Jak Koke - Stranger souls

"Where are these culprits?"

"We've lost them," Jeremy said. "Temporarily."

"Let me know when they're caught. I want to know why they were in the lower levels."

"They must have been after some of the treasure," Jeremy said. "But were scared off."

"Maybe."

/ must talk to her, Lethe thought. / can tell her about the Dragon Heart and the elves who took it. But, unlike Thayla, she did not hear his emotions when he tried to talk to her, and she seemed to have no awareness of any world beyond the physical.

Maybe I can use a physical body to speak with her? The thought came and he acted on it without hesitation. He surrounded the spirit of Jeremy, engulfing the ork's aura as he entered the metahuman flesh. He tried to be gentle with the fragile spirit, careful not to completely swallow Jeremy's will.

Lethe filled the flesh as the ork's spirit shrank into a nothing, until it was safely absorbed by Lethe. He had taken total control of the body. This frail flesh that the metahuman spirits called home. Seemed so vulnerable. So weak.

The flesh of this creature felt heavy and slow. He saw the warped and distorted image of the physical world through the ork's eyes, heard the dulled sounds through his ears. The flesh was clumsy and awkward compared to Lethe's pure spirit form. And had some unexpected side effects; the smell of the lovely elven woman had an arousing effect on the ork's body which Lethe found not unpleasant.

Very strange, totally unexpected.

"I must speak with you," he said, the words coming out clumsily through the ork's mouth. But they didn't sound like Jeremy's. The inflection was different enough that the elf turned to him.

"What is it, Jeremy?"

"I have taken over Jeremy's flesh," Lethe said. "Just to make contact with you. My name is Lethe, and I am what you call a spirit."

She took several steps back and glanced with suspicion at the gun on Jeremy's hip. "What do you want… Lethe?"

"What is your name?"

"Nadja Daviar," she said.

Nadja Daviar, Lethe thought. No, nothing. He had hoped that hearing her name would click some memories into place, but nothing at all had come back.

"I can tell you about that which you seek," he told Nadja.

"What do you mean?"

Jeremy's body was growing warm from Lethe's influence. "The people who came here, in the lower levels. They took the Dragon Heart."

"The what?"

"The Dragon Heart," Lethe repeated as sweat broke out on Jeremy's forehead. "You don't know what it is?" "No."

"An item created by Dunkelzahn. I need to bring it to Thayla."

"Dunkelzahn never told me about any such item."

Several magicians had surrounded Lethe by then, and some security guards had their weapons drawn, pointed at Jeremy's body. Nadja's aura was a maelstrom of intense emotions, but none of that showed on the surface. She spoke evenly, "What have you done with Jeremy?"

"He's here," Lethe said. "I've just possessed him for the moment. I will leave soon, but I felt compelled to speak with you. I come from a place of light and song, a barren place made beautiful by the voice of a goddess known as Thayla. Her song is protecting the world, this world, from imminent destruction. She sent me to find Dunkelzahn and the Dragon Heart to help her."

"Dunkelzahn is gone," Nadja said.

Sweat turned to steam on Jeremy's skin, and a burning smell surrounded him. / must release this flesh soon, Lethe thought. "I have heard of Dunkelzahn's death," Lethe said, "and that is why I need your help. I cannot manifest to carry the Dragon Heart, and even if I could, I don't know how to get it across the barrier that separates your world from mine."

Nadja shook her head slowly. "Lethe, I don't know… you sound sincere, but I know nothing of this Thayla. And Dunkelzahn never mentioned any Dragon Heart. What you are telling me sounds like an elaborate ruse. A trick of some sort to get some of Dunkelzahn's treasure."

Her eyes were like fragments of deep green stone, and

Lethe could almost see a hint of the fury inside. "But even if it weren't a trick," she said, "I don't think I could help you. My security forces will catch the thieves and whatever they took, including this Dragon Heart, but I simply can't act without investigating your story. Many people want part of Dunkelzahn's inheritance and will go to great lengths to get it. I'm very sorry."

Jeremy's body collapsed to the floor just then, his skin bursting suddenly into flames. His heart exploded in his chest, and with one lurch, one convulsion, Jeremy died. Lethe was forced to leave the necrotizing flesh. And Jeremy's spirit came away with him, unraveled from its physical counterpart. The ork's spirit shredded and fled, disappearing in the gentle astral wind.

In the physical, the ork's body lay dead and growing cold as the people crowded around. It disturbed Lethe profoundly. That was not supposed to happen. He had no idea what to do next. He had lost the Dragon Heart. He had killed an innocent metahuman.

And besides all that, Lethe thought as he watched the sad look on the face of Nadja Daviar as she bent down to inspect Jeremy's body, / have alienated the only possible ally I might have had.

Falling, falling.

Jane-in-the-box plummeted into the digital vortex. Her persona pulled apart into its constituent data bits by the tornado of light and static. A whirlpool of purple threads- lightning without thunder. Only the deep hiss of random patterns.

Then it was gone, and Jane found herself standing on a street corner. She was in her physical body, her real body- thin as a rail, skin and bones, unwashed brown hair matted like a bird's nest on top of her head. She felt frail, her bony knees threatening to buckle as she nearly collapsed to the ground. She needed food and a shower.

What happened? Where am I?

Tall buildings of concrete and mirrored glass reached up into a night sky around her, but there was no traffic on the city street. Street lamps illuminated the sidewalk, reflected in silver streaks that rose up the chrome windows of the buildings. But there were no people. Only Jane, a gentle breeze, and the absolute silence of the vacant city.

Abruptly, someone touched her shoulder.

Jane spun to see a young woman, human, about twenty-five years old with shoulder-cut blonde hair, fair skin, and ocean-blue eyes. She wore black jeans and a plain white halter top. "Sorry to startle you," she said, taking a drag on her cigarette. "Welcome to Wonderland. I'm Alice."

Jane took a step back. What the frag? Wonderland was a Matrix legend. I'm still jacked in.

The virtual reality around her was so real that it was indistinguishable from reality. An ultraviolet space. She could even smell the cigarette smoke. Jane had heard rumors that UV spaces existed, but had never experienced one. She

hadn't given the rumors much credence, and she'd never believed in Wonderland-the infamous place inhabited by mysterious constructs and lost data.

Jane looked at Alice. "Are you slotting me?"

Alice laughed. "No," she said. "I'm not 'slotting' you."

"Did you…" Jane began. "Were you the one-"

"Who saved you from Rox?" Alice said. "Yes, that was me. I like you, Jane. I like what you're doing. But I hate Rox even more. Do you remember the Crash of '29?"

"I was too young to deck then," Jane said. "But I know about it."

"I was part of Echo Mirage."

"What?" The members of the Echo Mirage team were the first to use direct interfacing with computers. The first deckers. They were the guinea pigs who did battle with the virus that crashed the worldwide computer network back in 2029.

"I was in Rox's system when I encountered the Crash entity." Alice's voice broke momentarily. "What happened?"

Alice steeled herself, her physical appearance seeming to grow more dense, if that was possible. She took a slow drag on her cigarette. "Never mind," she said. "It's simple really. I hate Rox, and I like you. I didn't want him to get you just then."