Page 72 of Alliance
Jharim chuckled again."Faex.Such determination," he drawled, his lenses brightening in a single pulse of interest. "Consider the weight already bearing down upon your shoulders, brother. Do you really need to carry more? I have carried this fine on my own."
Roav wasn't listening. His priorities had shifted entirely, a sort of fixation that only a full override could induce. He pushed and Jharim let his hand make contact with the side of his neck, where his fingers curled around the cervical curve of his spine. Warm electricity buzzed at the sight of their contact and Jharim purred in defeat, his lenses going dim.
The older bog's truth seeped into Roav's mind and knocked his gyroscope off balance. His mind blazed with a single word.
Venandi.
"I will queue your questions," Jharim interrupted before Roav could upload hundreds of queries over their hard connection."If...you will accept that the doll must be decommissioned."
Although the decision was weighty and his analysis still rang correct in his processor, Roav's answer was inevitable. "Acceptable."
"Good." Jharim's systems softened with relief, and Roav wondered how he'd ever mistaken the rogue for a bog in the first place. "Then I might be able to release us from our cell."
He carefully pulled Roav's hand from his spine, their components mingled together and splitting apart more like a faceted fluid than plugs and jacks. His fingers became fingers again as Jharim backed away by a step.
"It will not be pretty," he cautioned.
"You are not pretty to begin with," Roav teased.
Jharim's facial facets vibrated more openly this time. Was that amusement?
“It is time we get to work, then.”
24
[WARNING] Fire scorched my lungs like they were lined in salt crystals as I awoke with a violent, agonizing gasp of air.
Everything hurt. Everythingburned.My hands shook from the need to get away from my own skin, so painful was the heat.
Then I noticed the cold. Bone-deep, as if my muscle tissue had turned to ice, stiffening every tendon and ligament, wiring my jaw shut. A jaw that ached so badly at the hinges that I wondered if my mouth pooled with blood from torn cheeks and dislocated joints.
But thefire.I couldn’t stop the shaking. Couldn’t stop the burning. I was burning up, burning from the inside. I needed out of my clothes. I needed the snow.
Great arms bundled me up in a vice grip against a knit sweater and fur-lined collarbones. Deep humming breaths accompanied a rocking rhythm. Back and forth, tightening the embrace, then letting it loose. Over and over until the panic made room for a fraction of clarity.
I was sitting on the floor of a dark room, the wind howling outside, huddled on the lap of a familiar warmth.
No, the room wasn’t dark, I just couldn’tsee.
Why wasn’t my advanced optics system online?
“F-fás?” I questioned with a slurring tongue. A velvety chin rested on the top of my silk. A claw cradled the back of my head. His chest stuttered with a low chuckle meant to soothe me.When I tried to hug him back, I couldn’t lift my arms because I couldn’t feel them. “Where are we?”
He trilled his tongue to quiet me, just a little patter of breath that rolled in my ear. “You’re hypothermic, Roz. You need to kick on your emergency life support. Do dolls— Do you have that?”
I buried my face in his chest as the burning heat rolled through me again. When I pulled up my vitals deck, it had been silenced. As I turned it back on, dozens of warnings blared to life.
[Stage 1 hypothermia]
[Organ failure imminent]
[Heart rate irregular]
[Limb integrity compromised]
[LMem distortion]
[Sensory corruption]
