The Rule of Thoughts

I've met some brave people in my life. And I've met some awfully stupid people. You're one of the rare ones that are both.

I don't give a crap if you're a Tangent or a really smart llama. You're my friend and that's all that matters

Stay smart and run. Sounds like a sweet life.

The world is changing

I'm programmed so that only you two can see my old Aura. Everyone else sees an entirely different guy. Boom. Amazing, I know.

The kicker was an image of Bryson, naked as the day he was born, being chased by seven mermaids that were so angry they had sprouted legs. He’d never admitted exactly what he’d done.

We are our thoughts and memories and personalities.

When’s a door not a door? she’d said in her thick accent. When? he’d asked When it’s ajar.

All you have to do is close your eyes and endure the … intense sensations you're about to experience." "You mean the unbearable pain,"Bryson muttered. "Pain that's going to make me cry.

That’ll be hilarious if he does all this, wakes up in some dude’s body, then gets hit by a bus the next day. I’d even go to his funeral.

These people will think their way around an ice cream cone before ever giving it a lick.

Everything he knew was a result of artificial intelligence. Manufactured data and memories. Programmed technology. A created life.

Listen, I'm not... Oh man, this is crazy. I can't do this.

have friends among the Tangents.’

True-blue, dyed-in-the-wool.

They talked for another hour. Bryson got coffee and pound cake for everyone, and they swapped stories, showed her things on Bryson’s old NetPad—even pulled out the ancient NetTab for a while to share some of the odd stories they’d researched about possible Tangent sightings around the world. Michael told Gabby about his old life, about his family, about Helga, about everything. Sarah brought her up to speed on Kaine and what he’d done to them. Bryson told her how they needed to get into the VNS and confront Agent Weber. They talked and talked and talked, and Gabby listened. Finally, as if they’d exhausted the English language, silence fell upon the table.

glimpse through the slats of a city mad with the day-to-day grind, moving and grooving. In a way he felt envious of those people, completely oblivious that a crazy

Usually he went stark naked to experience the full effects of the sensory elements within the Coffin.

His life was ridiculous.

Guess I’m not getting that burger any time soon.

And how did we get here?” Bryson added. “What happened to that town we were in? Where are we? And while we’re at it, where can I get a burger?

Michael didn’t know how or when it ended.

They’re eating her,” Bryson whispered, and Michael realized it was the creepiest thing he’d ever said.

they were the same smart-aleck, know-it-all, best-hackers-in-the-Sleep, teenage troublemakers they’d always been.

Groggy. Achy. My muscles feel like a granny’s.

the two of them were at a table, eating cereal. The kind with lots of marshmallows that lied and said it was good for you on the package.

Michael was not himself. He lay on the bed of a stranger,

Some of this stuff might be copycat work,