Shutdown (Glitch)

other men went to the bathroom at one point or other, Warnost never did. He stayed so long I had to leave before I could follow him when he left since I knew you would…,” he glared pointedly at the kill switch still in my hand, “overreact.”
    “Overreact?” My voice shot up an octave with disbelief. He had the nerve to call me overreactive after all that he’d done!
    “Look,” he held up his hand, “I don’t want to argue. We just have to figure out some other way to get that key.”
    I paced the room, glad to get my mind back onto the task at hand. “Maybe we could catch him alone after lunch?”
    Max shook his head. “The pregame shows are starting in an hour, and I heard him say he was going to meet his wife and head over to the arena as soon as he left.
    I swore under my breath.
    “But I think I may have a plan,” Max said.
    *   *   *
    “Shall we?” Max held out an arm several hours later, like he was escorting me back to another vapid party. I just glared at him and he dropped it with a laugh. His plan was risky, but it was the best we had if we still wanted to have a chance at getting the key drive in time.
    “Don’t worry so much.” Then he disappeared, there one moment and gone the next.
    Even though I’d seen him do it before, it was still startling every time. I projected out with my telek and could sense the outline of his body taking up space in the room. I let out a sigh of relief.
    Still, if this morning had taught me anything, it was how easy it would be for Max to disappear and leave me here. Maybe he’d tried to find a surgeon this morning but couldn’t, and that was the real reason he’d come back. Of course, if Max had just wanted to escape, he could have done so any of the countless nights I’d been sleeping in the med container and not watching him. He could have slipped out, and without his power disguising me, I’d have been found out almost instantly. A cold shiver went down my back at how much I’d already been depending on Max without thinking about it. I knew from previous experience never to underestimate him.
    I looked down at my own body and frowned.
    “You’re invisible too,” came his voice from the air, “it just never looks like it to yourself.”
    I nodded. Of course. I never looked like Darl to myself when I looked in the mirror either.
    Max pressed the door button and it slid open. He stole down the hallway in front of me. I kept my telek on alert, both so I’d know where he was, and to be aware of anything else we might pass. As we came to the central foyer that all the suites branched out from, I felt Max pull back up against the wall. I heard the voices coming toward us and imitated him, pressing my back against the wall. We might appear invisible, but we were still solid, and if someone ran into us, they’d know something was anomalous.
    After the group of people passed, we hurried quietly down the ornate marble hallways. In my head, I matched the hallway to the schematics I’d carefully memorized. Just a little farther and we’d be at the stadium.
    The main event would be starting any minute now. I heard a hive of voices buzzing ahead. We soon came to clusters of well-dressed people, faces that had become familiar in the past couple days, all talking and, of course, drinking. Checil stood talking with a woman in the corner whose eyes were also bloodshot. No doubt she was still looking for her next infusion hookup.
    Several whooping boys ran through, bumping me into an older gentleman. I immediately backed up against the wall.
    I held my breath, cursing inwardly. But the man just called after them, “Calm down. There will be enough excitement in the arena!” He must have thought it was them who’d bumped him, not me.
    I stuck tighter to Max after that. He glided with an expert lightness to his feet. I tried to mimic the way he walked, rolling heel to toe, heel to toe.
    A loud horn sounded right as Max and I had edged our way through the front of the crowd toward the narrow stadium entrance. Suddenly everyone on all sides began surging with us. I lost Max’s shape amid all the others. People pressed against my shoulders. This lobby entrance was the only one that led to the premium center stadium seats reserved for the highest tiers of society. There was no time to keep trying to find Max. Soon enough, someone would wonder why it felt like they were bumping up against a person when it looked like empty air.
    Finally the bottleneck