Page 55 of The Program

I had made the mistake of looking down at the mess they'd made of my flesh, but immediately learned what a mistake that was. The cuts were deep and, despite the precision of the skilled hands that had created them the edges were jagged where they were peeled back to keep them open. The white of my bones peeked through the red that now trickled lazily from the gashes, no longer spurting wildly like they had when the initial cuts were made.

Eventually, I dared to open my eyes again to seek out Reece. I needed to know if he was alive or not, and in all honesty I couldn't decide what wouldhave been worse. I’d stared for ages, willing him to move, for his eyes to open and connect with mine, anything to prove he was still alive. It had taken me longer than I cared to admit to finally notice the shallow rise and fall of his ribcage, proving he was still breathing. Barely, but enough to assuage the majority of my fears.

He hadn’t abandoned me here to suffer alone.

It was a selfish thought, one I was immediately ashamed of, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t think I could survive this if I was on my own. Not even the thought of Xander worried sick and helpless as he tried everything in his power to reach me would have been enough for me to hold on if I was alone.

I’d stopped drawing strength from Artemis after I’d been forced to watch them cut into Reece first. The mere idea of her surviving anything close to what they were doing to us made me physically sick. Genuinely. I actually threw up. She’d spent her entire life at the mercy of this malignant organisation, and I couldn’t bear to think about what else she’d suffered through when this was what they started with.

It made me think of what else they were still planning to do to us.

Hope was a fickle thing, too. As I lay there, my open wounds seeping onto the metal slab beneath me, the aching, stinging, burning agony throbbing through every inch of my being, I could feel that hope slipping away almost like a tangible thing slithering from my body. I wanted to believe we would be rescued, but if the wet gurgling with each of my laboured breaths was any indication, I had serious doubts we could even survive long enough for that to happen.

CHAPTER 20

ARTEMIS

Docking on Nova Station was remarkably, disturbingly easy. All I’d had to do was wait for another, larger ship to arrive – which only added another day to my timeline, hide behind it, and secretly dock the other ship from the rear to use as a ramp onto the station, all the while securely hidden from any sensors through a cloaking technology that wasn’t yet available on the market. More confirmation that my ship had indeed belonged to The Program.

Not for the first time I wondered why they’d abandoned it when it was so easily salvageable.

Sneaking through the other ship made for an even easier experience than docking. The only necessary effort needed to blend in was to obtain one of their maintenance crew uniforms and stand at the back of the crowd as if I belonged there. No one looked twice at the person collecting their rubbish, especially when the garb was so drab and dreary. The grey jumpsuit may have clung to my curves but that was only due to my abundance of them. I wished for the first time since taking it off that I had my chest binding back, but then dismissed the thought. Those things were uncomfortable and constricting and I was glad to be rid of it. The uniform also made me look like I was dressing up as a corpse, the colour washing out my skin and ensuring I blended into the grey of the metal walls.

Currently, however, my largest concern was the way I’d had to leave Dave Junior back on the ship. He was a force to be reckoned with when he didn’t get his way, especially if his way meant he came with me wherever I went. After the umpteenth time he’d refused to stay put and tried to follow me, I’d been forced to lock him inside the room I’d claimed as my bedroom, welding the door shut much like I had for my Nova Academy friends when The Program had attacked, and walked away to the sound of him jumping frantically at the door in an attempt to knock it down. To say he was displeased with me would be an understatement.

I just hoped the door would be able to hold him.

But Dave Junior would have to wait. It was time for me to get Bal, to rescue Reece and Adara, and to free the children. I wondered if I’d run into any of the others while I was here, too. I didn’t know if I’d be able to stay focused on my task if I saw Bromm. The anxiety had finally hit as my brain ran in circles trying to decide if I had imagined our encounter or if it was real.

The jury may have still been out on that, but there was only one way to know for certain. Just not right at this moment with so many people around. I was able to somewhat control my abilities. After spending the majority of my time on the ship practicing to assess what I could do I’d discovered quite a few strengths and limitations. As it turned out, the need for energy had increased if I wanted to use them over a prolonged time period, easily resolved with the few Nutri-bars I’d packed into my pockets, but that also led to the discovery that the blue glow was impossible to even dim, let alone get rid of.

The other maintenance staff were also spread out away from one another as if they were afraid to socialise even with each other. Their eyes were downcast, their shoulders slumped, and I had the worst feeling that the officers of this ship were treating thembeyond poorly. And if that was the case, what was their purpose here?

All indicators painted them as either members of The Program or in league with them. Neither scenario was particularly reassuring, but that was what I got for sneaking onto a military base under The Program’s command.

But the blatant redirection of their gazes provided the perfect opportunity to snag one of the holo-tabs from where it hung on the belt of the woman in front of me. She was Terran, as were most of this ship’s crew. Another indicator that The Program’s Earthen employees were congregating here.

Acquiring Nova Station was the motherload of successes for them, but their plans for it were undoubtedly bad news. If they could take over an entire military station as prestigious as Nova, what else could they do? And what damage could they do with it?

These were all thoughts I’d had, albeit fleetingly, over the past solar, but being trapped inside a windowless facility always narrowed my world into just inside those walls. Now that I was out and seeing things with my own eyes, everything was coming into sharp focus. The severity of the Intergalactic Union’s shaky foundations was settling in, and I hadn’t even set foot on the station itself, yet.

But that was something to think about after the rescue mission.

I waited until the crowd dispersed before ducking into a secluded alcove, and then I waited some more until I was sure no one was around. Ensuring I was deeply enough ensconced in the shadows, I closed my eyes and used the holo-tab to connect to the web.

Immediately, I found myself teetering on a thin white line, my intent to hunt through them until I found the one to connect me with Bromm’s holo-tab, but the same thing that had happened before occurred again. My current line brightened and thickened then began to lengthen in one direction. It held onto me throughsome unseen force, dragging me along until it merged with a second line in a blinding light show.

And then I was face-to-face with the man I was so eager to see.

‘Arty?’ he asked, glancing around like he wasn’t sure where he was or why he was there. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I’m on Nova Station,’ I said, equally stunned to see him here. ‘I was trying to connect to your holo-tab, but it seems I’ve connected with you instead…’

‘Shit. I’m in the cafeteria right now, so I know I’m not asleep. How am I here?’

‘I don’t know,’ I admitted, my answer the same as when he’d asked the last time we’d met here.

His eyes searched mine, their blue depths brimming with a burning intensity I didn’t know how to name. And then his hands were gripping my hips to pull me close as his lips descended on mine with a ferocious passion. I spent a moment getting over the shock of the action but was soon tangling my tongue with his and moaning into his mouth.

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