Girl From Above: Trust by Pippa DaCosta

Author:Pippa DaCosta [DaCosta, Pippa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The Hung residence inside Chitec towers hadn’t changed since I’d been away. Reds and golds bloomed in my peripheral vision. Hung cut a proud figure ahead of me as he walked through the hallway. His midnight-blue suit added a stark contrast to the warm surroundings. Shoulders straight and his stride purposeful, he walked like a man in control.

“I knew you would return,” he stated. The elegant quiet swallowed the sound of his voice. “How could you not? They are all programmed to return.”

I know. I smiled inside my mind but barred it from my lips.

Home. This wasn’t my home. The only place that had felt like home was Starscream, my only family her crew.

Chen Hung and I entered the central atrium. Water from the elaborate fountain trickled over large, round pebbles. The ambient light played in the shallow pool, and the subtle, delicate scent of cherry blossoms touched the air. Haley Hung’s favorite perfume.

Hung paused by the wall of windows. Outside, the up-curve of the orbit station basked in artificial light. Jagged, razor-edged buildings sparkled, jewels in a crown. Chitec billboards reminded Janus citizens how wonderful their lives were.

I pressed a hand to the cool glass. Haley had admired this same view, placed her hand against these same windows, trapped in her father’s glistening towers, looking out upon a world manufactured through lies.

The gambling planet Lyra had been a riot of color, noise, and chaos, but Janus was sharp and deadly in its organized beauty.

“I’d hoped you’d return sooner, like the others.” Hung clasped his hands together in front of him. “There was an altercation during transit?”

“One of Chitec’s outsourced guards attacked me,” I replied coolly. “A personal vendetta against synthetics. My objective was to return. I chose the most efficient means by which to do so and disabled the crew.”

He turned his gaze toward the sparkling city. “And yet you took a detour to, I presume, offload the crew?”

Illogical, my processes supplied. The unspoken accusation hung in the air for fifteen seconds, long enough for Hung to voice his suspicions, but he didn’t.

“Come …” He turned and strode across the room.

Had I been armed, I might have fired a pulse shot into his back. A glass table nearby, when shattered, would provide ample jagged weapons. If I could sever his main hydraulics, I’d slow him down, but I couldn’t stop him, unless … The window once again drew my eye. If I shattered it <fault> he wouldn’t survive the fall. <fault>Priority command executed. Failsafe engaged. Protocols activated<Execute>

As before, internal failsafes overrode my desires, locking me down inside my body. I silently screamed at Hung’s back but no words left my lips. It was only after I mentally shuffled the murderous intentions aside that I could move again, one foot in front of the other, making myself follow Hung. The lockdown had lasted less than two seconds, but it had felt like a lifetime. He still had control, like before. I couldn’t hurt Hung, not directly. I’d wondered if whatever had freed my secret might have wiped those deep-seeded commands from my processes.

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