Page 45 of Elanie & the Empath
She screamed and yowled and kicked at the ground while I hauled her toward the back of the cave.
“Elanie,” I pleaded, my grip on her loosening as her fingernails raked down my arms. “Stop struggling.”
“Can’t…stop. Let me…go.”
That was the last warning she gave me before she broke my hold, flipped over, and reared above me like a furious rogue wave.
I shrieked, a keening sound of pure, unadulterated terror. But I didn’t give up. Not yet. Lunging for her again, I bear-hugged her waist and pulled one last time, not stopping until my head hit the back wall of the cave. Out of breath, my adrenaline flagging, I collapsed.
She continued to glare at me with violence in her eyes, and I knew that while I’d done what I could, it wasn’t enough. I’d failed her. And because I’d failed her, maybe I deserved her cold, unfeeling,un-Elanieexpression as she wrapped her thighs around my neck and squeezed.
“Stars save me.Wake up, Sem. Please don’t be dead. Wake up!”
I came to, coughing and grasping at my throat. I heard myself make a sound likeuhng.
“I couldn’t stop.” Her hands were on my shoulders, pulling me up. “I almost killed you. Again!”
“Please don’t shout,” I rasped while my head pounded back to some semblance of normal functioning. “It’s okay.”
She was on her knees in front of me, her eyes round and glassy in the dim light. “It’s not okay. I’m so sorry.”
“Honestly, I’m fine,” I tried to insist while succumbing to another coughing fit. My entire body shook in violent spasms. Not only had I just been choked out by the mostperfect set of legs in the entire Known Universe, but I was also still freezing.
“You’re not fine.I’mnot fine.” Her face paled, then she covered it with her hands. “I’m dangerous. I’m…deadly. I am a deadly person.”
Dizzy, weak, but giddy with relief, I said, “Come here,” and wrapped my arms around her as she leaned into me. She was herself again. She was Elanie. Getting her away from the cavemouth had worked.Saints be praised, it had worked.
“Is it gone?” I rocked her gently in my arms while heat radiated from her. Probably because she’d increased her internal temperature again to warm me up. “Is the voice gone?”
When she nodded against my chest, I buried my nose in her hair, inhaling the crispness of snow, the mustiness of the cave, and under that, vanilla and cinnamon. Just a trace, but enough to set me immediately at ease.
“Can you access the SBN back here?” I asked.
“The SBN? Why—” Her shoulders stiffened. Then all at once, the tension gave way. “Of course. That’s how he’s getting to the bionics, isn’t it? To me?”
“I think so.”
“No.” Her voice was thin, ghostly. “The signal must be muted this far under the mountain.”
“Can you disconnect from the network entirely?”
She blew out a breath, everything about her seeming to deflate. “The SBN is hardware, not software. It’s so deeply embedded in my neural cortex that it’s nearly impossible to access without decommissioning me. Unless you happen to be a brain surgeon with expert knowledge of enhanced synaptic microcircuitry.”
“I did a neurosurgery rotation in med school,” I said.Then admitted, “But I barely passed. So that’s probably a no.”
“An EMP would work, if we had one.” She pulled her knees up toward her chest like she was trying to hide by making herself as small as possible. “But then I’d be gone too.”
“Gone? What do you mean?”
“It would frag the SBN, but it would frag my memory too.” She tapped on her temple. “We’re still mostly AI up here, so I’d be wiped to my last backup. And that’s only if I could actually get to my last backup, which is on the ship. All the way out here? It would be like a full factory reset. No memories. No personality. No”—she gazed down at herself, at my arms still wrapped around her—“me.”
“Well, that settles that.” I held her more tightly, the thought of no more Elanie running through my veins like ice. “You just can’t leave the cave anymore.”
She turned in my arms to look at me, indignant. “That’s ridiculous. What if I have to pee?”
“Hmm,” I murmured. “I guess you’ll just have to make it quick.”
She groaned, then laughed. And I laughed too, rocking her until the cave grew quiet again. Just that ever-presentdrip, drip, drippingin the walls.
