The spiral road is steeper than it looked from a distance and sweat is pouring off me by the time I reach the gates. Sam is already halfway up and acrobatically vaulting over as I start climbing.

I have a second to remember, as I climb, that I used to sneak into this place when I was a kid. Me and my friends, we would knock on rich people’s doors and run away. That was a million years ago. We drop down into the gated neighborhood and run toward the first house we come to that isn’t a burned-out shell. The reflecting pools either side of the walkway that leads to the front door are full of ash, and the water has turned black. We’re in luck, as one of the long windows at the side of the front door is broken. Sam knocks out the remaining shards and we step inside.

The size of the place is absurd; the entrance hall alone is bigger than the apartment I grew up in. It has an enormous water feature in the center with a slab of granite at an artistic angle protruding from a mosaic pool. The water that sits stagnant in this pool is not black, but red.

“Come on,” Sam says, and we move into the house.

“Do you know how to get a SilverWave processor thing out of a SoCom unit or a LucidVision?” I ask.

“No,” Sam whispers back. “Do you?”

“No.”

“Then I guess we take the whole thing back, like Igby suggested.”

“Right,” I agree. “I’ll go upstairs and try to get a LucidVision headset, you try to find a SoCom?”

“All right,” Sam says.

I change direction and head for the stairs while Sam moves deeper into the house.

It doesn’t take me long to find a bedroom and, above the headboard, a LucidVision headset. I had always wanted one of these growing up. The Barker Projectors that cast holographic advertisements made them look so cool. Choose your dream! Be the hero! Fly through the air! Do whatever you want! LucidVision: Make it happen!

I look at the metal arm that holds the headset and follow it to the wall, where it’s bolted firmly in place. I shrug and remind myself that the thing doesn’t have to be in perfect working order, that I just need to get it back to Igby. I grab the arm and pull as hard as I can; it holds firm, but I hear a crunching sound from inside the wall. I pull again and feel the arm give a little. One more hard tug and it comes free, wires trailing in the brick dust. It takes seconds for me to pull the wires free from the casing, and I’m about to call down to Sam to let her know that we don’t need the SoCom unit when I hear a scream.