Page 107 of Seven Oars
Yet a tiny piece of her brain responded to the anguished urgency in his sharp call. She hesitated for two precious heartbeats, and that time was lost to her forever.
Tutti zapped her in the stomach—twice, three times—making her double over. The continuous charges that pierced her body were a torrent of crippling energy.Her alloy bracelets caught the current and spun it over, refusing to release it.
Now they’re working?flickered through Rosamma’s head.
The zaps left Rosamma in an agonizing, out-of-body state, as though she were levitating above her mortal shell.
At the same time, Phex charged the Striker from the side, with Thilza looming behind, trying to block his path.
Unable to move, Rosamma watched in slo-mo as Sassa slipped past the three Rix locked in a grapple and slithered toward the controls.
Her pale hands touched the gold-plated cover and lifted it open.
The Striker turned. His powerful body burst forward, dragging Phex and Thilza behind him. The defender shirt he wore caught light, shimmering like the scales of an exotic, deadly dragon.
Rosamma watched his huge, clawed hand wrap around Sassa’s arm, jerking her back. Watched Sassa claw at him like a cat, her eyes burning with the same frantic determination she had shown before. Her face was set in determined lines, like she was once again firing her gun at an evil man, fighting for freedom that was only a breath away. She would not stop now.
“Do it, for fuck’s sake!” Phex roared, displaying his massive fangs.
He slugged the Striker, despite Thilza’s bulk hampering him.
Sassa reached again for the panel.
Before he even recovered, the Striker swiped, precise and powerful—his hand caught Sassa’s head, and her neck gave way with a sickening snap.
In the midst of it all, his ruined face was austere and oddly compelling.
If Rosamma could close her eyes, she would have.But in the throes of paralysis, she could only stare.
And scream.
But no sound emerged.
Chapter 15
Tutti-induced paralysis did a number on Rosamma’s body.
Gro and Eze had had to carry her back from the Command Center.
Even now, a day or so later, her arms and legs felt like foreign objects, refusing to obey her brain’s commands.
She couldn’t even cry.
She longed for peace or at least for oblivion.So weak and imperfect, it should have been she, not Sassa, being unceremoniously fed into the chute aperture for her final flight among the stars.
She wondered why the Striker hadn’t killed her too.
Alyesha climbed over the threshold. Her face was somber.
“The trash chute is something else… It’s over now.”
“Sassa?” Fawn asked in a hoarse voice.
Alyesha nodded.
Fawn covered her face and cried.
By contrast, Rosamma sat primly on her pad with dry eyes. She was drowning in sorrow, but no tears came.
