On the final night, all remaining users gathered in . Thirty-seven ghosts, including Lena.

The password was: I_am_here

There was , a retired programmer dying of a slow illness, who wrote in haikus. Paperboy , a night-shift security guard who believed he’d seen a ghost in a mall parking lot—and stayed on Vichatter to prove he wasn’t insane. EchoLake , a runaway who logged in from library computers, never staying in one city for more than a week. And Mod0 , the silent administrator, who never posted but whose name appeared at the top of every room, like a watchful god.

But sometimes, late at night, she opens a terminal and pings vichatter.net .

It never resolves.

Except once. On a Tuesday. During a thunderstorm.