Jarod sat up with a gasp.  His eyes darted around the room, but all he saw was Sydney snoring on the other bed.  No sign of Raines or his sweepers.  A bright light filtered through the openings on the window-blanket things, telling Jarod that it was still daytime.

His heart was still pounding in his chest and he knew that he was finished sleeping.  But this room that Sydney had rented was just filled with all sorts of items waiting for him to discover.  There was a light colored box shaped thing with buttons that had numbers and letters on them.  There was a slim black unit with buttons that said strange things like chan up and chan down.  Across the room from the beds was a long wooden object with drawers that he had seen in some sims and on top of that was a square black computer monitor looking item.

Jarod’s visual examination took him into the next room.  Jarod recognized everything in here, but it was all a lot nicer looking than he was used to.  The sink wasn’t attached to the back of the commode; in fact, it was actually on the opposite side of the room from it.  Clear glass doors enclosed the shower and soft white towels were draped close by.

Jarod’s eyes lit up.  A shower.  He would love to take a long shower uninterrupted by sweepers demanding that he hurry up.  The shower controls confused him briefly, but he quickly discovered their functions.  Twisting the knob one was produced the cold water he was use to.  Twisting it the other produced paradise.  Jarod almost tore his clothes in his hurry to get under that hot flowing water.

The sound of the shower slowly woke Sydney.  He was briefly puzzled as to where he was, but the recent events were quickly recalled.  The sound of the shower was explained by a glance at the other bed.

Sydney gave a long, bone cracking stretch.  He had slept hard for almost five hours.  The warm meal and Jarod’s pleasant company was all that he had needed to relax and drift off to sleep.  The stress had eased with the sleep and he was able to think clearly for the first time in weeks.  The thought of exploring the world with the uber-curious man-child with him was exciting.  Watching Jarod discover life outside the Centre would be like watching a young child learn about the world, but, fortunately, Jarod would be able to comprehend things faster and easier than a child.  He hoped.

The bathroom door opened and both Jarod and a gust of hot moist air left the room.  Jarod’s hair was mussed from the towel and his cheeks were flushed from the heat.

“This place has HOT water, Sydney,” he blurted out to his mentor.  “And these towels are so big and soft.”

Jarod’s eyes gleamed with the thrill of his discover, but Sydney’s closed momentarily.  He had never thought to wonder if such basics as hot water were available to the Centre’s inhabitants.  He should have known better, though.  The Centre didn’t consider the residents as human beings, so why would they expand the energy to treat them decently.  Sydney vowed to himself that Jarod would be kept free from the Centre, even if he gave his life to do so.

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Miss Parker strode up to the front door as if she belonged there.  The lock picking tool was well hidden in her right hand, the glint of keys obvious in her left.  To the neighbors, she looked like an invited guest, come to check on the house of a vacationing friend or co-worker.  A quick poke and twist with the lock picking tool was all she needed before she was able to enter the house.  She sneered at the lock, figuring any idiot with such a cheap lock would be easy to find and catch.

The dark paneling gave the entryway a closed-in feeling, but the warm tones from the furniture defeated the darkness.  Or so she thought until she bumped into the antique secretary’s desk.  She had never been to Sydney’s house before and walking around in the dark was not a smart idea.  Who knows what clues might be overlooked.  And it would look suspicious to the neighbors to have unknown people entering a house and not opening the blinds.

Thirty minutes later, Parker was storming back out of the house.

“This is a colossal waste of time,” she snapped at one of the sweepers who had the misfortune of being with her.  “How am I suppose to know what’s missing when I’ve never even been here before.  And its not like Dr. Strangelove here was gonna leave a note stating that he was kidnapping Jarod and this is where to find them.”

“I think Mr. Raines expected us to look harder than this, Miss Parker,” the sweeper volunteered hesitantly.

“Screw Raines.  If he wants a clue to their location, then let him come here and find one.  I’m done here.”

And with that final comment, she jumped into her car, lit a cigarette and sped off.

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Sydney knew the clothes he had brought for Jarod were the wrong sizes.  True, not but much, but still noticeably wrong.  The best solution was a trip to the local mall, where Jarod could try on the different articles of clothing.  But Sydney was concerned about Jarod in a mall.

His greatest concern was how the sheer number of people in the mall could affect Jarod.  He had never been exposed to large groups of people before.  In fact, he had never been exposed to more than twenty at any one time, and that had only happened a few times.  Jarod had gotten quiet in the restaurant this morning and Sydney was sure that all the unfamiliar faces had disconcerted him.  Hundreds of unknown, and possibly unfriendly, persons in a totally alien environment were sure to overwhelm his young…..friend.

A more minor, but still serious, concern was of Jarod loose in the mall.  Everything there would be new and exciting to the Pretender and Jarod’s insatiable curiosity could lead him into trouble.  Sydney made a quick mental note to discuss money-handling and the concept of payment with Jarod.

Sydney finished dressing and left the bathroom.  Two steps later, he was shaking his head in bemusement.  Jarod had all the lights on, the television and radio alarm clock on, and the dresser drawers were partially opened.  Jarod, however, was ignoring all of those and was standing in front of the window.  Sydney walked over and joined him.

“There’s a whole world out there, Jarod, just waiting for you.”

“Us, Sydney.”

“What?”

“Waiting for us.  You’ve been trapped by the Centre just as much as I have.”

“Jarod,...”

“It’s true, Sydney.  Except for those times when you had to go away for business, you’ve been in the Centre.  I’ve even heard the sweepers say that you sometimes sleep in your office.”

Sydney blushed, he couldn’t help it.  He had indeed spent more than one night trying to sleep on the sofa in his office.  Those were the times when Jarod had been admitted into the infirmary as the result of a SIM or when Sydney had suspected Raines of wanting to get his hands on Jarod.  Sydney’s private bathroom even held a clean change of clothing and some toiletries.

“That’s immaterial.  We need to get situated somewhere and become inconspicuous.  That doesn’t mean going off to explore the world.”

“But it does.  Every SIM that kept the Centre away from us involved us, both of us together,  moving around a lot.  So we get to explore and stay out of the Centre at the same time.

Sydney shook his head but gave up arguing.  There was no changing Jarod’s mind when he seemed sure of a SIM result.  He patted Jarod on the shoulder.

“Come on, let’s go shopping.”