"Now what?" Nishara muttered as the light faded, revealing a long, cylindrical chamber with a row of seats along each side. Windows above the seats showed glimpses of blue sky and clouds. The muted roar of engines filled the chamber.

"We're in the sky again." Zilaka leaned forward to stare out the window across from her.

"Sounds like an airplane," Dylan said, glancing around. "Looks like a cargo plane with these seats added on."

"What are these things?" Nishara motioned with her upper-left hand at the large pack strapped to her back, and Grishnag realized she had one as well. A quick glance at the others confirmed that each of them wore one.

"Parachutes," Syala mumbled. She shivered and rubbed her hands over her arms. "I didn't know that a second ago, and now I do. And I suddenly know how to use it."

"How is that happening?" Zilaka slumped forward, braced her elbows on her knees, and covered her face with her hands.

"I think I've figured part of it out," Cora said, keeping her voice low. "Now's probably the best time to fill you in, before the shit hits the fan again."

Dylan nodded. "Let 'er rip."

"Near the end of the last fight, I took out one of the vans chasing us and noticed something odd. When it exploded, for an instant it broke into voxels. So did the surrounding air when the shockwave passed through it."

"Voxels?" Dylan stared at her. "You mean, like pixels, except three-dimensional?"

"Right."

The other females exchanged confused glances -- except Grishnag. Her lips parted and her eyes widened slightly.

"We're in a simulation?”

"That's what I'm guessing."

"Oh, hell." Dylan slumped back in his seat.

"I don't even understand what that means," Syala muttered.

"It's like a shared dream," Grishnag said. "Or a hallucination. If Cora's right about this, none of this is really happening."

"It felt real enough." Nishara rubbed a hand over one of the places she'd been shot a few minutes ago.

"I guess that'd explain how we keep waking up after being killed. We're just respawning." Dylan shook his head. "If our brains are plugged into a computer, how the hell are we gonna get out?"