"Psst! Wake up, Private!"

My eyes snapped open and my hand shot for my pistol, which I kept at the top of my bed, below the mattress and against the wall. It wasn’t there. But I always left it there when...

I remembered where I was and settled down, feeling sleepiness creeping over me again. That’s right. I was in the women’s barracks and was now a member of the 179th Regiment, Company A. No, Company B. What had woken me? I lifted my head and looked around.

It was Jody. She was kneeling by my bed and shaking my shoulder. I moaned and plopped my head down, curling tighter around my pillow.

"Go ‘way."

She went from shaking to shoving.

"Wrong answer, Wyeth. Get up. Now." She stood up and began rummaging through my trunk at the top of my bed. I went up to my elbows and was greeted by a face full of shirt. "Here. Get dressed and meet me outside the hanger in five minutes."

I wanted to say something witty and cutting, but I had all the come back response of strawberry jam. Besides, she was already gone. Moaning, I slowly dressed into a loose top and shorts. Stomping into my low shoes, a kind of sneaker, I trudged out to the hanger. I was really tired. I suppose it would be a few more days until I was back to full strength. I was fine for standard duties during the day. It was at night that it all caught up with me.

The hanger was deserted. I’d never seen a hanger like this. We always had something going on, whether it was repair, raid preparation, or shipment unloading. Even during the quiet times it was always active since we ran the regiment in shifts. Apparently the 179th ran a single shift, and everybody slept at night.

I mentally shrugged it off and jotted it down as yet another example of unit unreadiness. If they ever wanted to get active, this regiment had a lot of work in front of it. I walked past the hovers and went up the ramp to the hanger shield. By now I half expected it to be turned off. To conserve power or something. It was on, but I passed through with little resistance.

Jody was waiting for me on the other side. Sitting on a rock, she stood when I trudged over to her.

"So, what do you think of the 179th, Abigail?" she said without preamble.

"Well, it’s hard to say. I’ve only been active one day, Jody. And most of that was in the kitchen. So it would be difficult to pass.."

"So, what do you think of the 179th, Abigail?" she repeated.

"I don’t see how you can even consider this a regiment, Jody. It seems to be equipped okay. And the structure’s in place. But everyone seems to be wasting their time. There’s no real training going on, the whole base is slipshod, security is a joke and what there is of it is directed toward enhancing the paranoia the whole place has towards NATech." I took a breath. "I’ve even seen it in you, Jody."

She looked away. "Go on."

"My one night cleaning tables just reaffirmed my first impressions. There’s very little camaraderie, talking is quiet and discouraging. And everyone seems to walk on eggshells around the Company A personnel. I don’t blame them too much for that. Your Company A strikes me as a bunch of rough bullies. That might be okay if they pulled their weight in a fight, but if Sergeant Olecki’s skills are any indication, they’d just be cannon fodder in combat."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I’m not one for talking down officers, and I’ll obey the orders I’m given, but Lieutenant Posen strikes me as. . ." I chose my words carefully here, "having skills that would be better suited elsewhere."

She gave a short laugh. "That’s incredibly diplomatic of you, Abigail. Especially for a youngster like you.

"And your impressions are very close to accurate. This unit is as close to inactive as it can be. In the past four months, we’ve gone on five raids. Four of them..."

"Five raids in four months isn’t too bad," I interrupted.

"No? Four of them were salvage missions. The fifth one was a real target, a convoy supplying the Douala garrison. But it was called off ten minutes before contact."

"Why?" I yawned and rubbed my eyes. I couldn’t seem to shake the cobwebs.

"Officially? Because NATech reinforced the convoy halfway from Alexandria. Unofficially, because the Lieutenant canceled the raid due to ‘uncertain risk factors’.

"Abigail, those reinforcements were a total of two transports each carrying twenty troops. The whole convoy didn’t have one heavy gun and couldn’t phase. Hell, we could take out the Douala garrison itself. We have the manpower and supplies. What we don’t have is the drive and leadership."

"Don’t blow a gasket, Jody."

"What’s a gasket?"

"It’s a seal used to hold... never mind. I’m just saying don’t let it eat you up. I have to admit I’m very disappointed in the 179th myself. But what can I do?"

She stared at me in the bright starlight.

"What can you do? Abigail, I’m surprised to hear that from you. You seem to have some pull with TAU. I was hoping I could talk you into getting the Lieutenant out of here and putting a decent officer in charge."

"Now it’s my turn to say I’m surprised to hear that from you." I was wide awake now. My opinion of Jody took a nose dive. "You’re not seriously suggesting a coup, are you? If you are, count me out. I don’t like Lieutenant Posen. He’s an effete ass who has a low opinion of women, little ability to handle those under his command, and is castrated by his fear of NATech. But he is my commanding officer, and I will obey his orders and, if necessary, die for him." I took a step back. "I’ll not repeat what you said to anyone, but I don’t think I want to work with you anymore, Sergeant. Good-night." I turned to leave.

Doctor Ressler was there, blocking my way. How he got behind me without hearing, I don’t know. But there he was. I jumped back and reached for my boot knife. Too late, I realized I was in my short shoes and was unarmed. I whirled around. Jody would be the greater threat.

But she hadn’t moved. She was just standing there, her arms behind her.

"Okay, what’s going on?" I asked.

"Good question, Abigail," Doctor Ressler spoke. "I’m sorry Sergeant Eyer had to do this. But we needed to find out how far you were willing to go. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you stopped where you did."

"What are you talking about, Doctor? Were you listening to us?"

"I sure hope so," Jody said. "Otherwise I’d be in deep trouble for trying to incite a mutiny. Abigail Wyeth, let me introduce you to Doctor Scott Ressler. Major Scott Ressler, TAU Intelligence Arm."

He bowed at the waist. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"All right," I said tiredly. "Give me some proof."

He snapped up from his bow. Jody stepped closer.

"What did you say, Abigail?" she asked.

"I asked Doctor Ressler to show me some proof of his identity. What did you expect me to say, Jody?"

"I don’t know exactly. But I expected more of a reaction from you." Suspicion crept into her voice. "I know I certainly reacted when he told me his identity four months ago. And I consider myself a normal person." Which implied I wasn’t normal. I wasn’t offended; I wasn’t normal. Ressler stayed quiet, allowing Jody to do the questioning.

"So what do you want me to do? Run in circles? Faint? Slap my cheeks and shout, ‘Oh, no! This can’t be!’? Get real, Jody. I used to do this kind of intrigue six centuries before either of you were born. If Ressler wants my cooperation, he has to prove his credentials." I glanced at him. "Were _you_ expecting something else, Doctor?"

"Well, yes, I was. I imagined that someone of your training and discipline would except my word. It’s a little surprising.."

"Stop treating me like a rookie, Doctor. You’re not surprised, or shouldn’t be. You revealed yourself to me because you think I’ll be useful to your mission. That must mean you have researched my background or have a high opinion of my intellect. Either way, you must have expected this." Jody looked like she’d been sandbagged.

"Very well, Private. Yes, I anticipated this. Let’s go to the infirmary. I’ll not only give you proof, I’ll let you find it yourself."

"What do you mean, Major?" Jody was way out of her league. To be honest, that made me feel much better. Jody as a faithful and competent non-com was far better than Jody as a conspirator, regardless of the motives. She just didn’t strike me as a cloak and dagger type.

"What he means, Jody, is that he’s going to give me puterverse access at what he thinks is my full level."

He smiled. "What I know is your full level, Abigail. I know you won’t accept this as proof, but let me say two words: UTC and Mike."

Both words hit home and very nearly convinced me that moment.

"It looks like you are from TAU, Doctor. Or is it Major?"

"It’s both. But I really am a physician, so I prefer doctor."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jody was waving her arms. "This is getting out of hand. What are you two talking about? Who’s Mike? What’s UTC? I thought I was the primary stooge in all this. Now I feel like baggage."

"Believe me, Jody, you’re not," I assured her. "I don’t know what you two are doing with the 179th, but what the doctor is referring to concerns me and NATech. He’s right, those two words have a huge impact on me. But he’s also right that I don’t accept it as proof of who he is. Now he’s offering me the chance to verify it." I glanced at him. "More importantly, for him, he’s making sure I’m who I say I am. Isn’t that right, Doctor?"

He smiled but said nothing and instead waved his hand toward the hanger entrance.

*    *    *

"All right, the sick bay is fully secured. I’ve used my own codes to lock access and the perimeter alarms have been set. You may access at any time, Private." Ressler sat near me and Jody behind us. I looked at him.

"In a moment, Doctor. Before we do, I’d like the two of you to prepare for a rough ride. I’ll be able to shield most of the effects of my access, but not all. Also, it will take me a moment to enable shielding, so the first few seconds will be the worst."

"Come on, Abigail. You told me you accessed at level 12. I’ve never been that high, but I’m in pretty good shape. Let’s get on with it."

"Listen to her, Sergeant. We know for a fact that Private Wyeth has a current access of Level 35. I once went to level 28 for ten seconds and it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced." He turned toward me. "I’ve been using level 21 for several years now, so don’t worry about me."

Oh, how I loved being a teenager! It was for moments like these that all the angst and frustrations and uncertainties were worthwhile. As an adult, I could never enjoy a moment like this. I laughed.

"Level 35, huh?" I laughed again and saw a flash of worry cross Ressler’s face. I still considered him a friend, but it was nice to see I could make him cautious. It made his TAU connection more bearable. "If you’re only prepared for Level 35, Doctor, then I recommend you _don’t_ move around until the shielding is in place." I grinned and kept looking at him.

"Total access."

Mike must have been on a constant, aggressive watch, because he responded immediately and with flair. Instead of the room fading away into the puterverse, it exploded. A white ball of flame leaped from my middle and melted everything in sight. What few slivers of reality remained were ground into bits of yellow data and left as glowing embers on the clear floor. Overhead the sky was a brilliant emerald green, with gold and orange spires shooting up toward them. In the distance I could make out the banks of the Quantum river. I felt the exhilaration of the puterverse hit me like a meteor and fill me with its energy. I raised my arms over my head, twirling and laughing.

Halfway through my spin, I saw Jody and Ressler on the ground. Blood was pouring freely from their ears, nose and mouth, quickly choking them. Abigail, you idiot!

"Mike! I need a couple of boxes for my guests. Hurry!"

"You got it, Abby!" There was a crackling of whips along with a tinkling sound and I saw flat planes of sparkles surround them then begin forming around each one. They were safe now, although it would take a couple more minutes to recover.

"Man o man! Am I glad to see you, Abby!"

"Yeah, well that’s nice. I notice your manners aren’t improved, though. Get your butt down here and let me hug you!"

The emerald sky changed to black as the color collapsed into a ball of green flame, which in turn plummeted toward us. It exploded over my head and washed through me, lingering. I felt a moment of panic, remembering my recent experiences in Glendale. But I pushed it down. I wasn’t going to let past abuses control me.

"You jerk!" I shouted, only half-angry. "I’m not some kind of easy hussy. Hands off!" I tightened my body and threw him clear. He laughed and formed himself in front of me, his bright green eyes playful and happy.

"Well, how long do expect me to go without copping a feel?"

"I expect you to go your entire life without copping a feel, you pervert. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know you like it." He went over to Ressler and bent over, putting his hands on his knees. "So who are your friends? Not too tough, are they?"

Ressler was slowly getting to his feet. Jody needed help, so I touched her and charged the field a little extra. She moaned and looked around.

"Where are we?" She coughed and wiped some blood away. "Is this level 35?" Mike laughed his nasty laugh.

"Level 35? What’s that supposed to mean? Look, lady..."

"Who are you? Why do you look like that?"

"Careful, Jody. You don’t want to get Mike upset," I offered helpfully. "Here, let me help you up. If you start getting sick or woozy, just reach out and touch me. You too, Doctor. My aura will perk you up some. Don’t go to the well too often, though," I cautioned. "My signature is pure UTC, so you’ll pay for it when we leave the puterverse. Which gives me a thought." I changed my tone. "Mike, I’d like you to give Sergeant Jody Eyer, 179th Regiment, the day off tomorrow. While you’re at it, verify the credentials of our other guest. He claims to be Major Scott Ressler with the TAU Intelligence Arm."

Mike bowed at the waist. "Yours to command, milady. Hold still, Major."

"Why? What do you.. aaahhh!" Ressler jumped back as Mike passed through him, sparks flying as he penetrated the shielding. Ressler started scratching himself furiously, then stopped as the ground beneath him turned emerald green and began bubbling. Mike erupted from the roiling surface and came over to me.

"Okay, that’s the first part. Next, playtime with TAU’s systems. I really hope," he added wistfully, "that they’ve fixed some of their holes. It’s no fun breaking in anymore. Back in a jiffy." His legs exploded into a jet and he shot up into the sky, disappearing almost instantly.

"Wait!" Doctor Ressler called after him, still scratching his arms and neck. He looked stunned and lost. I liked him better this way.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Don’t I need to go with him to provide my access codes and serial numbers?"

"Why?"

"If he doesn’t have them, he won’t be able to enter TAU security, let alone verify.."

"I don’t think that will be a problem. Mike doesn’t have a whole lot of respect for security systems." I liked the implied offer, though. It made me a little more trusting of Doctor Ressler. "TAU has one of the best, second only to NATech. All that means for Mike is that it’s just that much more fun, but not challenging. Come on. While we’re waiting we may as well head over to the Quantum. I’m sure our conversation’s going to take us there anyway." I opened my arms up and out.

"Abigail!" Jody spoke sharply, causing me to stumble.

"What? Is something wrong? Is the shielding a little weak? I could.."

"No, the shielding’s fine. It’s you." She was staring at me. "Look at you! That’s not the figure you have in the real world," she said accusingly.

"Umm." I felt myself flush, causing my yellowish light to tinge gold. I’d forgotten about that. Shortly after coming into my own in the puterverse, I’d started adopting a more womanly figure. Okay, I was vain. But it reflected how I felt about myself when I was in here. Still, it was a little embarrassing. More so, now that I noticed Doctor Ressler staring at me. Well, not staring. It was a good long look though.

"I - I - I kinda like this form, Jody. I suppose it’s part of me wanting to grow up. Some of it’s because I feel older in here, more in control of myself."

"It probably is closer to what you were like in your first body, too." Ressler offered, feeling my discomfort.

"Yes, that, too. I was thirty-one when I was first riped."

"I’d also guess a small part of it is to fluster Mike," Jody said with a smirk. "I know I’d like to get his goat." I laughed.

"You know, Jody, I’d never thought of that. But you’re right. My figure does ruffle Mike’s ego a bit. He has true feelings, you know." At their surprise, I smiled. "We’ll talk about that at the river. Come on."

I opened my arms and let my wings appear. They erupted along my arms, feathered and shimmering. They tapered off toward my ankles. I bounced up on my toes and the electron breeze snatched my wings, lifting me. About ten meters up, I looked back down. Jody and Ressler were staring up at me.

"Come on. The river’s this way." I started gliding slowly along, letting my two grounded friends keep up. Jody called up to me.

"So what level is this really, Abigail?"

"Ask the good doctor, Jody. Maybe he knows." I laughed at his sour look.

"Okay, Abigail, I admit it. We had no idea you were this high up," he said honestly. "Frankly, I haven’t a clue what level we’re on. The theoretical limit is 64. So this is, what?, 45? 50?"

"I’m glad Mike isn’t around to hear that, Doctor. He’d really get ticked off. I don’t operate at any level. Neither does Mike. I have unrestricted access to absolutely everything in puterverse. By the way, the real limit for non UTC is 67, not 64."

A frown came on his face. "That can’t be right. Why 67, Abigail?"

"Because 67 is a prime number, silly." I smiled at his confused look, but not too much. I’d been pretty muddy about the unique and powerful characteristics of prime numbers too, until I understood trinary code. Then it was easy.

"Who is Mike, Abigail?" Jody asked. She was jogging easily along, leading Ressler, who seemed to be struggling a little more. He still had energy enough to answer, though.

"As far as we know, Jody, Mike is a program written in Unbound Trinary Code by Abigail." He turned his face back up to me. "No level at all, Abigail?"

"None, Doctor. As the writer said, ‘This is my world and welcome to it.’"

"Unbound Trinary Code? There’s no such thing." Jody’s face was a little flush. The UTC boost lasted for awhile, then wore off quickly. I swooped down and brushed her with my wings. Her pace picked up immediately and she began to breathe easier.

"Sure there is, Jody," I answered, climbing a little higher. "It’s just that no one knows how to visualize it yet."

"No one except you, Abigail," Ressler countered.

"Almost true. Mike knows how to use it, too." And Kiki, only I didn’t say so. Thinking of Kiki, I had a notion. I looked up ahead of us. "I see we’re almost to the river. I’m going to go up first and wait for Mike. ‘Bye."

I accelerated quickly. Mike was faster and flashier, but I was no slouch. I arrived at the river in two seconds and landed in three at the base of an orange spire that sat next to the river bank. Jody and Ressler were about a kilometer behind me. I threw up a doppleganger of me waiting for them and jumped back up into the air, using a cloak. I aimed for the peak of the spire about two kilometers up. At the top was a small platform, which I landed on. Far below me I could see two little spots working their way toward our meeting place. They were going a little too fast. I thought about it a moment and softened the ground while warping their path. They slowed down and began weaving back and forth. From their viewpoint, nothing had changed. I now had about five minutes, which was plenty. And all I wanted to take. Staying up this high from interface surface kept me from prying eyes and ears, but the energy drain took a toll.

"Kiki!" I called out.

From the middle of the small landing a crystal flower poked up. The leaves, a clear light green, opened and the blossom appeared. The petals opened and Kiki was inside. Instead of jumping to her feet, though, she stayed on her knees, her whole body quivering.

"What’s wrong, little sister?" I said with a worried voice.

"Abby, I’m so sorry! Please forgive me! I should have been more careful! I didn’t mean to..."

"Slow down, Kiki. The microsats, right?" She didn’t say anything but kept sobbing. "It’s not your fault, Kiki. Understand?"

"But I killed them, Abigail!" She began wailing. I stooped down and picked her up, cupping her tiny form in my hands. Her blue glow flowed in with my yellow, turning my arm an emerald green, the same shade as Mike.

"No, you didn’t, sweety, they were already dead. NATech killed them. You punished NATech, under my orders." I would never tell her that had I not been knocked unconscious and taken, I might have called off the attack. "The responsibility was mine. Remember, that’s my world, not yours. Out there, you have to trust me, right?"

She sniffed and nodded.

"All right then, trust me on this. It wasn’t your fault. You did exactly as I told you. I wish it could have been different." I felt a tugging at my heart, but still didn’t cry. "Susie told me once that I did stupid and reckless and dangerous things. She also said that one day it would be necessary that I do one of those stupid and reckless and dangerous things." I stroked my finger down her back, then used the tip to lift her chin. "When I called for that microsat attack, that day had come. Please don’t blame yourself for something I did."

She felt better after that and I was glad I’d taken the time to visit. I didn’t know when I’d see her again, so I needed to resolve this now. She smiled at me and her blue gleam brightened and lightened. I smiled back at her.

"That’s my Kiki! Sorry to put this on you so fast, sister, but my guests are almost at our meeting place and I have to get back down there. I don’t know when I’ll have access again, so I need you to do a few things for me." I told her what I wanted and she became very happy. Kiki’s emotions were not as stable as Mike’s. Not because my code was flawed but because I wanted someone I could talk to about how I felt. Emotionally, Kiki and I were twins.

"Wow! This’ll take me a least a week, Abby! Thanks for the challenge." She jumped lightly from my hand and floated to her petal. As her foot touched, a small terminal sprouted from the blossom and activated. I saw her touch her face and when she turned back to me, I laughed out loud, then coughed in the thin electron air.

"Why in the world are you wearing those?" She had on a pair of round, black spectacles. I could even see the sheen of the lenses.

"Do you like them?" she asked eagerly. "I discovered them while browsing through twentieth century archives. I think they make me look very sophisticated. Do you think Mike will like them?"

"I’m sure he’ll be speechless when he sees them. For Mike, that’s a good thing. I like them." I looked back down. Jody and Ressler were almost at my doppleganger. "Look, I gotta go. When you finish up your projects, send me a message through Jody’s access. She’ll pass it along." I jumped off the landing. "Take care, Kiki!"

"G’bye, Abby!" I heard her shout.

I let myself plummet toward the ground. Halfway down, I told my doppleganger to get aloft. It shot up toward me, meeting me about three hundred meters from the surface. It disappeared and I was left with a pair of wings. To those below, there would have been only one me, since I decloaked as the doppleganger disappeared. I finished my now controlled fall, breaking and landing lightly in front of Jody. My wings folded back under my arms and disappeared. She clapped her hands.

"That was fantastic!" She sounded like a little girl, overflowing with excitement. Even Ressler was smiling with his friendly smile now.

"Fantastic barely describes it. I never thought it was possible to have that kind of mobility in the puterverse, Abigail. Doesn’t the interface affect you at all?"

"Maybe. I’m not going to give away too much until I know who you are, Doctor."

"And if I’m not who I say I am?" he prodded gently.

"We had a phrase for it centuries ago. It was called ‘dead man walking’." His face went stiff for a moment, then relaxed. He smiled weakly.

"Makes me glad I am with TAU, then." He strolled over to the data bank and sat down on the short purple grass. Jody and I joined him. My heart jumped when Jody sat closer to me than Ressler. It gave me comfort to know she seemed to prefer my company to his. Silly competition for friends, I know. But I really needed a friend now.

The silver and gold of data currents, eddies and streams in the river swirled only an arms length away. For as far as we could see out, it was like that. Although this wasn’t as nice as my favorite place, it was very pleasant. Occasionally, a sliver of light would erupt briefly from the river as someone in our relative vicinity would access. There were more flashes in the middle of the stream than on our shore. There was no access on the far bank, which was only half seen through the faint ion fog that floated just above the surface of the river. Jody saw my distant gaze and pointed to the far bank.

"Have you ever been over there, Abigail?"

"No."

"Can you go over there?"

I hesitated. I was sure by now that Ressler was who he claimed to be. Mike would have successfully acquired his records by now and verified his identity. If Ressler hadn’t checked out, the shielding around him would have disappeared and he’d be exposed to the full elements of unlimited access, which was a one way trip. But just because he was TAU didn’t mean I was going to pour out my plans to him. Not that I didn’t trust him. But by not telling him anything, I didn’t have to trust him.

Still, I should give some kind of answer. If I was too secretive I’d never get access while at the 179th. Worse, TAU, who had been passively supporting my efforts in the puterverse, might get tougher if I didn’t cooperate at some level. It wasn’t yet time to give everything away, I decided. It was, however, time to start letting the Resistance in on my ideas.

"Yes, I can go over there, Jody. I haven’t tried yet, but I’m sure I can."

"Why haven’t you?" Ressler inquired, scooting closer to us.

"Because of what I think is over there, Doctor." I took a breath and plunged in.

"I think that there is a hostile being over there that is forcing restrictions on the entire puterverse and has actively retarded the development of Earth’s society for at least three centuries."

Had I turned into a giant tree sloth and started singing the Star Spangled Banner they wouldn’t have been more shocked. Jody especially, Ressler not as much. This might have been another one of those times kids like me enjoy, but the subject was far too serious to appreciate the moment. They both started to say something at once, but Jody won out.

"That’s impossible, Abigail!" she exclaimed. "A person who’s been alive for three centuries and has enough power to dictate the direction of an entire planet? Do you know how incredible that sounds?"

"Of course she does, Sergeant," Ressler said thoughtfully. "It sounds just as incredible as a sixteen year old girl who has unlimited access to the puterverse and can create a living being out of impossible code."

"But three hundred years!" Jody protested. "Medicine has never been able to extend life beyond one hundred and twenty years on Earth, let alone three hundred."

"I didn’t say three hundred years, Jody," I explained. "I said at least three hundred. And I didn’t say that it was a human doing this."

We heard a roaring sound and Mike streaked into view. He was skimming along the softly undulating hills leading to the bank. About a half kilometer from us, he plunged into the ground, splashing green for a hundred meter radius all around him. Moments later, he surfaced again, next to me. He didn’t say anything, instead just lay back onto the grass beside me. He gave a brief nod and started contemplating the sky.

The doctor and Jody had lapsed into stunned silence. I laid back on the grass and looked up into the black, starless sky of the puterverse.

"The best place to start is at the beginning. But I haven’t found a beginning yet. Not for what’s on the other side. So you’ll have to bear with me while I start at my beginning, two years ago, and work in both directions.

As you both know, I was born in the late 20th century and lived for thirty-one years in my original body. At the time of my ‘death’, I was working for a sensitive laboratory and think tank that tried to anticipate upcoming problems and find solutions for them." That was close enough to the truth for my purposes. "Because of that, when I was accidentally electrocuted through faulty security systems, I was in about the only place that could possibly work out a solution to save me. It was this agency that created, I believe, the original persona transference that eventually became known as riping. The next few centuries are.."

"A moment, please," Doctor Ressler broke in, "I’m somewhat familiar with history of that period. I was aware of the United States’ role in the development of the riping process. But it had always been recorded that riping techniques weren’t introduced until the twenty-second century."

"As I said, what they came up with eventually evolved into riping. And not all of our technologies were made available for public consumption. Anyway, I have no memories of my other personas, and I don’t recall anything until waking up in Dr. Barrett’s sick bay on November 11, 2676. Although I have had occasion to experience a few of my ripes, I’ll not go into detail now about them.

"Waking up as I did was a big change. It took weeks for the shock to wear off fully and for my mind to come to grips with the many differences I’d woken up to. After I had made..."

"Sorry, Abigail," Jody said apologetically. "Don’t mean to interrupt, but what changes are you talking about? I mean, I know you went from being a thirty-one year old to a fourteen year old, but how hard was it really?"

Oops. I’d almost slipped. Jody was assuming I’d always been female, an assumption I’d been cultivating. Fortunately, she hadn’t had any experience with Cues, so I knew I could worm out of my apparent overstatement.

"It’s not just having seventeen years shaved off, Jody. I had to go through the same changes again, but with a different body. Not to mention the big time leap and change of scenery. In a minute’s time - to me - I’d gone from a mature adult working with the government to a semi-helpless twerp tied up with rebels. It’s a little more intense a change than, say, going to sleep in your bed and waking up on the floor. It takes time.

"But I had the time and adjusted. Corporal Lendler and Lieutenant Sanchez noticed my ease in the puterverse fairly quickly and I was given access immediately. It was during our first tour together in the puterverse that they showed me the Quantum river and the invisible far shore. They were curious about me and my past and even then asked what you did just now, Jody. Could I cross?

"I wondered about their question. Why was it so important to cross? Had anyone ever crossed? Did they know what was over there, and just wanted to see if I knew?"

"Why you, Abigail?"

I looked at Ressler, but his blurred puterverse face didn’t betray very much. I shrugged mentally and committed.

"Because Chris Young, the creator of the puterverse’s webbing techniques had lived at the same time I did. The truth is, he and I worked for the same company and I knew him quite well."

"Romantically?" Ressler inquired.

"Uh, no, Doctor. Professionally." Then he didn’t know my full story. I had worried that TAU had informed him of my original sex. His question showed they obviously had not.

"Knowing Chris, they hoped I knew his techniques to cross the river. It was an unfounded hope. Chris had developed the webbing, but this kind of advancement didn’t take place until long after he’d died. Sure, knowing him and his style, it was a lot easier for me to get the hang of the place, but other than that, I had no special insights."

"Then you didn’t get your trinary coding skill from your original persona?" Ressler seemed surprised.

"Excuse me, Doctor, but I _am_ me. What you mean to say is my original lifetime."

"My apologies."

"That’s okay. No, I didn’t get them from the twenty-first century. The fact is I don’t know where I got them. I do know that I need to be careful that whatever is over there doesn’t find out I have UTC knowledge. I don’t want to put too much importance on myself, but the being over there probably doesn’t know UTC, and would consider me a major threat if it discovered me. Fortunately, I have both NATech and the Resistance to work behind."

"NATech is in on this?" Jody whistled. In the puterverse, it sounded like a kazoo. "That makes sense. They’re in on everything. Then they’re the ones working with that thing?"

"Yes and no. They have a common goal - suppression of Earth’s social and technical development. But the motives are different. NATech is looking for a captive consumer market for achieving profit. A stupid goal in my opinion. I don’t know what the other being’s motive is, but it’s nothing so trite as a handful of cash.

"Getting back to my story. I spent the first few months with the 3rd figuring out the puterverse and getting used to my new body. To make matters worse for the former, I still hadn’t realized my coding ability. At first, I had no idea of the scope of the puterverse. And with severely restricted access, it was a frustrating maze of walls and red doors. Still, I picked up the feel and flavor fairly quickly.

"The big break came after my first sharding episode. I was out of it for three weeks. I don’t remember anything during that time. When the episode finally did end, I was a basket case for another week. Eventually, I was bored just lying around in bed and I accessed to do a little light netting. But it was so different. Where there had been massive black walls, they now looked fragile. I pushed against one, just to test it, and it crumbled to ion dust, giving me complete access to everything behind it. I had the ability to visualize and use unbound trinary code."

"Fascinating. Did you or Dr. Barrett ever determine whether your talent was triggered by the episode, a remnant from a previous shard, or a catalyst that activated a latent ability?"

"No, Doctor, we never could determine it, though not for lack of trying. I was ready for active duty after another week, but I stayed in sick bay for an additional week. I was as eager to find out how this came about, and how long it would last. Dr. Barrett didn’t find anything. Not a hint, not a clue, not even a trace of how this had come about. The only thing we could determine was that it was permanent. And even that is hard to explain. If I could teach you UTC, you’d know that once you have the concept of UTC, it becomes a part of you.

"We eventually gave it up and I returned to active duty, transferring out of support and moving over to Research. Now that I had the keys to the kingdom, as it were, I really started to poke my nose into all the corners of the puterverse. I could go everywhere, so I did. Everywhere but across the Quantum.

"One of the biggest perks of accessing with UTC is there’s no toll on my physical body. The primary reason for access levels is security - or at least that’s what we’re led to think. Another major reason is that the higher the level, the greater the toll on the user’s real body. Accessing too high can literally suck the life out of you. But UTC freed me of that, so I was able to shed access level restrictions."

I had been staring out over the Quantum while talking, so I snuck a quick peek at my audience. Jody was staring up into the sky and Ressler was staring at me. I saw his eyes avert abruptly and I had a vague feeling. Intuition? I don’t know. I returned to my story, but I was suddenly certain somehow that while Jody was hearing for the first time, Doctor Ressler had heard it all before.

"But the puterverse was too big. I had gotten very fast moving around, and became even faster after I fashioned my wings, but there was too much to see. I needed help. That’s when I decided to write Mike, here." I nudged him playfully with my foot. Sparks jumped up and floated away, several fizzling out in the data river. He smiled at me, making me feel warm. Mike had heard this many times over, but always enjoyed the telling.

"Writing him was one of the most difficult things I’d ever done. Oh, the coding was pretty easy. After all, in the physical world, he’s just a bunch of zeros, ones and twos. Ouch!" Mike jabbed me in the ribs, so I slugged him. "Hey, it’s true! Lemme alone, jerk."

"Why in the world did you write him to behave like that, Abigail?" Jody asked, looking at Mike with something between amusement and distaste.

"Hey, lady, don’t ever talk to me like I’m a program or something!"

"Why not?" Jody challenged. "That’s all you are."

"That’s all I am? Ha! Not even close! How ‘bout I drop your shields and we’ll..."

"Knock it off, both of you. Mike’s right, Jody. He’s much more than a program. He’s the code he started as in the same way that we’re the infants we started as. In fact, that’s not an analogy, that’s hard fact. As the time has passed here in the puterverse, Mike’s code has matured quickly. It will even reach a point when he’ll stop being rude to my friends and quit making passes at me. Soon, I hope." Mike sulked, but didn’t explode - figuratively or literally - so I continued.

"And I didn’t program his personality, that developed on its own, with me acting as a kind of -"

"Sweetheart."

"- big sister. Mike’s the little brother I always wanted to kill. But instead of taking it out on him, we’ve been working together past eighteen months, laying out our own - umm - strategy for countering both NATech and whatever’s on the far side of the Quantum. I should be ready to cross in about four more months. By then the safeguards will be in place. I’m very interested in seeing what could so important to a creature that it would try to corrupt and ruin an entire planet’s society."

"No less interested than we are, Abigail," Ressler said, nodding as though approving that I hadn’t lied. "As for what TAU’s been doing during that time, Jody, we’ve been monitoring all of Abigail’s activities for over two years. At least we thought we’d been monitoring them. It’s pretty obvious now that we’ve only been seeing what she’s wanted us to see. A humbling revelation."

"Sorry, Doctor," I said, smiling a little. "Both TAU and the Resistance have been very accommodating in helping me with resources and access. But I couldn’t risk revealing too much. I still can’t. I don’t have the fear of NATech that the 179th does, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect their power and influence."

I looked at Jody. "Speaking of the 179th, you’ve heard my story. Now you tell me yours. What’s with all this cloak and dagger? The 179th doesn’t strike me as the kind of unit that NATech would worry too much about, let alone infiltrate."

"There’s a reason," Jody said glumly.

"More to the point, that _is_ the reason," Ressler said cryptically. "The regiment is ineffective because NATech wishes it to be ineffective." He stood up and absentmindedly brushed off his legs. "Why don’t we continue this conversation outside? I’m feeling a little disoriented and I don’t want to be too sore in the morning." He looked back toward the way we had come. "And we still have a ways to go before we can safely end access."

I stood up as well, helping Jody to her feet. She was probably in better physical shape than either the Doctor or I, but she didn’t have the experience in the puterverse that we did. She was looking a little ragged around the edges, literally. Her virtual form had started showing small tears near her hands and feet, and the color was fading. She was in no danger, not as long as the shields were up, but there was no point in overstaying one’s welcome.

"Good idea, Doctor. I could charge up both of you quick enough with another shot of UTC, but we’re pretty much finished here. What you have to tell me can be said in the flesh and Mike can check it easily enough. Even better, we can end access right now. Since this entire area is mine, one point of exit is as good as another. Before we do, though, I’d like a quick minute with Mike."

"Fine," said Dr. Ressler, although it didn’t look very fine with him. "We’ll wait outside..."

"If it’s all the same, doctor, I’d like you and Jody to wait here. I’ll only be a minute and besides, those shields won’t allow you to exit anyway." I bit my tongue as I said it. I had to constantly remind myself to never volunteer information. Grow up, Abigail.

"All right," he agreed, which was not too necessary seeing as he had no control over the decision.

"Thanks." I lifted my arms up and the shielding around Jody and Ressler fell away, joining together and forming a sound proof box. They could move around and talk to each other, but they couldn’t hear me. I turned my back to them and faced Mike. He had come to his feet and was looking at me intently, his emerald eyes bright.

"You don’t trust him, do you, Abby?"

"Sure I do, Mike. I trust him to tell TAU absolutely everything he learned from me tonight. I only hope it wasn’t too much."

Mike shook his head. "I don’t think you did. I ran the entire conversation and movements through logistical semantics and there’s a less than 1 percent chance that the good doctor picked up anything in addition to what you intended, and a ten percent chance he didn’t get everything." He considered a moment. "Though that number maybe a little high. He’s a pretty smart cookie for a flesh. No offense intended."

"Liar," I said bluntly. "All right. So we got our message across. Now can you tap into our conversation and follow what he has to say?" He started to look indignant, so I raised my hands and laughed. "Hey, no offense."

"Liar."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I gotta go, Mike. I’ll try to get back to you in the next couple of days. You take care of yourself, pervert. Oh! I’ve got Kiki working on some UTC routines for me, so leave her alone." I turned to leave, but Mike grabbed my hand.

"Hey, beautiful." His voice was so quiet, I snapped my head around to him. He suddenly sounded so mature and concerned. "You make sure you come back sooner than later, all right? I can’t watch over you out there, and it.. it bugs me that I can’t protect you."

I put a hand along his cheek and kissed him, spreading yellow along his green skin where my lips touched. "You’re so sweet. I’ll be careful. Another few months and we’ll have time for a real adventure. Bye."

"Bye."

I turned back to Ressler and Jody and stepped into the box. There was a rumbling sound and the dense cybersky turned into a heavy black cloud that poured down onto us. Just as the first fringes touched us, ending our access, I looked back at Mike. He was still standing there, arms straight by his side with a light blue flicker emanating from his chest. With surprise, I realized this was the first time I’d ever seen him scared.

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