Page 8 of Craze

I wish it hadn’t. It might have eaten me if we’d been caged together, but the alternative is worse.

Sevrin simply lifts his arm and taps something on his wristband that lights up the animal’s collar and every leg and arm augment. The creature shudders and collapses. Smoke drifts up from its body, licking through the holes in the floor.“Salvage the parts later. The decommissioning plant is under attack.”

Rochir opens something on his own wristband and follows Sevrin away from our end of the ship.

I want to bang on the cage, let him know how much I hate them. But to break free, I have to be the shadow they don’t see with a plan they doesn’t expect. I have to save my strength and find a way to outsmart my enemy.

I hang my arms on the bars when a faint line of text comes to life.

Impact Protection: Disengaging.

The splay relaxes it hold on my brain and the pangs of my migraine fade. It seems to prefer me over external commands.

As my ability to think returns, I look to where Sevrin and Rochir exit the end of the hallway. We’re returning to Hyperion. The only decommissioning plant I’ve heard of is filled with Titans.

If it’s under attack—

Perhaps not all hope is lost for us.How we can let them know we are here? That the twenty-one other women in the room with me desperately need to escape before it’s too late?

I grab the bars to steady myself as I consider calling to the Titans. But I don’t want to lead Titans into a trap if they are in fact out there. That seems like the kind of setup Sevrin’s waiting for. Nevertheless, as the only functioning telepath onboard, I’m terrified of what he has planned if he finds out I’ve been pretending not to hear him this entire time. It might be the one thing that finally ends me.

And yet when I think of Titans being so close, I’m not sure if I want to risk not reaching out. The whimpers and quiet moans of the other women test subjects behind me make me determined to try.

Somehow, I have to find a way to get us off of this ship.

Chapter 3: Craze

The ground caves when I hit. Craters form as my heavy metal body punches into the fields just beyond the scrap plant.

Ranger’s hibernation cell shatters not far away, filling the sky with lacerating glitter. I shield my face and head with my arms but don’t wait for the rain to end. My brothers need me. One of us is already gone.

Ranger’s code has vanished from our local network.

Now I know what Mother Besha meant when she said the Creators didn’t want immortality.

Dust billows up in clouds, undoubtedly giving the Solcrue a clear target for our location. I force myself to climb, with heavy legs, out of my crater.

Scanners switch on in my vision. I follow the heat signals to Ranger’s chamber in the adjoining crater. Glass rattles and clinks as I trek over it to his cooling body. He’s powered down, and his husk is severely damaged.

Stumbling through the loose dirt and glass, I free him from the twisted frame, lug his body over my shoulders and hustle up the bank to find the others. I’m not salvaging his core. I’m taking him whole until I can restore him.

No cybersoldier left behind again, Brother. Screw my programming. I’ll figure out a way to mend you.

We have to get out of here before the Solcrue find us. We need shelter.

Pellucid>>Local: …

I stall and search the pockmarked landscape but don’t see any other plumes of dust.

Craze>>Pellucid: Come again?

The name blinks in my chat window with a faint image of a room filled with women. Then it flickers out.

Craze>>Pellucid: Please repeat.

After a few seconds without a response, I switch back to my brothers. I cannot connect to Titan Pellucid. Searching for them will have to wait. I have an immediate threat condition I have to deal with.

Craze>>Local: status report.

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