“That’s a good boy, Jack. Give yourself up,” says Tess.

She reaches out her hand with lightning quickness and jabs hard into my neck three times with her fingers. As everything goes dark, a voice from afar says “Are you really so foolish as to think you could stop the Awakening?” Guess I was.

Then it’s all black.

I open my eyes and the light is blinding, like staring into the sun at high noon. I squeeze my eyes shut, and wait for them to adjust. It takes a long time.

When I can finally look around again, I realize I’m in a bed in the middle of a room halfway between a jail cell and an operating lab. Strapped down like I was about to be fried on some ancient electric chair. The room is a pristine palace of sanitation, everything white and scrubbed, disinfected and shimmering. It makes me sick.

“So glad you could finally join us, Mr. Fenix.”

What the – “Who’s there?” I jerk my head to the right, and everything starts spinning, but I can make out the form of a white-haired man in a suit sitting in a chair. “Who are you?” I croak.

“My name is Henry LeCerc. You may know me as one of the twelve directors of CyberCorp. As a gesture of goodwill, I’ve had a new CyberCorp VR5 chip implanted in your brain. It’s even been quality-checked to make sure you get the fullness of its benefits. I wouldn’t want you to miss what’s about to happen.”

“And what the hell would that be?”

“Why, the Awakening, of course.”

“Ah yeah. The launch of TRUscape. Where we all get permanently sucked into the virtual world.”

“Oh, please, my boy, don’t think of it like that. Are you a man of faith?” I’m silent for a few seconds. LeCerc decides to go on talking anyway. “You see, all religion is simulacra, so really, we’re just putting it out there in the open for everyone to see. The simulacra god must be appeased, you know, especially in this day and age, and who are we to deny the calling of a god?

“What in the hell are you talking about?” I bark.

“I’m talking about reality. You see, where we’re going, no one will know that it isn’t real. Not even you, because eventually, it will be real, even for you. The Awakening is our great call to the simulacra god, who will make unreality into reality. Who will do away with the tainted meatworld and carry us to the next plane of existence.

“You’re a fucking whacko, is what you are.

He gives me an apologetic little smile. “There’s no need for insults where we’re going . . .” He looks down at his watch, and his eyes widen. “Oh.” He looks back up at me. “Well, right now, I suppose.”

And then the ceiling peels back like a linen curtain to reveal the most vividly blue sky ever seen on earth. Pinpricks of white light all over the sky suddenly burst into mini explosions, out of which soar glowing white angels. The sky writhes with the mass of angels flying loops around each other. One of them floats down to the hospital room, his luminescent white robes billowing in the breeze. A gentle wind washes over me from the angel’s wings, bringing with it the scent of spring flowers and new life.

“Jack Fenix,” the angel says, hovering over my bed. “It is time to rise.” His voice is melodic, sweet and whimsical, yet forceful at the same time.

“Goddammit!” I yell. I failed.

The straps binding me to the bed unravel and disintegrate, and I slowly rise up from the bed.

“Good.” The angel beckons to me once, and I float into the air, flying up, up, above the city, above everything I care about. The bastards won, and I failed.

Below me, I hear Henry LeCerc let out a giggle of childlike glee. But then I’m too far up to hear anything but my own thoughts, which really only consist of one thing; I failed.

End.