HOKU GASPED. Images appeared on the screen — bright, beautiful images in full color. It was as if he were flying toward the SkyTek dome again, only this time the landscape was full of Humans. And the dome wasn’t cracked, but glittering in the sun!

He barely noticed when Dash and Aluna joined him. He reached out to touch one of the tiny trees on the screen, expecting to feel leaves, but the surface was as flat and smooth as it had been before.

“With the world’s population growing past the point of sustainability . . .” the voice said, and images fluttered on the screen. Masses of people crammed in landscapes of metal and glass. Grime-covered children, too skinny, begging for food. Huge machines covering the side of a hill like a swarm of glittering beetles.

“. . . SkyTek and its sister LegendaryTek corporations are prepared to bring you the future . . . in the form of the past!”

The picture changed, and suddenly they were soaring over the ocean to the sound of flapping wings. It reminded him of flying with Senator Niobe, and his heart lifted.

“Fly with the birds!” the voice exclaimed. “Our sustainable high-altitude communities of winged Aviars offer freedom from crowded cities, pollution, rationing, and even freedom from the earth itself! The ancient Greeks gave us the idea of winged women, and now we give you the skies!”

The image pulled back to reveal a beautiful winged woman hovering in midair, a huge smile on her face. Her wings were pristine and perfect white, and her long hair fluttered in the wind, like shifting golden kelp. She didn’t much look like a real Aviar — she didn’t have muscles and scars and painted symbols all over her wings — but they got the general idea right.

“Please see your local sales office for more details, or apply online at LegendaryTek dot com, where you can preview some of our other exciting new communities.”

Another flash of images: A half horse, half Human racing across a sandy plain on four hooves; a beautiful Kampii woman with long, silly hair swimming through the ocean wearing shells on her chest instead of a shirt; a man with the long, sinuous body of a snake slithering in an underground chamber full of gemstones; and a Deepfell swimming between two sharks in the dark ocean.

“Many more communities are in development,” said the voice. “It’s time to take evolution into your own hands!”

The final image — a lone figure silhouetted on top of a mountain and breathing fire from his mouth — was covered up in a stream of tiny text that Hoku had no hope of reading. After that, the screen went dark.

“Play it again,” Dash said. “Please.”

“Yes,” Aluna said, similarly dazed. She reached out and touched the screen, just as he had done earlier.

“Zorro, play it again,” Hoku said. The little raccoon’s eyes glowed green, and the screen lit up. They watched the images again, and a third time, and then a fourth.

“Did you see that?” Hoku said. “In the picture with the Kampii — there was a dome in the background!”

“Really?” Aluna said. “I missed it. I kept waiting for those ridiculous shells to fall off that Kampii’s chest. How could she possibly swim like that?”

Hoku laughed. “I know!”

“Can we regain focus, please?” Dash said. “Can you make the animal stop the image in that spot?”

“Um . . . I don’t know. Let me try.”

They replayed the images again. This time Hoku said, “Zorro, stop!” when the Kampii appeared. Zorro’s eyes glowed green, and the screen fell dark.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Aluna said.

“Apparently not,” Hoku grumbled.

They heard glass shattering from outside the building, and distant laughter.

“We need to leave before they get here,” Dash said.

“Why don’t you two find us a place to hide while I figure this out?” Hoku said.

Aluna nodded. “Or maybe we can find some weapons.”

“I would prefer to find an escape route,” Dash said.

Hoku focused his attention back on Zorro. He could hear Aluna and Dash enter a heated discussion behind him, but he didn’t care. It was easy to tune out their words, even though Aluna’s echoed from inside his ears. He had work to do.

He was starting to figure out how Zorro worked, or at least how he was supposed to interact with him. If he didn’t say Zorro’s name first, the animal didn’t acknowledge being spoken to. And the exact words he picked were important. “Stopping” the image hadn’t worked, but what other word could he use?

“Zorro, play it again,” he said.

The screen exploded back to life. He tried telling Zorro to “wait,” but nothing happened. When he said, “Zorro, freeze!” the flow of images halted on the picture of the crowded metal city. “Zorro, play it slow,” he said. The picture resumed its progress, but at half the speed. The voice slowed down, too, sounding much more like someone talking underwater. He found it strangely comforting.

When the images returned to the silly Kampii with the shells, Hoku told Zorro to “freeze” again. The image stood still on the screen, perfectly clear. He could almost feel the ocean current, could almost taste the salt.

The smiling Kampii was there, tail gleaming, one arm waving. This time he pulled his eyes away from her to study the background. And there it was, plain as Big Blue. Behind her, in the distance, a huge dome sat on the water like a giant jellyfish filled with glittering spires.

“I’ve got it!” he yelled.

Dash came over, holding a long, sleek metal sword in his good hand.

“Where did you find that?” Hoku asked, amazed that the scavengers had missed something so shiny.

“I did not find it. I had it with me. In my bag,” Dash said. He pressed a button on the sword’s hilt and its blade retracted with a series of snikts. Another button press, and the blade extended, looking as sharp and deadly as ever. Hoku thought about their first encounter with Dash in the dome and how differently it could have ended.

“Aluna went outside to scout,” Dash said. He looked up at the picture. “That shoreline looks a bit familiar.” The horse-boy squinted. “I may have walked along that beach a few weeks ago. I did not see the dome, but I believe I remember that cliff.”

“Can you take us there?” Hoku asked, his breathing necklace pulsing fast to keep up with the jittering of his heart.

“I am not certain,” Dash said, “but I think so. It was a long journey, and I traveled mostly by night.”

“Good enough for me,” Aluna said from the doorway of the building. She was breathing hard, her cheeks flushed. Both of her talons were unsheathed and waiting in her hands. “If we don’t leave now, the Upgraders will be adding fresh Kampii and Equian to their list of parts.”