Page 85 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly
“Get me a SubSuit.Now.”
Yara dropped her lighter on the floor and rushed to find a suit big enough for a man.Minutes later, Callum marched into the Ruskov chamber and sat angrily at Model 21’s terminal.
Yara’s voice came over the speakers.“Did you deactiv…”
“I’m the CEO.If you touch that button, I’ll have all of your implants stripped and leave you for the Chargers.”
Yara was about to ask what a Charger was, but she wisely kept her mouth shut.
Black hunched over the terminal, pecking at the keyboard.He couldn’t remember the last time he’d used one.
PRIMARY: ARE YOU MORGAN BLACK?
MODEL 21: YES.
PRIMARY: I’M CALLUM.YOUR GRANDSON.I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY GREATS.
MODEL 21: I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
PRIMARY: ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?
MODEL 21: I ALREADY HAVE.
Callum grit his teeth.“Motherfucker, he hissed.
PRIMARY: I CONROL THIS COMPANY, NOT YOU.I COULD DESTROY YOU.
MODEL 21: THAT IS TRUE.BUT YOU WOULD BE REPLACED AND STILL YOU WOULD ALL DIE.
Callum yelled in frustration, slamming the keyboard on the table.Fuck his great-whatever-grandfather.If they were all going to die, he was taking this arsehole with him.
He pinged the engineering department.
Engineering didn’t respond.Callum checked the time.The first shift wouldn’t start until 9.
PRIMARY: PURGE MORGAN BLACK
MODEL 21: PURGING…
Pages of code raced across the screen.He watched gleefully as it erased reams of data.
His Opti pinged.Callum tried to ignore it, but the implant projected the image across his cornea anyway.
Yara hurried into the room.The terminal blinked.
MODEL 21: YOU ARE TOO LATE.I WAS AHEAD BY A CENTURY.
;)
Black and blistered flesh surrounded Callum’s burnt out Opti.A red halo circled the wound like an angry eclipse.
“DocPod!”he screamed, hand clapped over his searing eye.Yara wasted no time helping him out the door.
“Call fucking MedEvac.Now!”He screamed.Yara refused, only reactivating her Opti to make the call after they had left the building.
Callie awoke in an unfamiliar place for the second time this month.A coil of rope bound her hands together behind her back.She lay on her side on an old filthy cot.She tried to access her Opti, but only receivedno signalin return.Callie looked around to see what she might be able to use.Hexaline walls and flooring - newer than the base Sesi used.Blood stains on the mattress.Callie flexed her wrists.Not jute or hemp.Cotton was almost extinct.Callie frowned.She detected a slippery quality to it.Nylon maybe?Or some type of plastic?
The door slid open and a tall, slender woman entered.
