Page 80 of Jump or Fall
Relief flooded her—quickly followed by anticipation.
Mara tried to stay occupied. She’d just learned the earth had warmed enough to melt these large sheets of ice at the poles. That, combined with increasingly volatile weather events, had led the people to remake parts of the land with terraforming machines.
She wanted to start a deep dive into those, but by 8:00, she was unable to keep herself distracted. If Dawson planned to visit tonight, hewould’ve shown up already. After ten years, she knew his patterns—even if he tried to stay unpredictable.
She grabbed the new helmet she’d managed to snag from work in the chaos. Gordon’s current one was beyond repair without access to a joiner and showing up with it at Hyperion would raise too many questions.
She set her main tablet into auto-activity mode and checked outside—no Max. Using the override key must have made Dawson less suspicious.
Still, Mara carefully slipped out into the night with the bulky helmet protruding in her bag. The walk through the back alley behind her apartment was becoming second nature. Only one spider web got her this time.
Finally, the slate-grey door came into view. Odd how something so innocuous could mean so much—how a hidden tunnel could feel like freedom.
When she reached Crux, Gordon was already waiting. Her heart leapt. She rushed forward and buried her face in his chest, inhaling his familiar scent.
That wonderful, crooked smile spread across his face. “Good news, we can still puppet the suits. Oh, and thanks for the new helmet.”
They kissed, long and quiet. She would never tire of the feel of his mouth on hers, or the way his hands held her close.
“How do we do it?” she asked, regretting that they couldn’t kiss all night.
He pulled out a few small tablets and handed one to her. “We can each puppet three at a time. Kimmie will have to be on the ground, so it’ll just be you, me, and Silva. The interface shows the available suits within range. When you pick one, the command options will appear.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “You are brilliant.”
“Not half as brilliant as the suit maker.”
Kimmie arrived first so Mara relayed the news from Millon about the suit’s effectiveness for someone in Division Five.
“Yeah,” Kimmie said, “everyone was a little skittish of the new feature at first, but now they just keep fucking around blocking each other’s hits. I told my guys to knock the shit off since they’re draining their lithpacks if the sun isn’t out.”
Kimmie was still in her suit which had the upgrade, so Gordon asked, “Can we test your suit to make sure the remotes work?”
She folded her arms and cocked an eyebrow. “Fuck it. Just don’t make me do anything weird.”
The moment he powered on the remote, her suit appeared on the display. He selected it and ordered the suit to walk in a circle.
The look on Kimmie’s face was priceless as she started to move. She tried to fight against it, but the suit completely overpowered her.
“Okay!” Her voice turned shrill. “Stop!”
Gordon laughed. “I could make you jump on the table, but I’ll be nice.”
He disconnected the suit from the remote, and she exhaled in relief. “You are a scary person, Gordon. How did you even figure this out?”
“The upgrade is designed to make the suit move without your input,” he replied. “There was nothing in the code to stop someone from taking control remotely and doing the same thing.”
Kimmie turned to Mara. “Did you design it that way?”
“No.” Mara was simultaneously impressed and annoyed that something so crucial had slipped by her.
She nodded skeptically, but moved on. “Where the hell is Si–”
The door burst open with a loud clang. Silva stumbled inside and took a seat to catch his breath. “There’s… a riot… outside.”
Kimmie’s mouth dropped open. “What are you talking about?”
He raised a hand, still heaving. “Fuck’s sake, I’m getting old. There is a riot. Shit is burning and I wouldn’t be surprised if more Divisions get called in to deal with it. I think people are getting bold since we got those other enforcers and took down the mech. I heard a few gunshots, not sure from who.”
