Keagan hung over the elevator shaft, gasping. This is not the end, he thought. I can get out of this.

He gasped for air as he tried to get his other arm up into the hole.

‘Hang on!’ yelled Eone from below. He could feel her positioning a shoulder under one of his feet. With his legs steadied and with both arms braced on the platform, he hauled himself up into the Perfect World, managing to avoid any more jagged edges.

Keagan collapsed onto the floor of the platform, panting and trying to calm down. He rested his sweaty forehead on the cool plastic.

Eone’s head popped up through the hole, grinning. She pulled herself through without any difficulty and jumped to her feet. She extended a hand to him.

Groaning, Keagan took it and got up. Then he gasped.

The elevator room was different from the last time he was here. Shattered glass was sprayed out across the floor. The plastic console was twisted and ripped from the wall.

There was an unconscious figure huddled in the corner, three clones gathered around him. They watched Keagan and Eone, wide-eyed and trembling with fear.

Keagan approached them and they backed away. They were the same clones who had been here, operating the tech-screen, when he had gone down. And the huddled figure was one of the supervisors. Crouching down, Keagan gently shook his shoulder.

A groan confirmed that he was still alive. Eyes flickered open. Seeing Keagan, he flinched and cowered.

‘It’s okay,’ said Keagan. ‘I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to make sure you’re okay.’

The clone touched his forehead where a large purple bruise was forming. ‘I think I am all right.’ Then there was recognition in the clone’s eyes. ‘You. You are the stranger who went down.’

‘Yes. My name’s Keagan. What’s yours?’

‘My designation is 58-K-2.’

‘Is it okay if I call you K-2?’

K-2 shrugged. Then he saw Eone and his eyes filled with terror.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ said Keagan. ‘This is Eone. She’s with me.’

‘With you?’ K-2 looked confused. ‘There were others. They did this.’ He indicated the damage.

‘Yes,’ said Keagan. ‘We’re not with them. We’re trying to stop them. What happened? What did they do?’

‘They came up through the floor,’ said K-2, his voice stilted. ‘They smashed through it. They were violent. And they had a tech-screen. They tried to interface with ours, but failed. So then they destroyed our tech-screen.’ K-2 paused, his brow furrowed in concentration. ‘They had machines around their bodies. They were strong. They took 58-K-1.’

‘Why?’ asked Eone.

‘I am not sure.’ K-2 gingerly touched the bruise on his forehead again. ‘I think they wanted him to lead them somewhere. I tried to stop them from taking my friend … my co-supervisor.’

‘We need your help, K-2,’ said Keagan.

‘My help?’

‘Yes,’ continued Keagan. ‘We need to find 47-G-2. Can you tell us where she is?’

‘47-G-2?’ said K-2. ‘She is very old. She is retired. You will find her in the Waiting Rooms.’

‘Where’s that?’ asked Eone.

‘Show them,’ instructed K-2.

The three other clones approached the wall, one of them reaching up and pressing a hand to it. A small tech-screen, like the one Befour had taken from Keagan, popped out from a slot. The clone brushed her fingers across the sheet’s surface then handed it to Keagan.

The tech-screen displayed a map.

‘Thanks,’ said Keagan. He turned to Eone. ‘Let’s go!’

They had barely made it to the door, when an alarm began to blare.