Chapter Three
The Signal
Ruby cries out, gasping for air as if she had just been brought back to life, ripping the hologram projection mask from her face. Clutching at her body, she checks that it’s still intact inside the military combat hologram projection unit. Everything she had just experienced felt totally real. Her eyes blink rapidly, and her heart races in panic as she tries to reorient herself back inside the room.
“Medic!” shouts a marine.
A droid nurse hurries into the room. “The patient is going into hypershock! Initiate recovery protocol,” the nurse orders. More droids enter. Quickly, she hooks Ruby up to a hovering monitor and injects her with a calming serum.
The marines in the hologram projection unit wrench their masks from their faces and frantically feel their bodie
