Stepping Stones by Steve Gannon

Author:Steve Gannon [Gannon, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General, Speculative Fiction, Short Stories (Single Author), (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780984988150
Publisher: Steve Gannon
Published: 2012-09-14T14:00:00+00:00

Outside, Lara pulled her coat around her as she struck off into the darkness. Passing through the settlement’s outer perimeter, she lowered her head against the wind and trudged across the frozen snowfield. For over an hour she walked steadily, working her way ever higher into the surrounding mountains. At last she stopped to rest on a granite outcrop overlooking the valley. Far below she could see the lights of the settlement. Above, a thousand stars glittered in the night sky.

Sitting in the lee of the rock, Lara drew her legs tightly to her chest. By then the temperature had fallen below zero, and her body was shivering uncontrollably. Ignoring her trembling, she tried to think.

Why hasn’t Command sent help?

She had already been among the humans far longer than expected. And the longer she stayed, the more trouble they became. She could eliminate them, but could the shell in which she had cloaked herself survive without them? And if her present form were to perish and her true essence be exposed—even for the instant it took to enter a new host—she risked revealing herself to the Dark Ones.

What now?

Coming up with no answers, Lara finally decided to return to the colony and deal with the humans as the need arose. Shaking worse than ever from the cold, she began descending the rocky slope. Before she had gone a dozen steps, she slipped on a patch of ice. Her feet flew out from under her. Arms flailing, she slid several meters on her back. Then suddenly she was falling! Accelerating through the darkness, she dropped, faster, faster . . .

Seconds later she crashed to the rocks below. She heard a sickening thud and felt a white-hot stab of agony. Then, nothing.

She tried to move. She couldn’t. Nor could she see. Blind to the world around her, Lara lay trapped in her body. Is it dead? she wondered. No, that couldn’t be it. She was still cloaked, still encased within it.

What, then?

Sending her senses inward, Lara examined her injuries. The damage to her body was extensive: bleeding into the abdomen, broken ribs, a shattered leg. Worse, blood was pooling in her cranial cavity, exerting pressure on the neural tissue contained within, and the photonic circuits there as well. All these injuries she could repair, save one. Without help, she couldn’t reposition the jagged portions of bone that were protruding through her thigh. And even if she could, she would still be unable to walk.

Lara lay encased in the cyborg’s twisted flesh, wondering how long it would survive. With a plunge of despair, she realized her new body wouldn’t last the night.

Nor would she.

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