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construct. Downloading all the information he could, Marz swiveled back to the dentist's chair, expecting to find Tech's hands back on the joystick. Instead they were raised to his shoulders.
    “Tech, what the—”
    Tech's right hand flashed a signal that he was all right, despite the plain fact that someone or something other than Tech was doing the flying.
    Tech could imagine Marz's bewilderment, but he was in no position to put his brother at ease. The gremlin had dropped him into a bright-red shaft that bore a sickening resemblance to an artery, to the bottom of which Tech was now hurtling at incalculable speed. Close behind, the shadow— Scaum—was like crude oil racing through a pipeline, but losing distance with each passing nanosecond.
    Tech wanted to say or do something, but he felt completely outside himself, a spectator to all that was occurring. The still unidentified gremlin had also fallen silent, but was continuing to demonstrate its mastery of cyberspace by taking the Baron through loops and rolls Tech wouldn't have thought possible. Then, all at once, he was out of the shaft and back on the grid, though so far from the Ribbon he might as well have been in the Wilds.
    A glance at the rearview window revealed that the shadow was nowhere to be seen.
    Marz's panicked voice shook him back to awareness.
    “Tech, the EPA got a location trace on us! Data torpedoes incoming! We gotta log out!”
    Tech glanced at the neon-blue gremlin, which gazed back at him.
    “Thanks for the lift,” the gremlin said.
    With that, the bloated cybercreature detached itself from the wing and went streaking off toward the Wilds. Unburdened, the Baron soared to a higher level, handling like its old self once again. Tech powered the biplane through a long bank and made for the Ribbon.
    With the Peerless Castle back in sight, he let his brother guide him to the nearest exit port. In a mere five seconds, the visor went from Network-active to transparent mode. The instant the visor cleared, Tech clamped his left hand around the lever that elevated the back of the dentist's chair and shot to his feet.
    He wasn't a step from the chair when the cybersystem loosed a computerized
screeech,
and a storm of blue electricity began to gambol and coruscate across the stainless-steel console, which promptly buckled and belched a mushroom cloud of white smoke.

Chapter 4
    Felix McTurk—slim, dark-haired, and slightly goofy-looking despite his thirty-four years—gave a sharp downward tug to the narrow lapels of his plaid sports jacket as he exited the elevator that had conveyed him to the sixty-fifth floor of the Empire State Building.
    This was going to be the first day of his new life he promised himself as he strode with uncharacteristic confidence toward his office at the far end of the hallway. Things were going to take a turn for the better. No more worrying about his dwindling bank account, his confused love life, or the fact that the past decade hadn't turned out exactly as planned. In short, no more negative thinking. Work would pick up, he would pay off all his debts and outstanding violations, and good fortune would shine on him like never before.
    Optimism alone was enough to painta broad smile on his face. But the smile began to falter as he passed by the Sentinel Insurance Agency, and from behind its heavy hardwood doors came voices raised in dismay, along with a smell of smoldering electronics.
    Felix felt his stomach knot, but he quickly regained his composure.
    After all, what could Sentinel's woes have to do with him?
    His smile returned—though he did have to coax it a bit.
    The glass-paneled door to his office read: FELIX MCTURK, DATA DISCOVERIES: MISSING PERSONS, MISPLACED PROPERTY, DISAPPEARED INFORMATION. He took hold of the doorknob, but didn't turn it. Instead he cupped his left hand to his ear and leaned against the pebbled-glass panel. Loud humming and whirring noises greeted him, but he heard none of the usual bass