Gunny will immediately go to Eelong and report back later with news while Bobby stays on Veelox because Saint Dane had mentioned that it is on the verge of destruction.

Bobby hates the darkness and is worried if the inhabitants of Veelox are floating giants after meeting Aja Killian, the local Traveler, in the form of a massive holographic face.

The only differences are that it is deserted, and there is a huge structure called the Lifelight pyramid looming over the town.

Aja explains that Lifelight is a virtual reality world—a computer that gives people's desires the appearance of being real.

She takes Bobby through it, and he is amazed at the vedders, who are the "physical" caretakers of the bodies, and the phaders, computer geniuses running the place.

The Reality Bug has become far too realistic; its use of fears to dilute the jumps has a placebo effect on people, in that if they die in their fantasy, the death is real.

The level after that is a snow-covered landscape, where Bobby has to finish a race called slickshot in which six skaters need to pick up red balls and put them into buckets.

Bobby finishes the race (with a bit of intervention from Loor) and sees that Zetlin is actually one of the racers, a popular sixteen-year-old called the "Z" in his fantasy.

The Reality Bug takes physical form (a black ameoba-like shapeshifter), and chases Bobby, Zetlin, and Loor around Zetlin's fantasy home, and even into the real world when it grows too powerful to be contained by Lifelight.

She turns out to be Saint Dane in disguise, and she stirs up the crowd, promising to bring Lifelight back online.