Memetic Drift: A Military Cyberpunk Thriller (Sol Arbiter Book 4) by J.N. Chaney & Jia Shen

Author:J.N. Chaney & Jia Shen [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2020-07-25T16:00:00+00:00

14

I fell into a routine of going to bed early and sleeping in late. Sleep didn’t come easy, and when it finally did, I’d wake up throughout the night. The pleximesh skin over the prosthetics—my prosthetics, I reminded myself—was pins and needles at night. The first few days with the graft over my limbs were fine, but an intermittent sensation of equal measures pain and irritation had set in whenever I tried to sleep. Samara assured me it was normal and explained it as something to do with acetylcholine and deep rest, but she could offer nothing except encouragement as treatment.

Waking for the fifth time since going to bed, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was half past ten in the morning. I felt more tired than I had when I lay down a dozen hours prior, and closed my eyes again. Then I heard the door, followed by Raven’s voice.

“Tycho, she’s back!”

I opened my eyes and rolled over. “What?”

“Andrea just got back. Come on, get up.”

With eyes wide open, I threw off my blankets and got dressed. Raven was waiting for me just outside the room and grabbed my arm as soon as I walked out. “I’m glad she’s back,” she said. “I was starting to get really worried.”

“So was I. What was she doing?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her yet.”

“So you haven’t heard anything?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I was going to the range and ran into Andrew. He told me that Andrea was back, and she’d called for a meeting. I came up here to get you.”

We entered the briefing room and my jaw dropped when I finally saw Andrea. Her face was pale, her cheeks mottled with bruising, her right eye ringed in black and purple. She had an open cut on her forehead, and her lower lip was spilt. She was sitting on the edge of the center table, dressed in uncharacteristically subdued military fatigues. She’d tied the jacket around her waist. Her undershirt was torn from one shoulder, and after a moment I realized she no longer had a left arm.

I didn’t know what question to ask. “Andrea, are you okay?”

Her voice was hoarse at first. “Far from, but I’ll deal with it after I get my prisoner where she belongs.” Andrew Jones looked absolutely stunned. His mouth was hanging open, and he just kept shaking his head.

Andrea turned to face him. “Didn’t you think I could do it, Andrew?”

“I didn’t think anyone could do it. Andrea, this is goddamn incredible.”

Vincenzo gave Andrew a look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never doubted her for a second.”

Thomas Young came in, glanced over at Andrea, and said, “You’re missing an arm.”

“Thank you, Thomas, I’m aware.” She closed her eyes for a moment, as if trying to cope with either exhaustion or pain.

“I can’t be the only one,” said Andrew. “Thomas, aren’t you as amazed as I am?”

“I am rarely amazed by anything. You’ll need to be more specific about whatever has… captured your imagination.

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