Jasper was running, on his way to somewhere.  It was important that he be there, for a reason he had forgotten, and the pace of his breathing tore his sides raggedly.  He was late, he wasn’t going to make his destination, and he was terrified of the consequences.  The street ran endlessly away from him, leading on under flashes of neon toward a brilliant green and gold glow in the distant sky.  And as he stumbled gasping to a halt he watched the far off glow recede farther.  “No!”  He cried aloud, reaching out and running again until he stumbled once more.
     Looking around in desperation his eyes lit on a cycle parked only a few feet away.  He got to his feet and trotted over; it was a new Trifold Series Hammer.  He glanced about uncertainly, unable and unwilling to believe his good fortune.  He was alone with the bike, as alone as he had been while running.
     He straddled the monster, put on the helmet he found nestled in the tail-cubby and looked over the controls for an ignition switch.  There came a distant rumble behind from which he knew he should flee and his search redoubled with a frantic desperation.  The glow ahead was nearly gone.  Jasper realized with a sinking heart that the bike was a ‘jack only’ and he sat frozen with indecision.
     The rumble intensified.  He cringed, pulling back from the controls as a black-suited rider pulled a second cycle beside his.  He was ready to run, to jump off and go somewhere, anywhere.  He was ready to fight or bluff or cry his way away from the rider.  He was ready for anything, except the stranger’s reaction.  A gloved hand slid the visor of the stranger’s helmet upward to reveal the widest green eyes.
     “What are you afraid of?”  She gunned the engine and raced off with the scream of smoking tires.
     “Wait!”  But Espy was already gone.  He stared hopelessly into the fading glow and took a look back over his shoulder.  The neon lights were winking out one by one, swallowed by an inky darkness racing to catch him.  There was nothing to be seen in the black, and with a gasp he took the bike’s control wire in shaking fingers and plugged himself in.
     He fired up the engine and rolled forward.  He gunned his motor, raced down the street that became a blur on each side and still the dark came closer.  The distant light was nothing but a dot of indistinct color, and he knew he was too slow.  He slammed his throttle wide open with a thought, kicked in his afterburner, and pushed himself to the limit.  He was lighter than air, stronger than plas-steel, veins filled with nitrous fuel and a body sleek and low.  He controlled the might of the machine; he was the machine.  He...
     He tried to scream, throwing himself sideways, wheels screech-arcing golden streams of fire as his cowlings shredded in the stress.  He was shifting, sliding sideways, turning over, going down... Sensors told of terrible damage.  The fenders were shredding.  Hoses and cables were snapping.  The frame bent, popped and burst into flame as power linkages pulled asunder, his indicators going from green to red.  But none of them told him what he most wanted to know.
     He looked over his still spinning rear wheel desperately seeking where his body... his meat body had fallen, and could not see it anywhere.  His agonized scream came from nowhere, torn from a soul lost in shattered machinery.  He watched in helpless terror, begging legs that were not there to move as the wave of suffocating black blotted out all things.  The wall filled his sight, rose impossibly high, and then crashed over, swallowing him completely.
     He waited for the endless screaming that never came.  With stunned relief he opened his eyes to see... what?  A light without source filled his view; he was standing on an endlessly flat surface.  He raised his hand before his face and sobbed openly that he had a hand with which to do so.
     Doc coughed behind him.  He started to laugh and then turned incredulously.  His red headed friend smiled and shook his head.  “Jasper.  You’re looking well.  What?  You’ve got nothing to say?”
     Jasper felt his jaw working as he gaped like a fish.  “Doc? You... you... you’re dead.  But you’re dead.”
     “Am I really now?  Looks like someone forgot to tell me.”  The humorous drawl matched the twinkle in his eye.
     Jasper fell backward, dropping on his rear like a rock.  “I... I don’t believe it.  This isn’t happening.”  But the man walked up to him and crouched, giving him an easy smile.
     “What’s not to believe?  You’re here, I’m here.  You ain’t dead are ya?”
     Wide eyed, Jasper stammered, “I don’t know.”  Out of nowhere came a slap that rocked his jaw.  “Holy hell!  Damn Doc!  What was that for?”
     Doc snorted.  “You think you’re dreamin?  That I ain’t real?  You think you’d feel that little tap if you was dead?”
     Rubbing his face, Jasper shook his head.  “That was hardly a little tap, Doc.”
     “Damn right.  And you’ll get yourself another if you don’t wise up boy.  You been wonderin round with your head in the fog, and if you don’t clear it up dem ladies are gonna pay the price.”
     “Like you did Doc!?  Is that it?  I’m going to get them killed too?”  He stopped and gave his friend the eye.  Doc had his hand raised once again, but after a long moment of study he lowered it.
     “Ain’t you figured it out yet boy?  The only one to pay the tab is the one who made the damn thing.  It’s up to the man to say where he goes and who he follows.”
     “That’s no excuse.  A leader has to...”
     “Has to what?  Bleed and die before his people?  You did the best you could.  That’s all you can do.”
     “But you died Doc!”
     “Did you see a body?”
     The question shocked him.  “I... I wish I had.”
     Doc clapped his shoulder and smiled softly.  “I know old friend.  Just remember, it ain’t over till it’s over.  How do you know that life is all there is?”
     Jasper looked down but smiled back.  “I don’t.”
     “That’s right.  You remember that no one’s got all the answers.  Especially not you.”  

     Especially not you. The words echoed in his ears as his eyes popped open.  There was a weight just behind his head that shifted and he looked upward, straight into the widest green eyes.  He gave Espy a sleepy smile.
     “Good morning Jasp.”  She appeared concerned, stroking his hair while peering into his face.  “You all right?”
     He stretched, worked at kinks and yawned.  “Uh huh.  Had a dream.  I’m all right, really.  Didn’t you sleep?”
     She cocked her head and gave a small shrug.  “I’ll make do.  Dreaming huh?  It must have been a bad one.”
     He dropped his eyes.  “What makes you say that?”
     “You were thrashing hard, trying to run somewhere.”  He gave a guilty flinch, eyes cutting to the side where she slept, but she smiled gently. “It’s okay.  Care to share?”
     He stayed quiet for a while, rubbing the wire line under his skin.  Finally he said, “I don’t really remember.  I was chasing you, I think.”  He waited a little longer and then shifted.  “Where’s Rika?”  A look of disappointment flitted across her face, and he silently cursed himself. Smooth, he thought. Where else would she be?  
     But the moment passed.  “I think she’s not working yet.  You want something to eat?”
     He slid out of the bed, straightening his clothes.  “Yeah sure.  I got to ask her something and then I’ll help.”
     She gave him a sad smile.  “Take your time.”