Through my implant I heard Yoselin say, We’re here for your cousin. If you think you can draw their attention, I’ll try to get to her.
Sure, I thought back at her, wondering how she intended to do it.
Abominator tech, she thought back.
Which figured.
So it didn’t entirely surprise me when she then faded out of sight. To be fair, it wasn’t something I was expecting either. Continue reading Underground Tower: Part 2
A look down at the floor below us told me what I need to know, the human-sized tubes had cracked all over, shattering one entirely and the top half of the one next to it. The platform the tubes rested on had also cracked with electronics and wires falling out of it, some of them still smoking from when I hit them with my laser.
That was the good news. Continue reading Underground Tower: Part 1
Yoselin entered behind me, turning her head around as she entered, likely to make sure people weren’t following us. Seemingly satisfied, she turned her head back toward me, following me in.
It was bigger inside than I expected, not in the sense of being a timelord’s extra-dimensional space, but in the sense that a quarter of a big building’s basement turns out to be a large space anyway. That wasn’t all of it either. Continue reading Holes: Part 10
Off to my right, I heard a crackling noise. A glance showed Cassie standing on top of a cabinet next to a group of cubicles, using the height to shoot over a big bluish-grey block that my implant labeled as a “dark matter converter” and into the Abominator energy generator.
The Abominator energy generator burned where she hit, throwing glowing bits of whatever material the case was made into the air, some of them hitting the dark matter converter.
Recognizing, now that I had a few years of experience with it, that even wondering what the dark matter converter was would cause a massive download into my brain, I chose not to even try. I could do that later. Continue reading Holes: Part 9
That put everything into a new light. The crowd of people was moving in that direction to be teleported out. Mechs that looked a lot like the mechs Rook’s henchmen used were coming out of the teleporter room, presumably because this base was worth fighting for—at least for a little while.
Inside the room, more bird-shaped mechs appeared even as I descended toward them. Thinking back to Daniel, I asked, When you drew my attention to the room, what were you hoping I’d do?
I had no plan. I felt that whatever was going on down there was important, Daniel thought back at me. Continue reading Holes: Part 8
Izzy turned her head to look at me, “You’ve said Abominator technology is based on Artificer technology that corrupts the user. I don’t see a reason to keep any of it.”
Inside the helmet where, unlike anyone else, she still might see it, I smiled, “I… can think of a few, but they mostly amount to ways they could help me understand both species’ tech. I want it, but I think it’s going to be easier to get things done if we break things.”
Daniel nodded, “I feel like it’s going to be harder if we try to preserve the equipment and I don’t need prescience for that.” Continue reading Holes: Part 7
As we walked toward the stairs, I noticed a message in my HUD. It said, “Connection lost.” Everyone near me still showed as green, but everyone else had gone red including Kayla. That meant that we had no backup or any way to tell anyone we needed help. Plus, everyone back at base was probably freaking out now or would be soon.
“Hey,” I said, “We just lost everybody. I’m going to run back into the room and tell them what’s going on.”
“Hurry,” Daniel said. Continue reading Holes: Part 6
Over the comm I asked, “Do we have time to think about our next move, or are we best off moving forward?”
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, “We don’t have long, but we’ve got a little while before it becomes too dangerous.”
“Okay. I’m going to send out a roachbot to see what’s ahead. If Blue’s can scan this place without giving them too much of a hint that we’re here, maybe she can too?” Continue reading Holes: Part 5
“Crap,” I muttered.
Since he’d said it over the comm in addition to me, Cassie glanced up at us from the landing, asking, “How bad?”
Daniel shrugged, “There’s still too much flux to be sure. Hey Blue and Accelerando, how does the first floor look?” Continue reading Holes: Part 4
Zooming in on Yoselin, I noticed that she held something in her hand. From this distance, her hand covered most of it, but I could tell that it glowed. In my head, my implant told me, “probable Abominator origin.”
On the one hand, that wasn’t good news, but on the other, it didn’t seem to be harming anyone. The woman laying on the ground in front of her mech pulled herself up and stood as I watched. She walked up to Yoselin and started talking. Continue reading Holes: Part 3