Page 143 of Tapeworld Induction

Colour rushed back. The room looked hyperreal, the windows glossy.

Two sleptigrades came out of the black hole. Black-translucent gunk emanated in a line from behind each of the humanoid shapes, floating in the air.

“Those things connect them to their bodies.” Isaak took a few steps back. “We need to connect them to the device!”

The sleptigrades rushed at him, one large and muscular, the other athletic and lean.

They pushed him around, and he kept backing away. His eyes darted to Dylan. She was okay, looking more concerned about him. He steeled himself for what was coming. He tightened his knuckles, set his feet apart and tensed his legs.

With one arm extended, he whispered, “Gunkatana…”

Grip, frame, and trigger guard came into existence in the empty space around the fingers of his open hand, the components interlocking and fitting into each other in a perfect synchronous display. The weapon let out a satisfying click. It was ready for him. With a confident gesture he gripped the gun-sword, blade lengthened to a deadly point.

“I don’t want to kill you,” he shouted at the shapes. “Don’t make me!”

The bulky one tried to grab him but he easily dodged out of the way. The more athletic figure went for his legs. He dived to the floor to avoid it.

“Dylan!”

He shivered, watching the other shape coming closer, its bulk looking more and more ominous.

Dylan swooped in from the side, her white dress fluttering in the air, and kicked the shape away from him, then she hook-punched it to the ground, the white knuckle-dusters leaving a mark on it, the impact augmented. She followed it with a foot stomp, her full power behind her black boots. She looked at Isaak and smiled. The bulky shape lay still. “These things can stun them!”

The lean sleptigrade lunged at her while she was distracted, hitting her in the stomach.

Isaak attacked it, slicing its shoulder open with the sword. White light began pouring out of the wound, blinding him. The sleptigrade fell, and Isaak raised an arm to cover his eyes.

The translucent cablery behind the shape began evaporating. Squinting against the brightness, he followed it with his eyes to see it led to a woman, who was now convulsing and foaming at the mouth.

He cast the Gunkatana to the side. It derezzed in the air in a blue haze. The woman’s spasms were becoming more violent by the second. “Fuck, I’m sorry! Dylan, I had to save you.”

“Fuck, Isaak!” Dylan shouted, pain in her voice. “You could have just punched them!”

Isaak’s stomach roiled. “Elo, are you there? Sacha?” He tried summoning them on the device in his ear, but there was no reply. “Astrid must be jamming our comms.”

Dylan taped out without another word. Her translucent form stayed in place for a few seconds, until it completely derezzed.

Isaak wondered if he should do the same, and he almost did, until both sleptigrades and their connecting cables disappeared. His chest went tight, and his breathing became more difficult.

Dylan returned to the Tapeworld. “They’re okay.”

“You used the lobster phone?”

She nodded. “After connecting them to it.”

“What about the one I hurt? I’m sorry.”

“She’s going to be okay. I was able to remove the Sleepers from them, and they were both breathing steadily. They’re still knocked out IRL. The Sleeper must take a lot out of them.”

“I am so fucking sorry. I almost killed her.”

“Isaak… Don’t blame yourself… It was instinct. You wanted to protect me.” She ran to him and embraced him. “And she’s fine. Just be careful next time.”

He stared at the nothingness deep in the building’s depths, where the blue-dark and purple met in a dance of light, serene and quiet. “Those sleptigrades we defeated before… They’re all dead.” He choked. “They all died like this.” The warmth of her hug hadn’t been enough to keep his worst thoughts at bay.

“Stop.” She beat on his chest with a fist. “We’ve talked about this. We both have blood on our hands. We had no choice.”

He felt like retching. Unable to exorcise the guilt the same way they’d done before, in the concrete bedroom at the Royal Car Wash, he was confronted with the reality of what they’d done once more.