Page 95 of Tapeworld Induction

She and Dylan smiled at each other. Their friendship reminded him of how he was with Sacha. Before.

“Grey?” he asked.

“I’ll explain later…”

Dylan put Sacha on speakerphone. “She’s come up with something,” he said. “You have to trust me on this, it would take too long to explain.”

Isaak, Dylan, and Talia eyed each other with apprehension.

“Sacha, before you do anything, can Talia tape out first?” Dylan asked.

Talia stared at her. “I told you I’m leaving at the same time as you, Dee.”

“But—”

“Elodie is telling me to just do it,” Sacha said loudly, “so I’m just going to do it.”

“Wait!” Before Isaak had a chance to intervene, the spotlights went out.

He was catapulted through time and space.

When he finally opened his eyes, he was lying on his back, with the other three looking down at him. Sacha, in his classic utility vest, Talia, wearing what Isaak could only describe as clothes from a designer perfume advert, and Dylan. His heart ached.

There was a sting by his temple as Talia pulled the device away from his head, a red light on the back of it. She placed it on the counter.

Dylan caressed his cheek. “Are you okay?”

Sacha was doing Sacha things, talking tech babble, explaining how – with Elodie’s invaluable help – he was able to reverse the sleep device. Isaak was barely paying attention. He was barely able to pay attention.

He opened and closed his hands in a fist. He was lying on his gaming chair, the back pushed all the way down.

“Why is there blood on his head?” Dylan touched his face. That twinge of pain again. “Can you get up?” she asked him.

Words formed in his mind. He tried to say them. It took longer than it usually took.

“Y-yes.”

They helped him out of the chair. As he reached verticality, his legs gave out and he fell back again, pushing the chair out of place on its wheels.

Fuck.

There was a fairly old couch at the other end of his small studio. He’d carried that couch up and down every flight of stairs from the various other flats he’d lived in. They must have noticed his wordless glance at it, because Sacha grabbed him beneath his shoulders, and Dylan and Talia each grabbed a leg.

“H-hey…”

It happened too fast for his protests. They moved him onto the couch, head propped with his pillow.

“This Sleeper thing is packed with IV nutrition,” Sacha said.

Shortly after, Talia and Sacha went over to the kitchenette, talking too low for him to get a read on what they were saying. Dylan sat next him on one of his two chairs. There wasn’t enough seating or space for all of these people in his miniscule flat. He felt like getting up and giving a big apology. Sorry, everyone, that my place is shite. That didn’t happen, as his legs barely responded to his intentions. Whatever Astrid did to him had really messed with his body.

While he was trying to formulate a theory on just what the hell Astrid was up to, and trying to put it into words and get them out of his mouth in the right order, Dylan spoke.

“Take a breather, boy.” She clasped his hand in hers, smiling at him. “Just rest. We got you.”

He smiled back at her, only slightly mumbling his next words. “Thank you.”

She leaned closer.