Shadowrun Legends: Technobabel by Stephen Kenson

Author:Stephen Kenson [Kenson, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2016-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

“Time to wake up, Babel,” the voice said, the same voice that had asked him what he remembered.

Babel first became aware of a quick, piercing pain in his arm, followed by the light. A bright light stabbed into his brain, and he gasped and shut his eyes tightly against the glare. When he tried to raise his hands to rub his tired and gritty eyes, he found he couldn’t move them from his side. A momentary wave of fear swept over him that the paralysis he’d experienced in an alleyway far away had returned, but he realized he could still move his hands and feet. His arms and legs were held down, strapped to the padded chair in which he sat, reclined at a slight angle, so Babel faced the ceiling of the room and the light blazing down from it.

He became aware of shadows moving at the edge of his vision in the room, silhouetted in the light. One took a step closer and spoke to him in a strong, masculine voice.

“Hello, Babel, how are you feeling?”

He tried weakly to lift his head to get a better look at the dark shape in front of him.

“Where am I? Who are you?”

The shadow-man spread his arms in what was probably intended to be a gesture of reassurance. “You’re safe,” the voice said. “And you can remain that way, so long as you cooperate.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you?” As he spoke, Babel felt a wave of searing pain from his right hand, so sudden and unexpected that he cried out. He felt heat rush to his hand and a wet stickiness spread across it. He thrashed against the bonds that held him, but the restraints didn’t budge.

“You do not ask the questions here,” the shadow man’s voice said. “I will ask the questions and you will answer them. If I don’t like your answers, you will suffer. Is that clear?”

Babel nodded stiffly, biting his lip against the throbbing in his hand.

“Good. I suggest you cooperate. I have discovered that the human body is capable of withstanding a great deal of pain without dying. But then you already know some of that, don’t you?”

The silhouetted figured stepped closer, brushing his fingers over the jack behind Babel’s ear. “Cyberware itself is a kind of torture inflicted on the body, pieces of metal and plastic embedded in the flesh.” The cool fingers ran down Babel’s neck and brushed across his shoulder before withdrawing.

“Why should I tell you anything?” Babel tried to keep his voice steady and calm. He focused on the pain in his hand to help him concentrate and shake off the fuzzy feelings clouding his thoughts.

“You have already provided us with a great deal of information. Do you remember?”

Babel thought back. He recalled a woman’s voice asking him to remember, the press of an injection spray against his neck and the words tumbling out of him like a rushing river. He’d been helpless to hold them back.

“You drugged me,” he said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.