Chapter 10: Love and Loss

"Come in and close the door, Odd."

Odd gulped and looked around the office. He noted the two police officers, and his face paled. The principal looked past him at Jim and nodded. Odd felt himself being shoved forward, and heard the sound of the door clicking shut.

"Sit down." Mr. Delmas gestured to the empty chair in front of him.

He nodded weakly and moved towards the chair. As he was sitting down, he caught movement off to his left and turned to see that one of the police officers was now standing between him and the door.

"I'll get to the point." The principal started. "You lied to the police, and you lied to me."

Odd watched as the principal's serene facade faded into a frown.

"You and Miss Stones told me that she was your cousin. When we couldn't reach her parents to inform them of their daughter's disappearance, I called your parents. They are on their way here as we speak. You don't have any cousins from Canada, Odd, and none of your relatives have pink hair. You helped her register here under a false identity, that makes you an accomplice to fraud."

"But..."

"If I were you, I wouldn't say anything until your parents get here." The police officer to Odd's right cut in. "As Mr. Delmas was saying, you knowingly helped a girl register here as a boarder under the false pretense of her being your cousin. Maybe you were just helping out a friend, but when we questioned you about her disappearance, that, kid, was lying during the course of an investigation. You mislead us, and now your friend is dead. Unless you have a extremely good and valid explanation for your deceit, you will be facing some very serious charges."

"You don't honestly think that I had something to do with her disappearance?"

"Let me sum it up for you. You backed up her false identity in front of the principal and your friends. You lied to us about the events surrounding her disappearance. Now she turns up dead in the middle of a massive fire fight. There is something that you are hiding, and when you're parents get here, we are going to find out what it is."

"Wait... She's dead?"

"As a door nail."

Odd attempted to fight the tears that were forming.

"You seem surprised. You shouldn't be. It's a fairly well known fact that the majority of people who aren't found after 48 hours turn up dead. The only surprising part in this entire affair is how she resurfaced."

Odd gave up trying to fight the tears and looked up at the man who was now standing in front of him. "How?"

"She was dragged out of a van by the boy whom you and your friends told us was her boyfriend. The men chasing the vehicle that she was traveling in left her laying on the sidewalk. The preliminary report states that she was probably killed when the van impacted a tree."

"You said that Jeremie was with her. What happened to him?"

"We don't know. We lost track of the vehicles that were carrying him and the other passengers." The officer paused and moved behind Odd. "Did Aelita tell you to lie about her identity, or was it someone-else?"

Odd hesitated.

"Don't worry, I'm certain she won't mind. She is dead after all." The officer sneered at Odd.

Odd suppressed his sudden urged to swing at the police officer. "Yeah, and since she is dead, I'm also sure that she won't mind if I take my time answering your questions."

Exactly what happened next, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that at one moment he was seated in his chair staring at the floor and the next the officer had him pinned up against the wall by his shirt collar.

"A girl is dead, and, yet, you find this entire affair amusing." The officer released the grip that he had on Odd's shirt and let the boy crumple to the floor. "I'm certain that your parents raised you better than that." The man scoffed at Odd, and turned to face his fellow officer. "We'll question him some more when his parents get here. Hopefully he'll be more willing to co-operate when we return." The two men exited the room, and Odd staggered back to the chair.

"Are you are alright?"

Odd looked up at the man sitting behind the desk. "What?"

"Are you hurt? Do I need to get the nurse?"

"No. I'll just walk it off."

The principal sighed and turned to his computer screen. Odd's gaze drifted around the room, slowly shifting from one object to another until it finally settled on the window behind Mr. Delmas.

"Don't even consider it."

Odd blinked and turned his attention to the man before him. "Consider what?"

"I saw that look on your face, and I'm warning you now. Trying to get out of that window is not an option for you."

"I wasn't..."

"Don't give me that. You were weighing your options, and, trust me, at this point in time, running is not what you want to do." Mr. Delmas finished his lecture and turned back to the computer screen.

"Aelita?"

The girl groaned and began stirring.

"Wake up, Aelita."

Aelita stopped and began to slowly open her eyes, but she quickly shut them and grabbed her head in pain. Still holding her head, she lowered her right arm and tried to raise herself into a sitting position. Halfway through her rise she yelped in pain and collapsed back to the sidewalk. She felt a hand come to rest gently on her shoulder, and she opened her eyes to look at the person attending to her.

"Take it easy there. You have two broken ribs and a slight concussion. My partner is getting a stretcher."

Aelita leaned her head back against the cold ground and let out a low groan. "It doesn't feel slight. Who are you?"

"My name is Francine. I'm a paramedic for the local hospital."

Aelita turned to face the woman, and smiled. "Thanks for helping me."

She shrugged it off and flashed a smile back. "What can I say? It's my job."

Aelita nodded and continued. "How long was I out?"

"Well since I don't know when you went unconscious, I can't give you an answer. But I arrived here about thirty minutes after the van that you were in," The woman motioned behind her, "ran into the tree, and I've been here for about five minutes."

"How did you know my name?"

"One of the police officers told me your name." The woman's smile faded, and her expression became serious. "That was a dangerous stunt you pulled."

"Stunt? What are you talking about?"

"You used a beta-blocker to trick those men into believing that you were dead."

A perplexed look played across Aelita's face and the paramedic's mood softened.

"You didn't do it. Did you?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

The woman grabbed Aelita's arm and rolled back the sleeve. She gently moved the girl's arm so that Aelita could read the message without moving her head. When Aelita saw the note and recognized the hand writing, she couldn't decide if she should feel grateful or betrayed.

"I'll have to remember to slap him after I thank him." Aelita mumbled under her breath.

"Who is 'he'?" The paramedic asked her. Aelita blushed slightly when she realized the woman had heard what she said.

"His name is Jeremie. He was in the van with me. Do you know where he is?"

Francine shifted uncomfortably, and forced a smile. "I don't know, but I can ask one of the police officers..."

"The men that attacked us took him away. Didn't they?"

Francine looked down and nodded slightly.

"What about the others? What happened to them? Where's Christophe? Where's my mom?"

Francine continued to stare at the ground and simply shook her head. "You are the only one that they left behind."

Aelita turned her head to the side as she felt tears forming in her eyes. As she stared off under the van, she noticed that a bag was partially hidden behind the rear tire. She moved her arm slowly to avoid aggravating her injuries and pointed at the pack. "Can you please hand me that bag?"

Francine glanced at the bag, and then warily behind her at the group of GIPN officers who appeared to be in the middle of heated discussion with some members of the RAID team. She turned back to Aelita, and shook her head. "That would depend on what is in that bag."

Aelita sighed, and turned her head so she could see Francine. "I need to make phone call, and I need the PDA that is in the bag."

"Here you can just use my cellphone." Francine reached for her phone, but Aelita motioned for her to stop.

"Cell phones are no good, they'll be listening. I have to use that PDA, or..." Aelita glanced up as Francine's partner entered her vision pushing a stretcher, and she lowered her voice so that only Francine could hear her. "you have to do all the talking."

Francine motioned for the other paramedic to help her lift Aelita onto the stretcher, and then turned her attention to Aelita. "Give me one good reason to trust you."

Aelita clenched her teeth when pain shot through her side as the two paramedics lifted her onto the stretcher. After they set her down, Francine glanced at the man.

"I'll go inform the police that she is awake." Francine turned to leave, but Aelita caught her arm.

"You don't have to trust me. Just bring me the PDA, and I can get you all the proof that you will ever need."

Jacques sighed and tossed the newspaper onto the table in front of him. He perked up when the sound of footfalls reached his ears, and he turned to face the doorway as an aid escorted a man and a woman into the room. Jacques rose to his feet and the aid began the introductions.

"Mr. President, this is Mr. and Mrs. Belpois. They are the parents of Jeremie Belpois."

"It's an honor to meet you, sir." Michael extended his hand.

"Thank you. Please, have a seat." Jacques gestured towards two empty chairs on the opposite side of the table. "Thank you, Sophie. Do you have any update on when Christophe will be back?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I haven't been able to reach him, and no-one on the staff knows where he is."

"Let me know if you hear anything."

"Yes, sir." Sophie nodded and closed the door as she exited the room.

Jacques turned to face the two people across from him. "Do either you of know why Christophe wanted to talk with us?"

Michael and Marie shared an uneasy glance with each other, and then turned back to Jacques. "He didn't tell you?" Micheal questioned the man before him.

"Not much. Just that he needed to talk to me about some black ops program that has overstepped its bounds. He also mentioned about the two missing students being wrapped in the entire situation. Where are Aelita's guardians?"

"Aelita's mother was supposed arrive with Christophe." Marie responded.

"I see. So how exactly did your son manage to get involved in this?"

"During his freshman year at Kadic, Jeremie stumbled upon an abandoned factory near his school." Michael started. "He began sneaking out of the school at night to scrounge around the factory for anything that he could use for his robotics hobby. One night he found a room in the factory that seemed out of place."

"You have reached Hôtel Matignon, residence of the Prime Minister of France, how may I assist you?"

"Sophie? I need you to put me through to the President. He should be in the Prime Minister's office."

Sophie stopped her typing and turned to look at the caller ID. "I'm sorry who is this, and how do you know that information?"

"This is Aelita Stones. Christophe told me that he had arranged a meeting with the President for this morning. I have an important message for the President that explains why Christophe is not present at the meeting. Can you please put me through?"

"I'm sorry dear, but I can't put you through. Policy states that I can only let..."

"Christophe, Alex, Sean, and Will have all been abducted. I think that is more than enough reason to let me talk to the President."

Sophie gawked at the phone in disbelief. "Give me a very good reason to believe you."

"The first time that you brought Christophe coffee, you were so nervous that you tipped over the cup when you tried to pour him some. It took Christophe five minutes to calm you down and to convince you that he was not upset with you for ruining his shirt."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Sophie."

"They later discovered that her father had once worked for a government program called 'Project Carthage'. Carthage was a system designed to..." Micheal paused as he heard a person knock on the door.

Jacques turned to face the door. "Yes?"

They all watched as Sophie entered the room with a worried expression on her face. "There is a call for you on line four."

"Who is it?"

"Aelita Stones, the missing girl. She says that she has some important information about Christophe."

"Thank you, Sophie."

Sophie nodded her head, and quietly shut doors as she left the room. The president walked over to the desk and lifted the handset. He selected the flashing button next to the label that read "External Line 4".

"Hello?"

"Hello, sir. My name is Aelita. Christophe has been abducted, and I need you to do me a small favor."

"Let's start with you giving me an explanation of what is really going on."

"Sir?"

"Tell me what Project Carthage is."

"It would be better if I showed you in person."

Jacques gaze towards the window narrowed slightly. "Very well, where should we meet you?"

"Meet me at the abandoned Renault Factory near Kadic Academy. Now can you please do me favor and tell these paramedics to escort me there?"

"Alright, put them on." The sounds of the phone trading hands reached his ears and he waited for the person on the other end to begin.

"Mr. President?"

"Is the person with whom I just spoke a threat to your personal safety?"

"No, sir. I don't believe she is."

"Would you mind escorting her to the abandoned Renault Factory?"

"Not at all, sir."

"Thank you. I will meet you there." The man returned the handset to its cradle, and turned to face his body guards. "Get the team together, we're making a house call." The men nodded, and the agent closest to the door exited the room to make preparations. He then turned to the two civilians before him. "Grab your things, we're leaving."

Francine heard the click of the other person ending the call and handed the PDA back to Aelita. "I'll go tell the officers that we are leaving."

"Do they know that I'm alive?"

Francine stopped and turned back to face Aelita. "No, we haven't told them yet. Why?"

"Trust me. It's better for now if they think that I'm dead."

Francine watched as her partner gave her an uneasy look. Francine nodded her head, and resumed her walk towards the officers. "I hope you're good at playing dead."

Aelita closed her eyes as Francine's partner covered her and the stretcher with a blanket.

Jeremie sat silently in the middle of the SUV. His hands absentmindedly traced the edges of his restraints as he listened to the pieces of the conversation that was occurring between the leader of the assault team and their commander who was sitting safely behind a desk.

"We have a complication."

"No, she's dead, but that is not the problem."

"I know that, but it's too late to do anything about it."

"Well what do you want me to do about it?"

"Are you certain that is wise? What if they know enough to find us?"

"Oh. Okay. Now I see where you are going."

"Alright I'll instruct my men to act accordingly. What about the boy?"

"Are you certain that will work?"

"Good point. I'll meet you there."

Jeremie listened as the man ended the call and turned in seat to face him.

"It looks like you won't be seeing anyone that you know for a very long time." The man sneered at Jeremie and then returned to watching the traffic around the vehicle.

"What about the others?"

The man in front of Jeremie laughed slightly. "They are going to be released." The man retrieved the wireless handset from the dashboard. "Teams two and three. Deposit the prisoners at way point alpha, and then proceed to the secondary rendezvous point." The garbled responses could be heard. "Be sure to make it quick." The man replaced the handset and returned to surveying the traffic around the SUV. Jeremie looked up as he saw two black SUVs speed past them in the left lane, and disappear into the traffic in front of them.

Jacques finished examining the building that loomed before him and turned to face the two people standing behind him. "Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"No, sir. This is the place." The woman responded.

"All clear!"

The three looked up as a group of twenty men exited the factory equipped with full tactical gear. The leader of the group stopped before Jacques offered a salute. Jacques answered the salute and the man began his situation report.

"We have searched the entire building, and have found no threats to your safety. We have sixty men stationed at strategic points throughout the building and at various entrances to the facility. There are ten snipers concealed on the roof." The man gestured towards the factory roof. "We have an additional twenty men on continuous foot patrol of the entire facility, and we have tapped into the video surveillance system of the building." The man presented a laptop that displayed over twenty video windows, and then returned the computer to his side.

"Excellent work, major. Have your remaining men setup a perimeter just inside of the tree line, and then meet me inside."

"Yes, sir." The man saluted Jacques, and then motioned for his men to follow him into the trees.

Jacques turned to the two civilians behind him. "Show me where..." Jacques paused as the sound of vehicle approaching reached his ears. He turned and watched an ambulance slow to a stop at the end of the bridge. The driver and passenger exited the vehicle and walked to the rear of the van. They opened the doors and helped a third individual with pink hair out of the back, and then began walking towards Jacques.

"Freeze!"

The three stopped and lifted their hands as a team of agents swarmed them from out of what appeared to be thin air. After a few moments the agents returned to their stations, and the three people resumed their walk towards Jacques. The girl with pink hair stopped a few steps away from Jacques and the two paramedics stood slightly behind her.

"You must be Aelita."

Aelita simply nodded.

"Mind showing me what is so important?"

"Not at all. It's this way." Aelita motioned for everyone to follow her. The two paramedics began to follow as well, but Jacques stopped them. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe that the two of you have clearance to view this area."

"It's alright Jacques, they are already involved." Aelita stated as she walked over. "But one of you should move the ambulance inside the factory to avoid drawing unwanted attention."

Francine turned to face her partner. "You loose." Her partner muttered something under his breath, and proceeded towards the van.

"Alright, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Jeremie asked the occupants of the van.

The commander turned in his seat and motioned at one of the agents. "Don't worry, you'll understand when we get there."

Jeremy flinched as he felt needle a pierce his skin. He tried to grab his assailant but his attempts became half-hearted as the world around him became blurry and faded into darkness.

Two black SUVs hurtled to a stop at the end of a bridge. Men swiftly exited the vehicle and dragged four men and a woman with pink hair from the vehicles. The soldiers cut the ties binding the individuals' hands and feet, and then began re-entering the vehicles. One the soldiers stopped and looked intently at the factory at the end of the bridge. His eyes widened, and he grabbed the soldier next to him and pointed at something in the building's entrance. The second soldier followed the other's gaze and then nodded in recognition. The two men then entered the vehicle, and the SUVs departed just as quickly as they had come. Once the vehicles were out of site, the prisoners rose to their feet and watched as men exited the factory and the nearby grove of trees.

"Team leader two requesting to speak with team leader."

Mathis lifted the handset off the dashboard of SUV and spoke. "This is team leader. Continue."

"Sir, we have a situation. The girl is still alive."

"What?!"

"I repeat Aelita Schaeffer is still alive. She was at the factory when we released the prisoners."

"Why didn't you neutralize or apprehend her?"

"She wasn't alone sir. There was a large military presence at the factory."

"Shit. Could you tell what they were?"

"They appeared to be a mix of special ops and secret service."

"Alright, we'll deal with that later. For now just meet us back at base."

"Affirmative."

Mathis replaced the handset and turned to check on the unconscious boy. Satisfied that the prisoner was asleep he turned back to the road and took out his satellite phone.

"Yes?"

"It's Mathis. We have a situation."

"I know I just saw the satellite feeds."

"I recommend that we level the entire building, sir."

"What about the people in the building?"

"Acceptable losses."

"Very well. I'll order the strike. Gregoire out."

Mathis returned the phone to his bag, and stared at the trees flying past him on the roadside. Hopefully the current occupants of the factory would be aware of the missile strike and vacate the factory in time. If they couldn't, he could live with that as well.

"Mom!"

Antea smiled as Aelita leaped through the opening elevator doors and embraced her in hug.

"It's so good to see that you are alright." Antea said as she loosened her embrace and looked at her daughter. Aelita smiled back and then glanced at the other occupants of the lift.

"Where is Jeremie." Aelita asked as her smile faded.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. He wasn't with us."

Aelita nodded sadly and walked back into the room. She gestured towards the Belpois. "These are Jeremie's parents," The two waved slightly, and Aelita pointed to Jacques. "and this is the President."

Jacques quietly nodded in acknowledgment. After Aelita was finished speaking, Jacques moved over to Christophe.

"Late as usual." Jacques stated as a grin spread across his face.

"Yes, and as usual it's not my fault." Christophe responded with a smile as he shook Jacques hand.

"Well now that all of you are here, would someone mind filling me in?"

"We'll discuss this on LYOKO. I'll go there first, and run the virtualization process from the tower..."

"Absolutely not!" The occupants of the room all turned to face the pink haired woman. "The scanners are not safe for use on humans. They never were, and they never will be. Look at what happened to me." Antea pointed at her hair. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"Mom, that was a long time ago. The scanners have been upgraded and repaired then since then. There is nothing to worry about. There have been thousands of successful runs, and I've been virtualized hundreds of times."

Antea's expression fell. "You've what? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"Mom, I'm telling you the truth. There is nothing to worry about..."

"Except for the thousands of errors that could occur."

"Antea, we've been there as well." Micheal and Marie stepped over and stood next to Aelita.

"But..."

"If you want I can send someone else first."

"Fine, but I still object."

"Very well. Any volunteers?"

"We'll go." Marie offered.

"Alright. You know the drill."

The two began descending the ladder as Aelita situated herself at the computer console. Aelita placed on the headset and began entering commands into a window on the screen. "Are you ready?" "Okay I'll start the process." Aelita typed a few more commands and muttered, "Virtualization." She brought up a new window on the screen and the faces of Jeremie's parent's greeted the room.

"We made it. You can come now Aelita."

"Alright." Aelita entered a few more commands and window with a countdown appeared on the screen. She placed the headset on the keyboard, and proceeded to the ladder. Her mom followed shortly after her and moved to stand between her and the scanner.

"Is there any way I can convince you not to go?"

"No there isn't." Aelita walked past her mom and stood in the scanner. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." Antea watched as the scanner doors closed around her only child and her heart sank. She watched worriedly as the scanner ran through it's cycle. The cycle completed without incident, and Antea relaxed slightly. She turned to climb the ladder back to the computer lab but stopped dead in her tracks as all to familiar alarm blared in her ears. She turned on her heals and rushed over to Aelita's scanner. The doors hissed open and an unconscious Aelita fell out of the scanner into her arms. Antea scooped up her daughter and rushed into the elevator. She set Aelita down on the floor and waited for the doors to open. The door slid back to show everyone staring intently at the computer screen.

"You two!" Antea pointed at the two paramedics. "Make sure that she is okay." The two scrambled over to Aelita's side as Antea ran to the computer chair. Her face paled as she read through the hundreds windows with red exclamation points. "Damn it." Antea slammed her fist into the arm rest of the chair. "This is exactly what I was worried about." She began typing furiously as one of the paramedics walked over to Antea.

"She seems fine, and her injuries have been healed." The man informed Antea. She didn't even glance up from the screen as she whispered her response.

"Check her ears."

The man looked thoroughly confused, but turned to check anyway. He informed his partner who lifted Aelita's hair out of the way. The two jumped back slightly at what they saw, and cautiously re-examined the girl's ears to make certain that they were indeed seeing what they thought they were seeing. "Why are her ears pointed?" Francine asked. The other people in the room with the exception of Antea, who was still typing away furiously at the computer terminal, turned to face the two paramedics with perplexed expressions on their faces. Alex was the first to the respond.

"What?"

"Antea, why are your daughter's ears pointed?" Francine repeated.

"Transcoding error." Was the only reply Antea made as she continued typing.

Irritated by the lack of explanation, Francine continued. "For those of us who don't know anything about what is happening, could you please explain the situation in a little more detail."

"Every time a person is virtualized in the scanners random errors occur when the data is stored in the supercomputer's memory. Normally these errors are not significant since they occur in molecules with relatively short biological lifespans. The body simply fixes these errors over time. If the error occurs when the computer is copying over the subject's DNA, the error is not so readily fixed. Since Aelita has been virtualized so many times the errors in the DNA of her cells accumulated to a point where the computer attempted to fix the errors before they could cause any physical harm. The computer replaced the corrupt genes with new genes. Fortunately, the only error only affected the shape of her ears, but it could have been much worse. The problem is that since the computer replaced the corrupted genes in every cell of her body, the affects are hereditary."

Francine hung her head in realization.

"Is there any way to reverse it?" Micheal asked from his window on the computer screen.

"I believe there is, but it will take time."

Micheal nodded in understanding. He opened his mouth to say something but was cutoff by a second alarm sounding. Everyone turned their attention to Antea.

"What's happening?" Christophe asked.

"I don't know. Let me check... Oh no." Antea's face paled. "We have to leave now! There is a missile bearing down on the factory as we speak."

"I'll call in help..." Christophe began, but Antea cut him off.

"Help won't get here in time. We only have two minutes to clear the building." Antea glanced at the two people currently stranded in the virtual world. "Do either of you know the code to rematerialize you?"

"Sorry, but Aelita and Jeremy are the only people who know it." Marie answered.

Antea nodded grimly and rushed over to Aelita.

"Aelita? Come on. It's time to wake up, sweetie." Antea pleaded as she shook her daughter in an attempt to wake her. "Please wake up. I need your help."

Aelita's eye lids fluttered, and she groaned. "But I don't wanna go to school, mommy." Aelita opened her eyes, and shot up fully awake. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later. Right now I need you to devirtualize Jeremie's parents."

Aelita nodded and walked over to the console as the sounds of vehicle engines starting came from above. Aelita looked at the screen and her eyes widened in panic. "I'll just run a 'return to the past'." she muttered under breath. After a few seconds the computer responded to her attempt with a flashing red exclamation point. "What do you mean, 'No'?" she shouted at the computer and began typing in the devirtualization codes. The process completed and Aelita began a second attempt at the return only to be greeted with the same response. Aelita double clicked on the error, and read the message. Suddenly realization dawned on her. There was another, more powerful supercomputer, and it was currently generating a field that was blocking the 'return to the past' function. She jumped out of the chair and joined the others in the elevator. They reached the main level and ran to the remaining vehicles. The paramedics ran for the ambulance but two of the agents grabbed them and shoved them in a SUV while shouting "There isn't anytime! Leave it!" The vehicles lurched forward as their drivers floored the accelerators, and the SUVs exited the factory. Aelita watched from her window as her ride hastily sped away to a safe distance from the factory. The SUV skid to a stop and the occupants piled out into the midday sun to await the destruction of the factory.

Aelita glanced at the time on her PDA, and shouted. "5 seconds."

The deafening roar of a solitary cruise missile pierced the warm breeze. The thundering noise ended as the missile plowed into the abandoned and unleashed a flash of heat and a pressure wave that assaulted the group of people who had been standing inside the building mere moments before. Christophe and Jacques turned as the major approached them. "All present, sir."

"Well at least everyone made it out." Christophe answered as he turned to gaze at the smoldering pile of ruble. "How the hell are we going to explain this?" He asked Jacques as he gestured towards the disaster site.

"How about calling it a 'joint task force anti-terrorist training exercise'." Jacques offered. Christophe nodded slightly as he pondered it.

"Sounds plausible." He turned to face Aelita, whom he noticed had tears forming in her eyes. "What's wrong Aelita?"

Aelita wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to face the Prime Minister. "That computer was the last chance I had to find Jeremie." She stated weakly. Aelita felt someone place their hands on her shoulders, and she turned to embrace her mother.

"Don't worry, Aelita. We'll find him. We'll find him." Antea whispered as she held her daughter.

Jeremie sharply opened his eyes and swatted away the hand holding the ammonia capsules under his nose. The man retracted his hand, tossed the paper packet into the waste basket, and walked to the opposite side of the table. Jeremie glanced at the man's face but couldn't place him, and he didn't seem to match any of descriptions that Aelita had given him.

"My name... is of no consequence since you will not be seeing me again during the course of your stay here."

Jeremie looked at man the quizzically. "Where exactly are we?"

"Excellent question. I am standing in an interrogation room on earth, talking to a holographic projection of a fifteen year old boy. You..." The man paused for moment as if deep in thought. "You are both everywhere and nowhere. You exist as the sole inhabitant of a virtual world that is being simulated in thousands of quantum computers spread across the globe. You are trapped because a method for your materialization does not exist. You will be released as soon as you have devised such a method. Obviously you will not under any circumstance be released sooner, since doing so would be impossible. If your freedom is not enough incentive for you to complete your work, you should be aware that the life of your love interest is on the table in addition to your freedom. Every time that you refuse to co-operate you will be putting her life in danger. Am I clear?"

Jeremie solemnly nodded, and looked down.

"Good. Well that's it for now. I'll let you become acquainted with your new home."

Jeremie's vision went black, and he felt himself lying face down on what felt like grass. He opened his eyes and rose to his feet. The scene that greeted his eyes was awe inspiring. He was standing in the middle of a forest clearing with the full moon casting a soft glow around him. He immediately realized two terrifying facts: His surroundings appeared overwhelming real, and he could feel the cold night wind blowing across his skin.