Gavin woke with a start and started calling out. “Hughes? What happened? Are we ready?” There was no answer. Gavin looked about and realized many things at once. He had a body for a start and relished the simple feeling of flexing muscles long left unused. He was no longer attached to the VI gestalt, the silence of their absence almost deafening. And he was in a place he’d never thought he’d see again. The small cottage was exactly as he remembered it: dark, dreary, and a lone fire in the hearth birthing deep shadows. As Gavin looked about in his confusion, a shadow detached itself from the wall.
“Back again?” the shadow said.
