Page 72 of Scars & Starlight
“Okay,” I breathe, scrambling off the unconscious soldier.Can you use their communication devices to send an all-clear to anyone who might be waiting for a report?
DONE.
I could kiss you.
No reply, not that I expected one. Kai did warn me they don’t have a sense of humor or even a personality, not like my Kiko.
Which way?
EXIT THROUGH THIS DOOR. TURN NORTH.
I don’t have an inbuilt compass, I say as dryly as my inner voice can manage. The instant I’m done speaking – or rather thinking – a compass appears on the visor’s overlay. Nifty.
Is there surveillance?
I don’t see any cameras, but from what I’ve seen, the Avaren can get a 3D replay on their little cubes.
SURVEILLANCE THREATS NEUTRALIZED AS PER ESCAPE DIRECTIVE.
These nanites really are the gift that keeps on giving.
I creep out of the prison, looking left and right like a thief in the night, though my mites would probably alert me if someone approached. Once I see I’m alone in the corridor, I turn north and jog down the hallway as soundlessly as I can. Three turns and one close call later, the nanites lead me to a back exit.
What’s out there?
A rudimentary map appears on my visor’s screen, the building I’m in and the surrounding canyons outlined in thin, glowing gold lines. A red dot marks my current position. Looks like I’m at the most advantageous place for an escape, closest to the rock cover. Blue dotsshow patrolling guards. Not as many of them as I’d expect. Guess the general is overconfident or understaffed.
Once I’m outside, can I contact Kairen? Or any Avaren not in cahoots with Korvann?
NEGATIVE. COMMUNICATIONS DAMPENER IS PLANET-WIDE.
Shit. Guess I’m on my own until Kai finds me. Or, well, as alone as I can be with countless little robots helping me survive.
I take a deep, bracing inhale.
Okay. Make sure the door doesn’t alert anyone when I open it. And let me know when the guards have their backs turned.
Here we go.
36
KAIREN
It takes two more rotations to get to Tyren, the grim memories at the sight of it pushed aside at the urgency of the current situation. I will not allow another moonfall to pass before I hold Tara in my arms again. I grit my teeth at the readouts on my screen, ignoring the glare of the system’s star behind the planet.
“There is a planet-wide communications blanket,” Caden says grimly, relaying what I’ve just read to the rest of the room.
“Give me but a moment,” our chief communications officer, Rhaevik, says. If anyone can dismantle the dampening array, it’s him.
“A few fighter ships are patrolling the orbit,” Avenis murmurs from her station. “Surely they’ve detected us by now.”
“Perhaps they’ll feign ignorance,” I offer, barely containing the rage inside me behind civil words.
A beep of the communications consoles precedes Rhaevik’s whoop. “We’re through!”
Tara?I try immediately.
LOCAL SIGNAL INTERFERENCE.
