There was no transition from falling asleep in Meg’s bed, the gentle rocking of the boat sending him off, to standing with Meg, Tom and two other men he knew were named Jason and Yoshi.

They stood in front of a pair of A2 Warthog 4WD HMMVs. He was holding an HK MR762 with a 0-4X optic. It wasn’t a gun Paul had direct experience with but he knew that somehow he could strip it and reassemble it blindfolded. He was more a 5.56 guy than a 7.62 when he was still alive, but the ballistics tables for the heavier round were right there in his head. He didn’t like shooting guns he hadn’t prepped himself, but he knew this gun was utterly reliable in the same way he knew any of the guns in his safe were.

He looked at the vehicles and, in the same way, knew everything there was to know about them. He turned to his wife. She looked cute in jeans, an UnderArmor shirt with an LBV over it, shemaugh and aviator shades.

“Good morning,” he said to her.

She smiled back, “Good morning yourself.” She nodded at Paul’s gear. “Weird, huh? All the info is there, in your head.”

“Very weird,” he agreed.

Tom strolled over, “Client will be here momentarily.” He nodded to Jason and Yoshi. “This is the rest of the team.”

No introductions were necessary, Paul knew everything about them. Both were ex military, one a Marine one JGSDF, both solid and utterly reliable. He looked at Tom and more information came into his head about Tom. Yes he was NYPD but he hadn’t mentioned that he was NYPD ESU, the best of the best. The men nodded back at him. Paul assumed they just got bios of himself.

“Here’s the client,” Tom said, walking forward to introduce himself to her.

Surprisingly, the client was a woman. Young, Hispanic and very attractive.

“Well,” Meg said, raising an eyebrow.

“Looks like you don’t have to play girlfriend,” Tom said.

“Don’t be too sure,” she replied. “Look at her, do you find her attractive?”

“Yes, she’s very attractive,” Paul said.

“No, but do you want to jump her right now?” Meg asked.

“No, I mean in other circumstances…”

“Yeah, well I look at her and want to jump her. I’m actually getting wet.”

“Really?” Paul asked. “I mean I know you’re bi, or were bi, or…”

“Am, and no, it’s not because of that, you know that’s not how it works for me. It’s how The Sim preps us for what the client wants. Since you don’t find her unattractive I assume she’s bi, but given my reaction, she’s looking for love with a woman in Sim.”

“Oh wow,” Paul said.

“You OK with that big boy?” she replied.

“More than if it were a guy, so yes. I don’t suppose I’ll get to watch?” he asked her archly.

Meg snorted laughter. “Probably not but I’ll keep it in mind. If the memory doesn’t get deleted, I’ll tell you about it after.”

“But how does The Sim know?” he asked her while Tom was greeting the client.

“I’m guessing it’s reading her desires while she’s hooked in and adjusting the scenario based on them. At least that’s what Alexander says it does.”

Tom came over with the client.

“Team, this is Ani. Ani this is Yoshi, Jason, Paul and Meg.”

Ani was short, dark and pretty, wearing shorts and sturdy hiking boots. She had a sidearm that Paul didn’t recognize but The Sim knowledge in his head said was a SIG 10mm with a compensated barrel and holo sights. Tom and Meg carried the same weapon.

“Hello, nice to meet you all,” she said. “I’m looking forward to this very much!”

“Ani, you’ll ride with me, Meg and Paul. We’ve got a few hours of daylight left, just enough to get across the Shifting Desert if we don’t run into problems. I want to be out of the badlands before we set up for the night.”

Paul ‘knew’ he was supposed to take shotgun in the front with Tom, letting Med and Ani sit in the back. It was a little weird being a supporting player in someone else’s fantasy, especially when that fantasy involved a possible romance with your wife. The cognitive dissonance was high.

“Weird, right?” Tom murmured to him. “Being a sherpa and not Hillary.”

“I was just thinking that,” Paul whispered back.

“It gets easier. Think of yourself as a tour guide. It helps,” he nodded, then added louder for all, “Keep an eye out for predators on the road.”

The pulled out, following what appeared to be a dry wash through barren terrain.

The first hour was fairly uneventful. Meg and Ani were deep in conversation in the back of the truck. There was just enough wind noise that Paul couldn’t follow the conversation, which to his mind was probably for the best, because as time went on, from what he could hear, it became fairly flirtatious.

Paul caught movement off to his left. A head popped into view over the ridgeline. A large head, with a lot of large teeth.

“Shit, that’s a…” he started to say.

“T-Rex!” Tom shouted, flooring the pedal. “Action left!”

The Warthog lurched forward as did the one in trail and Paul knew this was his cue. He knelt up on the seat, taking the charging beast under fire with his rifle. He wasn’t sure what good a 7.62mm round was going to do against a multi-ton carnivore, but you work with what you’ve got. Maybe it would annoy it enough to cause it to break off.

Jason was engaging from the other Warthog so he figured he was doing the right thing. The truck hit a bump and he almost slipped off the seat. He knew that this was a fairly dangerous thing he was doing, but what was the worst that could happen? He’d die? He’d already done that, it was overrated.

The beast gained on the trailing Warthog before tiring and slowing down. They sped away.

“That was AMAZING!” Ani shouted! “So real! I even got hot brass on me from your gun!”

“Sorry about that,” Paul said, safeing his weapon and getting back into his seat. He swapped out his partially expended magazine for a fresh one.

“No, no, that’s fine! I don’t think I want to experience being T-Rex chow!” she laughed.

The rest of the ride was far less exhilarating. In a short time they reached the grasslands at the edge of the desert and a short time after that Tom stopped the Warthog and the other vehicle pulled up next to them.

“We’ll spend the night here and then set out overland to the west. This is as close as we can bring the vehicles. Jason, take first watch while the rest of us set up camp.”