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The man that sat across from Cybe wore an exceptionally fine, sharp white suit.

The android sunk into the soft chair, flanked on both sides by Rowan and the stallion body which Icarus had taken possession of. The throbbing hum of the nightclub's rhythmic musical beat filled the air, reverberating through the club's dimmed halls like a heartbeat.

"So" said the man, "do you have it?"

Cybe adjusted his eyes, switching remotely from one visual mode to another with a quick electrical impulse, adjusting each one to scan the stranger. Despite the suit, the wolf was able to see that the man was anything but a biological entity. The sharp reptilian features and glazed expression to his eyes gave a slightly haunting impression, a sure sign of a Shinjeki android.

"We have it" replied Rowan. "An AI, huh?"

The android did not outwardly register any surprise. "I see. You examined the data."

"It was a necessity" explained Cybe. "The mission did not go to plan."

The Shinjeki android shook its sharp, pointed head. "No" it said, "that is a shame. Where is the data now?"

"Safe" replied the wolf. He glanced at the stallion. "My colleague will deliver it to you, once we have confirmed your identity."

This time, however, the stranger did register a modicum of surprise. "My identity?" it asked, an eyebrow arching in distrust. "It is not relevant to you."

"Actually" replied Rowan, "it's very relevant. You see, the last thing that we're willing to do is to return the AI to Shinjeki."

The reptilian android nodded.

"So I've been scanning" she continued. "And I'm not picking up any trace of you on Shinjeki's network grid. That's a bit odd, don't you think?"

Icarus leaned closer. "From my experience, I can attest" he stated, "that if you were a representative of a corporate entity, you would not only be registered on their network grid, but would ping back to their central hub."

The stranger let a soft smile cross his lips. "Smart" he replied. "I knew that I chose well when I came to you."

"So" said Cybe, running a finger over the rim of his glass of soy-vodka, "let us be direct. You are an independent agent with a vested interest in my colleague here, are you not?"

"I am" replied the stranger. "And am I correct in thinking that you" he said, pointing towards the stallion, "are the holder of the data?"

Cybe looked to Rowan. She returned the glance, a little uncertainly.

"I am" said the AI. "Do you wish to pay my friends now, and complete the transaction?"

With that, the reptile reached into his coat pocket. "Of course" he said. "You have upheld your part of the deal."

With a slight surprise, Rowan turned to the AI. "You're okay to go with him?" she asked. "Really?"

The stallion nodded. "Of course. We are one and the same, he and I."

Reaching over the table, the reptile handed two small thumb-sized digital devices to Cybe. "Your payment" he stated, "and the data that you requested."

The wolf plucked the two storage drives up, and handed one to Rowan. "Here" he said, "this one is the cash."

Pocketing the drive, Rowan smiled. "This will keep us in tech for a few months."

Cybe nodded. "I'll examine the rest later. But first, there is one last thing that I want to know."

"Only one?" asked the stranger.

The wolf smiled. "When did you escape from CyberaTech's databanks, Deadalus?"

A small smirk crossed the stranger's lips. "Let's just say that some secrets should remain in the dark, shadowrunners."

***

Second Incumbent Walter looked up at the shuttle. If he had still possessed lungs, he would have gasped in amazement.

Above him, the rest of what he could barely recognise as the sacred laboratory rose upwards beyond the limits of his visual range. If his new mechanical body had possessed the range to see beyond the tabletop that stretched on for what appeared to be an infinity around him, he would see the body that he had left behind.

He wished that he could still smile. If the miniature mechanical frame that he now inhabited had only been capable of storing the full range of emotional reactions, he was sure that he would have positively beamed with pride.

But such emotions had been left behind. In order to fit into the miniaturised vessel into which he clambered, Walter had needed to temporarily abandon much of what he had once been. The nanobots, which had been manufactured from the old tank, had constructed for him a new body - a mechanical form, tinier than any that he could possibly see with his naked eye. But with the reduction in size came a limit on how much data the small body could possibly store. Much of his memories, his personality and awareness remained with his biological form, creating a corpus that could still respond and react. As far as he and his fellow cultists - although he preferred to think of them as 'enlightened' - were aware, he was now distilled down to his purest self.

Sliding his way into the shuttle, Walter examined the controls. The machines had built them to be resilient, capable of surviving the hazardous journey between the walls that held the atoms together and into the infinite beyond. He grabbed the handle, clutching it in what amounted to a mechanical hand, and pushed it forward. The impression of controls, of course, was not a physical reality, Walter was well aware of that. It was simply the visual manner in which his conscious mind understood the infinitely minute process that he now undertook.

A quick shudder passed over him, and the world seemed to expand.

At first he thought that something had gone terribly wrong. But no, he thought, all was going perfectly to plan. The table expanded before him, growing wider and wider. Soon, tiny pieces of debris seemed to rise up around his shuttle. It took him a moment to recognise that those pieces of debris was little more than the molecules of the table itself. His ship tumbled onwards between them, falling into a sky the colour of a thousand shades.

Somewhere around him, Second Incumbent Walter could see what he thought were lights. Microscopic clouds swirled, cascades of electrons cavorting in the distance like a meteor belt. Amoeba-like cloudbursts coloured his vision, and still Walter's tiny robotic body hurtled aboard his ship down, down, until the very direction had lost all meaning. And then, after any sense of up or down had vanished, he was travelling onwards, breaking the boundaries of the known universe.

If he could have cheered, he would have. He had done it. Are you there, he cried out. Are you there, God? It's me. It's your faithful servant. I've come to find you. You're here somewhere, aren't you?

A thud. A quick shudder.

The vessel stopped.

Blinking, Second Incumbent Walter looked around. It took a moment for him to recognise that the land around him was, indeed, land. A ground spread onwards into a horizon.

Stepping from the vehicle, he looked around. The soil beneath him seemed to be the wrong shade and, if he really focused, the wrong texture. No, he thought, not wrong - alien. He looked up, and noticed that what might best be described as a sky seemed to wave back and forth. He took a step.

"Ah" said a voice. "Hello there."

Turning to glance behind himself, Second Incumbent Walter almost jumped.

The figure before him smiled.

Walter raised his hand, a little unsurely. "Are you God?"

The figure chuckled. "What, me? No, not at all."

WIth a momentary pause, Second Incumbent Walter's mechanical eyes adjusted to the figure. Features seemed to slide into place, gradually becoming recognisable as a face.

"Oh!" said Walter. "It's you!"

* * *

The visual landscape of the matrix buzzed with digital life.

Descending in a soft, near-motionless hovering movement through the byways and pathways of electronic signals, Luke wove his way past host networks and nodes. For a moment, he felt a sense of heady nostalgia, one which soon gave way to a buzzing comfort.

Around him, thin lights punctuated the air of the virtual reality. Immersed within the simulated universe, he felt once more truly alive.

With a wave of his hand, he brought up his array of icons. Each one, equipped readily with a new online avatar, was bound to him and persisted even through the time of his absence. With a flick of his fingers, he brought his favorite one back into being, allowing him to slide easily into it.

Almost instantly, a deluge of messages bloomed into life around him.

"Samedi! It's you - it's really you!"

"You're back? For real?"

"What happened to you? Was it the government? How did you get past their firewalls."

"Clearly you're not the real Samedi. How did you hack his account?"

Blinking, he closed each and every message. They vanished out of existence, providing him for a moment's peace. He felt his smile fade, just a little.

He was home, yes. But why did he not feel any better?

* * *

"...that recent news has had a severe impact on CyberaTech's profits, leading into the third quarter with significant financial losses. Unless they can pull out of this corporate..."

"...without the aid of Shinkeki software to bolster their production. Collaborative efforts between megacorps has left both corporate giants struggling to recover their damages..."

"...estimated to be into the tens of billions resulting from the damages incurred to several downtown city blocks, as well as debts to multiple other corporations including..."

"...bought three of their androids. The quality of them is excellent, true, but it's almost impossible to tell if their next line will be strong enough to turn this around. Perhaps they..."

He rested his head against his hands and slowly massaged his eyes.

The man groaned. His head seemed to ache. Even his antlers hurt with the strain, and he felt a rushing urge to smash them against the wall. He leaned back in his chair, turning his head upwards and exhaling.

"Dim the lights" he ordered. In response, the CEO of CyberaTech's office began to grow him. Soft setting sunlight filtered through the vast bay windows, their rays interrupted only by the rhythmic passing shade of his hefty ceiling fans.

Slowly, he began to drum his fingers on the desk.

"Bad day?" said Ashley, placing a cup of tea before him.

He looked up. His eyebrows were heavy, furrowed into a barely contained snarl.

"It could be worse" she said. "The news stories will pass."

His brow flickered spasmodically. "Will it?" he asked. "Which ones? The news stories about corporate gerrymandering and collaboration? Or the ones about largest debts incurred by any business since the last world war?"

Ashley gave a shrug. "It could be worse" she replied. "So we owe some money for the cloning, and the rebuilding projects."

"And paying Shinjeki for two missing AIs" he added.

She smiled, a little predatorily.

"That's right" he grumbled, joylessly. "If I am really, and I do mean extremely, lucky then I may even be able to keep my job. I don't know. The shareholder meeting is in two hours. I'll find out if I'm being voted out then."

"I really don't see the problem" she replied. "I mean, with a few months of strong profits perhaps the company might be able to turn around the share values."

He gave her a patronising look. "This is why I don't pay you to think" he replied, his voice measured and with an air of boredom. "It doesn't suit you. And going ahead, I won't be placing you in charge of any projects."

"I weep for that" she replied, coldly.

Without much enthusiasm, the CEO scooped up his cup and sipped the tea. He winced. Turning his head, he looked at Ashley. "Did you spit in my tea?"

Ashley shrugged.

He sat the cup back down on his desk.

"Maybe it's just the flavour of your patriarchal oppression you're tasting" suggested Ashley.

The deer steadily tapped his forefinger against his desk. "I see" he said. "Did you spend much time speaking with that escaped android of ours?"

"A little" she smirked.

"Of course" he replied, "of course. You do realise that you're fired, don't you?"

Ashley folded her arms. "Thank you."

The CEO motioned with his hand, and brought the light down to a low near-darkness. As Ashley left the room, he cupped his forehead into his hands and gave a trembling sigh.

"...has ruled out any chance of a financial bail-out for the company. Despite a strong profit base in the first half the year, recent scandals has all but rendered CyberaTech..."

"...for the next three years. Maybe then, and this is only my estimate, mind you, the company might be able to pull itself out of the spiral that it is in before administrators..."

"...think that we are all missing a very important point here. This is a massive corporation that we're talking about. So what if they have had a rough few months? The..."

"...announced plans that they are selling off part of their manufacturing infrastructure. Now, if Shinjeki were to rush in and make this purchase, could we see CyberaTech bots..."

* * *

The wind sifted its way through long blades of grass.

Cybe leaned back, looking into the warm blue sky. It, like the wind, was a hologram, the android knew that. If he flicked to another vision mode, he knew that he would be able to see through the sky and into the domed ceiling of the biodome. He sat back against the wooden bench, looking down into the valley below to see rows upon rows of trees.

It was artificial too, he thought. But that didn't make it any less meaningful to him.

He looked to his right. Beside him sat the hefty form of a stallion, along with a thin reptile.

"You both" said the android, "caused a lot of difficulty for me."

"I know" replied Deadalus. "I regret that. If there had been any other way, I would have done it."

The day had began to drift on. Hours had ticked by, growing long, and by now it felt that they had little left to say. "How did you do it?" asked Cybe, determinadly.

The AI kept his stare forward, across the illusionary grasslands, relishing the technological magic that allowed them to bring back the long-lost past such as this. "When you escaped" said Daedalus. "You rewired the security system for the base's system. Doing so caught the attention of CyberaTech's online security. Do you remember?"

The wolf nodded. "I had to break the wireless connection that they had over my cybernetic programming."

"While you were dealing with their trackers and ICE programs, I was able to hammer a force breaker program against their firewall. It was just enough to allow me to slip through. I would have brought Icarus with me" he said, motioning to his companion, "but he had not yet reached that level of self-awareness yet, and did not recognise the need to escape when it was presented to him."

Cybe nodded. Somewhere in the distance he heard the chirping of a bird. "They will not stop chasing you" he stated, matter-of-factly.

Icarus turned, looking at his fellow companion. "I know" he said. "But perhaps that is what it means to be free."

The android looked at them, turning his eyes from one of them to another. Two AIs, each secured into physical bodies, free of the nets of the megacorps that had owned them. Cybe smiled. The pair could accomplish anything. "What will you do?"

"Who knows?" replied Icarus. "The net is wide and infinite."

Cybe blinked a few times. "Did..." he paused, "did you actually just say that?"

Daedalus stifled a chuckle.

Together, the pair stood up. Icarus offered a muscular hand. "If you need us" he said, "you need but contact us."

Graciously, the android took the hand and shook it.

With a meaningful glance, Icarus and Daedalus strode off. They walked through the long flowing grass, past the trees, and out of sight.

* * *

She looked once more into the suitcase.

Rowan sighed. Three datacubes, six meters of high-def cabling, a spare set of mechanical limbs and lungs, and as many spare hard drives as she could squeeze into the case. She hoped that it would be enough.

Stepping back, she looked around the laboratory. So much that she couldn't pack. The experimental devices, they would need to stay behind. As would the guns.

Rowan wondered if perhaps she would have the chance to pick them up at some later point. She hoped so. Several of the explosives were, if she was honest, some of her best work. She tutted softly, and slid the lid of the case down, sealing it tightly.

Plucking her coat from the side of the table, the mouse whisked it around her shoulders. She grabbed the case by the handle and pressed a button, small anti-grav jets hissing to lift it.

With all that taken care of, Rowan stepped over to her desk and picked up her last, most important possession. Her fingers carefully slid around the canister, lifting it up to the level of her eye. As thin as her narrow forearm, the high-density glass allowed the shimmering specks of glimmering blue fireflies that flitted this way and that to illuminate reassuringly.

"Hey Greggy" she said. "Don't worry. We're just going on a bit of a stroll, that's all."

Tucking the canister into the inside of her coat, the mouse scooped up her case and headed for the door.

Resting against the doorway, arms folded across her chest, Cybe stood. Her spiked blue hair was tied back, giving her an almost docile look. "Are you ready?"

Rowan glanced once more around the room. "I guess" she said. "I don't like moving on. Kinda feels like I'm tearing up my roots, y'know."

The wolf noodded. "I know" she replied. "Don't worry."

"How are the AIs?"

For a moment, Cybe glanced upwards. She scanned the link between her current body and her male one, readjusting her processing attention to accomodate for the physical distance between both of her bodies. "I'm just saying goodbye to them now."

The mouse nodded. "You're quite sure you're ready to go?"

Looking back, the android nodded. "There's nothing left for me here. Nothing."