"Only I can get us out?" Cal sank back into his seat. "No pressure then, Professor."

"None at all," said the Professor, and Cal laughed mirthlessly. "Where did you last see her, lad? We're in this world, and although it's not real we still have to play by the rules of this universe. Here, the Mind is not on our side. What other options do we have? We have to work out where Helena links into it."

Cal sat up, his eyes shining. "Professor, do you remember that version of the Mindscape you introduced me to as a child, the one with the dark green contours and hexagons to represent memories on the plains between the hills?"

"Yes."

"That was where I last spoke to her." Cal quickly filled the Professor in on the transfer of Helena's nanobytes, and his trip into memory. "You and Helena are the only ones I've ever shared that version of the Mindscape with, that's got to be the link. Where we go from there I've no idea."

The ground around them shook violently, and one wall of the transit module in which they sat pixelated, momentarily turning green and black.

"What was that?"

"I suspect I should be wearing a sandwich board while uttering this line, but 'the end is nigh', Cal. This world of yours is falling apart."

"But why?"

"What happens when you no longer believe in something? You know this place isn't real, so your attention, and insistence it should sustain you is wavering. We need to move quickly."

Cal held out his hand, and the Professor enclosed it in his parchment and bone grip.

Hang on, Professor, and don't let go.

The two closed their eyes, both dropping into a meditative state through long years of conditioning. The ground beneath their feet became a series of interconnecting hexagons, and myriad lines of memory and thought. They stood at the centre of the vista still holding hands, an endless plateau in dark green and black, bordered with contoured green hills, and a featureless sky.

A hexagon glowed nearby, and with a thought, Cal and Kelna floated over to it. As they watched, the hexagon became a view to a moment in the past.

There was a room. The walls were covered in blackboards, a simple table and chairs stood in the centre of the room, and lying on the table looking up at him was Helena. She looked happy and Cal realized she was looking at the starry ceiling of the room where they'd worked on the Jaken paradox together just before they'd taken their ill-fated trip into the biogel pods. The same pods where they all now lay.

This is where Helena and I used to work together.

Kelna smiled. She looks at peace. Just remember, Cal, this isn't quite Helena yet, this is the avatar of Helena in this world. The real Helena is in there somewhere, but may not remember anything other than the memory in which she resides.

Ready, Professor?

Cal looked at Kelna who nodded, and the two of them stepped into a memory.

~~~

Helena was scribbling at a blackboard as they walked into the room.

"I was wondering when you were going to arrive," she grumbled.

Unable to help himself, Cal took a few quick steps across the room and swept his friend into a hug.

Helena disengaged, her look of surprise changing to concern as she noticed the tears on Cal's face. "Cal, what's going on?" She looked over Cal's shoulder and saw Kelna reading through one of the mathematical proofs on the blackboard. Walking over to him, she hugged the old man and looked back at Cal.

"Are either of you two going to explain what's going on here?"

As Cal opened his mouth to speak, a tremor rocked the room, and a crack appeared across the floor. Kelna staggered, his balance lost, and Cal leapt to catch him. Helena moved out of the way, unwittingly stepping over the crack in the floor.

Cal caught Kelna, and steadied the Professor who grabbed a chair for support. There was another tremor, and the crack widened. Helena stepped further away to avoid the widening gulf between her and the two others.

"Helena, we have to get out of here."

"What's going on, Cal? How is this happening?"

"None of this is real," he shouted over the growing noise and disruption, the room shaking again as patches of the walls faded in and out of existence. "This is a simulation, but one so good that it's difficult to tell what's real and what isn't. But it's gone wrong."

"How do I know you're real?" she screamed.

"You don't." He paused, and in an abrupt cessation of noise he smiled at her and held out a hand, the other clamped firmly around the Professor's arm. "Sometimes you just have to jump."

Helena backed away shaking her head, confusion etching her brow. The floor jolted again and her head snapped up, eyes meeting Cal's across the ever widening gap. "You'd better be right about this, Cal, 'cos if you're not I'm going to punch you into next week."

Helena took a couple of quick steps backward. She set herself and sprinted forward, taking a running jump at the fissure. Her feet pedaled frantically in mid-air as she sought to clear the gap, eyes wide in terror. Cal's hand reached into the void, their fingers touched, and everything went dark.

~~~

Darkness.

Darkness with dark green lines.

Cal stood alone on the mindscape.

Hello?

- Hi, Cal. Welcome back. Your session will now terminate. Congratulations on finishing the simulation.

Cal opened his eyes, and the fuzzy edged lining of the pod met his vision through the faintly luminescent biogel.

Panic slammed into his brain, instantly reacting. Power gathered in his mind and blasted upwards out of the pod into the fresh air of the room beyond. The pod lid wrenched off its hinges and slammed into the wall of the room, narrowly missing Dr. Takei who stood open-mouthed by another pod nearby.

Cal stepped out of his pod, slipped on the gel and went down on one knee, gunk spattering to the floor around him. He heaved, then threw up the gel he'd taken into his lungs, gasping for air for a moment. He staggered to his feet and confronted Takei. "Where is she?" he said hoarsely.

Takei pointed mutely at the pod next to him, but grabbed his arm as Cal moved towards it, stopping him in his tracks. "You must wait, Cal, she is coming around, but will be weak."

"She's alive?"

Takei nodded, tears in his eyes. "Yes, Cal, she lives. As does Kelna. You saved them both."

Cal collapsed to the floor, leaning himself against his recently destroyed pod as sobs of relief wracked his body. And then she was there, her slender arms wrapping him in an embrace, murmured words of love and calm blanketing him as she rocked him back and forth.

~~~

A few hours later, washed, and changed, the four of them sat at a table piled with food, watching as Helena munched happily on a piece of cake. She stopped chewing. "It'd be easier to eat if you let go of my hand, Cal."

"Sorry," he replied, releasing her. "I just wanted to make sure you were there."

"You think I'd go anywhere when there's all this food?" She laughed, and Takei smiled broadly at her.

"Do you ever stop eating, Helena?"

"I always get hungry when I've nearly died," she said poking her tongue out at the Doctor.

She canted her head and looked at Cal. I'm not going anywhere in a hurry, Cal, don't worry. And thank you for saving me.

His eyebrows rose in surprise and he spoke aloud so the others could hear. "You said that to me without linking via the Mind?"

"Yes."

Kelna looked at her interestedly. "And you couldn't do that before the simulation?"

"No, Professor."

Kelna looked over at Takei. "Well now, that is interesting, isn't it, Doctor?"

"It certainly is." Takei steepled his fingers and looked at Cal thoughtfully. "Your power seems unabated now you're back with us in the real world Cal."

"Sorry?" said Cal, confused.

"Do you not remember getting out of your pod, Cal?"

"No, Doc, sorry. I was more worried about getting to Helena."

"So we noticed," said Takei, dryly. He motioned for Cal to follow him, and they went back into the room where Kelna, Cal, and Helena had lain during the simulation. Two pods were still intact, those of Kelna and Helena, but Cal's pod was virtually destroyed. The lid was partially embedded in the far wall, rubble and metal fragments littering the area. One side of his pod had a split in it which was oozing biogel, and the electrical systems were burnt out and mostly non-functioning. A single red light blinked haphazardly at them from the wreckage, and Cal stood open-mouthed in shock.

Helena peered over Cal's shoulder, and chuckled. "Oops," she said. "You busted that good. Remind me not to lend you anything breakable."

"Funny," muttered Cal. He turned to Takei. "Seriously, Doc, I did all this?"

"Yes. Control is something we need to work on perhaps. Although now Helena's safe I suspect you'll be a little less upset with things."

He put a hand on Cal's shoulder and shook his head. "Don't worry, lad, the bots will clear it up. Now, there's something else Kelna and I need to show you both, if of course you're feeling up to it and Helena's finished eating cake."

"As long as it doesn't involve getting back into another pod, then okay."

"Just for once, I agree with Cal," noted Helena, her smaller hand slipping into his. "Where are we going, Doc?"

"The Professor and I would like to take you Outside."

Helena gripped Cal's hand in excitement. They followed Kelna and Takei out of the med rooms to a transport, Helena pausing briefly to grab a handful of crackers on the way.

What seemed like mere moments later they stepped out from the Transport on to the roof of one of the Towers.

"Take it steady everyone," said Takei. "We're a long way up, and the air is a little thin.

Cal and Helena looked at the vista before them. Towers and Domes of the endless City in which they lived spread before them. Aside from the various shapes of the building that made up the city, there was no light, no colour, no vibrancy.

"Everything's inside," whispered Cal.

Kelna placed a jacket around Cal's shoulders, Takei passing one to Helena. "You'll need these, it gets cold up here, and the Mind has no control over the temperatures Outside. Yes, Cal, the City is totally inward focused. It had to be built that way once the Outside became impossible to survive in. Very little comes out, not much goes in: apart from the occasional traveler."

The old man grinned. "You both need to turn around."

Helena gasped as she turned, and Cal gripped her hand tightly. The orange glow of sunset was spilling over distant mountains, a seemingly endless plain filling the gap between the City and the distance. The plain was dark, strewn with rocks and bare earth, but here and there straggly bushes and patches of grass broke the grey. As they watched the sun fall, ink-dark shadows stretched toward them, and from behind the mountains, a thin line rose straight into the sky, reaching toward the-

"Stars," breathed Helena. She hugged Cal tightly with one arm. "We can see the stars, Cal."

Cal pointed at the vertical line. "And that, Professor? A space elevator?"

Kelna slapped him on the back. "Glad to see you were paying attention in some of my lessons at least. Yes, lad. It's an elevator to the stars. From the space station in orbit above we can Jump anywhere."

"Jump?" whispered Helena.

"Yes, Helena. Our ancestors built Jump gates spanning the galaxy. Ever since the dawn of man the stars have called to us, and we lucky few are the ones who get to see them."

Helena turned to face Cal, her eyes shining with excitement.

"I know what you're going to say, Helena," said Cal smiling. "And yes, I do want to see them.

"Why stay in the City when you can reach for the stars?"

~~~ The End ~~~