Levi and Petra struggled in their new relationship. Peter Ral was against it, unexpectedly. He argued that it was desperate and that they did not know what love was. Even in the recurrence, the adult was against their union. But "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds," Shakespeare's 116th Sonnet told the couple. Therefore, the two strove to stay together, and succeeded in secret.

Their friends also opposed their union, though on seemingly fake grounds. That only meant that the couple avoided their friends or pretended badly not to be in love.

Nobody else could have conceivably known, therefore the two were ignored by teachers and other ignorant adults around them. Yet, such was life and the couple found happiness in each other and clung to that while pretending to have called the relationship off. They stole kisses in secret and shot smiles in public, but never did they talk of dinners or other romantic joys they both desired.

Rod Reiss was a jaded man. He pretended to be busy by pretending to be busy, and he always lacked enough time.

Therefore, like every overly rich person, he desired to live forever. He spent money on a science team and waited 34 years of his life to see the fruits of their labour. Luckily, he lived for that much time, though he had always feared not lasting the required research decades.

Now, oddly, so close to the culmination, was a glitch. There was a minor bug – the subjects had fallen in love – but that was no hindrance. The real issue came to his desk. It was an innocent question at the face of it, but deeper down, it was ominous.

Dear Mr. Reiss,

Interested in her wonderful research, we were wondering where we could find Dr Mary Ral. We are aware that she may not be with you currently, but know from documentation (copies of which you will find attached) that she had previously worked for you.

Is she still with your research group? Where may we find her? May we take up some of her time?

Thank you,

Dream-connaissance Research Group, New London.

The documents attached were fully official. There were tax forms and other employment certificates that were undeniable and difficult to forge.

Reiss immediately asked a secretary to research this "Dream-connaissance" group. He was too busy pretending to be occupied.

The fact was that she was dead. That was why, seventeen years ago, the paper trail ended. There were no certificates of her demise, but she was dead and therefore, her time could not be taken up.

The lack of documentation did open up a new possibility – the group could pretend to have fired her. Then they would not be responsible for her (non-existent) whereabouts. It was that they settled on once the secretary revealed that the "Dream-connaissance" group was legitimate.

"You were right." Erwin said, reading this reply on his visor.

"They said that she was fired, right?" The living Dr Ral asked.

"And they faked documents."

"Just as I thought."

"How will we get your daughter?"

"I would like to speak with Reiss. I'm sure he'll recognize me."

"Isn't that bad?"

"I'll assume a fake identity and scare him."

"How would that help your daughter?"

"I doubt it would, but we'll need to test the waters."

Erwin nodded, reminded of the genius of his old employer. "And then we can try to bring them down."

"Eventually. Doing it through the law would be difficult, if not impossible."

"Of course. They have protections."

"And much more money."

"We could rescue your daughter in another way."

"She's been kidnapped once, I'm not letting that happen again."

"What do we do then?"

"Go through with the meeting. I'd love to see Reiss seeing a ghost."

"Same."

"You'll also need a mask."

"That's not difficult."

Reiss had only continued the research to find a product to sell, to be able to fund other research. It was an attempt to live forever, but despite the treatment, the patients aged as usual. Thus, reading a meeting request from another research firm, he was happy and after verifying its legitimacy, he invited the two founders to a dinner in his penthouse.

The arrangements were made by his staff – he was too busy. He would speak, because he owed the group another chance at his longevity.

The penthouse was precisely as anybody would imagine the modern penthouse to be – it was above the clouds at 400 feet in the air and had a view of a seemingly short city around it, where buildings were the parts that poked above the clouds. The room was minimalist and surrounded by glass everywhere – including the elevator that was required. The floor was marbled as a nod to the older times. The wooden table was empty as Ral and Erwin entered. They met Reiss who indicated the other two wood and metal stool-like chairs that the time considered fashionable.

"Hello, Wren brothers, and welcome."

"Good evening Mr Reiss. We would be honoured if you called me Peter and my younger brother here Erwin." Ral said.

"Of course, feel free to call me Rod."

"Thank you very much. As you know, we came on business and hope that you would allow us to help you with research." Erwin added.

"And as you know, I would love this."

"Sure. We would like the details of the research, of course." Ral said.

"Absolutely." Reiss sent both of them the file. "In summary, the idea is to share dreams."

"That sounds amazing. What would we be researching?" Erwin said, already knowing this much.

"More on the world design and those kind of opportunities."

"You have successful dream designing?" Ral asked, surprised because his knowledge was largely obsolete.

"So far. We need more definitive testing."

"Of course." Erwin said.

"Pardon me for asking, but would we be required to find volunteers?" Ral queried.

"Not to worry, we'll provide." There was a hidden implication in Reiss' statement.

"Thank you." Erwin replied, asking in addition: "how much would this be?"

"Depends on what you offer." Reiss replied.

After this, the false business deal continued as Ral and Erwin pretended to be the Wren brothers. The conversation covered all of the latest dream technology and other updates Ral missed out on due to his captivity.

The dinner ended in a quick, though expensive salad. It was customary to serve a salad for the first meeting because it was neutral and there were ways to make it cost enough for bragging rights.

Ral and Erwin left satisfied that it would be difficult to rescue Petra. They knew that Petra would be the "volunteer" Reiss was willing to offer. She was literally a slave and completely forgotten by the system.

Reiss would have to stop, at the minimum. The best conclusion would be his death. "So, now what?" Erwin said as the two took a tube train back to their hotel.

"We have to sneak in to get Petra. I hate this. I hope she'll understand."

"Remember when we used to take this train from work?" Erwin asked after a pause.

"Was it this one?"

"The same line."

"Back when I had a family to return to."

"In a way, you're returning to them."

"You always have to do your best, you know. This is the best I can do for Petra."

"I always wish I had a family."

"Your fault, you know."

"It is what it is."

"Thank you for this."

"I helped him get here, now I destroy him."

"Good."

The two exited at a station and entered their hotel. They were soon in their room and prepared for the night.

Reiss had a sense of Déjà vu. The two he had just served felt infinitely familiar, yet he could not place them. If they were scientists, they would have been working for him. He searched his files, sure that all the scientists who left him were dead.

He scoured his files. Peter Ral and Erwin Smith. They did not even bother to change their first names. He looked both their names up. Erwin was with the Dream-connaisance and Ral was supposedly in an insane asylum.

He searched more deeply. The two had worked together and Ral's daughter was a subject. Furthermore, Erwin had had Ral transferred from the asylum on the grounds of schizophrenia research.

He now had enemies. Suddenly, he was a busier man. Despite his full schedule, he would have to scheme against two of his old employees. He would have to craft a plan and execute it.

As a first attempt, he tried to have the two men killed. They could not be found within the city.

Attempt two: he had both their houses searched. The mission was set and from the New London office, a nondescript and ominous black hover-van floated out. Conveniently, he found that they shared a roof.

He did not sleep that night as that mission continued. In parallel, he had the two subjects awoken. The plan was simple: he would mobilize the daughter against the father.

The adult was overjoyed. The day of his independence was moved six weeks ahead. Delicately, he opened a room door. A few minutes later, he wheeled out a gurney and moved it into the other room.

Levi and Petra woke up to the electrodes once more, but this time they saw each other.

"Good morning you two, and welcome to the real world." The jovial adult said.

(... that escalated quickly.)