her
