Page 12 of Monstrous Rampage
One of the dynos that attacked the space whales had been NSTG, basically a giant stegosaurus that could shoot nets from its scorpion tail. Araneae… was that a spider?
I flipped through the file until I found a picture. Yep. He had eight legs and instead of a curling scorpion tail, he had spider spinnerets.
Quick swipe to the left on that one. Sorry dude. I didn’t even read what concerns DSC had with him. I don’t do spiders.
The next dynos’ designation was HITMS. Hydra Incendiary Taser Magnetic Sauropod. That was a fucking mouthful. The picture showed one of the long-necked telescoping dinosaurs, but it hadtwolong necks and heads. One shot flames and the other blasted electromagnetic pulses meant to knock out a Comms designation. They’d tried to diversify the types of attacks he could accomplish by giving him the second head, but the result was a split personality disorder when he was shifted out of his beast.
Both personalities were unstable, violent, and apparently despised each other. The two halves refused to blend and fought each other for supremacy, which made him unreliable for squad duty.
I swiped through the files, making only a cursory scan to see if any one particular dynos jumped out at me. All of them were strange blends of dinosaurs and creatures. Beetle-like wings rather than pterodactyl ones like Rizan’s. Armored crab-like legs. They’d even tried blending dynos with KORE DNA. If I’d understood a fraction of what Lohr said about the KORE, that was annihilation waiting to happen.
Overwhelmed, I sat back in the chair with the cup of coffee. I took a tentative sip and found it perfectly brewed with just enough cream and the ideal temperature. Not surprised, exactly, but shaken. How did Snyder know how I liked todrink my coffee? Had they read my brain somehow? Dumped my memories into a computer? The smug, arrogant professor would never have paid attention to his female students’ beverage preferences.
Chills raced down my arms despite the warmth of the cup. If they could mine my mind and preferences…
How could I possibly find a way to escape? For all I knew, they were reading my mind now. Capturing my incriminating thoughts in a log somewhere. If I made a plan, they’d simply shut it down at step one.
My lips trembled as I took another sip, almost dribbling coffee down the pristine front of my shirt.
Get a grip. They can’t know everything.
Even if they do…
I’ve got Natalie’s gift to help me.
How did I use the mrions, though, if I wasn’t even physically aware of them? I wished I could ask her for help.
:How do I make this work?:I whispered inside my own head. :What do I do?:
Zings and tiny pulses of… something… flared in my head. I closed my eyes, and I could see delicate streams of colored light behind my eyelids. Tiny glowing orbs. Almost like the pulse of a neon sign.
Maybe it was my imagination, lingering shock, wishful thinking, placebo effect. I didn’t care. I leaned into it. If having full-on conversations with myself made me crazy, then sign me the fuck up. As long as it worked.
:Help me come up with an escape plan and keep it secret.:
The darkness of my mind continued to flare with light and energy in waves that made me feel like I was gliding down a tunnel. Only it wasn’t circular or even any defined shape. The streams pulled me forward, down, somewhere inside my ownmind. The lights darkened to indigo and violet. Deep hues of midnight wrapped around me like velvety darkness.
A secret place inside my own mind. A safe haven where DSC couldn’t track my thoughts.
:Natalie?:I whispered silently. :Can you hear me?:
A faint crackle buzzed in the darkness.Not yet, it seemed to say.But soon. Keep trying.
I breathed deeply, my eyes prickling with tears. Just that promise of connection gave me hope.I can do this. I can find a way.
Deep indigo flared around me in a burning ring. Not words—but a very clear message.
If I wanted to escape this prison laboratory ship somewhere in space…
I needed a pilot.
Opening my eyes, I leaned forward. “Is this thing voice activated?”
“I can answer your questions, execute computing tasks, and display whatever information you would like on the screen,” the same female voice from earlier said.
“Great. Show me the dyni held on this ship who can jump space.”
All of the thumbnails disappeared except for one. “There is only one pilot available at this time.”
