She had done all she knew to do in the real world, and now Emma had turned her attention to the Psychic Overworld once again. They were losing the battle; that was plain. Brennan was huddled in a corner of his mind, now unable to do anything more than mutter at her when she mentally poked at him. That was symbolic of his physical state: the man was unconscious, lying on the clinic bed, his brain shut down by the loss of blood still oozing sluggishly out through the slice that Kenny had left in his former friend. The intravenous liquids that she poured in through collapsed veins kept Brennan alive but that state of being, she knew, wouldn't last forever. Brennan needed Adam. He needed him now.

There was more smoke in Brennan's Overworld than Emma remembered; not a good sign, for it meant that Brennan hadn't been able to keep up with the psychic tools that she had given him. Again, not a surprise; the astonishment was that Brennan had hung on as long as he had. Emma headed for where the smoke was the thickest, coughing and choking her way through until she stumbled over her teammate and nearly knocked herself silly against the soot-covered wall he had positioned himself against.

The psychic vacuum cleaner that Emma had left Brennan was still working but just barely. The motor in the small canister wheezed and hacked itself, inhaling slender shafts of the black smoke but clearly unable to keep up with demand. That too was unsurprising; what was remarkable was that Brennan was still alive and making feeble attempts to help himself. He needed relief.

And help was what Emma came prepared to give. She gently rescued the nozzle of the vacuum from Brennan's limp hand, allowing the elemental to fall back exhausted against the wall that he'd erected in his mind to cover his back. Summoning her greater strength, she poured that energy into the vacuum. It roared back into new life, scooping up the blackness and fanning out clean air for them both to breathe.

Better than morphine, Brennan gasped, his head lolling on his chest. His eyes wouldn't focus.

Gave you that, too, Brennan, in the mundane world, Emma smirked, pleased that her teammate felt strong enough once again to 'talk' to her. Her presence was helping. Rest now. I'll take over for a bit.

No argument here.

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"This is gonna work, right?" To say there was doubt in Shalimar's voice was an understatement. Downright disbelief would be more accurate; disbelief mixed with a dash of hope that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to go.

That hope was based on the observation that the computer room of Sanctuary had been turned into a pigsty of computer guts. Every square inch of space was littered with wires and chips, cables and the occasional metal box thing that defied easy description. Further scanning showed the discouraging view that most of the metal boxes were jerry-rigged to each other with the whole concoction plugged into an overflowing power strip of outlets. Shalimar's heart sank; it looked like Jesse's plan to enter cyberspace was moving forward. Beside her, Denise looked on in unabashed horror at the mess.

Not that Shalimar didn't want to rescue Adam; far from it. But Shalimar Fox, feral and delighted to be one, would much prefer that the rescuing take place somewhere else. Somewhere, ideally, that contained trees, open space, and plenty of room to send Kenny and whatever minions he'd managed to acquire flying through the air to land in an undignified heap. Cyberspace didn't qualify.

Jesse beamed; clearly he was proud of the mess he'd produced. Shalimar managed a feeble smile.

"We're ready to go," Jesse informed her. Power had already been restored to the mainframe on a limited basis, as evidenced by the blinking lights on the computer bank begging for more. A shadow crossed his face. "Brennan?"

"Not good." Shalimar hardened her resolve. Cyberspace or not, they had to rescue their mentor and now. "Emma's scared. We have to get Adam back soon."

"Shouldn't you take Brennan to a hospital or something?" Denise asked.

Shalimar shook her head. "Genomex would be onto him in a flash. They keep people checking the records exactly for things like that, Denise. They'd snatch Brennan so fast they'd leave the hospital gown standing by itself in the corridor. We don't dare, not unless we want him in a pod." Denise shuddered; she'd seen those pods and wanted no part of them.

Jesse handed Shalimar a bracelet. In looks, it would have been passed over in any jewelry store: it was a plain band composed of crude looking links hooked to a circuit chip. Shalimar chose not to wrinkle up her nose, though Denise showed no such restraint. This was not the time for fashion.

Jesse appreciated the feral's forbearance. "This call back device is what will pull us out of the computer at the proper time," he explained. Shalimar grew a great deal more interested in the piece of ugly looking 'jewelry'. "I've set up the CAMS chip to put us into the computer, and, Denise, I want you here at the console to flip the switch that will get us out. Pull us back exactly thirty minutes after we go in. I figure that will give us enough time to look around, grab Adam, and skedaddle. What do you think, Shal?"

Shalimar shrugged. "I think I'm crazy for going along with this, but other than that, I'm for it. When do we leave?" She clamped the bracelet around her wrist. It closed with a resounding snap.

Jesse glanced uneasily down the corridor, doing the same with his own call back device. That corridor led to the clinic—and Brennan. "The sooner, the better."

Shalimar nodded soberly. "Let's go."

Jesse gestured. "Denise, if you please? No, that switch, not that one." He hastily moved the girl's hand to the proper toggle. "Don't touch anything else. Just that one switch." He grinned at her. "See you in half an hour."

Denise threw the switch.

It didn't feel good. There was no way to describe the sensation of being altered into electronic representations of self and then reconstituted into a remarkably complex program known as Shalimar-1. Shalimar came to herself to find her world now a featureless gray domain, devoid of everything. The best she could say was that it felt: empty.

Jesse came up behind her, and Shalimar jumped. And grew scared: "Jesse, I didn't sense you!"

"Not surprising," was his response. "I didn't have time to program in a sense of smell, and sound doesn't carry here like it does in the real world."

"Then this isn't the real world?"

"Hardly," Jesse laughed. "I got us into an unused sector of the D drive, hoping that Kenny wouldn't notice us entering. I give us a fifty-fifty chance of that happening: Kenny's probably delighted that he now has power to work with, but that will also make him nervous that we're about to try something."

"Which we are. He'll be looking for us."

"Yeah, but he won't know how we're coming. He doesn't know that we figured out how to follow him into the computer."

"You mean, you figured it out, Kilmartin. I take no responsibility for this little excursion."

"Whatever. Stick close," Jesse advised, pulling the feral back toward him. "Don't get caught up in the illusion," he added, referring to the grove of trees in the distance that was all but calling to the feral by name. "That's a leftover file from Dungeons and Dragons. Don't go there; there are a bunch of trolls and ogres lurking."

"I thought you said this sector was unused."

"Yeah, but there's some old stuff still stored here, and I suspect that it's still plenty potent. Remember, we've only got thirty minutes to find Adam and vamoose." Jesse indicated the clunky bracelet on her arm. "That thing will pull us back, assuming Denise remembers which switch to pull. Adam doesn't have one. Our primary objective is to find Adam and be hanging onto him when our thirty minutes are up. We have one shot at this, Shal," Jesse added. "Once Kenny realizes what we're up to, he'll hide Adam behind so many layers of anti-virus protection that we'll never be able to break him loose. Our only chance is to rescue Adam before Kenny figures out what's happening."

"Let me get this straight." Shalimar looked around at the featureless gray environment. "We're in an unused part of the computer."

"The hard drive, actually, labeled D. Nothing much stored here, that's why it looks gray. Nothing to spice it up."

"Anything I see is actually data. Zeroes and ones and stuff."

"Yup. Although Adam gave up using machine language a few generations ago. Too slow to work with." Jesse pointed to a massive and gleaming black building, far in the distance. "That thing over there? It's too far to tell, but I think that might be part of the mutant database. In this perception, I'll bet we could waltz in and find ourselves in a library or a giant file room."

Shalimar shuddered.

"Hey, come on, Shal. That file room automatically files the documents itself. No leftover filing for the secretaries."

"Great." Shalimar began walking. "Let's find Adam. Which drive did you say Kenny had him stashed in?"

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Emma looked at Brennan with an odd sort of double perception, half in the Overworld and half psychically grounded. There weren't many people that could do this sort of thing, and it required tremendous self-control. But Emma needed to juggle too many things at the moment: both Brennan's physical and mental resources were failing. His breath now whistled in and out, wheezing precious molecules of air into his lungs. Moving as if in a room filled with sluggish warm water, Emma slowly increased the oxygen flow to the man's face, turned up the intravenous fluids, and added another drop or two of morphine to the mix. The bandage at Brennan's waist looked viciously red, and Emma tacked another layer of dressing over it to contain the drainage.

There. She'd done all that she could. Time to return completely to the Overworld to continue to convince Brennan to stay and fight. It was a losing battle; Brennan was exhausted, and Emma could see the dark vultures circling in the psychic distance.

Guys, better hurry.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jesse massed in time to deflect the heavy wooden club that descended toward his head. The knobby piece bounced and socked the Neanderthal in the face. Jesse followed it up with a knock-out punch to the jaw.

Shalimar wasn't watching. She bounced off a boulder that conveniently materialized for her use, and wrenched the other Neanderthal into a pretzel before choking him into submission. Strong, but slow. And damn good at hiding.

"Where did they come from?" she gasped. "Did Kenny send them?"

Jesse shrugged. "Probably not. I seem to recall them from some game or other. The bytes probably got mislaid, and we ran across them."

"This isn't gonna happen often, is it? We've only got twenty minutes left before Denise yanks us out of here. We need to hurry."

"I doubt it. I defragged the hard drives not too long ago. Hey, what's that? Over there." Jesse pointed.

"Let's split up." Shalimar's eyes had gone golden. This might be a computer landscape, but Shalimar wasn't above using whatever advantage her feral nature would give her. Sound was deadened and scent non-existent, but the excellent quality of the video card had translated into superior vision for the feral. She used that sense now to survey the enemy.

Kenny had devised a very user-friendly set up for himself to wait until power was restored to the Sanctuary mainframe, for he had no doubt that it eventually would happen. His new home started with an Oriental rug, moved through a recliner with a wet bar beside it, and ended up with a computer console that was a geek's wet dream. The computer mutant was very comfortable.

Not so his captive: for Adam, Kenny had slapped together a small wire cage with no amenities. Adam could only stand, grasping the bars, and look on as Kenny amused himself exploring their new home. There was no room for anything beyond standing in the coffin-sized prison; Adam was forced into the single position and obviously had been for the last several hours. Periodically the cage would sizzle, and Adam would jump and bang against more bars; Kenny had programmed the cage to deliver random electric shocks to his captive as a way of reminding the older man just who was in control. It was evident that the situation was amusing for the computer mutant, who giggled each time Adam got zapped. Shalimar stifled a growl of fury.

Hand signals went into effect: Mutant X would split up. Jesse would distract Kenny while Shalimar would pull Adam out of his cage. With his defensive capabilities, they knew that Jesse would be able to withstand anything that Kenny could throw at him. All Jesse had to do was to solidify and survive for the next five minutes. As soon as Adam was free, Shalimar could remove their mentor from the vicinity where Kenny could get at him, and when the thirty minutes were up Mutant X would be hauled out of the computer, courtesy of the Denise-operated switch and a couple of very ugly bracelets. Fool-proof.

So why did Shalimar wonder who were the fools?

Jesse circled around to approach from the opposite side, pulling Kenny's line of sight away from his captive. He waited for a moment or two for Shalimar to creep closer to Adam's cage, then acted.

"So this is where the rats hide," he called out, stepping into plain view.

Kenny's head whipped around. "You!" he hissed, jumping out of the comfortable recliner. He staggered a bit, caught off balance. The recliner had been very comfortable, and Jesse's appearance equally unexpected. Non-computer mutants weren't supposed to be able to get inside a computer without the aid of a certain Kenneth Dickerson, mutant extraordinaire. Kenny straightened himself up.

Jesse subdued a smile. "Yeah. Me. In the flesh. Sort of. Little electronic in nature around here, but close enough for government work. Oh, but I forgot. You don't work for the government. Who do you work for, Kenny? Genomex? Not real good employers. The retirement benefits suck big time. And the hours you have to work to get the job done cut your pay to something like minimum wage."

"I work for me," Kenny sneered. "No more working for somebody else. Me! I own my own company."

"Right," Jesse interrupted, "with one employee: you. Not something I'd be proud of, and certainly not doing it like this."

Kenny went on the verbal offensive. "How did you get in here, Kilmartin? You're no computer mutant."

"You think you're the only one around who knows computers? Getting in was a piece of cake," Jesse lied. Gotta keep him turned toward me, so that Shalimar can get Adam out.He could already see Shalimar approaching Adam's cage, saw that Adam was aware that Kenny was being attacked by not one but two members of Mutant X. This was Kenny's home turf, but Mutant X had numbers on their side. Adam stayed quiet, trying not to attract any attention. "Found your stupid computer chip," Jesse continued. "You put that together? Looks like a ten year old kid made it."

"You wish," Kenny replied. "That's high tech wizardry that you can only dream of, Kilmartin. You think you're good at computers? Watch this." Kenny waved a hand in the air.

It was then that Mutant X learned just what it meant to be a computer mutant.

A commando from Havoc Online! dropped in from the non-existent ceiling, brandishing a machine gun. Jesse phased just in time to allow the flurry of bullets to dash through the empty space that he had suddenly become. Realizing that Assault Plan #1 wasn't effective, the commando moved on to Assault Plan #2: hand to hand combat.

Unfortunately for the commando, the game designers had neglected to factor in a molecular mutant for this particular level. The commando went down with a solidly phased blow to the jaw. The electronically created creature vanished, his vanquished form no longer required by the Kenny-computer.

A dragon was next; Jesse didn't have time to identify from which particular game Kenny had dragged it from. The dragon was big, and red, and deadly. But: time to take a page from Kenny's own book. Jesse electronically summoned a sword that he remembered using from The TerribleKingdom, Version Three, grateful that he remembered storing the game on a particular sector on the E drive He particularly liked this sword because, in addition to a sharp edge, the sword would throw flame. And it would shield him from the dragon's own breath of fire—that feature came in handy right now! Jesse yelped, and shot back. The dragon was clearly from a three year old obsolete game, for it simply didn't have the electronic stamina to keep up with cutting edge technology such as Jesse's sword. Jesse smirked, and snuck a triumphant look toward Shalimar and Adam. And you thought Kenny was good with computers. I beat this game three years ago.

Shalimar slipped up behind the cage that Adam was imprisoned in, wincing in sympathy as an electric shock rippled through the metallic bars. Adam couldn't help the jerk of pain when the electrons jumped from the bars to his own flesh. But he steadfastly turned his attention to the feral, determined to ignore the torments that Kenny had designed for him.

"What are you doing here?" Adam hissed, carefully keeping his back to the tiny blonde woman so that Kenny wouldn't realize that she was here. "You'll get yourselves killed!"

"We're rescuing you, Adam. What does it look like?"

"How did you get in here? More importantly, how do you expect to get us all out?" Adam took a quick peek at the chunky bracelet that Shalimar wore. "I hope you're not counting on that piece of tinfoil around your wrist. That can't possibly work."

"It got us in here," Shalimar countered.

"Sheer luck. None of you could have cobbled together something like that in such a short period of time. It's a one in a million shot."

"At this point, it really doesn't matter. We're here." Shalimar yanked on the bars, determined to free her mentor. "Damn. What're these bars made of?"

"Solid, impenetrable electrons," Adam advised her wryly. "Kenny programmed it that way." He glanced over at Jesse who was gamely beating back two black-hooded ninjas and phasing every so often to allow a throwing star or two to pass through his insubstantial form. "Take down Kenny, and maybe you can force him to get us out of this computer. Then we won't have to rely on your faux jewelry." Adam looked around ruefully. "Never realized that the insides of a computer could be so…unique."

Shalimar glanced at her watch. "No time, Adam. We only have four minutes until Denise throws the switch that pulls us back out of the computer. I have to have you out by then."

"Denise?" Adam brightened. "You found her? Where was she?"

"With Jesse." Shalimar yanked on the bars, hissing in frustration. Was there no way to get the man out to safety? She looked around for a crowbar, something, anything. What had Jesse and Adam stored on this computer, and how did Kenny and Jesse access it? Shalimar needed to hurry. In four—now three and a half—minutes Denise would pull them out of Sanctuary's computers. If Shalimar didn't have Adam free by then, this whole mission would be in ruins. "Jesse found her. Genomex was after her."

"Of course. Jesse found her, without computer technology, without feral sense, without even a psionic search to locate her. Why didn't I think of that? It's completely illogical, so of course it had to be the correct answer."

"Shut up and help," Shalimar growled, knowing that even though Adam was tremendously strong for a normal human, his strength would not be enough to open these bars.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?"

"Jesse. Shalimar, go get him!"

The molecular was in trouble. Kenny had switched strategies: instead of combatants, he used guerilla tactics. A swarm of bees was now attacking Jesse from all sides, going for his eyes, his nose, anything they could get hold of. An acrid scent filled the air, and Shalimar identified the substance: acid of some sort. Jesse phased solid to try to protect himself, but it wasn't working. The acid that the bee-creatures sprayed was eating through his hardened form like—well, like acid etching glass. Much more, and the acid would eat its way through his flesh into vital organs. Jesse cried out, protecting his eyes with his hands.

"Water, Shalimar," Adam commanded. He strained at the bars, ignoring the shock that went through them and him, desperate to get out and help the molecular. "Spray him with water! That will disperse the bees and wash away the acid!"

"Like, where do I get water?" Shalimar grumbled, terrified for her team mate. Jesse was the computer whiz; how had he conjured up what he'd conjured up? Where was she supposed to get water inside a miracle of whirring parts?

Too late: Kenny noticed that his captive had company. He gloated; there was no other word for it. Kenny was delighted.

"Shalimar!" he exclaimed. "And here I thought that it was only Jesse, come to rescue the boss man."

"You're about to be toast," Shalimar promised, darting around the cage to stand in front of it and face Kenny. No time for computer shenanigans; Shalimar relied on Shalimar.

"Get real," Kenny advised. "In here, I dine on caviar and hundred year old wine and, when I get bored, I send Mario and Luigi for pizza with all the toppings. You have no idea how well I can control the computer landscape, Shalimar."

"I don't need to. I'm going to show you what it means to mess with Mutant X."

"You wish," Kenny told her. He waved his arms to the drives.

It wasn't fair. Kenny had all the advantages. What was it that the old science fiction master Robert Heinlein had said? Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Kenny proved it by causing the bars of Adam's cage to reach out and grab the feral, dragging her into their embrace and, incidentally, into Adam's. There was barely enough room for the two of them to stand hugging each other close. It wasn't magic, but it sure acted like it.

"Hey!" Shalimar squawked. Adam put his arms around her to keep her from falling over as the bars pushed the pair closer together. Her hair brushed against his lips.

Kenny walked over; he hadn't finished gloating. Seeing the pair in a parody of a romantic embrace had its own delights. "I can keep this up forever," he told them. He caused the bars to squeeze them together an inch closer, and Adam grunted. "Eventually I'll find a way onto the 'net, and I'll take all three of you with me. For sale to the highest bidder: got any thoughts as to who that might be? Genomex? Small potatoes. I think there are some people who can top those offers." He grinned. "I'll make sure that it's a hefty sum. Wouldn't want to insult you, either one. You might get angry at me…."

Shalimar didn't understand it; Kenny's voice started getting softer and more distant. The electronic world that he had built started to fade and turn gray…

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emma re-entered the Psychic Overworld, intent on finding Brennan once again. He was failing; that was certain. The slash in his side had opened once again, and the sluggish flow of blood had become more pronounced. Every wheeze of breath carried pain on it until Emma could stand it no longer and gave him more morphine than she thought she should. It seemed to help; the elemental sank into a quiet lethargy, his breathing almost non-existent.

The physical cared for as best she could, Emma turned her attention back to the mind. It was more difficult to find him this time, and had Emma not laid physical hands upon her teammate, she doubted that she would have been able to find him. She followed the tenuous thread that led to his innermost being, finding him sprawled on the 'floor' of the room that his mind had taken him to. Even here Brennan was barely conscious. Emma took his head into her lap, pouring all of her not inconsiderable energy into him to shore up his failing life force.

Hurry, guys. I don't know how much longer I can keep him here.

Beside her, Brennan couldn't help the moan that escaped through his teeth. Emma tightened her grip.

Emma…

Emma desperately redoubled her efforts.