Earthfall: Redemption by Mark Walden

Author:Mark Walden
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781408863831
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2017-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Sam placed his hand on the pod with Stirling’s unconscious body inside, looking down on the old man’s ashen features as the rest of his friends filed into the stasis chamber at the rear of the Scythe.

‘So what are we supposed to do now?’ Will said, hobbling into the room on his crutches.

‘Please enter the stasis pods,’ the Construct said, materialising in a shimmer of blue light in the centre of the room. The pods around the room hissed open, as lights blinked on inside each of them.

‘You cannot receive this gift,’ the Construct said, turning towards Mag, who leant back against the wall with her arms folded and a frown on her face.

‘Not sure that’s what I’d call it,’ she replied. ‘You can see what happened the last time one of you guys started experimenting on me.’ She gestured towards the obvious signs of her partial transformation. ‘I’ll tell you this, though,’ she went on, ‘if you hurt any of my friends, I swear to God I’ll find a way of switching the power off down here and deleting the lot of you.’

‘It’ll be OK, Mag,’ Sam said, putting a hand on her shoulder. ‘We have to do this; it’s the only way.’

‘Yeah, so you explained,’ Mag said, ‘but it doesn’t make me any happier about the whole thing.’

‘I’m not worried,’ Sam said, ‘not with you watching our backs anyway.’ He smiled at her and then headed over to where his friends were examining the stasis chambers with nervous suspicion.

‘You do not need a weapon,’ the Construct said, turning to Sam as he walked towards one of the empty pods.

‘What do you mean?’ Sam asked. ‘If you think I’m going to step aside from this fight in order to protect whatever it is I’ve got rattling around in my skull, you’re in for a nasty shock.’

The image of the Construct flickered in the air for an instant and was replaced by the glowing translucent image of Selenne.

‘I apologise,’ Selenne said. ‘Our constructs are only really intended to serve as emergency crew for our vessels. They are not . . . diplomatic.’

‘You can appear here?’ Sam asked.

‘Yes, but only while you are within a short distance of the Threshold,’ Selenne replied with a nod. ‘And, in answer to your question, there is a very good reason why you do not need a weapon,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘You already have one.’

‘What do you mean?’ Sam asked, looking confused.

‘Suran . . . your father . . . gave you his, at the moment of his death,’ Selenne said. ‘You see, the Bridge is inextricably linked with the combat nanites your father transferred to you so that you could defeat Talon. Indeed, it is part of their controlling code. It can never be taken from you, only transferred to another willingly. Your friends are about to undergo a similar bonding process with their own weapons.’

‘So all of the changes that happened to me after Suran died . . .’

‘Were the results

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