Page 156 of Stars At Dusk

‘Copy,’ the AI said.

Kainan strode towards the shelved wall of the conference room. It was covered in artfully lit shelves of books, artefacts and antique pieces from all over the System.

Its backing was of fire-resistant and collapse-resistant wall armouring made from neo-steel, the shelves made of ballistic fibreglass, which could withstand any number of forced entry attacks.

He touched a hidden panel to the right of the shelves, placing his eye to the camera above it for a biometric reading.

The shelf swung inward to a hidden room. Inside, the walls were secured with high-security panels that could easily withstand bladed and blunt weapon attacks.

The higher levels of the room’s modular display system displayed a series of heirlooms and antique firearms inside clear fire-resistant containers.

Below, on the neo-steel modular gun rack system, hung a series of modern pulse rifles, multi-function rifles capable of firing both low-velocity pellets and ballistic projectiles, laser guns and handguns.

Vertically stacked sword rifles, knives, and swords were also in a high-density rack for quick and easy reach. Beside the shelf was a series of slim cupboards that slid out to reveal hanging meta suits and HUD helmets.

Kainan, Xion and Riv worked fast, slipping into their suits and moving quickly to slide their weapons of choice into their slots. Kainan strapped his guns and rifles and stepped out of the gun room.

‘I have your holo ETAs up on Sable-Net, and I’ll keep patching to your nodes and HUDs,’ Zane said softly, his eyes still flashing with sapphire lightning-like energy.

‘Sante, brother,’ Kainan said, feeling a fresh wave of warmth towards his Zane, who, despite his prone form, was working twice as hard as they were, to keep them all linked.

Xion chugged the carafe of kahawa Mirage had prepped for him in seconds. Then they were away, surging through the empty corridors of 498 and into the maglev lifts.

In no time, they arrived at the terminal above 517, where their flyers were waiting, engines already powered and throbbing. Soon the three crafts were in the air and slicing through the atmosphere.

17

Silver sands and eternal stardust

Harlow

Something was off.

Harlow felt it in her bones.

She tried to access both Sable-Net and Sysnet for the third time that evening. But, again, all she got was a message saying all network connections were down.

She refused to panic. So she tried reaching Mirage on her comm tab via the secure link Kage had given her when she’d first arrived on the moon rock.

The net circle spun endlessly without making a connection.

She felt her heart rate rise. Around her, Skylab was mostly silent, and most staff members, including Bassam and Dan, had left the complex. However, Sondra was working late, too, so Harlow rose to find her.

She found her components designer hunched over her desk, playing with holo schematics.

‘Hey, Sondra, can you access the net?’ Harlow asked from the doorway

Sondra looked up with a faint smile. ‘Haven’t tried. I was testing most of the evening. But I’ll give it a try. What’s wrong?’

‘Not sure,’ Harlow said absently, just managing to stay calm and collected.

She watched as Sondra attempted to get a connection.

The woman looked up, alarmed. ‘Can’t get through. That’s never happened. Ever.’

Harlow raised a hand to calm her. ‘Don’t panic. Let me see if I can raise Kage.’

She looked down at her screen and tabbed to his contact details, initiating a call. She felt a tremor in her heart as the dial tone sounded, dreading their first conversation in days. However, the call rang out.

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