There. An interface panel emerged from the ichorous mess I made of the jellysquid’s head, and I dropped the spear to fumble out Varok’s datachip.
Here we go.I wiped the crystal brain’s panel as clean as I could and pressed the chip to it. With my heart pounding loud enough for the audience to hear it, I activated it. Holograms blossomed around it, programs executing too fast to follow, trying to overload the interface.
That worked on the gallery security panel, but I doubted the Collectors left their brains as vulnerable. I grabbed a holodisplay, paused the program, and took control. Turning off attacks that weren’t working, redirecting their resources toward attacks that might. The software was magnificent, easy to use and powerful—it was almost aggravating that Varok treated it as a brute-force tool. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to admire it.
There!One of the hacking modules had found an exploit, and I threw everything at it. All the other programs froze, their screens winking out, all resources going to the hypercalc omega algorithm.
Nothing happened. I glanced back to see how Varok was doing and felt the blood drain from my face. Some Collectors had noticed me, or perhaps they simply wanted an easier target than the Argentian warrior. A group of monsters broke from the pack and charged at me, while the rest kept Varok too busy to stop them.
Five monsters bore down on me like a tidal wave of death.
And the chip vibrated in my hand. I spun back, saw the ‘access granted’ screen floating there, and tapped the icon I’d set up.
RUN MALWARE.FOLDER:ALL
Would any of them work? I had no idea, but fuck it. Try everything; maybe some of it’d stick. I hoped that if nothing else, I’d give the Hive a headache.
The charging monsters froze in mid-step, sending them skidding and tumbling across the sand. Behind them, the creatures Varok fought froze as well.
He jerked his sword to a halt mid-swing, his sword stopping just shy of a monster’s long, sinuous neck. The crowd caught on at last, falling silent and staring. For a moment, no one moved.
A moment later? Pandemonium. Every creature roared, or hissed, or screamed, and they bolted. Most ran in random directions, putting as much distance between them as possible. Some attacked each other instead, clashing with thunderous booms that echoed through the arena.
“What did you do?” Varok shouted his question as he ran toward me, voice raised to carry over the din. “How?”
“Itoldyou,” I called back. “Distributed intelligence. Now let’s fucking go. This won’t last forever.”
“The forcefield,” he objected, but I was past him already, heading for the nearest still-open hatch in the arena floor.
The ramp beyond led into darkness, without the calm blue glow I’d grown used to in the Hive. A few steps in, the shadows were already too deep to see anything, making me choose between slowing down and breaking my fool neck. Behind me, Varok felt no such dilemma. Without a word, he swept me up and slung me over his shoulder, slowing not one bit. I shrieked as he carried me into the dark, certain he’d run us into a wall of crystal.
“Do not fear,” he said, perhaps the least realistic order I’d ever heard. I tried to hide my whimper as the bastard ran even faster, weaving around shapes I barely realized were there.
Good thing, too. Hell followed behind us, a sea of deadly beasts blocking the light from the arena. Either the Collectorshad corrected for my crude hacking already, the predators they’d been possessing saw us as prey, or the frightened animals were looking for safety in the darkness. ‘Why’ didn’t matter; hunted, eaten, or trampled by the stampede, we’d be just as dead. I clung to Varok and did my best not to distract him.
Our pursuers gained ground, but slowly, and then Varok took a hard right turn into an opening I’d never have spotted. A gravity shaft flung us up at speeds I’d have called unsafe if not for the fact I could feel the hot, hungry breath of a monster right behind us.
We reached the top of the shaft and tumbled out, clinging to each other. Varok landed first, absorbing the impact and sparing me, and we rolled until we hit a wall with a bone-jarringthump.
Around us, silence. Shelves holding barrels surrounded us, with larger barrels stacked at the back.Monster food? Medical supplies?I started to rise and check, but my silver alien had other ideas. He pulled me back down, and I didn’t put up a fight.
“What did you do?” Varok asked again, holding me tighter than strictly necessary. Not that I was going to complain about having his muscular arms wrapped around me, or his silver skin against mine.
“The Collectors aren’t in their bodies. I mean, their minds aren’t. They’re in theHiveand running their bodies by remote. I just realized that running all those different animals, with all their body types, was a massive strain?—”
“—so dumping my brother’s malware collection into the mix without warning or precautions crashed the system.” Varok’s booming laugh filled the crystal chamber. “A gamble, an enormous gamble, my love.”
“Hey, at least it was an idea. Did we have another choice?” I objected, attempting to ignore his last word. The enormity of that word was too much, threatening to crash my brain like I’d crashed the Collectors’.
“I did not say I didn’t like it. It has the one trait I admire most in a plan: itworked.”
“It’s working,”I corrected. “The Hive could reboot any time, and once they’re operating their own bodies again, we’re screwed. We’d better get off-planet before that happens, yeah?”
That came out sounding reluctant, and I squirmed as Varok’s hand wandered down my back. He chuckled, a dark sound that echoed through me. For a moment, we stayed locked together, breathing heavily, and I half-hoped he’d do the stupid thing and get us both killed. If he decided to fuck me right there on the storeroom floor, I wouldn’t have even pretended to object.
Between the two of us, we mustered enough self-preservation instincts to pull ourselves apart and turn away from each other.No, Penelope, getting wrecked by this alien isnotworth the risk.I used as stern and serious a voice as I could muster.We can enjoy each other once we’re safe in space.
Did it help? Not really. Every inch of my skin craved Varok’s touch, and every breath of his earthy scent lit my nerves on fire. I hurried to the door, hands shaking as I fumbled for the datachip again.
