Page 79 of Jump or Fall
Mara tried to sleep, but it was disjointed and restless. The regret of not running when they had the chance gnawed at her. But she needed to see this through.
The next day blurred into a haze of rushed procedures where everyone scrambled around like lunatics. Originally, the rollout was meant to take weeks, staggered across groups to allow time for observation. Now, the schedule had been compressed into mere hours. Each group received twenty minutes of testing before the next wave began. It was barely enough to identify issues, let alone correct them.
Mara hovered between two impossible desires—hoping something would go wrong so they couldn’t have the advantage, and praying they worked perfectly to avoid Dawson’s fury.
As soon as he’d learned about what her project could do, he’d been hounding her to complete it. The Silvers already ran everything, but this would make them unstoppable. How do you attack someone whose suit can fight back before they even know what’s happening?
The plan to disable the synth-minds in certain suits was scrapped for now. There simply wasn’t time. The exploit Gordon had found was their best chance.
By 6:00 p.m., they’d deployed the last group. Every suit designated for the upgrade had received it and only a few minor issues had arisen. But it was only the first day.
Utterly spent, Mara dragged herself home. Her limbs were heavy and her mind foggy from lack of sleep.
She tore into a sandwich and downed a MealShake in four big gulps. Her stomach felt full to bursting from eating so much at once.
The couch looked like heaven. Just a minute—a short break to give her aching feet relief.
The moment her body hit the cushions, she crashed.
***
Daylight poured in through the windows.
She was on the couch.
Oh shit.
Mara bolted upright, heart pounding.
Both of her tablets were still on the table. That was stupid; she should have made sure the second was hidden.
She reached for them and quickly swiped for updates.
Millon
No issues noted with suit capabilities during night patrols. Division Five effectively subdued a threat with aid of suit acting ahead of wearer.
Her lips twitched into a tired smile, then dropped. She slammed the tablet face-down on the couch. It was working, but against the people they were trying to free.
The other tablet had no new messages.
Mara tucked her legs up and rested her chin on her knees, trying to smother the dull ache in her chest. She missed Gordon so much, and waking up alone only deepened the hollow.
She stared out at her empty apartment. How much longer would she have to play pretend? How many more times would she have to endure Dawson’s touch? Now it would be worse, like she was cheating on Gordon. Obviously, he knew what she had to do for this, but the guilt was impossible to quell.
She needed to keep busy, but there wasn’t much left to do. With the synth-minds fully deployed, her longest project had come to a close.
Reading would help. She retreated to her room and curled up with the secret tablet, losing herself in the archived articles Gordon had given her access to. One was about a country called "Mosylon"—a place across the sea, twice the size of the entire Western Domain.
Please message soon, Gordon.
***
The tablet finally lit up.
G
Crux puppets at 9.
