Despite the term safety, safety glass still stings when shards of it hit you. I wished I had my duster to protect me, but it was in a crate labeled with my name and new inmate number. Before the last bits had rained down on the floor, a familiar voice boo…

I stared at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep. The bench/cot…thing I was lying on was built of brushed steel and the padding was torn up. The holding cell wasn't much better—the front wall was constructed entirely out of reinforced glass, and the sterile, off…

You don't run from police, not even drones. They also do a comprehensive body scan, so I had no choice but to stash the chip with Acrylic's memory. Faking tying my shoe, I furiously dug a little hole with the key and buried both in the sandy soil beside t…

City Park East Recycle Bin 256 was like most of the other recycle bins: Green, rusted, and operated by a control panel set into a lockbox on the side of the device. It ran on a principle similar to a vacuum dumpster, except that it preserved its contents …

The key was engraved with MEMENTO.

"Undelete. What could he mean by that?" I asked the room in general. Hard Drive, looking depressed, did not answer. He was waiting for confirmation that Scroll and Locke were in fact compromised in our last mission. He'd…

"What does 'MEMENTO Undelete 256 City Park East' mean?" I asked Acrylic, holding the paper in front of him.

He rocked in his chair. My heart broke to see him tied to it, but we couldn't risk him panicking or breaking free before we restored his memory. "…

The alley wasn't completely dark behind the Chinese Restaurant where a brick wall faced me. Rudy.

I began the translation program.

"Hello, Rudy."

"Bonsoir, Elsha"

"Please let me in. S'il vous plaît laissez-moi entrer."

"Mot de passe?"

"I don't have a pa…

I hadn't talked to Fireboy in forever, but he owed me a favor. He still understood my signal—and still kept his old jogging routine. The false rock I planted the USB drive in was moved back, indicating he was on board. So now I stood outside the oxygen ba…

"Fetus said we could reboot his memories," I said sadly staring off in the direction of her body.

"If we can find his backups!" C:\ declared.

"I've never been to Acrylic's hideout," Hard Drive confessed.

"I have." I said quietly.

"Good! Start there!" C:\ …

"I am glad to see that you survived!" C:\ said, hugging me warmly.

"Who's this nut?" Acrylic asked, an annoyed edge to his voice.

I ignored him for now. "We lost one."

C:\'s brow furrowed. "Fetus?"

I nodded.

"We tried, boss," noted Hard Drive, quietl…

Hard Drive jumped in the backseat and positioned Acrylic in a wrap hold. "Okay, wake him."

I kicked him in the heel again and after a whine and a moan, his eyes fluttered open and he began to squirm.

"Gerroff me!"

"Acrylic. Look at me!" I got right in his…

I could only watch as Hard Drive jury-rigged the defibrillator to serve as a power source. The old red tool chest in the garage was full of both automotive tools and computer parts—cables, chips, drives, discs. He grabbed a few cables and opened up anothe…

Hard Drive's sobs racked his body as he buried his head in his arms beside the still, milky white form of Fetus on the table.

I fumbled with the small cylinders I'd removed from her body without even pausing to consider how they were a part of her. I kne…

"I can't get back to the tunnels. We have to find a place to crash." Hard Drive said when the top sealed over the convertible. He made a few hard turns, zig zagging through town to try and lose the last drone. It crashed into the side of a building with a…