✴

“The test is designed for each candidate, so we couldn’t have figured it out if we have false ideas about each other. We had to understand each other a little better, so the 7 in my mind and the Aydan in yours would be more true,” you say.

“Hmm, that makes sense...” 7 looks away from you into the distance. “This is a very challenging test. It has little to do with technopathy.”

“Well, there’s one thing we’ve been able to find. The seed both familiars had in common. That number is a node in the local network, far removed from the areas we’ve been searching,” you say.

“Let’s go.” She reaches out to open a gate, but the æther in her hand resists her. A red shockwave spreads outward across false space. You feel it divert around your shield like a weak technopathic attack. “The node points to a locked directory.”

“Puzzles on top of puzzles...maybe if we--”

“No, this lock is weak. We are meant to force our way through it.” The space around her hand starts to form cracks, glowing bright green, until it breaks and her gateway opens.

“Damn. You’re strong, 7. No wonder I can never beat you,” you say.

“I may be the stronger technopath,” she says, staring ahead into her portal. “But Aydan is more skilled in other ways. Like talking. People. Friends.”

“Which turned out to help us here, I guess,” you say. “But I just want to ask...half the time you seem annoyed with me. Why do you always want to train together in Haze’s class?”

“Only Aydan can challenge me.” She steps through her doorway, followed closely by 5.

“Hey wait...” You follow her through and pass through a short tunnel of spiraling starlight.

You arrive in a bright place, almost blinding. Walls close tight around you, made of glass that filters the distant starlight into an iridescent glow casting a rainbow pattern all over your avatar. You’re in a more fully developed virtual space now, with an illusion of gravity binding you to the floor. Beneath you, just like around and above, is all glass. Beyond the walls you can see other corridors, branching off at every angle.

And you find yourself alone. The door you came through is nowhere to be seen.

“7?” You scan the local æther. The walls act as barriers to all of your senses except sight. “7?!” you say louder. You see a faint green glow overpowering the cacophony of colors in one direction. You see her avatar through the thick glass wall, and 5 beside her. She seems to speak, but the auditory concept of her words fails to reach you through the barrier.