All at once Barry found himself standing at the edge of a grove of trees – poplars arrayed in their autumn hues. A soft wind blew, rustling the leaves. Veronica stood at his side, holding his hand.

“Make sure you don’t let go,” she said, indicating the point of physical contact which they’d established. Barry smiled. He wouldn’t have dreamed of letting go.

Patterns of diffuse afternoon light ebbed out around them as they walked slowly through the grove holding hands. The blue sky above only poked through in tiny patches.

“What a lovely place this is,” Barry said. “Did you make it yourself?”

Veronica nodded, with a shyness unusual to her. “Yes, I’m running a fairly complex sim here actually. It’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Barry was intrigued. “What sort of sim is it? What are you running?”

Veronica didn’t say anything for a moment, just looked ahead as the grove began to clear slightly.

“A tech,” she said.

Barry stopped in his tracks.

“You mean a TOTU tech?”

Veronica tugged his hand forward, “Yes.”

“You know that’s against the covenant, don’t you?”

“Yes, Barry,” Veronica said slowly. “But the Darlings have no jurisdiction here.”

“Maybe not, but I can still get in a lot of trouble as mayor for helping you if Mr. Blue Sky finds out what’s going on.”

“Shush!” She said, pointing upwards. They walked to the edge of the grove and looked out onto a circular field of grass.

In the center of it lay a man sleeping. By the length of his beard, Barry guessed that he had been dozing here many years.

Veronica squeezed Barry’s hand and announced, “We’re going to wake him up!”

“How?”

Veronica lifted up her skirt, “With this.”