Teepee's arm morphed in 2 seconds and began shooting lethal blasts at the soldiers, who were dashing for cover. He shot one guy in the leg, but it went through him and blasted the lunar surface instead.

"Stop, Teeps! I'M OKAY! It's just part of Disney's old 'Star Wars' show!"

The rest of us watched as Les stood up, pressed a button on his suit's belt pack, and the holographic image of a disgusting open hole in his middle disappeared. One by one, the battalion disappeared as well. A short woman whose suit bore a logo of Mickey holding a lightsaber appeared in the doorway of a worker's dorm, walked up to Les and clocked him. He sailed several score yards backwards.

"Which of you is Crow Feather?" she asks. I raise my hand.

"Tessa Scarano. Welcome to Mickey's Mare Imbrium. I told Les three times that it's company policy to warn any visitors about the Holo Show, and he promised me he wouldn't forget. In anticipation of a bad first impression, I had some real hot cocoa sent over from Alpha Farm 12. Just ask for it, and SiriLexa will make some for you. All Moon grown. And the milk and cream come from Lunar herds."

She stopped in front of an enclosed bubble that held a 3-story house, with a currently empty swimming pool. "The entrance password is 'Margaritaville.' Hello, Les. I know, I know – you told me they'd just love the Holo Show with no stupid warning, because 'warnings are for wusses', right? Yeah, that went really well! You haven't changed a bit. The equipment you ordered is in the pool room."

"Seriously – a pool room?" I asked, because a good old pool table would remind me of Jake's Joint.

"No, sorry. It's empty except for your stuff. If you need me, just tell SiriLexa. Good night, sleep tight, and have a magical stay!"

"All right, pick a room, get out of your suit, and come back to the dining room." Sunny was first, looking happier than I've ever seen her. "SiriLexa, can we have thar hot cocoa Ms. Scarano was talking about?"

"Of course, Ms. Anjou. American, Belgian or Mexican?"

"Mexican," I reply quickly, not certain why – I'd never had it before. I'd never had any of them before.

"Mexican is fine. Enough for everybody. And call me Sunny!"

"As you wish, Sunny." In minutes a bell sounds in the kitchen. The aroma was otherworldly. Teepee bounded down the stairs and immediately filled his mug – which was a huge Mickey Mouse head in a space helmet. As he tipped it to drink, its eyes swirled around, and the mug went 'Mm!' in a cartoony voice.

"Now this," Sunny chimed, 'this is what cocoa should taste like!"

"Once upon a time, it did. Then man grew greedy and stupid, and we almost lost it all." The words just rolled out of Teepee's mouth. It wasn't something you'd expect from a street kid – cyborg or fully human. He'd just taken a sip of the cocoa, and the cup was still at his mouth.

'Hey, Teeps," Sunny nervously chuckled, "Was that so good it blew a taste bud?"

He shook his head, and said, "Why are ya all starin' at me like that? Did I fart?" I repeated the unusual phrase he uttered. "I didn't say that!"

"Yes, you did, squirt!" Sunny reprimands him, "Word for word."

"Don't call me squirt!" he replied, and downed another mug.

She put down her own cocoa, walked over to him and tousled his human hair. She looked at him right in his cybernetic eye. "I could call you 'cyber twerp' instead!"

'Go ahead," he yells, "I dare ya!" Faster than an eyeblink, Teepee's face became a male duplicate of Sunny's, who shrieked and leapt backwards. I stood up like a shot and shouted, "What the hell, kid? Since when can you do that?"

"Do what?" my son exclaimed. Sunny reached into her pocket, produced a small makeup mirror, and held it up.

"Holy hairy snarfballs! Did I do that?" He turned the mirror at several angles, paused at each piercing, then ran his hand through his purple locks. As he did, it shifted into a mohawk buzzcut. He jumped, startled for only a moment. He tentatively rubbed his finger across his hot pink lips, which abruptly turned black. "Supernovian!" he whispered, reverently. He stuck his tongue out at Sunny.

"I look like you now," he laughed, "Only cooler!"

"Danny," I moaned, "How are you doing that? And, more importantly, are you okay?"

He sighed. "It's the Professor. He...does things to me, you know? Adds new stuff, then forgets to tell me. He forgets things. It musta been him that said that thing about people bein' greedy."

"Everybody, get your asses down here, now!" Les was in the pool room, setting up our beds for our first trip to the worlds of the afterlife. Sunny was at the stairs going down when I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Sunny, you don't have to come with us. You must have family back on Earth. Everything's been happening so fast; I haven't had time to ask you if you even wanted to tag along with us. Things are only going to get more dangerous..."

"And weirder..." Teepee injected.

"...and weirder from here on. You can sit this one out of you want to think about things."

"I live by myself," she replied and smiled. "No family left. I figure I owe Les and you one for getting me out of the Library bombing. And Teepee for blasting that assassin into the next life, otherwise we'd all be dead. And Wanda, I guess, for always making me laugh. Besides, you need me. I'm the only one who can understand and speak Dromian, remember?"

We were met by Les, who gestured to a makeshift curtained area in the far corner. Against the wall were five beds, surrounded by tubes, wires, IV bottles with stands, and a digital medical screen above each pillow.

"Are y'all ready to see the new and improved Wanda?" asked a familiar voice, as a sinuous bare arm from behind the curtain pulled it back, revealing a beautiful, tall and coffee-skinned woman in a fantasy white silk, cut-on-the-bias dress. (Hey – I know a vintage Nouveau St. Laurent from a modern Lao Tse Johnson! Such knowledge can be helpful getting society dames to open up.)

We clapped and wolf-whistled, and Wanda just beamed. "Les built this just for me!" She twirled, and then opened her chest, revealing her crow body in a crow-shaped pocket with a cable that plugged into her bird's chest. "I can slip in and out all on my own!"

Part of me is thrilled at her new independence and look, and the other part of me wonders about what trouble an AI might get into on a night on the town, left to its own devices. At least, here on the Moon, she'd have to schlep all the way back to Moonbase Alpha for any hotspots or nightclubs.

Les already has Teepee strapped in and is busy working on Sunny. Wanda starts on me, making sure that she puts her ample bosom as close to my face as she can. "Like my marvelous melons, Boss? They are ripe an' ready, you know. Too bad only females will taste 'em!" She cackles. I rib her right back with, "Help, someone! I'm being teased by a 3,000-year-old lascivious lesbian!"

After Les straps Wanda in, he gives us our briefing. "Rather than go in as potential gold-level buyers, I'm bringing us in through the employee entrance. It took calling in a lot of favors to get this passcode, Danny. We're looking for a human code that is unstable and unravelling. The world code will try to eject it as junk files.

Those 'code soldiers' will show up as bright red. Murkerberg, if he's here, will look like a mobius strip that's stretching and contracting; everyone else will look like glowing white halos. You've got Cyber Security sunglasses that are invisible to any non-living beings – the AIs and the resident NPCs can't see them.

And just FYI – I removed the locator chips and the recording devices inside them. Terra Veritas can't track you or find you. The glasses show you the world you're in as code. There will be day and night cycles, so if you get tired, make use of them. The food is obvious not real – the non-living can't eat – which is why you'll get nutrients from these IVs.

And while it might seem tempting, don't split the party unless you have to. If you do, one goes with Teepee and the other goes with Wanda. That's because they're the only ones I can effectively locate. Any questions?"

"What if I gotta pee?" Teepee asks.

"Pee wherever you want. While you're in the Virtuaverse, I'm going to hook you all up to a bodily function unit. You won't wet the bed, I promise."

"Where are we going?" Sunny sounds just a little nervous.

"Tolkien World. Repeat after me: Balrog Burgers and Dwarven Beer, here I come!"

As the world begins to go dark, Coyote embraces me from behind.