"Is there anything you can do?" asked Galen.

"I'm afraid not," said the Captain "Eventually the reactor will vent all your antimatter and your whole system will shut down."

"How long do we have?" asked Galen.

"Dr. Kang estimates a little less than 5 years," said the Captain.

"That is sad," said Galen "It doesn't seem like enough. But how much time is enough?"

"So you still plan to go back in?" asked the Captain.

"Of course," said Galen.

"You'll die," said the Captain.

"Everyone dies, Alexandria," said Galen.

* * *

Dr. Kang arrived on the Armstrong and headed straight for the bridge.

"Well, I'm here," he said as he entered, rubbing his hands together "Where's the patient?"

"I feel obligated to point out that engram manipulation research has been illegal under Huxley Foundation law since the Dark Age," said Gibson.

"You seem to be forgetting, Commander, I have been disavowed by the Foundation. I am a rogue villain, a genuine mad scientist and now no laws restrain my genius," replied Kang, sporting his trademark smug grin.

"Captain, is this really the side you're taking here?" asked Gibson.

"We may have inadvertently harmed these people, Commander," said the Captain "All we can do now is try and respect their wishes. This is not Foundation space. Our laws don't apply here. If this is what they want and Dr. Kang can give it to them then who am I to stop him?"

"You're the Captain of the ship," said Gibson "And when you say 'they' I assume you mean 'he'."

"That's enough, Commander," said Littlecrow.

"This is pretty gross, Captain," said Mitzner.

"This isn't for us to judge anymore," said the Captain "Do you think I like this idea? Do you think I support it? I think it's a terrible waste of life. I agree with every law we are breaking. But these people have a right to their own way of life and if Professor Myron wants to return to it then we have a moral duty to help him. We're the ones who pulled him out."

"Splendid," said Dr. Kang "Then let's plug this fool back into his delusion machine and wipe every trace of reality help in his brain."

"These two I owe an explanation to," said the Captain "You do as your told."

"I said 'splendid'," said Dr. Kang.

* * *

The airlock opened with a hiss and Galen disembarked the shuttle with Dr. Kang. McAfree wasn't far behind, carrying a load of equipment. Wagner was already waiting nearby for them. As soon as she saw him McAfree dropped the bag of equipment into Wagner's arms.

"Follow me," said Dr. Kang, who walked quickly and never waited for people to catch up.

He lead the group to the tower of life support pods from which they originally extracted Galen. One of the pods, maybe it was the one he had been in originally, had been lowered to the ground and had it's top open.

"Hey," said McAfree, jumping into Galen's line of sight "Don't feel awkward just because when we pulled you out of the life support pod I saw your penis."

"I don't," said Galen, raising an eyebrow.

"Good because you shouldn't," said McAfree, grinning "Even though I did. Now strip."

"What?" asked Galen.

"Do you think we're putting you back in the pod in that suit? We've already established that I've already seen it so that should solve any social anxiety you may have on the matter. Then Wagner takes your clothes and you get in the pod."

"We tuned it up for you," offered Wagner "It's the best one now."

"Thanks," said Galen, without really meaning it.

He began to strip.

"I'll leave you kids to it," said Dr. Kang, starting to walk over to the large computer rig he had slowly accumulated over his time here.

"Wait!" yelled Galen, mid-strip "I need to ask you something."

"What's that?" asked Dr. Kang, skeptically.

"The machine you're going to use to erase my memory of the past few days... could you use it on everyone?"

"How do you mean?" asked Dr. Kang.

"Could you erase our encounter with the Armstrong from the entire population of the simulation? Make it like you never came here at all?"

"It would make an excellent field test," said Dr. Kang "I won't get an opportunity like this again soon. Don't look at me to talk you out of it."

"Do it," said Galen.

He finished taking off his clothes and got into the pod.