Randal’s vision clouded to gray and then was filled with sharp, blinding white. The Special honestly couldn’t even say if lights were involved or if it was just the way his brain was processing the pain, but it was white either way.

The Special pulled his mind inside himself, trying to hide it deep down. He couldn’t last much longer. He couldn’t keep enduring this. He couldn’t.

Another flash of white, searing pain.

He tried to black out; he wanted to black out. But Temmins hit him with another up dose of some kind of drug, keeping the Special awake.

Randal swallowed another scream. The pain was incredible. But he would not break. Not yet. The round man Temmins was laughing and he said something. But Randal was concentrating on blocking the majority of his senses at the moment, trying to deaden the horrible pain, so he didn’t even hear what the fat man said.

Ran knew he couldn’t take this much longer. Sure, his body would heal as it always did, but his mind. He didn’t know how much more his mind could take and for him to retain his sanity. The endless cycles, torture, rest, torture, heal, torture.

Turtle and Helen watched Clara continue her work, the ninja pulling up and moving info boxes visible only in her port goggles, examining the contents with her interact gloves, finding nothing about Randal, and then moving on again to the next box, each info dig seeming more pointless than the last.

But Turtle and Helen did not protest the ninja’s actions either, both understanding Clara’s actions all too well. If it had been either Turtle or Helen who had disappeared, the other would have never stopped searching, no matter how tired or how futile or how bleak the situation seemed.

Helen thought but didn’t answer immediately. Finally she said, “I’m fairly certain. Sprite says we should know definitely either way in the next hour.”

Clara nodded her head, considering the information. “Then I will continue with my own digging until then.”

“Clara, please,” Turtle protested, “you’ve been on these data digs for nearly a week now, hardly breaking for food or rest. Sprite will find him. Take this time to close your eyes a bit.”

Clara put the orange goggles back on and turned forward again, hands snapping forward deliberately, restarting the dig. “Not until we know,” she said simply.

A few hours later they had returned to the darts’ home base, and Sprite locked herself away in her workroom, quickly getting into the files.

Helen told Turtle about Sprite’s work over the last couple of days, leaving out some of the dangerous moments the two had experienced together. T was quick to take Helen to Clara and share some of the good news with her as well.

“Sprite found him with her dagger?” Clara asked, digging for info dumps on Ran in the observation booth again.

“Not yet,” Helen said, “but I think she will.”

“How certain are you?”

“I can’t get in too deep with the equipment I have here,” Sprite said to Helen while the two rode the boat across the choppy straits. Sprite wore opaque compuglasses over her eyes, a cord running to the port drive in her lap. “But I don’t think we wasted our time yesterday.”

“You found Randal?” Helen asked, excitement too great to hide.

“Not yet, but I think I will.”

Helen said a silent prayer of thanks, and Sprite continued to poke through the files, careful not to disturb anything that looked like it may contain a virus, lockdown, or self-destruct.

From there, Sprite retrieved the files she had uploaded the day before in the midst of her dagger. It was then that she noticed some charred scoring on the file she hadn’t seen earlier. Of course this data damage was easily explained by any one of several different factors that occurred in the dagger, and Sprite hoped the contents would still prove useful.

She cleaned what she could and saved the files out to her port drive and upon boarding a transport boat back to the mainland, Sprite began her peripheral examination of the contents, unable to do much more.

Scotty was still unconscious the next morning when Sprite, Helen, and Helen’s bull dober prepared to leave the submarine. Sprite thanked Ling, Vapor, and Darkholm again. “Tell Scotty all debts are paid,” Sprite said. The others nodded and the darts and dog left with little fanfare.

They stopped at a public terminal and paid an inordinate fee to access the waves, the purveyor reminding them again of how cut off Griffin Isle really was. Sprite veiled her login with a false ID in a sub-site, then fished through a mirror proxy before logging in again under a second fabricated identity.

But would Sprite wait for the proper credentials that Scotty was gathering, creating for her safe passage? No. Instead, she was smashing through barriers before she was really ready. Then to avoid enforcements, they had to yank her faster than any human being should be pulled.

Scotty swallowed three tranqs, lying back down in bed. His shaking slowed. Exhaustion was finally winning and his body was drifting off into blackness. And Scotty’s final wonderings were how Sprite had been able to survive so much today. She had been through more than Scotty, yet she had little more than a scratch.

Scotty was mended by the doctor, but Scotty always wondered if they really paid the doctor enough to actually keep his mouth shut. Spose it was a good thing this time that they would be pulling up anchor tomorrow morning. Could never be too safe. Then Scotty had to dive into the upswell to help Sprite, the woman who had ruined his auction good times and caused all this strife, perform an insane dagger. How many people had Scotty known personally to even attempt a dagger, let alone actually survive one?

That was an interesting question, and he pondered that.

Scotty couldn’t sleep, his body and emotions a wreck from the day. He wasn’t made for these sorts of chemical upswings due to all the excitement. First there was the excitement of the auction. Then he was chased and attacked by Sprite and practically tortured by Helen. After that, he was forced to call down his guardian orbiter because he was fearing for his own life. But the orbiter only served to make the dangers of the situation worse. Next he had to witness his prized antique being destroyed by the same woman he helped only a few hours late.

Vapor wouldn’t check the stream as per Ling’s orders, but she considered what the reward for Sprite’s black mark must be. It had to be tempting to garner this much attention. Perhaps after their move she would take a peak.

Ling and Darkholm made love that night, both glad to have gotten out relatively unscathed, glad to be alive, and glad to have someone to hold and to hold them in this dark world.

Scotty lay in bed, trembling, unable to go to sleep for some time, his body still producing an overload of adrenaline. Too much danger and stress.

That night Helen prayed on her knees for a long time, silver crucifix in her grip. She thanked God for protecting Sprite in the dagger and for protecting the both of them from the space AI. She prayed these mechs would be safe, thanked God for her husband and other members of their family, and prayed to find Randal quickly and for his wellbeing.

Sprite also retired early. She ran a quick diagnostic on her body, not exactly happy but still satisfied with the results, then went to bed, dead on her feet and in desperate need of a recharge.

Everyone stood in silence, all wondering if having to repair their systems, having to replace techquipment, and having to move their base of operations was in vain. Finally Helen spoke. “Sprite, did you get anything?”

Sprite slowed her breathing and removed her compuglasses and headset, nodding. “It’s still encrypted, but I managed to fragment the file and upload most to a cloud drive. I can retrieve it from a public port tomorrow and work on breaking the code offline on our trip back home.”

Helen smiled, glad the dagger was fruitful and glad that Sprite just called their base home.

They all waited in silence, their breathing feeling noisy and foreign in the room’s darkness. They hoped the backup power sources would kick in, but none were actually confident. But after a moment later they did, batteries switching on, and dim, greenish emergency lights flickering to life.

“This location is burned,” Ling said. “We keep our units off and untethered. We shove off for a new home tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?” Vapor asked.

Ling turned and said, “You want to risk it?”

Vapor didn’t respond. The figures in the room were grave, wondering if it had all been worth it.

“Got her!” Darkholm shouted, turning off his systems with a hard reboot. Sprite sat up in the raised bed, propped up on one elbow, gasping for air, her skin pale.

“Hard reboot, everyone,” Ling said, flipping her own system off. Scotty and Vapor followed suit, Vape getting one last glance of the ghost rampaging their mainframe processors before her screen flickered to black.

“Now, Helen,” Ling said.

Helen flipped the kill switch and everything went pitch black.

Silence enveloped the dark room, no one before noticing how much the constant hum of the techquipment had filled the place with substance.

“Helen,” Ling said, not looking up from her monitors or slowing her frantic typing. “Get ready to throw the kill switch.”

Helen nodded, placing her hand over the red switch. Then she added, “Ready,” realizing no one was watching to see the nod. Her hand stood over it, sweating and starting to tremble. She shook the hand, trying to lose the tremble, and replaced it over the red kill switch, this time steady. She stared at Ling and the others working frantically to get her dart home safely, waiting for the signal that said Sprite was back, flip the switch.

“Bring her home now, Dark,” Ling said. “This ghost has nearly compromised our system!”

Vapor brought up their systems again on her monitors, returning to patching holes and throwing barriers where possible. There wasn’t even time to create elevated traps, the system was in such shambles.

Scotty switched his own monitors over to home defense, swearing when he saw the damage the ghost and the several specters had done. “Give me a minute and I can track some of them,” he said.

“There’s no time!” Ling said. “Just keep porting the central drives and slow them down all you can.”

“Scotty!” Sprite yelled, her distant voice over their headsets serious but not panicked. “I need that exit now!”

“Portal at 8.9.7 in three, two, one, mark!” Scotty said.

Vapor swapped monitor views, leaving their own system to the background. “She’s through!” Vapor yelled, Sprite’s signal suddenly vanishing from the quad.

“I’m reading her,” Darkholm said, monitoring the shopping site where they had directed her drastic plummet from encryption.

“Portal’s closed,” Scotty said. “The quad is in lockdown.” Vapor’s own image of the quad flashed red and the further details from the data stream were now jumbled characters and nonsense text.

Vapor was working as fast and as hard as she could to get the intruders out of their system, but she glanced over once more at the data stream for Sprite’s encryption quad, still trying to keep one eye on that situation until the ace mech was out and had completed the dagger. Over 80 detained and 27 probable security in the quad, all on the hunt for Sprite.

Vapor went back to cleaning their system. She felt certain Sprite would be caught. Then what could the rest of them do? What would they have to do just to survive?

“Yes!” Ling said to Helen’s offer of assistance, a desperate maneuver coming to her. “When I say, hit that kill switch to the hard line.” She gestured with her head to a red covered switch on the wall, dozens of cords coming out of the wall next to it and splicing to connect to all the computers in the room. “But not too soon,” Ling cautioned, “or we could lose Sprite in there.”

Helen understood and readied herself in position, lifting the hinged, clear plastic safety cover, careful not to touch the red switch. She eyed the room and swallowed.

“We got another ghost in here!” Vapor shouted, looking at their internal security. “He’s going through our work like Swiss cheese!”

The situation was grim. Some of the invading specters had been trapped, but there were just too many of them. Eventually one would get in too deep.

Ling cursed again. “I need more hands!”

“I need that exit!” Sprite yelled.

“Is there anything I can do?”

Ling glanced up, for a moment not realizing who was offering her services. It was Helen.

“Twelve seconds,” Scotty said. “Look for a hole at 8.9.7.”

“I don’t have twelve seconds!” Sprite said.

“Downgrade to elite?” Vapor said, pulling off her goggles. “Are you nuts? No one can come down that fast!”

“Just make it happen, Scotty!” Sprite said. “They’re closing in!”

Darkholm returned to his keyboard, fingers flying. “I’ve got a safe landing field,” he said, sending the first of the coordinates to Scotty’s system. “Commerce. She’ll get lost with 19 million shopaholics.”

“Can I get some help here?” Ling said. “For every blockade I put up, they tear out two more holes.”

Darkholm and Scotty were working Sprite’s exit, so Vapor went back to home defense, patching holes and building barriers.

“I think this is it,” Sprite said, excitement noticeable in her echoing, distant voice coming through their headsets. “I just need to crack their access code.”

“There’s no time!” Vapor shouted. “You’re whole quad is crawling with police.”

“You’re right,” Sprite conceded, defeat in her voice.

“Reinforcements have arrived,” Scotty said.

Sprite cursed. “Scotty, I need an exit.”

“Go back through admin.”

“Negative. They’ve blocked access.”

“Can’t we just drop her back to private?” Vapor asked the room.

“If they’re watching admin, they’re watching private,” Scotty said, fingers hammering over the keyboards again. “We have to go straight to elite.”

“The Detain All command has been sent,” Scotty said. “Leave now!”

“Not yet,” Sprite said again, refusing to leave before she found solid intel on Randal’s location. Otherwise this whole dagger would have been for nothing.

Vapor watched as the personnel she had marked as security began to freeze the other signals, locking the individuals down.

“They’ve nearly cracked by prop job,” Darkholm said. “They’re about to lock you down.”

“Wait! I think I found something!” Sprite said.

“Security reinforcements are closing in!” Scotty said.

“I’m up to eight specters in our system,” Ling said. “Sprite, get out of there!”

“Sprite, any data leads on your missing man?” Ling asked.

“Not yet,” Sprite said. “Can you assist Dark yet? Slow down some enforcement?”

“Negative. I’m doing all I can to keep these guys from getting in too deep within our systems.”

“Sprite, I just found three more possible security personnel in your vicinity,” Vapor said.

“And they know what quad you’re in,” Scotty said. “Expect possible detention with complete lockdown imminent. Get out of their now!”

“Not yet. I haven’t found what I need,” Sprite said.

Vapor continued to flow through personnel. “I’m reading twelve probable security in your quad!”

Vapor saw something in the data stream she didn’t like. She pulled on the large goggles again, being able to operate this mode quicker. “Correction, I have one possible security enforcement. Sprite, entity 011B appears to be security. Avoid at all costs. Do you copy?”

“I copy,” Sprite said, her voice a distant tinning over their headsets.

“I’m continuing with personnel checks,” Vapor said.

“Sprite, I’m picking up a security dispatch to your sector,” Scotty said. “Your quad will be in lockdown in under a minute.”

“I’m trying to slow their response time,” Darkholm said, “but it won’t be much.”

“Copy that,” Sprite said, acknowledging the warning.

“I’m fogging communications in your quad and six adjacent,” Scotty said. “It should slow them down.”

“Twenty-two cleared,” Vapor said.

“I’ve flagged two, Vapor,” Darkholm said.

“Checking them now.”

“Scotty, any security taps?” Sprite asked.

“Nothing yet,” he said. “But I still say a minute and a half, tops.”

“Understood.”

Helen was ringing her hands, wishing there was more she could do. She found solace in stroking her bull dober’s head. He licked her hand.

“They’re clean,” Vapor said, returning to the others on her list. “Wait a second,” Vapor said, seeing something.

“Yes, Dark, my history with enforcement is rather long,” Sprite said. “But now is not the time for distractions.”

“Vapor,” Ling said, “How are those 103 unknowns coming?”

Vapor drew her mind free from the web of panic and forced herself to keep working. “Thirteen cleared so far,” she said.

“Dark, you want to help with any of this?” Ling said.

“Already pulling Vapor’s data and back tracking some of the others. If we get their last location, we might be able to determine whether they could be trouble. But remember, Sprite dear, some of these 103 are certainly security.”

“Negative,” Sprite said. “I’ve got over two minutes before lockdown. That’s a lot of time to work.”

“Are you off? They’re going to catch you!” Vapor said. “And if they catch you, they catch me! I’ve got a record! I can’t get busted out again!”

“Control yourself, sugar,” Darkholm said, his voice calm once again. “You’ve seen some of Sprite’s capabilities. She knows what she’s doing, and she’s not getting caught. If I remember right, her own record is also rather long. I’m sure she has much more to lose if she is indeed caught. Isn’t that right, Sprite dear?”