Michael opened up the interface to the Coffin, quickly scanned the information, memorized it. The Sleep was one screwed-up place, but he thought he could find her with the information provided. And lucky for him, three Coffins nearby had just been vacated. How fitting that his and Weber’s real bodies would be lying so close together as they settled this in the place where she’d created him.

“I’m coming for you, Weber,” he said to her as he input the command to close up her Coffin. He stared at her peaceful, unconscious face. “I’m coming for you right now.”

CHAPTER 19

DISSOLVING PODS

1

Once in the Sleep, Michael had to fight the code a bit. He was confident in the coordinates he’d stolen from Weber’s Coffin, but the deteriorating VirtNet didn’t want to cooperate. He swam through clouds of purple refuse and thick black material that was the basest programming he’d ever seen. He coded a corridor through it all, visualizing his way to the place Weber had gone, and was able to create a ground to stand on. As he ran down it, things suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Buy one, get one free!” a man barked at him, holding up a VirtBox of Sims that wouldn’t make too many moms of the world happy. Michael ran right through him—the man was like a ghost. “Buy none, get none, you jerk!” the salesman yelled at him from behind.

A lady dressed like an old-fashioned housewife popped up, selling cookie dough. She was blurred out by a series of fully immersive scenes from the latest 4D films, making him feel like one of the characters for a moment. He shook it off; something was now trying to mess with his mind. A kid appeared, begging for money. He was straight out of a Dickens book. Michael blasted through him, but others kept coming, selling everything from massages to antiques. The VirtNet was so damaged, ads and spam were sinking in from everywhere. It was an utter cesspool, and he had to tunnel his way through it.

The corridor he’d built stretched out before him as he ran. He coded and coded, focused on Weber’s location, pushing everything else outside the boundaries of his programmed pathway. Far ahead, based on all the input swirling around his mind, he created a door. A simple wooden door with a round brass knob. Michael leaped into the air, threw his arms forward, and flew, obliterating any other spammage that got in his way.