Helga nodded. “Now you see why we have to do something. Honestly, I’m worried that we’re too late. As you can see, it’s gotten out of control. To stop this, we’re going to need someone with a lot of power on our side. And like I said before, the Hive is the key. The Hive, and the Mortality Doctrine program itself.”

“So we need the VNS,” Bryson said, “even though we can’t trust Weber.”

“No, not the VNS,” Michael said. “No way. Before we try finding our way back to the Hallowed Ravine, we need to talk to actual world leaders—at least the ones who haven’t been taken over. Based on the news, there are still a lot of those left. Presidents, prime ministers…anyone but Agent Weber and the VNS.”

“But what is some president going to give us?” Sarah asked. “An army? A speech? What we need is a bunch of nerds, not presidents.”

Michael was nodding. “Right. And the nerdiest nerds of Nerdville usually end up working for the government. The ones that the VNS doesn’t steal, anyway.”

“Isn’t the VNS part of the government?” Bryson asked.

“No,” Helga responded. She was pacing around the others, hands clasped behind her back. “They’re a worldwide organization, funded by governments, but autonomous, separate. They’re beholden to nobody. And Michael’s right. We need three things from the government: manpower, the best technology money can buy, and protection. That’s what we need.”

“We also need to save Gabby,” Michael said. The comment seemed to come out of nowhere, but he’d been thinking about it for a long time. He addressed the doubtful looks from his friends. “I’m serious. We pulled her into this, and then she was hurt by that cop. If it even was a cop. We need to find her and make sure she’s okay. Maybe she can even help us. If she wants to.”

Bryson and Sarah nodded in agreement just as something strange happened beneath their feet. The countless geometric shapes began to coalesce, spinning and flipping and twirling until they merged, their outlines getting brighter and brighter. Michael could barely look at the shape as it formed a massive square below the glass, at least fifty feet wide, surrounded by darkness.

“Helga?” Michael prompted. “I thought the history lesson was over.”

“It is,” she said. “I’m not making this happen.”

Michael glanced at her and saw her staring down at the glass, as confused as he felt.

“What’s going on, then?” he asked.

She could only shrug.

“Maybe we should go ahead and Lift our butts out of here,” Bryson suggested.