Page 23 of Craze

The video of the lab I have lived in for years shows the lights on the chair blinking on until the nodes in the head support crackle.

My hands are still wrapped and still tender from the burns Rochir recently gave me after I was too firm on his twig. So I left him one little surprise.

Pellucid Command: Initiate Lab C Torch.

The flame kicks on, and the countdown begins in my vision. My splay estimates eight minutes, twenty-seven seconds to detonation.

Rochir breathes heavily and rests the gun in his lap, unaware of his impending doom. “Warden Tav, they’re all yours.”

I look to the lowered end of the ramp where a scarred Solcrue stalks up to us. Needing a clearer visual to scan him in the system, I make my way to the front of the group.

“You must be Naughty Navi,” he hisses.

Targeting brackets frame his scaly face in my vision and pull up records in Ravenger III’s database. “Warden Tav. You were assigned to guard this facility during the jailbreak.”

His nose wrinkles in disgust.

“A dead decommissioner convinced you to let her in.” I find a picture of a woman who doesn’t quite look completely Solcrue. Their timid interactions remind me oddly of my parents. “A pretty one. Got your priorities mixed up?”

I don’t know why I’m harassing him except to stall as I search the ship’s computer for another escape route and rack my brain for alternatives. Even with our fate sealed on this ship, I don’t want my friends to die.

Warden Tav calls forward a soldier with tracework in his hands.

“Yes, sir?”

“She’s locked us out. Hack this shield. I need to kill her.” Tav motions to a panel on the hull of the ship. Then he looks at me and lowers his voice. “When I get through, I am going to take you apart piece by piece. Rochir never had the stomach for human blood, but I haven’t had a hot bath in ages.”

My spine shivers under the steely green gleam of his eyes.

I step back and scan the ramp but don’t see anything of use. There isn’t a weapon in sight. I try ejection commands, but cargo drops aren’t available when the dock feet are down.

Sparks shoot up from the floor. Something shorts out. Life support systems kick on in the ramp zone, stirring up wind.

An electric pulse rips down the ramp. All of my sisters drop to their knees. My head feels unbelievably heavy.

Shavih rasps in pain. Her bulky metal arms drip with blood where they attach to her human body. All of the women have been dragged to the floor by their metal parts.

Except me.

Ravenger III: Gravity field increased 50%.

“Navi?” Shavih coughs up blood.

There’s no one piloting the ship.

“I didn’t do it!” I shout.

“This is why Sevrin’s own augmentations will get him killed.” Rochir drops his flashing wristband to the floor. “Never make it permanent.”

“Almost through, sir,” the tech reports to Warden Tav.

Panic frays my senses. Programs run erratically in my mind. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have the access codes to switch on the ship’s guns, change the gravity, or initiate self-destruct mode. I can only access things with the same security clearance as the lab where I was connected.

Shield statuses blink red in my vision.

Integrity Unstable, 34%

Pop, pop, pop.

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