Page 31 of The Syphon King

“But you see she’s changed,” Seer said, bringing Bishop’s nods.

“Oui. I think her lil’ vacation at the weigh stationcontributed to that. And I’m grateful. For her sake, for my daughter’s sake and now my brother’s.”

“That’srealgood to hear, Brother.”

Bishop eyed him. “You said that with a great deal of relief.”

“Yes, I did. Because the devil had plans to use that against you. He may still. So, be on your guard.”

He couldn’t imagine how. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

“What about our Syphon friend, how’s he doing?” Bishop asked.

The question brought Seer to a standstill as he stared before him. “I’m concerned about what I’m seeing with him. Or the ambiguity of it.”

“Anything you can speak about?”

He barely shook his head, staring at the predicament in his mind. “Something...very strange is coming his way.”

“Strange how?”

He regarded Bishop, perturbed. “It’s like...I can’t evenfathomit into thoughts, much less words.”

“He in some kind of danger?”

“He is. But I get nothing of substance regarding those details. He’s in God’s hands at this point,” he said, raising both of his up. “I’m not allowed to touch it.”

Interesting.

They ended at the door leading to the pool area and peeked in. “There they are,” Bishop said. “The breath in our lungs.”

Seer peered in, that adolescent grin back on his face. “And our light in the dark.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

8-Bit eyed the three Kings, mentally recalling their names. Thakx, Vex and Krovax. Vex protected the scape, Krovax locked it and...Thakx did something. “Would you mind if I call my AI assistants and have them listen in on the conversation?” 8-Bit asked. “This would allow them to advise us of possible solutions now rather than later.”

The three Kings regarded each other before the middle one—Vex he thought—nodded.

He pulled his phone out and hit their app, getting them on speaker.

“Big Daddy,” Al answered.

“You’re on speaker. I’m with the Creole Kings. Big G?”

“Present.”

“I have King Vex, Krovax and Thakx here with a problem. They have something they refer to as a Dreamscape, similar to our virtual scape. All thirteen Kings connect to one another through neuro interfacing and use their cognitive gifts to locate other gifted individuals.”

“Fascinating,” Big G said.

“Yes. And recently, their brother King Rukem slept walk and created his own program in the Dreamscape that none of the other Kings can get in. We need to figure out what he’s done and how, then find a way to access it.”

“It would seem Rukem’s dreamscape operates on a combination of neural activity and subconscious creativity. Perhaps by mapping his brain patterns, we can gain insight into how he constructed and navigates this virtual realm.”

“Then,” Al said. “With our advanced neuroimaging techniques, we can reconstruct the dreamscape’s architecture and simulate its environment within our virtual reality platform. This would allow us to explore its intricacies and identify any hidden mechanisms at play.”

---