“What’s happening?” asks Other Me, her voice rising in pitch with fear at the chaos surrounding us.

“It’s no good,” I say in despair. “The scorpion sting I got bridged the RL–VR gap. It means anything inside me can pass through the wall.” I’m panting and not explaining myself very well.

“Which wall?” wails Other Me, looking around as if there was an actual wall.

“Don’t you remember? The virtual wall between you and me! Between this and a year ago!” I yell. “But it has to be inside me. I can’t just, you know, carry it.”

“So…so swallow it! Try again!”

“I can’t. It’s just too big.”

In my pocket, my phone goes ping pong.

Out of time.

I slump to the ground to await the blackness of the dome.

Mr. Mash limps over to me and my double, his long tongue hanging out.

I wait.

Then suddenly Other Me grabs Mr. Mash’s collar and leaps to her feet. “He’s just been stung!” she shouts. “Victoria sponge! Jackson’s Victoria sponge!” She reaches into her shoulder bag and pulls out a squashed paper bag.

“Mashie! Mr. Mash! Look what I’ve got for you!” she says, and without asking she snatches the glass tube from my hand, shoving it into the center of a sticky slice of sponge cake. She pushes it toward Mr. Mash’s muzzle.

He sniffs it. Then, without chewing, he swallows it whole.

I hear, “Good luck!” and look up to see Other Me and Jessica clutching each other in a tight embrace, waiting for me to go.

“Georgie! Georgie! Quick!”

I’m holding Mr. Mash as everything goes black, and then, through the fog of my brain and the agony of the headache, I can hear someone shouting. I’m retching and convulsing and scrabbling at my helmet with my fingers.

I recognize the voice. “Georgie! Georgie! Are you all right?”

It’s Ramzy.

Above me, the pin lights of the dome come on.