Kate
Ifollow behind Pious until he stops at a large circular uploading station and taps on the small screen just to the right of it. A three-dimensional image flares up from the bottom, another Caelum with swirling green scrollwork etched into his face armor. “General Pious, sir. How may I be of service to you?”
“The docking station to the preservation lab needs to be serviced,” Pious says, swiping at holographic lines and numbers that streak across the area in front of him in reds and yellows.
“Yes, General,” the Caelum says, and with a slight hesitation continues with, “that will be put in queue. There has been a sudden influx of repairs needed in loading docks across the ship, sir.”
Pious’s hands still. “Repeat your words,” he demands.
The floating head of the 3-D Caelum shows no emotion. “As of zero hundred hours, three hundred fifty-six stations have been infected with viruses, sir.”
“Three hundred fifty-six stations? How could so many of them have a virus?” Pious slams his armored fist against the screen, splitting a hairline crack right down its middle. “Fix them immediately, for Solar sake!”
“Sir, yes, sir. Maintenance believes it is from being in the Earth’s atmosphere for so long and their rudimentary technology not adapting to ours.”
Pious punches through the hovering face and smashes his fist through the screen plate behind it, shattering glittery shards of glass everywhere. “Just fix it or you’ll all find yourselves unloadable, abandoned in that same toxic atmosphere!”
Ooh. That’s harsh.
Pious spins on me. “Do you know of this?” he roars.
“Of what?” Of his ship falling apart? How in the world would I know anything about that?
Pious clenches his fists, his deep back holes for eyes seeming to bore into mine. He steps forward, closing the small space between us, and grabs onto both my arms. “Does he think he could break my ship, one piece at a time, and not get caught?”
“W-who?” I ask, holding up my hands and trying to move out of his grasp.
His metallic fingers grip tighter. “Tell me what his plans are, female.”
“I don’t know what his plans are—”
“Liar,” he spits the words out through gritted gears. “Listen to me,Kate,” he says, emphasizing each word, “I am going to kill him once and for all. But before that, female? You will breedmyheirs. I will punish him for all he’s done throughyou.”
My feet lift off the ground and my back smashes into the uploading dock. A scream rips out of my mouth before I can stop it and he’s plugging me into the ship. “What are you going to do? What are you—"
“I’m going to read your memories, and find out where my parasite-loving brother is.”
“What? My memories. That’s…No…” I try to kick my leg out at him, but I’m instantly linked into the docking station.
His hand is at my neck, his fingers pressing into the armor that coats my throat. “Stay still, or I’ll kill you right now and extract your eggs myself right here.”
I stop struggling.
On each side of me, lights and projected shapes dance across my viewfinder.
Dammit. Can he really read my memories? I need to clear my head. I can’t think of Rune hiding on the ship somewhere. He’s my only ticket off this tin can. I need him to stay alive and help me.
Codes zip across my vision. Numbers. Symbols. Pious’s age. Weight. He’s twenty-two, and he weighs one hundred and ninety pounds. His emotional status says he’s dangerously enraged.
Good, I’m glad he is.
Electricity surges under the metal covering my arms and legs. My own health stats say I’m updating and I’ll be optimal in less than two minutes. A small countdown clock blinks and ticks on the bottom of the screen.
Static pulses in my ears and waves of light dance through my view. Every inch of my scalp heats, the metal searing deeper into my flesh, pouring what feels like fire right into my brain.
“Soon, female.” Pious steps closer, leaning his masked face eye level with mine. “Soon, I’ll know all your secrets.”
I’m screwed. All my secrets? What the hell does he mean by that?
