Page 54 of Craze

Rochir squints at me. “No it’s not.”

They turn back to watch the feed.

“Don’t do this. You need him alive!”

“Nope. I just need the parts. I can always figure out how things work when they’re offline.”

“Why do you care, anyway?” Rochir asks.

He looks beat to hell. I can’t believe he survived the ships detonation. I guess the green Solcrue shields are stronger than I thought.

Sevrin is the one who figures it out. “You like that hunk of metal?”

Before I can respond, he turns back and casually leans against the counter. “I’m going to like this even more now. We can cut out your splay in a moment and download the data after.”

Sevrin collects a needle from a drawer, grabs my arm, and takes a sample of my blood. He deposits the tube in a scanner while we watch Craze throw soldiers off of him and fight to get back on his feet.

He calls my name again. He came here for me, came to rescue me again. My frantic heart beats harder and slower as rage replaces desperation.

“No nanos. Just human,” Sevrin shakes his head.

I sense the wrist strap has loosened on my right side and wonder if I can use it to my advantage. Sevrin’s become sloppy. He’s so interested in Titan hunting that he hasn’t strapped me in as hard as he usually does.

“Is it so hard to believe that humans might be stronger than you think?” I ask.

“Solcrue left humans behind for a reason,” Rochir remarks. “You were weak, didn’t want to explore, and didn’t have the guts for life in space.”

The computer beside Sevrin flashes, stating its ready status, but he seems unaware. I quietly wriggle my hand free, switch the connectors, and plug my chair into the main system.

As I snap the download cable into my skull, Sevrin looks back. His eyes widen.

I smash the download button despite wanting to savor his look of horror.

Pain screams in my head. I arch as information downloads into my splay.

Download Processing: 23% Complete.

Auto-protect Program: Engaged.

A green shield lifts around me. Through my blurring vision, I see Sevrin bump into the wall that’s formed around me. He swears violently, but I can’t hear it over the thundering data pouring in my splay.

The soldiers outside need to stand down.

Battledagger: Disruptor pulse - Ready.

The download started with ship defenses.

The windows that load and scroll through my eyes are so fast I can’t count them all.

Navi Command: Fire.

A warping blast tears out across the landing pad. Soldiers fly off of Craze as if blown by hurricane forces. The windows of the building blow out while Sevrin roars with anger. The blast makes it to our room and shreds Rochir as he tucks and rolls onto the floor.My shield protects me even from the wind.

I work to free myself from the chair as the download completes. My head feels heavy and my body weak from the overload.

I watch the completion rate rise to 98% and check outside. Yellow Solcrue squad fire rips through green and the blues of grav punch guns.

The moment the download is finished, I access the Battledagger guns and aim for our room. The guns swing toward me. I rip myself out of my restraints with heavy hands, and stagger out of the lab.

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