| Peripherals, Pt. 1 |

Arufa and Skyler ripped through the fog of the Underside on artificial gravity, flying over broken sidewalks and old buildings. The whole city was a blur—and yet, for some inexplicable reason, not a person wondered its streets.

“Hey, Arufa… I’m dizzy. Can we stop?”

She let out a sharp exhale and turned down her AG. “not for long, unless you want Ghiles to catch us.”

“Thanks.”

When they reached the grimy rooftops, they each took a few extra steps to slow down their momentum. Arufa found herself exhausted—mentally and physically. Her thought process was clogged with existential dread.

Skyler tapped her on the shoulder, similarly doubtful. “Why are you so worried he’s going to catch us? He’s tied up and knocked out, right?”

“Knocked out? Yeah. Tied up, maybe not,” she said. “We’re in a simulation, Skyler. The laws of physics might not apply here…”

“Ah– well– they’ve gotta be… coded in or something, right?”

“Doesn’t matter. Maybe Ghiles could just leave.”

They hung their head and groaned. “…I don’t think I believe you about this simulation thing, honestly. Love ya, Rufa, but you’re talkin’ wack.”

Arufa felt a twinge of heartbreak. It had to be right. It was the only way anything made sense anymore. I just have to find a way to prove it. Knowing Sky, they won’t budge until I make them believe it.

“How do you explain all the people disappearing, then?” she asked. “The streets are just empty, dude. That doesn’t happen.”

Skyler pointed off the building’s ledge. “Then who are they down there?”

She looked. Absolutely no one. “I don’t see anyone.”

“Oh! I get it. You’re not crazy, you’re just blind,” Skyler said. “Try rubbing your eyes and actually looking this time.”

Arufa, mortified at the prospect that her revolution was a falsehood, rubbed her eyes and slowly looked over the edge again. Maybe I’m crazy. That might be it.

And then she saw the crowd. The streets bustled with the normal chaos of Underside. She blinked again; they disappeared.

“They’re in our heads,” she whispered.

“Wha– you’re kidding, Arufa.”

“The crowds are fake. They’re in your head. C’mon, I’ll prove it.” With a quick dash, Arufa hopped over the gutter and activated her AG, floating to street level. Skyler, in utter disbelief, followed.

The road was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, at least for Skyler. Arufa had no trouble moving around freely—she dragged them with her through the invisible crowd and turned to face them.

“Sky, talk to any of them. Like we used to steal wallets, you know?”

“Um… okay…”

“what are you waiting for? Quick, c’mon.”

They approached what, to Arufa, appeared to be thin air. “Hey, sir. How’s your day going?”

Silence.

“Oh, Overside? Didn’t know we had so many commuters.”

Silence, again. Arufa let out a big laugh and walked towards them. She placed herself right where the man would be standing and watched Skyler panic.

“You– walked through– wha– how…?!”

“They’re not real. It’s a simulation. You have to believe me.”

They closed their eyes. When they opened them again, it was as if they’d seen for the first time. “They’re all gone.”

“Exactly. It’s a placebo,” Arufa replied. “There was a city. So we just… assumed there were people there.”

Skyler, bewildered, turned their gaze to the sky, where flying cars and AG machinery floated overhead. “And what about the cars?”

Her eyebrow twitched. “They’re real. Just no one in the cockpit, is all. There were cars, so we assumed there were drivers.”

“So… it’s all just been us tricking ourselves?”

“I don’t know.”

“And we have to end it somehow?”

“I don’t know.”

“do you think we’ll die if we end it?”

“I don’t know, okay?!” Arufa shouted. “This shit is messing me up! I’m trying to figure it out, so just… stop asking questions!”

Skyler went quiet. They averted their eyes to the ground. “I… I’m sorry. I have another question.”

She took a deep breath. “What now?”

“You said we had to go to the X2 Monument. Why?”

Arufa nodded and turned around, taking another calming breath as she watched the white, polygonal monolith in the distance. “I have a feeling that Marsia and Locri were also real.”

“And you think the lag happened because of them?” Skyler asked.

“I think the simulation can only take three people interacting at a time. Which is why the four of us made it lag out.”

Skyler pounded their fist into their palm. “Which is why Ghiles wants to keep us away from them…”

“…Because if he doesn’t, we’ll crash the simulation,” Arufa finished their sentence. “But now we’re back to the question you were asking.”

“Yeah. Whether crashing it will kill us.”

“And that, I don’t have an answer for. But I can tell you this,” she said. “Ghiles is our only problem right now. That makes five of us in the simulation. He was obviously more focused on us two, so Marsia and Locri should be at the Monument around the same time.”

“So we go back and explain what’s happening to them?”

“Right. And, granted I’m good enough at explaining, we’ll be out. Or dead.”

Skyler checked their watch. “It’s eleven-twenty. We met them around eleven-forty. We need to get over there now.”

Arufa smirked. “Fastest path between two points is a straight line. Those buildings aren’t real. Let’s go.”

She immediately broke into a sprint in the direction of the Monument, despite being blocked by several towers. With zero hesitation, she phased right through the wall, feeling a shiver crawl down her spine as the hairs on her arm brushed its hard surface.

Skyler following close behind, the two made their way to the Underside Monument. What little AG they had ran out shortly, so they continued to run, no longer burdened by the concept of physical strain.

It’s hard to tell how close we are, but I can’t stop to check. Plus, there’s the chance Ghiles wakes up any second and resets our memories all over. There’s the chance that’s already happened a million times. If I’ve had my memory reset so much, who even am I?

And poor Skyler. They’re not much younger than me, but I can tell they’re not handling this well. And to be fair, neither am I. The only reason I’m not going through denial is because if I were, I would be running full-sprint into a metal wall right now.

If I can just get to Marsia in time, we can end this once and for all. I just have to keep–

“Help!”

Arufa skidded to a halt and turned around. Skyler, wildly flailing their arms, was halfway through the dirty ground and holding on to an office power cord. On instinct, she grabbed onto their hand and pulled them up.

“The ground’s not real! Arufa, nothing is real!” they cried, kicking their legs.

“No, the ground is real. You’re overthinking it.”

“But–”

“Real bad idea to have an existential crisis in a simulation. C’mon, feet on the ground, Sky. We have to go.”

Skyler’s shoes touched the floor as she set them down. It took them a moment to fully regain their footing, balancing on the scan lines over the concrete below.

“You good?”

“I don’t feel good.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to be. we don’t have time.”

A few minutes later, Arufa crossed the threshold of the last building before the Monument. It stood before her in shining silver glory—just because it wasn’t real didn’t mean it wasn’t beautiful. She’d grown up with it, or she believed she had, anyways.

Entering the surrounding park, Arufa checked the time: 11:39. They’d made it; she sighed with relief. Her vision flickered with a wireframe of the world around her, neon rays outlining all of X2. But she didn’t focus on that. She focused on her memories of tonight, before time rewound.

“Skyler, you found a twenty right around here last time. Maybe you spoke it into existence or whatever, but if you find it, we’re on the right track.”

“I… it’s right here.” They bent over and plucked a bill from the ground. “Right where it was last time.”

“Great. Let’s go and find the other two.”

“Arufa, stop. Why is the simulation breaking down when we think about it?”

“Skyler, if I knew, I would tell you.”

“Do you have a guess?”

Arufa grimaced, glancing around in hopes the idol and her bodyguard would soon arrive. She sat down on a nearby bench. “You know how everything seems really clear when you look at it?”

Skyler sat beside her. “No. Not anymore.”

“I don’t mean metaphorically, Sky. Just… physically, looking at the horizon. You can see it clearly, right?”

“It’s blocked out by the buildings. But yeah.”

“Now think about how much you can actually see. Think about your peripheral vision.”

Their lips quivered. “…It’s so blurry.”

“When you notice it, it feels a little like betrayal. We can only really see a tiny little point in the center. But our brain makes up the details everywhere else.”

“…” Skyler remained quiet looking out at the foggy night sky. Even simulated, it still stirred some emotion.

“That’s my guess. Our brains made up details about the world. But now that we’re thinking about it, they’re blurry like our peripherals. And… our future’s blurry, too.”

“Are we gonna die?” Skyler asked, voice shaky.

Arufa turned her head down, hiding her grief. “I think it’s a real possibility… and I think we’re gonna have to accept that.”

Suddenly, a massive gust of wind rushed past the two of them. Above their heads, a line of holographic railroad tracks laid themselves. Atop the tracks was an oncoming train, a subway, rocketing through the night sky.

They’re on that train. Arufa could sense it. She shot up and spun as it passed over them, then watched two figures struggle to jump off. A glittery black dress caught her eye as Marsia tumbled through the air, landing a mess in the grass. Locri landed upright beside her.

Immediately, Arufa began to dash towards them. She didn’t know how much time they’d have. She hoped it’d be enough. And more than anything, she hoped she’d live to see the other side. now, reaching out a hand, she called the name she’d somehow always known.

“Marsia!”