Nate DuFort

313.

It took nearly four days to get everything in place.

A driver to bring me back to Lambda Sector, a reaver as a guide, and then bribes to let me into the sector without a permit.

There was no way I could get one fast enough, especially for the reason I needed it.

This was all made more difficult because 313's constant interference.

Voices over the phone, hallucinations of insects, fires, and home invasions.

I ended up walking most places with my eyes half open so I could focus on my other senses, and even then it wasn't a guarantee.

She could, after all, make me feel, hear, taste, and even smell things that weren't there.

It took immense focus and patience to get anything done.

On day five, I stood at a gate just before dawn with my guide, a reaver named Silent Sam.

I made sure that he knew if I acted strange to grab me and pull me along as needed.

I learned quickly how he earned that name.

He only ever responded to anything with grunts of affirmation or disagreement.

We met at an entrance.

The cameras went dead, and the hum of electric current fell silent.

After a thumbs up, we crossed into Lambda Sector and waited for the sun, since the darkness beyond the fence was far more dangerous than on our side.

White flames bobbed and danced between the trunks of trees, as if there were a party of revelers with strange torches chasing each other through the woods.

Sam looked at me and shook his head and pointed to the ground.

Don't look, got it?

I said, and looked down at the gravel in front of me.