Page 64 of Monstrous Rampage
We’re free. We’re away. We’re safe.
I still couldn’t quite believe it. Even as the glowing indigo power dissipated around us in purplish wisps like fog. All I heard from the ship’s network was static, but to be safe, I tapped Terroar on our grid.:Go ahead and firewall us back off and destroy any remaining connections that might exist.:
:Already done.:He hesitated a moment. Then added,:Holly.:
Though I had a feeling that wasn’t what he’d wanted to say.
He’d wanted to call memate.
I snuck a quick glance up at Syko to gauge his reaction. Midnight blue sparked with deep purple, still glowing with remnants of his jump. His mind spiraled in a slow, seemingly lazy ring like the sweeping black hole I’d felt him unleash on the ship. Crushing power. Inescapable gravity. Furious intensity.
He could obliterate his competition with his mind alone. Simply crush them all like a tin can. Deep down, yeah, he wanted to unleash all the pent-up rage his imprisonment had stoked. Go on a rampage like a mindless, furious alpha and tear them all apart.
But he wouldn’t.
For one simple reason. In case one of themmightmean something more to me than just another dynos I’d rescued from captivity.
He set me down on my feet, though both he and Rekt still touched me as if afraid I might disappear at any second. “There’s an easy way for us to tell who should stay, and who should enjoy their freedom moonside.” Syko drawled out in a low, silky voice that vibrated with menace. “But I’m going to have to be inside you first.”
My heart rate accelerated as fast as Chonk had darted off into another hallway each time we saw an agent. But then Syko’s words made me look around. Moonside? Where…
Stunned, I tried to look everywhere at once. We stood on a curving kidney-shaped platform beneath a glass dome. With views of cloudsbelow. As if we orbited a planet. Low melodic sounds played but it wasn’t a song or even an instrument I’d never heard before. Shining gold lined the huge glass dome stretched overhead, and the floor seemed to be white marble with more specks of shimmering gold and silver. The largest sofa I’d ever seen in my life wrapped around the curves of the platform in dark plush fabric. Room for all fifteen dyni to mill around, sit, or…
Jump into the winding river for a refreshing swim? Crystal blue waters flowed and shimmered at the edge of the white marble platform, making it look like we could just swim off into the clouds or space beyond.
I turned around, gaping even more. Behind us, brightly lit stairs arched upward to multiple higher decks with gleaming balconies of white and gold. Large green trees and tropical-looking flowers softened all the marble. But I couldn’t begin to categorize the plants. Blue-green and silver spiky leaves,soft lavender blossoms, huge glowing white gossamer petals. Absolutely incredible.
“Where are we?”
“The Sirius Galactic Syndicate’s favorite playground.”
Gulp. I was hoping to get far away from anything related to or controlled by DSC. “So we’re still in Sirian space?”
“We’re nowhere near Sirius though they’ve claimed this system along with hundreds of others. We’re on the outer realms of the Draco constellation in a forbidden area controlled by the ultra-rich, most powerful syndicate running this side of the known galaxy. This ship is now yours, which means you have exclusive rights to the moon below. There are eight other moons orbiting the main planet, each controlled by some other Sirian family.”
“Snyder’s controller had access inside HQ. Which means he’s probably filthy rich and Sirian too, right? Could he control one of these other moons?”
Syko shrugged. “Even if he did, he’d never know we’re here. These people are so powerful they own an entire moon and a controlling interest in the planet itself, which supplies all of the luxury ships orbiting the area. They’re so wealthy and powerful that no one can afford to betray them. No one would dare question them or snoop around their moon for fear not just their family but their entire species would be obliterated in the blink of an eye.”
Rekt let out a low whistle. “How’d you know about this place? Let alone acquire it.”
“I may have only been engineered a few months ago but my databanks are fully intact. I remember everything the previous BGR and BGR+ cells were ever taught in various iterations. The scientist who created the BGR++ iteration did so at the behest of one of the primary syndicate families as a personal favor to indulge one of their bright young people’s interest inDynosauros Command. Every test and failure in every Sirian cell they used—and all associated knowledge—is written into my DNA.”
“Acquiring anything in the universe is just a matter of knowing the appropriate frequencies and—” Terroar started to say but then coughed lightly. “Never mind.”
A low growl rumbled from Syko, though I didn’t sense aggression from him on the grid. “Let’s test the frequencies now. Anyone not interested in sticking around can step onto the tiled ring and transport directly to the moon.” He indicated a blue mosaic ring laid into the white marble on the opposite side of the platform. “There’s plenty of good hunting and dense forest below.”
“Any other mates?” Webb asked.
“Nothing compatible with dyni.”
Giving me a long, considering look, Webb finally nodded. “I think I’ll port moonside. No offense, Holly, but after the look on your face in the training chamber when you saw my beast, I’d rather not scare you like that again.”
“I’m sorry.” I winced. “I’m scared of spiders.”
He shrugged. “Nothing personal. I can’t control how I was engineered. If you know of another female who isn’t scared of arachnids, buzz me on the grid.”
Akylla, maybe? Though she was just a baby. Granted, a dynos-hybrid who’d been growing exponentially faster than any human child. I’d have to talk to Natalie first, and her baby girl had a lot of growing up to do. But it was a possibility.
