Page 31 of Craze

Siom tries to reply, but can’t get the words out.

“Ever heard of Sevrin?” Shavih asks.

Tangle swears. “You don’t have to explain. He’s been here, found us once.”

“He took our augments,” Shavih says, clumsily rubbing her face with a rudimentary hand. “For Killstar.”

Tangle>>Local: Killstar, like the Solcrue’s cyborg weapon?

Pellucid>>Local: They didn’t tell us, but I listened to Ravenger’s communications. Sevrin took the parts to use with her. She’s a dangerous unit being kept in isolation apart from other projects. Sevrin wants to control her with his mind, then have her control an army.

Craze>>Local: We need to destroy that tech. If he can get a hold of anything like our network, we may all turn on humans, or worse, side with Solcrue.

Tangle’s body shimmers brighter until he looks like a nugget of raw gold. “Dropping in five.”

Craze gently urges my sisters into the middle of the platform. “Hang onto each other. We will wobble a little as we drop.”

I offer a hand to Jeela, then wrap an arm around Shavih, whose grip is weak at best.

She rests her head on my shoulder. “Another cage in the dark. This isn’t fair.”

“We’ll be okay,” I tell her.

“You trust them after what CSP did to them? The Titans could be like Killstar now.”

“We’re talking.” I waggle my head. “They’re not.”

She squints at me. “Is that why your eyes are so bright?”

Only then do I see the reflection of my pale blue irises in hers.

“You look like one,” she says. “But I don’t envy what you had to go through for that.”

The memory of lying on the operating table on Erebus, groggy from tranquilizer and lack of sleep comes back to me before I can block it completely. Ghosts of the fiery pain that lanced through my skull prickles my scalp even now.

“I saw him cut into you when he switched out your mech for the splay.” Shavih shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, Navi.”

She folds into me and sniffles as we drop into the guts of the moon. The other women cry out and gasp and cling to each other. I feel their fear of what’s to come. We do not trust easily after the devil’s duo made us all dance for them.

Now, we’re headed into another type of cell, one we can’t easily climb out of. I hope we haven’t found ourselves in a worse situation.

Chapter 9: Craze

Ranger didn’t make it, but I’ve scavenged enough from other ships and the remains of the old plant to keep him in stasis. I just hope Rochir’s wristband will help somehow.

Pellucid sits not far from me, holding her humans like they are made of glass. It is rare to meet a Titan with legs. She took out several Solcrue, but she wavers like she is low on power. I fear how much Sevrin damaged her in his labs. Nevertheless, she has stunning blue eyes and a soothing voice I could listen to over the network for the rest of my operation.

I want to touch her again, breathe her in, find out if this consuming need for more of her is one sided or not.

Craze>>Local: I’ve been monitoring communications in the area with Tangle.

Pellucid looks at me. I have her attention.

Craze>>Local: No luck with ships we can use to escape, yet. Infiltrations always end with Tav’s squads and a wall of flaming rifle rain we can’t push through. We were hoping to take over the ship, get a ride off of this damned moon. We’ve been stuck here—

For two years, yes. I know.Pellucid doesn’t look away from me. I wonder what she’s thinking.I saw you fall.

It hits me. Shewasthe one who watched us from above, from the research vessel.

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