Michael flew through the air, Kaine’s grip still tight on his arm, guiding him closer and closer to the wall. Gradually, a section oddly different from the rest of the Hive became visible. A speck of green grew as they approached and turned into a square about twenty feet across. Lights flashed and streaked across its surface, which bubbled and rippled like a pot of boiling water. Misty smoke whirled in jetties. All of it only added to the otherworldly feel of the place.

Kaine pulled them to a stop right in front of the strange scene. Michael looked deeper into the bubbling haze and saw that what he’d thought were lights were actually symbols of code, breaking apart and forming back together. It looked like nonsense.

“What is this?” he asked. “Some kind of living NetScreen?”

Kaine laughed. “That’s almost exactly what it is. It’ll take you some time to get used to it, but once you start coding within the Code Pool, you’ll never want to go back to the old ways.”

“The Code Pool,” Michael said absently, studying the mysterious goop in wonder. How was it possible he’d never heard of this before?

Kaine answered as if he’d read his mind. “Only a few people can even see this, much less know what it is. But I’m afraid we don’t have much time for me to explain things at the moment—they’ll be here any second.”

Michael tore his eyes away from the mesmerizing dance of the Pool. “Wait…what? What am I supposed to do? Who’s ‘they’?”

“My former friends, the rogues,” Kaine replied easily, as if these Tangents didn’t want both of them dead. “As well as a few current friends. I suspect it’s going to get ugly, but I think we’ll be okay. As long as you can get your part done.”

“What part?” Michael was getting more and more nervous.

“I’ll message you what you need to know. You’ll have two jobs: finding their storage unit and severing the connection. But you have to follow the procedure I send you so that the human minds they stole are Doctrined back into their bodies, processed through the Hallowed Ravine. I know it sounds a little complicated, but I think you can handle it.”

Michael stared at Kaine, wondering how they’d gotten to this. This Tangent had once been his mortal enemy, and now they were talking like a couple of IT workers at the company picnic.

Seeds of panic started sprouting inside Michael. “I’m not sure….” He didn’t know what to ask. And then Michael spotted figures in the distance, growing as they approached. Gradually, he made out people dressed as medieval warriors, trolls, and enormous panthers and other beasts standing on hind legs. There were samurai and paratroopers and armored space cadets from the future. It looked like a VirtGame gone supernova.