It had barely taken a minute to hotwire the electronically secured door to the General's office, and once they stepped inside and it closed behind them again, he could feel the tension in her muscles relax a bit. She looked around and scanned the room briefly, before she settled down in front of the desk.

As she sank back into the chair and took a deep breath, Lars couldn't help but feel like it all had led up to this moment.

Do you believe in fate, Null? he asked her.

Fate? What do you mean?

He took control over their left hand to put it on the keyboard and hesitated another moment.

Well, fate, coincidence, call it what you will - what are the odds that we would end up here?

As she placed their other hand on the terminal, he could feel a shiver creep up as their skin made contact with the smooth surface. It moved up from their spine and along the back of their neck, while images appeared before their mind's eye. Memories of what had happened on Six, and Aneara. Memories of the beach in their mind. Evelyn's memories, which they had seen in their dreams. And a memory of how it had all begun: the moment a hunter of Orion's Reach had killed her on Thanatos 3.

And that I would end up here... with you, he added.

Another memory manifested inside their mind at his words. It came crawling out of the darkest corner, that strange black space that had once been his CPU.

It was a painful one, one that somehow hurt him even more now than it had back then. Everything had happened so fast, almost too fast for him to process, but not too fast to now clearly remember every detail of that moment. There had been no warning, no indication of a threat. Just a strange recall order. When they had disembarked the ship, a group of men wearing grey uniforms had already been waiting for them. One had raised a weapon and pointed it at him, and he had instantly recognized what it was – an EMP gun. In the split second before he had lost consciousness, the last thing he had seen was his Captain step in front of him, as if to protect him. A futile effort. The EMP had passed right through him, deactivating his augments, and deactivating Lars.

In a sense, Orion's Reach had killed both him and Null. And yet in an ironic turn of events, here they were, about to bring them down. They both had their reasons to hate these people. After their conversation on the beach during the fight on Six, he had found it a bit easier to deal with this human emotion, but he wondered now how much of that hatred he felt for them was truly hers, as she claimed.

Null shook her head softly, and the memory scurried back into its dark corner like an insect fleeing the light.

The odds... I don't know. Probably not very high. Then again, what are the odds to survive one's own death? Repeatedly? she thought, and her lips curled upward in a faint smile.

We've really become quite good at that, haven't we, he noted.

There was something else he wanted to say. Even after all this time, they still didn't share everything, and she would never know if he didn't find a way to spell it out. He couldn't quite tell yet if he felt more uncomfortable about hiding it from her, or telling her. Either way, he suddenly found himself unable to give any shape or substance to his thoughts all of a sudden, and so the words hung unspoken in the subatomic space between them.

Well...let's get on with it, she suggested, interrupting his mulling. Before we get another chance to try our luck at not dying...

He shook off his strange thoughts and proceeded with the hack. As most of his self slipped out of her body and into the cyberspace of the computer, he could feel her presence following him for a short part of the way, until it came to a halt behind him as he crossed the border of the body and the outside. She never followed him outside, claiming that it was impossible for her. Perhaps she really couldn't, but right now, he had a feeling that she wished she could.

Hey Lars, she called out to him.

There was a bit of a delay now between their communications. For two beings that were used to occupying the same space most of the time, the distance of less than a meter that information had to travel between Null's brain and the terminal already made a difference. But he could still feel her, in a strange, non-physical sense. That feeling was like a lifeline, tethering him to the body.

Yes? he replied.

I'm glad.

About what?

That I ended up here. With you.

He smiled to himself, and an inexplicable feeling of warmth welled over across the connection to the body.  He would have liked to indulge in this feeling a bit longer, but he reminded himself that they were still on a mission, and he had work to do. So he began to explore the space around him, slowly and carefully, trying to make out the architecture of the space and any potential threats from security programs. But ever since the Purge, there weren't many AIs around, and the fear that they might maliciously invade personal computers and networks was a thing of the past. Even the General of Orion's Reach didn't seem particularly concerned about such a threat, so Lars found it easy to move through the cyberspace of his terminal.

He expanded his presence and began to sift through the files. Evading the minimal security with ease, he quickly found that the challenge was indeed not to get in, but to find what they were looking for among the enormous amounts of data that seemed to fill this place, like skyscrapers towering above him.

His mind had adapted to living in an organic space, but whenever he accessed cyberspace again, it felt like returning home after a long time away. And yet, he didn't consider this inorganic world with its ones and zeros, with its jagged edges and hyper-dimensional structures his home any longer. His home was lying behind him now, outside of this terminal, within the colorful space that was Null's brain.

Nonetheless, he still maneuvered cyberspace near effortlessly, and sifted through the data at high speed. When he finally found something, he was left speechless for a moment.

Are you okay? Null asked. Her intangible voice echoed through the space around him, carrying a worried tone.

Yes... he whispered. It's just... a lot more than expected.

Lists appeared before him, rushing past in a flood of glowing numbers and letters at a harrowing pace. Names of great houses and big families, sums of money larger than what most people would own in their entire life time.

Orion's Reach has a lot of wealthy sponsors it seems... he commented.

We need proof, she reminded him. Anything that hints at the fact that this is hush money.

What should I look for? he asked, skimming over the information, trying to spot anything unusual, or some kind of pattern.

She pondered for a moment.

Look for Riga's name. He kept me hidden all those years... And Dixon claimed that he bought my body. So surely his name must be there, somewhere.

Her voice was strained, but also strangely wistful as she spoke. He doubled his efforts. The sooner he could go back to her, the better.

Found it... he said.

It was Riga's name, a hefty sum, and a twelve digit code of letters and numbers. He had seen others like it, and he quickly spotted a pattern. He began to sort through the lists again, filtering out those transfers that matched Riga's. And once he had figured out the codes, he found more connections, running between the files like the silken threads of a hyper-dimensional spider web. He tugged at those lines, and a ripple seemed to run through the intricate structure.

His time in an organic body had made him appreciate the beauty of chaos, but his inorganic mind still felt tremendous delight whenever information arranged itself before him in a concise and clear pattern. But as the complex data structure unraveled before him, and he caught a first glimpse of what it contained, he felt his euphoria sink. There were records on hundreds of people, specifying the nature of their augments, evaluating their financial status, and including payment intervals.

Orion's Reach was a massive extortion business. And the extent of it surpassed anything he would have ever expected.

This is it, he whispered. The proof that Neo-Tokyans are paying Orion's Reach. That there's still augments among them. If we make any of this public...

So money can buy anything in this world, huh? Null's thoughts were a low growl. To think that people like Ann had to die, while those bastards get to...

At her words, he directed his attention back to the connection between them. He had been busy with the hack, but now he could feel the rage that was boiling inside of her. It was like a searing heat wave, radiating outward from her presence all the way into this space. But as quickly as it had welled up, she contained it again. Lars was reminded of their conversation on the beach during the fight on Six again, and he realized that she was probably doing this for his sake.

Null, it's okay if you-

Focus, she ordered, sounding tense. Take whatever you can find with you. I'll watch your back.

He could feel her move, and while their right hand stayed connected to the terminal she began to search the drawers of the desk with their left now.

He returned his attention on the data before him again, and realized that the higher order matrix it presented itself as was probably imperceptible for a human mind. He would not be able to take that back with him, and even if he had found a way, he would probably not be able to decipher it all properly once he was in an organic space. So he began to rearrange the data to make it easier to comprehend and copy over. After a while, he noticed something strange.

Null? Take a look at this...

He handed the small piece of information back to her, passing it along the connection between them. He could feel a furrow form on her brow in the real world.

Orion's Reach transferred money to Lazarus? she asked in confusion. But why? Wouldn't it make more sense that Lazarus would pay the Reach, to keep them form busting their business? Why the other way round?

Your guess is as good as mine, Lars said.

He went back to the data matrix, and began to pursue the connections from those transfers, expanding his search to the whole file structure once more.

I found something related. 'Project Purity', he read the title of the folder.

He stole a quick peek, trying to determine if it was worthwhile to copy. He had amassed so much data already that he wished they had brought a memory chip. Null's mind wasn't built to retain so much information, and while he could keep a lot in the part of their mind that was made up of the CPU, he still had to essentially funnel it through her to get to that space. At this rate, it might lead to more than just a mild headache.

Purity... The apex of human evolution... Organic perfection... A body, unblemished by the touch of technology..., he read from the file. It's about their philosophy that humanity has to transcend their dependence on technology. A 'Purification' to rid everyone from the influence of anything non-organic.

Large talk for an organization that makes their home in a ventilated bunker with artificial gravity on a planet that can't even be accessed if you don't pass through a huge ass orbital ring station, Null snarled.

Another wave of heat seemed to roll over him, and he shuddered at her anger.

Fucking hypocrites. Sending out their goons to hurt little children, to kill people who are just trying to survive, talking shit about 'purity', and at the same time pocketing money from those Neo-Tokyan assholes who get to keep their augments, just because they have money... Damn them all... bastards...

But what does Lazarus have to do with it? Lars interrupted her angry rant. He looked over the files and their connections again, wondering if he had missed something. He couldn't make sense of just the records of the sums that had been transferred.

Wouldn't their business model be completely counterproductive to the goal of this Purification?

You're right, she said.

He could sense that she was breathing deeply to regain her composure. She scanned their environment for a moment, to make sure nobody was on their tracks, and they still had time.

Keep looking. There must be a hint somewhere.

Most of it is propaganda, he reported as he looked through the files in the folder on Project Purity more closely now. They seemed to flutter around him like leaves, whirling around in a violent storm, as he skimmed over their contents at high speed.

It's essentially the final step of the Purge, he explained. I wonder if these people realize that once they get rid of all the augments, they're all out of jobs. Then again, many of them were augments themselves when they began to hunt them. They're probably not the smartest members of the human species...

Wait! Null called out.

He stopped all of his actions, the fluttering data fragments around him coming to a standstill.

What's this? she asked.

He hadn't noticed that she had been paying such close attention to what he was doing. It seemed like she had been peering over his shoulder, but in fact, she had probably just picked up on something that had seemed to whir past at the back of her mind.

Right there! She exclaimed.

Lars took a closer look at the file she pointed out.

Project Astraea, he read.

I know that name, she said in a flat voice. I don't know why, but... I know it.

A strange tingling sensation ran through their body, spreading across the connection and causing his presence in the cyberspace to flicker for a moment. He knew that name too. But he didn't know why. And that was odd, because he had perfect recollection, and should have remembered easily where he had heard it before.

Hm. It has an additional encryption. I might need a minute, he said.

While he worked on cracking the lock that kept him from accessing the contents, he could feel that she was mulling over the word 'Astraea', but to no avail. He briefly considered splitting a part of his self to conduct a network search, but before he could make that decision, the lock opened, and he could access the file.

Station maps... he described what he saw. These don't match the ones we retrieved earlier. There's more underground than we thought... You think they might be storing tech down there?

I don't know. Bring it along. We'll go and see for ourselves.

As he tried to isolate the files from the rest of the whirling mess to get better access to it, something else seemed to trail along. Another folder, encrypted as well.

Would you look at that, he exclaimed, tracing back the connections that clung to the file like old cobwebs.

Looks like... This is what Orion's Reach paid Lazarus for... 'Lazarus XY'.

He could feel her tense up, and her presence inside their mind seemed to tremble. The motion spread across the lifeline and took hold of him, filling him with an inexplicable sense of dread and despair.

Lars. I... I don't think that this is a coincidence. Something is wrong here. Very, very wrong.

What's going on? What's wrong?

Come back. We need to leave. NOW.

The agitation in her voice caused him to rush, and he hauled back the information he had retrieved along the connection without further structuring it. As he jumped across the gap separating the cyberspace form her body, they could feel a jolt of static electricity, but the new wires held out. The moment she let go of the terminal, the rest of his self flicked back into place inside her mind like a snapping rubber band.

She recoiled from the terminal with a moan of pain escaping her lips.

Are you okay? he asked her.

He tried to orient himself among her thoughts and emotions while he shoved the information into the dark space of their mind, to deal with it later. Null was agitated, but didn't really seem to know why herself. And just like he had feared, a throbbing headache spread through their mind now, like a curtain of fog dulling the vibrant, nameless colors of the organic space.

She brought up their hand to their nose, and it came back red with blood. She stared at it like paralyzed for a moment.

Null, are you okay? he repeated.

Physically, he could tell they weren't exactly peachy, but he was more worried about her state of mind.

Yeah, she finally said in a flat voice. We need to go.

They rose to their feet and turned to leave, but she got up too fast and the world around them seemed to spin away. He reached out and held on to the edge of the table to keep them from keeling over. Through the dull curtain that seemed to obscure his view of the outside word now, something caught his attention, like a flickering light at the corner of their eyes – a warning from their scanner. But it came too late.

The door slammed open. Reflexively, he surged to the forefront of their mind and took control of the body. He whirled around, pulling out their guns and pointing them at the people who had entered the room, but it was a futile effort. He was still dizzy, he was too slow.

Standing in the center of the group of Hunters, Sergeant Meyer had a faint smile on his lips as he pointed an EMP gun at them, and fired.