He turned to Walter, who ducked away from the roof of the mouth as the tongue drew them inside. "Can I shut the door?" he asked.

He could see Walter's bright silvery eyes in the darkness as the slab pulled him in as well. Walter blinked once.

"I don't know," he whispered back.

Drenards, Cole thought. If he left it cracked, they might be spotted. If he closed it, they could be trapped.

A solitary set of footsteps drew near. Cole didn't know what to do; he felt paralyzed. Then, trusting Walter for some inexplicable reason-that he'd be able to open it from within-he snapped the hatch shut. Out of the darkness, a soft glow radiated from Walter's little computer, illuminating the boy's face and the walls around him.

Both seemed to be made of the same alloy of metal.

The Palan looked down at the screen as he thumbed in some commands.

"That might have been a misstake," he told Cole.

The wide doors on the service elevator split open, and Molly's body slid out, feet first. The bag of fluids hanging from the gurney swayed as the Stanleys wheeled her down the hallway. A wireless repeater plugged into Molly's headgear blinked rapidly with a strong signal. One of the Stanleys walking alongside spoke to the Stanley pushing the cart.

"Hangar six," he said.

"Of course," the other Stanley said. "And how long did Mr. Byrne say he would be? We can't have him tying up a hangar all day long, even if he is a valued client."

"Busy, busy," one of the other Stanleys chimed.

"I am to notify him as soon as the young lady is loaded into his ship, so it shouldn't be over an hour."

"Excellent," two of them said at the same time.

The same Stanley told them, "I will stay with her to collect our equipment; the rest of you can return to the rotation."

They all agreed that this was best.

Busy, busy.

The light by hangar six shone green. Molly's feet led the group through another set of opening doors and toward a loading ramp beyond.

"What do you mean, that might have been a mistake?" Cole whispered.

Walter's eyes peered up from his screen. "The doorss aren't on the network," he said softly.

Cole held up a hand as the muffled sounds of footsteps went by outside. He felt torn. Part of him wanted to bang at the door and beg for it to be opened. It could be hours or days before another Stanley passed through. The other half of him urged caution, terrified of being discovered. His recent habit of touring the interior of every planet's prison was one he had hoped to break. While he struggled to decide, the sounds outside faded back the way they came, making his mind up for him.

"What do we do?" he asked Walter.

If Molly really was in danger, they were no longer in a position to help. If she wasn't, how long before they were found, and what kind of trouble would they get her in?

He could see Walter shrug in the glow of his display. Cole reached over and grabbed the computer, flashing it around the interior of their hiding spot. Walter hissed at him and tried to wrestle it back.

"Hold on," Cole demanded.

He shone the light on the cables and equipment at the far reaches of the space. It looked like life-support equipment and lots of other complex gizmos.

"Anything we can use?" he asked.

The Palan settled down at the sight of the gear. He took the computer and used it to study the head harness and electrical interfaces. "I'll try," he informed Cole, squirming back to fiddle with the gear.

"Could we join Molly's dream somehow?"

Walter's eyes flashed at the suggestion. He turned to his computer and started jabbing at it intently. He looked back up at Cole, then grabbed the headgear and worked it onto his head. "I need to download ssomething," he said with a sneer.

"Fine. Just hurry it up."

Walter scrunched down and rested his back against the wall of the small space, his hands adjusting the headgear. By the light of the computer, Cole could see his eyes moving below his lids, pushing side to side like orbs searching for a way through his metallic skin.

The boy's legs twitched several times, and at least two full minutes went by. The odd scene seemed to stretch out into forever. Cole considered breaking the connection, or shaking the boy, but then his eyes popped open on their own.

Wide open.

Cole turned around and tried the door, but it remained locked.

"Anything?" he asked Walter.

"Oh, yesss," the boy said. "Everything. And I found Molly." He removed the headgear and brought his computer back up; Cole crawled closer to view the screen. He expected a schematic that he wouldn't understand, or perhaps some computer code, but he recognized the feed as soon as he saw it. Video. And crystal clear. It showed Molly's body strapped to a gurney. She looked asleep and was being pushed up a ramp and into a spaceship-but not Parsona.

"What in hyperspace?" he wondered aloud.

"Sstanley 8427," Walter said.

"Do what?"

"Thiss iss a vissual feed from a Sstanley."

"You can hack them?"

"Jusst the feedss."

"So, you can't control them or anything."

"If I had their passscode, maybe."

Poised on his hands and knees, Cole had to fall to one side to free up an arm. He dug in his pocket and brought out the card that had opened their little cage "What about this guy?" he asked. "Where's he?"

Walter snatched the card and used the light from his computer to read it. He typed something into the small keyboard and sucked air through his teeth.

"Where is he?" Cole asked again.

Walter looked up from the screen. "I think he's looking for us."

27.

The spinning pad whined madly, pushing grit between Molly's teeth and gums. The nerves at the base of her tooth ached; the chalky cleaning substance threatened to choke her. Every now and then, she received a welcomed jet of water, but it just pushed the foul-tasting cleanser to the back of her mouth. She fought to not swallow, to form a barrier at the top of her throat using her tongue, and then the suction would come again and give her relief from one misery, only to start the process all over again.

Each of her teeth had been cleaned at least twice, but the dentist had begun a third round. Molly cursed the feedback loop operating between Parsona's pleasure circuits and the AI routines. The result was pure torture for her, as this "heaven" didn't seem to take any feelings into account other than its creator's. She felt certain that her three hours must be up by now; she should have already woken up in a padded chair, yelling at Stanley to get these restraints the hell off.

The dental tool was only halfway done with one of her molars when it spun to a stop. Molly could hear herself moaning and realized she'd probably been doing that for quite some time. The myriad bits of metal holding her jaw open were removed; she experimented with closing it.

Her jaw ached realistically.

The chair came up and her head moved free from the padding; she looked around for her mother and Mr. Byrne, but he was gone. It was just her mother, smiling.

"Let me see those pretty teeth," she said.

Molly wiped the saliva away from the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Where's Byrne?" she asked, her tongue and jaw aching from the effort.

"Now, dear, let's not get into any more unpleasantries. Mr. Byrne said he needed to go and that he would come and visit me soon. Why don't we finish our tea?"

Just like that, the dentist office vanished. Molly's spit-encrusted bib was replaced with a new dress. Only the pain in her jaw, something that didn't seem to affect her mom's happiness, remained.

Parsona sat down in the swing and patted the wood slats beside her. Molly remained standing. She worked her mouth open and closed a few times, then asked her mom: "What did you guys talk about?"

"No more talk of Mr. Byrne, Mollie. I mean it."

Fine, Molly thought. This has been a waste of time, anyway.

She started to say goodbye, but no longer cared. There had been plenty of time to think about the horror of this place while the dentist did his work-and he had been wrong. She gave her mother one last, sad look and realized there were plenty of cavities here. All created by too much sweetness.

Without a word, she ran and leapt down the stairs leading from the porch. She ignored the laughter and chatter in the commons as she ran up to the door she'd entered. She heard her mother calling for her as she flung it open and jumped through, back to the real world- But it was just a room. A room identical to the one in the other cabin, only with two chairs instead of three. Parsona sat in one and patted the other.

Molly felt absolutely certain that she'd been under for more than three hours.

Stanley #8427 was walking down hallway 8C, looking for their missing guests-when his legs went goofy. His right foot slammed into the back of his left calf, sending him sprawling forward toward the floor. Automatic arm routines tried to compensate, but something went wrong with them as well. A hand flew out in front, fingers straight, and the weight of his gear-filled body crashed down.

Several metacarpal joints snapped back and injury codes flashed red in his vision.

He flopped around on the ground for a few moments, one of his legs kicking a containment drawer noisily.

Gradually, some semblance of coordination returned. He used his undamaged hand to push himself to his knees; he looked purposefully at the handle of the nearest drawer and grabbed at it. His timing was off, but he managed to hook two fingers around the steel.

Stanley pulled himself to his feet.

He took a few experimental steps while he kept one hand on the wall beside him. Stanley #8427 turned around and stumbled back the way he had come.

He was on the wrong hall.

"You wrecked him!" Cole complained.

"Sshut up. I'm getting it."

"It looks like he's having a seizure."

The camera was sideways. On the ground, vibrating.

"Thiss sstupid computer only hass one analog sstick."

"I thought you were good at these things."

"You wanna try?"

Cole watched him work the controls and the small keyboard at the same time. The camera gradually made its way off the floor. He shook his head. "How long until he gets here?"

"I don't know. He'ss one hall over from here. Uh, oh. Another Sstanley."

"Greetings, Stanley. Any luck?"

The other Stanley didn't say anything. It just waved a ruined hand awkwardly.

"You should have that looked at. Should I call maintenance?"

The mute Stanley staggered, its shoulder brushing the doors on its right side.

"Hold still. I'll call maintenance."

The helpful Stanley walked over, graceful as a cat. It reached out to steady the other android.

The hurt Stanley didn't have the dexterity of the approaching robot, but it also lacked its compassion. The mangled hand spun around as fast as its servos could move it, brutal strength moving with no control.

It caught the nice Stanley on the temple, nearly taking its head off at the fragile neck-joint.

Both Stanleys went down from the blow.