Page 62 of Tapeworld Induction

“Go,” she whispered.

He grabbed her hand and they stepped through the blue portal. The tape-tube’s prismatic flux swallowed them, and she held on to him as tightly as possible, wanting to eliminate any empty space between their palms. A bright light at the other end of the tube grew ever brighter, their bodies pulled towards it like a tractor beam.

A familiar orange horizon welcomed her. The air was hot, and she could hear the bubbling of the lava dripping over a cliff. It was Isaak’s tape-space.

“Wait,” she said, flushing. “I don’t know why… It might not be—”

But Isaak was smiling as he scanned the area. No sign of the black spots. “Back to my tape-space… That’s what makes you happy?”

The butterflies in her tummy became a storm, impossible to ignore. “I should have just thought of mine.”

“No, no, here is great!” Isaak walked over to her. “I mean, I guess it’s not somewhere they’d imagine we’d go right away. Whatever those things are, they aren’t here. Not yet, at least.”

“There’s no sign of Kitty, is there?”

“No. Sorry.”

Dylan kicked a volcanic pebble on the ground. She felt herself wanting comfort, yearning for him to embrace her, and nudged herself closer to him. He seemed to take the hint and wrapped an arm around her, bringing her close.

She rested her head on his shoulder, arm around his waist, feeling the bulk of his muscles. Her eyes closed, and a slow smile built on her face. This was good.

“Your hair smells nice.”

Hearing his voice reverberate through his chest… It made her feel things she wasn’t ready to feel, think thoughts she hadn’t allowed herself to think, not in any of her dreams.

A self-awareness crept into her mind, and she thought of their other selves, IRL, lying there asleep on the couches of Isaak’s estranged friend. Then the photograph of the woman they’d found inside the Gunkatana came to bother her.

She hated herself for what she was about to say. She had wanted this moment for so long, but she didn’t want to ruin it by kissing him now, with her mind clouded with doubts – or let it continue for so long that it put them both in danger again.

“Isaak… We should tape out. While it’s still safe.”

His chest and arms relaxed around her, and he took a deep breath. Was that disappointment in his face now? She kind of hoped it was.

22

Freedom

Dylan

They walked silently back through Oldton on their way to the tube, careful to avoid the attention of any of the night-dwellers, partygoers, and revellers. No, they were not interested in any party-poppers or haymaker pills, the effects of which had been proven detrimental to the brain. Not Dylan’s cup of tea at all.

When they’d taped out, Sacha had asked them how it went, and Isaak told him most of what had happened. He’d had no clue what the black spots could be either, which made sense, considering he hadn’t visited the Tapeworld for the last six months. Isaak didn’t mention the Gunkatana, but he did tell Sacha about the Third Kingdom technocrest on the object they’d found. Why he didn’t tell him, she didn’t know. Must have been to do with that woman’s picture…

They’d left pretty quickly after that. It was clear Sacha wasn’t really comfortable with the whole thing – he and Isaak had argued just before they taped in – and Dylan couldn’t blame him. She felt bad for pulling him back into this world he’d clearly worked very hard to stay away from.

It was only when they were both aboard the monorail that she dared to finally ask Isaak the question burning her up inside.

“Do you know that woman in the photo?”

“No.”

She didn’t believe him. He answered too quickly, too brusquely, and he looked away when he said it.

“Isaak, I need to be able to trust you. You didn’t tell him about the Gunkatana. Why?”

His eyes went wide in warning and he looked around the carriage, trying to see if anyone had heard her. “We can’t let anyone hear us talking about it.”

Her earlier butterflies had turned into a cloud of worry and upset. “No one gives a shit what we’re talking about,” she said. “It’s just late-night revellers in here, all at least half drunk.” She shook her head. “Please just answer me!”