“So, now what?” Parker asked. “What did you say about starting a new life? About getting away from here?”

“Just me and you. We’re going to start fresh. Just the two of us.”

For a long minute, Parker said nothing, and he looked as if he were fighting off tears.

“Hey,” Jeremiah said, “I know you like this game Infinite Frontiers. I’ve been playing it a bit myself, you know. It’s pretty cool. I want you to see my guy. He’s totally badass.”

With the remote, Jeremiah switched from the clone monitor to the new gaming console and the scene on the wall filled with the image of a simulated battlefield. As soon as Clyde materialized on the screen, larger than life, Jeremiah looked at his son, who was staring at the avatar with a look of complete bewilderment.

“You’re Clyde?” he asked. “That was you?”

Jeremiah nodded.

“I kept looking for you. You were never online again.”

“It was just that one time. It was sort of a fluke,” he said. “But yeah, that was me.”

“And you beat me,” Parker said. Some of the anger seemed to fade from the boy’s eyes.

“Only when you tripped over that land mine. I’m not anywhere near your level. Not yet, anyway.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Stupid move.”

Jeremiah smiled and bumped Parker’s shoulder with his own. “I’d have nailed you, anyway,” he said. “You want a rematch?”

Each of them put on their headgear and took a controller. Parker glanced at his father with some wariness and then back at the wall. For the next forty minutes the room vibrated with simulated bomb blasts and laser fire and it was only then, immersed in his own element, that Parker finally began to relax. More than anything Jeremiah had shown him or said, it seemed like it was playing the game that finally convinced him of the impossible. Jeremiah decided to let him win. As Parker wiped out Jeremiah’s last stronghold with a bright blue blast of plasma fire, Parker turned to his father and looked at him with an expression Jeremiah couldn’t read. But there was an element of trust in there, and something bordering on respect.

“This is insane,” Parker said finally. “I can’t believe you play Infinite Frontiers. And you’re good at it. You sure you’re not the clone?”

Charles Scott came into the room just as they turned off the game. He nodded to Jeremiah and held out a hand to Parker.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, young man. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Parker shook his hand with some uncertainty and then looked back at Jeremiah.

“It’s time for the Meld,” Scott said, and Parker flashed a look of shocked concern at both men.

“It’s fine,” Jeremiah told him, and then turned to Scott. “I haven’t told him about this part yet. You came in before I had a chance.”

“Nothing to worry about, son,” Scott said. “Meld isn’t illegal when it’s used under clinical circumstances. It’s medicine, and I’m afraid it is necessary.”