Sleepwalker

Dawn

August 30, 2715
Dreamworld: Zone 1

Dreamworld had no sun; therefore, it had no sunrise. Instead, the deep purple, almost black, sky faded into a linear gradient of reds, pinks, and golds before finally stabilizing at a pale blue. It didn't match the images stored in Ace's memory, yet he still found it to be one of the most beautiful things he had ever witnessed.

The Sleepwalkers, true to their name, didn't care much for the changing of night to day. After their eventful run, everyone opted to find a place to rest for a few hours before tackling the next half of the Zone.

    When they found a small fissure in the side of the nearest mountain, they promptly stretched out and went to sleep, opting to go dreamless to get the most out of their sleep. That also left Ace to stand guard at the entrance, where he could both keep an eye on his sleeping teammates and have a clear view of the Grid and Ring 1 on the other side.

    Since he didn't need to sleep, Ace spent the first few hours adding the mountain range to his virtual map, tracing a path to their next destination. After that, he reset his jacket and T-shirt back to their original conditions. His hat was sadly out of his system's reach and couldn't be retrieved. Thankfully the sunless sunrise provided a good distraction.

"You look like you've never seen a Dawn Sequence before," Cho whispered.

    He turned slightly to face her as she slowly stepped around her sleeping friends. And his lips tugged upward into a smirk when she had to jump over Phoenix to avoid his tossing and turning. When she finally reached him, she plopped down beside him, and he turned back to watching the dawn.

     "I haven't," he replied.

  Cho pulled her legs up and tucked her knees under chin. Her head tilted upward as she watched the colors fade out of one and into another. For a moment, the two just sat there in silence, but it didn't last.

    "Who are you, Ace?"

   "I told you. I'm a friend."

  Cho tore her gaze from the sky and faced him seriously. "Then what are you?"

Ace didn't answer right away but turned his gaze back to the sky. The pale blue was quickly overlapping the pinkish gold band. Dawn would be over soon.

"Your dad knows my," he paused. The professor created him, and he claimed to be his father. But the connection didn't feel the way it should.

"Your what?" she asked slowly, her tone taking a suspicious turn.

"My dad." I guess. I'm not quite sure what else to call him. "Creator" sounds a bit mechanical, even for me.

"What's his name?"

"Professor Tom Tolmafin."

Cho's eyes widened, and she jerked backward, looking him up and down in surprise. Ace's own eyes narrowed slightly. She knows something. If not the whole thing, then enough of it to guess.

"You're the machine Tolmafin's been working on all these years."

"Alpha Catalyst Engine, aka Ace, at your service," he greeted sarcastically.

Cho pursed her lips in thought. "You don't act very machine-like. Your coding must be extremely advanced."

"Thanks. Glad you're taking it so well," he retorted with an eye roll.

She continued like she didn't hear him. "It also explains the tattoo," she added and went to brush the hair at the nape of his neck.

The little automated voice in his head didn't even have time to speak before Ace tore himself away from her, one pale hand covering the back of his neck and the other holding her wrist. What caught him most off guard though was that she didn't seem very surprised by his reaction.

    "What tattoo?" he demanded, refusing to let her go just yet.

    "The little blue fingerprint inside of a box outline. It looked like one of the old thumbprint scanners in Ring 2's Museum of Ancient Technology. But I'm guessing by your reaction that it's not just there for decoration. Wait a second," she giggled, "is—is that, like, your on and off switch?"

"No, it's the espresso machine," he answered, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he let go of her wrist. Cho only laughed harder.

"I can't believe it!"

"Shut up," he grumbled, cradling his head in his palm. The snickering quieted, but the smile refused to leave her face.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just you act so much like a real person, but still share so many characteristics with technology. The duality of your existence is fascinating!"

"Tch, thanks, I guess. But keep your hands to yourself," he added, his sour mood morphing back into the controlled version she had always seen. "Wouldn't want people to get the wrong impression, now would we?"

She swatted his arm. "Please, I'm talking to a robot trying to save the world."

Ace's brows furrowed. "Why do I feel like that's a movie reference?"

"What's a movie?"

"It's what the Ancients had before Virtual Immersion. Instead of being inside their favorite show, they had to watch it all on a single screen."

"Sounds boring. But how do you know about it?"

Ace shrugged and tapped the side of his head. "The professor downloaded a lot of preDreamworld data into my memory. He saved as much as he could before the Embassy erased all of the files about the real world."

Diego yawned loudly, cutting off their conversation.

"Promise you won't tell them," Ace whispered to Cho as they stood up.

"Why?"

"You saw how Diego reacted to listening to a stranger. And Amber tolerates me at best. Imagine what would happen if they found out I wasn't human? I need to gain their trust first."

Cho glanced at her stirring friends and nodded to herself.

"I understand. I won't say anything, but, Ace, if we make it past the Climb, you need to know that Ring 2 has even tighter security."

"I already knew that."

"No, what I mean is that the Embassy has contingencies for everything, including nonhuman infiltration. There's also this doctor that—"

"Good morning, world!"

There was a loud smack and a groan. "Shut up, D! Some of us need a little more time to wake up!"

"Come on, Phoenix! Rise up outta them sleepy ashes!"

"If you two don't quiet down, I'll slap both you," Amber growled and sat up. Her eyes met Cho's then Ace's.

"Morning," he acknowledged, arms folded across his chest with his ever-present smugness.

"While you lot were recharging," he began, ignoring Cho's subdued giggle hidden behind a cough, "I found us a path to Ring 2."

Ahead, they could make out the summit of a large mountain nearest to the Ring's edge. Amber's eyes shone with determination. They had survived the Grid. Now, they just had to make it through Zone 1's second half.

The Climb.