Repercussions by M. D. Cooper

Author:M. D. Cooper [Cooper, M. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2018-12-13T07:00:00+00:00

UNCERTAIN SAFETY

STELLAR DATE: 09.17.3011 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Cruithne Station, Fugia Wong’s Workshop

REGION: Terran Hegemony, InnerSol

Taking a step back from the pedestal, Fugia lowered her silver visor to study the SAI’s cube. Crash watched her nod to herself, apparently pleased with her work.

Fugia raised the visor again, using it to push her black hair out of her eyes. She glanced at Ngoba standing a meter away, her lips curling up in a slight smile.

“You want the honors?” she asked.

Ngoba shook his head. “I think it should be Crash, of course.”

“Crash?” Fugia asked.

They were standing in Fugia’s workshop; benches covered in half-finished projects lined the walls. Glimmering filament hung from open casings, some projects easily determined, while others could have been explosives. Fugia was not above a little weapons development on the side.

<I just sent you the code for the activation switch,> Fugia said over the Link. <You want the honors?>

<Of course he does,> Silver said. She was perched on a rack, holding the limp body of an attack mech. <Wake her up, Crash. I want to meet your crush.>

<I don’t have a crush,> Crash said, sounding more irritated than he intended.

Silver teased him with a loud squawk as she fluttered her wings, stretching. Her eyes were especially gold at the moment.

<Fine,> Crash said.

He accessed the power control in the pedestal, taking a second to study the cradle that Fugia had built to hold Celest. There was a local Link connection, he noticed, but Fugia still had admin control of the external connection.

<She’s a prisoner,> he said.

Fugia frowned. <You mean the external gateway? That’s a precaution. We don’t know what we’re dealing with exactly. I’m not giving her free reign to do whatever she wants.>

<Why not?> he asked.

<Because she stole millions from Rack Thirteen, which caused other people to try to kill you and yours. She still has to answer to us.>

<I won’t hold her prisoner,> Crash said. <Open the external connection. She’ll stay.>

<You really do have a crush on her,> Silver said, an edge of anger entering her voice.

<No! All I know is that I’m not going to hold another person prisoner. What are we going to do, kill her? We lost our own today, but they died defending our home. They gave their lives of their own free will. I would do the same. I won’t strip freedom from another.>

<Crash,> Ngoba said gently. <It’s just a precaution. We’ll let her free as soon as we know she isn’t holding some death trigger we don’t know about.>

Crash searched his feelings. Why did he feel so strongly about this? He didn’t know what Celest would do when they woke her, and she had basically attacked him once already, when he’d approached her node on the Endless Surcease. She had killed scores of Rack Thirteen humans, and used the Puzzleheads for her own ends.

Still, he wouldn’t be party to the enslavement of another.

<Didn’t you tell me you were once in a situation just like this, Ngoba?> Crash asked. <When you woke up the Weapon Born Tristan? You argued with Petral Dulan that he would come back, and he did.

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