Page 48 of Craze

She gives him an odd look of surprise and endearment. “It’s okay. The ground is uneven, and we’re both carrying a lot of weight.”

But Tangle shivers and grunts like he’s in pain.

“Tangle?” Aeri crouches beside him, worry in her eyes.

Tangle>>Local: Confirm Aeri is okay. I can’t move.

She shifts out of my way as I walk to my brother.She is fine, Tangle. What level are you at?

Two.

“What’s happening to him?” Navi asks.

RamBash sighs and explains while I support my brother through his thirty-seconds of misery. “Level Two punishment for hurting a human. We have it. Craze is broken.”

“I have experienced it in the lab. It is miserable,” I clarify, hating that my brothers suffer and die when I cannot and do not. Sometimes, I think they are a bit bitter toward me about it.

I remove the pack from Tangle’s shoulders and sling it over mine.

“How do we stop it?” Eliana asks clipping the belt around her waist.

“This seems like a problem if it happens when we find Solcrue.” Navi squats beside Tangle and I, resting a hand to his back. “Hang in there, Tangle. All I know are shockbaton zaps, but that’s terrible enough. Thirty-seconds makes you a badass.”

He wheezes out a short laugh, though his wide eyes expose his agony.

Macabre grunts in frustration. “Generals had the power because we were Bonded to them. There aren’t any left. But any human who Bonds with us can then free us of all restrictive programming. We would be able to choose our behavior completely, no punishments like this.”

“And how does one Bond with a Titan?” Navi asks as Tangle slumps, catches his breath and finally gets back to his feet.

Macabre looks to me. “They must elect a Titan to serve them. When Bonded, the human must release the Titan from all punishment programming and deem them free to make theirown decisions. They will, however, remain bonded to some degree. Only command-level humans can make mass Bonds. The others must be requested by the Titan and accepted by the human.”

Navi opens her mouth like she’s going to say something but notices the wristband sticking out of my pocket.You still have that?

I pull it out and hand it to her. “I was hoping to use it to help a brother.”

She looks it over, turns it on, and scrolls through the data. “What does he need?”

While the others finish preparations for our journey, I slide the container with Ranger’s body off of the Tacticat and open the lid.

“Holy shit,” Jeela walks over and joins us. “I know him.”

“When did you meet?” I ask.

“Saw him during battle. I served on a battledagger as a teen. He saw me but didn’t shoot me. He turned away.” Jeela glances at Navi and lowers her voice. “Ranger was a lotshinierback then.”

“He crashed here with us,” I say, moving aside the cords and nanofilter tubing so I can pull him out of the box. “I couldn’t free him from his cell before we landed. I’ve rebuilt every part of him and have kept him on these recirculators and power. I assume he’s in hibernation, but resetting him and trying to jumpstart him hasn’t worked.”

“Are you bringing him?” Tangle asks.

“I’m not leaving a brother behind again. You know that. And if we find a ship, I want him to board with us.”

Navi scours the programs and casually leans back against the wall like the pulses from RamBash aren’t distracting. Her eyes light up. “I’m going to merge to find the program I think will help.”

“Is that safe?” I ask.

“Is anything?”

When she looks up at me, a fear chills my insides. I want to show her how much I need her. I take her face in my hands and kiss her.

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