"Where did the boy go? I haven't got a trace on him"
"He's safe. He's in a place of his own, away from trouble"
"What about us? Should we leave in case more sentinels come looking"
"Yes. Let's head home."
Forseti stood up and walked off towards his quarters, passing the blank and silent faces of his crew.
"Captain"
"Akio"
"Why wasn't I allowed inside? I'm ready, I've trained, I've"
"Got more important things to think about"
"What do you mean"
"It's not just about training, or feeling ready to go back inside. You have to know why you're going back"
"To help you guys out"
"It's not as simple as that. It's not the reason you're here"
"Then why am I here"
"Only one person knows the answer to that question, and it is not you or me, or anyone on this ship. You will find out who it is in time."
Forseti's pace quickened as he drew closer to his door.
"Am I even meant to be here?"
Forseti paused in his doorway, one hand ready to pull it closed, his head pointing down towards the floor. He soon looked up, into his room, stepped in and the conversation was over.
Slowly the Heligo's cockpit came to life, screens came on, lights flashed and holographics showed a map of the immediate area. Nescio took his role as pilot, with Heimdall sat beside him, checking over switches, levers and screens.
"It's clear. Home is about 40 minutes away"
"40? You know me, Heimdall"
"Home is about 30 minutes away"
"That's more like it"
"Yeah, just don't go and knock off anything important"
"You better not mess up on the calculations then, huh"
"Just get going."
The ship floated up slightly before emerging from its hole in the sewer wall, gathering speed until its stern flicked out passed the rock and swung the ship around. Its pads hummed into life, each glowing a brilliant blue before sparking off the nearby walls and slowly propelling the Heligo forward.
"Follow this until Junction 12, swing a right for 3 miles, and then take the left all the way to Gate 2"
"Just shout when I need to turn."
And with that, the Heligo launched forward, down the sewer tunnel.
Akio wandered back through the ship, not really knowing where to go or what to do. Vidar met him down one of the corridors.
"Hey, what are you getting yourself so down for"
"I just wanted to go back. Now I may be waiting a lot longer"
"Take your mind off it. Think of something else"
"Like what"
"I don't know. How about defending yourself against me?"
Akio raised his fists.
"Well, I'm sure we could fight here, but the Captain won't like blood being spilt. I was thinking inside the Dojo"
"Oh, yeah. Sure"
"The Dojo's the only place you'll have a chance at beating me"
"Hey!"
Vidar pushed open the door to Akio's room.
"Lie back. Plug in. I'll see you on the inside."
"There's something wrong with Forseti"
"Like what"
"Those Agents knew too much about him"
"They're Agents. They are meant to know things about you guys"
"Yeah, but they aren't meant to know about Zion, or how we sneak into the power plant"
"What"
"Keep your eyes on the sewers, Nes!"
The Heligo wobbled as Nescio regained control.
"How do they know"
"I don't know. Even they get their orders from someone or something higher up. Maybe they exist in both worlds. You know they have control over the sentinels"
"But we haven't come across a whole load of them"
"Normally they don't look for us. We aren't a problem"
"We're not a problem? Heimdall, we steal bodies from under their noses. How are we not a problem"
"Junction 12 up ahead. Turn right"
"I'm on it."
The Heligo gracefully slid around the corner at Junction 12, its pads lighting up the walls for a moment before the sewers straightened out once more.
"They said something about a deal. They let us go free if we want to go free and they leave everyone else alone. Including Zion"
"Sounds like we've got the better end of the deal then"
"But we don't. The Matrix is growing. It's more than just a city now. It's more believable. People don't want to leave"
"Akio wanted to leave. He didn't think it was so believable"
"Apparently, Akio did think so. They said he didn't want to get out."
Nescio went quiet.
"What? Why the sudden silence"
"Akio... He's desperate to get back inside"
"Yeah, but not to go back and stay back..."
Nescio wasn't sure what to think. It rubbed off on Heimdall too, who started to look around at the controls much more than he usually did.
The cockpit was silent.
Akio fell to the floor and groaned, out of breath.
"Come on, Akio. That was a simple kick"
"That was the 22nd simple kick"
"Then you really have got something troubling you"
"No. Nothing's troubling me"
"Hmm. Well, tell me how you could have avoided the 22nd simple kick that has landed on your torso"
"Uh..."
Akio had regained strength and pulled his arms back towards his head and pushed himself up, perhaps wishing he politely said 'no' to Vidar back in the Heligo.
"You could have jumped, ducked, spun to the sides, kicked it back, pushed it out of the way... Akio, where are you"
"I'm in the Dojo"
"Where is the Dojo"
"Uh, a program inside my head"
"Where is your body"
"Anywhere but here"
"Then why are you still using it?"
Akio gave a puzzled look and raised his arms to look at them.
"No plugs. That is not your body. That merely represents your body, and it will do whatever you tell it to do, as long as your head is screwed on"
"Forseti never said it that clearly"
"That's because this way of thinking gets people killed. The idea that you're in a videogame and that no harm will come to you"
"Is it the way you think"
"No. But it's the way I teach"
"Then I want a replacement teacher"
"Hah! Well, we'll see what we can do."
Vidar exploded into life, leaping forward into the air, right foot aimed towards Akio's face. Akio wasn't ready, but did the first thing that came to his head, and leaped backwards, into a back flip.
His head was safe, and his legs came up to take its place, knocking into Vidar's outstretched limb and sending it up into the air.
Now both fighters were in a back flip, Akio coming down to land first, and as soon as his feet touched the floor, he bounced up off them into a jumping reverse roundhouse, at head height.
Vidar had landed and proceeded to straighten out, having no knowledge of Akio's attack until he could see it an inch away from his head. He ended up crashing through a wooden pillar to his left.
"Vidar?"
He groaned and dusted himself off.
"What did you do that for"
"I was learning"
"Yeah, sure..."
Vidar stood up and walked over to Akio.
"What, uh... what disc is that move on? Nescio must have skipped it"
"Heh, it wasn't. I did whatever I told myself to do"
"Good job. But it won't happen again."
And the fight continued.
"How far"
"Uh, only a mile or two Captain"
"Good. When we get there, I want this ship back up to full strength as soon as possible"
"Of course."
The arrival of Forseti caught Heimdall and Nescio by surprise. He seemed in no mood to deal with his crew, but to just think over what has gone on and what may happen.
"Forseti... do you know what this deal was that the Agents were on about?"
Nescio didn't get an immediate reply as he rounded the final corner of the journey home.
"I... don't know"
"They mentioned Ak"
"I know, Heimdall, but I still don't know why"
"I'm sorry, Captain."
He left almost as soon as he came, leaving Nescio and Heimdall to think amongst themselves.
"I've never seen him like this, Nes"
"Something has got to him. Something important. Something he's not telling us"
"No. He doesn't know what's going on himself, how can he be hiding something"
"How should I know"
"Let's just leave it. Next time we're out we'll probably be taking Akio to see the Oracle. Maybe she'll have something to say about all this"
"I hope your right. I don't want to watch him lose it in the middle of something."
"Hey, Vidar. Why am I here"
"What"
"Why was it me who Forseti picked up"
"Captain told us you were getting closer to the truth. There's no reason to wait. Any longer and you might have stayed inside a cell for longer than a night, if you catch my drift..."
Akio let out a quick burst of punches, with a few landing on Vidar. Akio was improving in this little spar.
"Forseti said there's only one person who could tell me why I'm here"
"And he's right."
Vidar let loose a series of kicks, but Akio was getting better and avoiding them.
"Who"
"The Oracle"
"Who"
"Heh. That was my reaction too. You'll meet soon enough, when Forseti says so"
"I wish he'd hurry up with that."
Akio watched the pattern of kicks in front of him and flipped up and over Vidar, slapping him on the back of the head before ending up just short of ten feet behind him.
"Oi"
"You've got to think outside the box you call a head, Vidar"
"I'm the teacher here"
"You've taught me well. But now I'm the master..."
Vidar stopped. With a grit of his teeth though, he was off again. He dived forward and twisted his body. He was horizontal over the floor, his face staring the ceiling. Akio didn't know where the attack was coming from, and shuffled back slightly, arms raised and waiting.
Vidar arched his back, his hands slapped the floor and his legs kicked up, and they kicked with so much force that they carried his body upwards, in front of Akio. Akio wasn't ready. He sure wasn't expecting anything like this from the straight forward Vidar.
He sailed upside down, his head just lower than Akio's was. Akio saw the chance and punched for Vidar's face, but missed, as his opponent kept on rising.
Soon, Vidar was bent above Akio, who was now spinning around to see what was going on. Bad move. Vidar's legs had since come round to kick Akio. This would hurt. Even if Akio got to block it, it would hurt.
Akio got his arms across his face, but Vidar's foot had broken through the makeshift defence and connected with Akio's jaw, sending him stumbling backwards, and leaving Vidar to fall gently to the floor.
"No, Akio. You're still the student"
"I bet."
Akio was flat on his back, rubbing his jaw.
"Akio, I never touched your jaw"
"It's my jaw, I know whether you kicked it or not"
"Akio. I'm in a different room to you"
"
"It's going to hurt when you wake up – unless you know that this place isn't real. Speaking of waking up, we must be close to home by now. See you outside."
Akio saw the Dojo ceiling disappear and the rust reappear and his door creaked open.
"You're jaw hurts, doesn't it"
"Yeah."