Page 85 of Kryxis

“You shouldn’t be out here alone. Stay here, at least until lockdown is over.”

“I can’t. I have to find Kryxis.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“Dani…if he was the one who hurt Garret…”

“I’m going to find out.”

They heard shouts coming down one hall. Myrell pulled her inside and shut the door. They listened to a group of soldiers pass as they stood by the door.

“It’s not safe,” Myrell said in a low voice. “And you can’t possibly hope to find Kryxis before they do.”

“I have to try.”

“Let me come with you then.”

“No.”

Myrell clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Damn stubborn girl.” She put up her hand and went over to her kitchen table, grabbing a flashlight and small bag. “Take these at least,” she said, offering them to her.

Dani took both. She looked into the bag and her eyes widened. “When did you take this?”

Myrell shrugged. “It got mixed in with my pack. Thought it could be useful.”

Dani tied the bag onto her belt. “I won’t use it on Kryxis.”

“I didn’t expect you to.”

“Message the others and tell them I’m okay. That I’m grateful they tried to keep Kryxis a secret. If I don’t see any of you after the lockdown…”

“Like hell you won’t.” She pulled her into a hug. “You’re kind of crazy, you know?”

“I know.” She broke away and went to the door. “Don’t come out, no matter what.”

The elevator opened, and Dani stepped out onto one of the lower decks. It was dark down the wide passage. The rooms on either side—work stations for the engineers—were completely empty. She aimed her light around but saw no movement. She checkedher garometer but still nothing. No energy levels high enough to be him. She crept down the passage until she came to a bend and heard the voices of a security team close by, searching.

“Clear here. Nothing.”

She peered around to a small docking bay. She recognized Saul and Tristan right away, along with a few she didn’t. They carried the weapons with the ice, little wisps of coolant rising from the tips of their guns.

“Good thinking on the ice Saul,” one said. “Freeze that fucker right up.”

“I say we stick our guns into these vents and start blasting. Ice it out.”

“Don’t want to drain our guns too quick,” Saul said. “Just keep an eye out.”

Dani hid back behind the wall. She peered over and saw one of the vents. Silently, she went over and crouched down, wrenching the grate off and carefully setting it aside. The vents were large enough for her to practically crouch in. On all fours, she took a left and crawled her way around trying to find a way to bypass the dock and the soldiers, hoping they didn’t change their mind about icing the vents.

She crawled into a small room with a fan rotating slowly and swore for a moment she caught Kryxis’ scent. But her garometer showed nothing, which meant he might have only been here recently but had since moved on.

Still, it gave her a little hope that she was close. She crawled her way through the dark, her narrow light the only thing to guide her way. Eventually the voices dulled as she turned down another narrow passage leading away from the dock. As she came to a dead end, she found another grate and popped it open, slipping into a small office.

Past the office, she found her way into a mechanic’s bay. A spare one by the looks of it, with several ship parts strungaround. Old junk parts that would eventually be used for scrap. She doubted many came in here. In fact, she found the wide bay door to be locked. The large room was warm too, warmer than the rest of the ship. She searched around and noticed steam wafting up from the grates beneath her feet, coming from the engine room below. She could even see a dull red glow from light underneath. Above was a deck running all the way around the sides with chains dangling from the ceiling, some used to lift parts.

Besides being a little creepy, she didn’t see anything. She started back toward the office when something crunched under her foot. She glanced down and frowned. Crouching, she picked up what looked like a piece of….

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