“Yes. Yes, I know,” Rune snaps. And even though my vision is blocked by the faceplate’s little laser-light display, I can hear the emotion in his voice.
“Well, you looked worried,” Jex responds.
I hear Rune shift away mumbling something about the wounded men and what their upload time is for completion.
The viewer on my faceplate turns a pale eggshell blue. It’s the exact shade of my favorite color and I can’t help wondering is this armor somehow knows this as one of the images that would be calming to me.
Within seconds my muscles loosen and my breathing evens out and I feel like I’m in that half-asleep state—the one where it’s a Saturday morning just past eleven, and you’re cocooned in a soft blanket waiting on another dream.
The wait isn’t long either.
My dreams are full of blue skies and fields of wildflowers, the warm sun on my shoulders and the scent of freshly cut grass in the breeze. In the distance thunder rumbles, but I know the storm will pass right by. Rune’s there in the field with me, looking up at the sky. When he turns and sees me, his smile is an ache in my chest. He’s closer now, his hand reaching up to cup my neck, to pull me in. His skin is warm and his thumb brushes over my bottom lip, soft and slow. His eyes stare down at mine. They match the sky.
The rest of my body aches and he leans in closer.
Suddenly the field of vision on my faceplate whooshes open, jarring me. Inside the armor my bones jump and twitch, and I’m jolted awake—agitated and unsettled.I was dreaming Rune was about to kiss me.
The armor pulses over my skin and releases me with a loud embarrassing suction sound, and I stagger out of the small dock.
It’s unnerving how much I didn’t want that dream to end.
This is a line of thought I would have to come back to. It’s something I have to settle with myself. I want to believe their armor makes me feel these things—puts these thoughts in my head and for now that’s what I’ll keep telling myself.
“Do you feel adjusted correctly now? You’re calibrated to the Core’s oxygen and gravity levels, you should be more comfortable.” Rune sits across the small space, watching me through narrow eyes.
I feel momentarily paralyzed with humiliation as if he knows what I just dreamed. My breathing feels very shallow once again.
He watches me in silence, rising slowly. “Do you feel calibrated?”
“I feel out of sorts, mostly.”
He stands slowly and takes a step toward me, and I can’t help but search his eyes. Did he know what I was just dreaming?
He hesitates a moment before he continues to move closer, and for a quick second I expect him to rethink his position and put as much space as possible in this small enclosure between us. Instead, he sits down next to me, so close the hardness of his leg touches mine.
Jex sits across from us, watching.
I can suddenly hear my heart racing in my chest.
“Sentinel Jex, tell us everything you know,” Rune commands.
In the dim light, Jex’s eyes widen and dart back and forth between us. He probably can’t believe Rune wants me here for this conversation. Then again, I can’t pretend to know anything of what goes on in the minds of these people. So I lean back against the wall and ready myself to listen.
“Sir,” he gives a curt nod. “Your death was posted, downloaded onto everyone’s mainframe.” He points to me, “That human, taking your mask and you on the ground of that planet covered in blood.”
“After we were separated, I was attacked by Orb, Stol, and Barq,” Rune says, shifting away, angling his body to face both of us.
“Those are the three I ran over with the van,” I swallow, and my voice cracks with a small tremor.
Rune levels an annoyed look in my direction. “Don’t let your emotions blur the fact they were trying to kill us both. Besides, they didn’t die then, remember? Sentinel, please continue. What else do you know?”
“Pious has taken your place. He’s extracting an unknown number of females for egg retrieval, following the plan as before.”
“What is the—”
“Hold up, hold up a second,” I cut in, raising my hand up in front of him. “Following the planas before. Like when you were the General? This was your original plan? The decimation of my planet? That was allyouridea?”
A hint of anger tinges his voice as he glares at me. “No. My intention was to extract only a handful of females and leave.Notthis destruction.” The weight of his stare makes me question my accusation. I hate him for being the reason for all of this, but on the other hand he’s literally saved my life on three different occasions.
